The Concordian VOLUME 39, ISSUE 8
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
Concordia cheerleading put on the map Cheerleading team will perform at Stingers home games donning new uniforms BY LIAM SHARP | Sports Editor
Before Monica Knaapen and Arianne Bellerive ushered Concordia’s cheerleading team through their first halftime show in over a year on Oct. 23, the pair took a moment before showtime to reel in their excitement and reflect on how far the club has come. “When I started, the cheerleading program wasn’t very stable,” said Knaapen, who currently studies political science at Concordia with a minor in human rights. “Once I started getting more involved with the team, my aspirations started to grow and over the years, [and] so did the club.” When the co-captains of the club for the second year in a row first set foot on campus back in 2017, they were coming from competitive cheerleading backgrounds at Dawson and Vanier. As first-year students, they welcomed the notion of participating in Concordia’s cheerleading club despite the university’s lack of enthusiasm for the sport. “Other universities have bigger cheerleading programs that are backed by their schools,” said Bellerive, who graduated from Concordia with a degree in sociology in 2021. “But it didn’t bother me because I was competing for so many years, I figured I could use a break.” At the time, the team coordinated outfits but did not have a
uniform they could call theirs. The girls would make appearances at sporting events but wouldn’t perform. The club merely existed, but didn’t push the envelope and left a lot to be desired by Knaapen, Bellerive, and some of the other passionate veterans that are still involved with the team today. This year, cheerleading tryouts were held in September and saw over 70 students
try out for the team, the biggest turnout in the last four years. According to Knaapen, of the 26 girls that made the final team, eight are returning veterans who will steer the team’s fresh talent in the right direction. “The fitness coordinator, social media and events coordinator, team manager, and treasurer are all positions on the team that are delegated to our returning team members. It’s a
News
Commentary
Features
Arts
Music
Due to supply chain delays some textbooks will arrive late
You Have Two New Notifications: Social media and self-esteem
Gaëtan Ouellet’s life inspires him to support those in need
Creation of an Ethereal World will challenge your perceptions
Tyler Shaw opens up about new music and touring
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lot of work but thankfully we’re up to the task,” Bellerive said. As co-captain, Bellerive said that her responsibilities go above and beyond allocating the team’s budget and coordinating with Concordia athletics. “There’s a lot of stuff that Monica and I are constantly dealing with behind the scenes,” Bellerive said. “But I think most importantly, we try to be there for the girls if ever
they need emotional support.” In the last four years, the co-captains have faithfully worked towards putting Concordia on the cheerleading map. When they performed their first halftime show in early 2020, Knaapen said the amount of attention the club received immediately afterwards was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Continued on page 19
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News
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian
Concordia bookstore prepares for textbook delays next semester Due to supply chain delays some textbooks will arrive late BY HANNAH TIONGSON | Staff Writer
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the global supply chain, causing a global book shortage. The supply chain issue began with a paper shortage triggered by the high demand for wood pulp that is used to make paper. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of wood pulp has gone up 49.4 per cent over the past year, and the cost of paper has gone up 16.4 per cent. A report from the printing company Sheridan states the price of wood pulp rose from $700–$750 per metric ton in 2020 to almost $1,200 per metric ton in 2021. A lumber shortage caused delays in obtaining materials to make paper, which led to a price increase. The paper and labour shortages in warehouses caused more problems for the printing industry and further delayed the production of books and shipping. These problems contributed to textbook delays in universities and colleges around Canada for the fall semester. “This was definitely not a shock or surprise to anyone,” said Rachel Rainville, Concordia bookstore manager at the downtown Book Stop. “We knew it was coming and we just prepared ourselves and I think we were prepared really well there.” Rainville says there weren’t many shortages at the store. The Concordia bookstores used different
vendors and shared stock between locations to ensure that students had access to their textbooks. “I just made sure to have enough books for everyone. We knew it’s gonna take a while for these books to come in. So we made sure to order for everyone.” Though some books were delayed, digital books offered a solution. “That’s been a great support from the publishers digitizing their books and making sure that the materials are always available. So we’re seeing more of a shift to rental and digital sales.” Among the students who chose to purchase digital books, Camila Caridad Rivas, a third-year journalism student, purchased the digital version of her textbook after an employee told her the book was no longer printed, and she should look elsewhere for a digital copy. “I looked into it and found the digital book, but it was shocking. What if there hadn’t been an ebook version of an essential textbook I needed? I’m just glad that wasn’t my case,” Rivas explained. Though the Concordia bookstore did not face many major issues in receiving textbooks, Rainville is confident all students will get their textbooks in time next semester. The staff is already asking professors for their book lists, and they’re starting to place orders earlier than usual to anticipate any delays. “We always encourage rental as well because rental, you know, really helps the students save money and then they just bring the book back to us, so we still have that book,” Rainville suggested.
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Iqaluit water crisis The state of emergency in the capital of Nunavut continuesv BY FERN CLAIR | Assistant News Editor
A state of emergency was called in Iqaluit on Oct. 12 when evidence of fuel was found in the city’s water supply; the Nunavut minister of health has extended the state of emergency until Oct. 28. Iqaluit is the capital city of Nunavut, with a population of more than 7,500 people, and the highest population of Inuit of any Canada city, with over 3,900 Inuit people living there. Residents of the city have been advised not to drink or cook with the tap water, even boiled or filtered, as the tap water is not safe for consumption. According to an article in Nunatsiaq News, residents began complaining on Facebook of foul-smelling tap water on Oct. 2. The source of the fuel contamination is still under investigation. As the crisis continues, hospitals are unable to wash or sterilize their equipment. Iqaluit Deputy Mayor Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster explained in a Twitter thread that, because of the water crisis and the pandemic, some patients have had to be medivaced to Ottawa.
One medivac can cost over $40,000. “The current state of emergency in Iqaluit has impacted our only hospital’s ability to provide my mum’s urgently required procedure because the equipment that is needed can not be safely sterilized due to the fuel in the water,” tweeted Brewster. Nunavut CBC reporters Jackie McKay and Pauline Pemik believe that this water crisis is tied to infrastructure gaps between the Arctic and the rest of Canada, as well as the impacts of climate change in the region and the failure of the federal government. The issue has reached Canada-wide, with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, along with NDP MP for Nunavut, Lori Idlout, sharing in a public statement, “The federal government must immediately respond to the state of emergency in Iqaluit due to a contaminated water supply.” The statement explained that having access to clean water is a common issue in rural and remote communities, specifically in Northern areas and Indigenous communities. The Federal government responded to the crisis on Oct. 22 by sending the Canadian Armed Forces to help provide and distribute clean drinking water in Iqaluit.
News
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 PROTEST
Why is it important to
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open up dance floors?
“There’s a huge amount of pent-up energy amongst all the people you see here and beyond, and this is their way of expressing themselves and feeling alive. Of course it’s in a way that’s not safe during the pandemic, but at the earliest opportunity there’s a subculture here that is needed for so many things. For communities, social connections, fun, partying, and mental health.” - AMIANI JOHNS (BELOW)
“Music, dancing, it’s a form of language, a way of communicating, so it’s really important to not deprive people of that. Some people spend all week at their office job, and going out at night is their way of escaping.”
“We have to dance, dancing is life. We need to dance, it’s so important. I work at a music label so we have to dance. Music is convening, dancefloors are unifying. A DJ that mixes in front of people sitting down, that makes no sense.” - KAROLINE DUCHESNE (BELOW)
INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS BY ALEXIS FIOCCO | Contributor
INTRO BY ZACHARY FORTIER | Staff Writer
On Saturday, Oct. 23, thousands of Montrealers danced the day away to protest Quebec Premier François Legault’s handling of the city’s nightclubs. The event was hosted by The Social Dance Coalition, welcoming frustrated nightlife employees and local party lovers alike.
“People need to dance, people need to get out of their apartments, it’s their right and it’s their choice, that’s it that’s all.”
- LAURANNE DALLAIRE (BELOW) - HASSAN ALSHAIKHI (BELOW)
“The people need dancing to externalise many pains that they acquired through this pandemic. I know it’s extra, amongst all the freedoms we have, this is extra and not essential, but it’s needed after a great time of pain. We need to open up the dance floors!”
“It’s important for people to be physically active. Dancing is the best activity that is both good for the mind and for the body.” - MATTHIEU (CENTER RIGHT)
- OLIVIER GAUTHIER-FARLEY (CENTER LEFT)
“Dance floors are part of our culture, and if we don’t open up soon, this part is going to disappear. And there’s so much art attached to it and it’s been like this for so many years — generations, and we’re about to give it all up, when we see so many other things that are open, like Centre Bell which is full right now. And we’re here, we’re ready to dance, tell us to put our masks on, tell us to distance, we don’t care, we’re gonna do it!” - LIA BUREAU (ABOVE)
“Dancing is my life, it’s my passion, since forever. I miss dancing so much that I dance in my kitchen and I take a video of it and I post it on Facebook. Dancing is not a solitary thing, it’s nice to look at people and to be shown that people look at you, it’s the sharing and the expression of life, of love; I miss it so much. I don’t usually go to demonstrations but this one is important to me.” - MARIE BRUNET (ABOVE)
NEWS EDITOR BOGDAN LYTVYNENKO EVAN LINDSAY NEWS@THECONCORDIAN.COM ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR FERN CLAIR
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TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
The Concordian
U.S./Canada land border reopens Some hopeful travelers say that the opportunity to cross the U.S./Canada land border should have happened a while ago BY MÉLINA LÉVESQUE | Features Editor
The world’s longest undefended land border will re-open to fully vaccinated Canadians for non-essential travel on Nov. 8. The land border between Canada and the United States first closed on March 20, 2020. After 19 months, those with American friends and family or those just looking to get some cross-border shopping done will now be able to cross the land border. The news was a welcome breath of fresh air. Breanna Sherman, 23, normally visits her family in Florida once a year for the holidays, but border closures have barred her from doing so. “This December, it will have been two years since we last saw them,” said Sherman. Among the family who Sherman has missed is her cousin’s newborn daughter, born in May 2020, which the pandemic has kept her from meeting. “I hoped I would see her in December of 2020, but that didn’t happen,” said Sherman. “When I eventually meet her now, she’ll be one and a half, not even a baby anymore, which is sad.” “It will be fun to not only be in Florida for the first time in two years, but also continue that tradition of driving and sitting in the
car with my family for two days.” Michelle Lam, 22, says that although she’s enthusiastic about visiting the U.S. again, the lineups she expects at the border are worrying. “I feel like it’s going to be chaos at the border,” said Lam. “I’m kind of nervous about it.” While air travel into the United States has remained open to Canadians with proof of a negative COVID19 test administered three days before they travel, some feel that driving is a more affordable and easier alternative. “Not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford to fly. It’s just more accessible to everyone that wants to travel,” said Sherman. Lam shares Sherman’s sentiment, saying “I feel very safe travelling by land, because it’s me and my car driving across the border as opposed to flying in the States, where I have to go through an airport and sit in a tube with however many people for X amount of hours.” Before travellers get ready to hop over the border for a weekend, there are a few details to pay attention to. All travellers, whether coming in by land, sea, or air, must be fully vaccinated in order to enter the United States and are required to show their proof of vaccination. After speculation, the United States confirmed that travelers with a combination of either FDA-approved doses, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen, or those approved by the World Health Organization, which include AstraZeneca, are considered fully vaccinated. Travelers arriving by land or sea — that is by car, bus, boat, ferry or train — from the United States must provide proof of a negative PCR test taken 72 hours
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of their expected arrival into Canada. The news of the re-opening did not come without criticism from hopeful travelers. “It really makes no sense to me that it’s taken the U.S. this long to open the border,” said Sherman. “Not only are our vaccination rates way higher, but they could have just asked for proof of vaccination and a recently negative Covid test.” The Canadian government reopened its land border to U.S. travelers in early August. As it currently stands, 74 per cent of Canadians are considered fully vaccinated, compared to 57 per cent of Americans. Lily Cowper is a dual-citizen of the U.S. and Canada. She has flown to Florida and Virginia twice to visit her family since May 2021. Her travels did not come without complications. “Everytime I went, there was so much drama,” said Cowper. Cowper said that the cost and requirements for COVID-19 tests made visiting her family in the U.S. a cyclical headache. “Every time I went back and forth, I had to pay hundreds of dollars extra and had to change my flight,” Cowper explained. Cowper and her boyfriend went to
visit her family in Virginia in September. After taking multiple tests to ensure they received results in time for their return flight to Canada, the test that did come on time contained a lab error. As a result, they were turned away from their flight. Cowper says that she and her boyfriend each paid the equivalent of $300 CAD to receive a last-minute airport test to re-enter Canada. “I’m happy that they’re finally opening up [the land border] and I hope they drop the testing requirement,” said Cowper. The option to cross the land border into the U.S. without proof of a negative COVID-19 test is a cost-effective decision that Cowper says should have happened a while ago. “It’s about time. Why are we constantly living in the past if we’re vaccinated?” For Cowper, the opportunity to get in her car and drive to the U.S. could not come sooner. She says that the re-introduction of a more simplified way of travelling from one country to another is necessary. “This whole two years has been so complicated, the rules are always changing, they don’t make sense,” Cowper added. “All I want to do is visit my family.”
POLITICS
city released a statement in January 2020 effectively ousting Montgomery for failing to fire Harris. Harris expressed her disappointment in how Projet Montréal handled the allegations. “The problem is that Valérie Plante chose to side with the bureaucracy instead of siding with, at the time, what was her own teammate, Sue Montgomery, and in protecting me as a worker,” said Harris. By April 2020, the city launched an injunction against Montgomery, citing her refusal to obey the directives to cut Harris from her team. As revealed in a report from the Quebec Municipal Commission (CMQ), Montgomery promptly wrote to long-time borough director, Stéphane Plante, informing him that she would allow Harris to continue her duties as chief of staff. “In Canada we have the rule of law, where everyone has the right to a defense. My chief of staff has not had that.” said Montgomery during a borough council meeting in February 2020, defending her position to keep Harris on. The court ultimately ruled against Montgomery, ordering that Harris be removed from her post. Montgomery, unwilling to dismiss Harris, filed an appeal with Quebec’s Superior Court. She defended Harris, asserting that her second in command was the one being harassed — by Alain Bond. In December 2020, the initial verdict was overturned in Montgomery and Harris’ favour. The presiding Judge Synnott ruled that the comptroller general not only overstepped his bounds in demanding Harris’ dismissal, but also unnecessarily interfered with borough politics.
Political pariah finds a new party line Former staffer Annalisa Harris is Loyola’s newest candidate. BY KATHLEEN GANNON | Contributor
Caught in a public scandal, Annalisa Harris, former chief of staff to Côte-des-Neiges–NotreDame-de-Grâce borough mayor, Sue Montgomery, emerges as a candidate in the Loyola riding for the upcoming Municipal elections on Nov. 7. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNALISA Harris was accused of HARRIS workplace harassment in a report by Montreal’s comptroller general, Alain Bond. However, no formal complaints were ever filed, and the names were kept confidential. In his report, Bond urged for Harris’ immediate dismissal. Despite pressure from her party, Projet Montréal, Montgomery refused to fire Harris without allowing her the chance to defend herself, claiming the accusations were unfounded. In retaliation, the
Harris has since filed a lawsuit against Mayor Plante and the City of Montreal, seeking over $180,000 in defamatory damages. Following this, Harris and Montgomery were strong in their conviction to continue in politics. Soon, the two hatched a plan to form their own political party — Courage - Équipe Sue Montgomery. “Ultimately it strengthened my resolve to say the governance here is so broken. We have such a need for better leadership in the city of Montreal,” said Harris. In deciding values and instilling a positive culture within their party, the two worked together to recruit four other candidates and released a broad and comprehensive platform focused on local governance, environmental action, and community support. This includes affordable social housing projects and the creation of unarmed service teams to work alongside the police. Harris revealed that while she initially joined the team administratively, she soon realized she could translate her years of studying political science into a successful campaign in the Loyola district. “I didn’t really think of running until probably six months after we founded the party. For me, it really was a vehicle for the neighbourhood, and I didn’t see myself running until January 2021,” said Harris. While recognizing the many challenges she has faced over the past year and the emotional toll it has taken on her, Harris hopes to influence change in her riding. “That’s been the biggest challenge, the toll it’s taken on me personally,” Harris admitted. “Campaigning has actually been positive in a lot of ways, as someone who went through such a public scandal, because for me, it’s an opportunity to tell my story,” said Harris.
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 INTERNATIONAL
Since June 2021, the southern African nation of Eswatini has been fighting for democracy and economic justice while King Mswati III deploys lethal force against protesters. Having been in power since 1986, the king refuses to step down as the country experiences one of the most violent unrests in its history. Officially known as Swaziland until 2018, the citizens of Africa’s last absolute monarchy are rallying for major government reforms. These include a democratic selection process of Eswatini’s prime minister and the release of two members of Parliament, Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube, who were detained when the protests began. The Swazi police have fatally shot over 29 demonstrators this year, seized personal belongings, and brutally interrogated journalists in an attempt to silence the pro-democratic movement, according to Swazi journalist Cebelihle Mbuyisa. The protesters also responded with violence, looting grocery stores and committing arson in the country’s two largest cities. Tracey Dlamini, a 19-year-old university student in the capital Mbabane, described the gravity of the unrest to The Concordian, having witnessed these events unfold first-hand. “I was really shocked, I’ve never seen anything like this in Swaziland in my entire life,” she explained. “The police were shooting the whole night, using tear gas, throwing protesters in vans like they were animals. I couldn’t even sleep hearing those gunshots. [...] They shot even those who didn’t carry a weapon: small kids, mothers, fathers — everyone. All because we want one man to step down.” On Oct. 21, the kingdom shut down internet access nationwide amid the new wave of protests, while also restricting movement under the current curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Mswati III continues to rule with an iron grip, attempting to monopolize Eswatini’s economy for the royalty. “King Mswati is the law himself, he can’t be arrested. People are dying of hunger, some regions have no water, [...] and if you start a business and it’s successful, then the king will take it from you. He sees you as competition if you try to become rich,” Dlamini added. In 2019, the Swazi monarch purchased 19 luxury Rolls-Royce cars for his 15 wives, which amounted to $30 million. While Mswati III continues his lavish lifestyle, 63 per cent of Swazis live under the poverty line with an alarming 41 percent of the population being unemployed. The king himself referred to the protests as “satanic,” saying they are turning the country backwards. Still, the manifestations show no signs of slowing down, notably among high school and university students, while the path towards democracy remains complex for Eswatini. “We’re fighting for a democracy that has been deemed futile in so many African countries, like the neighbouring Lesotho,” said Georgia*, a Concordia student who grew up in Swaziland. “We need a system for ourselves which encompasses both the current system and a somewhat democratic one, and it’s intangible right now since emotions are high.” The student added that Eswatini’s humanitarian crises have often been overlooked by the United Nations and the West, causing the landlocked country of 1.2 million people to deal with rampant poverty on its own.
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Pro-democracy protests turn deadly in the Kingdom of Eswatini At least 29 killed, hundreds wounded in the nation’s fight against monarchy BY BOGDAN LYTVYNENKO | News Editor
“We need external forces to help, we need more awareness from the western world. They are the only ones who can actually bring democracy to reality in a country such as ours,” said Georgia. Earlier in June, Canada expressed its commitment to strengthen democratic institutions throughout the world at the G7 Summit in Cornwall, England. However, the Trudeau government has yet to address Eswatini’s ongoing violence or provide support for the fellow Commonwealth member. *To protect the subject’s identity, we are using their preferred pseudonym.
GRAPHIC BY LILY COWPER
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Commentary
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
SOCIAL MEDIA
Moms were wrong about blaming phones for headaches, when they should have blamed them for annihilating your self-esteem ARCHITA KAUSHAL | Contributor
Wednesday Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. was the exact time when I got two notifications on my phone. One was Duolingo reminding me that I was way behind on my French lessons. The other was a screen time report. Now, your author has a knack for making promises to do better next week, every week. But since I have been watching a lot of Ted Talks on self improvement these days, I decided to dig a little deeper and see which app was the culprit behind four out of five hours worth of daily screen time. It was none other than Instagram. I started falling down a rabbit hole of what else Instagram has done, besides distracting me from studying for midterms (and writing this article). The cons are not limited to one’s dwindling GPA and the incomplete lessons — academics is just the tip of the iceberg. Social media has set some unreC/STYLE
Perfume: (In)conspicuous consumption? If you spent $425 on a bottle of Baccarat Rouge 540 but didn’t get a compliment, did it ever really happen? AVIVA MAJERCZYK | Commentary Editor
I never used to be someone who cared much about fragrance — I probably owned three Bath & Body Works body sprays my entire teenage life, and since then, I’ve pretty much been a shower and out-the-door kind of gal. But, while others were baking bread or practicing their French in the latter half of the pandemic, I was starting down a much less productive, and much more expensive, road. Recently, I’ve been falling deep into the spending hole that is perfume. Ever since stumbling on the #Perfumetok hashtag on TikTok, a new consumption-based hobby has taken hold of me, and I can’t say I’m mad about it. I do largely blame TikTok for this (among many of my other ills). The platform is nothing if not amazing at selling you a very specific aesthetic goal over and over again. If Emelia, aka Professor Perfume, tells me that all I need to do to radiate “femme fatale” energy is to wear Mugler’s Alien — well, she makes a good point. In this way, fragrances function just like any other branded commodities — you buy them for the name and bottle as much as you buy for scent. According to
Allure, in some cases, the perfume is actually developed with the bottle’s shape and colour in mind before the scent inside is even formulated. Fabien Baron, the designer, photographer, and filmmaker behind Calvin Klein’s CK One fragrance told Allure that a perfume’s image is generally more important than the scent itself when determining the success of a fragrance launch. Further, with the perfume industry being largely dominated by premium (ie. designer and niche house) perfumeries, there is a lot of money to be made from a good branding strategy to go along with your product. However, as the consumer, once you leave Sephora and actually begin to wear the perfume in your everyday life, are you actually communicating this expensive purchase to anyone else? Sure, I could clock a sniff of $166 By the Fireplace by Maison Margiela walking down the street, but I admit that my perfume nerdiness is not the default. Even when wearing the most famous and luxurious perfumes, to most people, you’re just someone who smells nice, not someone with $210 to throw at a bottle of Tobacco Vanille by Tom Ford. With that being said, is perfume necessarily a conspicuous consumption? It’s hard to say. When I think of why I like to buy perfume, it’s difficult to find a distinct answer. If it was just about smelling nice, surely I would be okay with just buying some essential oils off of Amazon and calling it a day, right? But I don’t, I have to buy Glossier You. It’s not that I even like Glossier as a company. I find
on an Instagram swipe session and emerges a winner. What irks me is that social media can promote an unscrupulous culture where fame triumphs over morality. Seeing Jake Paul’s ostentatious lifestyle — the swanky cars, the team 10 house and the lavish parties — might send some of his fans who are dissatisfied with their present circumstances into a vicious cycle of self-hatred and dejection. Despite Paul’s allegations of racism, his age inappropriate content, the police reports against him for public nuisance and an endless array of scandals, in the eyes of his followers it always seems like the grass is greener on his end. Dr. Allison Forti is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the associate director of the online counseling programs at Wake Forest University. In an interview with Forbes, she revealed that, “What social media users ‘attempt’ to sell and ‘how’ it is consumed from a psychological point of view are two different things.” Forti went on to say, “Social media accounts promoting the message, ‘strong not skinny’ may be selling body positivity but consumers may be buying messages that set new aspirational norms. For someone at risk for an eating disorder, the voices in their head may shift away from a fear of weight gain, but still aspire toward body modification and restriction – to obtain their version of a strong body – that is fueled in shame and self-loathing.” Therefore, despite well-intentioned posts, you might be influencing or being influenced in an unhealthy manner. As tempted as I am to go on about the evils of social media, I have to commend it for its role in connecting people and discovering job opportunities. For some patients in urgent need of an organ transplant, like Bo Harris, social media has given them a platform where they can ask for help and find donors. Social media has content that suits everyone, with the greatest gift of all being memes. As such, opposed to a complete elimination, let’s try to practice mindful consumption. The key to navigating social media in a manner that doesn’t wreck your self-esteem is to avoid making comparisons, and to compliment yourself on even your most seemingly trivial accomplishments. Realistic progress doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it happen in the absence of setbacks. Speaking of small victories, since the completion of this article, I reduced my screen time by 30 minutes, and I am ecstatic about this minor accomplishment; as for DuoLingo, I will deal with that next week.
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‘You HaveTwo New Notifications’
alistic expectations that make everyone feel like a failure, even if they’re not quite sure why. After all, how can you compete with that one celebrity family with millions of followers and perfect bodies? Not to mention that their posts are sponsored by brands that fund their exotic “workout regimes” (aka surgeries) that make them look even more unattainable, and give people of all age groups self-esteem issues. Truth be told, the only failure here is the collective inability to recognize that social media is built to do just that. In fact, it thrives on our misery. Instagram earns money largely from advertising. Usually, you are more likely to click on an advertisement if you are in actual need of the product. But if you aren’t in dire need of anything, then social media will prey on your insecurities and generate a fallacious need. Instagram uses user activity to suggest content, if Instagram catches you on a rough day, when you happen to be scrolling through posts and viewing celebrity endorsed products that claim to ‘fix’ your insecurities; Instagram starts seeing you as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and volunteers you as tribute to an array of brands selling similar products that flood your explore page. Take Kylie Cosmetics for example, Kylie Jenner had been the centre of media speculation for getting lip fillers. She weaponized the attention to market the launch of her lip kits via instagram — in minutes, she was able to sell 15,000 kits. This made Jenner and instagram their money. But as for Jenner’s young audience, and listening to her lies about not having fillers, calling it a wonder of makeup, a magical outcome of puberty, unaffordable prices of the kits — shattered their confidence and led to the Kylie Jenner lip challenge which culminated with people ending up in hospitals. If you’re someone who does not fall for these tricks and instead seeks posts on body positivity and selflove, Instagram will resort to displaying posts about workshops and programmes that help one cope. This is great until you realize that there is a tiny ‘sponsored’ at the top left corner of these posts, and that Instagram is ultimately offering a solution to a problem that it itself contributes to or in some cases creates. So in either case the app profits, meanwhile either your self-esteem or your bank account loses. In that manner, social media is no different than all the multinational companies that contribute to climate change and then launch “green campaigns.” They all are providing weak antidotes to extremely potent poisons of their own making. Therefore, no one goes
many of their makeup products to be overpriced and underperforming, and their corporate governance has been marred by controversy. I know that the millennial pink branding and Instagram full of cool influencers’ impossibly “clean” glowy skin is simply a marketing strategy. Yet, I still paid $60 USD for their Glossier You perfume. Despite the fact that maybe one out of hundreds of people would know that when I walk down the hall smelling of a faint, powdery, peppery musk, it is in fact due to Glossier, I still feel trendy wearing it. And that’s tied to the name more than the scent itself. So here perfume becomes both conspicuous and inconspicuous — you’re always influenced by the bottle and marketing strategy, even when you are not outwardly advertising your purchase to anyone. While I pat myself on the back for being a conscious consumer, aware of branding strategies and the power of influencer marketing, this recent trip down the financial rabbit hole that is a perfume addiction has shown me that we’re all a bit susceptible to the hype. But, that’s not going to stop me from visiting Sephora.com now is it?
Commentary
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 HALLOWEEN
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The Concordian’s guide to a spooktacular Halloween 2021 Halloween is back! After last year’s socially distanced festivities, Concordians can finally rejoice and celebrate with their friends BY MARGARET WDOWIAK | Contributor
As green leaves turn to a rusted orange and carved pumpkins appear on people’s doorsteps, Montreal begins to brim with life. Halloween is finally coming back! Grab your vaccine passport and get ready to discover the dozens of spooktacular activities being offered all around the city. Here are six events you won’t want to miss.
Fright Fest at Six Flags La Ronde A classic of the Montreal Halloween season, the Fright Fest at the Six Flags La Ronde amusement park offers a variety of frightening activities, including four haunted houses: Cursed Farm, Nightmares, District 510 in the Dark, and Evil Circus 3D. After visiting the terrifying haunted houses, brave visitors can board one of the park’s many thrilling roller coasters, including the diabolical Demon. Unfortunately, while one might think that the horror is only confined to haunted houses and rollercoasters, this could not be further from the truth. Three scare zones are spreadout throughout the park, and you could encounter demons giving directions, while vampires and zombies ambush unsuspecting passersby. Fortunately, family-friendly shows offer visitors relief from the terror. The fest ends on Oct. 31.
Halloween Exhibition — Pumpkins and Other Curiosities This free exhibition is perfect for West Island-based Concordians with gentler souls. Attendees will be able to discover fun pumpkin facts and admire a collection of pumpkins decorated and carved by young Dorval students and acclaimed pumpkin master Alex S. Girard, le Citrouilleur. The exhibition runs from Oct. 23 to 31.
Drag Brunch MTL and Time Out Market Montreal Halloween Extravaganza This activity is perfect for drag lovers. The extravaganza taking place on Oct. 31, headlined by accomplished
drag performer Barbada de Barbades, will feature musical and comedic drag performances. Spectators can purchase food from the city’s top chefs to enjoy as the performers sing, dance and perform stand-up. Dressing up is encouraged, and costumed guests will automatically be entered into a contest to win a $50 Time Out Market gift card and a limited edition tote bag.
Candlelight Halloween concerts Rejoice music lovers: the NotreDame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel presents a series of exclusive concerts from the end of the month until mid-November. A 60-minute soundtrack of fear will be played by the Listeso Quartet on strings. Onlookers will bask in the light of hundreds of candles as the quartet plays timeless classics such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and appropriately spooky classical pieces such as “Marche Funèbre” by Frédéric Chopin.
Trick or Tease at Café Cléopatra For those wanting to indulge their wild side, Trick or Tease at Café Cléopatra is the perfect opportunity. On the night of Oct. 29, the club will feature pole dancing, twerking, burlesque, tribal fusion belly dancing, and desi fusion performances accompanied by an MC and DJ. Patrons will be able to quench their thirst with the venue’s bar and drink service. For those wanting a full experience, costumes are recommended (hint: there’s a costume contest).
Montreal Halloween Party Gather your friends and come party on St. Laurent Blvd. between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Oct. 31. Everyone is welcome at the massive party, but costumes are a must so don’t forget to bring your dress-up A-game. Costumed party goers
Halloween decorations around Montreal. CATHERINE REYNOLDS / The Concordian
will dance to a wide range of music, from the newest hip hop beats to the hottest EDM tracks. In addition, attendees will have the chance to capture this moment forever with the help of a professional photographer, and a lucky few will have access to the limited bottle service.
We hope this guide piqued your interest. The Concordian wishes you a happy and spooktacular Halloween.
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Commentary
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
The Concordian
My take on the best bakes — sweet treats that will melt away your worries, and time Sorry to my gluten-free friends, this one might not be for you BY JULIETTE PALIN | Assistant Commentary Editor
So… Who else has been obsessed with the Great Canadian Baking Show (GCBS)? Just me? As an amateur chef myself, I like to watch cooking and baking competitions while picturing myself as one of the contestants. I ask myself what I would do for a certain challenge — and I make sure to tell whoever is watching with me. But realistically, I do NOT have that kind of skill. I’m in no way good enough to be a contestant on GCBS, but I like to think that I’ve mastered a few basics that are great gateway recipes to a baking addiction. These tips and cooking guides recipes have allowed me to feel as if I was following along with the contestants. All three “bakes” I am mentioning are done in the show, so now you can follow along too. These aren’t Linzer cookies like those featured on episode three of this past season, but any cookie is a crowd-pleaser. Molasses cookies are my unusual favourite — the bitter and rich sweetness from molasses cookies, combined with my favourite seasonal spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger create the deepest fall-flavoured cookie you will ever eat. I will say these tend to be an acquired taste, but I adore them, and encourage you to try them! To reiterate: I am not talented enough not to use recipes. However, I have gotten good enough to know what I want, and apply my own tricks to the recipes I use. For example, I recommend killing two birds with one stone and turning your baking into a workout routine as well. Simply mix your butter and sugars together by hand, and incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet batter with a spatula, using a “folding” motion instead of an electric stand mixer. “Folding” motion = folding your batter over into itself and gradually adding in dry ingredients. This slow-motion will stop your dough from becoming too tough — or as the pros would say it — “overworked.” Pour in your dry ingredients in three batches and FOLD to give your cookies a much more ooey-gooey chewy texture. My favourite recipe to follow is Alison Roman’s
COMMENTARY EDITOR AVIVA MAJERCZYK COMMENTARY@THECONCORDIAN.COM ASSISTANT COMMENTARY EDITOR JULIETTE PALIN
rendition on Bon Appétit. One of my personal favourites to impress your guests — Focaccia bread was featured in episode three of season four. I find if you dedicate the time and effort (and maybe an entire jumbo bag of flour) to baking focaccia a couple of times, you can perfect it and make a delicious, crispy-but-soft bread that wears more than one hat. Whenever I make focaccia, I use it for everything. It makes delicious sandwiches — think roasted eggplant, zucchini and roasted garlic hummus smooshed between the two slices of bread — or even toast. To create slices of bread, cut it in half to expose the beautiful air-bubble bread guts — or even that classic student meal of cheese add-a-lil-jamto-make-it-fancy and bread. For this, it’s important to have good yeast. No yeast means our focaccia won’t rise, and you will be left very disappointed… and hungry. To test your yeast, it’s important to bring it to life by putting the required quantity of warm water, sugar and yeast in a bowl, and letting it rise for five minutes. Maybe this is a baking fauxpas — and to be honest, I don’t care — yet no matter the type of sugar a recipe calls for, I will use honey. Not that plastic bear that has been in your pantry since you moved in; invest in a jar of some delicious, fresh honey. Just a weird bit of knowledge but honey literally
does not go bad! Honey has been found in ancient egyptian tombs! #Honeyfactoftheday. Some of my favourite recipes to refer to are Gimme Some Oven’s version of focaccia, but if you’re looking for a more advanced recipe try Claire Saffitz’s recipe from the book Dessert Person. I will not be attempting a two-tone garden dumpling dough from scratch like the ones featured in episode five of season four — I won’t even be making the filling. I could try, and one day I am determined to, but as a contestant Sheldon Lynn said during the garden dumpling technical challenge, “Why make dumpling wrappers when you can buy them?” I like to go a step further, and just get them frozen. Frozen dumplings are elite freezer food, but you have to know which ones to get. I will never stop recommending that you take yourself down to Chinatown to the G&D supermarket and browse their many options, but if like me you are sometimes too lazy, there are some places to find great frozen dumplings in the Plateau. My favourite brand of dumplings to look for is O’Tasty. It’s packaging depicts a picture-perfect plate of pan-fried pot-stickers. My all-time favourite is the pork and black mushroom, followed by the chicken and vegetables. To cook these, I normally get a non-stick pan and a
little bit (two tbsp) of sesame oil, or another neutral oil. Next, once I’ve allowed my oil to get hot enough that it moves easily in the pan, I add a dozen dumplings with their seams facing up. I let them get slightly golden brown on the bottom (five-seven minutes), and now comes the fun part: cornstarch slurry! Mix one-quarter cup of water with two tbsp of cornstarch to create a thick liquid, and pour into your hot pan, getting it in between the dumplings. Cover and lower your heat to medium-low, and let simmer until the top of your dumplings seem cooked (i.e. your dough is soft and shiny). Take off the lid and let the rest of your liquid evaporate — you should be able to tell once your cornstarch slurry turns into a giant crispy chip connecting each dumpling. Flip onto a plate, top with chili oil and scallions and serve. We all know you can’t eat dumplings without sauce, so try Pickled Plum’s dipping sauce recipe to elevate your dumpling experience.
GRAPHIC BY MADELINE SCHMIDT
Commentary
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 OPINIONS
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The Concordian
Netflix and Chappelle can’t play harmless Whether they like it or not, media has always been influential BY NADIA TRUDEL | Staff Writer
prize winner, and arguably one of the most influential comedians of the 21st century. While The Closer does not encourage violence against the trans community, it is harmful. He fixates on the private parts of trans people, mocks the appearance of queer people, uses slurs, and compares trans women to white people wearing blackface. Chappelle jokes about rapper DaBaby, who recently made homophobic remarks about HIV/AIDS. Chappelle says DaBaby, “Punched the LBGTQ community right in the AIDS.” He goes on to reference an incident where the rapper shot and killed another Black man in self-defense, which did not negatively affect his career. Chappelle says, “In our country you can shoot and kill a n***** but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings.” This is the self-proclaimed central idea of The Closer. “I have never had a problem with transgender people… my problem has always been with white people,” he says. But as Black gay activist and writer Kenyon Farrow points out, Chappelle is playing into, “a 30 year-old campaign carried out by Christian Right groups to use LGBT rights as a cultural wedge issue with African-Americans,” and forgetting how many people belong to both groups. Chappelle posits these communities against each other with stories about encounters he’s had with white LGBTQ+ people. He says he is jealous of the progress the LGBTQ+ community has made over a hundred years, and jokes that “If slaves had oil and booty shorts on, we might have been free 100 years sooner.” It’s clear to me that Chap-
pelle is frustrated. I get the impression through his stories that he thinks the LGBTQ+ community is a way for white people to victimize themselves, get away with racism, and distract from the ongoing struggles of the Black community. I understand why Chappelle thinks this way given his age and the life he has led but it’s still unfortunate to see minority groups still be pitted against each other by white supremacist, Christian, and right-wing structures. As the National Black Justice Coalition points out in their criticism of the special: “With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States — the majority of whom are Black transgender people — Netflix should know better. Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence.” It’s such a shame that Chappelle’s standup in the last few years has come to this. In his early career, professor Danielle Fuentes Morgan, who teaches a course on African American comedy, says that he “punch[ed] up, to speak truth to power, to focus his ‘attacks’ on injustices and institutions with discernibly more power than he had.” Punching up or down is a concept usually discussed in the context of comedy. Punching up means criticizing and mocking a person, group of people, or institution with more power than you. Punching down is the reverse. In Chapelle’s case punching up would be white people, the police, the government for example, trans people decidedly belong to a group with less power than the cis-het millionaire. Chapelle acknowledges that he’s been accused of punching down, and wonders what the phrase means. As
Morgan writes, “In teaching Chappelle, it’s become increasingly important to address how a person can be marginalized while also marginalizing others.” I’ve written about the real world impact media has on minorities before, but comedians are a special case. Culturally, comedians have a bit of an outsider/underdog complex that many can’t shake, even when they become famous millionaires. There’s even a common joke that comedians are themselves a minority group. And so they think they can joke about anything, forgetting they have influence, especially in the era of mass-produced, massstreamed Netflix stand-up comedy. Many have pointed out the irony and hypocrisy of Sarandos’ recent claims “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm” even after the platform released Disclosure in 2020, a documentary about the impact of ignorant and inaccurate portrayals of trans people in American cinema. This is the same documentary Sarandos cites in statements following the Chappelle controversy about Netflix’s commitment to inclusion. No matter what Chapelle, Sarandos, or anyone who whines about cancel culture says, art has impact. Jokes cannot just be jokes, especially not ones aimed at minorities. No, The Closer is probably not going to directly cause someone to go out and commit a hate crime, just like author J.K. Rowling’s trans-exclusionary radical feminist essay didn’t. But when hate and ignorance is given a platform, it is normalized and perpetuated and that is what leads to violence and discriminatory legislation.
PHOTO COLLAGE BY CATHERINE REYNOLDS
In 2021, it feels strange to still see debate around the influence the media has on real world events. I think of the 1994 movie Natural Born Killers, which was suspected to have inspired a slew of copycat crimes. I think of Stephen King’s 1977 novel Rage, which he allowed to fall out of print after incidents resembling those in the plot occurred after publication. And as a journalism student, of course I think of the industry’s mistakes. How perpetrators of mass violence have been sensationalized, then idolized and imitated. Or what about all the harm the media has caused Indigenous peoples, while ignoring the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirits, even if a case is covered, the media usually perpetuates racist stereotypes through their coverage. If you have any doubts about how powerful media can be, might I remind you about how misinformation helped elect Donald Trump in 2016, then caused a domestic terrorist attack at the U.S. Capitol? Or how about how misinformation about COVID-19 has led to confusion and resistance to public health measures? And, combined with centuries-long racist media, led to a spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. That’s why Netflix Co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos’s recent comments about veteran comedian Dave Chappelle’s controversial new Netflix special The Closer are so ridiculous. Saraondo said, “With The Closer, we understand that the concern is not about offensive-to-some content but titles which could increase real world harm (such as further marginalizing already marginalized groups, hate, violence etc.) Last year, we heard similar concerns about 365 Days and violence against women. While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm. The strongest evidence to support this is that violence on screens has grown hugely over the last thirty years, especially with first party shooter games, and yet violent crime has fallen significantly in many countries. Adults can watch violence, assault and abuse — or enjoy shocking stand-up comedy — without it causing them to harm others.” Chappelle’s The Closer spends a lot of time (more than you’d think for a 48-year-old straight man) talking about the LGBTQ+ community. Chapelle’s last special Sticks & Stones was similarly controversial, with jokes (or “jokes,” depending on your perspective) about the LGBTQ+ community, abuse allegations against certain celebrities, and his defence of admitted (but unprosecuted) sex offender and comedian Louis C.K. Chappelle is undoubtedly influential. He’s an Emmy, Grammy, and Mark Twain
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PROFILE
Features
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
Life of L’Ange From a man who once lived on the streets to one who now gives back to his community in any way he can, Gaëtan Ouellet’s life inspires him to support those in need BY MEAGAN GODIN | Contributor PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE BEAUDOIN TRIGGER WARNING: THE FOLLOWING INCLUDES MENTIONS OF SUICIDE, ADDICTION, AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Gaëtan Ouellet, Old Montreal’s “Angel”, takes out recycling bags from an Old Montreal alleyway, October 4, 2021. Some mornings, Gaëtan wakes up early to do his rounds of trash removal in the area.
A life of ups and downs best describes a man who, through the toughest of hardships, continues to keep his head above water. Someone who strives to be a positive influence to those around him who are struggling, as he once was. From being someone who got offered a helping hand when he needed it most to now being that person who lends a hand, Gaetan Ouellet remains a man of perseverance and humility. Ouellet is well known in the Old Port of Montreal, and more specifically known by the name “Ange.” His nickname grew out of his previous acts of generosity in parking lots. Beginning in the mid ‘90s — back when parking meters could be filled at individual machines set up for each spot — Ouellet would take pleasure in filling them out for people before parking security showed up to issue them a ticket. When car owners noticed Ouellet saving them from a ticket, they would ask for his name. “I’m just a guardian angel looking out for people. They call me Gaë-tange,” he would reply. Continued on next page
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The Concordian Those who discovered who their parking meter angel was often thanked him by offering him small gestures, such as meals, money or cigarettes. People’s small offerings were not the motivators behind his actions. Although people’s kindness meant the world to him, all he expected was a simple “thank you.” Simply put, Ouellet enjoys helping others, and that’s that. Growing up in Gaspésie on the east coast of Quebec, Ouellet had a rural upbringing. At the age of six, his father moved their family to Montreal after having trouble finding work in their area and he has been here ever since. Ouellet’s early adult life began to take off when he took a welding course. He had an interest in the technique behind the craft and had studied it at a trade school in Saint-Henri. He ended up earning a steady income for 23 years, working as a welder assembler at Québecor binding magazines for 23 years. Things were looking up for Ouellet, until everything suddenly came crumbling down. Looking back, the year 1994 marks a difficult time in Ouellet’s life. In the span of one week, he had lost his job due to layoffs and came home to find his roommate’s body—who was also a longtime friend of 32 years—hanging in their apartment. The line of horrific events led Ouellet into a dark cycle of drinking and heavy drug consumption of heroin and cocaine. Four months after being taken in by his family and friends as a temporary solution, Ouellet found himself alone, homeless, and on the streets of the Old Port of Montreal. “Living on the street, you need a vice to forget you’re living on the street,” said Ouellet. The homeless community of Montreal was never a stranger to Ouellet. Growing up, he would spend most of his free time around the Old Port. Ironically, years before finding himself homeless, Ouellet came to know an elderly homeless man whose health was in poor condition. He recalls the man being concerned about what would happen to his physical spot on the street once he was gone. Ouellet remembers the man sharing that if ever Ouellet was to be in tough times, his spot would become available soon as the man knew he wouldn’t be here much longer. The elderly man’s spot soon became Ouellet’s first home on the streets of Montreal. “It’s funny how life works,” said Ouellet. “It makes you realize we are not that different from one another.” No one is prepared for the moment when they realize that bartering for their next meal is one of their only options for food. They don’t expect to find themselves desperately picking through ashtrays on the city sidewalk in hopes of finding a cigarette that isn’t fully smoked. Living on the streets, Ouellet was faced with this hard-hitting reality. For nine years, he was begging strangers to get by. It’s often easier to think of the hardships that
No one is prepared for the moment when they realize that bartering for their next meal is one of their only options for food. we face in life as temporary situations. Ones that won’t last long. For Ouellet, along with many others who find themselves in a similar situation,finding their next meal or having to endure weather of all kinds, lasted longer than he would have liked. His days under the influence of heavy drugs and alcohol were spent begging for change at traffic lights and slurring his words at passers by. The reaction on people’s faces was telling. They were not willing to help someone in an intoxicated state. Instead, he realized that they would be more willing to give to someone who was looking to help themselves.
Gaëtan Ouellet travels through old memories on their phone, which was gifted to them by one of their daughters. He knew his behavior was not an effective way to appeal to people’s sympathy and generosity. Over the years, Ouellet learned that if this was to be his lifestyle for the time being, he had to make some changes in order to survive. Once he was clean and no longer being consumed by his vices, Ouellet decided to offer his free time to performing small tasks which became a new way to meet his needs of meals and clothing. On an average day, Ouellet could be found spending the better part of his days lending people a helping hand on Ste-Paul St in Montreal’s Old Port. From brooming store fronts, washing windows, to shoveling walkways during the winter months, Ouellet never asked for anything in return. Living as a homeless person, he came into contact with several influential people, including celebrities such as Carlos Santana, by chance, through mutual friends. Judges, lawyers and restaurant owners like Chuck Hughes are also acquaintances Ouellet has formed bonds with. Ouellet’s down-to-earth and friendly personality even got him invited out to lunch by judges who were looking for company during their lunch break. He noticed his presence on the street made a difference. On the odd day when he didn’t follow his usual routine, familiar faces would ask him why they had missed him and where he had been. Notably, 2021 marks 19 years since Ouellet got sober. He attributes his success in getting clean to a good friend, now a lawyer, who he met while living on the streets. When he could no longer stand to see him in this state, Ouellet’s newfound friend called an ambulance so he could get admitted to the hospital for help; the first step taken on the road to recovery.
“It’s funny how life works,” said Ouellet. “It makes you realize we are not that different from one another.”
Gaëtan Ouellet places a mat in front of Tommy’s cafe for people to sit on in Old Montreal, Quebec, October 4, 2021.
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Continued on next page
The sun rises over Old Montreal, the place Gaëtan Ouellet, “Angel”, calls home, October 4, 2021.
This lawyer friend paid for Ouellet’s four month stay at Louis. H. Lafontaine psychiatric hospital, which got Ouellet clean and medicated for his issues. It is also thanks to this lawyer friend that he now has an apartment at the government-subsidized housing to come home to now, as well as a place to offer others to come stay if they are in need of a good night’s rest with a roof over their head. Despite no longer living on the streets, Ouellet still gets up everyday to support those within his community, whether they be homeless, business owners, or just people passing by. In the fall of 2020, Ouellet began devoting his free time to residents of the Notre-Dame Street camping site because of the large volume of people who continued to struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the help of volunteers, he aided in distributing donated goods, such as clothes and food. Eventually, they managed to find long-term homes for 16 people at the campsite, providing them with an affordable rented space when sharing the cost amongst groups of two. Ouellet recently got contacted on Sept. 19 by the Old Brewery Mission who provide services to the home-
less in Montreal. He was asked to help them out given how he’s familiar with the community in need and could make them feel more comfortable in accepting the help. He went out to the corner of Berri and Sainte-Catherine St. to help homeless citizens in the area. The team focused on preparations for upcoming weather changes, so heavier jackets and boots were distributed in addition to access to a barber and foot care services for those in need.
As someone who once lived that reality, Ouellet knows first hand the needs of people living on the street. Access to foot care and acceptable personal hygiene resources are as much necessary as warm clothes and appropriate footwear. It’s this type of knowledge that Ouellet feels thankful to have when lending a helping hand to those in need. Ouellet is the proud father of three daughters. While they have been in and out of his life during his time on
Gaëtan Ouellet takes out the garbage for a Vieux Montreal business, Montreal, Quebec, October 4, 2021. In exchange for services such as this one, “l’Ange du Vieux Montreal” is fed.
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the streets, his bond with them has grown now that he is clean. He enjoys the time with his six grandchildren who brighten up his days. He feels fortunate to have gotten sober. He says that he now feels like he can fully appreciate and enjoy the years ahead with his family. What does the future have in store for his retirement years? Ouellet doesn’t have a set plan just yet. Ouellet says that he is happy where he is now and is grateful for the opportunity to help others. Lending a helping hand to those he sees sleeping on park benches for nights at a time, fulfills him with a sense of gratitude. Life has its ups and downs for every individual in any community. Some people’s challenges may be more visible than others. Kindness is universal and can go a long way in impacting how someone’s story plays out. In rising above hardships, we have the ability to look beyond those less than perfect times in our lives with compassion. It is that compassion that allows us to put ourselves in others’ shoes. At the end of the day, Ouellet reminds us that everyone has a story and, more importantly, that everyone is human.
“Are we really that different? I look at the human side of every person that I meet whether they be officials such as police officers, judges or just humans that need support. They are all the same in my eyes, I help everyone in good faith,” said Ouellet. Gaëtan Ouellet, also known as Old Montreal’s “Angel”, waits for his latte at Tommy Cafe in Montreal, Quebec, October 4, 2021. The man with a past on the streets now receives food and beverages from local businesses in exchange for favors such as taking out garbage and cleaning windows.
FEATURES EDITOR MÉLINA LÉVESQUE FEATURES@THECONCORDIAN.COM ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR LORENZA MEZZAPELLE
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EXHIBITION
Arts
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
PHOTO BY KIMURA BYOL
Montreal Multi-Disciplinary Artist Esther Calixte-Bea debuts her first solo exhibition
tive (and pretty!) step towards trying to rectify that.
Creation of An Ethereal World is an exhibition that will challenge your perception and make you think AYSHA WHITE | Staff Writer
Esther Calixte-Bea is one of the rising stars of Montreal’s art scene, and her most recent exhibition, which is also her solo debut, demonstrates that. Step into La Centrale, located at 4296 St. Laurent Blvd., and you’ll find a universe of Calixte-Bea’s design. The exhibition, featuring artwork that Calixte-Bea created in the last two years, is truly multidisciplinary, featuring paintings, a repurposed table, writings, painted photo collages, and sculptures made from mannequins. It’s titled Creation of an Ethereal World, curated by Cécilia Bramort. La Centrale, where the exhibition is being held until October 28, 2021, is an artist-run space, and for decades was known as the city’s only feminist gallery. This makes it a fitting choice to house the work of an artist like Calixte-Bea. Why? She is of Haitian and Ivorian descent and her work often depicts Black women in a range of shapes, sizes and hairy states. This is part of what makes her work so distinct. How many painters can you name that focus on hairy women? Women with lots of leg hair, chest hair, and arm hair? Female body hair is still an incredibly taboo topic, and Calixte-Bea’s work is a posi-
“I had discovered my [artistic] style by the end of 2018, and had become a body hair activist in 2019, and I knew that I wanted to paint, and normalize female body hair in my art practice,” explained Calixte-Bea to The Concordian. She is a recent graduate of Concordia’s Fine Arts program. She said that after the many group shows of her undergrad she “felt
ready to have [her] first solo exhibition.”
The body hair activist appeared on the cover of Glamour UK in January 2021, making her the first woman with visible chest hair to do so. Calixte-Bea’s success today is partially due to her 2019 Lavender Project, a series of self-portraits, paired with poetry and writing which explored topics like self love, Eurocentric beauty standards, and female body hair. This project gaining significant public recognition was partially what led to Calixte-Bea’s (continuing) rise as an artist and activist. Creation of an Ethereal World, which debuted at La Centrale on September 23, 2021, also features a unique exhibition text. It’s standard for the artist to write a short statement about their work and inspirations, and for the curator to then supplement it with commentary about the exhibition as a whole. However, Calixte-Bea is not just any artist. Creation of an Ethereal World has an exhibition text that is unlike most you’ll come across, contained in a booklet with a bright lime green cover, printed in both English and French. Calixte-Bea was inspired to create an imaginary tribe, as represented in the artwork in Creation of an Ethereal World. The tribe (partially inspired by Calixte-Bea’s heritage belonging to the Wé tribe in Côte d’Ivoire) is called Fyète Souhou-te and they embrace female body hair. The text also contains the tribe’s instructions on important cultural information, like how to become a chief.
“I knew that I wanted to create a whole tribe, a world that was living within this world. Oftentimes when we talk about tribes we talk about them in the past, so I wanted to create a whole tribe of women that celebrate their body hair, embrace themselves and embrace their uniqueness,” explained the artist. The paintings are all acrylic. The overall colour scheme is both bright and soft, with sunset tones like orange, pink and blue jumping out throughout the room. Bright green Astroturf grass was installed for the exhibition, adding to the pleasantly surreal feeling: think Candyland, but elevated.“I always loved
using so many colours, I just love [them] and colourful things like flowers. That really comes through in my work, [plus] me growing up watching a lot of colourful cartoons,” she noted. One of the most striking paintings in the exhibit is titled My White Barbie, 2020, which features a Barbie doll being squeezed by a hand, attached to a close-up of a woman’s torso in the background. Rich brown and cherry blossom pink tones demand attention from the viewer. “[It’s] a really personal work,” said Calixte-Bea, who explained that it was only when she was out of her childhood and teen years that she realized the full, negative extent that Eurocentric beauty standards had on her. “Growing up, you want to
be the pretty one, the desirable one, but there was no representation for me,” she continued. “Someone asked me in class why I paint Black people. It’s a funny question that people tend to ask Black artists. [White artists] don’t really get asked, why do you paint white people?” noted Calixte-Bea. “You have to paint yourself, you already don’t see yourself represented in art spaces or the media, then obviously you need to create that representation and make the difference that is needed in the world.” ARTS EDITOR ASHLEY FISH-ROBERTSON ARTS@THECONCORDIAN.COM ASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR VÉRONIQUE MORIN
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 EXHIBITON
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LACUNA-LACUNE exhibition showcases raw materials and natural shapes The FOFA Gallery presents artist Andréanne AbbondanzaBergeron’s work until Nov. 5 VÉRONIQUE MORIN | Assistant Arts Editor
On Oct. 1, Andréanne Abbondanza-Bergeron’s LACUNA-LACUNE opened at Concordia’s FOFA gallery. The solo exhibition features a series of photographs displayed in the gallery’s vitrines, and two other installations in its main space. In her work, the artist contrasts the use of industrial materials like rope, steel, and glass, with references to nature and organic patterns front and center.
The exhibition concludes a long creative process for Abbondanza-Bergeron, one that started before the pandemic. LACUNA-LACUNE was supposed to be presented last year, but the delay impacted the artist’s creative process. The photographs that are now part of the exhibition were taken during the pandemic, when the artist began to take walks in the forest. These photographs present human waste in natural spaces. . One of them shows pieces of blue glass invading a natural habitat that is composed of moss, grass, and rocks. Abbondanza-Bergeron’s creative process is usually inspired by architecture, but it evolved in a different way this time. Nature became a central element of the show, influencing the final exhibition and the main installation “This piece has something that has shifted a lot more towards the organic, towards […] something that for me is more influ-
VÉRONIQUE MORIN / THE CONCORDIAN
enced by the natural form,” she said. The artist explained that nature has always inspired her, but never in a way that was expressed in her art pieces. The main space of the FOFA gallery is filled with a steel installation. This massive piece is composed of multiple steel ribbons, which are usually used to tie pallets together. The bands of steel are attached to the walls of the gallery and come down to the floor in an undulating fashion. Visitors are allowed to walk under the installation to see it from another perspective. Abbondanza-Bergeron explained that prior to creating this piece, she envisioned the tension that this large creation could put on visitors who look at it from the front. When it was completed, she discovered that looking at the work from underneath managed to conjure the opposite feeling. “The interior became something quite different, more enveloping, more of a relief from all that tension,” she said, adding that it results in the viewer “actually just feeling protected and embraced.” Lighting is also an important part of the main installation. The soft lights being used add texture to the steel. Under the installation, the ribbons’ shadows are interlaced, creating straight and curved lines on the floor. For Abbondanza-Bergeron, light is always an important part of her work. For this piece, she used lighting to create a sense of weightlessness. She found a way to use light to reveal “the volume and the different stratas, the different cascading waves and […] to make that mass become more three-dimensional.” The FOFA gallery’s black box, a closed room painted in black where artworks requiring dark lighting are presented, showcases another installation by Abbondanza-Bergeron. The art piece is composed of window screens hanging from the ceiling. Two panels of the thin screen-like material are put together and sway as the air in the room pushes them from side to side. Here, lighting also plays a crucial role, since the screen fabric under light produces wave-like patterns as it shines through the material. For Abbondanza-Bergeron, this work of art is a bridge between the photographs showcased in the gallery’s vitrines, and the larger installation piece, since it is made of industrial screen material while being “related more directly to natural shapes and the natural world.” The catalogue of the exhibition will be launched on Nov. 4. “For me, having a catalogue is really nice to keep a piece alive a little longer,” she said. This exhibition and its catalogue are the conclusion of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art research fellowship that was granted to Abbondanza-Bergeron in 2017. The LACUNA- LACUNE exhibition will be open to the public until Nov. 5.
AR(T)CHIVES
GRAPHIC BY TAYLOR REDDAM
Innovation or appropriation? The well-known Canadian artist Emily Carr’s paintings have sparked debates for quite some time. ASHLEY FISH-ROBERTSON | Arts Editor
The work of Emily Carr has no doubt captured the attention of Canadian art connoisseurs throughout the years, and many have hailed her work as innovative. There’s perhaps no other artist who has represented British Columbia’s wilderness and its people so diligently and vividly as Carr. Born on Dec. 13, 1871 in Victoria, Carr spent the majority of her life living among breathtaking mountain ranges and verdant forests. Her early work demonstrates a clear fascination with Victoria’s landscape and its vegetation. Despite her education leading her abroad to Europe for a considerable period of time, Carr eventually returned to B.C. not only with refined artistic skills but also with an even more profound appreciation for her homeland. It was a trip to Ucluelet, a municipality on the west coast of Vancouver Island, that initially piqued Carr’s interest in Indigenous art and culture. She began depicting totemic art and people she met in Indigenous communities in her work during this time. Despite being immortalized as one of Canada’s most talented artists, Carr’s work has also sparked debates by some who view her paintings featuring Indigenous life and totemic art as prime examples of artistic appropriation. A major turning point in Carr’s career that led her to pursue Indigenous art as her subject matter was a trip in 1907 to Alaska, where she spent the majority of her time immersing herself in the life of the Indigenous community she was staying in. A few years later, in the summer of 1912, still inspired by her trip to Alaska, Carr set out on a trip to Haida Gwaii, an archipelago located 100 kilometres west of the northern coast of B.C. She began working on a collection of paintings, and as Ian Thom writes in Emily Carr Collected, “The primary goal of this large body of work was to document the villages and totems of First Nations
people, which Carr, like most Euro-Canadians of her generation, believed were destined to disappear.” While Carr’s own writing and records from those who were close to her suggest that the artist was dedicated to her subjects’ preservation, there are still some who wonder if Carr really knew enough about these Indigenous communities and their forms of art to make them her focus. Some speculate she was simply caught up in the romanticization of Indigenous life, and was simply emulating their art through her own work. In an article from Canadian Art titled The Trouble with Emily Carr, author Robert Fulford writes, “Did Emily Carr understand native culture in the way she understood, say, the British-colonial Victoria in which she grew up? Or did she understand it in the way a diligent scholar may come to know a single foreign culture after years of study?” With all of this in mind, Carr still had an undeniably keen eye for important details when it came to all of her pieces. She managed to capture totemic art like no other white, Canadian artist had before. As an artist, her distinctive style showcased the West Coast’s abundance of natural wonders in a manner that is simply inimitable. Although Carr may not have always understood Indigenous traditions or a community’s way of life, her paintings depicting totemic art still appear to demonstrate a considerable appreciation for what she witnessed during her time in B.C. — even if only from a superficial standpoint. Many still, and probably always will, remain torn between their admiration of Carr’s haunting work and the ethical questions that arise when we begin to ask, who reserves the right to depict certain subject matter in their art, and who doesn’t?
The Concordian
16
SPOTLIGHT
Music JUSTIN WU/SONY ENTERTAINMENT CANADA
Tyler Shaw opens up about new music and touring The With You singer is back with a new record and will be touring this winter BY ADRIANA GENTILE | Contributor
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
did an incredible job. I also loved the shot in the overgrown garden with the piano. TC: This album has a different sound than the first two. How did you approach the songs differently this time around? TS: The past year provided a unique challenge, in that being isolated at home didn’t allow for the traditional method of getting songwriters in the same physical space to create. I was connecting virtually with all types of songwriters and producers from around the world on this project, virtually. I think those global perspectives really contributed to the overall sound and I think the evolution you’re alluding to is really a concise choice. I wanted some of the instrumentation in the production to almost mimic emotions. I wanted the strings to evoke the warmth and sadness of some of the lyrics and I wanted big drums to stir up the energy and drive in other songs. I was creating an album that I can’t wait to tour in a live setting. Because the world came to an abrupt halt, I knew that it would take a while to get back to touring and live performances, so when the time came, I wanted to have epic and anthemic music to fill the room and be a release for my fans. TC: What was your biggest takeaway, good or bad, from creating music throughout COVID-19? TS: I learned a lot about patience and creating boundaries. I have a home studio where I recorded and wrote the majority of this new album. Living in such close quarters with my family, I had to create time to focus strictly on my project and move to a new environment. I was connecting virtually with songwriters and producers from around the world on different time zones and who were also complete strangers. It was like speed dating with creatives. You’re baring your heart and feelings to complete strangers. It just accelerated the whole writing process, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but just different. It challenged me to write more directly and avoid being fluffy. Just say what you mean was the mission. TC: With all of the holiday albums that come out every year, what makes A Tyler Shaw Christmas unique and special?
Tyler Shaw has come a long way since his “Kiss Goodnight” days. Nine years later he is now a husband and a father, and has released three studio albums. This latest record, Tyler Shaw, represents an evolution of himself. Throughout COVID-19, Shaw recorded the album in his home studio, connecting with songwriters and producers from around the world. Shaw is set to join Canadian pop opera group The Tenors on their Santa’s Wish Tour across Canada. Shaw and The Tenors have also collaborated on an old holiday favorite, “O Holy Night”. On Nov. 5th, Shaw looks to spread more holiday cheer with the release of A Tyler Shaw Christmas, a holiday album which he spent most of his summer recording. The album features covers of Christmas classics as well as originals, and a heartfelt song about his daughter, Everly. The Concordian spoke to Tyler Shaw to dig deeper into his new album and upcoming tour. This interview has been edited for length and clarity, a full length version can be found on our website: www.theconcordian.com. TC: With so many changes in the world and your own life, what are you saying on this record that you haven’t said before?
TS: I think every album I write is an evolution of myself. [...] I would say that my lens certainly changed through becoming a father for the first time. I wanted to articulate myself in a way that mattered. Most of the material I wrote for my sophomore album Intuition was from a perspective of being in love and imagining my future and what that would look like, but also the growing pains of writing a sophomore album. Now I’m living out what I had manifested just a few years ago. This new self-titled project is a lot more of speaking my truth. I didn’t want to over complicate anything and overthink lyrics, I just wrote from a vulnerable, honest place. TC: The video for “I See You” is filled with beautiful, colourful shots. What is your favourite visual part of the video? TS: This video turned out so beautiful and I loved the post VFX. I think my favourite part is the flurry of butterflies emerging from the well and then swarming around me in the open field. There’s an underlying metaphor about beauty and self-love that translates from the song into the creative of the video. It was an interesting experience filming all of these shots and having the fate of the video in the hands of a post-VFX team I’d never met. They
TS: I’ve taken some of my more successful Christmas covers from years past and combined them with some new covers and originals to round out the project. The way I envisioned this album is that when your family comes over for Christmas Day that you stream or play this album from front to back and it helps narrate the perfect Christmas. It has a little bit of something for everyone in the family. One of my favorite songs on the album is an original song called “Christmas In Your Eyes” that I wrote for and also features my daughter, Everly. The song is written from the perspective of me reliving the magic of Christmas and holidays through my daughter’s eyes. Everly was born just before Christmas last year so this, in theory, will be her first time really experiencing Christmas and I think it’s something special we’ll share for years to come. You’ll hear her voice in the song, and I even cut her in on the publishing. TC: You’re hitting the road this November with The Tenors to spread some holiday joy. What are you most excited for on this tour? TS: Honestly, performing in front of people. While I loved staying connected with fans virtually over the past 2 years, there’s nothing better than a live audience singing along and feeding off of their energy. The Tenors put on an incredible live show and I’m happy to be joining them. I’m also offering my VIP experience for fans as well, which looks a bit different than the traditional meet & greets but it’s a real opportunity to connect with my fans before the show, so I’m looking forward to that.
Music
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 ALBUMS
17
The Concordian
Deluxe albums are not a risk worth taking
The deluxe album trend has seen an increase in popularity in popular music over the last couple of years. It’s a way for artists to extend an album’s length by adding some tracks later after the initial release. Some artists have profited from releasing a deluxe album while others have seen their record affected negatively, but at the end of the day it’s more of a gamble than people think. When deluxe albums were first around, artists were releasing special editions of their albums, which contained other recordings and live versions of songs. Nowadays, you have artists, especially in the hip hop field, that have been re-rereleasing full records just days or weeks after the initial release, calling them deluxe albums. Usually, a deluxe album contains two to four bonus tracks, which is a reasonable amount of added songs. However, artists like Lil Uzi Vert and NAV have both released 14-track deluxe albums following up the release of their 18 track album. An argument can be made that this is
Adding a few more tracks and repackaging an album is often a gamble GUILLAUME LABERGE | Assistant Music Editor
v
just too much music. For example, listening to a NAV record on its own is painful, but he should be locked up in jail for dropping another horrible album a couple of days after the release of Good Intentions. Unless you’re a stan of the artist, I don’t understand why someone would release another project right after dropping a long-awaited album. A reason as to why artists are leaning towards dropping deluxe albums is that releasing more tracks equals more money in their pockets. By releasing a deluxe album, it creates an opportunity for artists to have two album-release sale weeks instead of one, which can be a good way for them to generate more money off of streams and to give more visibility to the initial record as well. With shows being cancelled due to COVID-19, artists have struggled a bit more with making money since performing live is usually their main source of income. The solution to this is to release additional tracks to their records in order to make a little bit more money. Whether it’s Pop Smoke
with Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon and Faith, Lil Baby with My Turn or even Aminé with Limbo, they all benefited financially by releasing longer deluxe albums. An important point to keep in mind about deluxe albums is that when an artist releases one, it will likely have a negative influence on the overall quality of the record. Some songs don’t make the final product for a reason. They might not have been as strong as other tracks or maybe didn’t fit the overall aesthetic or theme of the album; other times the tracklist was already bloated. If the bonus songs added to the record don’t add much to the overall experience, it will sadly drag the quality of the project down. While it is fun for fans to have additional music from artists they enjoy, it is also fun for artists to financially profit even more from their music. Releasing a deluxe version of your album is always a gamble since it can severely alter your record’s perception and drag the quality down by a fair amount. In the end, it’s not a risk worth taking for artists because overall, it will have little to no effect on how the album will be remembered.
GRAPHIC BY JAMES FAY
QUICKSPINS
two minutes. Although the songs are short and the pace of the mixtape may be quite speedy, the production quality does not suffer because of it. The project itself can be classified as a bedroom pop album — it also borrows from hyperpop, lo-fi, hip hop, classic pop, and electronic music unique to
What is impressive about the project is how different each song is — while they all have a similar feel, they could not be more different from one another. The mixtape has its highs and lows, both in mood and quality. Songs like “Passion” and “I must apologise” have an upbeat energy and make you want
the U.K. scene. The uniqueness of to hell with it is in its cohesion and diversity — the entire mixtape has a similar sound. One of the hallmarks of any PinkPantheress song is her use of samples: she loves sampling songs from the ‘90s and 2000s, remixing them to her liking. Some samples include Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)” and Linkin Park’s “Forgotten.”
to bop around your room at 3:00 a.m. Other tracks, like “Noticed I cried” and “Pain” will make you want to curl up under the covers and reimagine old dramatic scenarios in your head. PinkPantheress is a master of sad music: as she MUSIC EDITOR VICTOR VIGAS explained in a TikTok video, MUSIC@THECONCORDIAN.COM “plz understand I don’t write ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR GUILLAUME LABERGE sad lyrics in an actual ‘sad’
TO HELL WITH IT PINKPANTHERESS WE RATED IT 7/10 TRIAL TRACK I MUST APOLOGIZE
Get ready to dance, cry, unwind, and vibe — all within twenty minutes ZACHARY FORTIER | Staff Writer
PinkPantheress has arrived. The viral TikTok musician released her first mixtape, to hell with it, on Oct 15. One of the standout voices among Generation Z musicians, the British pop singer blew up on the platform in early 2021. Although she is quite new to the music scene, she already has over ten million monthly listeners on Spotify — and her mixtape is quickly raising that number. In total, to hell with it contains ten songs, but its entire running time is only just over 18 minutes, showcasing what has come to be a theme in PinkPantheress’ music: songs under
way but in a studious, unlucky in love main character in a y/n x Harry x Zayn Wattpad love story way.” Even so, some tracks like “All my friends know,” are filled with an inexplicably vibey energy. Despite all the fantastic bits and pieces that are so well put together, something is still missing. Fans of PinkPantheress love her Y2K, early 2000s energy, but almost every single track features a sample: in 18 minutes, she somehow manages to sample six different songs. It feels like the real PinkPantheress is still waiting to shine. Her voice is quite melodic, and her lyrics have weight to them, but this mixtape leaves more to be desired. Granted, she is only twenty, so there is no doubt that her sound will continue to come into its own. PinkPantheress has put out a real gem: to hell with it is the deep and alternative breath of fresh air needed to shake up pop music right now. Her impact can already be felt on social media — the artist’s songs have been used by hundreds of thousands of creators on TikTok, serving as backdrops for dance trends, makeup videos, fashion lookbooks, and so much more. Young people love her sound, as it seems to take them back to their childhood in an enchanting and psychedelic manner. This is PinkPantheress’ first ever project of this size, and it is quite the promising prelude to any of her future works.
The Concordian
Sports
18
SURFING
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
Surfers’ unwritten rules broken amid increase in riders Surfers in the Montreal region have skyrocketed during the pandemic, however not all new surfers are following the unwritten rules GABRIEL GUINDI | Assistant Sports Editor
As he sat on his surfboard floating on the St. Lawrence River, his blonde surfer-style hair dripped with water as he briefly waited for his next chance to catch a wave. Though only a 30-second surf, that small amount of time brought him joy. Whatever problems he dealt with that given day would fade once in the water. Edouard Beauchamp is a surfer who’s been involved in the surfing community for over five years. Behind the Habitat 67 condo complex, the wave dubbed by surfers as “Habitat” is an intermediate spot that is the most popular surfing destination off the St. Lawrence River. Beauchamp has witnessed this location grow in popularity, creating longer wait times to ride and more traffic than ever before. The catharsis he felt when hitting the water has now morphed into annoyance as of late, as the community he’s been involved with over the past few years has changed. He still sits on that same surfboard, but now his blonde hair is dry as he must wait for over an hour to ride and experience those 30 precious seconds he has longed for all day. Once tightly knit, the community rapidly grew amid the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a loss of order which created long waiting times for surfers trying to catch a wave. The city of Montreal also successfully promoted surfing as an activity for tourists due to its easy accessibility by public transit, creating an increase in new surfers who would frequent the wave. Surf instructor Antoine Lavigne also noticed an increase in surfers this season compared to previous years. “It started a year before the pandemic, you would see more surfers and bigger lineups, but it really
exploded last year and this summer,” Lavigne said. Beauchamp remembers what things were like before Habitat became extremely popular. “From 2015 to 2018 surfing wasn’t trendy yet in Montreal,” he said. “You see the same people, and even though you didn’t know their names, you knew they were regulars.” Beauchamp isn’t annoyed with the number of people frequenting Habitat, but is rather frustrated with new surfer’s disruption and negligence towards rules. “What happens is that the young surfers stay on the wave for most of the turn and it’s kind of like king of the mountain,” Lavigne said. “That’s what bothered locals this season.” The mix of inexperienced surfers on a more challenging wave like Habitat, combined with a lack of respect towards the rules has caused long-time surfers to sometimes clash against newer ones. “They don’t hold priority because they’re too concentrated on the wave they’re trying to ride,” Beauchamp said. Long-time surfer Igor Goni has been active in the surfing community on the island for the past 30 years. Goni said this wasn’t the first time the community grew, and they’ve experienced similar problems in the past. During the pandemic, the initial wave of new surfers prompted regulations to be put in place to combat long waiting lines. The new directives emphasized order, which included shortening the ride time per wave from one minute to 30 seconds to create more fluidity. Its acceptance at surfing spots like Habitat made it easier for many surfers to ride more often on a busy day. Despite these new regulations, the influx of new surfers over the past year has created traffic like never before. What was once a 15-minute wait time has since
worsened to over hour-long waits to ride a wave. Beauchamp described how he now avoids going on weekends because the waiting times have gotten out of control. “That’s what bothers me because they don’t understand the rules, you keep an order of who’s going next, and you call the person for their turn,” Beauchamp said. According to Goni, the lack of surfing spots in Montreal and the added number of new surfers has resulted in longer waiting times than usual. Goni, Beauchamp, and Lavigne believe that this spot doesn’t belong to them, admitting that surfing is open for everyone at all levels. However, they do agree that there needs to be a specific order that must be kept so that not only everything runs smoothly, but everyone is having fun in the process. “The problem with the new kids is that they don’t understand the importance of these rules. […] If they did what they wanted, the lines would be much longer,” Goni said. Goni urged that these directives must be encouraged so that everyone can have fun surfing while sharing the space accordingly. “If that would require us to go tell 30-40 people to know their place in line, we’d gladly do it,” Goni said. It’s still too soon to tell whether new surfers will accept these rules going into the next season. However likely it is, until things speed up, Beauchamp will continue surfing at night to avoid waiting, to keep doing the thing he loves as much as possible without being interrupted. SPORTS EDITOR LIAM SHARP SPORTS@THECONCORDIAN.COM ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR GABRIEL GUINDI
Surfers watch each other’s performances on the standing waves of Habitat 67, Montreal, Quebec, October 23, 2021 CHRISTINE BEAUDOIN/The Concordian
Sports
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021 CHEERLEADING
The Concordian
19 COLOUR COMMENTARY
Canadian men’s soccer team starts strong TEAM ON PACE TO QUALIFY FOR THE 2022 WORLD CUP IN QATAR LIAM SHARP | Sports Editor
Concordia University’s 2021-2022 cheerleading team perfoms for the first time of the season. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian BY LIAM SHARP | Sports Editor
Continued from page 1 “People were hyped up, to the point where we were getting students from other schools asking about our team and how they could get involved. The cheerleaders are there to show their support to the sports teams first and foremost, but it felt like people took real notice after that performance,” Knaapen said. When the pandemic struck, a lot of the cheerleading team’s traction stagnated as the club couldn’t meet in person to practice and interact as a group. However, instead of drifting apart, Bellerive and Knaapen continued to put in the work to keep their tight-knit community alive. “One of the things we could control was our activity and presence on social
media. So, we made a TikTok account, just to keep the team’s spirits up and continue to engage with potential recruits from afar. Once it became clear that the pandemic wasn’t going anywhere, the easy solution would have been to shut things down and wait it out. But we tried to take matters into our own hands as best we could, and I’m proud of that.” Knaapen said. The cheerleading club has come a long way with their flashy new team uniforms, team sweaters, and eccentric halftime shows to come, but Bellerive’s end-goal hasn’t yet been reached. “Ultimately, we want to be competitive as a school,” Bellerive said. “I don’t think we’ll get to that point this year, but that’s certainly on our radar.” When everything is said and done, Knaapen knows she likely won’t be around to experience the
better days ahead firsthand. But she finds comfort in knowing that she helped lay the foundation for Concordia’s cheerleading future. “When Arianne and I are gone, our hope is that the team continues to grow and gain popularity at Concordia. It’s not about us, we’ve already had our time. We want to instill the passion in our new recruits so they can carry the cheerleading torch.” The last year and a half has been difficult for the team, with the nature of the pandemic threatening the very essence of the club. The road to a fresh start began with their captivating halftime show on Saturday, with Knaapen and Bellerive in the driver’s seat from the very beginning.
Concordia University’s 2021-2022 cheerleading captains, Monica Knaapen and Arianne Bellerive. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian
Let’s keep it a buck — when you think of sports that Canada excels at, soccer doesn’t usually come to mind. Over the years, the men’s national soccer team has rostered lineups with more than enough talent to succeed at the international level, but there always seemed to be an immovable, invisible hurdle between Canada and the World Cup. It’s been 35 years since Canada last qualified for soccer’s most prestigious tournament, but the Canadian drought may soon be coming to an end. The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar won’t be taking place until November of next year, but countries around the world are currently competing in continental World Cup qualifiers. Canada takes part in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) qualifiers, where they currently occupy third place in the final qualifying round behind Mexico and the U.S. Though only six of the 14 matches in the Octagonal phase have been played thus far, Canada have put themselves in a comfortable position with draws against Mexico and Jamaica already under their belt. The top three teams automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup, with the fourth seed having to participate in an intercontinental playoff to book their tickets to Qatar. With Canada’s latest comeback victory against Panama at BMO Field on Oct. 13, and having gone unbeaten in October, the team broke into the FIFA top 50 world rankings for the first time since 1997. Canada started the year as the No. 72 ranked team, and have steadily climbed to where they currently stand at No. 48. The roadmap ahead doesn’t necessarily get easier for Canada as they prepare to face Costa Rica and Mexico in November, and the team is far from perfect. Most notably, they’ve made a bad habit of starting games off slow and falling behind early, a worrying trend that has fortunately translated into dramatic and successful comebacks so far. But the hype is real — just ask Canadian rapper Drake. The emergence of young players Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies — the latter of which has arguably cemented his case as the best player in the CONCACAF — mixed with Canada’s resilience and mental fortitude they’ve displayed this year all make for an incredibly promising team that’s likely to make more noise in the coming weeks. Historically, Canada has wilted under the bright lights when it comes to soccer, but don’t be surprised if this team continues to headline the nation’s sports sections as they attempt to etch their names in Canadian soccer lore.
The Concordian
20
Editorial
What a hybrid system should mean BY THE CONCORDIAN
It’s the start of a new academic year; one where we’ve renewed our STM cards, met our classmates face-to-face, and switched out our pyjamas for real pants to go to class. We’re nudging towards what once was, but with masks, sanitization, and a passport on our phones. We’re finally experiencing what was promised for adhering to health regulations, such as vaccination and quarantining for the last several months . Which is to say, it’s the start of what we’ve all heard so many times that it’s already worn out its appeal: the “new normal.” Beyond the fact it’s been overused to placate our general anxiety of the future and justify ever-changing health safety regulations, it’s not
the right term, le mot juste, to describe our collective, health and safety future. Normal is a standard; the status quo. It implies what we find typical in our day-today life. But that’s impossible to define in a time when our foundation is unstable: we’re riding through, and responsibly obeying, ever changing measures based on irregular swells of COVID infections. It’s been dizzying to say the least. Last year, isolation and Zoom fatigue took a toll on us. Our home environment molted together to form a bedroom/ classroom/workplace all-inclusive space in the same quality of an infomercial gadget we’ve never wanted. For many, schoolwork piled on as teachers assigned extra video lectures and projects; we dealt with unstable internet connections and studying in different time zones. The Concordia Reddit feed
was saturated with students’ comments describing suffering from increased anxiety and poor mental health. Back then, as a solution, students demanded the option for pass/fail to return, and during the 2021 winter semester, we got it. It didn’t fix everything, but for many it was a load off our shoulders — except it only came after CSU representatives and the student community advocated for this change. However, as we return to hybrid in-person instruction, we call on the university to proactively better support students who need it most. A few weeks ago, Concordia began increasingly executing the new hybrid learning environment to an online/ in-person schedule decided by the university. While most students can adhere to this cautious approach, many international students who have moved
TUESDAY OCT. 26, 2021
Let’s meet. Join us (virtually) at our Annual General Meeting! Wednesday, November 10 @ 6pm Zoom link to be posted on socials: @theconcordian @theconcordian /theconcordian
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