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a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Trash Talk: 119

by Hannah Feinberg on

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With 119, Trash Talk is at a pivotal point in their career, and somewhat of a paradox. The band have reached the top of the pile as far as Hardcore goes, teetering between too much fame to stay underground and just enough notoriety to spread the word.  They’re constantly stirring up controversy, all the while preserving tradition, to the point that their act is practically canned.  Trash Talk have mainstream clout, but Lee Spielman’s screamed vocals make it loud and clear that he isn’t looking to welcome the uninitiated into the club.

After signing to Odd Future’s record label (Trash Talk have contributed to some Odd Future tracks in the past), they’ve become an apt symbol of Internet-age fame. Now, the importance of having an ‘in’ with punk hero Keith Morris and being tied to a group of skate-rats with meme status are of comparable importance. On 119, Trash Talk manages to live up to both legacies: that of the original DIY rebels, and their tumblr-bred offspring.

“Exile on Broadway” is a blitzkrieg manifesto, decrying city filth with thrown-to-the-gutter gusto. “Blossom and Burn,” featuring Hodgy and Tyler of Odd Future, is a slow-burning, gut-churning haunter, with gruesome rhetoric to match its haunted house arrangement. “Uncivil Disobedience” and its call to occupy, as well as songs like “For the Lesser Good,” reinterpret Punk’s ‘burn-it-down’ battle cry while including the addendum ‘build-it-up.’ Punk may be dead, but if Trash Talk has any say in it, Hardcore will stay alive and kickin’.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Jason Lytle: Dept. of Disappearance

by Joanna Schacter on

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“I’ll crawl into the mountains, I’ll fall into obscurity/A phantom on the landscape, a memory of what used to be.” Nostalgia and longing—the voice and lyrics of Jason Lytle can’t be described without invoking these two sentiments.

Dept. of Disappearance, his latest album, is full of unknown ‘somewheres’ and ‘someones,’ finality and setting suns, disappearances and memories. The singer-songwriter earns his album title with emotive lyricism, and a sound that grasps at the listener.

The release begins with simple progressions and soft, yet assertive, breathy tones. While one could make the case that if you’ve heard the first song, you’ve heard the album, each one is arguably a distinct experience: Lytle’s strength is in his words and the sensations that they carry. Written, performed, recorded, and engineered by the artist, this album is distinctly his, and is rife with honest confessions and private musings that listeners feel fortunate to be privy to.

“Poetry set to music,” is perhaps a worn cliché to describe such eloquence, but remains an accurate one. Here is music to lie awake to; here are words to repeat in your head and mull over, images to linger upon. The ever-present undertones of nostalgia and longing instill a sense of incompleteness in the listener. Though strangely satisfying, there isn’t a single song here that will leave you without an anxious, aching, itching desire for more.

Bear’s Belly - Arikara (1909) (Edward Curtis / www.atmarketmonitor.com).
a, Arts & Entertainment

Lessons from the past

by Jitika Shah on

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The McCord Museum is showcasing Edward Curtis, an early 20th century photographer, with an exhibit of images from his encyclopedia The North American Indian.

Sepia-hued photographs hang delicately on dark blue walls. Images fill the gallery: a young Mohave girl stares directly into the camera; three Apsaroke horseriders recede into the distance; an Arikara medicine man stands wrapped in his bear skin.

Between 1906 and 1930 Curtis resolved to photograph as many Indigenous peoples of North America as he could, as a way to preserve what was thought of as ‘the vanishing Indian.’ This belief developed from two circumstances: one was the rapid population decline caused by war, slavery, and diseases introduced by European immigration; the other was the program of forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples into mainstream society.

Curtis travelled throughout Canada and the United States, and took approximately 40,000 pictures. Critics pointed out that he staged his photographs to show an idealized vision of Indigenous peoples—for example, by portraying horsemen wearing headdresses into battle when in fact these were only meant to be worn on very rare occasions, and the right to wear one had to be earned. Curtis received additional criticism for editing his shoots so that Western objects, like clocks, were removed from the final print. His motive, however, did not seem  exploitative—rather, aim was to show Indigenous peoples in their original environment, as though untouched by European technological or economic influences.

In light of these criticisms, it is interesting to compare Curtis’ work to that of American photographer Timothy O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan is renowned not only for his American Civil War pictures but also for the realism in his images of Indigenous peoples. Instead of shooting portraits of subjects in ceremonial dress, a style that Curtis employed, O’Sullivan instead chose to photograph individuals as they appeared in their everyday life, even if they had a semblance of a Western influence in dress or artifact.

Keeping Timothy O’Sullivan’s work in mind when viewing the McCord exhibit makes for an interesting experience. There is a certain poignancy to the photographs because of Curtis’ naive attempt to sustain the idealized and romantic view of Indigenous peoples in his era.

At the same time, Curtis’ images of Indigenous peoples in their traditional milieu serve as a contrast to the current-day, when Indigenous peoples in cities remain invisible, but stereotypical images of them persist.

McCord’s exhibit is an invaluable opportunity for discussion of societal portrayals of Indigenous peoples, both past and present.

Edward Curtis: Beyond Measure runs until November 18 at the McCord Museum (690 Sherbrooke West.) Student admission $8; free admission every Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The blood-brain barrier. (http://911stroke.info/)
a, Science & Technology

McGill lab uses novel technology to model human body

by Nicole Weckman on

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While most McGill students are likely more interested in finding free food than understanding the biological processes that allow them to digest it, researchers at McGill are using new technologies to examine digestion, and other important physiological processes.

To determine exactly how the body digests without using human test subjects, Professor Satya Prakash of the biomedical engineering department has developed a machine which models the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This rare, specialized equipment gives the Prakash lab an edge. “In North America, it’s the only one,” Prakash said. “I’m very proud of that!”

The human GI model is made up of five vessels connected by tubes. Each vessel models the conditions in a different stage of human digestion: the stomach, the small intestine, and the ascending, transverse, and descending parts of the colon. Prakash uses computer controls to vary temperature, pH, and anaerobic conditions in the machine, adjusting these factors to reflect the real conditions found in the body.

Recently, the lab used the GI model to research probiotic bacteria, and how they are affected by the amount of time they spend in the GI tract.

While research using the in vitro human GI model is invaluable for studies such as the probiotics project, it is only one of the many interesting areas of research Prakash’s lab pursues. Another project gaining momentum is a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s which involves developing a platform to deliver drugs to the brain.

“We designed … a nanoparticle that has a special tag on it that can deliver through the blood brain barrier,” Prakash said. “It leads to a specific part of the brain so it can deliver a drug.”

Traditionally, it has been very difficult to get drugs circulating in the blood across the blood-brain barrier. This is because the brain is equipped with extra defence mechanisms to keep out unidentified molecules. One way of overcoming this challenge is to use a targeted nanoparticle; these particles are small enough that, with the help of the targeting molecules on their surfaces, they can slip through the defences and reach the desired part of the brain. While Prakash’s current project is a nanoparticle designed to treat Alzheimer’s, by changing the target molecule, it could ultimately be directed to many different sites in the brain and used to treat a variety of diseases.

Given the breadth of research projects conducted in the lab—from probiotics to Alzheimer’s treatments—the team is drawn from a multitude of different backgrounds with a variety of experience. Although some supervisors would find it daunting to coordinate the diverse lab members, Prakash seems to revel in the interdisciplinary nature of his lab.

“In my group there are a physician, microbiologist, a biochemist, a chemist, a … chemical engineer, a food scientist, … a mechanical engineer, [and] biolog[ist] … These are the group member[s] that I have now. A different assortment, it’s fun!”

a, Science & Technology

Open Access offers antidote to overpriced journals

by Leigh Miller on

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To students leaving the academic world, the cost of information may come as a shock. Without access to the extensive collections of the McGill library, journal articles cost around 30 dollars per view. The library pays thousands of dollars per journal subscription. In 2011, McGill paid $12,224,900 for journals and research database access; thisrepresents more than 30 per cent of the Library budget. Open-access journals would make these costs a thing of the past.

Despite their expensive access fees, academic journals do not pay for the content they publish, and in many cases peer reviews are performed free of charge. Researchers must publish to stay relevant in their field, which is critical to job security. Tenure awards and funding sources consider volume of work published as well as the work’s impact factor, measured by the number of other papers that cite it.

In an open-access world, academic papers would be free for readers. The idea behind the Open Acces Movement is that removing financial barriers to peer-reviewed material would create a more productive exchange of ideas. Changing the cost structure of academic articles also appeals on a fundamental level, because it spreads scientific information.

Last month, McGill participated in a global event to raise awareness about the state of academic publishing. Open Access Week was conceived as a national day for open access in 2007 by two U.S. groups, and has grown every year since—in 2010, universities in 94 countries marked the event.

“It’s important for the community to think about what the ultimate results of their research will be. I would argue that most researchers want their work to be read by as many people as possible,” Amy Buckland, McGill library eScholarship, ePublishing, and  Digitization coordinator, said.

The McGill library participated in the week by holding several small workshops and promoting McGill’s own open-access repository—eScholarship@Mcgill.

The Open Access Movement faces several important challenges, nincluding the tenure and promotion process, which favours older, established journals that other researchers are more likely to cite. Although some journals are now offering open-access versions of their publication, “many publications [currently] use restrictive copyright transfer agreements which prohibit researchers from making their work publicly available via their own website, or their institution’s repository,” Buckland said.

Another hurdle is financing open-access journals. One proposal is to charge researchers for cost of editing and publishing.

Widespread changes to academic publishing may be a long time coming. “[Open access faces] many challenges, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a worthy goal,” Buckland said.

 

The cross-section of a hurricane, with arrows showing the direction of wind. (hurricanescience.org)
a, Science & Technology

Researchers seek to unfog mysteries of hurricanes

by Kieran Steer on

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Last week, Hurricane Sandy caused massive storms as far north as New England and Southern Ontario. Sandy’s aftermath is still making headlines across the East Coast. Like many hurricanes and storms, Sandy’s early development seemed erratic and unruly; sources from the American Global Forecast System and other organizations in North America differed on predictions for the hurricane’s course.

M.K. ‘Peter’ Yau, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at McGill, has been working on models and methods for predicting hurricane development patterns, and possibilities of forecasting the changes in hurricane intensity.

Yau uses past hurricanes such as Andrew, Earl, Isabel, and Floyd, to create his models. He is largely involved in investigating eyewalls.

“A hurricane is a strongly rotating vortex… characterized by a … ring of convective clouds swirling around a clear eye in strong hurricanes,” Yau explains. This ring of convection is called the eyewall.

Yau explains that rotational waves in the hurricane move away from the eye, striking the edges of the eyewall and transferring momentum outward. Further from the centre of the hurricane, these rotational waves reach a distance where their interaction with the mean circulation of the vortex initiates a second eyewall outside the initial one.

This secondary eyewall formation happens frequently in hurricanes and makes their behaviour more difficult to forecast, since the process causes rapid changes in the intensity of a hurricane. Depending on where the eyewall occurs, the changes can be devastating.

“If the secondary eyewall forms when the hurricane makes landfall, the radius of [the high] wind and strong precipitation region can expand considerably to cause damage over a much wider area. Such was the case of Hurricane Katrina, when it [made] landfall over New Orleans,” Yau said.

Hurricane Sandy’s incredible impact was not due to secondary eyewall formation, but rather the combined effect of her size and interactions with the northern weather systems. As Sandy moved north towards the U.S., the winding-down hurricane met the mid-latitude system along the East Coast, forming a storm.

“[T]here was a high pressure system over Newfoundland, which [steered] the storm to make landfall over a densely populated area, [causing] significant damage from flooding and strong winds.”

Yau’s computer models are comprised of sets of partial differential equations “describing the changes of momentum, heat, mass and various cloud processes in a hurricane.” Using supercomputers and analysis techniques, he is able to simulate secondary eyewall formation.

“Our study is to simulate the hurricane eyewall replacement cycle, and to understand the processes involved to forecast the intensity change of hurricanes.”

Modeling eyewall replacement cycles in hurricanes is a large step towards understanding these mysterious ‘super-storms’. The models open doors for studying parts of a hurricane that cannot normally be accessed, and have the potential to allow new levels of accuracy in predicting and forecasting hurricanes.

a, News

Expert addresses impact of cuts to refugee health program

by Jimmy Lou on

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Last Wednesday, psychologist, legal scholar, and anthropologist Janet Cleveland spoke on the impact of federal cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) on refugees. The event was a Brown Bag Seminar hosted by McGill’s Faculty of Law.

The policy came into effect on June 30, 2012. Cleveland said it limits health care coverage for approximately 20,000 refugee claimants in Canada.

“A [refugee is a] person who flees to another country and asks for asylum because he or she has serious reason to fear that, if sent back to his or her country of origin, he orshe would be persecuted because of his or her ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, political opinions or similar reasons,” she said.

“The current [refugee health care] situation in practice is chaotic,” Cleveland said. “Many clinics and hospitals simply refuse all refugee claimants. There’s this false perception that claimants no longer have medical coverage.”

Following the recent cutbacks, the federal government created a system with three main types of IFHP coverage: Expanded Health Care Coverage, Health Care Coverage, and Public Health/Public Safety Health Coverage.

[pullquote]Billing is apparently a nightmare. There are lots of delays and there is a big turndown rate.[/pullquote]

“The new system and the incredible lack of information from the government created confusion as to who is entitled to what,” Cleveland said. “Some people lost their coverage because they didn’t realize they needed to renew IFHP documents, and for many operations, pre-authorization is required. Billing is apparently a nightmare. There are lots of delays and there is a big turn-down rate.”

A direct negative impact of the new system on refugees is that there exist almost no medical services available to refused refugee claimants, except in Quebec. In addition, there are insufficient supplies of medication for all refugee claimants and privately sponsored refugees—those whose care is sponsored by their employers or by non-governmental organizations.

Moreover, it is increasingly difficult for refugees to access the care to which they are entitled, especially those in need of long-term care, such as pregnant women and people with chronic conditions.

The government has several reasons for the changes—one of which is to save money.

“[The federal government’s] rationale is that for a number of years they’ve been spreading propaganda that refugees are getting better coverage than Canadians,” she said. “In practice though, refugees claimants receive [health care] very much similar to low-income Canadians.”

According to Cleveland, this discourse and policy seem to be anti-refugee in nature, and portray refugee claimants as opportunistic. As a result of these federal measures, provinces are forced to carry much of the financial burden involved in caring for refugees.

“In Quebec, refused refugee claimants are still covered until [their] deportation date,” Cleveland explained. “[In Ontario] the government provides [the] same supplemental coverage for refugee claimants as for citizens. [In] British Columbia, there is social assistance for refugee claimants …  [In Alberta], Adult Health Benefit and Child Health Benefit are provided to low-income families for essential medications, and basic dental and eye care.”

Josh Pincott, a third-year arts student, said he found the seminar interesting, and that he was surprised by the information provided at the event.

“I didn’t realize the cuts had so many implications for refugees,” Pincott said. “I think it would also be interesting to ask how much responsibility the federal government should take for refugees’ welfare rather than what they do.”

 

a, News

What happened last week in Canada?

by Kyle Ng and Bea Britneff on

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Two Canadians dead after major storm

Hurricane Sandy made headlines for the severe damage it cuased in the Caribbean, New York, and New Jersey, but the storm also reached Canada’s east coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. The storm claimed the lives of two Canadians last week and spanned 2,000 miles.

In Toronto, a woman died after a falling sign struck her as she was walking on the street. Early Wednesday morning, a Bluewater Power hydro worker in Sarnia was electrocuted while repairing broken power lines. According to the CBC, the Ontario Ministry of Labour plans to launch an investigation into his death.

Sandy left over 200,000 people without power in Ontario and Nova Scotia, forcing the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre in Halifax to cancel numerous surgeries. By Wednesday afternoon, however, hydroelctric power companies had managed to restore electricity to most affected homes.

Toronto Hydro predicted that power line repairs will cost the city approximately $1 million. The total cost of damages in Canada has yet to be determined.

Citizenship and immigration minister introduces new immigration rules

Last Friday, the Government of Canada introduced a new set of immigration rules, declaring that anyone who moves to Canada to live with their spouse must stay in the relationship for at least two years before receiving permanent residency.

According to the Globe and Mail, the two-year probation period will apply to “couples in a relationship of two years or less,” and who have no children together at the time the spouse immigrates to Canada. The couple must also live together during those two years.

These rules are part of a series of changes to immigration policy meant to take measures against immigration fraud, and will prevent people from making a profit by accepting money for acting as an immigrant’s spouse.

Some outreach workers and immigration lawyers have criticized the new rules, arguing that they will present a barrier for immigrants trying to escape abusive relationships. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney addressed this, saying the new rules will not apply to situations in which a new immigrant is being mistreated by their partner.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois found guilty of contempt of court

Last Thursday, Justice Jacques Denis found former CLASSE spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois guilty of contempt of court for allegedly encouraging striking students to violate court orders.

This past summer, a number of students whose access to classes was blocked by strikers obtained court injunctions that allowed them to return to class. Judge Denis ruled that Nadeau-Dubois was guilty of  telling protestors it was legitimate for them to form picket lines to prevent these students from going to class.

Nadeau-Dubois claimed he was not aware of the injunctions, and will be raising money to appeal the court’s decision. He could face up to one year in jail, a $50,000 fine, and community service work. Approximately 100 protesters took to the street Thursday night in a spontaneous demonstration in defence of Dubois’ case.

This news comes shortly after UQÀM’s announcement that the student strike has cost the university at least $20 million. According to the Montreal Gazette, Quebec Minister of Higher Education Pierre Duchesne suggests that the total cost for all post-secondary institutions is $40 million.

Long-gun registry officially terminated; Quebec obtains rights to provincial data

Last Thursday marked the end of the national long-gun registry. A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced that all remaining data, with the exception of Quebec data, has been destroyed.

Quebec Superior Court Judge Marc-André Blanchard granted a permanent injunction, prohibiting the destruction of the data in question because the provincial and federal governments co-operated in the creation of the registry. Quebec plans to establish its own registry.

Since its introduction in 1993, opponents have criticized the registry as challenging the rights of rural Canadians to legally own hunting rifles, and as an ineffective means of increasing public safety. Critics have cited the billions of dollars spent on its operation, although a study by the Canada Press predicts that savings to taxpayers will be minimal.

Canada is one of few countries on the international stage that has rolled back gun control laws. The federal government has agreed to comply with international standards of assigning serial numbers to track restricted firearms, although there will not be penalties for non-compliance.

Pfizer job cuts shed light on restructuring of national pharmaceutical industry

Last week, Pfizer Inc., a multinational drug company, announced plans to layoff 300 professional employees, most of whom are based in Montreal. This is the most recent in a series of province-wide cuts, in what appears to be a restructuring of the global pharmaceutical industry.

In 2008, Quebec’s pharmaceutical industry employed over 9,000 people, while numbers released last week indicated only 5,320 working professionals in the industry.

These numbers also draw attention to the westward shift in Canadian pharmaceutical investment. This past June, the British Columbia government announced plans to invest approximately $1.5 billion in new private-public research institutes, effectively challenging Quebec’s status as Canada’s main pharmaceutical hub.

Further cutbacks in Quebec are expected in the near future. Boeringer Ingelheim announced in September that it will close down its Laval research lab by 2013. Johnson and Johnson, Sanofi, and Merck also announced hundreds of layoffs earlier this year.

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a, Student Life

Should you go veggie?

by Susan Westfall on

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As our society becomes increasingly aware of the consequences of eating meat, more and more people are converting to a vegetarian lifestyle. In Canada, between three and 10 per cent of people classify themselves as vegetarian, and the trend is increasing among the younger generation. Here, we take a look at the different reasons people have considering a vegetarian diet.

Meat is an excellent form of protein and provides many nutrients including iron, zinc, phosphorus, omega-3s, Vitamin B12, and selenium. However, it’s saturated fat content and lack of fibre makes meat more of a hinderance than a benefit to a diet, and non-vegetarians often face increased levels of cholesterol. Because of this, meat eaters have faced a 24 per cent greater chance of getting cardio vascular disease.It’s difficult for the body to digest meat to begin with, and the process requires fibre. Ironically, meat itself offers very little in the way of protein, and most of it cannot be absorbed by the digestive system any way.

One of the greatest misconceptions in the realm of vegetarianism is that veggie-only eaters are weak, small, and unhealthy. However, some of the most powerful creatures in nature are vegetarian: elephants, hippos, rhinos, cattle, horses, and of course, Georges St. Pierre—the famous Quebecois mixed martial artist. Vegetarian diets do have their drawbacks, however. Vegetarians suffer from deficiencies in iron, protein, Vitamin B12, calcium, zinc, and other nutrients. These problems are easily remedied if proper care is taken to consume a balanced and complete diet full of colourful vegetables, legumes, nuts, soy alternatives, and other appropriate supplements.

Meat is a major industry, so the focus is not necessarily to produce healthy meats, but to get the biggest bang for your buck. Cattle are regularly pumped full of hormones to stimulate growth and milk production. This treatment is illegal in the European Union, but not in North America. This is especially a problem in supposedly healthy ‘lean’ versions of meat, as growth hormones increase the amount of lean muscle, and decrease the amount of fatty deposits. Animals are also sometimes fed low-grade scraps—just enough to keep them alive. Finally, animals are housed in small, unnatural environments, and are prone to stress, which instills a variety of possible health risks to the consumer.

Vegetarians are not fully immune to these health risks. There are agricultural issues of pesticides, soil nutrient depletion, contamination , bacteria, and genetically modified foods. These factors contribute to the mass production of nutritionally poor fruits and vegetables, which can also compromise the consumer’s health.

The transfer of energy through the food chain from solar energy all the way up to humans becomes less efficient with each step. It takes 22 times as much land to feed a meat eater — all that land is required to house, feed, and water cattle. It takes 13 times more water to feed an omnivore than a vegetarian, since animals have to drink too! Besides consuming food and water, livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. This is much more than that contributed by all the cars, trucks, and vehicles combined.

Based on the above evidence, it is clear that meat is a luxury, something delicious to prepare but which can bring with it some detrimental health effects. For this reason, some choose to consume a plant-based diet, which can provide all the nutrients offered by meat products. I suggest limiting one’s intake of meat to special occasions and those absolutely necessary days of craving. Try to practice making vegetarian meals—you might love it!

a, Student Life

A moment with Jack Han

by Colleen McNamara on

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A combination of insightful advice, followed by a challenge from a friend catalyzed McGill Marketing graduate Jack Han’s current project, “30 jobs in 30 days.”  Han is literally trying 30 different jobs—from pizza delivery man to professional tennis player—on for size.

It began with a conversation over dinner. After enduring a collection of trials and tribulations in the employment world, Han was having sushi with his friend—a pal he describes essentially as his living antithesis: an archetypical accountant. His friend teased him for going through jobs like tissue.

At first, everything seemed to be falling into place perfectly. Han was one of four students chosen out of a two thousand person cattle call from InBev—a beer powerhouse which owns Budweiser, Stella Artois and more—and quickly transformed from your everyday college student into a business big wig, hopping on and off of jet planes and bouncing around prestigious boardrooms. But soon enough, the lure of living the marketing dream lost its appeal, and Han found himself falling asleep at 2 p.m. during a conference call as he sat next to his boss.

A third of the way through, Han found time in his busy schedule to give the Tribune some insights into his project.

McGill Tribune: How did you lay the groundwork for your 30 day experiment? Was it difficult to organize?

Jack Han: It was easy, but it wasn’t simple. All you have to do is phone someone or e-mail [the businesses] and wait to hear back. It’s not rocket science; a sixth grader could do it, but you have to consider a lot of things. Who to contact, who to call back, and when to do it; it’s a lot to remember.

MT: Out of all the jobs you have experimented with thus far, which job stands out as the most memorable?

JH: I did stand-up comedy. I wrote my own routine and had my friend film it. It was really fun, but I didn’t expect to be in the same show as professional comedians. I thought I did okay.

MT: Would you consider the stand-up comedy job the most challenging one you encountered?

JH: No. The [hardest job] was Planet Poutine. I went to do an overnight shift, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. You would not believe how hard it is to work an overnight shift at a poutine place. [Just before] 4 a.m., the owner made me go outside and hand out coupons. I was walking down the street distributing [them] to kids coming out of loft parties … trying to convince them to come. Then I had a confrontation with a nearby business owner who gave me attitude because he had a restaurant in the area too, even though he was closed.

MT: What was the most surprising job—the experience that made you think: ‘Wow. I had no idea this was involved in this job whatsoever.’

JH: Definitely the importance of tipping when I was [a delivery person] with Domino’s. Half of the time [the driver and I] spent together we talked about tips. It was the most important thing for him. He drives his own car, has to pay for his own gas, and only makes eight dollars an hour. He has a five-year-old son, and the most memorable thing he told me is that Halloween is traditionally one of the busiest and most lucrative nights of the [year for the] pizza industry, but he always sacrificed the money to spend the night with his son. It’s moments like that when you realize how privileged we are—most of us don’t have to make that kind of sacrifice.

MT: How did your time at McGill contribute to your project?

JH: If I can remember one thing … at McGill [it’s] that if you want to be great, you have to be different. If you’re not different, you’re going to get lost in the shuffle. That’s why I thought this was a great time to do something different. Worse comes to worst, I can always go back to having a desk job.

MT: How has your experiment changed your perception of the job market?

JH: It made me realize how little faith … you should put in the traditional process. Right now I’m teaching a SSMU mini-course called ‘the Art of Persuasion.’ The biggest thing I teach there is forgetting about having a perfect CV or perfect GPA. The most important thing is going and making a friend and finding someone to guide you. Talk to people who work in the industry, ask them for advice. The funny thing is, when you ask people for advice and they give it to you, suddenly they become invested in you and your future.

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