November 24, 2020

The Concordian.

NEWS // Restaurants and Covid / JMoSB / CMAC / Uyghur Panel / DDo Library / +

COMMENTARY // Journalism 2020 / Teacher’s Pet / Online Politics / Pregnancy Today / +

ARTS // MENA Film Fest / Meme Culture / RIDM / FIFA: Focus Iran

MUSIC // Ashe / Aesop Rock / Syd Barrett

VOLUME 38, ISSUE 6 TUESDAY NOV 24, 2020

// theconcordian @theconcordian @theconcordian theconcordian.com

SPORTS // Twitch Streaming / Kalena Korbiak / Future of the Superbowl

News.

NEWS EDITORS Hadassah Alencar / @Hadassahalencar Juliette Palin / @PalinJuliette news@theconcordian.com

NEWS

Why we closed restaurants during the pandemic Experts say this is a necessary sacrifice to fight the pandemic

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

Matias Brunet-Kirk Contributor Walking in through the glass door off Beaubien Street, Café l’Étincelle offers a warm respite from the cold November air. Edison bulbs hanging from industrial light fixtures, colourful orange walls, and the smell of freshly brewed pumpkin-spice lattes billowing from behind the counter are what draws in the hip local Rosepatrian crowd.

Rémy Deloume opened the cafe in 2016 with his father and brother. They wanted to create a welcoming space where people could come to work, socialize and feel at home.

But the tables that once were filled with self-employed workers and university students now instead lay host to rows of bags of Nicaraguan blends and ceramic tumbler takeout cups.

On Oct.1, provincial measures forced Deloume to shut his dining area for the second time in six months. The restrictions were further extended on Nov. 13, now going until at least Jan. 11. These rules mean the only way he can create revenue is by selling takeout coffees and merchandise.

“We haven’t had a single case of Covid since we reopened,” said Deloume, adding he felt confident he could reopen his booths and still offer a safe environment for his customers.

Yet most experts are not in agreement.

Dr. Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and infection control specialist and professor at the University of Toronto, said that restaurants are “a perfect storm” for the spread of COVID-19. He said that a combination of environmental, scientific and social factors make restaurants particularly dangerous.

“What [COVID-19] really likes is spreading by fine droplets in situations where people are together, sharing air, with poor ventilation and no masks,” said Furness. These factors make restaurants a perfect environment for the virus, as they are often cramped, poorly ventilated places where people generally spend long hours socializing.

Furness said there was a common mis-

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conception that closures are in place to protect patrons, when in fact they are there more so to protect staff.

“Their exposure time to the aerosols in the air is much higher,” said Furness, adding that staff are openly interacting with hundreds of unmasked customers every day.

Given the measures that were put in place over the summer to protect customers, like plexiglass dividers and obligatory mask-wearing when moving around, patrons are at a lower risk of contracting the virus in a restaurant or bar than the workers.

The problem arises when a staff member gets sick.

“The virus moves from the waiter to other waiters to family members,” said Furness, demonstrating how outbreaks can stem from restaurants.

Hospitality workers are generally younger, meaning contagion often goes undetected as many cases are asymptomatic. The spread is also further compounded when considering the active social lives of young restaurant workers.

But many restaurant owners, including Deloume, feel the government is not being transparent enough in sharing the data that links restaurants to the spread of COVID-19.

In October, a group of business owners in the industry co-authored an open letter demanding the government to share its data to justify its policy.

According to David Lefebvre, vice-president of Restaurants Canada and co-signatory of the letter, increased data sharing would be a benefit for all involved.

“It would give a better explanation, and people would probably buy in a little bit more,” he said, adding that business owners would feel more involved in the decision-making process.

But Furness said it is difficult to achieve this, as much of the data the industry is asking for still doesn’t exist.

“It’s very hard to find an epidemiological link to a restaurant event,” he said, as many cases go unreported and little formal research

exists.

Regardless, Furness said the link was obvious when comparing the similar conditions between super-spreader events.

“It’s invisible, but it’s there, much like the force of gravity,” he said.

Because of these factors, government officials and experts say restaurants cannot reopen until the pandemic is under control, suggesting instead that these businesses stick to take-out, catering and alcohol sales.

“If there were a way for people to be in a restaurant, eating and drinking, and still be wearing masks, I would change my story, but there isn’t,” said Furness. He concluded by saying it was the government’s responsibility to better communicate these facts and help all business owners get through this period.

Yet, Deloume still feels this will not be enough. It has now been two months since the initial closures, and he said it would not have been possible to stay in business if it weren’t for the time his family has put in.

“We work one-hundred-hour weeks,” said Deloume.

He understands the reasons behind the closures and believes protecting lives is the number one priority, but still wishes the government would include stakeholders in its decision-making process.

“We want to feel like we’re all in the same boat, but not that our future depends on a government decision,” Deloume said.

In the meantime, Deloume said he would continue to respect public health orders, serving take-out coffee and food. He also hopes that everyone’s efforts pay off and that restaurants will be able to reopen soon. Deloume said he hopes to soon return to the motto of his café, Ralentir, S’ennuyer, Rêver, and fully reopen so his patrons will be able to once again slow down, disconnect and daydream.

CONCORDIA

Putting Mo back in JMoSB Through the hard work and dedication of the JMoSB team, this year’s Movember campaign is set to be the most successful in recent memory Lucas Marsh Contributor

The JMoSB team, a subsidiary branch of Casa Cares, kicked off the 2020 Movember campaign on Nov. 1. The Movember campaign is the annual initiative to help raise funds and spread awareness for issues related to men’s prostate cancer and mental health.

While the Movember campaign is just one of the many student-led initiatives that Casa Cares runs throughout the year, the JMoSB team solely operates during the month of November to oversee the Movember campaign.

This year’s initiative comprises both an extensive social media campaign as well as numerous independently-led projects by the individual members of the JMoSB team.

So far, this year’s campaign has helped to raise over $18,717 already surpassing the initial fundraising goal set for the entire month. It’s an impressive accomplishment considering the economic downturn due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re doing really good so far,” said Jessica Doyle, executive vice president of the JMoSB team, when asked about the accomplishments of her team this year. “We’re hoping to pass what [the previous JMoSB team] were able to raise last year and honestly, I think we are on the right track for that.”

All the money raised during the campaign is donated to the Canadian division of the Movember organization. From there, the funds are distributed amongst 1,250 different men’s health associations and scientific studies. A comprehensive list of the projects that the Movember organization funds can be found on the Movember organization’s website.

If the JMoSB team is able to keep fundraising at this current pace, then not only will this year’s campaign achieve its objective of raising more funds than last year, it will become the most successful campaign run in recent memory.

While fundraising still remains one of its core values, The JMoSB team has recently shifted its focus away from raising funds, and towards raising awareness. This year’s campaign has had the unprecedented challenge of conducting the campaign entirely online, as red zone restrictions in Montreal have prevented their traditional fundraising events from taking place.

In light of these circumstances, the JMoSB team has gone with the Movember Mo’ Match-up Cup initiative to spearhead this year’s campaign in place of bake sales in years past. The initiative is styled as a knockout competition, the competitors being the many different student-run associations within JMSB. Based on a similar structure to the Stanley Cup playoffs, each week teams face off against one another to get the most points with the winning team advancing to the next bracket.

Every week, points are awarded to the remaining teams based on total shares and money each team is able to raise. The teams with the least amount of points at the end of each round are eliminated. The team who makes it to the end of the month is crowned the winner.

The Movember Gala, the main event traditionally held at the end of November, will be replaced this year by a remotely administered Mo’talking panel.

The panel will feature mental health experts who will discuss a variety of topics associated with mental health, as well as answer participants’ questions on the matter. The event is open to the general public and will take place on Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. EST over Zoom.

In association with its official campaign, many members of the JMoSB team have begun their own personal initiatives to help raise funds and awareness for Movember.

Third-year marketing student and JMoSB team member Angélique DinhVu uses her Instagram account to sell second-hand and donated clothing with the profits going to the Movember campaign.

So far, she has helped raise over $400 in the span of 10 days for the Movember organization and hopes to raise $200 more before the end of the month.

She also helps to educate the public on mental health issues by integrating important facts about mental health into her promotional videos and posts.

Students interested in getting involved with the Movember innovative can register for the Mo’talking panel here, or can donate to the Casa Cares Movember campaign on the Movember organization’s official website.

Ethiopia is in turmoil

Ethiopia’s ethnic tensions may cause a civil war Cedric Gallant Contributor

The possibility of a civil war stirs between Ethiopia and its Tigray region. Since Nov. 4, missiles have been launched, with various battles held across the country. 20,000 civilians have fled to Sudan. All of this has unfolded under a communication blackout.

The conflict began with a surprise attack made by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TLPF) on an Ethiopian military base. This was a consequence of a dispute between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray leadership over a regional election that was federally illegal.

The reporting of this conflict became murky when Abiy cut electricity, telephone, and internet services in Tigray. It became a media blind spot.

Since then, the situation has escalated rapidly. Missiles struck Ethiopian airports, the Tigray Region and bordering country Eritrea. According to the TLPF’s leader Debretsion Gebremicheal, Eritrea is sending troops in Tigray, justifying their missile strike in Eritrea’s capital.

Due to the blackout, no one can confirm nor deny these claims, but both Eritrea’s leader and Prime Minister Abiy have been prompt in denying this.

The lack of on-foot media coverage has made this conflict hard to follow, but the facts are these: 20,000 refugees have fled the Tigray region to Sudan; missiles were exchanged between the TLPF, Eritrea and the rest of Ethiopia; there is evidence of mass killings in the Tigray region; Abiy is resolute in trying “to save the country and region from instability,” and the TLPF has no intentions of backing down.

The cause of this situation lies in Ethiopia’s deep-rooted ethnic dilemmas. The Tigrayan’s TLPF ruled the country for almost 20 years until they merged into a coalition due to other ethnic groups feeling discriminated against.

It is called the Prosperity Party and it appointed Ahmed as Prime Minister in 2019. Although, the relationship between Tigray and the rest of the country deteriorated when the TLPF left the coalition.

From then on, Ahmed turned against Tigrayan leadership, and they were eventually pushed aside from the federal government altogether. This escalating tension resulted in civil unrest.

Ethiopia has one of Africa’s largest military forces, but their most experienced fighters are Tigrayan. Most of their military hardware is controlled by Tigrayans. So, if this escalates further, the consequences could be very damaging to the Horn of Africa.

A civil war in Ethiopia and surrounding countries could bring Africa to a halt. If it keeps escalating under a media blackout, who knows where this will go.

Graphic by @the.beta.lab

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News.

NEWS EDITORS Hadassah Alencar / @Hadassahalencar Juliette Palin / @PalinJuliette news@theconcordian.com

CONCORDIA

Concordia’s new Marketing Aid Clinic

Born out of the pandemic, the clinic is here to help local businesses Evan Lindsay Staff Writer

The Concordia Marketing Aid Clinic (CMAC) is a new student group focused on providing marketing advice to student and community-run small businesses and nonprofits.

A group of Concordia Marketing students were inspired to open the clinic after one of their favourite restaurants closed, unable to survive the pandemic’s first shutdown.

“As a business student, there was this moment where I thought: maybe there is something I can do,” said William Boucher, the clinic’s president.

“At Concordia, there is expertise … We all have something to give and we are all future professionals,” said Boucher. “I thought one way I could help these businesses [would be] to help them do a transition into digital.”

Boucher’s idea to help with this transition would eventually evolve into what is now CMAC. “We can’t contribute to the research, but we can help with the survival,” said Noubar Tufenkjian, the clinic’s vice-president of strategy.

The clinic provides free marketing advice to businesses in a similar way to Concordia’s current legal information clinic.

“The concept already existed with the law clinic,” said Tufenkjian. “Students are able to contribute a lot by offering a fresh pair of eyes to see a business, and give an

POL I -SAVVY:

opinion or another perspective ...

[Students are] a lot more aware of trends and what is going on in the business world.”

This fall semester, the organization underwent its first round of recruitment, first looking for motivated students to add to their team, then looking for businesses to work with. The clinic is not only working with Concordia students; their goal is to give back to the greater Montreal community.

“We want to help our fellow students, but we also want to help the same community that pays taxes for Concordia to be still alive today … We want to be part of Montreal and give back to that same community,” said Boucher.

of which were born in Concordia … We were very surprised by the diversity of businesses who applied,” said Tufkenjian At the moment, the club can only help four businesses at a time since it’s run only by student volunteers. Businesses that don’t make the initial round get put onto a waiting list for CMAC. Once a business is released from CMAC, a spot is opened up and a new business takes its place.

Once the club selects a business to work with, they conduct interviews with owners and employees to see what they think of the business and assess how they can help.

“Our goal is to fix the marketing flaws in their plan … the way we work is we do an analysis of all their marketing channels and all their plans and we will establish a strategy and start working with them … The angle is to help [businesses] learn how to market better, [whether it’s] your business or your product.”

In their first recruitment phase, more than 60 businesses reached out. The clinic received applications from as far away as British Columbia.

As the application process continues, the club narrows down the businesses they will work with, focusing on those in the Montreal community.

“We have a diverse [group of businesses] who applied, starting from non-profits to e-commerce stores and start-ups, some

Quebec’s budget update too optimistic?

Quebec’s Finance Minister plans to return to balanced budget in five years Axelle Viramontes de la Torre Contributor Quebec’s new budget update presented on Nov.12 by Finance Minister Eric Girard did not convince the members of the Official Opposition, qualifying it as “extremely optimistic.”

Girard has made ambitious projections in his budget plan despite Quebec’s deficit of $15 billion in 20202021. He is expecting the province to “return to a balanced budget within five years without cutting services and without increasing income and other taxes.”

To reach that goal, $1.5 billion will be invested over three years to help Quebec’s economic recovery.

Of that amount, $477 million will be awarded to stimulate economic growth in various sectors.

“We need to stimulate economic growth. Our companies must be more competitive, more productive,” said Girard while presenting his

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budget plan.

Moments after the finance minister finished presenting his plan, the opposition held a press briefing in which Dominique Anglade, leader of the Official Opposition, said her party had asked the CAQ to deliver three different scenarios from the budget update.

Yet, just one “optimistic” scenario was presented to the public, making it hard for the opposition to have faith in the budget’s achievement potential.

Girard’s goal to get back to a balanced budget within five years doesn’t seem realistic to the opposition.

During the opposition’s presser, Pontiac MNA André Fortin expressed his misgivings about Quebec’s new budget plan. He believes the projections proposed in the budget are based on a theoretical increase in the Canada Health Transfer of $6.2 billion annually from the federal government, and other non-factual information.

“He’s also banking on the fact that

there is going to be a vaccine and that the economy is going to kickstart back again really quickly. We don’t know that.

There’s too much uncertainty,” said Fortin during the question and answer period.

When asked if his ambition for Quebec was too big, Finance Minister Éric Girard simply responded that, although the next six months may be hard, Quebecers need to stay positive and should look ahead at the future as there will be an economic restart.

Moreover, the Official Opposition also considers it too early to think about an economic recovery when the province is still undergoing a recession.

“We can’t commit to a five-year balance when we don’t know when the recession will be over,” said Liberal MNA Carlos J. Leitão during the opposition’s press briefing. “A balanced budget can only come when the economy returns to a more normal situation,” he added.

Many small businesses are on the verge of bankruptcy and need more investment to keep their business running.

According to Anglade, the budget didn’t include any additional measures to help them. She also expressed her worries of an economic recovery being almost impossible if too many of them close.

“The reason why it’s extremely optimistic is because they say, ‘the growth is going to pick up.’ But in order for the growth to pick up, you need the companies to pick up. If they’re closing … you won’t see the economy going up,” she said.

Last March, Girard presented his first version of his 2020-2021 budget, which was overshadowed by the first wave of COVID-19. This update shows a three-year financial framework, instead of the usual five-year projection, due to the high level of uncertainty of the pandemic.

HUMAN RIGHTS

The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights shines light on the Uyghur population in China Academics, journalists, and survivors speak about the Uyghur genocide at an online panel hosted by Concordia

Fern Clair Assistant News Editor China is believed to have imprisoned more than two million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in interment camps, where they face a cultural genocide. The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights, a research institute at Concordia, held an online panel on Nov. 12 discussing the situation and what can be done.

The panel had guest speakers like Mihrigul Tursun, a camp survivor.

Tursun explained that in 2015, while she was returning to China from Egypt with her newborn children to spend time with her family, she was arrested at the Beijing airport. She was separated from her children and put in one of the internment camps, where she was stripped of her clothes, her head was shaved, and she was forced to use a number as her name.

She talked about how she was tortured, given mystery injections, and taught to worship the Chinese government. When she was released for the first time, she was informed that one of her sons had died from mysterious circumstances.

From 2015 to 2018, she was in the camps three separate times for a total of 11 months. Her time outside the camps was spent stuck in her hometown as the Chinese government had blacklisted her, taking away her ID so she couldn’t travel. She was also un-

able to contact anyone without the government’s permission.

Tursun stated that she was able to escape China with the help of the Egyptian Embassy in Beijing, as her children were Egyptian citizens. She now lives in America with her family, actively speaking out against what is happening to her people.

Tursun explained during the panel that she has not heard from her family since she escaped.

“I lost contact with my father, mother, sister, brother, all my family.”

She said that all she has been able to find out is that five of her family members have died already, and she doesn’t know if the rest are alive or not.

“I hope the Chinese [government will] stop and give back our homeland,” Tursun said.

The Uyghurs are mostly Muslim Turkic ethnicity, the majority of them living in the Xinjiang province of China, where they number around 11 million people. Over the years, China has slowly been taking away the rights of the Uyghurs, outlawing their cultural activities and making the region a police state with police checkpoints and cameras that scan individual faces.

Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian politician and one of the guest speaks at the panel, expressed how he sees the Uyghur camps as the most pressing human rights issue of our time, and is the largest mass incarceration since the holocaust.

Very little information is known about the camps, estimates of the popu-

lation of these camps vary from one million to 3 million people. According to an article in The Guardian, there are more than 380 suspected camps.

“Nobody could say that we didn’t know [about the holocaust], but we did not act,” said Cotler. “Just as in regards to the plight and pain of the Uyghurs, nobody can say that we did not know.”

“The intent is not necessarily to physically exterminate the entirety of the Uyghur people, but to break their collective identity,” said Sean Roberts, the director of the International Development Studies program at the Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and a speaker at the panel.

He explained that what is happening to the Uyghurs, while still a genocide, is drastically diffrent from what happened during the holocaust.

“These actions [of the Chinese government] are not inspired by eugenics, but by profit, development and settlement,” said Roberts.

According to Dr. Kimberly Man-

ning, principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia and speaker at the panel, the idea for said panel came from local Uyghur activists in Montreal. There are over 2,000 Uyghurs living in Canada, with a majority in Toronto and Montreal.

Garnett Genuis, a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and speaker at the panel, said the best way for Canada to make an impact is to boycott and sanction China, yet this will be difficult as Canada heavily relies on China, such as for PPE masks.

According to a New York Times article, some Chinese companies are using Uyghur labour camps to manufacture single use masks.

Genuis stated that the best way to influence the Canadian government to make more decisive actions against China is to get in contact with members of parliament and challenge them to act.

Dollard-des-Ormeaux (DDO) library undergoing first major renovation The $6.5 million dollar renovation will help modernize the library

Rhea Guiliana Staff Writer Libraries are an essential part of Quebec’s culture, and the Dollard-desOrmeaux (DDO) library is no different.

First opened in January of 1992, the library is now undergoing its first ever renovation.

The library, located within the DDO Civic Centre, is currently offering appointments to borrow books due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In March 2020, the library was going to move to the basement, and renovations were set to begin. Although COVID-19 delayed that process a little bit, the renovations officially began on May 11.

The renovation is planned to take at least a year, according to the town of DDO’s website. The cost of the renovations totals about $6.5 million, with the majority of the money coming from the town of Dollard-Des-Ormeaux. The federal and provincial governments also contributed to part of the cost.

Seeing as this is the first renovation, it suggests that many changes are going to be made. According to a representative of the library management team, one of the changes is that the children’s section will double in size. Also, projectors will be installed in two ar-

eas, something the library didn’t have in the past.

The comfort of patrons is also being taken into account. The reading salon will be upgraded with comfort and coziness in mind, according to the library representative. Overall, the renovations will make “the new facilities more modern.”

A representative of the library management team also said that the aim of the renovations “is to create a new, more welcoming and functional space for all patrons who come to the library.”

The staff is very much looking

forward to the finished renovations.

“Libraries aim to offer a space that is both practical and convivial, and the renovations will help us do just that,” said one representative.

When asked about what they are most looking forward to for the patrons, the representative said “seeing the reactions of patrons when they first enter the renovated library. It’ll be a big change, and we think our patrons will really appreciate and enjoy the new facilities.”

In spring of 2021, old and new library members alike will be able to enjoy a new and improved library.

Photo by Rhea Guiliana

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Commentary.

COMMENTARY EDITOR Aviva Majerczyk / @aviva_majerczyk commentary@theconcordian.com

JOURNALISM

Intimidation, violence and fines: The struggles of being a journalist in 2020

At a time where the world needs them the most, reporters face strong impediments to their job to influence their coverage. Young, freelance and stu- on them and medics who were also present, as they

AJ Cordeiro Contributor

Over a month ago, The Concordian published an article covering pro-Armenia student protesters who called on Montreal city mayor, Valérie Plante, to support Armenians in the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh territorial dispute. It’s the kind of beat story that’s perfect for young reporters who want to get their feet wet in news coverage: a conflict being covered worldwide, with a local connection to grassroots support among fellow students.

Unfortunately, this reporting attracted the wrong sort of attention, prompting a stern letter from the Montreal Consul General of Turkey, sent not to The Concordian, but Concordia University. Key to their concerns was the inclusion of two photos, each featuring a woman holding a sign stating “Turkey = Terrorist,” no doubt a response by the protester to the cluster bombing in the region, often aided

by Canadian drone technology.

Politicos in office or at the dinner table have long opined how journalists are vital to a democracy and the need to protect them and their work. After all, public discourse from news coverage is often the only way we educate ourselves once we leave school. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel’s book, The Elements of Journalism, found in almost every journalist’s bookshelf, describes this urgency as news reporting’s chief commitment, “to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.”

But that goal is challenging and getting harder. Reporters are working with less time, less money, and fewer resources than those who would seek

dent journalists are especially vulnerable, as they have nowhere near the same security as employed reporters. And even those privileged few still face trials, as diminishing advertising revenue has seen their budgets evaporate. Adding to the issue, journalists have a long history of dealing with intimidation, and you can see why it’s becoming tougher to inform people of what’s going on.

It was only a few years ago when I was an undergrad, and the Maple Spring was raging. Red

pleaded with officers while kneeling on the ground at Place des Arts.

And when we aren’t scared of power-tripping cops, journalists can be threatened by the public.

In 2018, far-right activists (read: fascists) stormed Vice Montreal’s offices after they published on the rise of attacks perpetrated against anti-fascist protestors. And this year, a TVA reporter was assaulted by two anti-maskers, who bear-hugged her while she covered their protest live on television. And let’s not even open the can of worms that is reporter harassment on social media.

Was the Turkish Consul’s response intimidation? Probably not directly. But it’s telling that a student newspaper in Montreal, thousands of kilometres from the conflict, caused such concern that they not only wrote a letter but sent it to the school where these same reporters were learning their craft. The editorial staff’s emails are publicly available on The Concordian’s website, so it’s unlikely this was an oversight.

Graphic by @the.beta.lab Student, freelance, or full-time, a joursquares adorned almost every student coat, and pots nalist commits to journalism. I say commits because and pans protests took place every night. While the we are committed to accuracy, fairness, and repredemonstrations garnered international attention, sentative work and because we commit to this vocaeventually leading to the fall of that administration’s tion. We pledge to this despite being routinely detime in government, student journalists’ treatment monized, so much so that our safety isn’t a priority. was less covered. Being kettled, heavily fined for phoBut let’s remember — without good journaltographing and documenting, or straight assault were ists, you have nothing but marketers and merchants standard plays inflicted on young reporters by the influencing you to buy and believe what is on their Montreal police department, that saw anyone under agenda this minute. We need better protection, but 30 as a threat. As a student journalist struggling to it can’t only be through legislation. It has to come pay your rent and tuition, how do you have the time from you. So the next time you see a journalist into fight huge fines, fees, and court dates, on top of all timidated, please speak up. Whether it’s at your dinthe regular challenges life flings in your direction? ner table, in your Zoom call, or on social media, deThis past summer, a few reporters over at The fend those who defend your right to know. Because Link were intimidated by police following a Black without us, you won’t be ready when the intimidaLives Matter protest. Non-lethal guns were drawn tors come for you next.

Don’t let imposter syndrome get you down Aviva Majerczyk Commentary Editor

Once, sitting at a Cook Out (a southern fast food joint, sadly missing in the “great” white north) at around midnight with my friend Hannah, the topic of nepotism came up. I bemoaned to her about my fears of never truly knowing my worth in the creative industry because I happened to be following in my parents’ footsteps. My mom is a broadcast media professor and my dad sports a 40-year radio career. And now, I am an aspiring media professional who does radio on the side. It all just felt a bit too close to home. How could I ever know if I’m actually good at what I do if I’m always being told where to apply and who to contact?

Hannah, never one to parse words, looked straight at me and asked “What does it matter?” She goes to a

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much more “WASP-y,” predominantly well-to-do school than Concordia, where many of her peers wear their generational wealth on their sleeve, so she was able to see things a little more clearly than I. “Hey, if John Rockefeller Vanderbilt the fifteenth is using his nepotism, why shouldn’t you? At least you’re a woman,” she said.

She was right. I was using my fear of what little nepotism I am capable of gleaning as a smokescreen for what was really going on — imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is basically when you feel like you’re a fraud despite ample qualification.

It’s the gut feeling that you don’t deserve any of your accomplishments, despite having worked for them. It’s the difference between me and John Rockefeller Vanderbilt the fifteenth—

he believes he is good enough for the position, regardless of circumstances, while I do not.

Imposter syndrome is not solely personal, though. It’s intrinsically tied to how society values the labour of certain people over others. If you’re conditioned throughout your life to believe certain fields aren’t meant for you, or you never see people who look like you reflected in your desired job, it only makes sense that you’d still feel like you don’t belong even after you’ve beaten the odds. For that reason, women are much more likely to experience imposter syndrome than men, and women of colour tend to experience it the most.

It’s extremely hard to break the cycle of negative thinking when it’s so ingrained in our culture. And exclusionary and toxic work environments only exacerbate these issues. It would be easy to say that women and POC should just put on a smile and “know their worth.” But that sort of #Girl-

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

Boss logic doesn’t fix the reasons why so many are plagued by feelings of inadequacy.

To actually stop imposter syndrome, we’ll need to address the structural reasons why people feel inadequate in their careers in the first place. The vast majority of workplaces were never constructed with women or marginalized people in mind, so of course those trying to navigate these structures will feel alienated. Additionally, a capitalist structure which views professional failure as akin to death doesn’t really help us put our careers into perspective.

It helps to know that imposter syndrome isn’t just you, because most of us all feel unworthy every once in a while.

Keeping that in mind may just help you navigate our capitalist hellscape a little bit easier.

STUDENT LIFE

The teacher’s pet trope, explained Students prove professors’ unfair biases

Hannah Tiongson Contributor The Urban Dictionary defines the teacher’s pet as “An annoying student who kisses up to the teacher and does a bunch of favours for said teacher in hopes of getting a good grade.”

Being the teacher’s pet and befriending them can be beneficial at times. Evidently, good grades aren’t solely based on whether or not a teacher likes a student, but the way that students present themselves can influence a teacher’s perception of them, which can lead to unfair bias.

Research conducted by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov demonstrates that it only takes one-tenth of a second for us to judge someone and make a first impression.

Teachers are humans, and just like everyone, they hold preconceived opinions about students that are unrelated to their work. These opinions can be either conscious or subconscious.

Teachers may try to be completely objective when grading, but at times fail to do so.

Among the different areas where teachers can be biased, one is grading. Depending on the subject of the course, professors teaching English, humanities, sociology, creative writing or any classes where there are written pieces, are susceptible to bias when grading. Of course, professors teaching math and science

can’t be biased as there are only right and wrong answers.

A study done in 2014 demonstrates the prevalence of a halo bias in Australian university professors.

“A linear-contrast analysis showed that, as hypothesized, the graders assigned significantly higher scores to written work following the better presentation than following the poor oral presentation.” The results suggest that keeping the students anonymous helps prevent bias in grading.

Nadine Lardjane, a Social Science student at John Abbott College, confirmed that some of her teachers show unwarranted biases.

“Last semester I had an English teacher who admitted that she would hide the student’s name when correcting papers because she knew that it will influence her grading,” said Lardjane.

“If she was correcting an assignment of a student who never participates in class, she would probably be more strict than when correcting a student who always participates in her class.”

“That’s why it’s super important to be the teacher’s pet and kiss their ass once in a while,” added Lardjane.

From my own experience, I’ve noticed that my professors have shown bias to my own advantage. Perhaps because I constantly spam their emails and chat with them; a true teacher’s pet. In one of my assignments, my professor clearly stated that she would give me the full marks for my assignment and then add-

ed “but be careful for next time.”

I think this clearly shows somewhat of a bias. When I looked closely at the rubric, I saw that I didn’t deserve those points.

Amanda Lepage also expressed her encounter with an unreasonable, biased teacher who taught creative writing at John Abbott College.

“My teacher was extremely biased when grading.

She often had an idea of what she wanted a written assignment to look like, but would not give pointers or explanation,” said Lepage.

that influence a person’s judgment and actions. It is crucial for educators to understand the different biases they possess to ensure that every student is treated equally and fairly. These biases have a powerful impact on the students’ academic achievement.

For example, implicit biases may lead to unintentional discrimination like gender or racial biases that will affect the academic performance of students.

The Rosenthal and Jacobsen study done in 1968 suggests that teacher expectations are likely to influence the student’s performance. This phenomenon is known as the Pygmalion Effect: when positive expectations influence performance positively, and negative expectations influence performance negatively.

There are many strategies to address implicit biases in academic institutions. First, to prevent any bias affecting educators’ work ethics, professors are encouraged to recognize their biases by partaking in the Implicit Association Test which will help assess the different biases they may hold. Along with that, grading systems should be reformulated to avoid such encounters.

Perhaps professors could begin by hiding students’ names when grading papers. Another solution is for professors to follow a strict rubric to avoid their subjective influence and determine a neutral grade.

Looking back, Lepage described her situation as unprofessional. The class killed her creativity as she was constantly graded based on whether or not her teacher agreed on the content and subject of her prose.

Lepage further stated that when she presented her pieces to other teachers, they said it was good.

Another college student, who asked to remain anonymous, mentioned that her teachers show disfavour towards immigrant students and easily get frustrated with them. For instance, if she makes a mistake, as a white student, her teacher will likely be more patient and lenient. However, if an immigrant makes the same mistake, the teacher will degrade them and criticize them by saying things such as “Why don’t you understand, is it because English isn’t Graphic by @the.beta.lab your first language?”

Implicit biases are unconscious attitudes and stereotypes

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Commentary.

COMMENTARY EDITOR Aviva Majerczyk / @aviva_majerczyk commentary@theconcordian.com

POLITICS

Going down the rabbit hole? How we’ve politicized the internet I first came here for cat videos but now I can’t stop reading about conspiracy theories Elyette Levy Assistant Commentary Editor The first time I heard of the Among Us game was in an article about how it had become the target of spam attacks led by pro-Trump supporters. This came a few days after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had set up a Twitch stream of the game as a way to incite people to vote for Joe Biden in the then-soon-approaching elections.

What used to be an innocent game that gained popularity among bored youngsters during quarantine ended up — yet again — as a battleground for Democrat versus Republican discord. So much for simply wanting to find your secret alien crew member.

Our southern neighbours’ recent presidential race has brought a whirlwind of political discourse in the past few weeks, and understandably so. The American elections are by far the most watched and discussed in the world. But then again, what’s new?

Strong reactions to this event are expressed online every four years, does it make a difference that the results are still on everyone’s social media feeds?

As a Political Science major and self-proclaimed politics nerd, I think it’s a good thing that the internet, the most accessible and practical information-gathering tool we have right now, is bringing to people a

sense of responsibility for the state of their country.

I’m of the opinion that everyone should know their own point of view on political matters because everyone should be involved in how the country is run — in academic terms, this is called a democracy.

I also respect the openness about controversial topics that has sprouted in recent years. Politics are gradually becoming less of a taboo subject at Christmas family reunions — or at least, despite their prohibition, people are initiating these debates anyway.

This being said, the place we once went to to hide and not take anything too seriously has lost that magic. You can’t log onto Twitter or TikTok anymore just to watch lighthearted content and take your mind off things without running into a political feud. Every corner of the internet has been labeled with a political affiliation.

Many made fun of Ben Shapiro over the summer when he expressed discontent about sports being so politicized he didn’t even want to watch it anymore. “My place of comfort has been removed from me,” he said, raising many a mocking comment noting this as the definition for a safe space, a concept he has repeatedly antagonized in the past.

Shapiro is a controversial figure, and though I don’t necessarily ascribe to his political sentiments, I do feel the same way about having eroded what apolitical space we had. Now, I’m not certain if this is be-

Graphic by Taylor Reddam cause people themselves turn even the most aleatoric content into part of a debate, or if simply more of our world is becoming political.

For instance, Shapiro talks about not wanting to read Sports Illustrated because of Caitlin Jenner’s feature on the cover, but she didn’t need to be politicized. She seems to me to be even more relevant to the world of sports than any of the models who adorn the pages of the magazine’s annual Swimsuit issue.

This is how a vicious cycle is formed: we constantly see political debates about the rights of trans women, so much so that we attribute this identity to a political leaning.

I feel for the kids who are growing up only knowing the internet, a platform the world is increasingly dependent on, as a tense and hostile place, and whose quarantine pastimes get turned into presidential debate stages. They might not ever know the simple times of cat videos, fail compilations, and the ice bucket challenge.

OPINIONS

Let’s stop policing whether or not women have children.

Deciding whether or not to start a family is a personal decision, so why does it seem to be everyone’s business?

Rhea Guiliana Staff Writer

I have always wanted children, and a little over one month before this article was published, I had one. Having a baby was the greatest joy thus far in my life. I also, however, was prompted to think about the debates about whether or not people should be having children. This is a debate I have had with many different people, and each debate has a unique outcome.

One of the main arguments I have heard from women who do not want kids is that choosing to have kids makes you a product of the patriarchal society. I find this frustrating because it removes the agency of women who make the choice to have children willingly. I do understand that in certain situations, there is a lot of pressure on

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sire to have children wasn’t from my family directly. I wanted to have a child that I could take care of and see grow. I think this should be respected.

Something I think is missing from the debate is the fact that men aren’t questioned about this topic in the same way women are.

Men don’t have to answer why they do or do not want to be a father. I think that in order to come to a solid conclusion, the debate needs to have more balance. The reason I say this is because the debate around having children seems to just be another way for women and their bodies to be policed and judged. I also think it is easier to ask women the question because they will be the ones who are carrying the baby.

The justification process for either decision is one that makes this debate so heated. It seems like women are pitted against each other for whichever decision they make. I think the justification process, which I have gone through, is what makes this debate the most challenging. It seems that no matter which choice a woman makes, there is something wrong with that choice. Whether or not a woman wants children should be respected. I don’t think it’s up to me, men, other women, or society at large to police whether women do or do not have children.

women to have biological children. I know that in some families if a woman doesn’t produce a child it causes a lot of conflicts.

That being said, I don’t think it is fair to paint this with a broad stroke. I think each woman’s decision should be accepted, and we should embrace that women are in a position to be their own agents in decision making.

Overpopulation and the environment are two other reasons why women say they are opting to not have children and I can understand the concern. I have heard the conversations about there potentially not being enough food to feed everyone. So, I can see someone choosing a childless life in light of this concern. I can also see how someone who is environmentally cautious and wants to reduce their perceived negative contributions to the environment might feel that having no children would make the most sense.

I have wanted children since I was about 16 years old, and so ten years later, I chose to have a child. I remember even growing up that there were debates about this subject. I grew up with two siblings, and in an Italian family, so having children was kind of a rite of passage. However, my de- Graphic by Lily Cowper

SUSTAINABILITY

From fall trends to corporate transparency: fast fashion at Jean Coutu

How a trip to the pharmacy opened up a world of questions Meagan Carter Contributor

parency is part of the brand’s turn towards sustainability, but the company lists a total of 261 suppliers in Bangladesh alone, making it difficult to pinpoint a specific supplier who could have produced this item.

H&M is undeniably a global brand, with production taking place in 40 countries across the globe, and retail locations in most major cities. The company purports a commitment to transparency and sustainability, and is celebrated in the media for its forward thinking approach. What is sustainable about a fast fashion brand with a surplus of goods and a supply chain that includes one in five countries around the world?

It is because of the scale of this retail giant that this goal of transparency is largely impossible. Despite the abundance of information on their website, Graphic by @the.beta.lab

I rarely leave the house these days; partly because of the colder weather, mostly because of the deadly pandemic that most people seem to be taking less-than-seriously.

One of the stops I absolutely must make, once a month, is to the pharmacy.

One Saturday, I was getting my medication refilled, and regardless of how much notice you give the pharmacy, there’s always a five-minute wait. Those five minutes of limited freedom to roam the aisles, avoiding other bodies and following little tape arrows along the floor, feels like a luxurious return to a somewhat normal routine.

It was in the final corner of the store — behind the snacks, the assorted phone cables available for purchase, and the passport photo studio — that I noticed a clothing display. To someone who hasn’t been shopping in a while, my excitement was palpable. My excitement exponentially grew when I noticed a familiar tag on an item I had been seeking all summer: the perfect knitted vest. To my surprise, it looked like this item had gotten lost along the way to the nearest H&M retail location. How did this cute little vest end up in a Montreal pharmacy?

Earlier this year, several major fast-fashion retailers came under fire as a result of their failure to fulfill their orders to garment factory workers in Bangladesh. H&M was named as one of the major brands with the largest number of postponed or cancelled orders. The retailer was later absolved from this public relations disaster by working to compensate suppliers for finished goods and goods still in production. If finished goods and orders were fulfilled by H&M, why did this vest end up in the bargain clothing section at a Canadian drugstore?

Perhaps part of the reason that H&M remained relatively unscathed by this incident is a result of the brand’s positive public relations campaign about the transparency of the corporation’s supply chains. Following the reporting on the cancelled orders and unfulfilled payments, there was a flurry of articles focusing on H&M’s commitment to transparency of supply chains. This commitment to trans-

it is impossible to determine what supplier created this item. The product is not listed on the H&M website, and as a pharmacy, Jean Coutu doesn’t exactly have a system in place for transparency of clothing suppliers. Despite reaching out to the corporate offices of Jean Coutu, I was unable to find anyone who could clarify where this item came from. Still, the familiar little tag makes one thing abundantly clear: the claim that H&M paid for all of its cancelled or completed orders cannot be true.

H&M is ultimately a corporation that prioritizes profit before all else, and the majority of the brand’s corporate social responsibility is a side effect of necessary marketing campaigns and shifting demographics. Late-stage global capitalism is wildly unpopular with many consumers, and as a global retail giant, H&M is poised to be hit the hardest by this social shift.

The company’s willingness to internalize this discourse of sustainability could be interpreted as a step in the right direction, or as a sinister commodification of environmental activism. Ultimately, I think COVID-19 has brought forth the destructive capacity of global capitalism, the ability to destroy business, and the ability to end lives.

It is a testament to western privilege that I am able to write and research an article about the transparency of supply chains, rather than live the reality of being an unpaid labourer struggling to survive on a bag of rice. I am afforded the luxury of aimlessly wandering pharmacy aisles and delightfully discovering a garment that has travelled further than I ever have. A major corporation worth billions of dollars found that they overestimated their seasonal profits and failed to consider the impact of COVID-19 on spending. If H&M is the industry standard for transparency, the company will continue their corporate legacy of empty promises to sustainability.

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Arts.

ARTS EDITORS Lorenza Mezzapelle / @lorenzamezzapelle arts@theconcordian.com

FILM

The story of the struggles of Iranian women photographers Maryam Azimzadehirani Contributor

Online screening of Focus Iran in Montreal: a French documentary about Iran

shoot homosexual people.

Even if photographers could shoot these subjects, they may not be able to display the The International Festival of Films on Art photos in galleries in Iran.

In this circumstance, it seems impossible (FIFA), in collaboration with the Maison de la culture de Côte-des-Neiges, presented a to be a photographer, but the documentary free online screening of Focus Iran from Nov. tells the story of the photographers who are still working. “They are like the real heroes 18 to 19, available to all Canadian residents.

The documentary, Focus Iran (2017), fol- for me,” said Matlabi. “Despite their chance lows the efforts and struggles of five Iranian to leave Iran and despite many social, politphotographers, including four young wom- ical and traditional issues, they continue to en, who have to overcome many barriers to create the art with their nation.”

These artists use different methods to bycontinue working in their country. It is a story which shows the honest personal nar- pass censorship and limitations. Some of ratives of these artists about how they could them use metaphor.

“I tried to take the pictures of my subjects battle the religious and social taboos to shoot a real image of the invisible folds of in front of my room window where there is a unique background of a grey concrete current Iranian society.

Directed by French duo Nathalie Mas- building. This building was like a metaphor duraud and Valérie Urréa, Focus Iran speaks of Iran, whose people suffer the economic about the different styles of photography like and political problems,” said Newsha Tavaportraiture, staging, and documentary pho- kolian, one of the women photographers tography via the personal experiences of featured in the documentary.

She also discussed another limitation: their photographers to explore the challeng“The woman artists in Iran are moving in es of being a photographer in Iran.

“After the Islamic revolution in 1979, ma- the minefield.”

Iran has a patriarchal society where womny artists had to leave Iran. I was lucky to be one of them,” said Montreal-based humanitarian photographer Aydin Matlabi in a phone interview.

He was a guest from FIFA for the public screening of this documentary at the McCord Museum two years ago. “The Islamic regime stopped shooting my project because I broke the taboos,” said Matlabi.

“This documentary is about these taboos.”

Some photographic subjects are considered taboo

by Islamic rules in Iran.

For example, it is not possible to shoot a nude body or show women without a veil. If a photo presents a couple, the man is not to be shown beside the woman, and it is forbidden to

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en encounter many obstacles. The documentary navigates all of the barriers but never talks about them directly. While watching this documentary, the viewer follows the women on their shoots, in their studios, and at different locations to find out how these barriers forced the women to redouble their efforts to reach their goals, despite lacking freedom.

“Focus Iran documented the voice of these artists and gave them [the] freedom to express themselves to the world,” explained Matlabi.

From Tehran to Kashan and the lake of Urmia in the northwest of Iran, the documentary gives a new image of Iran that is far from the usually discussed nuclear issues and political negotiations.

“Focus Iran tried to avoid the negative aspects of Iran and mostly focused on the artist’s beautiful struggles,” Matlabi said. “It is interesting that the staff could get all the permissions to talk with the interviewees and provide a real image of current Iran for their audiences.”

FILM

MENA 2020: diverse narratives, cultures Sharing the works of filmmakers of and perspectives

the Middle Eastern and North African diaspora

Ana Lucia Londono Flores Assistant Arts Editor The 2020 edition of the Middle East and North African (MENA) Film Festival is taking place online until Nov. 27 and offers a variety of works by filmmakers from the Middle Eastern and North African diaspora. The virtual film festival offers the public a chance to discover films that shed light on a variety of cultures, diverse dialogues and stories.

This year, MENA presents 20 short films and three feature films. Comedy, documentary, experimental films and more have been included in the film festival’s programming.

The festival offers a variety of works, providing a space for the voices of artists that are a part of Middle Eastern and North African communities. MENA also aims to provide a place for emerging artists and new voices to share their work and create a welcoming space for various dialogues.

My Dream Goes All the Way to Iran (2019), directed

by Negar Mojtahedi, documents the stories of six Iranian-Canadians sharing the most painful and beautiful moments of their journeys from Iran to Canada.

The film is a powerful portrait of the Iranian expatriate, portraying an immigrant population that is often misunderstood and mi s r epr e s e n t ed.

The movie depicts the realities that refugees and immigrants face, uprooting their lives for a hopeful future.

Directed by Franco-Tunisian direc-

side other teachers, try to mask their fears as many are on different sides of the political divide. The story is set during the beginning of the 1982 Lebanon War. Voice of Silence (2016) by Iranian director Panahbarkhoda Rezaee is a documentary narrative that tells, through a photographer’s lens, the story of the IranIraq war that lasted from 1980 to 1988. The movie gives a voice to the victims of the war.

MENA offers the chance for the public to engage with a variety of 1982 works coming from different places in the Midtor and writer Manele Labidi, Arab Blues dle East and North Afri(2019) tells the story of psychoanalyst Sel- ca. This is a great opportunity to get to know ma (Golshifteh Farahani) who comes back the various stories and perspectives of Midto Tunis after living in France for 10 years. dle Eastern and North African filmmakers.

Selma has decided to set her practice as a Many events happen in the Middle East shrink in Tunis, which is seen as a skepti- and North Africa that tend to be less spocal practice in the capital of Tunisia. Pre- ken of in Canada and the virtual film festival sented as a comedy, Arab Blues opens a is a great place to experience the different window into modern Tunisia but also pres- realities lived in these areas and authentic ents cultural clashes in a humorous form. Middle Eastern and North African works.

Amphitheater (2019) by Qatari filmThe virtual film festival serves as a culmaker Mahdi Ali Ali, tells the story of a tural experience where walls are broken photographer named Sarah who follows down and different dialogues are prea rebellious girl in her hideout: an amphi- sented in space, without geographical theater. Sarah is intrigued by the girl’s be- divides. MENA serves to celebrate the havior and captures her in candid portraits. many cultures present in the world and There is also the coming-of-age film from share stories that tend to be less known.

Lebanese director Oualid Mouaness, 1982 MENA Film Festival is on until Nov. 27. Tick(2019), which depicts 11-year-old Wissam, The ets are sold online. Viewers can obtain a pass who is determined to confess his love to his for full virtual screenings for $40, giving audiclassmate Joanna on the last day of school. ences the opportunities to see as much as they Meanwhile, school teacher Yasmine, along- want and individual passes for $10 each.

Arab Blues

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Arts.

ARTS EDITORS Lorenza Mezzapelle / @lorenzamezzapelle arts@theconcordian.com

POP CULTURE

The culture of memes in society today Exploring the role memes play in our everyday life Rhea Giuliana Staff Writer No matter where you look online, memes will appear somewhere. From the most quotable movie lines to funny and controversial moments, nearly everything can be turned into a meme.

But, can memes be considered art? And are memes some kind of insight into the truth about how the public truly feels about relevant topics in society?

Why do people love memes so much? According to digital marketing agency and web developers SEO Shark’s website, people tend to gravitate toward using and interacting with memes because they’re “easy to share, they’re funny, audiences relate to them and … they are topical and timely.” These reasons make memes a nearly essential part of how people interact with the world around them.

The ease of sharing memes is such a selling point because in today’s society, the quicker we access things, the higher the likelihood we will interact with it. Also, it creates a sense of connection because we can

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freely share memes with whomever we choose. The humour is also another element that lends itself well to meme interaction.

A lot of the time, we want something that will make us laugh, and memes do that easily. So, it becomes a way for us to get that enjoyment that we crave.

When it comes to memes being topical and timely, this touches on whether or not they can be a source of truth. Often, there is a mocking tone, reminiscent of the fools in Shakespeare’s plays.

The fool or the jester was able to make relevant critiques without having to face the consequences of it because they are humorous. In many ways, memes tend to play the same role. They are calling out something relevant in society, but people tend to take them in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, yet the commentary the meme is making is still impactful.

Memes are a visual medium, which begs the question as to whether or not memes can be considered art. In many ways, the answer is dependent on how one chooses to define art.

I asked the members of a private facebook group called ‘90

Day Fiancé TV Show Uncensored,’ “Do you think memes should be seen as art?” 81 per cent of respondents said no.

This outcome is not surprising as memes can be seen as lesser because anyone can make them. Also, people tend to associate the term art with a lot of skill. In many ways, memes can be seen as fun, but not that they take the same skill as an artist doing a painting. However, if art is being defined as a form of creative expression, then memes would absolutely be seen as art. Perhaps, through the ways memes are being used, the way we define art might expand to include this medium.

2020 has been a difficult year to say the least, and many memes have made a presence that discuss the year we are living in.

This meme, which discusses how 2020 will be perceived in the future, is an amalgamation of many older, popular memes.

Aside from being humorous, it allows people to remember what made us laugh so often in the past. In many ways, it seems like 2020 has been a never ending cycle of stuff happening. This meme casts light on all of that, making it relevant.

Memes can also serve as a form of political commentary. During this year’s American presidential debate, there was a lot of talk about who has been making money off Russia. The debate in general was a bit of a mess, and this meme, featuring Spider-Man pointing

to himself, captures the back and forth perfectly. This Spider-Man meme has been used many times, in many instances, and to use it here highlights how versatile memes are. It also suggests, at least within the confines of this topic, that Biden and Trump are just mirrors of one another. This meme is calling out the political sphere in a way that reaches the masses.

Memes are such a staple in our culture. They are not going to go away because they stay relevant with the times. They are a social commentary on situations that have gone through the court of public opinion. In a lot of ways, memes can actually be an indication of what people deem as newsworthy.

Personally, I think that memes should be taken more seriously than they are. I think that their accessibility makes them undervalued, but I believe that is exactly why they should be seen as more. As someone who views art as ever changing, I think memes have a place in the art world. I look at memes daily, share them with my husband, and we laugh so much. During the time we are in, I think memes are especially relevant. We need access to various forms of entertainment and art, and perhaps memes are the best way to gain access to these things.

Whether you like memes or not, they aren’t going anywhere, and I think with time people will take them more seriously.

Graphic by @ariannasivira

FILM

“Exploring Nature” at Montreal’s International Documentary Festival

era and an iPhone X, the Japanese filmmaker travels to Yucatan, Mexico to document the land’s many cavernous pits and explore their ties to the ancient Maya civilization. Opening text explains that Mayans saw cenotes as spaces of great spirituality, areas that connected present life with the afterlife. Ritualistic offerings in the form of human sacrifice were habitually presented to the Rain God Chaac, who Mayans believed lived at the bottom of the cenotes. Given this information, the cenotes develop an air of intrigue and Oda’s dreamlike and indistinct imagery paints them as something otherworldly and mythical.

Icemeltland Park (dir. Liliana Colombo, United Kingdom/ Italy, 2020)

In a far-off future, nature is exploited to the point of no return. Unrestrained industrialization has led to the creation of an amusement park where attendees can watch the environment decay in real time. Sounds scary, right? This is the inventive premise behind Icemeltland Park, and sadly, Liliana Colombo’s dystopian vision is far too realistic for comfort. Colombo’s darkly satirical take on climate change takes us on a guided tour Stray across the world to watch glaciers melt as (dir. Elizabeth Lo, United States, 2020) part of a hypothetical theme park attraction.

The film is composed almost entirely of iPStray opens to a quote by Greek philosopher hone footage pulled from YouTube and runs Diogenes of Sinope which tells us that “Hu- with its clever framing device all the way man beings…would do well to study the dog.” to the very end. Included are “commercial If unconvinced by this statement, one would breaks” and popup text that orders viewers only need to sit through the next 72 minutes to “please keep recording” despite the potento realize that there is indeed a lot to learn. tial danger and implications of the horrific Stray documents the lives of several dogs events unfolding. It’s a film that speaks to living in the streets of Istanbul and Turkey, our indifference and general apathy towards primarily focusing on a hazel-eyed canine climate change and how greed and spectaCole Paquet named Zeytin. Zeytin wanders through the cle triumph over the environment. IcemeltStaff Writer city in search of The Montreal International Documentary food and shelter, nuFestival (RIDM) kicked off its 23rd edition encountering on Nov. 12, allowing filmgoers the opportu- merous other strays nity to screen a wide variety of documenta- and passersby along ries from the comfort of their own homes. the way. Eventually, The 2020 festival showcases some of the best she is “adopted” by a documentaries from the past year and boasts group of teenage vaa wide selection from all over the globe. grants, all refugees This year’s festival is divided into eight the- living in similarmatic categories, each available for a period of ly poor conditions.

What’s particuseven days. Among the first sections available for screening is “Exploring Nature,” an assort- larly striking about ment of films about the environment and our Lo’s film is how complicated relationship with it. Here are just instantaneously Jiíbie a few of the nature docs that caught my eye! we become invested in the plight of the animals. Stray appeals to our empa land Park ends with a foreboding warning Cenote that more natural catastrophes will come thy at a very instinctual level; it doesn’t (dir. Kaori Oda, Mexico/Japan, 2019) at the hands of climate change. An ominous require any frills or embellishments to message, but a necessary one, nonetheless. evoke an Despite its presence at RIDM, Cenote is far from a conventional documentary. Director emotional response from its viewers.

As Zeytin roams the streets, she sees Jiíbie Kaori Oda is even reluctant to label her latest feature a film, instead referring to it as an “ex- crowds gathered in protest, a couple argu- (dir. Laura Huertas Millán, Colombia/ perimental documentary.” With its swirling, ing on a restaurant terrace, homeless men France, 2019) Jiíbie is a medium-length documentary often disorienting camera work and its hyp- keeping warm by a barrel fire. She stares attentively.

How much does she really underthat examines the cultivation and producnotic auditory cues, “experimental” is certainly an apt descriptor, as Cenote is more akin stand? While the animal world lacks many tion of coca powder in the Amazonian community of Muina-Murui. Immediately, the film makes its purpose clear; “This is not a movie about cocaine,” a title card reads. For its many centuries of spiritual and ritualistic use by the native people of America, the coca plant cannot shake its reputation as the raw material from which the narcotic is extracted.

Cenote Jiíbie aims to dispel the many misconceptions associated with the plant by showing us the reverence it holds within these communities. In intimate detail, we watch as the Indigenous people of the Amazon crush, burn and mash the coca leaf into powder for spiritual purposes, all while listening to local stories and myths centered around the plant.

While it might not rid the leaf of its negative connotations, Jiíbie is still a powerful educational tool and a fascinating insight into the world of coca powder production.

RIDM’s 23rd edition showcases some of the best nature documentaries from the past year

to a sensory experience than anything else.

As its title suggests, the film examines cenotes; deep, natural sinkholes formed by collapsed limestone. Armed with an 8mm cam-

of the intricacies of the human world, the film shows us that there is in fact a significant overlap found in our shared compassion, curiosity and desire for companionship.

The Montreal International Documentary Festival runs from now until Dec. 2. For more details including tickets and programming, please visit their website.

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Music.

MUSIC EDITOR Louis Pavlakos / @louispavlakos music@theconcordian.com

THINK-PIECE

Ashe, toxic relationships, and when to walk away Singer/songwriter Ashe’s tracks about toxic relationships show just how common these situations are Rhea Giuliana Staff Writer

petuates such a negative idea for the expectations of consent when it comes to women’s feelings, and Ashe does a great job of calling it out.

The chorus of the song is “I was filling up my head with those lies / Tryna tell me everything’s fucking fine / I wanted love, you know I wanted it so right.” Sometimes we push the idea that because we want love, we should just accept it no matter what the circumstances are. I have put up with things because I just wanted to be loved, and Ashe is calling attention to it, which is important.

“Moral of the Story” and “Not How It’s Supposed to Go” are two songs that help to rethink how we view the role of women in relationships.

These two songs are provocative in their messaging, and give women — myself included — hope that we will move to a much better place.

Music conveys many messages and Ashe has put out two songs that capture the reality of being in a toxic romantic relationship. I have been in a few toxic ones myself and “Moral of the Story” and “Not How It’s Supposed To Go,” both released in 2019, struck me with many emotions. I wish I had these songs when I was going through tough times. Graphic by Lily Cowper In “Moral of the Story,” I found the lyrics to be poignant and relatable. The opening lyrics are “So I never really knew you / God I really tried to / Blindsided, addicted / Felt we could really do this / But really I was foolish / Hindsight it’s / Obvious.” When hearing these words I was instantly brought back to how I spent way too much time thinking about all the things that could have been done differently in the toxic relationships. The mention of addiction is also relevant because toxicity can become addicting. Often, in bad relationships, we spend too much time thinking about what could have gone differently, rather than moving forward. This song captures this perfectly.

There is another set of lines in the song that resonated with me; something that we often get told is that “They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Ashe chose to include “That could be a load of shit,” and I agree with that sentiment. This perpetuates the idea that even if the love was bad that it’s better than no love at all. I have sadly believed that lie, and hearing this song drove home just how easy it is to fall deep into unhealthy relationships.

“Not How It’s Supposed To Go,” really stayed with me for days after my first listen, as it reminded me of many of the same pressures I felt during these relationships. The opening lyrics are “Be a good girl, pretty housewife / Need to have sex every night.” As a woman, this is so powerful, and sadly expected of many of us. Women are expected to be perfect for men. I have had many conversations with both women and men on this topic, and have heard the general opinion that women should just be readily available for their husbands. This per-

Quickspins

AESOP ROCK SPIRIT WORLD FIELD GUIDE The alternative hip hop pioneer takes listeners on an eccentric and surreal tour of a new realm on his latest LP.

9 / 10

♫ TRIAL TRACK: BUTTON MASHER Wesley McLean Assistant Music Editor At this point in his career, Aesop Rock is in a league of his own. The verbose wordsmith’s catalogue is one of hip hop’s most consistent, and his vocabulary is quite literally the most expansive the genre has ever seen. On top of that, his abilities as a producer have improved with every release, resulting in him being absolutely brilliant behind the boards as well.

This is on full display on Spirit World Field Guide, as Aesop’s pen is as sharp as it’s ever been, and his production is even sharper. The instrumentals on this record are extremely layered and eclectic, oozing with a fanciful and futuristic personality that perfectly matches Aesop’s idiosyncratic cadence and flow. This is an impressive feat, especially considering that his work on

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both ends keep this project unwaveringly captivating through the entirety of its runtime, despite its length.

This is because, in handling all aspects of its creation, Aesop has done more than just make an album – he’s built a world akin to those found in sci-fi and fantasy novels. As a result, the LP plays like a neurotically narrated film with the eccentric and otherworldly production serving as its score.

From Spirit World Field Guide’s intro to its closing moments, Aesop takes on the role of tour guide, accompanying the listener and giving his own insights as they explore this new realm. While his stellar storytelling is delivered through a more outward and observational scope than usual, Aesop’s staple introspection, self-deprecation and anxiety-riddled lyrics are still here, as this is as much an internal journey as it is external.

Even when dissecting the world around him, Aesop sees a reflection of himself in the spirit world, and in inspecting it, he also places his own mortality under a microscope. He’s aging and feeling disconnected and he’s dealing with the pains that come along with it, though he never outright says it, as his musings are perfectly woven into the world and stories he’s crafted.

This is Spirit World Field Guide’s biggest strength. These recurring instances of emotion and introspection, hidden beneath layers of lyrical complexity, are what make the project as engrossing as it is. Yes, Aesop’s impeccable writing and fantastic production are the draw here, but it’s his very relatable reflections on the human condition, hidden within these elements, that make the album so resonant.

REVIEW

The Madcap Laughs: a glimpse of Syd Barrett’s potential Syd Barrett’s post-Pink Floyd career is too wild to be ignored Victor Vigas Staff Writer Syd Barrett’s legacy is often spoken about as the tragedy of a man who lost his mind, and later serving as the muse of various works by Pink Floyd years after he had left.

Rarely is he remembered for bringing together the initial members of Pink Floyd or even giving them their band name. In his brief time with Pink Floyd, he wrote eight of out 11 tracks on Pink Floyd’s debut studio album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and a handful of other songs before his infamous departure from the band in 1968 as a result of deterioration due to psychedelic abuse.

As a solo artist having been outcast from Floyd, Barrett began recording his debut solo album, The Madcap Laughs. Recording began in 1968 but was postponed due to a brief psychiatric stint. A year later in 1969, Barrett returned to finish recording of the project at Abbey Road Studios with production of the album handled mostly by Malcolm Jones. Additional production help and instrumental assistance came from Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

The 1970 album itself is a self-contained thirteen track composition. Opening track “Terrapin” sets the tone for the album with simple acoustic guitar chord progressions while Barrett narrates what seems to be a love story: “‘Cause we’re the fishes and all we do / The move about is all we do.” Co-

incidentally, on Pink Floyd’s 1975 eponymous album, Gilmour sings “We’re just two lost souls / Swimming in a fish bowl,” on “Wish You Were Here.” While it is known that “Wish You Were Here” was recorded as a tribute to Barrett, this lyric in particular sees a 29-year-old David Gilmour appearing to wink at Barrett’s solo work.

As the album progresses, tracks “Love You” and “Here I Go” solidify the album with a variety of stream-of-consciousness lyrics and simple drum beats. There is a child-like musical quality provided by a combination of acoustic and electric guitars with a subtle level of distortion. Though this album has less of a distinctive sound compared to Barrett’s other works, it still finds a way to build and morph into a simpler outlet of psychedelic pop fused with folklike guitar lines. “Octopus” is the album’s most telling song of Barrett’s self narrated descent into insanity, with the song telling a tale of an LSD trip and becoming stuck in a state of madness, “Trip, trip to a dream dragon / Hide your wings in a ghost tower / Sails cackling at every plate we break.”

While the lyrics are sometimes disorganized, hard to fathom and sometimes pose a puzzle for listeners, that’s part of his greatness as a lyricist. As seen on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, a lot of Barrett’s lyrics seemed to be pulled out of unlikely sources of inspiration. This makes a lot of his songs head-scratchers when taken literally, but his

breaking of rhyme schemes and playing with simple and complex words tossed around with irregular syntax create a unique blend of spoken word poetry and happily upbeat songs. In an interview with Rolling Stone, when talking about Barrett’s solo work Gilmour said “Some of [Barrett’s lyrics], quite often it felt like he was making them up as he went along … they all definitely mean something to him, but there’s a sort of barrier between him and me and anyone else that prevents us from being able to hear it.”

Barrett further shows his mental depth on the release by quoting two 19th century poets throughout the album’s tracklist. The first being “Golden Hair,” which sees Barrett reciting a poem titled “Lean Out Of The Window” by James Joyce over an acoustic guitar. The latter is part of the first verse in “Octopus,” where he uses part of a poem by Sir Henry Newbolt’s “Rilloby-Rill.”

If Syd Barrett’s musical potential were a house, The Madcap Laughs is only a room.

While the album is not a top-tier polished work of art that has stood the test of time such as other albums by his Pink Floyd counterparts, it does have a variety of moments that are telling of Barrett’s promise as a musician. As the album draws to a close with its funhouse lyrics and punchy sounds, Barrett answers questions about his potential, yet leaves new ones for listeners who wondered “What if? about the late musician.

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Sports.

SPORTS EDITOR Alec Brideau / @alecbrideau sports@theconcordian.com

ESPORTS

The intricacies of a full-time career in streaming

Everything you need to know about the people behind the screens

Liam Sharp Assistant Sports Editor The evolution of electronic sports (eSports) in the early 2010s coincided with the popularization of online streaming. While an eSports event will typically offer high-level gameplay in a competitive atmosphere that caters to many spectators worldwide, gaming streams can offer an exclusive viewer experience that varies by content creator and channel.

Richard Blevins, better known by his online alias Ninja, burst into mainstream pop culture in March 2018 when he played Fortnite Battle Royale on the streaming platform Twitch, with highly touted hip hop artists Drake, Travis Scott, and Pittsburgh Steelers’ wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. More recently, congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed Among Us on Twitch in order to reach out to the younger American population to vote, playing alongside wellknown streamers such as Pokimane, HasanAbi, and Myth.

As a result of the growing demand for live content, streaming has become a viable career option for individuals who are proficient in video games. However, while a career in the industry is seemingly simple on the surface, making an adequate living requires incredible commitment and effort in developing a personal brand that is both captivating and unique.

“I think people do not realize just how time consuming it gets,” said Michael Luker, a professional Hearthstone player and fulltime streamer on Twitch who uses the name of Luker on the platform. “In my case, I stream for roughly five hours regularly. On top of that, I’m editing videos to post on YouTube, actively interacting on social media, and collaborating with other streamers and partners.”

Hearthstone is a free-to-play digital collectible card game developed and published

by Blizzard Entertainment in 2014.

According to Luker, the most successful streamers are constantly promoting themselves beyond the scope of their streams while offering a healthy dose of entertainment and skill on air. He added that despite playing the game for hours on end while broadcasting live, he must put additional time into independently developing

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his skills as the upkeep of Photo courtesy of Liam Sharp his stream and the ongoing distractions make for unfavourable conditions for improvement.

“At the end of the day, I’m still doing what I love and get to play video games for a living,” Luker said. “These are good problems to have and I’m grateful for that.”

Luker was amid a school winter semester during his third year at Champlain College when he was able to qualify for the 2017 World Electronic Sports Games (WESG), an international tournament held in Haikou, China.

Luker was one of seven North American ing at home,” Kim said. “I’m still an amateur, qualifiers for the event and finished runbut I love the idea of not only networking with ner-up in the respected competition that saw old friends, but also making new ones in the him earn $60,000 USD for his efforts. Upon process.” returning to Canada, he officially left college In these trying times, Kim believes the in favour of pursuing a career as a professionrelationships he’s already been able to forge al Hearthstone player. with other streamers in the community thus Luker started streaming full-time in far greatly outweigh the financial incentives April and has since devoted a substantial porto stream his gameplay. tion of his time towards his steady community of fans. His self-made platform allows him You can catch both Luker and to indulge in his passion while serving as an Kim streaming regularly on Twitch. informative hub where viewers with similar interests can interact.

“If there are 50 people talking to me in my chat, I am reading everything and having 50 conversations at a time,” Luker said.

“Meanwhile, I’m simultaneously focusing on the game at hand.”

Additionally, streaming has found an entirely new meaning for some individuals during the pandemic. Brian Kim, known as brianyokim on Twitch, has always considered himself a casual gamer at heart but made the leap to streaming his gameplay to make the most of negative COVID-19 circumstances.

“Through streaming, I’ve been able to get social interactions that are hard to come by while work-

PROFILE

A bright flame on the glistening ice

Student-athlete Kalena Korbiak is a three-time vice Canadian figure skating champion later, she stopped Ukrainian dancing.

Alexis Deleon-Giron Contributor Did you know that Concordia University’s psychology program holds a second-year student who is also a figure skating sensation?

At just 21-years-old, Kalena Korbiak is a three-time vice Canadian figure skating champion with her Montreal-based synchronized skating team, Les Suprêmes. In this context, “vice” means that the team stood second on the podium at the national level.

Korbiak has been an avid skater since she was four, when she was introduced to the sport by a family friend at the Aréna de Sainte-Agathe-desMonts in the Laurentians.

“We were just sitting there at the arena, watching, and she said ‘Oh mommy, mommy! I wanna go shkate too. I wanna go shkate,’” said Vera Korbiak, humoristically imitating her then-four-year-old daughter.

“It’s something I connected with. It automatically became part of my identity since I was placed in it at such a young age,” said Korbiak.

From that day on, Korbiak joined the Sainte-Agathedes-Monts skating club as a freestyle skater, and competed regionally in that category from the age of nine until she joined her elite synchronised skating team at 17.

Her loyalty to the sport was tested numerous times as she enrolled in other disciplines throughout the years, like downhill skiing, horseback riding, and even Ukrainian dancing. However, none could compete with the feeling she got once strapped in those skates.

“I was always placed into something else in order to help me with figure skating, particularly ballet,” said Korbiak . “Me and my mom decided that I was going to be doing ballet and I did so for six years until the end of high school to improve my core and skating skills.”

As a child, Korbiak would head to skating practice right after school. Korbiak and her mom would then drive from their hometown of Sainte-Adèle to Montreal for karate lessons; a Ukrainian dance class followed. If that isn’t exhausting enough, she would sleep at her grandmother’s in the east end of Montreal so that she could attend Ukrainian school on Saturday mornings, and Girl Guides later.

That lasted for three years until ballet replaced karate. Two years

During her last year of high school, in 2016, her devotion to figure skating finally paid off. After obtaining the highest regional score in her different freestyle elements, she earned an eight-minute solo at the Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts 2016 Fantaisie sur Glace Gala.

“The people there were saying ‘Oh my god she’s such a beautiful skater,’” said Vera. “I always told them the secret is ballet because that really brings out the beauty in a skater.”

This was Korbiak’s first year with Les Suprêmes.

“I found out about Les Suprêmes when I was about to go to Dawson and was staying with my grandparents in the east end,” Korbiak said. “So, I did my research and found out they were doing synchro in Saint-Leonard, and that the team was looking for skaters, so I tried it out.”

At that point, Korbiak had only been doing freestyle and was completely new to synchro.

The audition period had already ended, but the team had still not found the number of skaters they required.

When Korbiak showed up, she was thrown right into a practice to see if she could keep up with the choreography.

“We were and are always looking for skaters that can show different technical skills and are well rounded,” said Geneviève Rougeau, the team’s head coach for the last two years. “I think Korbiak fit in that category perfectly.”

Rougeau explained that right out of the gate, Korbiak demonstrated exemplary skills, executional versatility, and quick adaptation, which is exactly what they were looking for.

Not only was she quick to adjust, but she was quick to make new friends.

“I am actually pretty shy, so I don’t usually talk much to new people, but I noticed right away that [Korbiak] was super bubbly. She came up and started talking to me right away.

I learned very quickly that she is a really nice and friendly person,” said Aly Bernardo, a fellow Les Suprêmes skater who has been on the team for 15 years.

Ultimately, Korbiak aspires to become a renowned national figure skating freestyle coach. As for synchro, she wants to take it up a notch and enter the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships (WSSC) in the senior division and become an international Canadian champion.

Photo courtesy of Kalena Korbiak

COLOUR COMMENTARY

Heading towards a slightly different Super Bowl COVID-19 restrictions might have their impacts on the upcoming Super Bowl LV Alec Brideau Sports Editor With the current National Football League (NFL) season being played as normally scheduled, the league is preparing its next Super Bowl event, which will be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The latest updates say that fans will fill 20 per cent of the stadium’s capacity. However, it’s still early to come to conclusions, as the Super Bowl LV will be played on Feb. 7, 2021. Things might change again for the next edition of the football world’s biggest event, and one of sports’ most-watched annual games.

The NFL announced on Nov. 12 that singer The Weeknd will lead its halftime show. The announcement didn’t include anything about additional singers or pandemic restrictions, but that makes it obvious that this year’s halftime show will be challenging with social distancing rules, especially if

fans are around.

The Super Bowl has never faced a similar situation before, having to make its halftime show interesting without singers and dancers getting in contact with each other.

The two teams that will play the Super Bowl also won’t be known until just two weeks before the event, meaning supporters of the two finalist teams will only be able to buy their tickets and travel to Tampa Bay a few days before the game.

It will probably be hard to control such travel from fans, and make sure that all pandemic restrictions are being respected during this big event.

What’s certain is that the upcoming Super Bowl LV will be different, regardless of the teams playing and the final score. People probably won’t remember it for its noisy atmosphere, and sadly not for the traditional pregame tailgate parties, as there always are before NFL games. However, if the league manages to make the event happen properly and safely, it should still be considered a huge success.

Graphic by Rose-Marie Dion

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Editorial:

It’s the little things

We all know the pandemic has negatively affected our lives in a variety of ways, and that it has disproportionately harmed some more than others. But hidden within the chaos and confusion that is the year 2020, there are a small handful of silver linings that make this “new normal” just a little more bearable.

Take masks, for example — as the cold weather begins to consume Montreal, wearing them has become less and less of a chore. We no longer have to soil our scarves with runny noses, since our trusty mandatory-masks do us the favour of keeping our lips and noses warm, while also protecting against the transmission of our least favourite virus.

Speaking of transmission, without having to commute to campus for class, there’s fewer reasons to ride the germ incubator — ie. the bus, metro or shuttle — anymore. Even when life was normal, it’s hard to say that taking the bus was ever the best part of the day. And now, for the lucky ones who don’t need to ride as much, it’s just a warm memory.

And speaking of warmth, wearing warm, comfy pajama bottoms to class seems like something we would’ve killed for before the pandemic.

Now, it’s a way of life. No more social expectation to look “together” and cohesive. We all know we’re in the same boat. If that means wearing your cozy Harvard sweater, your Spongebob socks or your Roots sweatpants from your pre-adolescence, we get it.

It’s the little things.

If one thing is true, it’s that there’s plenty of time to spend alone now, and with that comes a lot of loneliness and sameness. But at the same time, these open Friday nights with nothing to do have given us the time and space to practice self-care and self-discovery. Maybe that means doing a weekly bath ritual, or having private karaoke nights or even beating your high score in Mario Kart. Whatever it is that helps you be you, do it. The biggest pandemic perk? Having the time to get to know yourself.

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OUR COVER THIS WEEK “COOL, CALM AND COLLECTED”

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VOLUME 38 ISSUE 6 DATE NOVEMBER 24 2020

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