The Concordian Winter 2015 Issue 04 by The Concordian

February 3, 2015 Volume 32

Issue 17 |

Independent student newspaper at Concordia University. Since 1983.

theconcordian

News p. 5

SIS or SOS? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t freak out, there are reasorces to help you navigate the new Student Information System

Photo by Keith Race

In this issue

LIFE

p. 7

Poutine week serves it up

ARTS

p. 11

Not quite revolutionary

MUSIC

p. 12

SPORTS

p. 16

BRONCHO Hit the slopes pursues dreams with Concordia

We tell your stories. Follow us on Twitter: @TheConcordian

OPINIONS

p.19

Is education limiting us?

theconcordian.com

news //

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

write to the editor: news@theconcordian.com

CITY fRéDéRIC t. mUCkle assistant news editor

>> oPPoSITIoN AGAINST IMAMʼS CoMMUNITY CENTrE ProJECT Imam Hamza Chaoui plans to open a centre in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve were vehemently rejected by city officials this week. Chaoui was reported and labelled as someone who propagated a somewhat extremist discourse linked to the Sharia law. He notably stated that Islam was incompatible with democracy. The main argument brought forward to oppose the establishment of the centre was based on the assumption that extremist ideas would be promoted under the cover of community activities. The whole case lit quite a lot controversy and debates about the essence of freedom of speech in the media and political sphere in the last few days.

>> MTLʼS MAYor UNVEILS PLAN For A SMArT CITY Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre announced last Thursday his intention to transform Montreal into what is known as a smart city, a term use to describe a municipality enhanced by digital technologies in an array of ways. The $23 million strategy notably includes a plan to have free wireless Internet connection provided all-around the city, to improve the overall connectivity and bandwidth of Montreal and to upgrade its shared database strategy, all that in the next three years. The opposition expressed doubts about the feasibility of the plan that was ironically announced in a Internet-less room.

HALL BUILDING EVACUATED

Concordia’s Hall building was evacuated on Feb. 2 at around 4 p.m. after two fire alarms went off. At least three fire trucks were parked in front of the Hall building. Students were told to wait in the J.W. McConnell Library building until the building was secured, which was about 30 minutes after the evacuation. According to Concordia spokesperson Christine Mota, the alarms were set off by a burnt out ventilator motor on one of the upper floors, and that everything is now back to normal.

Campus // NewS

CRTC gives CJLO poor reception wanted fm spot too close to air traffic frequency mIloS koVaCeVIC News editor

he Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has denied Concordia radio station CJLO a SGW campus transmitter meant to alleviate poor downtown reception. Michael Sallot, who took over the helm as Station Manager in November of last year, said CJLO tried to get the transmitter by citing the station’s mandate as set by the CRTC itself: serving both the Loyola and downtown communities of Concordia. “We quickly found that with the power of our transmitter, being what it is, it’s difficult to tune in to CJLO … when you’re downtown,” he said. “It’s complicated by the geography of the region: with the mountain and all the skyscrapers downtown that absorb the signal.” Simply turning up the power would require a separate application to the CRTC, said Sallot. Instead, they applied for a repeating FM transmitter atop the Hall building that would make it available

on the FM band. CJLO currently broadcasts at 1690 AM. Montreal’s FM spectrum is already crowded, and this proved to be the reason behind the CRTC’s unreceptiveness to the idea. CJLO requested they be given 107.9 MHz, just shy of the 108 and upwards reserved for air traffic control communication. Sallot said the CRTC felt the issues faced by CJLO weren’t exceptional compared to the problems faced by other stations and too close to the air control frequencies for comfort. Another thorny issue was with Vermont Public Radio, which also broadcast on the 107.9 frequency, who Sallot said filed interventions against them for fear of broadcast overlap. Sallot says this did not figure into the CRTC’s decision. “If [VPR] thinks they prevented us from getting our application in any way, they’re mistaken.” Despite the setback, CJLO is considering its options. “To that end, we’re not going to abandon hope. At the end of the day, it’s business as usual.”

Campus // NewS

Dr. Shepard: fostering student futures Concordia president informed Canadian Club on how to create opportunities kaRl USakowSkI Contributor

On Monday, Feb. 2, Concordia President Alan Shepard gave a talk to the Canadian Club of Montreal at the Hilton. Entitled, “Today’s youth, tomorrow’s global citizens,” it emphasized on the need to create opportunities in order to let students develop ideas while preparing them for a globalized society and job market. Shepard presented three key opportunities which would allow academia and society to come together in order to help ready students for the challenges of the world they will face upon graduation. The first opportunity, said Shepard, is to provide “more hands-on work experience while

students are in their course of study.” The second was to enhance the general contributions towards the public good in Canadian society. The third was to “create more intentional pathways for future leaders to engage globally during their formation.” While elaborating on his first proposed opportunity, Shepard expressed support for a proposed change by the provincial premier in the laws on the way companies with payrolls of over $1 million must spend one per cent of it on training for current staff. His envisioned changes would allow for the creation of more co-op opportunities for university students. He also emphasized why it was important for opportunity creators not to be biased towards purported jobs of the future and allow for all fields to flourish

from the creation of student opportunities. His second proposed opportunity centered around micro-philanthropy, which calls on many people contributing to society by taking part in small instances of charity. “It would add mostly informal learning experiences, and would validate those experiences for university degree credit,” Shepard said. The last proposed opportunity was to create more programs in which university students would have access to a greater amount of exchanges in order to offer experiences which would help them enter the job market with a competitive pedigree. “We are shortchanging Canada’s future when we don’t send our students out to explore the world,” Shepard said.

During his talk, Concordia’s president informed the crowd on the recent activity surrounding the university’s student-driven incubator, District 3, such as the Spoil project which has finished a preliminary financing round with a Silicon Valley accelerator fund. He also urged guests to create incubators in their perspective organizations or companies which help with the development of ideas and “would put Montreal in the Vanguard of innovation culture.” He concluded by stressing that these proposed opportunities will only come to reinforce Canada on the international stage and that the network of incubators was growing in the city. The bilingual talk was received with enthusiasm by the assembled participants at the Canadian Club.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

lecture // NewS

Deﬁance behind the bars

the history and current state of non-violent Palestinian prison resistance mIloS koVaCeVIC News editor

ecades of politics have hinged on what transpires in the open spaces of Holy Land and over the lines drawn by the Israel-Palestine conflict. But how have Palestinians responded once removed from the outside and taken into the Israeli prison system? Last week’s talk, “Prisoner’s Dilemma: Prison-based resistance and the diffusion of activism in Palestine,” sought to answer that question. Given by visiting McGill faculty member Dr. Julie Norman, who specializes in Palestinian civil resistance, the talk drew on her work with prisoners, former heads of Israeli intelligence and security services, and NGOs to shed light on decades of Palestinian prisoner experiences covering, broadly, the events since the Israeli territorial gains of the 1967 Six-Day War until today. This was a time where, to cope with rising Palestinian resistance, thousands were incarcerated by Israel: some as prisoners, others under the

label of ‘administrative detention’ or as ‘security prisoners’ who could be held for up to six months without trial or reason, and whose stay could be indefinitely extended. They were held in conditions Dr. Norman describes as terrible: poor nutrition and sanitation, little access to family, without basics such as writing implements and paper. Some were forced to refer to their jailers as ‘masters.’ Though many Palestinians were imprisoned for violent acts, many more were taken in a bid to ‘confine and diffuse’ the Palestinian drive for independence. Dr. Norman maintains the highpoint of such mobilization came in the ‘70s and ‘80s, mostly because of the unique confluence of social and political events occurring at the time. Ideologies were profuse, ranging across the spectrum, but particularly influential were the socialists and communist with their ideas of communal effort. As the prison system inflated and expanded, Palestinians learned how adapt. Dr. Norman portrays this organization as happening on

all levels in a ‘counter-order’ meant to destabilize the prison system. To deal with collaborators—or ‘birds,’ as they were called—on which every prison system depends on, prisoner groups banded together and maintained silence save for a single spokesperson who interacted with the wardens and acted as liaison. Smuggled radios were brought in and listened to by a select number who transmitted the day’s political news by way of messages secreted in tiny capsules and passed on in palms, mouths, and elsewhere; books were copied, sometimes spliced with other texts to make them harder to decode; group discussions on history, politics, and society were organized; and all throughout, the exterior supported them by political pressure in the form of vigils and marches. Hunger strikes, sometimes carried out by thousands, made force-feeding impossible and gave the prisoners leverage to improve their conditions. As one interviewee told her, “Everything you find in prison has a story of resistance behind it. For example, the blankets: In Ramallah we had three blan-

kets, though in the beginning we had one, and somebody suffered and resisted to increase the number of blankets. Later in 1991 in Hebron prison, we had six blankets, so through our demands we were able to increase the number over time. Everything you find in prison—the blankets, the cups, the pens, the paper, the books, the food—everything has a story of struggle behind it.” And everything was designed to “disrupt prison order and make it unmanageable.” With the signing of the Oslo accords in the ‘90s, prison resistance shifted. As the political situation rapidly changed, the make-up and tactics of prisoners likewise shifted. Political fragmentation amongst Palestinians bred cynicism and disillusionment, and the rise of Islamic jihad organizations undid much of the message of nonviolence. The Israelis changed too: frequent transfers, pre-emptive crackdowns, and the increasing use of solitary confinement have chipped away communal action and turned it into individual resistance, even as actual prison conditions have drastically improved.

NATION SaRa BaRoN-gooDmaN life editor

>> GroUNDHoGS DISAGrEE oVEr EMINENCE oF SPrING

On Feb. 2, as the Montreal thermostat hovered around -30, and a snowstorm raged over Western Canada, Ontario’s Wiarton Willie the groundhog poked his head out of his hole to predict an early spring. Folklore tradition suggests that if the groundhog fails to see his shadow on Groundhog Day, as Willie failed to do yesterday, spring would be just around the corner. However, Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam and Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil would disagree—both other groundhogs did see their shadows on Monday, likely confirming the suspicions of meteorologists and everybody else in Canada, that the cold season isn’t over quite yet.

>> FoUr CASES oF MEASLES CoNFIrMED IN ToroNTo

Four confirmed cases of the measles have been identified in Toronto as of Monday, according to public health officials. Two young children, both under two years of age, and two adults—who have no apparent relation or contact with each other—have been diagnosed. Most Canadians have been vaccinated against the disease, but children under a year old who have not yet received the vaccine, as well as adults born between 1970 and 1996, who were only given one dose of the vaccine and thus may not have complete immunity, according to CTV. Toronto Public Health has yet to identify the source of the outbreak, but will continue investigating—it is likely that the disease has been imported from somebody travelling abroad where measles is more common, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and the Philippines.

>> CALGArY MAYor IS BEST MAYor IN THE WorLD

dR. julie noRman talKs about decades of Palestine PRisoneR exPeRiences since the six-day-waR of 1967. Photo by andRej ivanov.

Naheed Nenshi, the mayor of Calgary, was awarded the 2014 World Mayor Prize by the World Mayor Project. The award, which is given out every two years, aims to raise the profile of mayors worldwide by honouring those who have served their communities well by governing openly and honestly, and made significant contributions to cities nationally and internationally. Nenshi, who is the first Muslim mayor of a major North American city, was chosen from over 25 other finalists, including the mayor of Ghent, Belgium who was runner-up, followed by the mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

lecture // NewS

WORLD laURa maRChaND opinions editor

>> SECoND JAPANESE HoSTAGE KILLED BY ISIS Journalist Kenji Goto has reportedly been killed by ISIS militants in a video released last Saturday. The footage, which cannot be independently verified, is believed genuine by Japan’s government, according to BBC News. Goto, a seasoned war journalist, had travelled to try to ensure the release of the first Japanese hostage, aid worker Haruna Yukawa. The killings were allegedly in response to Japan’s monetary aid to and support of anti-ISIS forces. Previously, both Goto and Yukawa were held for ransom, and later, exchange for a prisoner in Jordan. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed that his country would “not give in to terrorism.”

>> AUSTrALIAN JoUrNALIST FrEED IN EGYPT; CANADIAN rEMAINS Al-Jazeera’s Peter Greste has been released from the Egyptian prison where he spent over 400 days in jail, as reported by CBC News. The Australian was arrested alongside Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy in Egypt in 2013. They were charged with “spreading false news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood,” and were sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison. Mohamed and Fahmy remain jailed, though Canada’s Foreign Minister claims that Fahmy’s release is “imminent.” It is unknown if Mohamed, who owns no dual citizenship, will also be released.

>> 93-YEAr-oLD To STAND TrIAL For AUSCHWITz roLE

Oskar Groening, 93, will stand trial for the deaths of over 400,000 killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp in the summer of 1944. According to BBC News, The trial will take place in April, in the northern German town of Lunenberg, Lower Saxony. Prosecutors allege that Groening, who was 21 at the time, was aware and complicit to the mass murders taking place in the camp. In addition, he allegedly counted banknotes taken from victims and hid the luggage of those already killed from those arriving. Groening has formerly been very open with his involvement at Auschwitz. Fiftyfive plaintiffs, composed of survivors and relatives of victims, are expected to testify.

Reclaiming First Nations’ education Panel discusses schooling for natives mIloS koVaCeVIC News editor

ducation isn’t just what’s picked up in the classroom; it is also the intergenerational passing-down of cultural and spiritual vibrancy, something aboriginal people have long been pressured to forget. Learning within the circle, a presentation coinciding with last week’s First Voices Week, sought to bring together for a mostly non-aboriginal audience a First Nation perspective on the struggles, setbacks, and attainments of aboriginal education and cultural pedagogy. “You have to control education if you want your people, your culture, [and] your language to survive,” summed up Kenneth Deer, editor of the Mohawk community newspaper The Eastern Door and co-chairman of the National Indian Education Council in Canada. Alongside Deer were artist/writer/documentarian Alanis Obomsawin and Queen’s University Assistant Professor and Rhodes Scholar Lindsay Morcom. Between the 19th and later half of the 20th century, the Indian Act determined how First Nations people would be incor-

porated into the Canadian social and legal system. For the time, the laws were at least nominally trying to better the lives of the country’s original inhabitants, though in reality it perpetuated a system of exploitation and led to, amongst other things, the residential schools into which aboriginal children were forcibly placed, and in which they experienced forced Europeanization. Despite decades of struggle on the part of aboriginal people for recognition, slightly less than half of aboriginal individuals aged 1864 have attained a postsecondary certificate—diploma, degree, trade school—compared to the almost two-thirds for the rest of Canada. That number falls to slightly above one-third amongst the Inuit population. Today, funding per student is thousands of dollars less than their non-aboriginal counterparts in the public system. “We don’t ask for a right to self-determination. We exercise it,” said Deer, who helped set up aboriginal-run schooling in the ‘70s and ‘80s in Kahnawake. “If you believe that you’re sovereign, you’ll act like you’re sovereign.” This education that he searches for is something deep. “By culture I don’t mean [just] songs and dances. I mean something more holistic: our politics, our clan system, our chiefs, the way we relate to our world,” said Deer. “If we ever stop struggling we’re finished, we’re dead, we

disappear,” he said. “So we are going to struggle, and sometimes we’re going to butt heads, because we’re not going to assimilate, we are not going to disappear.” Another speaker, Obomsawin, referenced personal experience on those days of disappearing. Hers were the most poignant examples of the drive to stamp out the spirit of the culture. “I knew one thing, I was going to a very dangerous place,” recalled Obomsawin of the humiliation heaped on her in the residential school system. Despite this, she embodies hope, talking about an aboriginal rebound spearheaded by experienced activists and, most hearteningly, a generation of enthusiastic youth unapologetic of their origins initiating movements such as Idle No More. The future of Canada’s stance towards aboriginal educational and the catch-up Bill-C33 was discussed. Here there was some disagreement on whether or not it was a step in the right direction. The bill, which aims at increasing the quality of aboriginal education through curriculum improvements and increased funding, has drawn criticism for maintaining the same unequal power dynamics and disparities. Morcom drew allusions between the bill and civil unions for gay people wanting marriage: an ‘almost there’ solution that gives just enough budge to weaken public support and make

those pressing for change look like they’ve overstayed their welcome. She also explained how it wouldn’t cover funding, services like libraries and immersion programs. By refusing to consult the hundreds of First Nations communities scattered across the country, Morcom believes Canada has once again taken on the paternalistic patronizing of its predecessors in deciding what it believes is best for aboriginal populations. “It’s actually an extremely unjust piece of legislation,” she said. Deer too blasted the bill, admitting he hadn’t and wouldn’t read it at all. Morcom believes the way forward in the future is for Canadians to fully question and explore their past, and to realize their nation isn’t merely a friendly stereotype but has a history as a ‘colonizing culture’: “We need to think about how we think about history, how we think about each other’s rights.” The aim isn’t a continuance of guilt for those of European descent, but an acknowledgment of inherited privilege and a critical acceptance that allows for the fact we may not be quite the friendly, open Canadian stereotypes we make ourselves out to be. “We need to question that narrative or we’re never going to go forward,” says Morcom. “We all share a responsibility in the dialogue.”

tech // NewS

Concordia hacks to success and beyond four-man team beats thousands, wins microsoft prize mIloS koVaCeVIC News editor

Picture thousands of mostly undergraduate programmers and software engineers converging and taking over a building in Toronto. Some bring sleeping bags for quick naps; others consume vast amounts of stimulants to stay awake, for time is of the essence and in as little in 24 hours of coding they’ll have moved on. This is a hackathon, and Concordia’s small group is moving up. Sponsored by the University of Toronto, last weekend’s event saw 17 Concordia students participate, courtesy of student organization HacksConcordia. Organizer Buruç Asrin and his three teammates—Mathieu St-Louis, Tyler Argo, and McGill student Brendan Gordon—beat out some 1,000 other contestants to win a prize with Microsoft. It was the second time they had done it with the same company in less than six months of attending hackathons.

Asrin says hackathons favour imagination and skill over practicality. Most projects live and die during during those long days, and participants use the time to work on their abilities and brainstorm rather than code fully fleshed-out creations. “[In the time we have] it’s difficult to make a piece of software that will change the world,” he said. Their entry in Toronto certainly won’t change the world, but it’s fun. Named after Scarlett Johansson’s A.I. character in the 2013 movie Her, their idea was to create a personable computer assistant similar to Apple’s Siri. Using natural language processing, Scarlett decodes what you’re saying and responds in kind. There are limits, of course; the software can’t cope with ambiguity or complexity, but it will hold up in a simple conversation, and can detect sentiments: tell Scarlett you’re feeling down, for example, and it (she) will play you a happy song to cheer you up. Considering they only had 36 hours to come up with an idea (one is expected to arrive with empty hands and abide by the gentleman’s rule that frowns on entering with pre-designed code), it’s an impressive idea built upon

pioneering work. “All that natural language processing—which takes years and years to develop—was already done,” Asrin admitted. Typically sponsorships pay for the transportation and lodging of hackathon contestants as well as the space rentals—and these sponsorships can be huge: Argo said the University of Pennsylvania’s hackathon, PennHacks, had a budget of $300,000. This time around, the Concordia group was reimbursed only $50 for finding their own way to the event. Nonetheless, the event still attracted talent from across the country. A sense of camaraderie permeates the events. Asrin says it’s partly because everyone is happy to share, but also because they must: the dizzying pace of software development means you must cross lines and seek help. “Software moves so quickly, we need to understand it. Regardless if we’re competitors, we’re in the same boat,” said Asrin. Argo estimated he reads between 20-30 articles a day to keep up to date. The increasing importance of hackathons has swelled attendance numbers and consequently raised the bar. The landscape is more competitive and serious, vir-

tual career fairs carefully scouted for talent by top software companies watching in the background. This means that even as they become bigger, some are becoming more closed to the amateur talent that created them. U.S. hackathons hosted by Ivy League schools now require lengthy application processes asking for credentials and project histories, cutting all but the most accomplished—or the most willing to devote their time to the life. The elitism does not sit well with Asrin and his teammates, even as they understand the progression. “It’s harder to get in PennHacks than to get into the university,” said Argo. “Hackathons should really be open to everybody. It shouldn’t necessarily need to have experience to attend a hackathon. It should be a learning experience.” The team encourages non-programmers to come by and even try it for themselves. “It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed or feel subpar when you look at all the things there are to learn in software engineering. In reality all you have to do is read a few tutorials and do it,” said Argo. To learn more about HackConcordia, go to hackconcordia.com

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Campus // news

Surviving the new student system ConU’s re-vamped Student Information System (SIS) may take getting used to, but offers new perks Going live Nathalie Laflamme Editor-in-chief

n Thursday, Jan. 22, Concordia’s new Student Information System (SIS) went live. Back in November 2012, a budget of $23 million was approved by Concordia’s Board of Governors. This is a capital investment, meaning that the money was not taken out of the university’s operating budget. The new system is a software package called Campus Solutions, from Oracle/ PeopleSoft. Other universities in Canada are already using SIS systems, but have customized it to fit their own needs. These include schools like Université de Montréal, HEC, Ryerson, Queens, and many others. The University of Ottawa will also soon start using Campus Solutions. According to Bradley Tucker, Concordia’s associate vice-president, registrarial services and university registrar, and chair of the SIS steering committee, the system has never undergone this level of reworking. Before this, the university had been building the system from a decades-old technology. “We had a 32-year-old structure, on which a series of ways we interact with it have evolved,” Tucker said. “What the new system represents is a complete change of structure and interface, and the new structure and interface is integrated in a way that you would expect in a package solution.” An integrated system Before the new SIS went live, many different parts of the system were separate. For example, Student Account Services, Degree Navigator, and Financial Aid and Awards, were all linked to the system, but were not integrated. This new integrated system also means that Concordia will no longer have to do any of their own research and development for the program, as Oracle/ PeopleSoft will be taking care of that. Another issue with the old system is the fact that those well-versed in the system would not be working for the university forever. “One of the things we noticed and one of the reasons why we started implementing the new system when we did is because a lot of the people who were experts in the old system were retiring, and we were losing capacity to be able to support the old technology too,” Tucker said.

Many students would agree that the adaptation period has been difficult. Right when the new SIS went live last Monday, students began complaining, taking to social media pages like Spotted: Concordia to voice their concerns. “We’re aware that there are people who have been complaining. we’re also aware that there are people who are quite happy with it,” Tucker said. “ I think we need to make sure to understand that there is balance but we do need to listen to people and address the issues as they arise.” In order to accommodate students, the university has, with the help of students, created how-to guides and also hired a student brigade. The tuition deadline was also pushed back to Feb. 9 in order to allow students a little more time to adapt. The reason the site launched at the time it did was mainly because the school wanted the SIS to launch after the DNE deadline. “It was scheduled for the weekend after that. We recognized that it was close to the fee payment deadline, so we made backup plans seeing if we could extend the fee payment deadline should we need to.” Tucker said. “Really what’s important is that we work with it and give it time. It’s a major system implementation.”

gade and who also helped create the how-to guides. New perks The new SIS will allow students to do many new things that they could not before. When registering for classes, for example, they will be able to use the “swap” tool when they wish to drop a class for another, without

having to deal with the stress of actually manually dropping a class before registering for the other. There is also a waiting list, so you can automatically register for a class once a spot opens, and students can combine both this application with the swap tool. Students will also be able to search courses by professor, course name, and time slot. “I started to use it two weeks

ago, and I would say within an afternoon, six hours of using it, most of it started to make sense,” Martin said. “And I’m not a particularly techy kind of person, but it generally started to make sense and it started to flow in the kind of transactions that you wanted to do, in terms of registering for classes is very straight forward, even more so than the previous system.”

Resources avaliable to aid students in navigating the new Student Information System. Photo by Keith Race.

Help for students In order to help students with the transition, the school hired 23 students—undergrads, grads, local, canadian, and international students—to make up the student brigade, a group that helps answer questions students may have about the portal. The brigade will be on both campuses for the next five weeks, on Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the downtown campus (SGW, EV, LB and Hall) and from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the SP building at the Loyola campus. A group of students have also created how-to guides for everything students might have questions for, with simple step-by-step instructions and screenshots to show students what to do. These can be accessed at concordia.ca/ students/your-sis.html. “We have literally gone through transactions and created these guides step by step. I have gone through and gotten these screen shots and made sure that the process is at it should be ... these are very much Concordiacreated,” said international student Paul Martin, who is one of the members of the student bri-

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life

write to the editor: life@theconcordian.com feature // lIfe

MTL: explore all corners of our city

Côte-des-Neiges is a multicultural student sanctuary BéatRICe VIeNS CÔté Contributor

Montreal obsesses us, for its mystery and its joie de vivre; for its bilingual reality—but also its multicultural one; for its impossible yet joyful winter. Montreal is also a city of obsessions, from hockey to festivals, from food to potholes. Montreal is not perfect, yet we promise to love it or to find ways to love it. We see its beauty; we see beauty in the ugly. That is why, today, I am undertaking to celebrate Montreal, with its imperfection that makes us love it so much. Over the next weeks I will attempt to portray its neighbourhoods through an exploration of their specific attractions, whether they are restaurants, bars, sights, stores or activities. Vive Montréal! On the corner of de la Côte-des-Neiges Rd. and Jean-Brillant St., day or night, people stop by the infamous and colourful Marché Les Trottier. Berries in the summer, taffy in spring, trees in December—the owners live to the beat of the seasons, to the great satisfaction of the customers. Besides the market, children giggle and scream as they play in the schoolyard. Not far from there, CEGEP students throw a Frisbee in the park, while a father pushes his child on a swing. Eventually, university students show up with their six-packs of beer and play pétanque. What better place than Côte-des-Neiges to understand the common Montreal idea of vie de quartier? The neighbourhood, which shares a district with Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, is often claimed as the multicultural heart of the city. A quick stroll through the neighbourhood confirms this effortlessly, with numerous restaurants revealing flavours from all over the world. Developed on the northwest slope of Mount Royal, Côte-des-Neiges is only a 10-minute bus ride away from the city centre. However, that is not its only positive feature. In fact, if Côte-des-Neiges is the neighbourhood it is today, it is probably due to its abundance of schools: Collège Notre-Dame,

Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, Université de Montréal, HEC, and Polytechnique are found there. Every day, students flock up and down the streets. School life drives the neighbourhood; we could also probably claim it as the young heart of the city. With the other important factor of the hospitals (CHU SainteJustine and Jewish General Hospital), it is no wonder that the area is so dynamic and counts numerous 24-hour establishments. Indeed, the services at hand are a perfect reflection of the presence of schools and hospitals, and thus of the neighbourhood’s population. So what does one do here? The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” applies in Côte-des-Neiges. As skeptical as some restaurants may make you—especially when they are located in basements—they will not disappoint, and you will be able to find quality at a reasonable price. One of my favourites is Atami Sushi, at 5499 de la Côte-des-Neiges Rd. When you open the door at street-level, you will find yourself in a cold, grey and aqua staircase illuminated with neon lights. Don’t be fooled by the atmosphere of the stairwell, because upstairs is a hidden gem. As you walk through the lobby, you feel like you are in a whole new world. A few customers wait for their takeout orders, sitting on white leather couches under warm purplish lighting. Others distract themselves by contemplating the gigantic aquarium where a few exotic fish swim. In the entrance of the dining room sits a counter where two or three pairs of hands are busy creating, carefully but rapidly, these small meals of raw fish, rice, and seaweed. The dining room itself is warm and cozy, with a mixture of tables and red benches. The place is not ideal for big and loud parties, but it is perfect if you are looking for something low-key. Although it is probably not the cheapest restaurant of the neighbourhood (it costs at least $15 to leave with a full belly), it shouldn’t be dismissed, for the taste of its fresh ingredients, the immaculate presentation and the general ambiance. Let’s consider it a not-too-expensive luxury. Another must is Armenian pizza restaurant Arouch. To call it a restaurant is perhaps an overstatement. Located at 5216 de la Côte-des-Neiges Rd., it would be more accurate to call the branch—because three other Arouch restaurants can be found in

the metropolitan area—a counter. Here, people wait in line at lunchtime to get thin crust pita-like pizzas, designed to the taste of the customer. Indeed, after choosing their pizza style (zahtar, Armenian cheese, lahmajoun, soujouk (Armenian sausage), and so on), people can add on toppings and get salads such as tabbouleh or greek salad on the side. Moreover, the price will make you readers happy: a sandwich can cost less than $4! In brief, you don’t go there for the experience or the service, but rather for a good snack to eat on the run—and don’t we love that, students? (Psst! You will also find a branch at JMSB, 1600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. O.) Besides schools, parks, markets, and restaurants, there are, of course, bars. Most popular is, without a doubt, the festive Resto-Bar La Maisonnée at 5385 Gatineau Ave., which is a hotspot for students. Gather all your friends for the best beer pong, hockey, or karaoke nights in the neighbourhood. For those of you who want to have a more relaxed and educational moment, I highly recommend La maison de la culture at 5290 de la Côte-des-Neiges Rd. The building also houses a public library, holds art exhibitions of all sorts, and presents concerts, films and theatre. Good news: access to these is also free most of the time. Finally, it would be impossible to portray Côte-des-Neiges properly without highlighting its historical sites. Obviously, SaintJoseph’s Oratory, at 3800 Queen-Mary Rd.,

is worth seeing. The imposing church, high up on the mountain at 300 metres, is a real work of architecture, inside and outside. The organs are worth mentioning, and so are the legendary steps, which number over 200! Whether it is for spirituality or physical exercise, the stairs offer a memorable climb and, at the top, a fantastic view of Montreal and its surroundings. For a further exploration of Côte-desNeiges’ patrimony, the 343 acre Notre-Damedes-Neiges Cemetery at 4601 de la Côte-desNeiges Rd. is also worth the visit. Said to be the biggest in Canada, the Catholic cemetery—open to all religious affiliations—is the resting place of important personalities. Far from being morbid, this site is a green oasis, favourable to peaceful and revitalizing excursions. At the end of our journey, we stop by the infamous and colourful Marché Les Trottier, to the sound of children giggling and screaming in the schoolyard not too far away. In March, we will be able to get sticky and sweet taffy, as we enjoy the uplifting rays of spring sunlight. Everything in Côte-desNeiges seems to be made for those passing by to understand what their vie de quartier is—and it is quite successful. Next week, we will explore the home of Jay Baruchel and Loyola Campus. Yes, you have guess right: nothing else than NotreDame-de-Grâce, or NDG for those in the know.

Photos by Béatrice Viens Côté

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Food // LifE

Raise a fork for Poutine Week 2015 We pack on the pounds to give you a round-up of Montreal’s best, (which is the world’s best, really) The healthy vegan poutine Copper Branch - 9/10 Johanna Pellus Contributor

f you think poutine and healthy food are mutually exclusive, Copper Branch will prove you very wrong. The 100 per cent vegan supermarket, cafe and eatery opened in September. Gamel Gray is part of the original team and said the vegan poutine has been one of the best sellers in their five months of business. Poutine Week is an opportunity to spread the news of this healthy alternative to your favourite comfort food.

“Our fries are air-baked so it is a lot more healthy than most of the poutines, and our sauce is a mushroom base, so overall our poutine is very healthy,” Gray said. “We also use Daiya cheese, so there is not dairy in it.” The chefs spent a lot of time perfecting the sauce, which is made with portobello and cremini mushrooms, organic carrot juice, organic miso, and spices. Thanks to this original sauce, the Copper Branch poutine is one of the best I have tried in the city. The sauce is unbelievably tasty, creamy and spicy. The vegan cheese does not make the typical “couic couic” of the cheese curds, but

The Boss Poutine Dirty Dogs - 8/10 Sara Baron-Goodman Life editor

ost people would view “dirty” as a pejorative term, especially unwelcome when it comes to food. I feel the opposite. When it comes to good, clog-yourarteries-worthy grub, I say the more disgusting, the

The Caveman Meat Poutine ART:BRGR - 9/10 Nicole Yeba Contributor

he Caveman Meat Poutine is one of the craziest poutines available. The poutine is served in a large phyllo dough bowl, which confirmed my feelings that food should always be served in edible dough if possible. It’s crispy and tastes like a pita. Inside, the fries are topped with minced meat, merguez sausage, and ham, which is covered with cheese, peppers and a sunny side up egg.

nicely melts in the mouth. This poutine created a perfect sensation of comfort food. So, if you want to know how a poutine can be dairyfree, fat-free, vegan and tasty, try it! It is just a five-minute walk from Concordia’s downtown campus and costs $5.75. There is a $1.50 discount during Poutine Week, until Feb. 7. Copper Branch is located at 1245 Bishop St. and 1500 Atwater Ave.

better. Dirty Dogs’ Poutine Week offering, The Boss, takes your classic double-fried french fries and piles them high with their special Dr. Pepper chilli, duck gravy, cheese curds, red cabbage and onion slaw, and their house mustard. It was like all your favourite ballgame/ barbecue season snacks packed into one heart-stopping blob: the quintessential hotdog, sans hotdog, if you will. The slaw gave a nice zesty crunch to the meal, and was definitely the standout component.

The meat chilli was hearty and slightly sweet, though there could have been more of it, in my opinion. One downside? Not enough gravy left the poor poutine without that extra layer of insulation, and it got cold almost as soon as it was served, catastrophically preventing the cheese from melting as it should. The large size, which could easily feed two people, costs $12.

The Poutine Monsieur C. Verde

Crispy chorizo, sautéed wild mushrooms, and kale are added before being topped with greens and edible flowers. The mix of flavours is as tasteful as the poutine is colourful. The mix of sweet, salty and spicy is divine. The portion is perfect and will not leave you bloated, as other poutines might. This elegant poutine, which comes in at $14, is certainly befitting to the fancy restaurant bar where you can enjoy a drink with friends.

You have to break the egg so the liquid runs through the poutine and you can enjoy the mix of flavours. It’s very hot and spicy, but the bread helps and you can order a drink to soothe the heat. A vegetarian option is also available, which tastes just as good, and even spicier. The portion is extremely generous and the $15 pricetag is well worth it. ART:BRGR is located at 408 Gilford Street

Monsieur Resto + Bar - 8/10 Nicole Yeba Contributor

he Poutine Monsier C. Verde is without a doubt the prettiest poutine, if one could ever really call poutine pretty. The fries are a mix of Yukon and sweet potato with organic and local cheese curds and grated mozzarella.

The Vladimir Végétarienovich Poutine Chez Boris - 10/10 Nicole Yeba Contributor

he Vladimir Végétarienovich Poutine is a vegetarian poutine with sweet french fries made from doughnut dough. This poutine is a Russian, Quebecois and Mexican mix of beet, three-bean, and smoky chipotle pepper chili served over the doughnut fries and cheese curds. It’s topped with a dollop of sour cream

Dirty Dogs is located at 25 Mount Royal Ave. E.

and sprinkled with shallots, and the mix of sweet, spicy and sour is heavenly. It almost feels like you are eating a dessert with the doughnut dough fries, which are reason enough in and of themselves to try this poutine—I mean, come on. Doughnut. Fries. Chez Boris is a nice café in the MileEnd where you can otherwise enjoy doughnuts and coffee or tea while studying. The portion is generous and at a reasonable low price of $10, perfect for students. Chez Boris is located at 5151 Parc Ave.

Monsieur Resto + Bar is located at 1102 De Bleury.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Health // Life

Being lonely is bad for your heart New study shows social relationships boost your health Sara King-Abadi Contributor

eeting new people may have more benefits than increasing your number of Facebook “friends.” A team at Concordia University’s psychology department has completed a study that proves—at least in the short term—that a lack of social interaction can have negative effects on your health. The study, published in the Annals of Behavioural Medicine, proved that one’s perceived level of loneliness affects one’s health. Researchers measured the subjects’ heart rate variability (HRV), which, according to Concordia assistant psychology professor Jean-Philippe Gouin, is a marker of cardiac function determined by your autonomic nervous system. “[HRV] is linked to how well the autonomic nervous system is working,” he explained. In layman’s terms? “It’s a good predictor of future health outcome,” he said. “There’s a lot of data that shows that social relationships are important for health,” said Gouin. “However, in humans most of this data is correlational.” The ethical issue of studying social interaction lies in the fact that you can’t manipulate whether a person will have social relationships or not. Therefore, social interaction and good health may not necessarily be related, because not all the factors are controlled. Gouin’s solution to the ethical dilemma of social isolation? International students. He and his team gathered 60 international students who had arrived in Montreal with

no ties in the city. No family, no friends, no acquaintances. Not knowing a soul in Montreal. Sixty individuals who were, essentially, utterly alone in a new environment. The participants were also healthy individuals with no chronic illness or prescribed medications. They were recruited during mandatory information sessions for new international students. Gouin’s study measured how lonely the subjects were through self-reported questionnaires. It seems strange that loneliness can be quantifiable, but essentially the level of loneliness was determined by how often they interacted with others (personal integration) and by the participants’ reporting of how lonely they felt. This is important because it means the level of loneliness truly is what is perceived by the participant. “We also know that loneliness is impacted by individual characteristics,” said

Gouin. “So some people might be surrounded by people but still feel lonely.” He and his team then measured the HRV of participants and Gouin was actually surprised by his findings. “One thing that was interesting is that, contrary to what we expected, there was not much fluctuation over time in the level of loneliness,” said Gouin. “The effect was quite strong. So at baseline there was no relationship between social integration and HRV, like we would expect.” Over time, however, (the study took place over six months and three visits) the relationship increased. While Gouin would like to study the effects of loneliness on HRV in the longer term, for now the findings have proved interesting. For instance, even if participants were making friends, the results of the study still showed that their HRV was lowering

on average. And while Gouin cannot say why for certain, he does have his theories. “I think that there are different options that we can make. One is that if you’re moving to a new country, your relationships may not be as close as in your home country or the last city that you were living. So maybe the quality, not just the quantity, of the friendships matter,” he said. While the study was composed of international students, Gouin finds that the negative health effects of loneliness on HRV can apply to anyone. Someone going through a major life change like relocating to a new city for work, or anything that can break you off from your entire social network, can have the same effect. So take care of the stable relationships in your life. They may help your health in the long run.

Having a friend doesn’t just make you less lonely, it helps your heart too. Photo by Hartwig HKD from Flickr.

Let’s talk about sex

Shall we take this outside [the bedroom]? Frédéric T. Muckle Assistant news editor

o you picture yourself as an adventurous lover? Someone who would like to try some things that are, let’s say, a bit more daring than the classic missionary? Have you ever looked at an empty classroom, a Ferris wheel bench, a coat check area, a dark alley or a narrow library corridor and told yourself that this would be a neat place to make the physical act of love? Then you have probably thought about or already had sex in public.

Everyone has their own reason for trying it out: for some, the incongruity of it makes it fun and interesting; others may use it as a way to spontaneously and wildly spice things up; but in my experience, pretty much everyone craves the thrill of possibly getting caught. As an occasional user of public spaces for such racy activities, I have learned important lessons about this sexual behaviour. First, don’t do it in an elevator if you mind being watched by someone bored out or his or her mind by countless hours spent in front of camera monitors. According a well-informed hotel clerk, just because you don’t see the camera doesn’t mean it’s not there. The second, and most notable lesson in my opinion, is that after the initial excitement of the first few times fades away, having sex in public is kind of te-

Column // LifE

dious. When you strip the whole thing down to its most basic features, the performances that take place in some bar’s bathroom are average at best, but often plainly mediocre. There’s nothing bad about a good old quickie or doing it in incongruous positions, but when the two main characteristics of the intercourse are its hastiness and impracticality, you can’t really compare it to a full-fledged moment shared in the vast and convenient space that is a bed. I don’t know about you, but my best moves need an appropriate milieu in which to be performed. Ever tried it in a tiny bathroom stall, while having to get in and out before the other full-bladdered restaurant patrons start banging down the door, and thought you could perform to your best ability? Think again.

Sure, it’s cool to have this one story about the time you almost got arrested for having sex next to bi-millennial sacred ruins in a foreign country. It’s not everyday that you share this kind of moment with the world, so I’m not saying that public sex is bad. It’s just that when we talk about such experiences, we often tend to romanticize the moment, to sell it as the most exciting and enjoyable sex we’ve ever had. Rarely do we hear about those pretty awkward seconds when you were looking around, wondering: “so…how are we going to do this?” But hey, sex being what it is, every experience can be as unique and diverse as we can possibly imagine. In the end, in public or in the comfort of your own home, sex is nice. So yeah, here’s a clever conclusion for you.

tUeSDaY, feBRUaRY 3, 2015 //

Column // lIfe

Financially correct Investing 101: getting started while still being a student mIChael keNNeRkNeCht Commerce co-editor

The turbulent days of the financial crisis may still be fresh in your minds and you may be hesitant or even downright afraid to put your money into the stock market, but despair not. If you follow a few steps and exert some discipline and patience you can build a fortune by investing intelligently. If you’ve saved up some money and you decide that you want to start earning a return on your savings, the safest and simplest option would be to dump it all in a savings account. Unfortunately, nowadays even high interest savings accounts yield only a paltry 0.8 per cent interest; at that rate it will take you nearly 87 years to double your money. You may as well

stick the cash under your mattress at that point. Luckily, there is a better alternative. The returns you can generate investing in common stocks are considerably more attractive; over the last 100 years the average annualized return on the S&P 500, a stock market index, has been 10.15 per cent. At that rate your money would double about every seven years and, if you were to invest $10,000 at the age of 25, by the time you retired at 65 you would have saved almost half a million dollars. And that’s not even including additional contributions you would make while you were working. Intrigued yet? Return isn’t everything though. Time is undoubtedly the most valuable asset you have; the earlier you start saving and investing, the better off you’ll be in the future. For every additional year your money is invested, your future returns grow exponentially. This is the magic of compound interest. Einstein was famously quoted as saying: “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it,

earns it ... he who doesn’t ... pays it.” So you’ve decided that investing in common stocks is the way to go and you’re wise enough to realize that starting young is critical. In order to get started, you’ll have to open a brokerage account. There are two main types of brokers: fullservice and discount. Full-service brokers give you access to investment advisors, financial planners, insurance products and many other services. Full-service brokerages tailor their services to wealthier individuals who prefer to leave the work to professionals. As a result, all these services come at considerable cost and are not suitable for smaller investors. Examples of full-service brokers in Canada are BMO Nesbitt Burns, TD Waterhouse, RBC Dominion Securities and Scotia McLeod. In contrast, discount brokers, like the name implies, offer brokerage services at a fraction of the price. Trading commissions are typically in the six to 10 dollar range and they will allow you to open an account with little to no minimum balance. This is ideal for someone with lim-

ited funds who plans to invest their own money. Examples of discount brokers in Canada are BMO InvestorLine, RBC Direct Investing, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Scotia itrade, Questrade and TD Direct Investing. After you’ve picked your broker, you need to decide on the type of account you want. If you’re a student, your best bet is to open either a normal cash account or a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), which allows you to contribute up to $5,500 per year and trade without having to pay taxes on capital gains or income from dividends. If you’re interested in trading options, futures or short selling then you’ll need to apply for a margin account. While you’re setting all of this up, it’s wise to create an automatic periodical deposit from your checking or savings account into your investment account. This is one of the best ways to consistently grow your portfolio and maximize your potential returns. So now that that’s out of the way, you’re ready to trade!

Column // lIfe

Snapchat Discover: going from nudes to news New “Discover” feature taps into the journalism game SaRa BaRoN-gooDmaN life editor

n Jan. 27, everybody’s favourite self-destructing photo messaging app, Snapchat, rolled out a brand new interface wherein users can receive news updates from their media outlets of choice. When you go to the little list icon at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, you will see the familiar list of recent “stories” updates from your friends pop up, as usual. From that menu, find the little purple circle icon on the top right-hand side, which will lead you to the Discover menu. Choose from CNN, MTV, Cosmopolitan, Daily Mail, Snapchat, Bleacher Report, Food Network, National Geographic, People, Vice, Fusion, and Yahoo! News. Touch and hold the icon of your choice, and a loop of “teaser” clips of a chosen daily headline will appear on your screen. Swipe down and Snapchat will lead

you to the long form piece that goes along with the visual story at hand, complete with photos, links, and any other embedded media that might appear on the news site itself. Continue swiping right to see more headline stories from that same source, or swipe left until you get back to the home screen. Stories are curated by the editors of each outlet, not dictated through social media popularity, and are updated every 24 hours, which, Snapchat insists on their site, “puts the narrative first.” This, they urge, is not social media. So, can the app we once used to send clandestine nudies and ugly photos of our double chins actually transition into a legitimate disseminator of news? On one hand, it seems the next logical step that an app that most of us check upteen times a day to receive “news” from friends start giving us news of the broader world as well. On the other hand, as a journalism student, I can’t help but shake my head and wonder what the hell kind of world we live in when your go-to for news is an app that until recently was reserved for compromising selfies. In any case, it’s comforting to know that I can now consult Cosmo about their newest technique to please my man before sending that 10-second nude, all without quitting the app.

arts 10

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

write to the editor: arts@theconcordian.com theatre // aRtS

Puppets make light of our dirty little secrets Paul van Dyke’s latest offering tackles the reality of Japanese internment camps laUReNt PItRe Contributor

The Nisei & The Narnauks is an outlandish play set in a historical Canadian context. In the guise of an Alice in Wonderland-like coming-of-age adventure story, this play examines the distressing treatment of Japanese Canadians during World War II, and juxtaposes it with the overall treatment of First Nations people. Rising playwright and director Paul Van Dyck states that the idea for the play came during his exploration of Canada’s “real” history. “In school I was taught that Canada was a ‘melting pot,’ a happy multicultural utopia. I was lied to. When I later learned about the internment of Japanese Canadians, the treatment of First Nations, and the ever present racism in my own community, I was perplexed and angered. I wondered how this could happen in my own country. But mostly I was afraid at how easily these events could be swept under the rug, for when our mistakes are forgotten, that’s when they’re repeated,” he said. However, this play is a guaranteed pleasure for all ages and all walks of life. Life-like puppets (sometimes giantsized), live music, lively actors and a magical storytelling experience will captivate you, move you and transport you to a fantastical land where a young girl makes sense of her world. “I believe this will be an important

the nisei & the naRnauKs uses caPtivating visuals to illustRate difficult themes. play. I think it will educate a lot of people, and it will do so in a delightfully subversive way. It will take them on a journey of magic, and beauty, and adventure. And at the end of it all hope-

fully they won’t want to put their heads back in the sand. They may even want to know more and demand more of the country we live in,” he continued. And at the very least, Van Dyke says

that if you’re not learning anything, you will still be very entertained! Persephone, once again, has given opportunities to emerging artists. The play features four young, energetic and vibrant actors playing multiple parts through mask and puppets, while also providing all the live sound effects and music. Dawson College alumna Stefanie Nakamura plays young Kimiko. From John Abbott, Michael Briganti takes on the role of Kimiko’s side kick, Raven. Concordia University gives us the final two actors in Jimmy Blais and Brefny Caribou. Blais tackles the physicality, the voice and the focused performance of a myriad of characters, ranging from princes to wolves. He said that the experience is an “opportunity to tie down to his native roots,” and that the puppets form a bridge that allow the audience to enter the story, while the engaging use of live music helps to tell “a multi-layered show,” allowing this mythical story to be “carried along.” On the production side, Peter Vatsis provides designs for both set and lighting, while Melanie Michaud takes on costume design. Persephone welcomes the chance to work with puppet and mask maker Zach Fraser. Assisting Van Dyck with direction is Sara Rodriguez, all under the helm of stage manager, Isabel Quintero Faia. The MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) presents, in collaboration with Persephone Productions, The Nisei and The Narnauks by Paul Van Dyck from Feb. 5 to 22.

literature // aRtS

Skating on the thinnest ice michael Deforge’s First Year Healthy is bizarrely sensitive JoCelYN BeaUDet online editor

ichael DeForge’s name is hardly an unknown one at this point in time in the world of graphic novels. You may recall that last year The Concordian reviewed Ant Colony with praise, this enthusiasm being mirrored by several other publications like the New York Times, The Globe and Mail and the Chicago Tribune. First Year Healthy is no exception to this rule. DeForge’s delightfully edgy, powerful storytelling and narrative is surpassed only by the riveting and charming artwork used to convey the (inescapably dark) beauty of this tale. Sitting at a brief 45 pages, this halfhour read is still capable of taking you on a trip through the icy cold land

where the nameless protagonist of the story lives. Like being casually dropped into someone’s life, the book does away with contrived explanations and generally trivial name-dropping, and instead simply lets readers place themselves into the story. This being said, there’s very little that could be mentioned about this tale that wouldn’t spoil it in the long run. Suffice it to say, though, that First Year Healthy is captivating and will take you through a dark tale of mental illness, all the while enchanting you with myth and folklore. This blend of the surreal with strikingly grounded reality is kept in perfect balance throughout the story, making the entire bizarre trip almost tangible enough to relate to. As can be expected of DeForge, his use of bright colours, coupled with the astounding attention to detail on every

page, makes First Year Healthy more than just a story to read once and put away. It’s a tale that begs to be explored again from different perspectives, and meticulously. You can pick up your own copy of First Year Healthy for about $15 straight from the Drawn & Quarterly store at 211 Bernard St. W.

Tuesday, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Theatre // arts

Revolution is not a universal language Dawson’s Daughters of the Revolution is a complex, political play Lindsay Richardson Arts editor

heatre reviews should be easy to read, easy to process, and not riddled with complex terminology and jargon. That said, it is very difficult to write a comprehensive, all-inclusive review of a production that was written in the almost impenetrable language of “revolution.” Let me preface this review by saying that the professional theatre students of Dawson College faced a multitude of obstacles in their staging of David Edgar’s politically-charged opus Daughters of the Revolution, and managed to proceed with relative success. The play, written by Edgar in 2003 as the second of a two play series about American politics, follows community college professor and former ‘60s activist Michael Bern (played by Jean-Michel Chartier). During a surprise birthday party thrown by his girlfriend Abby (Keren Roberts), he is presented with a copy of his FBI file, discovering that one member of a group of activists he was involved with was, at the same time, an FBI informant. Following this alarming realization, Bern sets out to track down the seven other members of his former anti-government group and uncover the traitor. The journey takes him from the ghetto to the throes of a political campaign, a gated community, and the depths of a sacred redwood forest. The play is easy enough to synopsize on paper, but is entirely a different beast when executed in front of a live audience. Each scene was weighed down by long-winded, disjointed speeches and antiquated turnof-phrase that was very difficult to understand. Without a prior understanding of

the 1960s political landscape, or the overall “speak” of that era’s anarchists and revolutionaries, the average audience member would be lost. Even our protagonist seemed confused, and at some points bored, in the tedious delivery of his lines. The two most striking performances belonged to secondary characters. Jack Sand (Nils Svennsson-Carell) appears only for a handful of lines in flashback segments, yet Svennsson-Carell remarkably portrays a renegade, anti-authoritarian hippie with an understated finesse. His dirty, drawly, Matthew McConaugheyesque Southern accent was razor-sharp and completely convincing. Nicky Fournier was also commendable in her turn as crooked, phony politician Rebecca McKeene, a former activist who renounces her views in hopes of pulling ahead in her campaign run. Though the vocabulary aspect certainly muddled the experience, the rest of the undertaking was admirable. The use of popular 1960s songs to transition between scenes kept the audience in good spirits, and the set design, while minimal, facilitated the many changes needed to follow the plot’s trajectory. The costuming was also one of the more memorable aspects of the production, and was no doubt difficult to bring about. Not only was there a need for semi-authentic hippie costumes, but costume and makeup designer Pierre Lafontaine had to convincingly age quite a few members of the young cast. These two aspects combined actually produced a roster of believably middle-aged characters. Overall, Director Doug Buchanan managed to put forth a production whose value extends far beyond the reach of a typical college student. A few technical glitches and acting unease did not slow the show’s pace. However, audiences are still left with one fundamental and still unanswered question in mind, which does impact the overall comprehension: who exactly ARE the “daughters of the revolution?”

Jean-Michel Chartier gives a laboured performance as former radical Michael Bern.

Opinion // arts

ARTiculate: ‘Based on a true snore-y’ True-life movies and big-budget franchises make for a ho-hum awards season Thierry Tardif Contributor

any of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies look at the lives of non-fictional, influential people that the general public may or may not have heard of. At least half of the nominees for the Best Picture award are from biographical movies (Selma, The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game, American Sniper) and most of the actors nominated for the Best Actor/Actress award also took part in biopics. This brings an important question to the table regarding the lack of creativity in Hollywood. Where has the creativity gone in inventing pieces of work that are not based on comic books or real-life stories? In the past years we have seen more than our fair share of Marvel movies, from Iron Man to The Avengers, in addition to the continuous creation of sequels. I mean, is it really necessary to create seven Fast &

Furious movies? All jokes aside, it seems as though creative, genuinely impressive work is fading. Yes, autobiographies adapted into movies can be interesting, powerful and mesmerizing. Watching Eddie Redmayne play out the difficult character of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything was outstanding (to say the least). I’m sure Benedict Cumberbatch did a marvelous job portraying Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. However, the directors and scriptwriters are simply taking a real life story that was written and became a bestselling autobiography, which you could probably buy at Chapters for $30, and told themselves, “hey, let’s make a movie out of this and make millions!” There really is something missing. An audience starts to wonder: is it the “true story” that’s really stimulating, or the dramatized, creative-licensed version? What we end up with is a cinematic “chicken before the egg” conundrum. I mean, Foxcatcher anyone? I’ve decided to make a list of a couple

of directors who are unique in their own genres and always find a way to leave the audience at the edge of their seats. Wes Anderson is an example of what I consider to be a creative director in this generation. With movies such as The Grand Budapest Hotel (nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards) Moonrise Kingdom, The Darjeeling Limited, and many more, Anderson creates parallel universes to illustrate the extremes of important values such as good and evil, family, friendship, love, and happiness. Woody Allen is another example of a very talented director and writer. Allen has always had the ability to leave his viewers puzzled, laughing and also wondering what is going through his head. He has written and directed dramatic pieces that always have a funny twist to them. Penelope Crúz and Javier Bardem’s drama as a dysfunctional couple did give a good laugh in Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona, am I right? Finally, Christopher Nolan’s creations in Inception and Interstellar are beyond re-

markable. I don’t think anyone else would have come up with the idea of having “dreams within dreams.” If it weren’t for him, it’s doubtful that anyone else in this day and age would come up with sending ol’ Texas boy Matt McConaughey to space to find a way to save the universe in the depths of another galaxy. We can criticize his use of special effects, as they may seem too prominent, but without them his movies would not show the creativity or the beauty of his ideas. You still have to give him credit for writing and directing a masterpiece of a trilogy in the Dark Knight. These directors may not have written or created movies that please the entire public, but all of their work is their own and is original. Biopics and action-packed Marvel movies are starting to get old. Enough with the Fast & Furious sequels, it’s time for the world of cinema to come out with new, original ideas that will mystify movie watchers and showcase the real talent that comes from the minds of both cinematic masters and rising artists.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

music write to the editor: music@theconcordian.com

Profile // mUSIC

Branch into BRONCHO’s bottled dreams the band plays their infectiously catchy songs on tour with the legendary Billy Idol mIa PeaRSoN music editor

“Da da do do do do do do do do do do do do do da da da do do do do do do do do do.” If you haven’t heard BRONCHO’s new hit, “Class Historian,” the lyric above means nothing to you. If you have heard the song, you’re probably cursing this article for bringing the catchy chorus back on repeat in your head. Ryan Lindsey cements himself on stage, taking the shape of a slacker rocker—baseball cap and loose sweater dragging down to a low-hanging guitar—but within this static slacker figure is a musical mind, gifted with a natural aptitude to flush-out pop hit after punk hit. Perhaps a dead giveaway of the genius behind Lindsey, who languidly chews gum between lyrics, are his furrowed brows and determined angry eyes aimed at the back of the room the whole set through. Pairing melody and lyric comes effortlessly to Lindsey—like a dream.

“I have these recurring dreams of the town I grew up in, but it’s really squished together. Like all the main parts of the city are really close to each other and you can just walk everywhere, like from my house to downtown to my friend’s neighbourhood. Everything is almost cartoonish—how close it all is. Those are my favourite dreams to have about growing up, because it’s this different version of the way things happened. They’re always kind of dark, and it’s always at night, the temperature’s always perfect.” The distorted dreams of Lindsey’s youth in his native town, Norman, Oklahoma, creeped their way into his psyche while writing the band’s second album, Just Enough Hip to Be Woman. “When writing [the record], I never was consciously thinking about this being a record about all these things. It just kind of happened,” he said. Lindsey’s childhood revelry is tell-tale of BRONCHO’s sound: the songs have soaked-up the fleeting moments of the songwriter’s childhood. They’re quick, upbeat, and bottle the badass attitude

of a kid at a punk show. The songs also meet youth with nostalgia; one of the slower songs on the new album, “Stay Loose,” pulls at your heart strings by means of the minimal guitar riffs hitting the saddest and happiest notes of your past. “That’s a song on the record that really hit a certain tone with the nostalgic past,” he said. “It kind of connected some dots between where we were going and where I wanted the record to end up going from our first record to our second record.” Whatever elixir Lindsey draws from his dreams and injects into his tunes has been picked-up by big names in sales and shows. Lindsey’s songs have been used by Starbucks, Old Navy, and even a Payless commercial. The band’s song, “It’s On,” was also featured on the HBO series, Girls. The excitement a BRONCHO record induces in a listener can’t be cast aside. Can’t Get Past the Lips, released in 2011, is an album you can pick a fight to—or, at least, fuel a small rebellion. “We almost got kicked out of our hotel

the other night because we found a way onto the roof,” Lindsey said. “There was a phone on the roof, and [Ben King] used it to try and order pizza to the roof…. it was the front desk and they said they didn’t have any pizza. And then they asked if we were on the roof, and [King] said ‘no,’ and they sent a guy up there. So we went up there a few more times, and the last time, the guy came and said ‘no way. You guys gotta get off this roof. No way. Uh uh. Uh uh, guys.’” Lindsey paused for a moment, and concluded with, “Ya, I think we like to have fun.” Currently on tour with the legendary Billy Idol, BRONCHO has been warming up the sold-out crowds and getting people “feeling good and loose and comfortable.” Idol, whose hit songs have surfed the airwaves for decades, has not yet partaken in any of the band’s parties or pizza-ordering endeavours. “We haven’t had a good ‘Billy hang.’ I really hope it happens,” Lindsey said. BRONCHO plays Metropolis Feb. 3 with Billy Idol.

bRoncho aRe oPening foR the legendaRy billy idol feb. 3. fRom left: ben King, Ryan lindsey, and nathan PRice in a bathRoom. PRess Photo by jaRet feRRatusco.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Profile // music

The New Pornographers want to please you... aurally

Quick Spins

Vocalist and guitarist Kathryn Calder discusses songwriting and solo projects Justinas Staskevicius Staff writer

hen Kathryn Calder joined The New Pornographers nearly a decade ago, the band’s second album, Electric Version, had recently broken into the U.S. Billboard Top 200. Only 23 at the time and nearly a decade younger than most of her band mates, they took to calling her “the kid.” Since then, she has not only outgrown the nickname, but gone on to contribute vocals and keyboards to four albums, all of which broke the top 50 in the U.S., and released two solo albums. When Calder was asked to join The New Pornographers by Carl Newman, her uncle and a vocalist and guitarist in the band, she felt as though she had “been plucked out and put in the band,” a group she admits having been a fan of. Calder confessed that some of the early formative elements of the band, like where the name came from, are lost in time. “People like to say that the name came from a televangelist who said that ‘music is the new pornography,’ but other people say it’s because of a movie called The Pornographers—I don’t know.” Wherever it came from, Calder likes it. “It stands out,” she said, “it even offends some people.” With seven full members as well as a touring member, many of whom also have ongoing side projects, the band is

larger and busier than most acts. It is not exactly a chore to get everyone together, however: “It’s annoying in the way that it’s annoying to get eight people to decide on what restaurant to go to,” Calder said. Being part of such a large band also has its advantages. “There’s so many of us that there’s a good safety blanket,” she said, “I don’t really feel nerves purely due to the fact I’m surrounded by seven other people.” There have been many memorable moments with The New Pornographers for Calder, but a few stand out: “We were in Mexico City around ‘07 doing this huge show and the fans were so excited,” she said. What really stood out for Calder in Mexico City was that, “outside the show, these people were selling all this fake merch with hijacked images; it was a really funny moment,” she said. Calder made sure to buy some of the counterfeits as souvenirs. Before joining the band, Calder was a member of the now defunct Immaculate Machine. “I was in a group called The Reactions in high school, grade 12,” Calder said, “but Immaculate Machine was the first band where we went on tour, and had fans, and people would come out to see us.” One of the biggest differences between Calder’s former group and The New Pornographers is that in the Immaculate Machine, “we all wrote the songs together, in the same room,” she said. “In The New Pornographers [Newman] and [Dan Bejar] do the writing.” Calder’s role in the creation of the group’s music is

geared more towards arranging her keyboard parts. “I come up with ideas and then [Newman and Bejar] sort of decide what’s cool,” she said. “It’s a messy process and I never really know what they’ll keep.” Being largely absent from the songwriting process is, in part, the reason Calder decided to start her solo project. “I started writing my solo album partly for my mother, who was dying at the time. I wanted to do it for her and I wanted to know what my own music sounded like,” she said. “I had spent all this time making music in a group and I didn’t even know what my own music was.” Whatever the project, Calder feels a link to all the music she helps create: “I feel connected with both [projects]. In The New Pornographers, I like to find my space within the larger picture,” she said, “they fulfill different artistic roles for me. Calder only recently started thinking of her future in music. “When I joined the band I had no idea. I never thought that far in advance,” the 32-year-old said. “You never really know. An opportunity would come-up and I would just take it without thinking ‘oh, this will be good for my career.’ I still don’t really know, but we just keep going,” she said. “I know I’ll always be making music, but it was only in like the last five years or so that I started thinking long-term.”

Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again (Drag City; 2015) Recorded on a 4-track analog tape from Jessica Pratt’s apartment in San Francisco, On Your Own Love Again could easily be mistaken for an obscure ‘70s singer-songwriter record uncovered in a vault somewhere. Each track on her sophomore album is essentially Pratt plucking her nylon-string guitar over simple harmonies and the hiss and distortion of the tape deck. Her sound recalls early Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, but with her child-like (though simultaneously world-weary) voice, curious enunciation and reflective yet cryptic lyrics, she also channels contemporary acts like Joanna Newsom and Angel Olsen. What makes On Your Own Love Again so exceptional is Pratt’s effortlessness and precision with these simple folk tunes, which are so delicate, timeless and hauntingly beautiful that the emersion you’ll feel while listening to the album is almost dream-like. Trial track: “Jacquelyn in the Background”

9/10

-Paul Traunero

The New Pornographers play Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre on Feb. 4 with Operators.

Bjork – Vulnicura (One Little Indian; 2015) Icelandic musical goddess, Bjork, has released Vulnicura, her most intimate album to date. Bjork created a musical interpretation of the separation with her long-time partner. As far as heartbreak albums go, Vulnicura stands out as an overwhelming detailing of the lengthy healing process. From start to finish, you can sense the chronological transitioning of emotional states that range from confusion and heartache in “Black Lake” to courage and empowerment in “Mouth Mantra.” Sonically, Vulnicura has strong orchestral components, fusing classical string instruments with deep electronic bass. Bjork’s exquisite articulation of her simple lyrics results in a beautiful rendering of the complications of love and loss. An example of her stunning delivery can be heard in, “Lionsong” where the strings dominate the percussions. If Bjork is still writing and performing music as poignant and emotionally intense as Vulnicura after 30 years in the industry, there is still great hope for what is to come in the future. Trial Track: “Stonemilker”

The New Pornographers stop by Montreal to play Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre on Feb. 4 with Operators. Press Photo.

10/10

-Oneida Crawford

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

DIY // mUSIC

Recording your songs 101 home recordings can be tricky, so here are tips to help with sound quality fIoNa maYNaRD Contributor NataSha taggaRt Production assistant

>> Jay-Z invests in music streaming Jay-Z can add a music streaming service to his list of business ventures. Following other musicians including Dr. Dre and Neil Young who have found success entering the distribution side of the music industry, Jay-Z has placed a bid for Swedish tech brand, Aspiro, for $56 million. Bloomberg is reporting Aspiro will compete with similar services such as Apple Inc.’s Beats and Spotify. Currently, Aspiro runs Tidal, which launched in the UK and U.S. this past October, and WiMP, which runs in several European countries and has over 500,000 paying users. This is the latest business move from Jay-Z, who has also invested in a clothing line, record label and champagne brand.

here are many reasons people still consider recording music at professional studios; the quality of sound is impeccable, the tracks and beats are prepared in advance and depending on where you go, expert feedback is normally provided. These benefits are compelling sure, but everything comes with a price. So if you’re looking to spend a minimum of $60 an hour for these perks then read no further! For those interested in saving a couple of bucks and channeling those creative skills, you’ve come to the right place. It’s all about the home studio these days and one of the tricky parts about creating one is knowing what to avoid and what to use to your advantage. Ideally, setting an ambience is prime in deriving the appropriate background noise and overall atmosphere. Recording in a room with furniture, a bed, blankets and stuff in general will help absorb that echoing sound that cheapens the final track.

Many microphones are sensitive to humidity, dust, or smoke, so avoid these elements as best you can to ensure the diaphragm stays clean. When placing the mic, it should be level to your mouth and always make sure to stand up when singing; your breaths are deeper and you have more control of your voice. When it comes to recording instruments, if you own a keyboard, guitar or any type of instrument you can physically play, I suggest that you record yourself playing into your mic and upload the sound the same way you would the voice. Virtual instruments are a pain to use on a computer with keyboard and mouse. Also, avoid acoustic drums if you’re not properly equipped for recording them; the sound won’t be as clean as electric drums. Ideal equipment will include a microphone, headphones, cables to connect your instruments (if electronic), a computer and a decent recording software. A worthy microphone can be purchased at any local music shop, or electronic store for a minimum of $100. Car-

bon and dynamic microphones are ideal if you’re on a tight budget, but if you’re looking to really invest, I suggest using ribbon or condenser type microphones because of their sensitivity and ability to pick-up higher frequency sounds. If this is too pricy, your old “Rock band” or “Sing It” mic will do just fine. Headphones are a must when recording, and I would recommend semi-open headphones because they offer a perfect balance between sound isolation and sound quality. Not all recording programs are userfriendly or easy to understand, but the following list includes free software compatible with both mac and PC: Ableton Live, Audacity, Presonus Studio One Free, Cockus REAPER and Zynewave Podium Free. I haven’t had a chance to test each program, but I can vouch for Ableton Live and Audacity; they get the job done. A few tips to getting it right: the microphone can hear you, so don’t be afraid to add yourself singing back-up vocals. For the perfectionists out there: fresh is best. Record it once and believe in yourself (but if it sounds awful, one more take won’t hurt anybody).

>> Blink-182 controversy continues It seems that Blink-182 is continuing on without Tom DeLonge, as they prepare for an upcoming show at Musink Music and Tattoo Festival in March. Alternative Press is reporting DeLonge has released a statement: continuing a battle of he-said-she-said, he writes “I never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit.” The drama began last month when the band’s publicist released a statement outlining DeLonge’s supposed quitting, and continued with a Rolling Stone interview with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, who said that DeLonge had quit the band indefinitely. They also referred to DeLonge as “disrespectful” and “ungrateful,” which lead DeLonge to take to Twitter to say that Blink-182 previously tried to kick Barker out of the band. The tweet has since been deleted.

>>Taylor Swift trademarks signature lyrics The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s website shows that Taylor Swift has trademarked a series of phrases relating to her latest album, 1989. The phrases include “This sick beat,” “Party like it’s 1989” and “Could show you incredible things,” among others. Vox.com reports these trademarks make it harder for people looking to reproduce and sell clothing, posters and other merchandise with the phrases in question. While these now-registered trademarks make it easier for her to sue you if you plan on making a quick buck by selling a “This Sick Beat” t-shirt on Etsy, that doesn’t mean other phrases are fair game. Any lyric or quote Swift uses to identify her brand with can be considered an unregistered trademark, meaning you can still get sued.

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

Staff picks // mUSIC

The best earworms, from us for you The Concordian music section’s fabulous contributors and staff writers made a list of songs that have been on repeat in their lives recently. There’s nothing like finding a good song you can’t get enough of—except for, maybe, an album you can’t stop spinning.

Solange - “Losing You” “And I'm really not a Solange/Beyonce/pop fan.” -Sara King-Abadi, contributor Ben Howard and Hozier - "Like Real People Do"

“He's such a beautifully bearded Irishman.” -Jessica Romera, staff writer Shlohmo - “Just Us” “Fav song of the moment.” -Steven Nadeau, contributor Khun Narin - “Lam Phu Thai #1” “I've been pretty obsessed with this Thai band called Khun Narin— it's sort of Thailand folk psychedelic. They dropped their debut album, Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band, last August. I'm particularly liking the first track, "Lam Phu Thai #1." -Paul Traunero, staff writer

Jesse Woods - “Gold in the Air” “(Dreamy folk rock) as heard on HBO's Girls.” -Ayan Chowdhury, contributor The Garden - “Crystal Clear” “I’m obsessed with everything The Garden has been doing. They’re a band of two talented twins from Orange, California. Their song, “Crystal Clear,” has been on repeat” -Mia Pearson. music editor Talking Heads - "Once In a Lifetime" -Oneida Crawford, assistant music editor

sports

Tuesday, February 3, 2015 //

write to the editor: sports@theconcordian.com fitness // SPoRtS

Warning: CrossFit is not for everyone an inside look at the latest fad and whether or not the benefits outweigh the risks taYloR YaNkowSkI Contributor

It’s the newest thing in personal fitness training and chances are a friend or classmate has already told you all about their latest CrossFit adventure. While it is a great full-body workout that members can’t get enough of, CrossFit can also be a dangerous training method if not performed correctly. There are countless people getting injured doing this workout regime, according to personal trainer and bootcamp instructor Chuck Frischman. “It has good short-term results but not in the long run,” said Frischman. “Most people ignore form and technique and simply do the exercises, which is when they get injured.” Since it was developed in 2000, the ever-growing trend incorporates a series of high-intensive interval training exercises that normally range from seven minutes to a maximum of 30 minutes. It stresses the body to its limits so people quickly burn more body fat. Some of the exercises that are used include squats, smashes, dead lifts, bench press, burpees and weightlifting, to name a few. These are always combined in different ways and within

a time limit to challenge the individual. No two CrossFit workouts are ever the same, nor should they be normally repeated. That’s one of the reasons it is so appealing. Regular workouts revolve around the same set of machines or equipment, but with CrossFit, it’s a brand new experience every time. The method has been widely criticized because people lose weight at an alarming rate. Many injuries have also been reported because people do not take into consideration their physical limitations and focus on developing proper workout techniques. Director of the Pediatric Undergraduate Education at McGill University and Zumba fitness instructor, Dr. Preetha Krishnamoorthy, explains the importance of knowing your limits. “Exercise needs to be tailored to each individual,” said Krishnamoorthy. “The key to exercise is to build yourself up slowly and check with a doctor before doing anything too intense.” CrossFit does not have an age range. Videos posted online and comments on social media show teens, adults, children from 6-11, as well as preschoolers doing these exercises.

Dr. Krishnamoorthy believes that CrossFit should be practiced between the ages of 18 and 35. Those who are younger need to have their muscles and conditioning checked beforehand, and those who are older should always have approval from their doctor before engaging in the exercise. There are others that believe that CrossFit is healthy and safe. Simply ask Steve Goffman, the co-owner and head coach at Coexist CrossFit+Obstacles in Dollard-des-Ormeaux. For 24 years, Goffman did traditional weightlifting until he discovered CrossFit. He wanted a change from the boring routines that left him unsatisfied. “The first time I tried CrossFit with a co-worker, I did 20 minutes straight of bench press and ‘Cindy’ (an exercise that consists of pull-ups, push-ups and squats). After 10 minutes, I wanted to die. After 20 minutes, I went outside to throw up. That is when I found my calling,” said Goffman. When being asked why so many people are injured using this method, Goffman explained that most of these people do not have trainers. At Coexist, the trainer assesses each individual’s

physical condition privately. Then they warm up together, work on techniques and increase the intensity during the exercise. “Anyone at any skill level, and [with] any injury, can do it,” said Goffman. “If a doctor allows someone injured to come back and work out, I’ll create workouts for him to do.” Meghan Kelly, a journalism student at Concordia University, is also a fan of CrossFit training and has found it has been extremely beneficial. “It allowed me to get a lot stronger,” Kelly said. “I loved the intensity, the cardio, it is self-motivating and I got results.” Kelly was member of Reebox CrossFit YUL in Dollard-des-Ormeaux. Saturdays are her favourite day of the week to go because of the team training events that take place. “Normally CrossFit is individual,” Kelly explained. “But on Saturdays we are placed in teams of four, working on relay-type activities. It is really nice to workout with friends and be able to motivate each other.” There will always be debate whether or not CrossFit is appropriate exercise for most people, but Dr. Krishnamoorthy knows one thing for sure. “Every form of exercise will be tough, but you need to find motivation to keep going.”

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 Skiing // sports

From school to the slopes CSSC gives students a chance to visit the hills while staying on a budget Caelie Smith Contributor

Super Bowl XLIX Tim Lazier Sports editor

>>INSTANT CLASSIC in Arizona

It was supposed to be one of the tightest matchups in recent history, and Super Bowl XLIX didn’t disappoint. In one of the most thrilling Super Bowls ever, the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 for their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history. Midway through the fourth quarter the Patriots were trailing 24-14 and they seemed to be on the losing end of their third straight Super Bowl. However, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady marched the offence down the field on back-to-back drives to take the 28-24 lead with just over two minutes left to play. That’s when the madness began to unfold. Led by Russell Wilson, the Seahawks moved the ball down the field as the clock began to dwindle. The drive was defined by a juggling catch by Seattle receiver Jermaine Kearse while he was on his back to set his team up inside the Patriots’ fiveyard line with 30 seconds left. It had the makings of a David Tyree catch 2.0, the infamous catch that the New York Giants wide receiver caught to crush the Patriots hopes of a Super Bowl victory in 2007. While Patriots fans prepared to watch another Super Bowl slip away, Sunday night proved to be different. Instead of handing the ball off the running back Marshawn Lynch to try and get the defining score, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll called for a passing play. Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Wilson’s pass with just 20 seconds left and clinched the victory for New England. It was Butler’s first career interception, a moment that he or any football fan will never forget.

Do you love skiing or snowboarding? Need to escape the city? On a tight budget? If so, it’s time to check out the Concordia’s Ski & Snowboarding Club (CSSC). The CSSC offers students the chance to snag a deal on ski passes for their daily and weekend trips. All travel arrangements are included and after every day, the CSSC provides students with a chance to unwind and make some new friends at their Après Ski parties. The CSSC is dedicated to offering affordable ski and snowboarding trips to students. There is no membership fee to participate in the club. However, you do have to sign up in order to purchase your tickets online. The club is open to all Concordia students and members can also bring friends, regardless if they go to Concordia or not. With the purchase of your ticket you get a full day out on the slope as well as a seat on the bus to and from the hill. If you want to go but are lacking the

equipment, the club also gets discount rates on rentals at the hill. If you want to ensure your spot on the next trip, sign up early because the CSSC trips sell fast. On average, they get 50 to 100 students per event. Some of their more popular trips are across the border. Their last trip to Sugarbush on Jan. 24 was completely sold out. “We have many

members eager to ski in the U.S.,” says Hannah Townsend, CSSC co-president. The next available U.S. trip is to Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont. “We always have a huge turnout for this event, so do not hesitate to get tickets,” she continued. If students aren’t looking to go too far, they also have trips to hills here in Quebec. Their most recent local trip was to Sutton on Sunday, Feb. 1 that only cost students $55 round-trip. In the past, spring break has always been a prime time to organize a trip. However, this year, nothing is planned yet. “As of right now we do not have a ski trip organized,” says Townsend. “However we are open to suggestions and always take into consideration the demand for trips.” If skiing and snowboarding isn’t your thing they will be organizing a social event during the break, which is open to everyone. For more information, visit the Concordia Ski & Snowboard Club on Facebook. You can also check out their website surfthesnow.org to sign up and purchase your tickets online.

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

>> BRADY WINS MVP When the Patriots seemed down and out, they turned to their veteran leader for answers. The Patriots’ offense relied on Brady’s arm throughout the game to move the ball against the league’s best defence. Brady had 37 completions on 50 attempts and racked up 328 yards. Despite his two interceptions, Brady threw for four touchdowns and was responsible for all 28 points. Tom Terrific now has the most touchdowns ever in Super Bowl history with 13. Brady’s night was good enough to give him the Super Bowl MVP, his third MVP award in his career. He ties Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the only quarterbacks to ever win four Super Bowls. If he wasn’t already in the conversation for greatest quarterback of alltime, Sunday’s performance surely puts him in the mix.

With cheap deals and free transport, students can take advantage of the Ski & Snowboarding Club. Photo by Alexandre Luc.

Tuesday, February 3. 2015 //

men’s hockey // SPoRtS

Lack of defence leads to another loss Illness has taken its toll on the Stingers men’s hockey team for the past couple weeks

PeggY kaBeYa Contributor

The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team dropped to 8-17 on the season after a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks (UOIT) in Sunday’s pre-Super Bowl matchup, handing the Stingers their second loss in a row. “Number one we have got to get healthy … We had to shut down the dressing room [this week] we had a sinus and throat infection going around so we had a tough week of practice,” said Stingers head coach Ken Figsby regarding his depleted roster after the game. Illness was the story going into the game Sunday afternoon. The Stingers, who were looking to get back into the

win column after last week’s 4-2 home loss against Laurentian, were hit by the by the bug all throughout the week, with the blue liners being hit the hardest. “Alex MacDonald has been our most steady defenseman all season, and we had to pull him in warm up,” said Figsby. “Sean Blunden hasn’t played in the last 6 games, and Jeremy Barriault hasn’t played since November and we had to put both those guys in the game today.” The Stingers shaky blue line play was the story in the early going as they conceded the game’s opening goal off a neutral zone give away that resulted in a UOIT 2-on-1 breakaway. Ridgebacks forward Jesse Stoughton scored, assisted by Ridgeback winger Connor Jarvis, 10:20 into the game. Despite allowing a goal in the first period, Stingers goalie Alexandre St. Arnaud was solid between the pipes turn-

ing away 11 of 12 UOIT shots during the first 20 minutes. Concordia jumped out of the intermission playing inspired hockey, despite the questionable play of their backend, which allowed 17 shots on net in the period. Antoine Houde-Caron knotted the game at 1-1 just over 90 seconds into the period on a deflected point shot by Francis Turbine, also assisted by Dominic Beauchemin. The Ridgebacks, not to be outdone, regained the lead off a terrible Stingers giveaway deep in their zone which resulted in a goal by UOIT’s Mike Robinson midway through the second. The Stingers quickly responded with a goal of their own on a Dany Potvin snipe from the slot assisted by Gabriel Bourret and forward Domenic Beauchemin—his second helper of the game. St. Arnaud’s play continued to be the difference, keeping this game tied at 2-2 heading into the third. The Stingers

goalie was peppered with 17 shots in the second period and turned away 15 in the process. Unfortunately the onslaught continued in the third period, and the UOIT forwards exposed the rust and inexperience along the Concordia blue line, popping in two goals to a lone Stingers goal by Matt Boudreau with 3:25 left in the game. “I told the guys at the end of the second period, if we can win the shot count today heading into the third period, we can win the third period,” said Figsby. The Stinger’s were outshot 8 to 16 in the third, and 45-32 overall in favour of the visiting UOIT Ridgebacks. Next up for the Stingers, they host the third ranked 19-5 McGill Redmen at home in the 28th Corey Cup. On Friday, Feb. 26, the puck will drop and the Stingers will try and reclaim the cup which they lost to McGill last year.

Upcoming Stingers games COME CHECK OUT THE CONCORDIA STINGERS IN ACTION ON HOME TURF ! Men’s Basketball

Women’s Hockey

Saturday, Feb. 7, at 4 P.M. VS McGill

Saturday, Feb. 7, at 2:30 P.M. VS McGill

at Loyola

at Ed Meagher Arena

Women’s Basketball

Men’s Hockey

Saturday, Feb. 7, at 2 P.M. VS McGill

Friday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 P.M. VS McGill

at Loyola

at Ed Meagher Arena

MORE INFO AT STINGERS.CA

the stingeRs KePt uP with the RidgebacKs desPite having many staRting PlayeRs out of the lineuP due to illness. with the loss, the stingeRs sanK to 8-17 this yeaR. Photos by andRej ivanov.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Women’s basketball // SPORTS

Stingers stumble late and lose 72-63 Concordia’s defence finally gave away in the fourth quarter and Laval came out on top Casey Dulson Staff writer

The Laval Rouge et Or came to Concordia on Thursday night looking to capture their third win of 2015 while the women’s basketball team were trying to rebound from two bad losses last week. The Rouge et Or fought off the pesky Stingers and prevailed with a 72-63 win. The Stingers shot over 35 per cent from the field during the game, but it wasn’t enough to challenge the Rouge et Or. Laval had a great start to the game with a 6-0 run started by forward Justine Guay-Bilodeau. The Stingers struggled early, missing baskets until the 5:47 mark of the first quarter when Stingers forward Richelle Gregoire went beyond the arc and hit a three-pointer. At the end of the first quarter the Stingers trailed 15-8. The Stingers scored the first points of the second quarter on a basket by guard Aurelie d’Anjou Drouin. A minute later, the Rouge et Or scored their first points of the quarter on a basket by forward Jane Gagné. The Stingers scored six unanswered points to respond and pressured Laval for the first time in the game. However, the visiting powerhouse increased their lead to seven points after a threepointer by guard Gabrielle Girard with 36 seconds left in the quarter, momentarily stealing the momentum from Concordia. As time was expiring, Stingers guard Daphne Thouin drained a three-pointer to make it a four-point game, 27-23 at halftime.

Concordia got their first basket of the third quarter on a three-pointer by Gregoire and the Stingers came out ready to compete after the break. In the third quarter, Concordia battled back and tied the game twice. The first time was at 31 when Gregoire drained another three-pointer and the second time was when Kaylah Barrett got a basket to knot the game at 33. Gregoire was unflappable from the three-point arc and gave her team their first lead of the game. The competitive pace continued

as the Rouge et Or came storming back and tied the game at 46 with 28 seconds left in the quarter on two free throws by Gagné. Laval opened the last frame with two straight baskets by forward, Marilyn Bariault, which started a 6-0 run for Laval. The Stingers got their first basket of the fourth quarter on a basket by MarilyseRoy Viau two minutes into quarter, but they couldn’t keep up with Laval. The Rouge et Or had a 5-0 run midway through the fourth quarter which in-

cluded a three-pointer by Raphaelle Cote that helped Laval pull away. Concordia fought hard throughout the game but got behind too many times during the game and couldn’t recover in the end. Stingers head coach, Keith Pruden, was not happy about his team defense after the match, especially how they fell apart in the final quarter. ”Our defense was on and off in the fourth quarter, [and] it can’t be. We turned the ball over way too much,” Pruden said.

Concordia’s fourth-year guard Daphne Thouin battles for position in the offensive zone. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

Men’s basketball // SPORTS

Frustrating loss for the Stingers at home Late turnovers in the fourth quarter cost Concordia the game Casey dulson Staff writer

points of the second quarter on a basket by forward Antoine Beaumier. Beaumier’s basket started a 4-0 run for Laval to give his team much-needed life. Laval would score eight unanswered points midway through the second, led by Dezutter who scored five points on the run. Late in the half, Stingers guard Aamir Gyles stepped out from beyond the arc

and hit a three-pointer to maintain Concordia’s advantage. The maroon and gold went into halftime with a five point lead as the score was 43-38. Like the second quarter, Laval had a fast start to the third quarter as they opened the quarter with a 7-0 run and took their first lead of the night. The quarter went back and forth between the

oncordia’s men’s team hosted the Laval Rouge et Or on Thursday night’s double-header in an exciting back-and-forth game. The Rouge et Or finally won the game 79-77 thanks to costly turnovers by the home team late in the game. The Stingers committed 22 turnovers all together in the game. The game’s first points came on a slam dunk by Stingers forward Ken Beaulieu. A few seconds later, Rouge et Or center Boris Hadzimuratovic hit two free throws. The Stingers respond with a 5-0 run which included another slam dunk by Beaulieu to give Concordia the early cushion. As the first quarter was drawing to end, the Stingers would increase their lead on a three-pointer by guard Mukiya Post. Concordia’s quick start was evident and the score at the end of the first quarter was 22-14 . The Rouge et Or had a strong start to the second quarter as they scored the first

The Stingers gave up a late lead and lost by two points, 79-77. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

two teams and it seemed as neither team could miss. The Stingers took back the lead on a three-pointer by point guard, Ricardo Monge midway through the third. Not to be outdone, the Rouge et Or then came storming back and took an eight point lead. By the time the buzzer sounded for the end of the third quarter, both teams had put on an offensive explosion. The Stingers had erased the Rouge et Or’s big lead and trailed the visiting team by just two points, 64-62. The Rouge et Or scored their first points of the final quarter with five minutes left in the game on free throws by Thibaud Dezutter which tied the game. The Stingers then scored six unanswered points and looked to be in control. However, the Rouge et Or did not give up and rallied with 12 seconds left in the game to tie it at 77 with a basket by forward Alexandre Leclerc. Just as it looked like the game was headed to overtime, Leclerc got the ball back for his team and drew a foul. A pair of free throws would settle the game and stun Concordia. After the game, Stingers head coach John Dore was disappointed with his team’s performance and timely turnovers. “We had far too many turnovers which really hurt us in the end,” Dore said.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

opinions

write to the editor: opinions@theconcordian.com editorial // oPINIoNS

When your university degree isn’t enough experiences are what make students valuable to employers We see worry reflected on the faces of our classmates. On our colleagues. On our masthead. It’s always the same nagging question: what the hell do I do after university? Degrees mean less and less. What used to be a promise of employment, sometimes even well-paying employment, suddenly offers no guarantee of even an interview. We toil for years for a piece of paper that is increasingly losing value. And it scares the hell out of us. There seems to be only one solution:

make your degree worth more. No, you can’t scribble more words onto your certificate, but you can make the most of your time here and the opportunities that university provide. Concordia University President Alan Shepard, in a Feb. 2 speech, identified the problem. He spoke about the “opportunities for bringing together the world of school and the real world beyond”—in other words, professional life. “In a knowledge economy, we know that university education brings great opportunities, but it’s very difficult to be certain where the next opportunities may lie,” said Shepard. “[Co-op programs] help a student differentiate his or her own learning experi-

ence — to customize it, in other words.” He went on to say that co-op students can get one of four things out of the experience: “sometimes university credit; a pay cheque from the employer; great on-the-job experience; and either a professional reference or, sometimes, a job.” He adds that there is “evidence that through co-op, the learning is deeper, the marks are higher, and the probability is also much higher that you’ll finish your degree and be a fully employed member of your community.” Members of our masthead have completed multiple internships. Some are in co-op. At the very least, we are participating in running The Concordian, which is paying job in and of itself. And frankly, we can’t help

but agree. Some of us have said that they learnt more on the job than all of their schooling combined. Some got professional contacts out of the experience, or references by those respected in their field. Not to mention the paycheck that a co-op job brings. Going to school is, unfortunately, not just about going to school. It’s about rounding yourself out as a candidate. Get involved in student clubs. Do internships. Enter co-op. (Maybe write for your local student media, but hey, just a suggestion.) These things make you the best kind of candidate: the one who gets hired. How do you cope with a useless degree? Work it.

education // oPINIoNS

How modern education smothers real learning our academic focus on the economically viable kills our pursuit of knowledge

t is truly the end of science. You can only tell that something is dying when the very basis of it starts to fade away. Wisdom, love of knowledge, the everstrong human affinity to develop mental and physical tools that protect human survivability, and the unsaturated human zeal for knowledge, are all becoming uncommon and will one day be extinct. Currently, science is being driven by money. If your research will have a positive economic impact, it will be funded and encouraged. If not, your research will be stillborn. People conveniently forget that money does not have a great moral purpose; it was only made to serve its own existence, which is generating more money. I don’t blame corporations for funding research that only add to their bottom line, neither do I blame governments which only fund research that reinforces their political ideology because—simply put—it does not make any sense. These institutions are structured only to perpetuate their own existence, isolated from the concept of public good and good citizenship. Blaming them would be like blaming a lion for killing its prey to eat. I think the blame is to be put on smaller social circles. Families are urging their children to study topics that match the market’s needs. Universities are channeling money into subjects that serve the current capitalist industry, such as engineering and business. Topics like philosophy, political science and social studies are heavily under-attended and

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

taReQ ShahwaN Contributor

under-funded. Eventually, this will lead to a society that does not question things, a society that does not understand the theories of power and hence its own exploitation, a society that cannot govern itself democratically and in an egalitarian way, and most importantly: a society that does not search for purpose or meaning. The only society we are producing, then, is a collection of antisocial individuals who can only apply pre-made tools, and produce businesses that, in its totality, serves only its own bottom line. Hence, the environment and morality’s bottom lines (so to speak) will suffer. Humanity’s daunting task of searching for meaning and purpose in a universe filled

with puzzles will eventually stop, after a journey of several millennia. If families want to see their children happy, if universities and schools wish to see their graduates truly inflict fundamental change in society, they should help them search for meaning and purpose— and most importantly, question the status quo through their education. Philosophy, for example, taught us that human knowledge only developed when people started questioning things, loving wisdom, and worked to satiate their intellectual hunger. These habits, I believe, generated quite a lot of human happiness. When philosophy was the mother of all sciences, we

all felt that we are part of a collective effort to unravel the puzzles of the world. Nowadays, we all feel lonely in dark cubicles working for business silos: we lost the joy of the collective and the coziness of a universal purpose. We always wonder why there is global warming, why children are consuming drugs to escape reality, and why porn penetrated society like a golden bullet. These dangerous phenomena clearly show that our society is heading towards an education that discourages reflection and analysis, but encourages fast solutions and a lack of social responsibility, which clearly reflects the needs of a capitalist market.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

health // oPINIoNS

Fighting my monster: living with anxiety a student’s perspective on why we need to end stigma surrounding mental illness CaSaNDRa De maSI Contributor

here is nothing more frustrating than having a millions things you want to say and not being able to say them. There is nothing more infuriating than feeling out of control of your own emotions and actions. There is nothing more discouraging and isolating than people pushing you aside, and labeling you as feeble. I have suffered from anxiety for a very long time, and was recently diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. I have dealt with obsessive compulsive behaviour, anxiety attacks, fear, and the constant feeling that something bigger and more powerful than me was standing on my chest 24 hours a day, seven days a week—in a constant state of fight or flight and high alert from what is usually a fabricated danger. This summer, I found myself unable to sleep, curled up in a ball in my bed at 3 a.m. crying to my mother about how I couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted it all to stop. Despite my struggles, I was never one to ‘give up,’ as they call it. I was never one to lose total control. I always thought I was in control; I always had it all figured out.

My world was spinning—I felt as though I was alone in a dark room with no windows… no air. I could see the light through a small crack. I could see the people going about their everyday life; my friends, colleagues, everyone I knew so far away—out of reach. I knew what was out there, I knew it was good, but I couldn’t fit through the crack because the monster on my back was too large. It was at that point that I realized that I let my anxiety take complete control of my life. I had seen doctors in the past; I have had many health issues related to my stress. They’ve given me tips and ways to manage my anxiety. I’ve always managed to do it on my own, but now I felt defeated because I no longer could, and I felt like I had nowhere to turn. I was ashamed. This year, I started treatment for my anxiety. This year, I spoke up and said that I could not longer do it on my own. I can proudly say that as of right now, I have not had a panic attack in three months. I can take elevators again; crowded metros aren’t the death traps I once considered them to be. I can go to a movie theatre without constantly looking over my shoulder at every little movement I see in the dark. Small steps, but I am

no longer ashamed of my struggles. These may seem like completely ridiculous feats to you, but to me they are paramount accomplishments. To me, they symbolize my ability to silence the monster on my back. It’s still there—I still have a lot of work to do, but if I keep reminding myself that I control it, and it not me, its power is greatly diminished. I am writing this because people are quick to share links and retweet on “Bell Let’s Talk” Day, but that’s one day in the year. There are 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, and 8,765 hours in a year, and in the life and struggle of someone suffering from anxiety, depression, and mental illness. It is so easy to feel alone and isolated, and for many that makes the situation even worse. A change of mentality—an end to the stigma surrounding mental illness needs to be brought forth. It’s such an immense part of so many people’s lives. According to the Canadian Institute of Health Research, one in five Canadians

will experience a form of mental illness at one point in their lives. And yet, we are still whispering about it. Just writing this and publishing it with my name has me feeling rather nervous, even though I shouldn’t be. The stigma is alive and thriving and I have unfortunately experienced it first hand. I am not weak, rather I am stronger than you could ever imagine. And to the people who say, “just shake it off,” you don’t just shake the monster off. You look it in the eye, and you fight it. A person is always more powerful with the support of those around them. You are not alone, I can promise you that. Let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about the what, the why, and the how surrounding mental illness. Be kind, be good, take the time to be understanding and open-minded, and together we will find concrete solutions. To learn more about “Bell Let’s Talk Day”, visit letstalk.bell.ca/en/

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Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Travel // opinions

Ways to overcome reverse culture shock Post-exchange depression shouldn’t keep you grounded Matthew Civico Staff writer

tudying abroad or taking a gapyear to travel is an invaluable experience. One that’s sure to transform the returning student in one of two ways: it will make you better, or it will make you bitter. Two weeks ago, The Concordian’s Life section ran an article entitled “They say you can’t come home again.” The writer suggested that the common reaction students have to ‘re-entry’ into normal life after traveling abroad is largely negative, what she refers to as post-Erasmus depression. The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) facilitates university exchanges and internships for students wishing to study in Europe, and one can assume that the condition is common to all foreign travel. In any case, that is where the name comes from. I don’t contradict the fact that returning home from an extended time abroad is difficult—this is very true. I do, however, contradict the implied solution to post-Erasmus depression. Having traveled extensively in Europe and North Africa over a gap-year, I can sympathize, but I cannot agree that the only solution to the back-home-blahs is to book another flight. That’s the reaction of the bitter, and I think we can do better. Post-Erasmus depression is just a fancy way to talk about reverse culture shock. Actually, reverse culture shock could use some explaining too. Culture shock is a process people experience when they enter a culture very different from their own. Being a Montrealer, I would not experience any shock in Moncton—but in Marseilles I might be bothered, and even more so in Marrakech. “But new cultures are fun,” you might say, and I’d respond “indeed!” But for how long, and to what extent? The official Canadian government travel website lists three distinct stages of this process: The “Honeymoon,” “Culture Shock,” and “Adjustment” phases. I experienced all three of the stages abroad and when I returned home, so I hope to provide some insight for those who are struggling with coming home and those who might travel soon. The “Honeymoon” phase is glorious. In this stage, “everything you see and do in the country you are visiting is exciting and positive” says the government travel webpage. Baguettes? Delicious. Donkeys? Cool. A distinctly non-Western approach to punctuality? Well, that’s endearing, of course. If the things you experience in this phase are not amazing in and of themselves, they are, at the very least, oddities which interest and intrigue you. It should be noted that sometimes you don’t come out of the “Honeymoon” phase. Maybe because the trip is too short, or the culture is not radically different (a trip to Vermont or Maine, perhaps). Maybe you live in the “Honeymoon” phase because you’re the Greek god of travel! If you’re not though, and you spend enough time in a different culture, you will experience the shock of culture shock. So if we accept that culture shock is a real process, then we must acknowledge

that the reverse can, and does, happen. The government website describes this second stage as: “a sense of dislocation and general unease” and lists several symptoms. I should mention that my main point of contention with the original article was that post-Erasmus depression was presented as an almost unavoidable phenomena, when it can be rightly understood as reverse culture shock. So in the interest of bouncing back from those back-at-home blahs, let’s explore reverse culture shock. When you return from spending six to 12 months overseas, you’re certain to experience a gamut of emotions. Regret, some relief, and perhaps nostalgia in both directions. When I returned from a year abroad, the first Tim Hortons I saw was to me as the Statue of Liberty might’ve been to a returning American. To me Tim’s represented so many comforting values and experiences, and it tugged at my heart in spite of the quality of their coffee. The trick is to not fall into one of two traps: idealizing home or demonizing home. The latter happens when we idealize wherever we’ve been abroad. Unqualified as I am, it was apparent to me while reading the original article that the experiences and stories of those interviewed showed strong signs of being the reactions of those idealizing “abroad.” I am deeply nostalgic for many aspects of my time abroad, but I remember also being homesick while I was away. Not

the whole time, mind you, and there were times when I said “I’m never going back!” But I did come back, and so will you if you study abroad. So, what can you do when you find yourself hating everything about home? You can get right back on that plane and go back, but that’s probably not an option, and even if it were, it’s not helpful. All the excitement and novelty of the “new place” will wear off eventually and you’ll find yourself in the same spot—restless and lusty for wandering. I propose a far more pragmatic solution: have another adventure. If an adventure is made from equal parts “old familiar self” and “exciting new place” why isn’t the reverse true? Mix up a little “new exciting self” with the “old familiar place” and get to it. Sure, it’ll be just as much work to adjust the new you to your old “culture,” but you had experience doing that when you went abroad, only now it’s in reverse. I’ve reversed and revised the recommendations of the Canadian government for your convenience: Admit, frankly, that these impacts exist. Reverse culture shock is real but it’s not the end of the world, you just need to readjust. (Re)learn the rules of living in your country. Local behaviour and customs, although they may be different from your own, are neither better nor worse than

what you are used to. Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise and take the time to sleep. Limit your alcohol consumption to moderate amounts. Travel. Take the time to be a tourist and explore your country’s sights as if you were a visitor. Make (new) friends and develop relationships. Getting to know local people will help you (re)adjust to cultural differences. Maintain contact with friends abroad. It is also a good idea to keep a journal of your feelings and thoughts. Do something that reminds you of life abroad. Maintaining some of the habits you made overseas can be helpful re: independence, etc. Avoid idealizing life abroad. You were in another country that had its own set of problems. Also, you can find people everywhere, and people can be terrible. Go on, travel and study abroad if you can. One semester is good but a whole year is even better. If you have the chance, explore a country whose culture is vastly different from your own, maybe the Middle East or East Asia. Do it, have the invaluable experience—but don’t let it make you bitter about coming back. Live it, love it, and let it soak into you. Then come back a fuller, more insightful you and have the adventure all over again as you rediscover a familiar place through new eyes. Welcome home, world traveler.

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

International // opinions

Anti-terrorism shots fired in the Twittersphere Japan’s ‘ISIS Crappy Photoshop Grand Prix’ is exactly how we should react to terrorism Sara King-Abadi Contributor

Why did the ISIS militant cross the road? For $200 million. Except on the other side was Japanese private security consultant, Haruna Yukawa, and journalist Kenji Goto. And the road? A hostage situation. Yukawa and Goto were captured by ISIS militants in August and October, respectively. On Jan. 20, ISIS released a video demanding Japan pay $200 million to secure their release on a 72-hour deadline. Japan, understandably, does not negotiate with terrorists. Yukawa is believed to have been decapitated, and Goto is believed to have been killed this past weekend. The ransom has been dropped. Are you surprised? Probably not. By

this time we are, unfortunately, more than used to hearing about radical ISIS behaviour. And maybe it’s that nonchalance that has led the Japanese people to respond to the hostage situation with the first annual (well, hopefully not annual) “ISIS Crappy Photoshop Grand Prix”. The phrase is roughly translated from the hashtag and has been tweeted over 124,000 times. The festive memes that took over Twitter this past week satirically mock the hostage situation using photoshopped images of Yukawa, Goto and their captor featured in the video that are intentionally ridiculous. Or just silly. Or adorably defiant. An ISIS/Dr. Evil spoof, with the figure’s pinky photoshopped to the corner of his mouth. The ISIS militant photoshopped holding his knife to a spit of Shawarma meat. The two hostages and the terrorist altered to be holding mugs

of beer. The memes openly defy the seriousness of the action. And it is the best thing ever. The reaction isn’t what most would expect—but isn’t it kind of exactly what’s needed? ISIS is absurd. The whole concept of terrorism is absurd. So isn’t the best reaction to mock the absurdity, and give it no real value? Call it the Japanese version of a candlelit vigil. The hordes of defiant tweets bond a nation through a general sentiment of “fuck you, terrorism”. One tweet—with an anime avatar— from @jlist says “The message of [the hashtag] is ‘You can kill some of us, but Japan is a peaceful and happy land, with fast Internet. So go to hell.’” Not all of the memes make sense, like one where the terrorist is pasted into outer space or has a plant growing out of his head, but who cares? Freedom of expression means that what

you tweet doesn’t have to make sense. And what makes the Japan ISIS meme trend exceptionally brilliant is that it comes in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. An entire nation is mocking the terrorists through a medium that, while it may not be as refined as pen and ink cartoon, is a form of free speech. Terrorism is no laughing matter, but by giving in to demands or letting your nation be shaken, you give power to the terrorist. It’s sad that Yukawa and Goto lost their lives. As well as James Foley, Steven Sotloff and thousands of civilians. But taking ISIS seriously can only result in more power for them and more deaths for us. I think it’s brilliant to mock ISIS, or to mock any bully. If you stop laughing, stop living, the terrorists win.

Media // opinions

Dancing genitals aren’t progressive enough

Swedish show gets flak from all sides for its sexual education segment aimed at young audiences Robin Stanford Staff writer

n the past week, the Swedish population found itself divided. The fight is not over foreign policy, the economy, or religious ideology; its focus is rather on a minute long segment aired on Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT: a children’s T.V. show for ages three to six. The segment in question features charming dancing cartoon genitals singing about themselves, using language commonly used by children to refer to their private parts. Unsurprisingly, this has galvanized both ends of the political spectrum. Strangely they both agree that the cartoon has failed its audience. Conservatives have taken to SVT’s Facebook page to express their discontentment. They largely question the show’s choice to present such information to such young children, and its value as an educational tool. One commenter stated that they “apparently have no limits as to how early you want to make the kids sexually conscious.” Another asked, after a few expletives, if such a video is “supposed to be educational.” Other parents have started to outright ban the channel in their households for fear of their children seeing similar programming. This position was satirically summarized by Caroline Ginner, project leader for the show, in a press comment on Jan. 14: “let’s keep the secret that children have vaginas and penises until they are 18. They probably won’t notice anything in their pants before then.” Even among sex-positive parents, the segment has garnered much criticism. According to Program Director Peter Bargee in conversation with the Associated Press on Jan. 23, they drew “unexpected criticism … portraying the penis with a moustache and the vagina with long eyelashes reinforces stereotypes.” Though it’s true that both genitals

conform to their gender coding, evaluating the segment only on this one aspect sells it short. The program has done something no other show for children has: talk about genitals. This aspect alone is a huge step forward, and not one that would necessarily be seen on air in North America. As

seeming proof, the YouTube video posted by SVT was briefly flagged as containing mature themes and requiring the user state they were 18+. It should be reiterated that its content was originally created for an audience aged three to six. Even if opinions have been split on the segment, SVT’s YouTube posting has

been viewed almost five million times since its initial upload on Jan. 5. Given its popularity, the creators have planned to release an English edition in the next two to three weeks. Hopefully this is the first in a long line of children’s broadcasting discussing the facts of life to children of all ages.

This cartoon dancing penis and vagina were temporarily flagged as 18+ on Youtube. Screengrab from YouTube.

ReCIPe // etC

Tuesday, February 3, 2015 Vol. 32 Issue 17 Your partner-in-crime, your boo, your BBFL—who doesnʼt love friends, really? Friendship is great! Until itʼs... not. Weʼve all said something we regret, but sometimes, a friendship just canʼt be saved. Twitter to the rescue: here are your friendship no-ﬂy zones, the topics to avoid, how to #RuinAFriendshipin5Words.

@TrivWorks “Um - it’s actually pronounced ‘JIF’ #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @xsugg “i found your fan account #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @timothy_stanley “How ‘open’ is your marriage? #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @NathanWurtzel “#RuinAFriendshipIn5Words No, my kids aren’t immunized” @BravesChophouse “Made you eat your parents. #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words #SouthPark” @richyDispatch “The Lannisters send their regards #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @Irish_Nurse “Hey, let’s play some monopoly! #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words “ @Marcoe_Polo21 “Have you found Jesus yet? #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @LisaVikingstad “I only told one person! #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @vasego1 “Can you help me move? #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @bess_mar “Glad I’m the skinny one #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words”

Nathalie Laflamme Editor-in-Chief editor@theconcordian.com Michelle Gamage Production manager production@theconcordian.com

Photo and recipe by Michelle Gamage

Warm your winter heart with rich risotto - 1/2 c arborio rice - 1 1/2 c stock (vegetable or chicken) - 1 medium-sized yellow or Spanish onion - 5 tablespoons of olive oil - 1/2 c white wine - 1 package of mushrooms - salt and pepper, to taste - parmesean cheese, to garnish

arm the stock over med-low heat, chop the mushrooms into even-sized slivers and dice the onion. Pro tip: wear ski-goggles to avoid any onion-tears. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the onions and olive oil, heating the onions till they start to turn clear, about five minutes. Next, add the arborio rice to the skillet, stirring for about a minute. Then add the wine, and stir for about twenty seconds. Add the mushrooms, stir, and start scooping stock in. The stock should just cover the rice, so that the rice can simmer in the stock. Stirring occasionally, slowly add stock

to the skillet every time the liquid cooks down. Do this till the risotto is the consistency that you want, similar to oatmeal. Note: Sometimes you need more stock to cook all the rice, sometimes you won’t use all the stock you have. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, garnished with some fresh-grated parmesan cheese. Skip the cheese to keep this hearty dish vegan, or add spicy sausage to add some kick. If you want to get into someone’s pants, make them risotto. Bitches love risotto. Feeds one for dinner, plus lunch, or two-to-three as sides. Keeps for up to a week in the fridge.

laURa’S Joke of the week // etC

Hey Mia, did you hear about the lawyer who’s trying to go Kosher?

@Man-sized Thumbs Your sister is great in bed. #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words

Sara Baron-Goodman Life editor life@theconcordian.com Lindsay Richardson Arts editor arts@theconcordian.com Mia Pearson Music editor music@theconcordian.com Tim Lazier Sports editor sports@theconcordian.com Laura Marchand Opinions editor opinions@theconcordian.com Keith Race Photo editor photo@theconcordian.com Andrej Ivanov Assistant photo editor Jocelyn Beaudet Online editor online@theconcordian.com Marie-Pier LaRose Graphics editor graphics@theconcordian.com Gregory Todaro Emily Gaudet Marilla Steuter-Martin Copy editors copy@theconcordian.com

Editorial office 7141 Sherbrooke St. Building CC-Rm 431 Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 514-848-2424 ext. 7499 (Editor-in-Chief) Marc-Antoine Cardin Business manager business@theconcordian.com William Atsaidis Advertising manager advertising@theconcordian.com

Huh? No, I didn’t.

@TherealDCF “Read my erotic Pokemon poetry. #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @CarriePotter_ “#RuinAFriendshipIn5Words you aren’t my friend anymore!”

Frederic T. Muckle Assistant news editor

Natasha Taggart Marilla Steuter-Martin Production assistants

@Nat_Fried “Twilight is so well written #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @yeslaurenevans “Sorry to cancel last minute #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words” @Oghma_Creide “You gonna eat ALL that? #RuinAFriendshipIn5Words”

Milos Kovacevic News editor news@theconcordian.com

Tyson Lowrie Jacob Serebin Ruben Bastien Board of directors directors@theconcordian.com

Contributors

Talk about Jewish prudence!

Emilie Berthier, Christina Lulia, Karen Massey, Laurent Pitre, Marco Saveriano, Paul Traunero, Emmett Stowe, Oneida Crawford, Justinas Staskevicius, Steven Zylbergold, Elias Laradi, Casey Dulson, Saturn De Los Angles, Matthew Civico, Antoni Nerestant, Bradley Martin, Robin Stanford

theconcordian

Concordiaʼs weekly, independent student newspaper.

Want to perfect your copy editing skills? Come join us for a workshop with Steve Faguy, Copy editor at the Montreal Gazette. Where: CC-431, Loyola Campus When: Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m. Find us on Facebook! theconcordian.com