Vol.40 Issue 12 - January 26th, 2023

Teachers shift gears to avoid A.I. plagiarism

As concern over students using A.I. chatbots rises, teachers must prepare to deal with the issue constructively.

BY MATTHEW DALDALIAN CONTRIBUTOR

OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence research laboratory, has recently launched ChatGPT, a text-generating tool open to all for free. This chatbot is capable of understanding and answering questions through prompts, and hence is becoming extremely popular among students.

Textbots like ChatGPT can rescue last-minute assignments that can range from writing Shakespearean poetry to doing calculus. As such A.I. gets exploited by students, teachers are looking for ways to detect such plagiarism.

“We clearly need to come up with new ways to evaluate learning if we want to avoid these bots to be used to fake student work,” said Bérengère Marin-Dubuard, an A.I. enthusiast and teacher in interactive media arts at Dawson College.

Marin-Dubuard also expressed her thoughts on the quality of the text written by the A.I.

“The text generated is interesting, but in the end I’d be surprised if many people just don’t do the work,” she said. “It’s probably even more work to set it up.”

Marin-Dubuard encour-

ages her class to embrace the new technology as a tool, but she remains wary of the threat of plagiarism.

ChatGPT’s technology relies on natural language processing — a subfield of computer science based on the interaction between computers and human language.

“One part of how ChatGPT works is by learning complex patterns of language usage using a large amount of data,” said Jackie CK Cheung, an associate computer science professor at McGill University and the Associate Scientific Director at Mila A.I. Institute of Quebec.

“Think at the scale of all the text that is on

the internet,” Cheung added. “The system learns to predict which words are likely to occur together in the same context.”

explained that the developing A.I. would eventually improve as researchers and users feed it new knowledge, a process known as “deep learning.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Protesters at McGill cancel talk by law professor with ties to the LGB Alliance

The incident sparked debates between the balance of free speech and hate speech on University Campuses

BY SIMON FEISTHAUER FOURNET ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

On Tuesday Jan. 10, the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP) from McGill University hosted a talk called “The Sex vs. Gender (Identity) Debate in the United Kingdom and the Divorce of LGB from T.”

The event was disrupted by more than 100 protesters due to the presence of controversial guest speaker and McGill alumni Robert Wintemute. Wintemute is a Human Rights Law Professor at King’s College

London and a trustee of the LGB Alliance — an advocacy group funded in the UK that opposes certain policies for transgender rights on the grounds that they undermine those of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men and cisgender women.

The protestors occupied the first floor of Chancellor Day Hall and interrupted the professor’s talk by unplugging the projector, which then led to him being escorted out by McGill staff.

Take a step back in time at Wilensky’s Concordia University Foundation

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Pushing the Limits of your Body and Habitat Sonore Jacob River Milnes and his Footprint to Fame

Why are concert ticket prices so

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Teachers shift gears to avoid A.I. plagiarism

Cheung knew that the easily accessible ChatGPT and related models could increase students’ temptation to plagiarize.He noted that instructors will have to adapt their methods of evaluation, and try resorting more to in-person or oral communication. Cheung added;

“There could also be innovations in which ChatGPT-like models can be used as an aid to help with improving the learning process itself.”

A question of ethics has remained, as A.I. continues to develop in art and writing. Both art and text generators have been accused of plagiarism. Last month, artists online flooded art-hosting websites to prevent A.I. from generating proper images. Last week, a substack blog was outed as being written by A.I. by one of its plagiarized writers.

Julia Anderson, who finds new ways to interact with developing technology and has collaborated with the Montreal

A.I. Ethics Institute, said that A.I. should not be simply used to do the work for you. She believes that ChatGPT and similar models could be used as tools to help conceptualize projects or aid in teaching and supporting students. A.I. tools like LEX offer support in conceptualizing ideas, something Anderson thought teachers could use to aid them in making a curriculum.

“You can make a similar argument with other technologies, like Google trans-

late,” Anderson said. “But it’ll be at the discretion of the user to decide what to edit.”

With schools now beginning to look for methods of detecting A.I. plagiarism, Edward Tian, a 22-year-old computer science major from Princeton University, developed GPTZero. The program can detect work written by the OpenAI software.

Other methods of dissuading students’ temptations to plagiarize, according to Anderson, could include digital watermarks and

Protesters at McGill cancel talk by law professor with ties to the LGB Alliance

Celeste Trianon, a law student at Université de Montréal and trans rights activist, helped organize the campaign against Wintemute’s seminar.

According to Trianon and other queer advocacy groups, one of the LGB Alliance’s main goals is to oppose policies that aim at protecting and advancing trans rights.

Trianon explained that the organization had, among other things, lobbied against the “legal recognition of gender identity in the British and Scottish contexts” and works “in collaboration with other anti-trans organizations in the United States.”

She added that, in Canada, the LGB Alliance opposed the inclusion of transgender people in Bill C-4, which prohibited conversion therapy.

“Their whole idea is based

on a far-right concept called ‘drop the T’ which is a strategy to divide the queer community by separating transgender people from the rest of the community,” said Trianon.

“It is an organization that disguises itself as a pro-women’s rights and pro-gay and lesbian organization.”

Trianon is worried about the international scope that the Alliance is gaining, including in Canada.

“This is reflected in the fact that all the hate I received after the demonstration came from all over the world and not only from Quebec,” she said.

Trianon went on to elaborate on the hate messages and death threats she received via email and social media.

In an interview with The Concordian, Wintemute said that part of his talk was to argue that trans people’s rights, particularly those of trans

women, sometimes infringe on cis women’s rights and that legislation against discrimination was “full of contradictions.”

He asserted the belief that many cis women agreed with his position but were too afraid or intimidated to speak up against pro-trans rights policies.

“What I was doing was no hate speech at all,” said Wintemute. “Freedom of expression covers even ideas that can offend or disturb. There’s a tendency today that says disagreement equals hatred, but it doesn’t.”

Wintemute argued that the protestors had no right to disturb his talk, comparing the event to “a mini version of the US Congress in Jan. 2021 or the Brazilian capital in Jan. 2023.”

McGill University declined to comment on the incident. A spokesperson from the CHRLP sent out an email saying, “Every year, the CHRLP organizes a range of events on a variety of human rights issues [...] They are not an endorsement of any speaker’s views. McGill recognizes and supports

the requirement to pay in order to be able to copy text.

Nonetheless, Anderson understands that such measures cannot strictly assure legitimacy.

“Going forward I’m sure there’s going to be more problems,” she said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to human discretion.”

the rights of its students to peaceful protest on campus.”

“This defense of academic freedom as an absolute concept is used to defend hate speech,” said Trianon. “We really have to ask ourselves who was really violent? Was it the protesters or this speech that puts trans people in danger? How do we define violence?”

PHOTOS BY CELESTE TRIANON

Community Editor: Dalia Nardolillo community@theconcordian.com

The community section is written for and about students at Concordia University. If you have a story to tell or something cool is happening around campus, let us know.

Take a step back in time at Wilensky’s

A sandwich shop where everything has stayed the same since 1932.

BY DALIA NARDOLILLO | COMMUNITY EDITOR

Located in Montreal’s Mile End, Wilensky’s has been a local staple since 1932. Famous for its sandwich special, the restaurant was opened by husband and wife Ruth and Moe Wilensky. I was so enticed to visit this infamous eatery. My boyfriend and I visited Wilensky’s during the first week of January. We went on a quiet Wednesday afternoon and we were able to sit at one of the bar stools

at the front counter. Stepping foot into Wilensky’s is like stepping into a time machine. I got the chance to sit down with Sharon Wilensky, the daughter of Ruth and Moe, and she discussed with me about who came up with the idea of “the special” at Wilensky’s.

“My dad, Moe Wilensky came up with the idea for the special. The restaurant started in 1932 and that’s the date that we go by. My father and uncle couldn’t find work and that’s when they started working with my grandfather,” Wilensky recalled. “My father said ‘We need to find a way to make more money and I think we need to start selling food.’”

Moe Wilensky brought in a small grill that could only cook a few hotdogs at a time, which cost a fortune because of the Great Depression.

“Salami and bologna, which is what is in the Wilensky’s special, is something that people ate at home. My dad would be eating it for lunch and customers would come in and ask my dad if he could make it for them. They would come in again and again and say, ‘Could you make that special thing you made for me last time?’” Wilensky said.

That’s how the Wilensky’s special was born. For four dollars and fifty cents, you can enjoy the special with either swiss or cheddar cheese. The other special thing about Wilensky’s is the rules that they have regarding their special. When you order it right off the bat, they serve it with only mustard and you can’t ask them to cut it in half for you. You have to enjoy it as is.

I ordered the special with swiss cheese, and less than

five minutes later I took my first bite of the sandwich. The combination of the two meats with the warm swiss cheese was amazing, I could see how these little sandwiches could get addicting. The mustard is a perfect accompaniment because it cuts through all the fat.

To accompany his sandwich, my boyfriend ordered a cherry coca cola which was made the old-fashioned way by mixing it right on the spot. Before we left, he wanted to leave a tip and it came to our knowledge that they donate all of their tips to charity!

“Working with my dad is one of my favourite memories,” Wilensky said, teary-eyed. “I went to Outremont high school, which is a french adult-ed high school and I would come to work here after school. I would even remember being

a child here, while working here I would see children walking along the bar of the counter and it would bring me back.”

Wilensky’s is the perfect place to stop by if you are in the Mile End area even if it’s simply to say hi to one of the original Wilensky’s!

Take good care, Graham

ALL PHOTOS BY DALIA NARDOLILLO | THE CONCORDIAN

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all new and returning students. Hope you have a rewarding, safe and wonderful experience this winter 2023 term.

Carr President graham.carr@concordia.ca

Concordia University Foundation: between the community and the corporation

Concordia University Foundation juggles social and environmental responsibility with corporate profits.

BY NIKOO PAJOOM | STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 8, 2019, the Concordia University Foundation (CUF) committed to divesting all investments in coal, oil, and gas industries by 2025, in order to become 100 per cent sustainable. The CUF also added the goal of allocating 10 per cent of its long-term assets in impact investments towards its 2025 goal. Impact investments are made with the intention of bringing about positive social and environmental change together with a financial return. Concordia emphasizes that these steps ensure that the University is investing in socially and environmentally responsible ways. However, complaints from students claim a disconnect from community centred initiatives, as multinational service providers tout sustainability as a method for financial growth.

Lacey Boudreau, a Concordia youth activist and a member of Climate Justice Action Concordia (CJAC), believes that these are steps in the right direction. However, Boudreau is wary of how much space is left for the foundation to prioritize profits over community. “You can still be investing in a company that is making a transition to net-zero which means that you can still be investing in them [fossil fuels],” she said.

Boudreau also points out that there could be discrepancies between how both the student community and the finance world interpret the term sustainable.” Shylah Wolfe, the executive director of the Concordia Food Coalition, echoed the same concern.

“One of our main critiques of the sustainability action plan, [is that] the recommendations are never going to be fulfilled if we continue with multinational service providers,” explained Wolfe.

Multinational portfolio managers

Currently, the portfolio managers for the CUF’s impact investments, which are claimed to generate impacts on people and the planet, include companies such as Wells Fargo and BlackRock. Wells Fargo has been identified as one of the major banks to invest in private prisons and the immigrant detention industry. Timothy Sloan, former Wells Fargo CEO, said that the bank was exiting the private prison industry in March 2019. But amid Sloan’s statement the bank had been the portfolio manager for the CUF’s impact investments.

BlackRock, another firm listed as a portfolio manager for impact investments in CUF’s 2020-21 Annual Report, faced backlash in 2018 for its ties with large American firearms makers, while maintaining support for the oil and gas industry as part of the solution alongside environmental investment policies.

Wolfe believes that investing with multinational service providers such as Wells Fargo and BlackRock does not fulfil the aims of being impactful and socially responsible. However, Marc Gauthier, the university treasurer and chief investment officer, believes that the University’s investments are in reality 100 per cent

impactful and wide reaching.

Gauthier also explained that in the CUF’s new framework, capital allocation is driven by sustainability objectives that enable social equity, financial inclusion, discrimination reduction, affordable housing, and health improvement, among other impacts. However, moving away from multinational portfolio managers was not mentioned as part of the path to being socially or environmentally responsible in investments.

Investment screening

In 2014, Erik Chevrier, parttime instructor at Concordia, made recommendations for implementing a socially responsible investment plan at the University. One of the recommendations was negatively screening fossil fuels production. Negative screening excludes companies that work in sectors that are harmful for the environment or society. While the foundation has adopted negative screening, Boudreau believes that steps need to be taken towards positive screening. Positive screening finds companies that score high on environmental and social issues, further weeding out low scoring companies.

From the balance sheet to the campus

Wolfe believes that commitment to sustainability needs to “leap from the balance sheet to the campus,” and that “continued commitment to mitigating

climate change fundamentally requires investment in transforming the food system.”

Wolfe adds that investing in high impact solutions such as social enterprise funding and The New Food Enterprise need to be prime candidates for CUF’s support and investment. Concordia’s current investment in Aramark, which is a multinational food service with links to the US prison system, is another example of Concordia’s problematic partnerships with multinational corporations.

Boudreau adds that the tension between the student body and the administration regarding the definition of sustainability can have real consequences. This tension explains why students mostly rely on student-run fee levy groups such as the Sustainability Action Fund (SAF) to fund their projects, rather than relying on the University for support.

CUF and the community

The CUF asserts that its links with the community at Concordia are strong and that this communication is maintained through the Joint Sustainable Investment Advisory Committee (JSIAC).

Denis Cossette, Concordia’s chief financial officer stated that “JSIAC is composed of both students and faculty members and is very useful to keep the discussion open”.

“These meetings are very infrequent and it’s whenever they [CUF] want to present something,” affirmed Boudreau. She described a

recent JSIAC meeting where most of the meeting was spent on the presentation of the CUF’s plans with a short Q&A session.

“It wasn’t a space where they were interested in any of our thoughts. It was just a presentation. The plan was done,” Boudreau said.

Boudreau believes that because the students were not part of the initial conversation, it would be very difficult for their comments to be integrated at the next level.

The high turnover of students might make it difficult for them to retain the institutional knowledge that they gain from activism on campus and to be taken seriously by the administration.

“I think there’s a habit of the administration to have no faith and to not follow through on student projects and groups, but we have proven that we are capable,” said Wolfe.

Boudreau noted that Concordia students try to counter that weakness by keeping in touch with past Concordians to brainstorm creative solutions.

The board of directors

The CUF has a male-dominated board of directors with a visible lack of diversity and a number of incredibly wealthy individuals in charge of establishing the University’s portfolio-investment policies.

“It’s true, it’s not a board that is as diversified as the board of university but these people in their field are also applying this sustainable approach that we have included in the investment policy,” said Cossette.

“Where are the climate experts [on the board]?”

Boudreau pointed out when asked about the composition of the CUF’s board of directors.

GRAPHIC BY JAMES FAY // @JAMESFAYDRAWS

GRAPHICS BY JAMES FAY // DATA PROVIDED BY CONCORDIA FOUNDATION REPORT (2021)

On the other hand, the grassroots groups at Concordia take a different approach to the composition of their board of directors. “The Concordia Food Coalition (CFC) has engagedconsultants to overhaul our own recruitment policies because we absolutely believe that our leadership and their perspective will inform

how comprehensive and holistic our programs are and how innovative our solutions to community needs are, because the campus is certainly not mostly white cis males,” explained Wolfe.

Transparency

When it comes to the trans-

Opinions

Battle of the books

parency of the CUF, Boudreau believes that it should go beyond the public financial reports. “Even if they are transparent with the information, [they use] all these financial terms and this is how they are getting away with these things because people don’t know what these words mean,” she said. Boudreau added that the CUF should be transparent “in a way that students understand [the information] and have the space to ask questions and to be listened to.”

The CUF became part of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2018. The organization was supposed to receive a grade for its investments in June 2022, but due to a change in reporting requirements by the PRI, there were delays in the grade reports.

“We’ll have our grades only in 2023,” said Gauthier. For Boudreau, seeing climate experts weighing in on the progress made by the CUF would also help the student body understand the reality of the progress made so far. “They only have finance people working on this and that does not address the root problems,” added Boudreau.

Financing and the future

Gauthier also added that the CUF looks at sustainability not only from an “investment perspective, but from a financing perspective.” Gauth-

Opinions Editor: Joelle Jalbert opinions@theconcordian.com Got an opinion you want to share? Send in your pitch and get it published!

Answering the question, if books are better than ebooks.

BY RHEA DESJARDINS | CONTRIBUTOR

Let me start off by stating this: I love books.

With eReaders like Kindles and Kobos, and subscriptions like Kindle Unlimited, there seems to be a reason for people to choose ebooks over physical books. Over the last few years, I have been told by many people that digital is the way to go now that reading print books is a thing of the past.

But for me, the physical book will always be better than the ebook. Here are my top three reasons why.

(I’ve excluded audiobooks from this conversation because that is an entirely different experience.)

1. When I hold a book in my hand, it is an entire experience. I can run my hands across the cover and feel the texture. I get to feel the pages against my skin and I feel like I am fully part of the experience of the book. Sometimes the covers have different textures and that makes the reading more of a sensory experience. I get to turn each page and get the

genuine excitement of seeing the words on the next page.

2. The smell of the book. Books have their own smells, and that makes the reading even better. An ebook doesn't have that. It's just a piece of plastic with words on it. It feels like I am just scrolling on my phone. Why would I want reading a book to feel like reading a text message? I want to hold the book close to my face and experience the different scents and moments.

3. The impracticality of the sizes of books is such a part of the journey for me as a reader. It makes choosing what books I am reading more of a challenge. Can I carry it with me? Does it fit in my bag? It makes me think through what book I can make my main book. And the challenge of making the books fit into my purse makes reading even more exciting. I am someone who reads three books at a time, so getting the physical change that accompanies each book helps distinguish the stories. For me, it's part of the process.

Even when it comes to textbooks for class, I will always opt for a physical copy of the book. Again, I just need that experience of having the physical book in front of me to really get immersed. I can only hope that people are wrong about physical books being a thing of the past. I will say, there is a trend of

a lot of indie/self-published books that are only available in digital formats, and that truly is a bummer. Maybe someday they will decide to publish physical copies of their books so I can read them too.

GRAPHIC BY HENRI RICHA // @HHENRYRICHA

ier cited the University’s issuing of sustainable bonds in 2019 as part of this vision. The bonds were issued to help finance the new LEED-certified Science Hub. Therefore, apart from relying on investments, the CUF has also been trying to come up with other financing options such as the issuing of sustainable bonds. However, many community organizers at Concordia believe that responsible financing could go further and include divesting from multinational corporations. “There’s a dynamic tension between people versus profits at Concordia,” said Wolfe. For Boudreau, “there are many radical projects on campus working against the profit narrative.”

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By Joëlle Jalbert

THE ART OF GOALIE GEAR

Concordia Stingers’ goaltenders talk about their gear and the inspiration and meaning behind it

BY MARIA BOUABDO | SPORTS EDITOR

Everybody knows how agile and smart hockey goaltenders have to be. But they are also the most creative and artistic position when it comes to gear in team sports.

Goalies have the free-

dom to design their own equipment, including their masks and pad sets.

While everybody notices how aesthetically pleasing these masks are, what they don’t always realize is

the meaning and inspiration behind certain designs. The hockey goaltenders — from the Concordia Stingers’ women’s and men’s hockey teams — explained the designs on their gear.

The message: “I will always be there” is from Madison Oakes’s teammate Philbert. There are four stars on Oakes’s mask with encouraging messages they’ve received.

HIKING IS A WOMEN’S SPORT

Some hikers are taking it upon themselves to create representation for women in the sport

BY ALICE MARTIN | ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

she got into hiking in 2019. Four years later, she recalls how her first experience on the famous through-hiking trail made her realize women in the sport are underrepresented.

“The first thing I realized is that there are not a lot of women who do the PCT alone,” Bourque said.

To prepare for the hike, Bourque, whose experience was limited to Mont-SaintHilaire, turned to YouTube for information on the PCT. This is when she noticed a lack of French-Canadian hiking content tailored for women.

ships, especially for women.

For one, menstrual pain doesn’t magically go away on hikes and tampons add weight to the backpack.

“I used to be the DivaCup girl, but that was impossible,” Bourque said. “I went back to tampons in 2019 and carried the used ones in those opaque dog waste bags.”

For her second attempt, the hiker took the birth control pill to handle her menstrual cycle — but not without it taking a toll on her body.

men and women are negligible.

“More and more evidence has come out that women’s bodies are better equipped for endurance activities,” said Liz Thomas, hiker and co-founder of Treeline Review, a company that specializes in reviewing women’s outdoor gear. The performance gap between the sexes in ultra-endurance activities (defined as lasting more than six hours) is merely four per cent, according to a 2021 study.

beginner hikers, Thomas suggests hiking with friends as it allows for more time to slow down and catch up. It also makes it harder to quit.

“Go on trails in town, you don’t have to go somewhere really remote. Just get out there and walk,” she said.

Conveniently, Montreal might just be the place to do so. “I would love to urban-hike Montreal,” beamed Thomas.

Hiking the 4,265 kilometer long Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is no easy feat, but for Christel Bourque, a Montreal-based hiker, photographer, and visual artist, it was how

Bourque’s first two attempts at completing the PCT were cut short due to a personal emergency and health complications related to an insect bite, respectively. But a third attempt at the PCT lingers in her mind, as she continues hiking in Quebec and documenting her endeavors on her own YouTube channel, “La Petite Marcheuse”.

Bourque noted that compared to shorter Quebec trails, the long-distance PCT comes with extra hard-

Another prevalent challenge for women hikers is hitchhiking to go to faraway towns to resupply, which Bourque did alongside other women.

“If one of us didn’t like the vibe of the person offering us a ride, it was an immediate no,” said Bourque. “We were two women and we didn’t want to get in danger.” She recalled the times when men insisted on giving them a ride or proposed shady exchanges of services.

Nonetheless, hiking is one of the sports in which discrepancies in performance between

Thomas, whose passion for hiking developed through her alma mater’s outdoor club, achieved the Triple Crown of Hiking after completing the PCT, the Appalachian Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. She’s been dubbed the “Queen of Urban Hiking,” a title first given by Outside Magazine.

As a tip for

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHRISTEL BOURQUE

Veteran goaltender Philbert in her matching white pads, glove, and blocker. She’s a big fan of white gear as it’s discreet and allows her to blend in with the background.

Naylor and Lemieux on the ice during a practice on Jan. 11, 2023.

Jonathan Lemieux and Jordan Naylor a er practice on Nov. 30.

ALL PHOTOS BY MARIA BOUABDO

Arts

Arts Editor: Esther Morand arts@theconcordian.com

Pushing the limits of your body and mind

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

BY ESTHER MORAND | ARTS EDITOR

The 27th edition of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour came to Montreal this year from Jan. 18 to Jan. 21, offering a selection of films from jaw-dropping to heartbreaking. Tickets were completely sold out, as people were excited for the festival to be back in-person.

Out of a record submission rate of 453 films, the festival chose ten.

Every film ranged from five to 45 minutes. The whole evening lasted for three hours.

The first film, Colors of Mexico by Kilian Bron, featured a mountain biker riding the vibrant streets. The filmmaker played with shapes through architectural angles, accentuating the beauty of the scenery

and the danger of the sport.

Doo Sar: A Karakoram Ski Expedition film showcased breathtaking footage from the Karakoram mountain range, located in the Kashmir region, featuring Polish duo Andrzej Bargiel and Jędrek Baranowski, who ice climbed to the peak in 12 hours, to then descend in 90 minutes.

The short Walking on Clouds showed record-breaking highline athlete Rafael Bridi walking between two hot air balloons. The elegance of his movements and the perfect balance of his core seemed almost inconceivable.

The film was poetic and stress-inducing enough to have the audience sitting on the edge

of their seats as the highline trembled under Bridi’s weight.

The 45-minute-long To the Hills and Back - Know Before You Go proposed a preventative approach to ultimate sports, narrating two storylines of adventurers having lost their loved ones in avalanches. The fast-paced editing did not leave much to the imagination, as the audience was propelled into the story. It warns that accidents are frequent.

The Process, drenched in irony, follows mountaineer Tom Randall, seeking to complete a mountain running challenge over 42 peaks and across 142 kilometers in less than 24 hours. He humors taking on the challenge as a non-runner.

Flow, follows skier Sam Favret, who decided to hike up a French

HABITAT SONORE

An immersive audible experience at the centre PHI

BY JEREMY COX | ARTS ASSISTANT

Habitat Sonore, which “consists of a 16 speaker multichannel array powered by a high-end JBL pre-processor,” has a daily rotation of soundtracks played in its singular room. On the first day, I listened to 64 minutes of a neo-classical piano soundtrack by Canadian platinum pianist Alexandra Strélinski.

As I was led down a neat concrete basement staircase, through a purple printed door and finally past a black felt curtain at the end of a dim carpeted hallway, I was instructed to throw myself onto any cushy bean bag chair of my choosing.

I waited in a dark sound-

proofed room solely lit by magenta LED strips, which pulsated a hypnotising glow scaling the chamber horizontally. An ambient melody surrounded and greeted me — one I would put on to meditate. Soon enough, I was sent to a different universe.

Radiating from every corner of the chamber was music that would be a pleasure to have alongside while studying, meditating or falling asleep: pure tranquillity and serenity. It was music that you could find in a cute short student film that pays homage to Wes Anderson.

Inscape by Strélinski was the first album to be played. Each song brought a different mood. Sometimes cheeky, pensive, desolate, but never disruptive.

Pianoscope was the second album of hers played through, and it gave pondering 19th century steam-punk villain vibes. Restful nonetheless.

Alpine resort during confinement, to enjoy the bare slopes. The ungraded slopes permitted breathtaking footage.

Clean Mountains counts the tourist pollution on Everest from a Sherpa’s perspective, as one woman decides to climb Everest and while descending clears the mountain of tourist waste.

Her father had lost his fingers helping a client tie his ice crampons, impeding him from continuing to work. His experience burdened the family and exposed the harm of unprepared tourists on Everest.

North Shore Betty teaches the possibility of starting a new sport at any age. At 45, Betty took up mountain biking. On screen, she was 73.

A Baffin Vacation trailered a couple on the struggles of ultimate sports on the body and mind. They comically preface their story by ridiculing their experience on

the brawling effects of canoeing and mountain climbing.

The light short Do a Wheelie concluded the festival positively, showing that ultimate sports weave communities together.

The international festival will tour around the province until the end of March.

The next day I listened to the second program of three, which consisted of a few different works each by a plethora of artists, totaling nearly an hour.

Better in the Shade by

Polaris Music Award winner Patrick Watson and his bandmate Mishka Stein. The alternative EP felt — in the best way I could put it — sort of low-fi psychedelic experimental. The duo of ASMR vocals and wispy percussion was the seed for melancholy throughout the playthrough.

Next was a meditative piece by Debbie Doe called Theatre of Dreams. It was a cacophony of sounds travelling from one end of the room to the other, all blending together forming a narrative that one can only interpret using their own imagination. From mystical chiming to macabre droning, and even a demonic cackle, the piece satisfied all my expectations when walking into a sound room such as this.

Finally, Grammy-winning mixer James Benjamin’s Rainforest enchanted me and cleansed me of all of my worries

for the duration of its runtime.

The room was transported deep into an unknown jungle, with creatures chirping and predators hunting.

Sometimes I could hear a leaf crunching in front of me, or the passing over of a distant aeroplane, maybe a gunshot from behind, maybe the howling of a monkey to the left of me. For the most part, it was the most therapeutic lullabying experience I could imagine. Rain hitting the rooftop back at home would be of no match to it. A great experience, and incredibly relaxing. If I could sit in that beanbag chair until Jan. 29, I would.

NORTH SHORE BETTY // COURTESY IMAGE BY TRAVIS RUMMEL

IMAGES BY JULIEN GRIMARD // COURTESY OF THE CENTRE PHI

FLOW // COURTESY IMAGE BY MAXIME MOULIN

WALKING ON CLOUDS // COURTESY IMAGE BY CLAUDINO JUNIOR

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Jacob River Milnes and his Footprint to fame

Concordia student proves his talent once again with fresh new album

BY ALEXANDRA BLACKIE | CONTRIBUTOR

Here which was inspired by a past relationship while the message behind Footprints is left up to the listener.

the guitar provokes an undeniable feeling of nostalgia among listeners.

artists.While his main inspirations are The Beatles and Bob Dylan, most recently he has started listening to Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish.

writer but starting off on the drums for a band, he quickly realised after playing a few shows, he wanted to be actively engaging with the audience.

Concordia music student Jacob River Milnes has recently dropped his second album, Footprints. With the songs falling under varying genres such as folk, rock and even country, this album is truly for anyone. Milnes sat down with The Concordian to talk about his work and his passion for music. Given his proficient recording technique and obvious talent, it is clear that Milnes has been working at his music for a long time. Just last year, he released his debut album I’ll Be Waiting

“There’s not really a message behind this one. My songs come from my own experiences with the world. The message is up to the listener. I’m sure if they listen to it, they’ll come up with something that is true to them and that’s what’s important to me.”

“Footprints,” Milnes’s favourite song on the album, differs from his other pieces as it is clearly more sentimental. The track stemmed from his experience of moving away from his hometown, Val-des-Monts, to come to Montreal to study music. The heartfelt lyrics of the track paired with his all-consuming relationship with

“I grew up in the country and for a long time I’ve been wanting to get out of there and move to the city. Finally, I’m in Montreal now and “Footprints” was written right before I left,” Milnes said.

But “Footprints” is not the only track with a story. “Theme From ‘Don’t Let The Bull Defeat You’” is the last song on the album, composed for a short film that Milnes and his friends created over the summer. The artist wrote and directed the entire soundtrack for the film. Considering it was Milnes’ first acoustic song, he definitely didn’t disappoint.

The rock and roll tone within the two tracks “I Won’t Do It” as well as “You Could Pretend” on Footprints were inspired by some of Milnes favourite

“I do listen to a lot of old music but I try to stay connected with modern music as well. So, I was inspired by those two artists [Rodrigo and Eilish] to write more modern sounding songs,” Milnes told The Concordian.

Milnes also has a number of family members that have been guiding him throughout his career.

“One of the biggest inspirations for me is the man who introduced me to Bob Dylan and introduced me to all music which was my grandfather. He was the one who got me interested in music.”

Although the most notable instrument in Milnes’ songs is the guitar, he first started out on the drums when he was ten years old. He didn’t originally intend to be a singer-song-

Why are concert ticket prices so high?

What ticket distributors don’t understand, will hurt them

BY SARO HARTOUNIAN | ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR

Picture yourself going online to buy a ticket for your favourite artist or group. You’re ready to spend your hardearned cash to experience a live show. With dismay, upon checking the prices of just the nosebleed section tickets, you put your laptop away in disgust.

In my case, it was ’90s Québec star Daniel Bélanger. He’s most known for writing hits like “Les Deux Printemps” and “Rêver Mieux.” I figured tickets to see him live would cost around $60 a piece, max $75. Little did I

know that when I checked the website Event Tickets Center, tickets ranged from $160 to $315. I’m sorry, but even if you are someone who is considered to be a national treasure of Québec’s music culture, that doesn’t excuse $315 tickets.

Honestly, it doesn’t seem worth it to go see a single group perform live for that much money. Rock and rap fans have it worse than the other genres, too. According to data analysis conducted by FinanceBuzz, from 2017 to 2021, the average rock ticket cost around $160, while rap ticket prices averaged $135. These

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prices have not budged since. That being said, bands do have to make up for expenses. They have to pay the venue their cut, and they have to pay their roadies, their sound technicians and their travel costs. Buying gear and renting studio rooms are expensive, and those expenses will grow exponentially once you go on tour. Who is at fault here? Is it the artists/ groups, the venues, or distribution companies? Could we even blame “good old inflation?”

I can assure you that it’s a lot more complicated than that.

In the case of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour , it was the

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fault of LiveNation, who owns the ticket-distributing site known as Ticketmaster.

LiveNation’s secondary ticket service, TicketsNow, and eBay’s subsidiary StubHub were reselling the tickets, charging fans upwards of $22,000. That’s the cost of like… four courtside Boston Celtics tickets.

Will we ever see ticket prices drop? Probably not in the near future; however, artists are trying to help ease the pain of buying tickets. Pop star Caity Baser stated recently that her 2023 tour would “keep tickets affordable for all.” We have yet to receive a number on those prices. Sam Smith and Mod Sun are also charging

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“I would see the people in front of me on the stage and I was behind the stage playing drums and I realised that I wanted to be upfront playing guitar and engaging with the audience more. This side came out of me through showmanship. When I picked up the guitar, I slowly realised that I could write.”

Jacob River Milnes is definitely capable of becoming a known name in the music industry and Footprints is a clear indication of that. While letting fans enjoy the new album for the time being, he has some new projects to treat his fans with in the upcoming year. “There’s definitely going to be a next album. I’m always writing and I have a few songs that will probably be on the next one.”

less than the average, costing around $55 for the “Unholy” singer and $49 for the latter, according to SeatGeek Hopefully, concert ticket prices will turn a new corner in the next couple of years because my wallet is skin and bone from last year and this year’s purchases.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF JACOB RIVER MILNES