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Commentary, Opinion

A price freeze won’t fix inflation

by Monique Kasonga on

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On Oct. 17,  Loblaw Companies Ltd., Canada’s largest grocery retailer that owns and operates Loblaws, No Frills, Provigo, Maxi, Pharmaprix, among others, announced that it would be freezing prices on all its No Name branded products for the next three months. This means that approximately 1,500 No Name grocery items are now fixed at a set rate. After months of intense grocery price increases, Loblaw’s decision to freeze the prices of only one of its many brands is largely symbolic and won’t help those suffering from rising grocery prices. The No Name price freeze proves that Canada’s major grocery chains operate as an oligopoly, are dishonest about their profiteering, and are completely apathetic to the hardships of working-class Canadians. Especially in a time of unprecedented inflation, the Canadian government, as outlined by their antitrust statutes, should use the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) motion to investigate the grocery giants to regulate grocery prices for all products. Additionally, universities like McGill should remove mandatory meal plans, reduce prices at on-campus eateries, and provide resources for finding affordable and nutritious food around campus. 

Loblaw’s platform choice in announcing the price freeze is certainly bizarre. Loblaw chairman and Weston Family Corp heir, Galen Weston, sent an out-of-touch email pushing the blame for skyrocketing prices away from his own company. The email did not address Loblaw’s soaring profit margins this past year, with corporate profits hitting an all-time high of nearly 20 per cent in the second quarter of the year. The email and symbolic price freeze make a mockery of the suffering that working-class people have faced this past year, and demonstrate Loblaw’s complete disregard for the Canadians they claim to serve. The price freeze at this point in the year does not help Canadians when the grocery prices have already gone through the roof, not to mention that the timing lines up with a standard-practice annual freeze anyway. The price freeze is clearly a marketing strategy, and not a charitable relief measure. With the top Canadian retailers holding 80 per cent of the market share, market concentration of this kind leads to higher prices. The NDP recently submitted a unanimous motion in Parliament to investigate price-gouging and to lower food prices in the House of Commons. In addition to an investigation into the grocery chain’s profits, the motion could strengthen competition laws and draw attention to how corporate greed is a significant contributor to inflation. . 

Students in Canada are particularly affected by rising costs of living and tuition increases. Many students have suffocating amounts of student debt that remain a burden well beyond their university years. Furthermore, at McGill, where students face a rigorous course load, those who must work often do so at minimum-wage jobs, where they are not typically bringing in enough money to compensate for the price increases. 

Further, No Name does not sell fresh produce, an essential part of a balanced diet. Despite Loblaw’s attempt to paint themselves as “generous overlords”, the price freeze is an insufficient measure to address unaffordable costs of living. McGill also has an unaffordable mandatory meal plan, with such high prices in campus eateries that students are unable to have three full meals per day. McGill must provide better support for students by reducing food prices. Additionally, McGill must actively work against the stigma associated with using food banks and other charitable organizations during difficult times, so that university students feel comfortable using these services instead of going hungry. Creating databases with lists of the lowest grocery food prices in areas such as the Milton-Parc or Plateau neighbourhoods could provide students with peace of mind and full pantries.   


The negligible relief offered through price freezing simply cannot compensate for the staggering toll inflation has taken on Canadian consumers this past financial year. The Canadian government should use the current investigation into grocery giants to regulate prices and universities like McGill should offer students additional support during a time of record-breaking inflation.

Laughing Matters, Opinion

How to deal with noisy library-goers

by Julie Jacques on

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r/McGill: 

u/deskaquatic: “You can’t make this up” 

u/lolakitty: “If it’s been said once, it’s been said a thousand times?” 

u/ragingpoeti: “STFU on the quiet floors of McLennan” 

Let’s set the scene. 

It’s midterm season. Your four professors convened and decided that the best course of action would be to assign six assessments due next week. You’re struggling to get them finished, so you decide to take advantage of the recently established 24/7 hours at the McLennan-Redpath library complex. 

You’ve been avoiding the sun, having been in the library all day, every day, for the past week. You can barely remember what it feels like to sit on a comfortable chair, and have lost count of how many coffees you’ve chugged today. But it’s okay, because all your friends are in the same boat. You band together to motivate each other and create perfect cramming conditions. 

Except, wherever you settle, there’s a group of students who can’t possibly know where they are: The library. They’re catching everyone, and you do mean everyone, up on the latest gossip. Can you believe Chad was practically on his knees begging for another chance this weekend, but he hasn’t texted Brittany since…. What about Stephanie, you should’ve asked me to crash somewhere else and you could’ve had the place to yourself, I bet she would have….SHHHHHH. Here comes Brandon and his band of brothers comparing notes from their various escapades. You might need to brush up on your anatomy, but do it quietly, buddy. Really, this isn’t a laughing matter! 

It’s been 10 minutes and you can hear them through the lo-fi mix coming through on your AirPods. They’re ruining all the concentration-enhancing abilities of lo-fi girl! You regret not splurging for the noise cancelling ones. 

“We’re working on a group project,” they sneer at your plea.

You can’t take it.  

“Well, your boyfriend’s a jerk and the rest of us think you should get a room. Literally! Reserve a room and be as loud as you want in there.”

Can’t they just let the rest of us be bitter and boring, surrounded by the comforting brutalist walls of McLennan?

But put yourself in their shoes. Why does the library need so many talking floors? It’s the perfect gathering spot—if people need quiet, they can go to a different spot anyways! There’s never any space on the floors where talking is allowed. 

Empathy doesn’t work: You’re furious. You see the security guards patrolling the floor and not saying a word. The same security guards who last year yelled at you if your water bottle wasn’t touching your mouth for the entirety of the time your mask was down. You want to scream. Tell him to use his expansive powers for good and kick them out! At least escort them to one of the talking floors. You’re seeing red and imagine the security guard eating them. Was it in Percy Jackson when the teacher became a raging, flying Fury? We should hire them for McLennan. Maybe the talkers would listen to ominous “offenders will be eaten” signs. 

You hear the library announcement reminding people to keep it down, but all you really hear is details about so-and-so’s frustrating professor and so-and-so’s disgusting roommate. It’s hell. 

Finally, after you sigh, stare, grumble, and even point in their direction, they’re packing their things up to leave. Making their way to the door, talking about how they just have to be at Gerts tonight. Are they actually leaving? It can’t be, right? But, they’ve picked up their bags, so….

Wait, don’t leave! What will anyone post about on Reddit? You’re sorry; you didn’t mean it. Your studies aren’t that important. Please! 

…

They’re gone. What were you working on again? Math or an essay? You’ll have to actually do it now. Go on now, good luck. Be at peace, in the quiet, with your own thoughts. 

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Artist Spotlight: Silverstein and emo rock revival

by Adam Motaouakkil on

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Picture the summer of 2007: Posters of Linkin Park and Green Day plaster teenagers’ rooms, hair gel is used excessively to style straightened comb-overs, and MP3 players still exist. The emo wave rocked an entire generation and defined the scalps of Skrillex, early-career Cristiano Ronaldo, and so many more. Even EDM was going through its emo phase—the Tecktonik. It was the best of times, it was the saddest of times.

In February 2000, a group of Canadian high school students decided to ride the early wave of emo rock music and officially formed the band Silverstein. By May 2003, they had released multiple EPs and a full-length album, all filled with distorted guitar parts alongside thick bass riffs and screaming vocals. Silverstein’s emotional music was tapping into the heavy hearts of millions of Canadians. Later hits from 2005 like “My Heroine” and “Smile in Your Sleep” feature memorable melodies and became anthems of emo rock. With half a million records sold following these successes, Silverstein had a global reach and peaked in popularity.

But at the turn of the decade, with the recession in full force, people were growing tired of feeling sad. Emo faced backlash, and musical acts rebranded. Although emo music fell increasingly out of the billboard charts, Silverstein remained faithful to their roots. Their sound matured throughout album releases, featuring more synthesizers and sequencers which created a more modern repertoire. Lead singer Shane Told recalls this progression with fondness.

“We were just kids, and everyone was the same,” Told said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Then you realize that people are into different things. It’s important to try new things [….] We wanted to relinquish all that electronic music. We asked ourselves, ‘Who cares?’ Next thing you know, there’s a whole other world out there and another sound palate to the band.”

In 2020, when the band was about to tour for the release of their album A Beautiful Place to Drown, countries were shuttering their borders because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cancelled tour and a lot of downtime, Silverstein was back on the writing board.

“Songs were written entirely during quarantine in 2020 and 2021,” Told said. “We weren’t getting together, we just sent files and hearts back and forth. It was a dark time.” 

Those songs became the basis for their recent album Misery Made Me, recorded in 2021 and released in time for their comeback tour in 2022. The album is an exciting blend of their emo and electronic sounds. Layered vocals and reverb permeate the record with effects, immersing listeners in a unique acoustic experience. Told remembers less “misery” and more of the joy of being back with the band when they recorded the album.

“When we got together in the studio, it felt uplifting,” Told said. “We played golf, drank wine, and recorded the album. We had a cohesive idea about the whole record.” 

Nu-metal motifs are scattered throughout the track “Slow Motion.” “Don’t Wait Up” is a tight-sounding blast from Silverstein’s past sound. “The Altar/Mary” has listeners swimming in the sonic space brought by decaying keyboards and vocals until fast-paced and distorted instrumentals suddenly take over. The album is immaculately mixed and produced, emphasizing the breadth of the various musical dimensions Silverstein explores.

I was able to watch Silverstein perform on Oct. 1 at Theatre l’Olympia alongside Amity Affliction, Unity-TX, and Holding Absence. The crowd’s average age was between 30 and 40, a generation that grew up listening to this music more than 15 years ago. The mid-2000s emo aesthetic was in full swing, and the crowd’s energy resembled that of the attendees’ raucous and angsty teenage selves. The opening acts were expressive, guitars were distorted, and everyone was chanting out familiar lyrics. When Silverstein came up, the crowd roared with acclamation. 

“It’s so fucking good to be back,” yelled an ecstatic Shane to the Olympia crowd. 

I would have never imagined myself enjoying emo music, yet there I was, dancing and jumping to their hits. After a two-year hiatus, the stage lights shone brightly on Silverstein once again, reigniting a spark in emo music extinguished long ago. Whatever fire was lit that cold Saturday night, be it on St. Laurent or at the concert, it rekindled within me a sudden desire to mosh like it’s 2007.

Commentary, Opinion

Accessibility on campus is shameful

by Valentina de la Borbolla on

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Nobody enjoys trekking from New Residence Hall to McMed in subzero temperatures to make it to an 8:30 a.m. lecture. Most people take their ability to walk into class or a library building for granted. Montreal’s winters are particularly brutal, and the city is infamous for its never-ending construction. For able-bodied people, however, these are just inconvenient factors to consider before stepping out the door. For disabled students, staff, and faculty members, the lack of physical accessibility at McGill and in Montreal is a constant reminder of the painful reality of an ableist world. If McGill wants to become the inclusive institution it claims to be, it must prioritize an accessible campus for all of their students. 

McGill’s campus is an accessibility nightmare. From steep hills, incessant construction work and cracked curbs, getting around quickly and easily is a privilege reserved for able-bodied people. Even if disabled folks manage to navigate the hellish campus layout, the barriers do not end there. Although the Accessible Canada Act strives to remove accessibility barriers across the country, it only applies to buildings under federal jurisdiction. As such, universities like McGill are not legally bound by the act. This makes for a poorly-planned campus that actively prevents disabled students from accessing education. Although ramps and automatic doors make McGill buildings more accessible, they need to be functional and well-maintained. Steep and narrow ramps like those leading up to Stewart Biology North are hazards, especially during the winter when they are often covered in snow and ice, rendering them completely useless. Automatic doors do not always work and are often blocked by newsstands, mask dispensers, and idling students.  

Although McGill has measures meant to increase accessibility, such as the Adapted Mobility Bus, these initiatives fail to include all of the students who need mobility assistance but may not meet the required standards set by the school. The process requires users to be registered with the Student Accessibility and Achievement office and to have a formal diagnosis or a letter from a health professional. These requirements assume that students have access to quality medical care and essentially push them to prove that they are disabled enough to receive accommodations. Furthermore, the bus services are insufficient as the singular vehicle only runs Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This essentially leaves any student whose classes end after 4:01 p.m. unable to move around campus.

Driving is an option for disabled students, but many do not have access to their own cars. Even if they did, proximity parking permits are reserved for faculty and staff members, who still have to go through a lengthy application process. 

Institutional barriers are not the only things making campus inaccessible. Individuals can contribute to the problems, and people often see disability signage as optional. This can range from parking in front of ramps or on curb cuts to leaving bikes on sidewalks and using their feet to open doors and push buttons. When an institution is already actively excluding disabled students, it is discouraging to see our peers contribute to endless inaccessibility issues. 


True anti-ableist change must combine institutional efforts as well as social ones. This starts with knowledge and awareness of mobility issues and disability rights. A great way to start is to unlearn ableist biases of what disability looks like in the first place. Not every person with mobility issues is a wheelchair user or visibly disabled. On the other hand, people should critically assess their environments and question why visibly disabled people may not interact with spaces in the same way. Inaccessibility is not a coincidence, and a lack of accessible public spaces marginalizes disabled people and keeps them from accessing their rights to education, medical care, and ultimately, a barrier-free life. McGill owes it to their students to reconsider their accessibility efforts and allocate enough resources to push for transformative change.

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment

‘The Loneliest Time’ offers up a mixed bag of delights and let-downs

by Dana Prather on

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As a long-time Carly Rae Jepsen lover, I have been eagerly awaiting new music since her last project, 2019’s Dedicated and the accompanying Dedicated Side B (2020). While Jepsen’s sixth studio album, The Loneliest Time, certainly doesn’t disappoint, it doesn’t quite knock your socks off either. Released on Oct. 21, the album sees this self-professed ambassador of love expand into slightly more reflective territory. Over 13 songs, she scratches the surface of cynicism, insecurity, and loneliness without ever fully abandoning her starry-eyed perspective. 

Sonically, The Loneliest Time straddles a similar divide. A handful of songs flirt with a more mellow, vocals-focused sound, but the lion’s share of the tracklist keeps a tight hold on her signature 80s synth-pop melodies. The result? A fun, albeit fairly incohesive, album that will keep you moving and grooving without too much contemplation of its overall message. Despite its title purporting to be about loneliness, most of the tunes only dive into darker themes for a line or two before resurfacing to take on more light-hearted fare. 

The album’s more laid-back tracks benefit greatly from the skillful production of former Vampire Weekend band member Rostam Batmanglij. The lead single “Western Wind” is as breezy and laidback as its title suggests, and the ballad “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” uses soft, moody strings to underscore Jepsen’s resentful but ever-hopeful lyrics. 

In terms of its pure pop songs, The Loneliest Time is at its best when Jepsen revisits the shimmering synths that made 2015’s E●MO●TION a critical darling and fan favourite. Opening track “Surrender My Heart” and single “Talking to Myself” are pristine pop songs that feel like they have an instant place amongst her catalogue of dance-worthy beats. “Shooting Star,” on the other hand, presents a grating disco-pop track with lyrics as forgettable as its melody. 

Altogether, The Loneliest Time makes for a fun listen with some delightful highlights, but don’t expect much in terms of surprises—most of the themes tackled are nothing new for Jepsen. Indeed, the Canadian pop star has made a career out of creating soundtracks for her and her audiences’ lovestruck fantasies and blissful first kisses. Amidst her discography of hopeless romantic bubblegum pop, The Loneliest Time fits in perfectly.   

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Loneliest Time is available now on all streaming platforms. Carly Rae Jepsen is continuing the North American leg of her ‘So Nice Tour’ until November 2022.

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

McGill’s Farmer’s Market builds a community of passionate vendors and students

by Margo Berthier on

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The McGill Farmer’s Market has been a signature component of the McGill community since 2009. Every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. until this Thursday, Oct. 27, McTavish Street overflows with local food producers and excited students. The passionate vendors at the McGill Farmer’s Market come weekly, eager to share their stories, products, and insights with invested and enthusiastic McGillians. From fresh fruits and vegetables to sweet baked goods and local dishes, the market offers a wide variety of options to satisfy everyone’s taste buds. 

Inspiring vendors

Tea, coffee, maple syrup, fresh vegetables, and even adorable potted plants are some of the many items up for grabs at the market. Vendors with fascinating stories set up shop to sell their wares, interact with students, and answer questions about their products. 

Among these vendors is Mike Vasquez, son of Café Elba owner Elba Vasquez. Elba, who once worked as a coffee picker, wishes to give back directly to these labourers. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Vasquez shared his mother’s story and the importance of selling at farmer’s markets.

“Attending markets is a political act enforcing the local economy to help fight back large corporations,” Vasquez said. “I created this coffee company with my mother, who grew up on a coffee plantation in El Salvador. Over there, coffee labourers endure harsh conditions, picking grains on hillsides under the hot sun.” 

Another exciting find at the market is Ochado, a tea business that bloomed from a brother-sister collaboration between Julie and Normand Vaillancourt. These siblings have been selling their locally-grown tea at the McGill Farmer’s Market for the past 10 years. Julie Vaillancourt told the Tribune why she’s so dedicated to selling at this market. 

“We enjoy interacting with students. They always ask excellent questions and are very invested in discovering where the tea comes from,” said Vaillancourt. “It is so great to be able to educate people about Canada’s rich tea culture.”

Fresh produce 

In addition to connecting students to local vendors, the Farmer’s Market team organizes the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This initiative offers local and seasonal produce through a weekly basket subscription service. The baskets originate from Co-op au Bout du Rang, a farm based in Saint-Félix-de-Valois that grows over 40 varieties of vegetables. Ranging from mauve aubergines to scarlet-red tomatoes, these colourful baskets are sure to bring flavour to your weekly recipes. 

Felix Todd, U3 Geography, is a proud customer of the CSA program. 

“Every week I get different items in these baskets, which allows me to try something new each time,” Todd said. “Knowing where the produce comes from helps me establish a closer link to the food I eat […] and I especially like coming to the market to socialize with familiar faces.” 

Another source of fresh produce at the market comes straight from the Macdonald Campus Farm (MacFarm) at McGill. Florence Pelletier-Solasse, a researcher in nutrition at McGill, is in charge of selling the fresh fruits and vegetables cultivated by fellow university students at the MacFarm. 

“Students are involved in research and production at the MacFarm, providing the market with fresh vegetables picked the same day,” Pelletier-Solasse told the Tribune. “I am very interested in dietetics, and at the Farmer’s Market, I like to answer people’s questions about nutrition and vegetables.”

So grab your reusable bag and wallet, and rush to the market to fill your kitchen with local goods and flavourful vegetables grown by farmers and fellow students. During your visit, you can engage with a welcoming community and chat with passionate vendors while supporting the local economy by purchasing from smaller, local businesses. 

With a sprinkle of smiles, a handful of fresh produce, a scoop of local foods, and a dash of unique stories, the vendors at the McGill Farmer’s Market come equipped with a recipe to brighten your Thursday afternoons. 

Sports, Varsity Round UP

Varsity round up: What you missed in McGill sports from Oct. 19 to 23

by Tillie Burlock, Philippe Haddad, Sumire Kierkosz-Ueno, Karan Kumar on

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Men’s Baseball

8-1 Final: Redbirds best Stingers in Quebec Baseball Championship

After dominating UdeM in last week’s semi-finals 12-4 and 15-2, the Redbirds (21–8) were the sure favourites in the Quebec Baseball Championship matchup against the Concordia Stingers (12–10) on Oct. 22. A 4-0 win in the first game of the best-of-three series set McGill up to go for the sweep in game two. 

The game started even-steven with each team recording a run in the first inning. After shutouts in the second and third innings for both teams, the game slipped away from the Stingers early in the fourth. After a leadoff single from third-baseman Matthew Rachman, right-fielder Will Bompey came up with a clutch two-RBI double, giving the team a 3-1 lead. The Redbirds sealed the deal in the top of the sixth after some wild pitching from the Stingers and a two-RBI single from centre-fielder Jett Jarvis for an 8-1 final score.

Redbirds starting pitcher Arthur “Cinch” Smith expressed how his teammates’ support helped lead the Redbirds to victory. 

“The last time I played Concordia, I gave up seven runs. Today, I went out there, after the first [inning] I just put faith in my boys behind me and just tried to stay within myself and do the best I can to get these guys a win,” said Smith. 

As the Redbirds’ roster includes 22 first years, head coach Casey Auerbach expressed his admiration at the team’s improvement since the start of the season.

 “We have really been focusing on getting better each week [this season], and we took a big step last week against [UdeM],” said Auerbach. “Our lead-off hitters did a good job getting on base today, and we put some pressure on the defence, and that was our game plan today [….] It was a good team effort.”

Women’s Hockey

2-1 Final: Martlets succumb to Gaiters in home opener

On Oct. 21, the McGill Martlets (0–2) faced off against the Bishop’s Gaiters (2–0) in the RSEQ home opener. The first period remained scoreless until the final 90 seconds of play when fourth-year forward Makenzie McCallum snapped one in, closing off the period with a one-goal lead in the Martlets’ favour. 

The second period developed in the same fashion, with fast-paced back-and-forth action between the two teams, including a double minor penalty for Bishop’s that resulted in an unsuccessful four-minute power play for McGill. After a slashing penalty called on the Martlets and 50 seconds of four-on-four play, the Gaiters scored a power play goal to even the score with less than 30 seconds left on the clock. 

An early Bishop’s goal at the top of the third sealed the deal, and despite generating a slew of offensive opportunities, McGill was unable to catch up. Even with aggressive offensive pressure all game long, the Martlets fell in a 2-1 final. 

In a post-game interview with The McGill Tribune, Martlets head coach Alyssa Cecere emphasized that the loss wasn’t a setback for the team. 

“What we’re working towards is getting better as a team every game, I thought that we did that [….] We showed up to play, kudos to them, they played very well.” 

The Martlets fell 3-1 to Concordia on Oct. 23 and will play their next game on Oct. 28 against the University of Ottawa at McConnell Arena. 

Men’s Lacrosse 

8-6 Final: McGill takes homecoming victory over Bishop’s

On Oct. 19, the Redbirds’ (6–4) face-off against Bishop’s (7–3) ended in a thrilling victory to kick off Homecoming Week and Seniors Night. Fifth-year midfielder Ethan Forgrave opened the scoring with just four minutes to go in the first half, burying his first of three goals and embarking on a meaningful four-point night for the graduating senior. The Redbirds exited the first half 3-1 and maintained momentum carrying a 6-2 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, the Gaiters quickly buried two goals to get within striking distance of an even score but were staunched by fourth-year attacker Isaiah Cree’s first goal of the night. With a 7-4 score entering the fourth quarter, Bishop’s threatened again with back-to-back goals, but Cree sealed the deal with his second goal for an 8-6 final score. 

Redbirds head coach Nicolas Soubry detailed his excitement for the team, especially the seniors, in a post-game interview with the Tribune. 

“This is a group who lost two full seasons because of COVID-19 [and] our new guys really wanted to go out and thank them for keeping watch on our team during those hard years. Personally, I can’t express how proud I am of those guys and how happy I was for them to beat our Quebec rivals Bishop’s one more time.” 

The Redbirds concluded their regular season with back-to-back losses this weekend against  Queen’s and Trent University but will look to bounce back in the CUFLA sudden-death playoff round on Oct. 28, time TBD. 

Men’s Rugby

Final 36-3: Redbirds dominate Gaiters in last regular season game

​On Oct. 23, the Redbirds (6–1) took on the Bishop’s Gaiters (4–3) in their final game of the regular season. The Redbirds took hold of the scoring early with third-year fullback Martin Laval kicking a penalty on, only to be matched by the Gaiters shortly thereafter. A minute later, first-year winger Alexandre Laurendeau opened the floodgates for the Redbirds, scoring an electric cross-field try right before halftime. 

In the second half, Laval made another penalty kick, giving McGill the boost they needed to set up a phenomenal chasedown kick block and try from third-year inside centre, Alexandre Armstrong. Laval made two more consecutive penalty kicks to make it 26-3 before Laurendeau and second-year blindside flanker, Elliot Descarreaux, each added another try to give McGill the 36-3 win.

In a post-game interview with the Tribune, Descarreaux commented on the lopsided scoring effort. 

“Our team is well balanced [….] We scored off mauls, off open play, off kicks; it shows that we are really clinical in everything we do. We worked to get that and it shows in the game.”

​The Redbirds face the Gaiters in the first round of the RSEQ playoffs next weekend at Molson Stadium, time TBD.

*Philippe Haddad is a member of the 2022-2023 varsity Rugby roster but is currently out of play due to an injury.

Men’s Soccer

0-0 Final: McGill and Concordia draw scoreless

​The McGill Redbirds (2–6–3) faced off against the Concordia Stingers (4–2–5) on Oct. 20 in their penultimate game of the regular season. After a slow start, the Redbirds’ offence began to heat up with a couple of scoring opportunities later in the first half but were unable to capitalize on any of them. With a number of starters out due to injury, including star forwards Joseph Getz and Pedro Gulli, McGill’s midfielders picked up the extra slack to keep pressure on Concordia’s defence while the Redbirds held firm in their own territory. 

​The second half remained scoreless but was marked by physicality and chippiness on both sides of the field, resulting in a total of seven yellow cards, including four to the Redbirds. A number of phenomenal saves by first-year goalkeeper Ludovyck Ciociola spearheaded a strong defensive effort to maintain the shutout. With a 0-0 final score, the match marked another draw on McGill’s record.

​In a post-game interview with the Tribune, fourth-year defenceman Julian Huster highlighted the efforts of both the midfield and younger players on the team despite being short-handed.

 “We played fearless and fluid football even though the numbers were thin on the bench with injuries. It’s a shame we didn’t come away with all three points because we deserved more than a draw.”

On Oct. 23, McGill dropped their final game of the season 3-0 to Sherbrooke, giving the Vert et Or their first win of the season. 

Arts & Entertainment, Pop Rhetoric

The raw, ubiquitous power of body horror

by Natasha Kinne on

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Mild spoilers ahead for Raw and Saint Maud

With weak plot lines, underdeveloped characters, and often cliché moralistic endings—such as the least-likely-to-survive character ending up as the final girl—slasher films serve one purpose: To disgust. Films like the cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and constant rehashings of Evil Dead feature brutal amputations that could make even the most stoic person sick to their stomach. The scope of disgust in these films, however, appeals mainly to our base senses to elicit emotional responses from the audience. 

Beyond fear of a possible intruder, which Open House and the Strangers franchise can drum up, slashers do not inspire contemplations of social and political issues, such as women’s rights and religion. Though few would displace slasher films in the horror cosmos, many movie-goers find their body horror gratuitous and pointless. For me, the gore is gratuitous because it is pointless. But body horror should not be interpreted nor deployed in a vacuum––films like Raw and Saint Maud elevate horror from superfluous gore and story-telling to drama that evokes both sensory responses and social reflection from viewers. 

Julia Ducournau’s acclaimed film Raw (2016) sees Justine, a staunch vegetarian sheltered from the taste of meat by her overbearing parents, slowly develop a taste for human flesh once she moves away for veterinarian school. While the film misleads viewers by placing Justine’s descent into cannibalism as the central plotline, Raw is a woman’s coming-of-age story at its core. The appalling images of cannibalism—complete with blood, hair, and all—portray the grotesqueness and shame of embodying womanhood. Scenes of sexual exploration usually preface the cannibalistic scenes in the film. Ducournau combines images of cannibalism and sex as both fundamental acts of the flesh. The raw or unrefined act of sex reinforces our presiding animalistic instincts, which women are often conditioned to repress. Raw leverages gore to encapsulate the horror that bodies induce, especially in periods of exploration and discovery.

A revered A24 film, Saint Maud (2019) provides complex commentary on religion through modes of bodily suffering. The titular character, Maud, takes up a post as a live-in nurse after experiencing a religious awakening. Maud’s patient Amanda, a terminally ill atheist, presents signs of illness which Maud sees as the affliction of the patient’s misguided soul. Illness and death are the most gripping types of body horror because no one can evade the effects of aging and sickness. In an attempt to regain control over the inescapable reality of mortality, humans moralize pain and death. Maud believes the patient’s physical suffering on Earth simply foretells her eternal suffering after death. Relying on this model of correlation between pain and suffering, director Rose Glass creates a self-conscious paradox of Christian theology, as Maud practices mortification of the flesh to achieve salvation and part with suffering. Maud’s appalling treatment of her own body in the name of God posits pain as inescapably real and God’s distant, disembodied voice as comparably illusive; religion cannot be substantiated in the same way that physical pain can. Though Glass takes a critical position on religion, she uses Maud’s horrible death to demonstrate the crucial importance of suffering to Christian theology. 


Horror derives its merit as a genre from its inclusions of other genres, such as drama or comedy. Horror can be funny in a morbid way, as in Shyamalan’s The Visit, or emotionally charged, as in Kent’s The Babadook. Unlike drama and comedy, horror has the potential to affect audiences on a sensory and emotional level through disturbing presentations of the body. Many other movies live up to the standards of Raw and Saint Maud in terms of using body horror to make important claims about how the human body grapples with women’s adolescence and religious piety. Ducournau’s Titane, Mirabella-Davis’s Swallow, and Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral access themes such as fame, domestic life, disordered eating, and women’s sexuality. I encourage you to give horror another try this Halloween and embrace the power of the body.

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment

Miss Americana is back, and so is her pop persona

by Aimee DeLong on

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It’s 11:59 on a Thursday night. My friend and I wait with bated breath in Milton B, hurriedly refreshing Spotify. We’re not waiting for the café’s mediocre WiFi to load—we are waiting to listen to Midnights, Taylor Swift’s latest album. I knew all too well that the impending release would cause fans’ obsessions with her to begin again, and sure enough, the project is a compilation of tracks beyond a Swiftie’s wildest dreams.

While her latest original projects folklore (2020) and evermore (2020) adopted a more folksy and cozy vibe, Midnights feels closer to Lover or 1989 in terms of beats and musicality. It abandons the acoustic sounds and instead opts for synth-infused tracks, which mesh well with the lyrics’ darker overarching tone. This gloomy energy appears in “You’re On Your Own, Kid”, which explores the hardships of a one-sided relationship. Yet, the album also features more upbeat overtones in its explorations of love and heartbreak. Songs like “Midnight Rain” include unassuming electric piano riffs reminiscent of 80s dance music. 

Swift starts the album off strong with “Lavender Haze,” which details the sanctity of a relationship remaining unscathed despite criticisms from outside forces. Meanwhile, “Question…?” stands in stark contrast to the first track by describing the uncertainties between a couple. The line “And you’re not sure / and I don’t know” paints a picture of a couple with no clear path beyond their feelings for each other. On the other hand, “Vigilante Shit” embraces Taylor’s darker, more vengeful side with the hook “Don’t get sad / get even.” Swift is still not someone to be trifled with in any capacity.

While all of its songs are delightful individually, Midnights lacks cohesiveness. Given that the album is meant to define different nights from Swift’s life, it makes sense, but the abrupt mood shift between certain songs is jarring. Additionally, Swift’s highly anticipated collaboration with Lana Del Rey on “Snow On The Beach” is lacking in one department—Del Rey herself. Although her voice can be very faintly heard in a couple lines, her role is less of a feature and more of a brief background appearance.

Midnights is everything we love about one of the world’s arguably most talented artists—clever lyrics, compelling storytelling, and relatable themes of love and loss. After all, Taylor Swift has retained her massive following for a reason. In your most vulnerable moments, her music will be there—all you have to do is meet her at midnight.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Midnights is available on all streaming platforms.

Sports

Climbing without a hijab: Iranian athlete subject to morality laws abroad 

by Tillie Burlock on

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Content Warning: Gender-based violence, misogyny, suicide

On Oct. 16, Elnaz Rekabi, a 33-year-old Iranian rock climber, competed at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Asian Championship in Seoul. Rekabi—who, just last year, became the first Iranian woman to win a medal at the IFSC World Championship—competed without a hijab, defying the strict dress code restrictions that the Iranian government enforces on women, including its women athletes abroad. 

Rekabi’s climb comes in the wake of the murder of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was tortured and killed in Tehran by morality police for violating the Islamic state’s mandatory hijab laws. Since Amini’s death, nationwide protests and increased state repression have gripped Iran, leaving many to see Rekabi’s climb as an act of resistance. 

Shortly after the competition, where she finished fourth, Rekabi disappeared and severe concerns for her safety began to circulate. BBC Persian reported that Rekabi’s passport and mobile phone had been confiscated prior to boarding a plane back to Iran. Early on Oct. 18, an Instagram story was posted from an account said to be run by Rekabi claiming that her hijab “unintentionally had a problem.” It said that she was unexpectedly called on to climb, and that she would be headed back to Iran on her regularly scheduled timeline despite returning a day earlier than anticipated. 

When Iranian athletes go abroad for international competition, the government often forces them to leave collateral in order to guarantee their return to Iran. Before leaving for Seoul, Rekabi handed over a cheque for over $35,000 and granted full power of attorney to Iran’s Mountaineering Federation to sell her family’s property if she did not return. 

Upon her arrival back in Tehran, Rekabi was met by a huge gathering of supporters who united in the hopes of deterring her arrest. In an interview with state television, Rekabi reiterated that her move to compete without a hijab was inadvertent. However, BBC Persian reported that this apology came as Rekabi had been threatened with the seizure of her family property.

Rekabi was then held at the National Olympics Academy of Iran under the watch of plainclothes officers, where she met with Iran’s sports minister. Despite previous statements by Iran’s Olympic chief that no punishment would come to Rekabi, she has since been placed under house arrest with the pretext of a post-competition “resting period.” 

The oppression of female athletes extends across borders. Rekabi’s story bears resemblance to that of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis player who was first forcibly disappeared, and then abruptly retired after making sexual assault allegations against a former Chinese vice-premier.

Rekabi is only the second athlete to defy the Iranian government’s compulsory dress code. In April 2019, Sadaf Khadem became the first Iranian woman to win an official boxing match, defeating Anne Chauvin. Khadem elected not to wear hijab during competition and feared that she would face arrest upon returning to Iran. She has since defected to France. 

Iran has a long and troubling history of silencing its outspoken athletes. Navid Afkari, an Iranian wrestler, was executed following his involvement in anti-government protests. Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh, is one of several Iranian women who have chosen to defect from the country altogether. With few exceptions, female sports fans are barred from entering soccer stadiums in Iran. In September 2019, Iranian soccer fan Sahar Khodayari died in protest after setting herself on fire at a courthouse while facing trial for trying to enter a stadium disguised as a man. 

Current players on Iran’s national soccer team chose to cover their country’s emblem as the national anthem played during a match against Senegal following Amini’s murder, and forward Sardar Azmoun expressed support for the ongoing protests. 

The women’s rights movement in Iran and continued fear for Rekabi’s future and safety must serve as reminders that sports and politics will forever be intertwined. The oppression of women athletes embodies the state’s broader attempt to regulate women’s bodies—a prerogative that is not exclusive to non-democratic nations, from the United States’ rush of anti-abortion laws to France’s hijab ban. Women’s lives depend on the freedom to choose what they do with their bodies, in sport and in every aspect of life beyond it.

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