The McGill Daily: Volume 113, Issue 15

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory.

Volume 113, Issue 15 | Monday, January 22, 2024 | mcgilldaily.com At large since 1911

Published by The Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University.

2

table of Contents

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Table of Contents 3

Editorial •

Budget Cuts Threaten Public Transit

4 • News Tuition Hikes Updates • New Year, New Wages • 100 Days: Protests for Palestine

7

Commentary •

Not A Figment of Our Memory

8

Culture

• •

Gonzo Journalism Capitalism in the Publishing Industry

10 Sci + Tech •

Semiconductors

11 Compendium!

•

Snow Horoscopes

EDITORIAL

Volume 113 Issue 15

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

3

editorial board

3480 McTavish St, Room 107 Montreal, QC, H3A 0E7 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory. coordinating editor

Olivia Shan

managing editor

Catey Fifield

news editors

Emma Bainbridge India Mosca commentary + compendium! editor

Vacant

culture editors

Claudia Efemini Eliana Freelund

features editor

Elaine Yang

science + technology editor

Andrei Li

sports editor

Vacant

video editor

Vacant

visuals editors

Eric Duivenvoorden Genevieve Quinn copy editor

Vacant

design + production editor

Vacant

social media editor

Frida Morales Mora radio editor

Vacant

cover design

Eric Duivenvoorden contributors

Emma Bainbridge, Sena Ho, Andrei Li, Sara McMurray, , Maverick Medeiros, Frida Morales Mora

Published by the Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University.

The views and opinions expressed in the Daily are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of McGill University.

The McGill Daily is not affiliated with McGill University.

3480 McTavish St, Room 107 Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 phone 514.398.690 fax 514.398.8318

Budget Cuts Threaten Montreal’s Public Transit

M

ontreal’s public transit system, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), is currently staring down a projected $2.5-billion deficit for the next five years. When Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault announced in November that the government would only be absorbing $238 million of the deficit for 2024, she argued that the STM needed to find other sources of funding. “We can’t just keep throwing money at this infinitely,” she said. “It’s a bottomless hole.”

The CAQ seems to think that the STM is indeed nothing more than a “bottomless hole” draining taxpayer money and resources, but it’s difficult to imagine that the millions of Montrealers who depend on this city’s public transit system share that sentiment. In a place that is home to the majority of Quebecers living in poverty, and which accounts for the largest unhoused population in the province, we should expect Greater Montreal to have strong standards for all forms of public transportation. With this latest development, the entire public transit sector risks being dragged further into a “downward spiral,” says Eric Alan Caldwell, the Chairman of the STM Board of Directors.

Prior to this upsetting news, the STM was already struggling to maintain its services: tens of millions in deficit have been hanging over its head, and it has failed to meet its bottom line for the third year in a row. For the moment, thanks in part to STM’s prior one-time savings and the Legault government’s agreement to cover 70 per cent of public transit deficits – following their initial offer of only 20 per cent – no service cuts that will directly affect transit riders have been announced in the short term. However, the STM warned that: “[t]his level of effort cannot be sustained over the next few years, without jeopardizing the company’s ability to maintain its service offering.”

The burden of this financial disembowelment is already being felt by STM employees. Though the public agency has not specified how many positions may be cut, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2850 has since revealed STM staff were informed that at least 255 positions may be terminated. They state: “[n]on-unionized, unionized, administrative and professional jobs will be affected, in particular” – essentially everyone. As about 85 per cent of the STM’s budget is tied to its operations, future budget cuts will inevitably impact employees and services alike.

Few protests have followed the transport minister’s announcement, with each consisting of only a hundred or so demonstrators. This minimal response stands in stark contrast with the profound impact that these cuts will have on millions of people, many of whom are students, who depend upon public transit to travel across the island. The STM plays an integral role in the accessibility of transportation – compromises to its services would particularly impact those with mobility needs or those who cannot afford their own vehicles.

Many ongoing STM projects are also facing budget cuts, such as the Sustainability Development Plan 2025, and the plan to install elevators in every metro station as part of efforts to increase accessibility for people with physical or mobility disabilities. These two long-term initiatives, both intended to come into effect by 2025, will likely be deprioritized as the STM scrambles to make ends meet. Our public transit system will not only experience a reduction in services but will also see its hard-won environmental and accessibility projects brought to a standstill. In an interview with CTV News, Vélorution Montréal cofounder and protest organizer Mathieu Murphy-Perron said: “If we want a city that’s free of congestion, a city that’s safe, a city that’s not too noisy, we need to offer alternatives to the all-car culture.” For a government supposedly committed to sustainable, accessible transportation, the CAQ is actively hindering the one organization that can bring these changes about.

For us Montrealers, it is important to remain keenly aware and up to date with the consequences of the STM’s financial troubles on our daily lives and the city at large.

In the face of distressing global events that continue to dominate the public eye, local issues seem to have been neglected in the last few months. But just as we need to keep informed on issues worldwide, it is also our responsibility to bring awareness and support to the local organizations who are helping those most affected by the unstable future of the STM. Especially for an institution as crucial to so many as the STM, remaining silent on this issue is simply not an option. Sign up to Vélorution MTL and Trajectoire Québec’s newsletters to stay informed with their organizational efforts, and keep expressing your support for projects at risk of being defunded, like the Sustainability Development Plan 2025, and the STM’s plans for universal accessibility. Spread awareness, discuss, and voice your discontent with friends and peers, all while keeping a close eye on the changes related to the STM that are sure to be announced in the coming months.

Montrealers deserve a public transit system that is better funded and higher prioritized by its governing powers. It is our duty to continuously and emphatically remind the CAQ that their actions not only dismiss the interests of their constituents, but actively harm the very foundational institutions of our city.

advertising & general manager

Letty Matteo

ad layout & design

Alyx Postovskiy

Read us online! website Facebook Instagram twitter

www.mcgilldaily.com www.facebook.com/themcgilldaily @mcgilldaily / @thedailymtl @mcgilldaily

CONTACT US All contents © 2023 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec.

ISSN 1192-4608.

Coordinating NEWS COMMENTARY CULTURE FEATURES SCI+TECH SPORTS

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com news@mcgilldaily.com commentary@mcgilldaily.com culture@mcgilldaily.com features@mcgilldaily.com scitech@mcgilldaily.com sports@mcgilldaily.com

Managing PHOTOs ILLUSTRATIONS DESIGN + PRODUCTION COPY WEB + Social Media MULTIMEDIA

managing@mcgilldaily.com visuals@mcgilldaily.com visuals@mcgilldaily.com design@mcgilldaily.com copy@mcgilldaily.com socialmedia@mcgilldaily.com multimedia@mcgilldaily.com

4

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

Quebec Government Announces Changes to Proposed Tuition Increase McGill remains opposed to new proposal

Sena Ho News Staff Writer

O

n December 14, the Quebec government revealed changes to the tuition increases previously announced in October. These amendments seek to make out-ofprovince students pay 33 per cent more than their current tuition, an increase of $8,992 to $12,000.

Despite this increase being less than the initial proposal of $17,000, it remains nearly double the amount of out-of-province prices compared to programs at the University of British Columbia or the University of Toronto.

McGill officials anticipate major financial repercussions arising from this decision. Following the announcement, McGill President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini wrote in a letter to staff and students that through these actions, “Quebec’s reputation around the world will be — and indeed, already is — tarnished.”

The reduction from the previously announced tuition increase is coupled with a clause that requires 80 per cent of students from Englishspeaking institutions to develop intermediate French proficiency by the time they graduate – a Level 5 oral capability measured by being able to hold a conversation.

Following the announcement, McGill President and ViceChancellor Deep Saini claimed in a letter to staff and students that through these actions, “Quebec’s reputation around the world will be—and indeed, already is— tarnished.”

If anglophone universities are unable to reach the required French-speaking standards, they run the risk of having their provincial funding reduced.

Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry’s statement also revealed an agenda to increase minimum tuition fees for international students from $9,000 to $17,000, nearly twice the previous legal floor. Although McGill’s international tuition is already more than $20,000, above the provincially-set minimum, the government will also now require universities to remit $5,000 per international student to the Ministry of Higher Education, which could disincentivize universities to admit international students. Of the total $407 million the Quebec government earned from international students between 2019 and 2020, 70 per cent came from English universities.

The Ministry believes their tax on international students will “better support the French-speaking network [of universities] in strategic areas for the Québec economy.”

Bishop’s University will be allowed to keep its out-ofprovince tuition rates at $9,000 per year. The Principal and ViceChancellor Sébastien LebelGrenier stated that the institution was able to “convince the Quebec government that we and the students we welcome to campus from the rest of Canada are not a threat to the French language but rather an essential part of what makes our region unique.”

These tuition hikes will apply to incoming students for the 2024–25 school year, with mandatory French classes set to be implemented the year after.

Saini finds the government’s decision to be incompatible with the institution’s goals of opening doors to “students from across Canada and around the world.”

He believes that the recent policy is “far worse” than what was first proposed in October because, he says, the government is being influenced by “impressions and emotions, rather than evidencebased decision making.”

Such measures, the McGill administration anticipates, will have devastating consequences on student enrollment, on annual revenue, and ultimately on McGill’s global reputation.

First-year student Mara Gibea examined how these increases would impact the choices of those

Eric Duivenvoorden | Visuals Editor she knows who are considering McGill for university. She stated that, “this causes them to look elsewhere, such as outside the country, making their career paths more difficult considering they would like to build lives in Canada.” Those who seek to experience francophone culture at these English-speaking institutions still face a greater financial burden, removing McGill as a viable possibility for their higher education. In fact, McGill has already witnessed at least a 20 per cent drop in applications from out-of-province prospects, Dr. Saini revealed at an event hosted by Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal this past December.

Quebec has long been protective of its French culture. Thus, these “targeted attacks,” per Saini, are a part of a larger effort to get foreign students more acclimated to Quebec society. Déry claimed that the government aims to “correct the financial imbalance between the anglophone and francophone university network and ensure a better retention and integration rate of Canadian and international students to Quebec society.”

This “correction” anticipates around $110 million a year of extra funds to be redistributed, especially to French-language universities, in order to uphold

the French language.

Results of this shift have the potential to rupture the whole Quebec economy, observed McGill deputy provost Fabrice Labeau. “There is an established underfunding of the university system as compared to other provinces in Canada by CA$1.4 billion per year [...] taking a lot of money from two universities and then redistributing it to every French university in Québec is not solving the real problem,” Labeau told University World News.

Prior to the sudden tuition changes, McGill had planned on launching Rayonnement du français, a language initiative that would allow for easier integration of non-francophone students into Quebec society. In order to implement this plan, the institution would have put aside over $50 million over the next five years. However, Dr. Saini finds the school amidst “​​financial uncertainty” complicating its “ability to launch this initiative.”

Despite its troubles, McGill recently launched a $3,000 Canada Award that will offset the tuition increases for incoming out-ofprovince students, in an attempt to make tuition approximate to 2023– 2024 levels. Around 80 per cent of these students are eligible for the new award, applicable for those studying in Arts, Architecture, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Education, Music,

McGill has already witnessed at least a 20 per cent drop in applications from out-of-province prospects.

Science, and Nursing.

Although McGill is attempting to mitigate the impending damage, there is no telling just how significantly the tuition increases could affect not just McGill but Quebec higher education as a whole. In response, McGill is taking measures to ward against devastating impacts that the government’s proposal could have on the institution’s budget and reputation.

Still, worry looms over students and staff. Gibea expressed her concern regarding the institution’s reputation: “without the diverse student population that Montreal is known for, less students will be inclined to build a life in the province and facilitate the province’s economy, as well as their inclination to learn French.

By restricting financial equity for anglophones there is a restriction of opportunity for all.”

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

5

New Year, New Wages TAs rally to kick off bargaining process

Emma Bainbridge Coordinating News Editor

TAs at McGill s a new semester begins, currently make the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill $33.08 per hour, (AGSEM) will resume bargaining with McGill for a new collective agreement but are asking for teaching assistants (TAs). On January 16, AGSEM marked the first for an increase to day of bargaining by holding a rally outside of Roddick Gates and the $46.36 per hour.

A

McGill Human Resources office at 680 Sherbrooke. Under their slogan “New Year, New Wages”, they will be prioritizing monetary demands this semester, including a substantial wage increase for TAs. Cal Koger-Pease, a member of the Bargaining Support Committee, said that so far, bargaining has been going well for AGSEM. “We were able to get through almost all of our non-monetary demands,” they said in an interview with the Daily. Some of the non-monetary demands included increased protection for sexual harassment and discrimination as well as the right for TAs to use their preferred name when applying for positions.

Emma Mckay, AGSEM’s mobilization officer, also told the Daily that “we didn’t expect it to go so well so fast.” They explained that AGSEM

started the bargaining process with the non-monetary demands because they were the most likely to be met. They sent the university their monetary proposal in December, and are hoping to receive a counter-proposal shortly.

To mark the beginning of the bargaining for this semester, AGSEM members first gathered in front of Roddick Gates and eventually marched down the street to 680 Sherbrooke.

Here, members of AGSEM and the Coalition of Resistance for a United Student Movement (CRUES), a provincial student union, gave speeches to the crowd. Bargaining Committee member Dallas Jokic also led a singalong of the American union song “Solidarity Forever” with lyrics tailored to AGSEM’s campaign.

Mckay describes the bargaining

All AGSEM members are allowed to attend bargaining meetings, and speakers at the rally encouraged TAs to accompany the Bargaining Committee to their negotiations.

Emma Bainbridge | Coordinating News Editor process as very participatory. AGSEM consulted with their members through surveys to understand what they wanted out of the process. In addition to the three members of the Bargaining Committee, there was also a Bargaining Support Committee composed of ten additional people helping to develop the proposals. All AGSEM members are allowed to attend bargaining meetings, and speakers at the rally encouraged TAs to accompany the Bargaining Committee to their negotiations.

Koger-Pease was involved in organizing TA participation in the bargaining process. They said that up

Emma Bainbridge | Coordinating News Editor

to ten TAs have been attending the bargaining in person, with a few more joining online.

“It’s been a lot more exciting than I expected,” they said when describing the negotiations. “Everyone obviously has so much they’re fighting for, versus McGill [who’s] just kind of doing their job.”

Nevertheless, Koger-Pease is still nervous now that the union is bigger, as monetary demands are now on the table. TAs at McGill currently make $33.08 per hour, but are asking for an increase to $46.36 per hour. This

“When we show our fellow workers and McGill that we have the capacity to bargain for these life-changing demands, that would be a historic moment in negotiations with McGill.”

- Emma Mckay

number was obtained by averaging the pay rates at other research universities, such as the University of Toronto, Queen’s, McMaster, and Carleton, who all pay their TAs between $40-$50 per hour. In a previous interview with the Daily, Mckay stated that current wages are insufficient to meet the cost of living, saying that members were having difficulty affording food, rent, and medical care.

Mckay hopes that if negotiations are successful, it will set a precedent for other TA unions in Montreal. For example, Concordia TAs currently earn less than their counterparts at McGill. Mckay believes this is “totally unacceptable for the same high quality education.” They hope that if AGSEM can win a significant raise, this will help Concordia TAs fight for the same demand.

“When we show our fellow workers and McGill that we have the capacity to bargain for these life-changing demands, that would be a historic moment in negotiations with McGill,” McKay said.

The McGill Media Relations Office told the Daily that “McGill will not make any comments regarding the current discussions and will let the negotiation process run its course.”

There will be a TA Assembly on monetary negotiations on January 30, where AGSEM members will discuss and vote on future steps in the bargaining process. TAs interested in getting involved in bargaining can sign up at www.agsem.ca/open-bargaining.

6

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

NEWS

100 Days

A gallery of protests for Palestine Frida Sofia Morales Mora | Social Media Editor

October 20, 2023.

Protest Outside Francois Legault’s Office

October 22, 2023 Palestine is Calling You

“If I must die let it bring hope let it be a tale.”

- Dr. Refaat Alareer 1979-2023 December 23. 2023.

Honour our Flag. Honour our Martyrs

November 12, 2023.

Montreal All Out for Gaza

December 31, 2023.

No Celebration Until Liberation

January 14, 2024.

100 Day Protest with Queers for Palestine Cotingent

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Commentary

7

Not a Figment of Our Memory

We’ve ignored the sexualization of girls in the media for too long

Sena Ho Commentary Contributor

I

t is to no one’s surprise that commenting on women’s bodies in the media still persists. One could even assert that it has become the standard for rising stars to have their appearance take precedence over their talent, as has been the case for nearly every woman in the entertainment industry.

Despite the world, including the entertainment industry, shifting directions to become increasingly “woke” and supposedly aware of issues perpetuating today’s culture, the sexualization of female celebrities has remained constant.

Gender equality has been at the forefront of conversation over the past three decades, but the male gaze has yet to back down.

Throughout the years a single trend has remained the same: the younger a female celebrity is, the more sexualized they are. Society’s obsession with young, virginal girls has turned into an insidious epidemic — not only affecting the victims, but also reshaping beauty standards for generations to come.

While the sexualization of women in the media is nothing

Amina Batyreva | Visuals Contributor women again and get them to literally sign pledges for abstinence” — since “purity and virginity has always been something that’s

Despite growing awareness of the public’s inappropriate perception towards female celebrities, we can’t claim that sexualization is not prevalent in today’s cultural strata. new, its true repercussions became evident throughout Britney Spears’s career. Debuting at the age of seventeen, the young girl quickly became a pop sensation, a status which subjected her to the cruel judgment of the public eye.

Spears’ image screamed innocence while her songs placed deliberate emphasis on sexual innuendos.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one who played off of the “untouchable creature” stereotype, as Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore — to name a few — were also presented through this lens of naivety. In the manufactured entertainment industry of the 90s, it was almost a requirement to appeal to audiences as the virginal girl next door, arguably regressing progress made in women’s sexual independence. In fact, Dr. Jenna Drenten, an associate professor at Loyola University, found that the obsession with untainted female pop stars stemmed from a societal desire to take “control of these

been intermingled with women in the spotlight.”

Moving forward in time, the widespread popularity of child actors on the Disney channel gave way for another round of mass sexualization in the media, particularly for Selena Gomez.

After rising to fame through Wizards of Waverly Place, she turned to a career in music.

To thrive in this industry, the innocent young girl narrative was once again used to drive appeal and continued interest in Gomez.

Driven by a pressure to succeed, her sexuality was manipulated in album covers, music videos, and public appearances. This multilayered system of sexualization is dangerously insidious, in that it occurs both on behalf of entertainment companies and the masses who consume their media.

Gomez has acknowledged her role in this system as a young girl by saying, “I know they put you through a system and make you

feel like this is how you have to do it.” In the late 2000s and early 2010s, however, these structures of sexualization continued to be pushed under the rug. Although feminism was a popular movement during this time, we allowed these young girls to feel helpless at every turn in their career, further perpetuating their sexualization.

Despite growing awareness of the public’s inappropriate perception towards female celebrities, we can’t claim that sexualization is not prevalent in today’s cultural strata. Through the advent of social media, commenting on the bodies of young women has become so easy — drastically unlike how gossip and rumours spread in the 90s. Billie Eilish and Millie Bobby Brown have both spoken out about their struggles and how society has treated them. Brown noticed the shift between the sexualized remarks she received when underaged and those made upon her turning eighteen, which abolished her previous “untouchable” status.

One particular moment she noted in an interview with Teen Vogue were the extreme reactions from online users over her wearing a low-cut dress. Such behaviour continues to reflect the stereotypes of pop star virginal identity that was so strongly emphasized nearly 30 years ago: our culture has yet to change.

The roots of our collective ignorance on this issue stem from the proliferation of patriarchal views that are projected onto women and girls in the media and

entertainment industries. The “ideal” standards of femininity, such as being docile, naive, and obedient, are pushed onto those in the spotlight, turning these figures into distorted representations of women. It is another effort to control women’s self-expression and individuality by limiting promiscuity and allowing men to believe that these girls hope for

Without a critical reassessment of the current social structures where women face perpetual scrutiny for their every opinion and action, misogyny will keep thriving. their virginity to be taken from them. This toxic coming-of-age narrative is also interwoven into every young-adult plot line — such as Laney Boggs in She’s All That, or Josie Geller in Never Been Kissed — always showcasing the female characters’ desire to engage in sexual or romantic behaviour.

Without a critical reassessment of

the current social structures where women face perpetual scrutiny for their every opinion and action, misogyny will keep thriving.

Dismantling our inherent biases is no easy feat, but it first requires an acknowledgement of the harm being done towards these victims of sexualization.

Although Billie Eilish has been a target of the same sexualization process that most young female celebrities have gone through, her resistance to being seen in such a light has created a slight shift in the overall perception of female musicians. By emphasizing individual choices and freedom — in constantly changing her manner of dress or speaking her mind — she has caused a rift in the image of innocent femininity in the media.

Her choice to rebel against roles women have traditionally been forced into opens the door for women to achieve success in ways other than the overt selling of their sexuality. While those gates have not completely widened, this shift can at least provide hope for a future world where women don’t have to face the scathing pain of being sexualized by the male gaze before anything else. For now, the first step entails acknowledging that internalized misogyny within the media has been woven throughout our history like a thread. It exists faintly in our memory: ignored, repressed, and avoided.

8

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

CULTURE

Why We Should Care About Gonzo Journalism The legacy of subjective reporting

Sara McMurray Culture Contributor

H

unter S. Thompson once called his sensational 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a “failed experiment.” If creating a new form of journalism — one that continues to influence writers 50 years later — is a failure, it’s hard to imagine what he would consider a success. In fact, I would argue that Thompson’s unique style of “gonzo” journalism is even more deeply relevant today than it was during its development in the 1970s.

Gonzo journalism can be defined as a style of journalism in which the reporter inserts themselves directly into the story they are reporting on, in order to relate events as they experienced them. It contrasts mainstream journalism whereby the reporter strives to remain as neutral and detached as possible.

and lived with the biker gang for nearly a year. Reflecting on this time, he said: “I was no longer sure whether I was doing research on the Hell’s Angels or being slowly absorbed by them.”

This would set an important precedent for the style: the writer of gonzo journalism is typically an integral part of the action being reported on. While the origin of the term “gonzo” is contested, an editor for the Boston Globe was supposedly the first to use the phrase in relation to Thompson, claiming that it was “South Boston Irish slang describing the last man standing after an all-night drinking marathon.”

Thompson’s most famous piece of gonzo journalism is his generation- defining novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Upon publication in 1971, the book immediately became a journalistic sensation and catapulted Thompson to

Against this backdrop, gonzo journalism is unique in that it recognizes and leans into – rather than tries to escape – its inherent subjectivity.

It is transparent in its intentions: to relay the particular experience of the reporter in a specific time and place, explicitly filtered through that person’s perception.

Even if journalism can rarely achieve true objectivity in the strictest sense, this does not stop news outlets from professing to report the “Truth” with a capital “T.” Against this backdrop, gonzo journalism is unique in that it recognizes and leans into – rather than tries to escape – its inherent subjectivity. It is transparent in its intentions: to relay the particular experience of the reporter in a specific time and place, explicitly filtered through that person’s perception.

In doing so, gonzo journalism steers clear of some of the pitfalls encountered by traditional, “objective” journalism.

The manner in which gonzo journalism came to exist says a lot about the key tenets of the style.

Thompson began developing what would become his defining MO in 1965, while working on an article covering the inside world of the motorcycle gang the Hell’s Angels. In order to write the piece, Thompson infiltrated

notoriety. Fast-paced, shocking, and at times viscerally disgusting (but always maddeningly wellwritten), Fear and Loathing is unlike anything I’ve read before.

Thompson provides a hedonistic snapshot of 70s America smack in the middle of the “drug era”.

In Thompson’s words, it became “a savage journey into the heart of the American Dream.”

From the first page, Thompson’s frantic prose grabs you by the neck and doesn’t let go for a second. One might characterize the experience of reading Fear and Loathing as the literary equivalent of an acid trip – a fitting metaphor given how central drug use is to the narrative. Thompson quickly abandons any pretense of covering the story he’s actually been sent to report on, and instead documents the protagonist and his attorney’s drug-fueled hijinks, which frequently put them dangerously at odds with the law. In the second half of the

Eric Duivenvoorden | Visuals Editor book, the pair is sent to cover the national drug law enforcement convention where things go even further off the rails.

Fear and Loathing’s use of gonzo journalism is both hilarious and deeply critical.

With a self-effacing, irreverent tone, the protagonist offers a biting satire of the deeply flawed society he finds himself in. We get the feeling that the morally reprehensible protagonist is himself part of this satire; he is, in his drug-addled, chaotic, messy way, the ultimate product of this society. It is hard to imagine a more scathing and honest critique of 1970s drug culture in America, than one provided by a mescalineriddled, broke journalist who has somehow infiltrated a drug enforcement conference.

You might be asking yourself: what use do we have for gonzo journalism in 2024? In resolutely resisting the pervasive journalistic urge to take oneself seriously, gonzo journalism is able to provide insightful, personal coverage on extremely serious topics. Although reporting in general still holds up objectivity as the gold standard, there is a growing tension over how

to define objectivity that is becoming hard to ignore. In our media-saturated modern world, it is hard if not impossible to find reporting not coloured by political ideology, the need for views, or the propagation of

would argue that elements of the style have increasingly leaked into mainstream reporting. A lot of online-only journalism or quasi-journalism, such as the content found on sites like Medium, is moving away

In resolutely resisting the pervasive journalistic urge to take oneself seriously, gonzo journalism is able to provide insightful, personal coverage on extremely serious topics. a certain agenda. In addition, as we increasingly recognize the impact of experience and situatedness, among other contextual influences, a key reality becomes clear: there may be no such thing as objective journalism. In the words of Thompson: “Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”

So what does gonzo journalism look like today? While specific publications devoted entirely to gonzo journalism have now emerged, such as Gonzo Today, I

from a traditional journalistic expectation of objectivity – more and more we see stories of regular people, telling it like they saw it. Over 50 years after Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas took the journalism world by storm, gonzo journalism is alive and well.

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Culture

9

Five Editions of House of Flame and Shadow is Unbridled Capitalism Bloomsbury Publishing unethically targets readers’ pockets

Maverick Medeiros Culture Contributor

S

arah J. Maas’ newest book House of Flame and Shadow, the third in her Crescent City book series, is set to release on January 30. With sales reaching 38 million and her books translated in 38 different languages, Maas is arguably one of the most popular authors in the world right now. The excitement for her latest release is akin to the hype that surrounded J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series or Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight.

Having previously only written young adult fantasy, Crescent City, which is targeted at adults, saw Maas turn a new leaf in her literary career.

You may be asking yourself: what is so objectionable about Sarah J. Maas releasing a new book? The issue lies not with the book itself, but with how her publishing company, Bloomsbury Publishing, is handling its release.

Instead of publishing one edition of the book, Bloomsbury will be releasing five different editions on January 30. Each edition will be unique to a specific retailer – Barnes & Noble, Books-aMillion, Target, Walmart, and select indie bookstores will each receive a different edition of the book each featuring unique bonus chapters. Basically, every edition has a unique chapter related to a handful of characters in the book.

If you want to experience the book in its entirety, you will have to buy it five times.

to do so? These bonus chapters easily could have been compiled into a novella that would have retailed at a much lower cost than a main entry in the series. Instead, Bloomsbury has decided to set the retail price of House of Flame and Shadow at a whopping $42 CAD. If you want to read all of the bonus chapters, you will have to fork out over $200.

The frustrating reality of this stunt by Bloomsbury is that they are clearly aiming to capitalize on the loyalty of Sarah J. Maas’ literary fan base. The publishing house is aware that her loyal readers are passionate and willing to go above and beyond to support their favourite author. Publishers used to release signed editions of books in limited quantities to appeal to loyal readers. But it seems that they have now found a new way to exploit consumers.

The success of Bloomsbury’s stunt ultimately lies in the hands of book buyers. If their response to these exclusive editions is muted, it could leave some stores with dead stock and discourage If readers want to experience other companies from following the whole gamut of the Crescent this model. However, if the gamut City universe, why are they being is successful, this marketing forced to jump through hoops ploy might set a dangerous

Instead of publishing one edition of the book, Bloomsbury will be releasing five different editions on January 30.

Olivia Shan | Coordinating Editor precedent for the publishing industry. It could even attract scalpers who will buy the book en masse and sell it at inflated prices – a process covered in the Daily article “It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism.” Regardless, it is guaranteed to anger fans, some of whom might opt out of buying the book altogether.

It remains to be seen whether or not these additional chapters will have any bearing on the release of the fourth book in the series. Nevertheless, the release of all of these special editions

recent years, this is the wrong way of going about it.

Bloomsbury’s actions might lead you to believe that they are experiencing financial troubles, but this is far from the truth. The first half of the 2023 fiscal year was actually the most successful in the company’s history. In fact, Bloomsbury’s revenue increased by 17% in 2023, with a 79% increase in sales of Sarah J. Maas’ books being cited as one of the driving forces behind standards and morals – just as the company’s success. This Bloomsbury has done here. The marketing stunt has nothing to average Maas reader just wants to read the full book without all these shenanigans. In a day and age where people consistently bemoan that young people don’t read as much as past generations, why is a major publishing house setting up obstacles to prevent readers from fully enjoying such a popular series? Instead of price is worrisome. Has this practice do with helping Bloomsbury stay gouging their readers, Bloomsbury set an industry standard where afloat: it is just another example of should be prioritizing efforts to widen access to books for the selling multiple exclusive editions unbridled capitalism.

No matter how much profit average person. Being well-read of one book is the norm? Will people be required to buy the a company makes they always should never depend on how same book multiple times to be seem to find a way to cut corners many editions of a book you can earnings. In the afford to buy. able to enjoy the full story? If you to increase want to incentivize people to buy headlong pursuit of perpetually print books to compensate for the increasing profits, companies general decline in book sales in are willing to cast aside their

The frustrating reality of this stunt by Bloomsbury is that they are clearly aiming to capitalize on the loyalty of Sarah J. Mass’ literary fanbase.

Being well-read should never depend on how many editions of a book you can afford to buy.

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

SCI+Tech

10

Silicon or Graphene?

Carbon-based semiconductors could revolutionize the chip industry

Andrei Li Sci+Tech Editor

I

f materials were comic book heroes, then graphene would be Superman. A sheet of carbon — just one atom thick — is over 200 times stronger than steel, transparent, incredibly flexible, and a perfect conductor of heat and electricity.

Now, according to a new Nature article, it could even usurp silicon as the most important element in all modern electronics, from smartphones to the most powerful supercomputers.

Researchers from the Tianjin International Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems at Tianjin University in China (TICNN), and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US were able to make graphene behave as a semiconductor, a material that can alternate between conducting and blocking electricity.

Professor Ma Lei, team cohead and director of the TICNN, says that this breakthrough “can truly make graphene electronics practical in the future.”

In the last century, silicon proved quintessential to the development of modern electronics because of its ability to regulate the flow of electrons: stopping them or allowing them to pass like a traffic light.

All electronic devices are based on the motion of electrons, tiny, negatively-charged particles that swarm around an atom.

Conductors allow electrons to move freely inside the material,

Eric Duivenvoorden | Visuals Editor while insulators prevent the electrons from moving at all.

Semiconductors are special in that they can be “switched” to behave as either an insulator or a conductor.

Think of an atom as a kitchen cabinet. In atoms, electrons must stay within their shelves and can only move back and forth between them. Above the valence shell — the

Think of an atom as a kitchen cabinet. In atoms, electrons must stay within their shelves and can only move back and forth between them. Above the valence shell — the highest “shelf” within the atom — exists the conduction band, which allows electrons to flow between atoms. Imagine two cabinets side by side, with their tops sitting flush: the two units are effectively connected, allowing you to slide an object — your electron — from one cabinet onto the other.

highest “shelf” within the atom — exists the conduction band, which allows electrons to flow between atoms. Imagine two cabinets side by side, with their tops sitting flush: the two units are effectively connected, allowing you to slide an object — your electron — from one cabinet onto the other.

In conductors, the valence band and the conduction band are linked (electrons can move freely to and over the top of both cabinets). In insulators, electrons cannot easily move out of their valence bands and into the conduction band (electrons are stuck in the shelves underneath).

In semiconductors, the valence and conduction bands have a narrow band gap. At low energy, the semiconductor behaves like an insulator: valence electrons cannot escape to the conduction band. However, if you inject energy (i.e. photons) into the atom, its electrons can easily jump onto the conduction band and begin moving between atoms, as in a conductor.

Graphene and other carbonbased materials have long been pursued as an alternative to silicon.

The problem with graphene is that it is a perfect conductor: zero band gap with electrons freely travelling around, making it unsuitable for the same applications.

Research has since worked on synthesizing a graphene-based material which does exhibit

this band gap. In 2001 Walter de Heer, Regent’s Professor of Physics at Georgia Tech and co-head of the research team, proposed the possibility that epitaxial graphene, a type of graphene formed by heating silicon carbide crystals, could be used to construct this band gap. The first layer formed by this process, which still remains attached to the crystal, behaves as an insulator. In theory, if this first layer was extracted and then overlaid onto a second sheet of regular, conducting epigraphene, the resulting material would behave as a semiconductor.

Picture leaping over a puddle of mud: with enough speed, you could avoid the slow trudge across the insulating layer and simply jump across.

Over the next two decades, de Heer’s team at Georgia Tech worked with nanoscience researchers at Tianjin University to refine this production technique.

A major hurdle was low quality of epigraphene: the insulating layers produced were riddled with imperfections. To resolve this, the researchers employed “quasiequilibrium annealing,” baking the silicon carbide crystals at a precise series of temperatures to produce a smooth insulating layer. Now, for the first time, scientists were able to implant the band gap in graphene, by welding the insulating and conducting layers together.

“The reason our research is valued is that it can truly make graphene electronics practical in the future and remove the biggest obstacle [to its commercialization],” explains Ma. However, he cautions that graphene still needs to undergo further testing and commercialization: it might take 1015 years for it to be able to compete with silicon in the industry.

In addition to replacing silicon, the advent of graphene-based chips would transform all of modern electronics. Graphene is able to conduct electrons along its edges, allowing future chips to no longer contain metal wires.

Moreover, the average distance travelled by electrons through graphene is several times the distance in silicon. This allows the electrons to exhibit quantum properties like interference, which has crucial applications in quantum computing.

“To me, this is like a Wright brothers moment,” says de Heer.

He notes that planes were “the beginning of a technology that can take people across oceans,” and that the same could happen with graphene-based electronics.

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

compendium!

11

SNOW HOROSCOPES Aries

Taurus

Gemini

(Mar 21 Apr 19)

(Apr 20 May 20)

(May 21 Jun 20)

That tension brewing with your roommates? Sort it out with a snowball Fight!

It’s okay to eat snow. Just make sure it’s not yellow.

Build an epic snowman that will make passersby stop in their tracks!

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

(Jun 21 Jul 22)

(Jul 23 Aug 22)

(Aug 23 Sept 22)

Rain is so last season! It’s time for a dramatic love confession in a snowstorm!

It’s hard to look good and stay warm in winter, but you’ll give it your best shot.

Making snow angels will help reduce your stress levels.

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

(Sept 23 Oct 22)

(Oct 23 Nov 21)

(Nov 22 Dec 21)

Sledding is a great idea if you’re looking for an adrenaline rush.

Treat yourself with a DIY Finnish-style sauna experience.

now’s a Great time to ambush your nemesis by throwing snow down their jacket!

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

(Dec 22 Jan 19)

(Jan 20 Feb 18)

(Feb 19 Mar 20)

Winter cycling may seem daunting, but sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone.

Snow looks nice, but it’s not for you. Stay inside with a warm drink this winter.

time to invest in a good pair of winter boots!

January 22, 2024 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

THE MCGILL DAILY IS HIRING! DESIGN & PRODUCTION (1)

COPY (1)

The Design & Production Editor is responsible for the design, format, and layout of our print newspaper.

Experience in InDesign and Photoshop recommended.

The Copy Editor proofreads Daily articles for proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, and prose. They also update our style guide.

NEWS (3)

COMMENTARY (2)

News Editors are at the forefront of campus coverage. Always on the lookout for stories, they write and edit about breaking news at McGill, in Montreal, and in Quebec.

The Commentary section is where we publish opinions and letters. Editors are also responsible for the Compendium! section, in which we publish horoscopes, crosswords, and other fun things.

VIDEO (1)

RADIO (1)

The Video Editor will assist our Social Media Editor in generating video content and other promotional material for social media.

Do you like radio and podcasts? The Daily is seeking to revive our CKUT segment and launch our own podcast.

Sound editing skills recommended.

APPLICATIONS DUE AT 11:59 PM ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 26.

We are also hiring staff writers for all sections!

Any questions? Visit our website at mcgilldaily.com or attend one of our weekly pitch meetings on Tuesdays at 6:00 PM.

12