January 22, 2019

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CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY’S WEEKLY, INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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VOLUME 36, ISSUE 16 | TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2019

Paving the way forward The Centre for Gender Advocacy defends trans legal rights

News p. 4

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A$AP Rocky is Shutdown via Bringing the past Collaboration Tackling her to the present p. 8 across media p. 11 evolutionary p. 12 competition p. 15 unpaid work p. 18

news

NEWS EDITORS /// news@theconcordian.com IAN DOWN & MIA ANHOURY ( @IanDown1996 @mia_anhoury)

PROTEST

Women’s March braves the cold

About a hundred protestors stood in solidarity to bring awareness to women’s issues text by

MINA MAZUMDER ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

photos by

ALEX HUTCHINS LIFE EDITOR

Despite temperatures of 20 to 30 below zero, with a snowstorm just around the corner, about 100 protestors, a majority of women and some men, gathered at Place Émilie-Gamelin to march for women’s rights on Jan. 19.

Protesters held posters and signs that read “We are in this together,” “I am a woman, not a womb,” and “Girls just wanna have fun-damental rights.”

Before the march, speakers shared their experiences of oppression, domestic violence and marginalization. There were a few performances that made the crowd jump

to their feet to combat the cold. The march only lasted 20 minutes due to the weather.

Simi Bhagwandass, a protestor, said that women’s rights should be seen as equal to any other rights. “We believe that women’s rights are fundamental human rights,” she said. “We have gone a long way in women’s rights but there are still a lot of changes that need to be done.”

Bhagwandass also said there should be more funding for women’s health in Canada.

There is an “inequity and inequality of women's health issues and they are deprioritized because they are underfunded, undertreated and underrecognized,” she said.

The march, the third of its kind in Montreal, was hosted by March on Montreal, a community organization. According to the Women’s March website, this event is held in multiple cities every year, including

Washington D.C., Berlin and London.

Samantha Ilacqua, an activist at Fightback, an organization that focuses on educating workers and youth on Marxism, said her organization attended the march to fight against all forms of oppression towards everyone, including women. “Sexual assault and harassment is something that [women] face everyday,” Ilacqua said.

Sonja Matschuck, a women’s rights activist, hopes people will start to take women’s voices more seriously, especially when it comes to sexual assault cases.

“Society still has a problem with accepting to believe women and survivors,” she said. “I think we have to work a lot on this discussion.”

As a domestic violence survivor, Matschuck advises women who are victims to try to safely find resources to protect themselves. “Seek

help safely,” she said. “Seek people you trust.”

According to Statistics Canada, the rate of police-reported violent crime in 2017 was higher for victims who were women aged 24 and under, in comparison to their male counterparts.

Gabriel D’Astous, another attendee, said this form of solidarity should be happening all around the world. “I think it’s so important to go out and march for solidarity with women across the world,” he said.

With the CAQ government currently in power, D’Astous believes Legault’s policies will create some resistance from women.

“I think around the corner, there will be some important issues in Quebec with a right-wing government that just got elected and a lot of discussion about fairly racist policies that are both in the intersection of racism and sexism,” he said.

JANUARY 22, 2019

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JANUARY 22, 2019

COVER STORY

Trial for trans rights begins Personal testimonies are revealed in the Superior Court of Québec

CITY IN BRIEF IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR Forty-three people, 35 of whom were children, were hospitalized after a carbon monoxide leak at École des Découvreurs in LaSalle, according to CTV. Firefighters said a leaking heating system was responsible for the incident. Although Quebec’s building code does not mandate schools to have carbon monoxide detectors, École des Découvreurs did have one, which allegedly failed to be triggered by the leak.

The Town of Mount Royal’s proposed $2 billion dollar Royalmount commercial centre will not serve the public interest, according to a report presented to the city’s Commission sur le développement économique et urbain et l'habitation. As reported in La Presse, urbanist Raphaël Fischler recommended in his report that all levels of government with the power to intervene should do so, including t h e p r o v i n c i a l government and the Montreal Metropolitan Community.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

MIA ANHOURY NEWS EDITOR “If given the choice, I would choose ‘parent,’” said Sarah Blumel, in her testimony to the court when asked which title she would prefer to have on her son’s birth certificate that isn’t ‘mother’ or ‘father.’

Concordia University’s Centre for Gender Advocacy's (CGA) trial began on Jan. 15, at the Superior Court of Québec, and is expected to end in late February. The CGA has been preparing the lawsuit against the Quebec government since 2014. They are seeking to invalidate 11 articles from the Civil Code of Québec, arguing that they violate the Quebec and Canadian Charters of Rights and Freedoms.

The laws being challenged affect trans parents, trans youth, nonbinary people and trans migrants. The CGA has gathered 17 witnesses and experts to testify during the trial.

On the first day of the trial last Tuesday, a law professor at Thompson Rivers University, Samuel Singer, and his wife, Blumel, travelled from British Columbia to testify. In the morning, Singer spoke of his experience as a trans person. In the afternoon, Blumel testified about the many ways in which her husband faced discrimination and couldn’t exercise his right to privacy.

In an unexpected turn of events, the

Attorney General of Quebec announced on behalf of the Directeur de l'état civil, that a person in Quebec can now ask to have their gender marker removed from their birth certificate and other identification cards upon request.

The defendants also announced that children whose parents have transitioned will have the changes reflected on their birth certificates as well. Plaintiff Lawyer Audrey Boctor explained that “if someone changes from male to female, they will go from being the father to being the mother,” on the birth certificate of their child. However, these are not legislative modifications.

Blumel was interrogated by Plaintiff Lawyer François Goyer in front of the defence attorneys and Hon. Judge Gregory Moore about witnessing Singer’s struggles in his everyday life. Blumel spoke about how long it took for Singer to change his name—he had to prove the legitimacy of such a request.

Even changing bank cards with old names on them or doing a police record check meant that Singer had to explain his situation to strangers, according to Blumel.

Blumel was reminded “of the reality of discretionary power.” Singer regularly had to take extra steps that invaded his privacy, which caused discomfort, according to his wife. Addressing the judge, she spoke of the continuous concern that comes with not having a third option on IDs. Blumel said Singer

regularly had “to explain a situation that doesn’t match.”

This was of concern, especially when accessing medical care. Blumel expressed that even at the optometrist, her husband would have to explain why his IDs don’t match, having to ask to be called Mr. when the doctor was ready, only to hear “madame” when the time came.

The comfort and relief that would come with having a third option on IDs is incredible, Blumel said. “It makes me so angry, because it’s not a hospitable place for trans people right now.”

In 2010, Blumel and Singer had a child.

When the time came to fill out the birth certificate, Singer had the option of checking one of two boxes: ‘mother’ or ‘father.’ Singer chose ‘father.’ However, when the birth certificate came back in the mail, Singer was checked as the mother because the title had to match the sex on his own birth certificate, which says female.

“I find that this is a cause that touched me personally because I’m trans and I have a child,” said Gabriel Lanthier, who attended the trial. Like Singer, Lanthier could not be listed on a birth certificate as the child’s father by law. Having the option to check “parent” on the birth certificate would be the best option, said Lanthier. “Why genderize a position?” asked Lanthier.

When Goyer asked Blumel how she felt after the birth certificate came back in the

St-Viateur Bagel’s Notre-Damede-Grâce location will close in March, according to The Montreal Gazette. The owners of the chain were unable to re-negotiate a lease with the building’s owner. The iconic chain, which has had a location in Monkland Village for 18 years, has locations throughout the Greater Montreal area, including the original on St. Viateur Street W. and locations in Dollard-Des-Ormeaux and Plateau-Mont-Royal.

The founder of the homeless youth organization Dans la rue will be honoured by the city with a park in his name, according to CJAD800.

The city is still working on plans to honour Father Emmett “Pops” Johns, the Catholic priest and community activist who died last year at 89.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

mail, she said “I felt sad and frustrated.”

Throughout her testimony, she had been standing with her hands behind her back, until that moment. She let go, took a sip of water and took off her glasses. “Take your time,” Goyer said, as Blumel took a deep breath and wiped tears from her eyes.

“I want to be respectful to the court and the court’s time,” Blumel said. “These are tears of anger and frustration. Excuse me.” She added, “I’m here because I spend a lot of my time working with and loving queer and trans people, but I think it’s common sense [...] it is not going to impact anyone else.”

After a short break the trial will restart on Jan. 23, in the Palais de justice, with academics, activists and doctors testifying.

The government’s experts will begin to testify in February.

JANUARY 22, 2019

CANNABIS

Why ASFA won’t be reimbursing cannabis any time soon Graphic by @spooky_soda

Last September, with cannabis legalization on the horizon, some members of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) approached the executive team with an important inquiry: If ASFA pays for alcohol for member association events, why not pay for cannabis as well?

A SFA’s Ad vo c ac y an d E xe cut i ve Coordinator, Marguerite Rolland, said she was approached by executives from three member associations about such a policy.

For a while, it looked like they might get their wish. ASFA’s policy committee began looking into ways it might design a policy that would reimburse cannabis expenses while still respecting the law. “We just wanted to make sure that if this was something that we could do and that people wanted from us, that we had a policy about it,” said Rolland.

An informal survey conducted by the federation showed that a majority of member association executives—roughly 56 per cent, according to the data—felt ASFA should be reimbursing these expenses. By comparison, 27 per cent said they did not think ASFA should reimburse these expenses, with the remaining respondents having qualified opinions or no opinion at all.

However, parallel to the policy committee’s research was an inquiry by the federation’s legal team. In early November, they concluded that such a policy would likely be illegal. “Under subsection 9(1)(d) of the Cannabis Act, it is prohibited for an organization to distribute cannabis,” the federation’s legal team ruled in an email to the executive team provided

to The Concordian. “Furthermore, under subsection 9(2), it is prohibited to possess cannabis for the purpose of distributing it contrary to subsection 9(1).” An organization that violates these rules is “liable to a fine in an amount that is in the discretion of the court,” according to the same email.

The email does say that an ASFA member can legally smoke cannabis at an ASFA event, “as long as this student is 18 years or older, that the cannabis was bought at the Société québécoise du cannabis, that the event is held outside of the university grounds,” and outside of a place restricted by law.

Not every student association in the province has come to the same conclusion.

The council of the Association étudiante du Cégep de Sherbrooke (AÉCS) passed a motion at the beginning of October, before cannabis had been legalized, allowing

member associations to seek reimbursement for cannabis expenses, according to Radio-Canada. The AÉCS did not respond to a request for comment.

However, these expenses must be approved by the committees and associations involved, and smoking is still prohibited on campus, according to the same article.

Rolland said she reached out to the other faculty associations to see if they had considered similar policies, but none were considering it at the time. None of the other faculty associations responded to a request for comment.

Rolland said there is always the possibility the decision will be reversed in the future.

However, she says “there is undoubtedly still a stigma attached to [cannabis], and I think that will affect the way people view it for a while.”

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

FASA conducts mental health survey Students complain of lack of services, long wait times

ALEXIA MARTEL-DESJARDINS STAFF WRITER The Fine Arts Students Alliance (FASA) conducted the second round of its Mental Health and Wellness Survey at the end of last semester. The coordinators will present the results at the faculty meeting in April and propose initiatives that will address the students’ needs concerning mental health and well-being.

On Jan. 17, FASA coordinators had a first chance to look at the survey results.

Louise Campion, FASA’s communications coordinator, said that among the students’ answers, the ones that stood out were the lack of communication about mental health services by the university and the long process before having access to therapy.

“There are a lot of complaints about how long it can take to get a therapy session and then that 10 is not enough,” Campion said, referring to the 10 free sessions of individual counselling available to Concordia students.

The purpose of this second round was to obtain more feedback from Fine Arts students regarding their experience with mental health issues and services. “Last year, there was a lack of communication

about the survey and we got less than 60 answers […] and now we have more than 300 answers, so it’s better,” Campion said. She added that results from last year’s survey will not be mixed with those collected in the fall.

After looking at the results, Campion said “clearly, there’s a lack of mental health services from the point of view of the students.” She also said students reported that “Fine Arts students don’t always have the time to go [to] the H building and wait in line for two hours to get a first appointment at triage.”

One of the results that stood out was the amount of time respondents claimed to have spent on course material. “In a studio class […] we’re counting more than 10 hours of homework per week per class,” said Campion.

With the survey complete, FASA coordinators want to hire professionals who will organize the data and create a visual presentation that they intend to show at the faculty meeting in April. “The point is to go to the faculty meeting already with initiatives to be taken,” said Campion. “We want a full plan.”

FASA’s survey was not the first assessment of students’ feedback on mental health

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NATION IN BRIEF

Nipped in the bud

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR

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services at Concordia. “We conducted a short survey a year and a half ago, asking students what they were looking for in terms of counselling services,” said Howard. Magonet, director of Counselling and Psychological Services at Concordia.

“We’ve taken the information that we’ve gleaned from that survey and we use [it] at the same time when we are revising our service delivery model.”

Between now and April, FASA coordinators will compile project ideas to propose in April and that w ill ans wer t he students’s needs based on the answers they p rov i d e d i n t h e survey. Campion expressed FASA’s desire to implement concrete changes. “ The actual goal is to make things change, propose new initiatives […] at the FASA level, at the Concordia level, and if needed at the Montreal level.”

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR The RCMP will be overseen by a civilian watchdog board in an effort to address years of sexual assault allegations, according to the CBC. The plan was announced

by Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale on Jan. 16, although its composition and details of its f u n c t i o n i n g h ave ye t to b e determined.

A C a n a d ia n m a n h a s b e e n sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling, according to the CBC. The sentencing of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg is the latest in a series of diplomatic disputes between Beijing and Ottawa, including the arrest of telecom mogul Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on Dec. 1, and the arrest of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in China later that month.

The Ontario government will no longer pay the full cost of university tuition for low-income students, according to The London Free Press. The Conservative government has lowered the eligibility income threshold from $175,000 per family to $140,000, and a portion of the grant has been converted into a loan. The government also cut tuition rates across the board by 10 per cent.

Comedian Mike Ward is appealing a $42,000 fine for a series of jokes he made about a disabled boy between 2010 and 2013, according to The Montreal Gazette. The 2016 decision by Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal states that Ward violated the rights of Jeremy Gabriel, a 22-year-old singer who suffers from Treacher Collins syndrome, by making fun of his disability and joking about drowning him in his set.

Graphic by @spooky_soda Graphic by @spooky_soda

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JANUARY 22, 2019

WORLD CSU by-elections draw a crowd IN BRIEF ELECTIONS

Nine councillors, two referendums approved with nearly 2,700 votes cast

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons with 325 votes in her favour and 306 against, according to the BBC. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, triggered the vote the previous day after the House rejected May’s proposed Brexit deal.

The CSU’s general coordinator says the union still has a long way to go to improve voter participation. Photo by Hannah Ewen.

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR Nine new councillors and two referendum campaigns are victorious following the Co n co rd i a St u d e n t Un i o n (C S U ) by-elections.

In a turnout that was nearly double that of the last general election, students voted overwhelmingly in favour of online voting, with over 2,400 votes in favour, just 107 opposed and 158 abstentions.

“I could not believe it,” said Arts and Science Councillor Chris Kalafatidis, who led the campaign in favour of online voting.

As for future elections, Kalafatidis said he would like to stay with Simply Voting, the online voting system used by the CSU, but would also be open to having other companies bid on the contract.

This does not mean the union is mandated to implement online voting. “The referendum question is not binding,” CSU General Coordinator Sophie Hough-Martin told The Concordian. “Technically, because we used it for the by-elections, I suspect that council will just mandate us to implement it for the March general elections as well.”

However, she said “going forward, we would have to have a binding referendum Photos by Hannah Ewen.

that actually supports the permanent implementation [of online voting] as a replacement of paper ballots.”

In a hotly contested race for the open Arts and Science councillor seat, Jane Lefebvre Prévost beat out her five opponents with 30.8 per cent of the vote. Her runner up, Victoria Bolanos-Roberts, earned 26.2 per cent. “The by-election hasn't been the smoothest logistically-speaking, but I'm really proud of everyone who ran,” said Lefebvre Prévost. “Candidates did their best to support one another throughout it.” She hopes to introduce mandatory anti-racism workshops for all councillors during her term.

Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science (GCS) candidates Eduardo Malorni and Patrick Lavoie won the two open GCS seats in an eight-person race.

“What helped me the most [was] definitely the support of all the people and friends I’ve met at the GCS,” Lavoie said. “This was pretty clearly a close race, and every vote mattered.” Lavoie hopes to acquire more funding for GCS student societies and improve transparency within the union.

Eliza McFarlane defeated her opponent, Pat Jouryan Martel, to win the Fine Arts seat.

All five candidates from the John Molson

School of Business were elected to council.

Finally, students approved the union’s proposed fee levy restructuring, with over 1,300 students (or 62.5 per cent of voters) voting in favour of the proposed changes.

Starting in the summer semester, the fees for operations, clubs and the Advocacy Centre will go up by 20 cents, 6 cents and 10 cents, respectively. To compensate, the fee levy for the Student Space, Accessible Education and Legal Contingency Fund, which funds projects like the Woodnote Housing Cooperative, will be reduced by 36 cents.

“It’s certainly a relief, I’ve gotta say,” said Finance Coordinator John Hutton, who introduced the referendum. “I was confident that it would pass, but until I actually saw the numbers in front of me, I wasn’t willing to let myself calm down.”

Hutton said the restructured fee levies will correct several of the union’s structural deficits as soon as they are implemented.

Although the change was meant to take effect this semester, the postponement of the by-elections last fall means restructuring will only happen in the summer.

Regarding online voting, Hutton said the savings from electronic voting will likely leave the union under budget for its campaign expenses for the year, even though its by-elections had to be repeated. In particular, the union saved about $17,000 that would have otherwise been spent on election security in its second by-election.

Opinions differed as to what was responsible for the increased voter turnout. Almost 2,700 students voted in the by-election, representing 7.4 per cent of all undergraduate students. By contrast, the March 2018 general election only drew around 1,400 voters.

Kalafatidis said the online voting system was entirely responsible for the increased voter turnout. “I do not believe any other variable had a significant impact,” he said. “Maybe a really small one, but that's it.”

Protests erupted in Pakistan after the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) shot and killed four people on a highway, including a couple and their teenage daughter, according to The Express Tribune.

The CTD said the incident was the result of a counter-terrorism investigation into the family. Three younger children who were also in the car survived, although one was injured.

The anti-vax movement is one of the World Health Organization’s 10 biggest global health threats of 2019, according to Newsweek. Four times as many U.S. children are lacking recommended vaccines today compared to 2001. Climate change, non-communicable diseases and a global lack of primary health care were among the other threats on the list.

The mayor of Gdansk, Poland died in hospital after being stabbed in front of a crowd of hundreds at a charity function on Jan. 13, according to the BBC. The 27-year-old man who allegedly stabbed Mayor Pawel Adamowicz had a criminal record and has recently been released from prison, according to police.

The 15 hottest places in the world on Jan. 15 were all in Australia, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. As the country was gripped by an ongoing heatwave, temperatures nearing 50 C were recorded throughout the country,—the hottest, in Tarcoola, South Australia, reached 49.1 C. Graphic by @spooky_soda

Hough-Martin said it was the number of candidates, especially in Arts and Science and the GCS, that generated interest in the election.

Arts and Science Councillor Patrick Quinn, who chaired the CSU’s elections and participation committee, said it was a combination of both. He said the email each member was sent with links to vote played a major part in increasing voter participation.

Despite the increased turnout, HoughMartin said the union has a long way to go to improve voter turnout. “We would like to be seeing numbers in the double digits.”

“I think that there is still work to be done in voter engagement, and to get people more involved with the student union,” said Hough-Martin.

life

LIFE EDITOR /// life@theconcordian.com ALEX HUTCHINS ( @alexhutchinns96)

STUDENT LIFE

From stress to success

One graduate’s mission to help undergrads survive their studies

Broken Pencil: Commuting to Loyola Construction still slowing down shuttle commutes FATIMA DIA ASSISTANT LIFE EDITOR

Gasher graduated from Concordia in 2017. Photo courtesy of Danielle Gasher.

DANIELLE GASHER CONTRIBUTOR

Two weeks after my last exam as a university student, I moved to Toronto to start my first post-grad job in a film It’s 1 a.m. My eyes are dry and my head production company. I have heard is pounding. I have empty coffee cups many times how lucky I am to have and take-out containers on my desk, found a job in my field so quickly. The hiding behind stacked textbooks and truth is, while I was extremely lucky, I loose sheets of ink-stained paper. I made a lot of my own luck. And I didn’t have two essays due tomorrow, a bar find the job, I chased after it. Furiously. shift tomorrow night, and an oral The job waiting for me two weeks presentation the following morning. post-graduation was actually five years Not to mention piles of laundry, an in the making. It was damn hard, and empty fridge, all with rent due in less long, and wonderful. It involved a lot of than a week. I’m stressed. I’m tired. bartending, reading, crying, studying, All. The. Time. networking, researching and unpaid internships. Looking back, I think it could have been a little easier if I had asked for help more often.

Surviving university, to me, isn’t exclusively about being a student. It’s also about transitioning into adulthood, and dealing with all the bills, chores and emotional labour that comes with it.

That terrible November night surrounded by takeout containers, textbooks and coffee cups was when I promised myself that if I found a way to make it through university in one piece, I would make it my mission to help other undergrads survive.

After graduation, I started Gasher's first internship was at Cannes Film festival.

DG Editing, a project aimed Photo courtesy of Danielle Gasher.

at helping students write essays and alleviate their stress, but also show them how to navigate their university experience strategically so they can get what they want out of it. The project provides editing and translation services, but also helps with writing CVs, cover letters, job applications, and offers assistance with time management and personal financial management. I wanted to create a service that could provide help for students in all areas of their busy lives; I wanted to provide the help I wish I had when I felt like I was drowning.

The financial help service was also important to me because money is an integral part of student life. DG Editing provides personalized budgeting sheets and advice based on the client’s financial goals and situation.

Of course, it is important to address that I am not an expert. The project is merely a helping hand, ear, or shoulder, however you want to see it—a student service for a student-friendly price. I’m just someone who happened to survive school with good grades and my dream job waiting for me. I got what I wanted from my university experience, and I think I can help others achieve the same. I survived and am fascinated with how simultaneously hard and fantastic it all was.

You can connect with DG Editing by following @dg_editing on Instagram, or by visiting our website at WWW.DGEDITING.COM.

The shuttle bus is one of those things that is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it cuts the time it takes to get to Loyola in half and it’s really convenient to be able to go directly from one campus to the other. But it’s a curse because we live in Montreal, the nation’s capital of traffic congestion.

Overcrowdedness is one of the several reasons why students aren’t completely happy with the shuttle bus system. It's not that we aren't used to overcrowding, like what happens on the metro routinely. The difference is that once the shuttle doors close, you're stuck on that bus until you get to Loyola, for however long it takes, with however many people they can squeeze in.

“It’s either 15 minutes early, or 30 minutes late,” said Youmna el Halabi, a Concordia student and frequent shuttle bus user. “When it’s late, it tries to fit as many people as it can so that we don’t miss our class, but then it ends up feeling like a pickle jar.”

Another reason for traffic congestion is frequent delays; there’s not much blame that can really go to the buses—the problem is beyond Concordia’s shuttle service. It’s the never ending, year-round road obstructions either due to construction sites, highway lane closures or foundation repairs to the infamous Turcot Interchange.

On Nov. 9, 2018, the dismantling of a portion of the Highway 15 ramp in the Interchange began which, according to Transport Quebec as reported in CT V Montreal, would cause an unprecedented amount of traffic for Montrealers. Transport Quebec went so far as to even advise drivers to use public transit if they could, to consider working from home if possible and to avoid making non-essential trips.

While construction on the Interchange is expected to be completed in 2020, according to a 2016 report obtained by the Gazette, even if Montreal tripled its investment in infrastructure repairs immediately, the city wouldn’t have all necessary construction completed until 2040.

“It's a lack of investment for the past 50 years in Montreal that [caused] this situation,” transport minister François Bonnardel told the Gazette. “After we finish the Turcot Interchange, we'll start Louis-Hippolyte-LaFontaine (Tunnel), so for sure in the next ten years it's going to be a lot of investment in Montreal, but we have to do it.”

The problem is that there’s not much that can be done about these sites, considering that construction happens out of necessity. But as Concordia student Stephanie Ricci states: “It’s too cold to have us waiting for 20-30 minutes,” said Ricci. “The solution would be to have more buses.”

Graphic by @spooky_soda

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JANUARY 22, 2019

HISTORY

Sifting through the archives: Satire gone sour Exploring freedom of speech and censorship from within Concordia's walls

The Other Side was a satire column that frequently appeared in what was then called the Arts and Culture section of The Concordian in 1994. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

ALEX HUTCHINS LIFE EDITOR As academics, journalists and curators of the public sphere, knowing when to stand by your work is as important as being accountable for it. Journalists in particular carry the responsibility of disseminating information, and, as a result, are rightfully held under constant scrutiny for the content they p u b l i s h . T h e s a m e g o e s f o r Th e Concordian, where, throughout its existence, there have been a few instances of backlash to content we’ve published.

Throughout the mid-90s, The Other Side was a column frequently published in The Concordian by then-journalism student, Elena McLeod. On Nov. 2 1994, the column featured a satirical article written by Mark Rollins, an alias adopted by McLeod, taking on the perspective of sexist male-chauvinists she frequently encountered on campus.

McLeod’s column was raunchy yet progressive when you read between the lines, at least for the mid-90s. It opens with: “I love breasts… Breasts of all dimensions, colour and texture. I love ‘em if they salute the sun or kiss the ground… I’m not ashamed to admit that hooters preoccupy my thoughts 24 hours a day,” writes Rollins.

The column goes on to reference a GUESS ad: “[...] everytime I saw Anna Nicole Smith hawking Guess Jeans [sic], I’d blow my load… I swear, these ads should come with a handy Kleenex dispenser,” writes Rollins.

Satire, when done correctly, can be a great way to comment on complex issues by poignantly revealing the power dynamics behind the story. In The Other Side, satire was used as a way to reveal how ludicrous the hypersexualization of the female body and conforming to the male gaze is. McLeod, a.k.a. Rollins, sought to comment on this hypersexualization by using nearly every ‘locker-room’ way of talking about breasts, to the extent that it could not be anything but satire.

However, satires can often miss their intended mark, whatever that may be.

Think back to 2015, when The Beaverton published and quickly retracted their absolutely appalling article after Ashley Callingbull, from Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta, won Mrs. Universe. The Beaverton published a headline that, as they later stated in their apology, was meant to "call out the media for their failure to properly cover missing and murdered [Indigenous] women." However, while some say they understood the twisted truth behind the headline, many, including some Indigenous advocates, did not see the humour or value in publishing such a serious topic under the guise of humour. When satires aren’t published in complete distaste, they can often be interpreted literally, which leads to a separate slew of issues.

As one could imagine, not every student on campus understood that The Other Side was a satire. The article’s literal interpretation incited a massive backlash from the student body, and by the following week’s issue on Nov. 9, The Concordian had received heaps of phone messages, letters and faxes (yes, faxes) from enraged students denouncing both the publication and Rollins/McLeod.

Most of these comments were published in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section, next to a column where McLeod came out as Rollins. On Nov. 16, two weeks after the satire column hit print, and a week after McLeod claimed Rollins’ identity, there was still so much continued backlash from the student body, now enraged at McLeod for publishing the column to begin with.

In lieu of all the backlash, McLeod sat down for an interview with Samaana Siddiqui, then-staff writer from The Concordian, to continue to explain that her intent was to generate a public discussion about the hypersexualization of the female body in a way that was not “shoving women’s issues down people’s throats,” said McLeod.

However, for many readers, McLeod’s goals in writing the article did not justify the alleged sexism present in the piece that appeared without context, writes Siddiqui.

The inclusion of McLeod’s article in a student-funded publication then became a debate between free speech and censorship, generating even more letters to the editor, all continuing to denounce The Concordian—some personally attacking McLeod and her sexuality.

According to Siddiqui, a student-run protest was meant to gather outside of The Concordian’s office to demand the return of their levy fees, though the rally never happened. Many Concordia affiliated groups such as the Women’s Centre and the Quebec Public Interest Group circulated a letter to The Concordian ’s ad sponsors, encouraging them to sever their partnerships, according to Siddiqui.

The backlash created so many ripple effects, bordering industry blacklisting, that then-Editor-in-Chief Daniel Nemiroff published an editorial on Nov. 23 supporting McLeod and her piece. “If it will help the offended for me to express regret, I’m willing to weep with you,” writes Nemiroff. “I will not, however… censor young writers, or curtail freedom of expression.”

Journalists are held to high standards for their content, and are constantly faced with the threat of backlash, which is all the more immediate given the advent of social media. This scrutiny is completely necessary, which makes finding a suitable balance between validating the opinions of readers and supporting the freedom of expression for writers highly contextual.

The Concordian has been telling your stories since 1983. A photo of the archives room in our Loyola office. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

arts

ARTS EDITOR /// arts@theconcordian.com CHLOË LALONDE

EXHIBITION

Culture as a political and personal influence Jasmina Cibic considers national identity through art and architecture

DAISY DUNCAN ASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR “How do governments instrumentalize culture for the formation of national identity and representation?” This is a question that Jasmina Cibic’s art considers through her multidisciplinary, multi-room, site-specific exhibition, Everything That You Desire And Nothing That You Fear. Showing in DHC/ART Gallery, the exhibition explores the themes of national culture and its production. Curated by Cheryl Sim, the collection of artworks look explicitly at the former nation of Yugoslavia. and concepts of borders and nationality connected to this country that no longer exists.

DHC/ART is a vast gallery, with many floors and rooms. Everything That You Desire And Nothing That You Fear is exhibited in the entire space, with each room dedicated to a different art piece that compliments and connects to the other works. Certain details tie the rooms together in a cohesive way, such as a subtle inclusion of the same pattern, or colour palette, in every room.

The artworks shown in these spaces include short videos, dance performance videos, an in-progress tapestry and a large mural.

Walking through the gallery’s distinctive rooms adds excitement to the viewing experience, and further solidifies the themes and ideas of national culture and identity that Cibic presents. Through the focus on a nation and a national identity that don't exist anymore, having been separated into new, distinctive nations within new borders, Everything That You Desire And Nothing That You Fear considers how the political and the personal connect and intertwine within cultural identity.

As explained in Sim's curatorial statement, this interdisciplinary, site-specific exhibition uses the subject matter of Yugoslavia and its political and economical history as a lens, “through which to study the employment of art and architecture… in an attempt to achieve the ultimate display of dominance for (inter)national audiences.” The development of the exhibition addresses the contrast between private and public spaces, which also ties into greater themes of the exhibition. Everything That You Desire And Nothing That You Fear considers how art and architecture—and more generally, culture—can be used politically to construct perceptions and formations of national identity.

A workshop titled A Dance Of Symbols will be held in connection to the exhibition.

It is organized and run by Leisure—a creative, conceptual, artistic collaboration between Montreal-based artists Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley, who have been involved with exhibitions and creative projects all over Canada.

Working together through Leisure since 2004, the group describes their focuses and practices as engaging “with cultural and historical narratives through research,

conversation, published texts, curatorial projects and art production.”

For A Dance Of Symbols, Leisure takes inspiration from Expo 67. The Expo, which took place in Montreal in 1967, encouraged different countries and nations to represent themselves through the way of pavilions. The pavilions featured events, performances and art, which aimed to share respective national identities. It is from this that A Dance Of Symbols takes influence, along with the general aesthetics and style of the 1960s. In the workshop, participants can create, through a series of stations, a personal symbolic object. It incorporates details like gradients, stamps and stencils, participants can create these items, which will then work as props for a live dance-inspired composition.

The overall exhibition shares a dimensional, dynamic view of the history of Yugoslavia. Through various mediums and forms, Cibic investigates many different complexities of the relationships between borders, identities, and the political and personal. Deploying these through art and architecture creates impactful work that allows the artist and viewer alike to further explore the ties between national and personal identities, cultures and borders.

Everything That You Desire And Nothing That You Fear is exhibiting at DHC/ART until March 3.

A Dance of Symbols is available to groups with a reservation. For the general public, the workshop will be available during the Family Open House on Jan. 26, from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Jasmina Cibic's perfomance-installation, We will ensure our country does succeed . Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

In Nada: Act I, Jasmina Cibic recreated a model of the Yugoslav pavilion at Expo 58 in Brussels. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

10 theconcordian

JANUARY 22, 2019

FILM

Spider-Verse: a new era of superheros The new Spider-Man is more than just a comic book reboot

Happening in and around the White Cube this week…

CHLOË LALONDE ARTS EDITOR

ABBY YAEGER CONTRIBUTOR It might be easy to think that the time for superhero movies has passed. The seemingly endless sequels and franchises that have been taking over the industry in recent years have all started to look the same. No one needed another reboot.

Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse has restored and modernized the superhero comic genre with its evolved style of animation, engaging storyline and fresh characters. Both comic skeptics and die-hards can take something of value away from Sony and Marvel’s latest project. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, also the creative directors of 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie, have produced something that any audience can enjoy and admire.

The story is based on the pre-existing

Spider-Verse comic series, where all different versions of Spider-Man from parallel dimensions come together. The film, however, puts Miles Morales, a Black-Latino teen from Brooklyn at the forefront of the story. He’s joined by other members of the Spider-Verse, including the original Peter Parker, and Spider-Woman, and pig version Peter Parker to name a few. Together, they fight a new enemy unlike any they have faced before.

While the crossover plot idea isn’t exactly new, what ties the movie together is a dynamic, almost psychedelic comic book animation style.

With vibrant colours and multi-layered depth and movement, the creators used every bit of space on the screen to push the boundaries of what animation can do. Every scene feels like being pulled inside the panels of a comic book.

Fitting to the animation style, the story is engaging and refreshing. Every turn in the narrative feels genuine,

surprising, and natural. Every one of the characters is unique and charming.

Smart and well-placed humour makes it easy to forget that it’s a G-rated movie.

The soundtrack, featuring artists such as Vince Staples, Lil Wayne, Duckwrth and Post Malone, is a fantastic addition to a movie that defies boundaries. It brings an energy and intensity that’s hard to find in a family film.

What’s even more interesting than the visuals or music, is the true heart of the story. Through the eyes of Miles Morales, we struggle through self-doubt and deal with the negative side of great expectations. We experience the reality of a kid carrying too much on his shoulders. In facing the impossible, we learn how to take a leap of faith.

As far as originality and creativity are concerned, Into the Spider-Verse has set the bar high for 2019 and has broken new ground on what we can expect from animation and the future of the film industry.

FINE ARTS READING ROOM & MOBILE ART LAB: BOOKBINDING WORKSHOP Joining forces with the Mobile Art Lab, funded by the Concordia University PT Professional Development Grant, the Fine Arts Reading Room introduces a bookbinding workshop. The 5 hole pamphlet, codex with multiple signatures and Japanese stab binding are the methods being taught.

Where: EV Junction (EV2.785) When: Jan. 23 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

The workshop is first come, first served.

VERNISSAGE AND ARTIST TALK: LITTLE EGYPT DOESN'T DANCE HERE ANYMORE Presenting a work featuring Little Egypt, the first belly dancer to perform in North America, Articule and Nahed Mansour have curated an installation of drawings and video, documenting the direct and indirect interpretations of belly dance throughout the past 100 years.

Where: Articule, 262 Fairmount W. Vernissage: Jan. 25 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Artist talk: Jan. 26 at 3 p.m.

Admission is free.

OLYA ZARAPINA : H3B 1A2: 2019.TBD Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Olya Zarapina studied and now practices in Montreal.

Her work explores one’s relationship to their environment through photographic and film processes. OLYA ZARAPINA : H3B 1A2: 2019.TBD documents visitors’ experiences in Montreal’s beloved Belgo Building, home to many art galleries and artist-run centres.

Where: Centre Skol, Belgo Building (372 Sainte-Catherine St. W., suite 314) When: Now until Feb. 16 Admission is free.

LES BAIGNEURS VICTOR YUDAEV Presented as par t of the project “Conversations Montréal-Lyon,” Victor Yudaev is inspired by his four passions: working, walking, swimming and sleeping.

These activities intertwine, creating a musical harmony through improvisation.

The artist works through diverse mediums.

Each piece is different and the star of its own show, but is simultaneously tied to a larger narrative.

Where: Diagonale, 5455 av. de Gaspé, suite 110.

When: Now until March 16 Admission is free.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

JANUARY 22, 2019

theconcordian

11

EXHIBITION

Translating visual art into movement The ‘FOFA Gallery project’ unites students from all departments

Students from all fine art departments come together to create the Undergraduate Student Exhibition (USE) at the FOFA Gallery. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

CHLOË LALONDE ARTS EDITOR Every year, undergraduate fine arts students are presented with the opportunity to participate in what they call the ‘FOFA Gallery project,’ otherwise known as USE , or Undergraduate Student Exhibition. The annual, yearlong project gathers students from all fine arts departments, encouraging them to collaborate, learn and create in an interdisciplinary context.

The process begins with artist applications and a jury. Once selected, art history students, choreographers and dancers are paired with visual artists.

From t hat point onw ard , t hey must respond to the piece they are working with. The final essays written by the art history students are then published in the

exhibition catalogue, and the dancers perform their choreographer’s piece during two performance nights throughout the duration of the exhibition.

From the department of contemporary dance, Si Yu Lin has worked with dancer, Xdzunúm Trejo and artist Paule Gilberte, while Fia Grogono worked with dancer Eva Myers and artist Florence Tremblay.

The process is not an easy one, as they must respect not only the artist’s piece, but the dancer’s body, needs and limitations.

Drawn to Gilberte’s paper installation by references to the human body, Lin chose to choreograph a performance that focuses on torsion and the idea of leaving a trace, referring back to Gilberte’s own manipulation of paper and her body.

Origami will be performed by Trejo at the FOFA on Jan. 24 and Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.

Grogono, on the other hand, is interested

in the intimate activities that happen when no one is watching. Tremblay’s silkscreen prints depict snapshots of what looks like security camera footage, stripped apart and reassembled to create a new image.

Her work aims to question identity and alienating factors that may alter it. From this, Grogono isolated moments of intense emotion to be performed by Myers in front of the FOFA virtrine between two panes of glass.

The movements in Insider are so absurd and extreme that, upon rehearsal, passersby stopped the performance to ask questions about the dancer’s sanity, thinking she was having a tantrum of sorts.

A gallery is a rather different setting for most of these performers, as they are typically held in dance studios or performance halls. “In the dance studio, we roll around, scream, express all sorts

Florence Tremblay's silkscreen prints that inspired Insider. Photo courtesy of the FOFA Gallery.

of wildness and it is supported and valued as important aspects of human expression,” explained Grogono, “but when we take this freedom out into the world, it is very apparent how heavily societal norms and expectations weigh, and how squashed and repressed ‘craziness’ is.”

Working in an art gallery allows these artists to practice out of their comfort zones, seeking out and interacting with a new audience.

The ‘FOFA Gallery project,’ now titled Material Trace,“expresses the prevalent tendency in the selected artworks to give a physical form to ideas by collecting, recording, logging, documenting and archiving,” according to the gallery’s statement. Performance evenings will be held at 5 p.m. on Jan. 24 and Feb. 7, and the exhibition will be up at the FOFA Gallery until Feb. 22. Admission is free.

music

MUSIC EDITOR /// music@theconcordian.com SIMON NEW

CONCERT

Rock the Bells

A$AP Rocky draws generations of fans to Place Bell on Injured Generation tour SIMON NEW MUSIC EDITOR A$AP Rocky looked like a fly dystopian bass fisherman in a red jumpsuit and yellow hooded Prada vest, with a crash-test dummy mask and Bred Jordan 1’s. Taking stage at Place Bell last Friday on a smiley face at the end of a catwalk, Rocky’s voice was unmistakable when he started rattling off his new hits, starting with his Skepta-starring smash “Praise The Lord.”

When Rocky broke in 2011 with the A$AP Mob, he was lauded for his innovative, high fashion wardrobe seen in videos shot on the streets of Harlem.

The juxtaposition complimented his rap style that blended pitched-down, Houston-esqe flows with dense, Cam’ron-inspired rhyme schemes. An infallible charisma held him together as someone that was sure to rise out of Harlem and into stadiums. Eight years later, the man, the music and the fashion have evolved, and a new generation of fans has followed. After cracking off the first hits that new supporters were clamoring for, Rocky showed that his

live show had grown as well.

An interface was set up between two big drum pads in the shape of toxic waste barrels in the centre of the smiley stage. After finger-drumming the beat for “Distorted Records,” Rocky played the anthemic drum pattern for “A$AP Forever” on the barrels. The stage was adorned with the yellow and white Secchi disk, known as the crash test dummy logo, down to Rocky’s ear monitors. An AI-sounding voice barked commands at the audience and Rocky throughout the set, as if it was some human experimentation, or, TESTING, a concept that manages as a hype tool, but fell a little flat as an overarching theme.

Three cars st yled in Mad Max decrepitude hovered, suspended from the ceiling while they were lifted and lowered to the beat. Rocky strapped a harness on and ascended stories high on one in the fleet as he rapped some of the bigger cuts from TESTING on its hood. In the din of the crowd and the haze of copious pyrotechnics, this felt like watching a man live out his dream. This wasn’t the end of Rocky and the apocalypse jalopy. He proceeded to get in the driver’s seat to perform

“CALLDROPS,” his slow, melancholic track, while a wide-angle camera shot through the driver’s side window and showed us the feed live on the main screen. Phones lit up the arena as Rocky’s serene notes swayed the audience. This moment made a unique atmosphere in a set that had been rich with production.

The fourth quarter of the show had Rocky solo on stage tearing through some of his older smashes. It’s accepted now, especially in stadium shows, but his use of backing vocal tracks during the verses took some of the edge off of the breakneck flows that set Rocky apart in those days. “Fuckin’ Problems” created a divide in the crowd as I looked around to younger fans that didn’t know the 2012 Drake-featuring banger. It was clear that Rocky has been able to continue to evolve and amass fans for the better part of the decade, and has come a long way from his videos of white girls with grills in the streets of Harlem.

Even having eked out of his twenties last October, Rocky showed that he isn’t going anywhere, and is evolving as his peers do. He is, however, going to find it hard to top the floating cars.

I’ll admit it’s hard to imagine this is A$AP Rocky without his signature braids. Photo by Simon New.

SHOW REVIEW

Jessica Moss ponders the mysteries of the universe The violinist launched her new album Entanglement, last Thursday at Bar Le Ritz KENNETH GIBSON STAFF WRITER Since the early 2000s, Jessica Moss has been best known for her work as a member of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra.

She has also contributed her skills on the violin to some of Canada’s most recognized independent releases, including Arcade Fire’s 2004 debut Funeral, and Broken Social Scene’s 2002 album, You Forgot It in People.

However, it wasn’t until 2015 that Moss put out her first release under her own name, a self-released cassette-only album called Under Plastic Island . Her official

debut release, Pools of Light, followed in 2017 from Montreal-based Constellation Records.

Her latest album was inspired by the quantum theory of entanglement, which describes the little understood phenomenon of two or more particles displaying correlative physical properties (such as amount of spin), even if those particles eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the universe.

Moss uses this as a jumping off point for exploring the ways in which humans become entangled with each other. “Because it’s beyond the realm of human understanding, then my feeling that somehow

Jessica Moss performs "Particles" from her latest album, Entanglement . Photo by Kenneth Gibson.

entanglement is happening around us, in ways that affect us, [...] I don’t need to think that ‘well, science can’t prove that,’” Moss said.

Now as a solo artist, when Moss tours, it is typically completely on her own. Considering her work with Thee Silver Mt. Zion involved touring with upwards of five people, this has represented a bit of a shift for her.

“I spent a very, very many years in my own version of collective working environments, music-wise, [...] it’s been very interesting to take my own experiences and learn very much from travelling alone,” Moss said.

Of course, it was Moss’s experience touring with bands over the last 20 years that gave her the confidence to take on the challenge of being on the road alone. And, besides, it gives her ample opportunities to observe humanity.

“I’m a little bit obsessed with watching people in their natural environments, you can only do that in certain circumstances, [...] if I can watch people watching the opening band, I find it very interesting,” Moss said.

For the album launch at Bar Le Ritz last Thursday, Moss wanted to perform with some of the humans she has become entangled with over the years. “I play shows all the time, it’s my job at the moment, and my job is to play the best show I can,” she said. “It was really important for me to have

people on stage that I very much respect and connect with.”

Moss’s friend, writer Alexei Perry Cox, opened the show with a poetry reading while her newborn was strapped to her chest. Incidentally, Moss helped deliver the baby just a month prior.

After Cox, Sam Shalabi, a long time friend of Moss’s and Constellation Records artist gave a solo performance on his Oud, a lute-type instrument used in a lot of Middle Eastern and North African music.

Moss began her own set by playing traditional Jewish songs, accompanied by Thierry Amar, bass player in The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, before moving on to a performance of “Particles,” the twenty-one minute opening piece from Entanglement.

The array of about a dozen pedals allowed Moss to make many different sounds with her live violin, using a loop pedal to layer strings upon pulsating and blipping alien soundscapes.

“Particles” eventually gives way to gloriously grandiose and ethereal strings, and then slowly decays into serene, whispering drones as Moss switches to using her voice to produce the sounds on stage.

On Feb. 19, Moss will begin a short tour promoting the album, opening for Julia Holter, and will play Montreal again on Feb. 24 at La Sala Rossa.

JANUARY 22, 2019

theconcordian

13

CLUB SHOW

Walshy Fire of Major Lazer heats crowded club Renowned Jamaican-American DJ rocks crowd at Muzique IMMANUEL MATTHEWS ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR While the temperature slowly declined to a frigid low, Montrealers sought refuge at a dancehall-inspired function this past Friday, featuring a member of Major Lazer—one of the world’s biggest musical groups—Walshy Fire.

With sounds from the Caribbean islands being the closest thing to warmth on a cold, Canadian night, Major Lazer’s unique crossover sound of electronic music and reggae/dancehall was exactly what the clubgoers needed.

Walshy’s show was held at Muzique, one of Montreal’s most popular clubs. Labelled as one of his “Rum and Bass,” parties, the show was Montreal’s first edition of the Miami-born Carribean-vibe event, which Walshy has brought to other major cities like Los Angeles and New York City.

Coincidentally, a second member of the Major Lazer trio was also performing in town on Friday night. Diplo headlined the first night of Igloofest, which was one of the winter festival’s largest turnouts in its history, bringing in close to 10,000 attendees. While hopefuls speculated a surprise appearance from the superstar DJ at the Rum and Bass party, the lack of an official mention from the club or its organizers kept them unsure.

Muzique regular DJ Mekki curated the venue’s music from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. It was nearly -20 C outside the club’s neon light walls. The room was slow to fill—a common occurence on any night of a bigname performer.

By 11:30 p.m., Stef Agostino, resident DJ at Laval’s Moomba and renowned EDMhaven New City Gas, took the reigns. Around midnight, the club’s main room, known for its “top 40” and EDM setlists, left little space to dance, as the room boasted groups of university students and 20-somethings anxiously awaiting the night’s headliner.

Around 1 a.m., as the club began to reach capacity and people’s shoulders brushed against each other to the elec-

Walshy and Diplo hype up the crowd. Photo courtesy of Muzique.

trifying rhythm, a wild Walshy appeared.

The beanie-wearing Jamaican-born DJ had arrived. Standing behind the DJ booth, he eyed the equipment and scanned the crowd, radiating an experienced, calm energy as he sipped from a bottle of iced tea.

After a few minutes, the crowd had migrated to the center of the dancefloor, facing Walshy and his booth. It was 1:30 a.m., the people were drunk and ready.

Walshy greeted the crowd on the mic to loud signs of content and rewarded patience. He began a long playlist of Major Lazer hits and—trust me—there are even more than you can imagine. “Lean On,” “Cold Water,” “Run It Up;” the crowd sang the lyrics to each song effortlessly. Walshy’s playlist included mixes of more traditional dancehall tracks as well, including “Bruk Off Yuh Back” by Konshens and “I’m Drinking / Rum & Redbull” by Beenie Man, which got the Caribbean music lovers in the crowd even more excited.

“I want to hear my Jamaican people in the crowd tonight,” Walshy said. “My Trini people? Where are my Africans at? Nigeria?

Kenya?,” seemingly calling out the entire United Nations.

The crowd danced and jumped to the slick, masterful mixing of the veteran DJ, as he continued to interact with them, keeping their energy high and their hands in the air.

Then, around 2:30 a.m., a commotion from the crowd broke the drunken, energetic spell that Walshy held over them. People started to push to the front, and there he was: Diplo had indeed made a surprise appearance.

Beside Walshy, he swayed to the beat, as if unsatisfied with the end of his Igloofest performance. He needed more.

Diplo slid into the DJ area with Walshy and the two began to mix their tracks, side-by-side, in a reunion the club had been hoping for all night.

“I had never seen anyone in Major Lazer perform before, but I loved it,” said Sanya

Khuller, a third year international student at McGill University. “They played amazing songs to dance to all night, and I definitely didn’t expect Diplo to show up at all.”

For Sabrah Khanyari, a third year honours psychology student from India, a celebrity crush fantasy came true at Muzique that night. “I kind of have a crush on Diplo, so when I looked up as I was dancing and saw him; that was definitely the best part of the night for me.”

Diplo’s unexpected appearance added an exciting spark to the festival-like performance by Walshy—it was the cherry on top. After the night’s success, Jason Tull, co-owner of Muzique and one of the organizers of the event, is confident in a future collaboration between Major Lazer and Muzique.

“Walshy is part of the family, so whenever he's in the area we are always excited to have him and any special guests he brings along,” Tull said.

Quickspins TORO Y MOI

and rarely dip into heaviness or melancholy. Each song breezes by, with a steady mix of uptempo and slower, dreamier cuts. Features from ABRA and Wet offer some vocal diversity and both deliver on their respective tracks. Outer Peace is a great treat for a short commute, but will probably not have you coming back months from now.

FUTURE

6.5/10 OUTER PEACE Carpark Records South Carolina bedroom hero To r o y M o i i s b a c k w i t h a squeaky-clean half hour of R&B, funk and pop that goes by way quicker than it has any right to. This tape is a candy bar. The vocals are smooth and sugary while the synths bubble through the crunchy drums and bass. The lyrics are quaint and fun,

 TRIAL TRACK: Ordinary Pleasure  STAR BAR: “Does sex even sell anymore?/I feel Like I’ve seen it all/Maybe I’m just old/Maybe I’m just bored” - Toro y Moi on “Ordinary Pleasure” —SIMON NEW MUSIC EDITOR

THE WIZRD Epic Records Future has returned with his first solo studio album since releasing back-to-back number-one debuts in b a ck-to -b a ck we e k s with 2017’s FUTURE and HNDRXX. With its marketing campaign and accompanying documentary, THE WIZRD sets out to be Future’s magnum opus.

He has come close to achieving

that with this being one of his best albums yet. Future has always been an artist with two distinct musical identities: the bombastic, in-your-face, king of trap presented on FUTURE and the softer, more melodic, auto-tuned crooner at the center of HNDRXX. THE WIZRD creates a seamless fusion of the two, serving as a highlight reel of Future’s versatility and strengths while still bringing new material to the table.

Songs like “Jumpin on a Jet” and “Faceshot” perfectly encapsulate that DS2-era Future sound. They’re absolute bangers: hard-hitting, bassheavy and full of boastful content.

These moments of braggadocio are contrasted with honest, melodic tracks like “Temptation” and “Tricks on Me” giving this project enough variety that its 20-track, hour-long runtime never gets repetitive.

THE WIZRD is Future at his most focused. He has achieved a perfect balance between his var-

ious musical identities, exploring a variety of sounds both new and familiar without missing a step.

His performance grouped with the phenomenal features and production throughout make for one of the most enjoyable listens in Future’s extensive catalogue.

9/10  TRIAL TRACK: Baptiize  STAR BAR: “Peep how we came up the interstate, peep how we never gon' lose/Peep how they peepin’ and watchin’ me runnin’ off with everything that I do/We didn’t do this for the fun, I didn’t do this just to slack / I did it all for the love, I put the gang on the map” Future on “Baptiize” — WESLEY MCLEAN STAFF WRITER

sports

SPORTS EDITOR /// sports@theconcordian.com NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI ( @n_digiovanni)

OBSCURE SPORTS

Montreal Royal looking to field exciting team The city’s only professional ultimate team faces challenges heading into 2019 season ALEC BRIDEAU ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Montreal has a professional ultimate team that you probably didn’t know about. The Montreal Royal competes in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), a professional disc league active since 2012.

The Royal was founded in 2013, and has been playing in the AUDL since 2014. It was the second Canadian team to join the league, after the Toronto Rush in 2013. Currently, there are 21 teams competing in the AUDL, with another Canadian team in Ottawa. The Royal plays its home games at the Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard in Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Ultimate has similarities with many sports. In the AUDL, the game is played with seven players per team, on a field comparable to a football field. A team needs to advance the disc in the opposing team’s end zone to score a point. Like most sports, it’s played in four quarters, each 12 minutes long, and an overtime if needed.

Despite these similarities, what differentiates ultimate from sports like basketball or football is that a player can’t walk or run when in possession of the disc. Players can only use an established pivot foot to make a pass to a teammate, so teams hold onto the disc until they score or lose possession of it.

Royal player Christophe Tremblay-Joncas said ultimate reunites particularities of many sports that make it fun for him. “You can jump,

The Royal play 12 games this season, starting on Apr. 6. Photo courtesy of Montreal Royal.

you can throw, you can run,” TremblayJoncas said. “There are many elements that normally in [another] sport, you would only find one of them.”

Stève Bonneau, who started playing ultimate in 2006 in France, made the trip from Europe to play with the Royal when the team invited him to their tryouts for the 2017 season.

“At that time, I was playing for the French national team” Bonneau said. “What motivated me was simply to come and play as a professional on the other side of the globe, which is already a unique experience. I also wanted to discover the sport at another level,

with another way of playing the game. The dream of all European players is to come here and play in the AUDL.” Caroline Cadotte, who has been the team’s head coach since 2017 and part of their coaching staff since its creation, said she loves what ultimate brings as a whole.

“We can push [the play] and have the control on our opponent with strategies, as much offensively as defensively,” said Cadotte. “It’s also played outside, so the weather conditions are part of the game. I also think there’s a lot of talented athletes, so there’s a need to have a good sports IQ to play.”

Cadotte said her role has differences with coaching in other sports. She added that the Royal, just like the AUDL, is still new and has rules that differ from the sport itself. For example, in normal ultimate games, there are no referees and players call the fouls.

In the AUDL, there are referees.

“It makes a huge difference in our coaching,” Cadotte added. “It’s a really fast sport. We don’t have a lot of time to adjust between points, which is always a good challenge. On another note, it’s a sport that is semi-professional. It is not our [full-time] job either.”

According to Bonneau, the Royal, who had a 6-8 record in 2018 and missed the playoffs, will focus on having a good start for the 2019 AUDL campaign, which starts in April. He explained that the team will probably start the season with a lot of new faces.

“We’re rebuilding for 2019, so we’ll probably recruit a lot of youth and new players,” Bonneau said. “Our first goal is to rebuild a team quickly and build significant chemistry to have a great season start.

Then, it would be great to make the playoffs, but I think step by step, our goals will be redirected depending on our progress during the season.”

The Royal currently holds an all-time regular season record of 36-34. In two playoff appearances in 2015 and 2017, they haven’t won a game.

BASKETBALL

Concordia and McGill honour former player Men's teams will play the Lengvari Cup every year to thank supporter of both schools

NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI SPORTS EDITOR

Although the Lengvari Cup has no meaningful status to the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) season, it adds a level of pride to the fierce Concordia-McGill rivalry.

In men’s hockey, the two teams play for the Corey Cup once a year, a trophy donated by former Montreal Canadiens president Ronald Corey. The Corey Cup is like any other regular-season game between Concordia and McGill, but playing for a trophy adds an exciting element.

The McGill Redmen hosted the first annual Lengvari Cup against the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball team on Jan. 19. The Stingers walked away with a 69-61 win at the Love Competition Hall at the McGill Sports Centre.

Concordia and McGill organized this annual trophy to honour George Lengvari, who played basketball for both schools. He played for the first George Lengvari Cup was played between the Loyola College Warriors from The Stingers and Redmen on Jan. 19. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

1959 to 1963, winning a league title in his final season. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1963, he studied law at McGill, and joined their basketball team until graduating in 1966.

“He’s somebody who’s a supporter of both institutions,” said Stingers head coach Rastko Popovic. “It’s to honour his contributions to both [teams] as a player and then as an alumni. He’s a financial supporter and I think it’s a great idea for both schools to honour him.”

Popovic doesn’t think his players needed extra motivation heading into Saturday’s game against McGill. “I think there [was] extra motivation on our side to get better,” Popovic said. “[We were] taking another step towards finishing first, and good teams find a way to win on the road.”

The Lengvari Cup will change host every year, with Concordia hosting it next year.

Concordia beat McGill 86-69 at the Concordia Gym on Jan. 17.

Women split doubleheader against M c G ill

The Stingers women’s basketball team finished their back-to-back games this past weekend against the McGill Martlets with a 59-47 win. They lost a tight game on Jan. 17, 63-58, and bounced back two days later.

Both the men and women have a homeand-home series with the Université de Laval Rouge et Or this coming weekend.

With files from Simon Prud'homme.

The Cup will be played at Concordia next season. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

JANUARY 22, 2019

PROFILE

Chasing her dream one medal at a time Laurence Beauregard has won for Concordia, but wants to compete at the Olympics

Laurence Beauregard starting wrestling six years ago. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI SPORTS EDITOR Laurence Beauregard, a wrestler for the Concordia Stingers, had a successful 2018.

In February, she won bronze at the U Sports nationals in Sault Ste-Marie, Ont. She travelled to Lima, Peru in May for the Pan-American Championships and won silver while representing her country.

Most recently, Beauregard was one of three Stingers to medal at the 2018 World University Wrestling Championship in Brazil, winning gold in the 59-kilogram category.

The wrestler from Ville-Émard said she’s happy winning a tournament, and knows there’s room for improvement when she doesn’t. “I was happy [winning bronze at nationals] but I was also disappointed because obviously you lose a match when you win that,” Beauregard said. “But I was happy overall with the rest of my tournament; it was a whole learning experience.”

Beauregard joined the Stingers last season after starting wrestling six years ago at Beurling Academy in Verdun. Her sister was the only girl on the school’s wrestling team, and when Beauregard got to high school, the coach asked her to join the team. At the time, she was a synchronized swimmer and refused, but she eventually decided to quit swimming.

“When I decided to stop swimming, I gave most sports at school a try, and so I joined the wrestling team,” Beauregard said. She also tried rugby, football and basketball, and

was already playing competitive soccer. At a certain point, she had to choose her favourite sport, which was wrestling.

Being physically fit from swimming benefited Beauregard when she transitioned into wrestling. The wrestler also developed good time management skills because of her training with synchro, so she already knew how to balance school and playing a sport.

Now, Beauregard trains twice a day, six times a week, adding up to nearly 30 hours of practice every week. She’s taking three classes this semester, and has to balance her schedule well.

“I try to do my best in school and in my sport,” Beauregard said. “But I would have to say right now wrestling is more my priority because I have a window of opportunities.”

For the past six years, Beauregard has been training with the Montreal Wrestling Club at the George & Eleanor Reinitz Wrestling Centre in Côtes-des-Neiges. Stingers wrestling head coach Victor Zilberman trains wrestlers from the high school level to the university level there, so Beauregard has known him as long as she’s been involved in the sport.

“It was never really a question of what university I was going to; I knew I was going to Concordia,” Beauregard said. She studied sciences at Vanier, where she was also part of the wrestling team. Originally, Beauregard enrolled in exercise science at Concordia, but a year later, she wants to switch to marketing.

Even though Beauregard won bronze at nationals last year, the Stingers finished fourth overall. Photo by Cody Spahr/U Sports.

“I love sports so I thought exercise science would be the way to go,” she said. “But doing it hands-on, I didn’t see myself doing it later in life.”

With a potential marketing degree, Beauregard would like to work for organizations that have helped throughout her career as a student-athlete, like Alliance Sport-Études. It’s an organization that helps student-athletes in post-secondary institutions, and Beauregard said she received two bursaries from them.

“I would like to stay with people in sports, but help in a different way than just rehabilitation and exercise science, so maybe do it more from a marketing standpoint,” Beauregard said.

Beauregard’s biggest mentor in her wrestling career has been Martine Dugrenier. She is a physical education teacher at Vanier and an assistant coach with the Stingers, so she’s helped Beauregard a lot through the years.

Dugrenier finished fifth at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, and won three gold World Championship medals from 2008 to 2010 in the 63-kilogram weight class.

“I’m lucky that she coaches me sometimes.

If she’s at practice, I will go ask her a lot of questions,” Beauregard said. “She’s the one that really got me into wrestling.”

Beauregard said Dugrenier has really helped her develop her strongest tactic, which is leg attacks. Leg attacks, as the name suggests, are when the wrestler takes down their opponent by going after their legs from a standing position.

“She was very big on leg attacks,” Beauregard said with a laugh. “Hopefully I’ll have the same wrestling style as she did.”

Like Dugrenier, Beauregard’s dream is to compete in the Olympics. She currently competes in the 59-kilogram weight class, which isn’t an Olympic weight class, so she would need to drop down to the 58-kilogram class.

Beauregard has wrestled for Canada in the past, like at the Pan-American Games and the U-23 Senior World Championships in Bucharest, Romania. Tournaments like these have allowed Beauregard to travel on her own. “Every time it’s a new experience, but you get more used to it, and you learn to deal with your stress better,” she said. “But you still enjoy the magnitude of what it is. I’m just grateful I get these experiences.”

If Beauregard achieves her dream of competing in the Olympics, she might just get to travel the world.

theconcordian

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COLOUR COMMENTARY WITH BEN FRASER To make the hall of fame in any given sport, an athlete needs to have a greatness and elite talent not many others have. In many cases, the hall of fame has abandoned the vision of the very best, and has become the hall of the very good.

This is evident with the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF). Since 1959, the HHOF has inducted new members every year, including some c o n t rove r s i a l f i g u re s l i ke E r i c Lindros in 2016 and Paul Kariya in 2017. While both were fantastic hockey players throughout their respective careers , some argue they didn’t produce Hall-of-Fameworthy numbers. Granted, both were plagued by many injuries. Despite their setbacks, Lindros and Kariya are two of the few forwards, not known for their defensive play, who did not reach 1,000 points in their careers.

In contrast, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (BBHOF) has been much more selective when inducting players. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America submits their votes every year, and a player is only inducted if he receives 75 per cent of votes. Since the first class of members in 1936, which included Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, the BBHOF has generally been reserved for the best. Cooperstown, New York, the home of the Hall of Fame, has over 300 inductees added throughout its nearly 83 year existence, and as the game has changed, so have the standards for induction.

Granted, the BBHOF has been mired in controversy surrounding the absence of several noticed stars of the game, like all-time home run leader Barry Bonds, as well as Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens for their alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. This proves the BBHOF will typically only induct players who’ve truly earned their spots as legends. With the most recent class featuring Harold Baines and Lee Smith, the standards remain the same.

The HHOF usually has a class of two to five NHL players each year, with the 2018 class featuring Willie O’Ree, Martin Brodeur, and Martin St-Louis. The BBHOF has had yearlong stretches when no members have been inducted, specifically because there have been no worthy players up for induction.

The 2019 BBHOF class has several worthy members up for induction, such as all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera, and the late former Blue Jay and two time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay. The BBHOF must maintain its standards, and the HHOF would be wise to alter their standards of admission. The hall of fame in any sport is reserved for the best of the best, and it must be kept that way.

opinions OPINIONS EDITOR /// opinions@theconcordian.com SANIA MALIK

EDITORIAL

O Canada, home of the lucky ones Oh, Canada. The land we often associate with tolerance, diversity and acceptance—especially when it comes to immigration and refugees. We’ve sold ourselves as a nation that loves rather than hates, while simultaneously comparing ourselves to the U.S. in order to highlight our exceptionalism. Sure, we’re better in the sense that our leader doesn’t expend his energy and time promoting hatred and ignorance. And yes, we haven’t been in the headlines because of a recent government shutdown over the construction of a wall. But we’re way over our heads if we really believe that we’re a standing example of what a great country should be. Take immigration and refugees for example. It seems like Canada has always been leading by a few points when it comes to accepting others.

But is that really true?

Recently, Canada granted asylum to an 18-year-old Saudi Arabian woman named Rahaf Mohammed, who used social media to highlight the abuse she allegedly suffered from her family. She fled her home and is now in Toronto, considering herself one of the “lucky ones” according to CTV News.

We at The Concordian celebrate this success for Mohammed and are proud of Canada for accepting her. Yet, we can’t help but notice the various media headlines that are emphasizing how great Canada is, and how we’re the world-heroes of accepting refugees and immigrants.

To be frank, that’s just not true. Canadians are really divisive when it comes to the issue of immigration. A 2018 Angus Reid survey found that half of Canadians want to see the number of immigrants arriving to Canada decrease, according to CBC News. Not only are Canadian citizens tough on immigration issues, but the actual government isn’t that open-hearted either. Immigrants who choose Canada have to wait for months or years before Canada lets them in, and over the past 20 years, only about 5 million immigrants have entered Canada, according to The Atlantic.

And while we’re berating the United States for their desire to build a wall, we need to remember that Canada has border walls too. Not only are there physical borders, but there’s the big, bureaucratic one: the government. According to The Atlantic, in 2012, Canada rejected 18 per cent of the more than one million foreigners who applied for a visitor’s visa. By 2017, that number had risen to 26 per cent, and in the first three months of 2018, it’s risen to 30 per cent.

According to a World Economic Forum survey, Canada is one of the worst countries for its restrictiveness of visitor visa requirements—it is placed 120th out of 136 countries. And according to Maclean’s, Canada quietly deports “many Haitians to the most impoverished country in the Americas, where more than one in five residents suffer hunger and chronic malnutrition.” In fact, Canada seems to have

a problem with its transparency when it comes to immigration and refugee processes. Specifically, it has been criticized in the past for their lack of transparency over immigration detention.

According to the Toronto Star, Canada’s practices of detaining vulnerable groups, like children and those with mental health conditions, is problematic. A report by the Global Detention Project highlighted that 371 children were detained over the last two years. There have been many deaths of migrants in these detention facilities, and at least 16 people have died in immigration detention since 2000. Does this treatment sound familiar?

We can’t forget about Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States either. Dating from 2004, the agreement claims that refugees who enter the U.S. or Canada first, must apply for refugee status in that country first. Essentially, a country can reject a refugee’s application if they’ve already been given protection by another country. We still have this agreement, even though it’s been made clear that the U.S. isn’t that safe of a country for those fleeing persecution.

A quick search on Google can prove to us that Canada isn’t the knight in shining

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

armour we sometimes think it is. It isn’t the home of the free, and it certainly isn’t waiting with open arms for whoever chooses this country as their new home. It stings to see headlines celebrating Canada as a great nation, because it isn’t true. Our sense of exceptionalism is dangerous; it’s dangerous because it promotes false hope, false ideas and false expectations. We’re glad Rahaf Mohammed has a new home in Canada; we just can’t help but wonder about those who weren’t as lucky.

UNIVERSITY

Sorry, I can’t come to class today; I don’t feel safe One student’s experience with the lack of trigger warnings provided in class

CARLA GRAS CONTRIBUTOR TW: Sexual Assault A good learning environment should equal a safe space. As someone who has experienced trauma, you go through life avoiding triggers, as if running through a field of landmines. You spend hours, days, weeks, learning to strengthen your armor rather than focus on successfully avoiding things that will pry open that wound, because today’s society is littered with triggers. It is easier to develop thicker skin, than to ask people to respect you.

I have spent the last three years of my English literature degree wondering why it isn’t officially required for professors to include content/trigger warnings in their syllabi, as well as at the start of every class where the discussion will contain triggering content.

There are so many issues with academia, and power dynamics within professor-student relationships is one of the biggest ones. A student in a classroom becomes dependent on the professor in order to learn and expand their knowledge. It should be normal for professors to acknowledge these power

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

dynamics. It should be normal for professors to cultivate a safe learning environment for their students by providing content warnings.

It’s a question of respect; a question of simple accessibility.

The thing is, I should not have to out myself as a survivor to a professor, in order to ask them to provide a safe and inclusive classroom setting. It should be non-negotiable. It should be an expectation.

I was told by someone at the Sexual Assault Resource Center at Concordia, when I approached them for help regarding this exact matter, that I lose nothing by sending an email to a professor about personal issues regarding lack of trigger warnings—that if a professor responded negatively, then it was a whole other issue of respect. But still, do

I need to out myself?

Teachers must acknowledge power dynamics, use their power to better these situations, and not ignore them. By not acknowledging this issue, especially considering the current socio-political climate, they are in the wrong.

They cannot stand by and claim to not be involved. They cannot not be involved. By not acting, they are perpetuating the stigma and shame associated with triggers. Calling people out, providing trigger warnings, establishing a safe learning environment—it’s the least they can do.

I should not have to be vulnerable and afraid to go to class. I have had to step forward and out myself as a survivor to so many of my professors in order for them to acknowledge this issue. That should not be

required of me. People who don’t think trigger warnings are necessary can argue that I had a choice to stay silent, but by saying something, I was not only protecting myself, but also other survivors who did not wish to speak up.

It’s typical for professors in the English department to acknowledge the presence of violent, triggering content in texts studied, but rather than use that to warn their students, we’re told that literature studies is full of triggering content, and that’s what makes it fascinating. We’re told that we can’t have literature without the difficult content that comes with it, so we should get over it. Why is this normalized?

I am not arguing against the presence of these texts in our classrooms, but rather arguing for a better way of handling them; a better, more respectful and inclusive way of studying them. This piece is not meant to attack anyone. I am simply trying to raise people’s awareness on this subject. I want to make people understand that these things exist, and they affect a lot of us.

If you are not someone who has experienced trauma, you lose nothing by respecting those who have. You lose nothing by providing safe, inclusive environments. Why wouldn’t you want to? Why is there even an argument against providing safe spaces?

JANUARY 22, 2019

theconcordian

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SOCIAL MEDIA

We need a detox from these God-awful tea ads How staying connected on social media can lead us to adopt unhealthy lifestyles DIMANA RADOEVA CONTRIBUTOR

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

TW: Dieting, Weight, Body Image Kylie Jenner is not my best friend. She isn’t even an acquaintance. I have a closer relationship with the Pharmaprix cashier down the street than with Ms. Jenner. So why would I consider regularly chugging liters of magic weight loss tea that she poses with on Instagram?

Every new year, the most telling reason why buying weight loss tea (hot water with leaves in it for an added wet wood flavour) is so popular rears its ugly head. When observing trends through Google, we can see that in every January, the searches for “detox tea” or “detoxing” spike like the bout of nausea coming from getting up too fast after a feast. The new year rolls in and we collectively lose our mind imagining how much Christmas food has ruined us—and an easy fix is needed.

Dozens of health clinics, medical institutions and even government health agencies have addressed the detox craze with the kind of skepticism even flat-earthers haven’t mastered yet. The Cleveland Health Clinic, a hospital located in Northeast Ohio, published an article on the myths related to detox teas in which the chief branding statement that they are healthier, better and more effective for weight loss than other types of tea is debunked immediately. They do not offer

more health benefits than your generic green or black tea would. And the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health agrees that diets relying heavily on “detoxing” include very low-caloric intakes.

This can lead to rapid weight loss, but it isn’t sustainable long-term. It could also cause dangerous levels of dehydration. So why am I still strangely attracted to this Ponzi Scheme?

It isn’t surprising why young women, like myself, who spend a huge chunk of their free time on social media, get hypnotized by the online aroma of the detox tea industry.

The current digital space we interact with has broken down personalization and the idea

of closeness to tiny specks of crushed dust, turning them into cute packaged satchels of drainable financial exploitation ready to destroy our colons. But it’s also making it impossible not to feel close to those we follow—especially celebrities.

Kylie Jenner is not our best friend, but following her on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat sure makes us feel like part of her life—part of her daily routine. Any marketing executive worth their gross, exploitative, slimy salt has now recognized the value of using social media stars’s influence to sell their products, free of all the artifice that well-produced and mass-marketed advertisements represent.

And I’m not here to offer a solution to these methods of advertising to extremely impressionable audiences. I have exited this wild road through the online detox industry with more questions than answers.

I am increasingly worried about the effect of being so connected to people on social media who have such a large influence on our lives. It isn’t just the detox tea; it’s make-up, appliances, electronics, skin care and much more. Our social media feeds us a steady diet of friendly “non-advertising,” a predatory scheme meant to disguise its true nature behind capitalizing on a celebrity’s connectivity to their followers. Although influencers must indicate when their posts are sponsored or containing content that explicitly advertises something, the fact that Instagram is, by its inception, an image-only platform, with captions serving as footnotes to one’s picture, the little #ad at the bottom of a celebrity’s caption isn’t as transparent and effective as Instagram thinks it is.

Influencer ads should scare us more than ever. This detox tea craze can, for all that its marketing tries, lie about its intentions to help women become healthier through a natural process, but it is absolutely impossible to hide the truth from being said out loud: our generation is starving itself and these prettily-packaged products are just fueling unrealistic standards of beauty. I’ll tell you right now, those testimonials will not be found on the main page of FitTea or any of its influencer posts.

ADDICTION

The ongoing epidemic of stimulant abuse HENRY LOVGREN STAFF WRITER In 1929, American doctor, Gordon Alles, changed modern medicine and academia forever. Dr. Alles, a researcher for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, on a mission for an allergy cure, had a colleague inject 50 mg of a chemical compound into the doctor's arm in an attempt to test his remedy. Within minutes, Alles’s nose had cleared and amphetamine took the world by storm.

Alles noted an increased heart rate and as he wrote, "a feeling of well being". He described feelings of alertness, euphoria, decreased appetite, and better working memory. Within years amphetamine use exploded—soldiers in World War II used it, and companies marketed it under the brand Benzedrine for women in a "mild psychogenic depressive state."

Amphetamine is a stimulant—a class of medications primarily used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Research studies have demonstrated stimulants improve quality of life by increasing underproduced neurotransmitters in the brain of those with the disorder. Modified forms of amphetamine, such as Adderall, Concerta, and Vyvanse, can provide relief for those with ADHD and give them a life of normalcy.

Misuse of stimulants is not only detrimental to the user, but also society—particularly in the academic and professional world.

Without the supervision of a doctor, and more importantly the medicinal need; stimulant medications are addictive. Their short-term benefits can entice further abuse: less sleep is required, focus and energy are increased, and working memory improves.

In academia, stimulant abuse is an epidemic. A 2018 Yale University study found that between 25 per cent of students in Rocky Mountain colleges and 40 per cent of students in New England colleges reported stimulant drugs as one of the most commonly abused drug on campus. Research on Canadian abuse is far more limited, but a recent estimate is around six per cent.

And the problem is only getting worse; The Globe and Mail reported prescriptions have increased by over 30 per cent in the last five years. If this trend continues, the advantage between those who abuse stimulants over their au naturale peers will continue to become more pronounced and pose a serious risk to the meritocracy modern day academia is built upon.

Action must be taken or the devastating consequences will continue to grow for students and professionals to come. In order to acquire stimulants illicitly, a pill-seeking student needs two things: money and a drug dealer. As rates of stimulant abuse continue to rise, many students who otherwise would not abuse drugs may feel compelled to do so in order to compete with their pharmaceutically enhanced peers.

It's no coincidence that amphetamine and

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

How student addictions are influencing academic success at universities

methamphetamine vary by a single molecular group. When stimulants are taken incorrectly or in massive quantities, an unexpecting student may suffer anxiety, panic attacks and in extreme cases, heart attacks, psychosis or death. The normalization of recklessly pill popping before exams could seize bright students and enslave them to amphetamine.

Those prone to addiction may develop a tolerance and potentially deadly addiction.

There are numerous potential solutions to prevent a grotesque marriage between "study drugs" and academic success. Doctors should screen patients rigorously before diagnosing ADHD and consider prescribing non-abusable alternatives like Wellbutrin. Other

proposals are cognitive behavioural therapy and the development of coping mechanisms for less severe cases. When medications are necessary, the lowest effective dose should be prescribed and dispensed sparingly. This allows pharmacists to detect if a patient is potentially abusing their own medication or selling pills.

Education and healthcare are both pillars of an equitable and civilized society.

Finding a balance between treating students with conditions like ADHD and protecting others from medications they don't need is a delicate task. Multiple parties working in tandem can find a solution to this epidemic growing within our universities.

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theconcordian

JANUARY 22, 2019

the art of being single W/ KAYLA-MARIE TURRICIANO

POLITICS

The U.S. government shutdown

Why we should care about the government shutdown in the U.S.

accepting that it’s okay to not be the one Welcome to the first ever “The Art of Being Single!” This bi-weekly column is dedicated to being single and ready to mingle, despite life having other plans for you, and how much this can (mostly) suck. I hope this assures you that you’re not alone in struggling to deal with being single, and I hope to be that little voice of encouragement at the back of your head, saying everything will work out in the end. But until then, make an art out of being single.

The year 2018 was a relatively rough year in terms of love and relationships.

I was getting over a breakup I was salty about. I was ghosted a lot (recurring theme in my life; it’s really annoying).

I shot my shot (multiple times) and failed. A lot of my friends shot their shot and succeeded. I’m still single.

I was, and still am, the friend that doesn’t get approached at school or at a bar or club very often. I might have some casual conversation, but I’m rarely hit on; I am usually spoken to as “one of the guys” or am used by some guy to get to my friend, who he thinks is “hot.” And with every right—my friends are magnificent people, inside and out.

At first, this—never being “the one”—would really bother me. Why am I single? What do they have that I don’t? Will I end up alone forever?

What is wrong with me? Although it sometimes may feel like I’m alone in having these thoughts, I know I’m not. There are people who feel the same way, thinking, When will my time come?

I’ve come to realize that there’s nothing wrong with me, or with you, or with anyone who’s single and never had a long-term relationship. I’ve learnt that I don’t lack anything; neither do you. The only thing “wrong” with us is that we haven’t found someone we’re compatible with on every level.

Sure, it does suck sometimes. It sucks when some of your friends are in long-term relationships, others are just getting in one and the rest have no problem being single. It sucks when it seems like everyone around you has someone—everyone but you.

It’s taken a long time to realize and come to peace with, but there’s nothing wrong with being single; there’s nothing wrong with you. In some ways, being single at this stage in our lives might be a blessing: as university students, we already have a lot on our plates.

Do we really need to be starting a relationship? While you’re single, learn about yourself; learn how to be with yourself and how to love yourself. If you already know how, then just sit tight and be patient; everything works out in the end.

SASHA TEMAN STAFF WRITER The U.S. government has shut down yet again, only this time it’s being regarded as the longest shutdown in U.S. history. It all started on Dec. 22, right before the holidays and unfortunately for the time being, there’s no end in sight. According to CBS News, this is the third government shutdown in 2018 alone.

In order to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem, there have only been three government shutdowns in the past 25 years up until 2018.

Government officials failed to come to an agreement concerning President Donald Trump’s decision to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump’s refusal to approve a federal budget unless it includes funding for a border wall is beyond absurd. Democrats have rejected Trump’s request to do so for $5.7 billion. This has affected nine federal departments, leaving about 800,000 federal workers without pay.

The shutdown has had an impact on all sorts of industries. Employees such as prison guards, FBI agents and airport staff have been working without pay. Flying is now deemed less safe than before due to a shortage of TSA workers. Airline companies such as Delta airlines will lose revenue of $25 million this month given that fewer government contractors are flying.

On Tuesday, Jan. 15, a federal judge

in Washington denied the request to pay workers who are continuing their jobs during the shutdown, including the nation’s air traffic controllers.

According to NBC News, the union that represents thousands of air traffic controllers filed a lawsuit on Friday.

They’re searching for a temporar y restraining order against the federal government for violating the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. constitution, g i ve n t h a t t h e y ’ r e b e i n g d e n i e d “hard-earned compensation without the requisite due process.”

On Thursday, federal workers all over the country missed their first paychecks since the beginning of the shutdown. According to NBC News, air traffic controllers and TSA workers expressed their concerns surrounding passengers’s safety during the shutdown.

The air traffic control system in this country is an economic engine.

At this moment, we’re seeing this incredible strain on the system, which is unacceptable given that it’s negatively impacting thousands of people.

Meanwhile on Craigslist, listings from federal workers trying to sell their possessions have been flooding the site. These items varied from beds to old toys, which have been listed as “government shutdown specials.”

According to the BBC, of the 800,000 feder al employees going unpaid, approximately 350,000 are furloughed, which is a temporary lay-off, while the rest remain at work. This past weekend, one of the country’s major

airports, Miami International, closed an entire terminal because too many employees have been calling in sick.

Both the House and Senate have passed a bill on Friday to guarantee that all government workers will be receiving retroactive pay once the shutdown is over. Trump is still expected to sign the legislation but for the moment he’s still demanding that Democrats approve funding for a border wall.

People’s lifestyles have been placed on hold as a result of this shutdown.

Some fear for the worst, wondering if they’ll have enough money to pay next month’s rent, or for their medication.

Even though the shutdown isn’t directly affecting Canadians, it is highly relevant. Thousands of American citizens are left wondering how they’re going to pay their rent and provide for their families as the shutdown perseveres. Trump has been directing all his attention towards building this border wall when in reality this shutdown isn’t a fight about security. It’s affecting thousands of communities and families across the nation and makes us question whether Republicans in the White House are living in the same reality as the rest of the country.

All we can do now is hope for this shutdown to end before more damage is done. Even though they’ll get their pay back once the government reopens, these federal employees aren’t receiving money as their costs of living keep piling up.

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

etc

Université d’Ottawa

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University of Ottawa

PhD IN SOCIAL WORK Available in both English and French

Puzzle 1 (Easy, difficulty rating 0.39)

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Acquisition of research skills and teaching experience in the field of social work

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Study of the micro and macrosocial dimensions of social work practice

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Close partnerships with community organizations and institutions, and practicum opportunities

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Scholarships and RA positions available

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Tue Jan 22 03:30:39 2019 GMT. Enjoy!

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Faculté des sciences sociales Faculty of Social Sciences socialwork.uOttawa.ca

20 theconcordian

JANUARY 22, 2019

Graphic by @spooky_soda

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Concordia University’s weekly, independent student newspaper VOL. 36, ISSUE 16 JAN. 22, 2019.

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