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Editorial, Opinion

The Church’s apology requires devoted action

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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On April 1, Pope Francis made a long-overdue apology to Indigenous peoples in Canada for the role Catholic leaders and administrators played in committing cultural genocide through the residential school system. The Pope called these leaders’ behaviour “deplorable” and asked for both God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of Indigenous peoples for how Catholics wounded, abused, and disrespected Indigenous people’s identities, cultures, and spiritual values. Though his words serve as an important acknowledgement and indictment of the Church’s crimes, this apology is only one step toward reconciliation in Canada. Various Indigenous leaders have expressed both relief and concern in response, while also emphasizing that it is not their responsibility to accept it—rather, it is the Church’s responsibility to make good on their promise to actively redress the broad, historic, and enduring harm it inflicted. Repairing past wrongs requires substantive commitment to dismantling the Church’s doctrine that enabled, and continues to enable, Canadian settler colonialism. The impact of the Catholic Church’s apology can only be realized when it is accompanied by structural changes that place Indigenous humanity over absolving Catholic and Canadian guilt.

The Pope’s apology comes after decades of Indigenous advocacy and must be matched with the material demands Indigenous leaders have made. If the Catholic Church does not follow through on its promises, such as the $29-million payment for programs that benefit residential school survivors, the apology may look self-serving. At times, the Church appears to entertain the dangerous notion that restorative justice measures relitigate dark pasts at the expense of present struggles, but in reality, the past and present cannot be separated. Residential schools, led by Catholic organizations along with other Christian denominations, tore children from their families in order to “civilize” them and to legitimate Canadian rule over the land that belonged to generations of Indigenous people. The “schools” worked to eradicate Indigenous cultures, and were sites of state-sanctioned physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse. Intergenerational trauma from these “schools” endures in various structural forms—from fractured families to poverty to houselessness to immense mental distress—all of which undermine Indigenous self-determination. As such, reparations in the form of a lump sum payment, while crucial, is not enough. 

Following the discovery of the initial 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops, Indigenous community leaders continue to search the sites of former residential schools. Investigators have found over 1,800 so far, but this number is rapidly increasing. Given the scale of this tragedy, any attempts to overcredit the Pope’s apology, however innocuous, should be put into perspective. No matter how thorough and apologetic the Pope’s words may seem, he must use his institutional power to accept and amplify current Indigenous struggles against the reprehensible crimes carried out at the hands of the Catholic Church.

Given how embedded the Catholic Church is throughout Canada and Quebec to this day, Canadians must remain resistant; the apology should only ground solidarity moving forward. This acknowledgement is not only a much-needed apology, but also a statement that allows activists to hold the Church accountable. The Church and Canada must unequivocally denounce the Doctrine of Discovery that Christian, European imperial powers used to justify their claims to ownership when conquering Indigenous land. To do so would be to repudiate a racist, long-standing doctrine and would also follow up on previous apologies Popes have made for Catholic sins. At the same time, Pope Francis and Catholics should not use this apology to salvage the Church’s optics and save face for its harmful actions around the globe.

Governments and church officials should follow Indigenous leaders’ demands by actively resisting and rethinking policies in Quebec. Catholic-influenced Quebec social welfare programs should be scrutinized when Catholic-run shelters, for example, can further marginalize Indigenous people. When a group of the Kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) suspect that there are unmarked graves under Royal Victoria Hospital and have taken McGill to court, students must stand in solidarity and remember that reconciliation is an uncomfortable process that requires everyone to confront McGill and Canada’s shameful history. The Pope’s trip to Canada, set for late July, is an opportunity for the Church to actively listen to those affected and to be held accountable. No one can remain passive in the face of persisting settler colonial injustice.

Arts & Entertainment, Pop Rhetoric

The enemies to lovers trope: Tried-and-true or time for something new?

by Ella Gomes on

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From impassioned kisses in the rain to meet-cutes in high school hallways, romantic literature and entertainment have never failed to engage audiences through beloved clichés. One that continues to withstand the test of time is the enemies-to-lovers trope, in which two characters’ mutual hatred toward one another progressively transforms into feverish love. Boasting both a long record of positive receptions and a rocky history, this dynamic keeps us coming back for more through touching demonstrations of love’s resilience in spite of denial.

In the case of period pieces, the trope engages readers by placing familiar feelings in historical contexts, challenging the disconnect we often feel between our lived experiences and those of people from centuries past. The second season of Shonda Rhimes’s whimsical and provocative period drama Bridgerton, released on Netflix on March 25, centres around a hate-to-love storyline between Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Based on Julia Quinn’s eight-part book series of the same name, the show follows the large, wealthy Bridgerton family as they navigate London’s competitive seasons of Regency-era courtship. Through extravagant balls, romantic promenades, and passionate declarations of devotion, both verbal and physical, viewers witness each Bridgerton child find and express love in ways rarely, if ever, depicted in period pieces. 

The contrast between ardent displays of adoration and disgust within the Regency era’s stiff social rules of etiquette and formality has enraptured audiences for centuries, as demonstrated by the resonating power of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s hate-turned-love relationship in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). The enemies-to-lovers narrative functions effectively in period dramas as it shocks readers with an emotional aspect of the Regency era that was firmly suppressed by the upper class, and therefore rarely included in the epoch’s representation in media. Audiences are unable to look away from these period-era characters, as they are brought to life through outward expressions of the same emotions that we feel today. This relatability is not restricted to previous historical contexts: People often feel most connected to characters who are at their most vulnerable, regardless of the divide in life experiences.

However, the cliché’s “enemy” aspect can sometimes go too far. In some cases, this relationship trope is filled with disturbing demonstrations of loathing, before all is magically forgiven and the characters end up together—as is the case in the relationship between Claire (Molly Ringwald) and John Bender (Judd Nelson) in The Breakfast Club (1985). Although Claire and Bender eventually realize their feelings for one another, this resolution implicitly recontextualizes the string of mutual acts of hatred toward one another as “flirting.” At one point, Bender sexually assaults Claire, peering under her skirt and making her clearly uncomfortable. Films should demonstrate the persistence of love despite each characters’ initial resistance toward it without making characters minimize and forgive inexcusable actions, including sexual assault. The main flaw of the enemies-to-lovers storyline is thus its reluctance to hold characters accountable in favour of moving the plot forward.

Meanwhile, representations of 2SLGBTQIA+ couples fare no better under the trope. While the celebrated Netflix series Sex Education has received praise for its authenticity and inclusivity, the relationship between Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Adam (Connor Swindells), his former bully, has been criticized for perpetuating the idea that racialized and queer characters should forgive people who have abused and mistreated them for the sake of love. 

Nevertheless, we continue to feel the addictive comfort in watching love triumph over hate, especially considering the numerous ways different people and institutions try to place restrictions on who can love who, and how. Whether lovers are first enemies due to family rivalries (Romeo and Juliet (1597)), class divides (Titanic (1997)), or other forms of division, witnessing the heartwarming resilience of love in the face of hate momentarily restores our faith in humanity. 

Demand for enemies-to-lovers content shows no signs of disappearing any time soon. From TikTok’s fascination with Sally Thorne’s romance-novel-turned-movie The Hating Game, as well as Bridgerton’s newest season, viewers and readers alike continue to be captivated by the evolution from enmity to endearment. While many critics may be determined to hate it, if there’s anything that the trope has shown, love often follows closely behind.

McGill, News

MUNACA to vote on whether to strike following McGill’s proposal to reduce salary increases

by Leo Larman Brown on

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McGill University’s Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), a union that represents approximately 2,000 support staff employees, such as laboratory assistants and service representatives, will vote whether to go on strike on April 6. This is after McGill proposed measures that would decrease members’ pay increases that were negotiated in the previous collective agreement (CA). The previous CA expired in November 2018, and the two parties have yet to come to an agreement on a new one. The announcement to put a strike to vote comes amidst a strike by floor fellows, who are represented by the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE). 

MUNACA members receive two forms of salary increases. The first increase compensates for inflation. The second, called a step increase, is when employees do not get their full salary when they first get the job, instead agreeing to receive a 2.97 per cent increase yearly, capped at 12 years—when employees would reach the maximum salary set by the CA. McGill has proposed a reduction of the step increase to 1.97 per cent and a lower top salary. 

According to MUNACA representatives, the proposal would result in members earning less money per year, and step increases being eliminated for those who have reached the newly proposed top salary—even if they were scheduled to receive more according to the previous CA. McGill has stated that the pay decreases will allow the university to raise the base salary of lower-earning MUNACA members. Thomas Chalmers, MUNACA president, told The McGill Tribune that it was these measures that prompted MUNACA members to vote on a strike mandate. 

“The disrespect has to stop,” Chalmers said. “If not, then the ultimate tool we have is a strike mandate [….] It’s a misnomer that unions want to go on strike: They don’t. It’s disruptive, it’s difficult, but at times, and this is one of them, it’s the right thing to do, to stand up and say you can’t treat us like shit.”

Nancy Crowe, MUNACA vice-president labour relations, believes McGill’s justification—compromising certain MUNACA members’ salary increases for lower-earners—is unfair, and ultimately unbelievable, considering how well some top McGill administrators are paid. 

“There were decisions made to pay Suzanne [Fortier] and not others,” Crowe said. “Their priority becomes clear.” Fortier was paid over $860,000 dollars last year.

In a statement to The McGill Tribune, Frédérique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, stated that the university believes its offer to MUNACA employees is fair and covers inflation by allowing for an average salary increase of 21 per cent over the 5 year period the new CA would cover. 

“In January 2022, discussions continued, now in the presence of a conciliator [and] on March 10, 2022, McGill presented its latest offer,” Mazerolle wrote. “Despite this, on March 28, 2022, the McGill administration was informed that the union will seek a strike mandate from its members.”

Chalmers, however, believes that McGill’s proposed changes are dishonest and that the step increase is not a salary increase because employees will earn less than a full salary when they begin working.

“You don’t get paid the amount of the position right away, you have to go through these steps to get to the value of that position,” Chalmers said. “We understand that it takes time for people to learn the job […] but it’s disingenuous to say that you’re covering inflation.”

Floor fellows, represented by AMUSE, went on strike for similar reasons; however, AMUSE President James Newman cited that a lack of respect was also a central reason.

“What it came down to was an issue of respect. Throughout the negotiations there was a very strong lack of it,” Newman said. “You can see they’re doing the exact same thing to MUNACA.”

Arts & Entertainment, Fashion

Oscars 2022 Fashion Roundup

by Signy Harnad, Adrienne Roy, Anna Berglas, Paulina Kasak on

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In spite of falling ratings, one recent trend of contemporary Academy Awards ceremonies has steadily risen in popularity—fashion commentary. Millions of creators across social media channel their inner Miranda Priestly each year to judge the always extravagant, sometimes ostentatious outfits worn by celebrities on different red carpets throughout the night. Here are some of the best outfits from this year’s event, as selected by members of the Arts & Entertainment team.

Lily James — Post-Pam Princesscore

There are no two ways about it: Lily James has entered her bombshell era. The Pam & Tommy actress transformed from Baywatch megastar to red carpet marvel at the 2022 Academy Awards, rocking a lacy Atelier Versace number complete with a thigh-high slit, pink platforms, and a long train adorned with embroidered flowers. Doing away with her striking resemblance to Pamela Anderson, James traded in her signature blonde locks for a sultry brunette hairstyle. But don’t be fooled—the British actress hasn’t shed her old skin just yet. On the contrary, James’s ethereal look, dripping in TikTok’s viral princesscore aesthetic, served up a nod to her breakout performance in 2015’s Cinderella. We, too, wish we could appoint Versace to be our very own Fairy Godmother.

(instyle.com)

Zendaya — Secret Service Realness

Zendaya has come a long way since her days on the Disney Channel, not just as an actress, but as a fashion mogul, too. Though she was not nominated in any individual categories, the film Dune, in which she starred, was up for 10 awards, including Best Picture. The face of Valentino’s Spring 2022 campaign surprised the world by swapping her dazzling red carpet outfit for a fierce Sportsmax suit at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party. The jacket’s prominent shoulder pads and perfectly cinched waist created a stunning silhouette. Complementing the garment, Zendaya beautifully executed an edgy, Secret Service-type look: Her slicked-back low ponytail, dark eyeshadow, and eyeliner tied the look together.

(glamour.com)

Timothée Chalamet — The Hottest Bad-Boy in Hollywood

Chalamet donned a black and bedazzled Louis Vuitton lace jacket, which belongs to the Spring 2022 womens wear collection and opened to reveal Chalamet’s bare chest. The pairing of the nontraditional bold jacket and the peek of skin was a powerful choice, and especially striking in light of previous complaints about the dullness of men’s red carpet fashion. Chalamet’s Cartier pendant necklace—a white gold panther with emerald eyes—served as the final ornamentation to his smouldering appearance. Chalamet effortlessly pulled off the fit, with black dress pants anchoring the sparkle of his top.

(esquire.com)

Jessica Chastain — All that Glitters is Glory 

California-born actress Jessica Chastain took the red carpet by storm with a dazzling floor length gown that gave off a sparkling glow. Its bottom section’s beautiful lavender tone epitomized elegance—much like the actress herself. The top of the dress had a rose gold hue and sequins, which perfectly complemented Chastain’s red hair. The ruffled tulle bottom added an extra flair to her already stunning look. Custom-made by Gucci, the dress’ flowy material and sparkles were echoes of old Hollywood glamour. Such a style managed to match Chastain’s prestige for the night, for she indeed won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her lead role in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.   

(people.com)

 

Commentary, Opinion

Between climate denial and climate anxiety

by Chloé Kichenane on

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During their time occupying the Arts Building, Divest McGill screened movies and documentaries shining light on the climate emergency. As the chilling images of fires, floods, and famines flashed across screens, the air became heavy. Silence reigned, and only a few deep breaths disturbed it from time to time. It brought forth the concept of “climate anxiety,” the distress caused by today’s environmental crisis. This feeling, which particularly affects younger generations, was reflected in the banners urging McGill to divest from fossil fuels. Yet, although the climate crisis raises anxiety among McGill students, the urgency of the issue is often downplayed, despite scientific consensus.

That week, the urgency of the climate crisis attenuated until it reached complete silence just past the Roddick Gates. On the other side of the gates, all one could hear was a muffled sound; the quiet but familiar melody of denial. The skyscrapers of downtown Montreal are not yet threatened by rising sea-levels nor global warming, even though Quebec’s average yearly temperature has increased by 1.2 degrees Celsius from 1979 to 2016. Among the many studies alerting the public to the climate emergency are the Assessment Reports, one of the most influential sets of documents published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, regardless of its eminence, the latest report published on Feb. 28 was barely covered by the media. Unlike the war in Ukraine, which is rightfully receiving its share of attention from most news outlets, journalists are blatantly overlooking the release of this deeply alarming document.

With a focus on how societies could continue to adapt to climate change, the newest report is a damning ultimatum to humanity, calling attention to the brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to act against climate change. As the global temperature increases to 2.7 to 3 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial era, the damaging effects could be irreversible. Entire ecosystems will be in jeopardy, endangered species’ extinction risks will be 10 times higher than they are today, the numbers of deaths due to heat waves could be multiplied by a factor of two or three, and three billion people could be suffering from chronic water shortages. With entire populations seeing their existence threatened, especially those in coastal regions, sitting in silence is not an option. 

Canada will not be spared the consequences of climate change, as the country will experience extreme weather conditions and longer fire seasons. The report shows that certain areas that would have suffered from wildfire only once every 400 years will now be subject to it every 50 if gas emissions are not lowered. Moreover, climate injustice will particularly affect certain Indigenous peoples in Canada; for example, rising temperatures will threaten the Anishinaabe tradition of “manoomin,” or wild rice, harvest.

With each sinister prediction, the report describes a dystopia that is nearer and nearer to our certain future. Humanity is at risk: Approximately 150,000 people die every year in poor communities because of climate change, while universities like McGill continue to invest millions of dollars in pipeline projects that intrude on Indigenous territory. Once again, the trappings of capitalism prove to be the environment’s biggest threat. Yet, the report clearly emphasizes the negative economic impacts of the climate crisis on Canada, from rebuilding entire infrastructures to coping with a weakened agricultural sector.

Beyond the anger and distress, this report ultimately raises a new feeling among young people: The impression of being powerless, condemned to watch future generations grow up in a world which can no longer support them. It is time to walk back into the Arts building, where McGill students can transform this feeling of helplessness into empowerment by carrying on individual and collective action while also calling out institutions in their assault on the environment. 

Commentary, Opinion

The threat of incel violence runs deeper than we think

by Valentina de la Borbolla on

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Content warning: misogynist violence, white supremacist terrorism

In February 2018, a young man stabbed a woman in a Toronto massage parlour. That same year, another man killed 10 people in a van attack in Toronto. In December 1989, a man barged into Montreal’s École Polytechnique just a few miles away from McGill and murdered 14 engineering students, all of them women. The common thread linking these attacks is incel ideology. Incels, or “involuntary celibates,” men who, frustrated at their perceived ostracization from society, blame women and sexually active men for their own lack of sexual activity. The incel movement is a misogynistic one, oftentimes borrowing violent tactics and rhetoric from white supremacists and homophobic movements. Although incels are mostly active on online forums, away from public scrutiny, they rose to popular attention after the 2018 Toronto van attack. The perpetrator was a self-identifying incel whose social media accounts were filled with misogynistic posts. Since the attack, security experts and the media have fuelled a public debate on whether incels pose a national security threat as terrorists, or whether their danger is overestimated. This debate, however, does very little to address the daily instances of misogynistic violence that feminine-presenting people experience in spaces like their homes, public transportation, and even university campuses.

Those who argue that the media inflates the incel threat also tend to claim that the problem is first and foremost a mental health issue. According to this logic, incels should not be treated as terrorists or violent threats, but rather understood as lonely men struggling with mental health. However, this debate is unhelpful in stopping men from adopting incel ideology. Although non-carceral alternatives to justice are necessary to reimagine our deeply racist and ableist society, the fact that the first instinct is to claim that these men are acting out of distress, and not hatred, proves how much we are willing to excuse the behavior of white men. Instead of engaging in a debate over semantics, we should reframe what we understand as violence.

The question of whether incels are violent terrorists should not depend on how many people they victimize or kill. This approach fails to address the root causes of misogyny and violent nature of incels in the first place. Incels are not violent only when they kill. Regardless of physical action, their rhetoric is violent in and of itself because it rests on the idea that they are entitled to women’s bodies. The links between incel rhetoric and other discriminatory ideologies particularly endangers women experiencing intersectional oppression. Incels blame women for their feelings of inadequacy, and although they express anger at systemic issues of discrimination that also affect men, like fatphobia, their main grievance is a nostalgia for the past when the concept of consent had not entered public consciousness.

Although their views push misogyny to the extreme, incel ideology and rhetoric exists far beyond their chat forums, even creeping into university spaces. As such, we should reframe our conceptions of what counts as violence to include the systems of oppression that protect men at all costs, at the expense of others. At McGill, class debates about women’s rights, queer identity, and racism manifest as frequent instances of marginalized people’s lives being treated as debatable topics. These daily forms of oppression alienate non-men in classrooms and send a clear message that people’s humanity can be contested, potentially reinforcing budding incel ideology. Furthermore, these oppressive systemic factors, such as class discussions upheld by professors, force marginalized people into positions of resistance, whether they want to or not. 

Where the incel movement is afforded compassion, or even pity, the existence and experiences of women and queer and racialized people receives unfiltered contention. This should force us to question what we are willing to tolerate and what we categorize as violence. Whether incels should be labelled terrorists or not does little to prevent violence—it only encourages preventative action after someone has been murdered. Violence exists on a spectrum and men must understand the consequences of their complicity in pushing that spectrum to the extreme. It is their responsibility, as well as that of university administrations and instructors, to identify signifiers of misogyny, violence, and incel arguments and to counteract them well before they morph into murder.

News, SSMU

SSMU executive requirements pose unique challenges for international students

by Juliet Morrison on

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International students holding an executive position in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) face significant challenges due to conflicting credit requirements imposed by Quebec immigration laws and the SSMU constitution. To contend with their 40 to 70 hour weekly workload, SSMU requires executives to drop to part-time status, enrolling in a maximum of one or two classes per semester. However, this contradicts the Certificat d’acceptation du Québec (CAQ) requirement that international students must maintain full-time student status during their studies—the equivalent of a minimum of 12 credits per semester. 

These restrictions have deterred international students from running for SSMU executive positions in the past. Adhering to SSMU’s requirements can jeopardize future renewals of study permits and even, depending on the situation, put international students at risk of deportation.

As an international student from Indonesia, SSMU president Darshan Daryanani, U3 Arts, has experienced challenges with the conflicting SSMU and immigration requirements. Daryanani was supposed to graduate at the end of the Summer 2021 term, before he assumed the role of SSMU president. He intended to take up his position at the SSMU after having completed his undergraduate degree, and use a post-graduate work permit that would have allowed him to work at the Society without having to take any courses. 

However, at the end of the summer, Daryanani was informed by the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau that doing so would violate section 11.4 of the Society’s Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with McGill, which stipulates that officers of the Association must be undergraduate students. 

“Unfortunately, this placed me in a vulnerable situation as not complying with this would have led to a default of the Memorandum, which is dangerous for the SSMU,” Daryanani wrote in an email to the  The McGill Tribune. “I faced a dilemma with SSMU, having to request for [its maximum credit] requirement to be waived. Ultimately, SSMU and McGill’s rules are inconsistent [with each other] and have resulted in major challenges and barriers.” 

In an email to the Tribune, the associate director of International Student Services, Anastasia Koutouzov, stated that international students face distinctive challenges if they wish to become SSMU executives because of immigration requirements. 

“Student executive positions at McGill require a major time commitment, and some students choose to pursue their studies part-time while serving in these roles,” Koutouzou wrote. “This option isn’t available to international students, as they are required by Immigration policies to remain full-time throughout the duration of their studies (except for their last term).”

According to the MoA renewed in 2019, McGill must “ensure the availability” of up to 12 academic credits to SSMU directors and officers that count toward their degrees. These credits are registered as “independent reading and research” courses or an equivalent on academic transcripts. The provision allows executives to only take independent study courses during their tenure so they can focus on their duties for the SSMU while respecting minimum course credit requirements. 

Discussing the importance of international students in student government, Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) president Adin Chan, U3 Arts, emphasized the makeup of international students in the McGill body.

“We have multiple international students on executive both this year and in years past,” Chan wrote in an email to the Tribune. “[International students] bring a unique perspective that is often missing in student government. In order for our student governments to be representative of our student body, it is crucial that international students, who make up approximately 30 per cent of the McGill student body, are also meaningfully represented in the executives of student associations.” 

A previous version of this article stated that SSMU President Darshan Daryanani said that McGill and the SSMU’s rules regarding international student SSMU executives were inconsistent with government regulations. In fact, Daryanani said that McGill and the SSMU’s regulations rules were inconsistent with one another, not the government’s. The Tribune regrets the error.

Off the Board, Opinion

Redefining the I’s in Identity

by Wendy Lin on

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The first year of university is a major transition for all students. For me, the biggest change was not just moving across the country, but additionally learning to adapt to a completely different environment, both culturally and socially. Culturally, as I grew up as a Taiwanese immigrant in a small, predominantly white town; I was almost always an anomaly at school and work. Besides just looking different on the outside, I found that having “two” cultures gave me a different worldview than many of my classmates. Socially, I had to sacrifice some of my passions in order to keep up with the university course load. As I reflect back on my first year, I realize that I depended on tangible things to make up my identity, things that ultimately do not make me, “me.” 

I remember one particular interaction that triggered me to question my identity based on my outward appearance. It occurred on a fall evening when a fire alarm went off in my residence. As we waited outside for the all-clear, I worked my way through the crowds of students, hoping to find my friends. Before I could make it to them, I was stopped by a student, and her first and only question to me was whether or not I spoke Chinese. Annoyed by her intrusion, I angrily said no, even though I did know how to speak Mandarin, and walked off toward my friends. It was not until later that night that I realized I was not bothered by her stopping me, but her question. Why was that her first and only question? Could she not have asked me what floor I lived on, my faculty, or even who I was looking for in the crowd? It was frustrating that how I appeared to others had so much to do with the identity others assigned to me, whether that has to do with the language I speak or my personality. This event, however, resulted in long term upset that I could not pinpoint the cause of at the time. 

I was not new to the idea of having an identity crisis, I just never imagined that I would have one—how could I question my identity if I was so confident? 

This crisis was only made worse when other factors I considered so important to my identity began crumbling down. Throughout grade school, my schedule was jam-packed with band performances, orchestra rehearsals, and skating practices. I could not imagine a life without all the time I spent pursuing these passions, and assumed that I would still be able to continue these activities in university. At the Fall Activities Night, I made sure to check in with the music societies and the skating club, and tried out for as many groups as I could. However, my course load piled up, and by the time November rolled around, the mid-semester stress coupled with seasonal affective disorder caused me to fall down a mental health spiral. I could not even find solace in my grades because I was struggling so much in my classes, nor could I make the time to join any clubs or groups, leading me to lose all social and creative outlets that I’d relied on so heavily back in high school. I’d completely lost my sense of identity. Looking back, I can see how trying to understand myself and my identity through my hobbies was a mistake. 

First year is just the beginning of a journey of self discovery that will surely continue throughout university. Though I am still trying to figure out why certain interactions made me upset, I think that acknowledgement is the first step in allowing growth and self acceptance. I have learned, and am still learning, that I wanted so badly to define myself on my own terms that I ended up suppressing core parts of my identity while placing too much importance on futile interests. Identity is not something that comes easily for everyone, but it is certainly a rite of passage that everyone experiences, albeit in totally different ways.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Finding self-love as an exiled love poet

by Suzanna Graham on

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For Ancient Romans, “following your heart” rarely resulted in finding true love—more often than not, it ended in untimely death, being transformed into a tree, or thousands of years of exile. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the 2022 edition of the McGill Classics Play, love is to blame for the many divine mishaps recorded in Roman mythology. However, as the play unfolds, Metamorphoses reveals that love is a power that one should embrace, not reject. 

Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BCE–17 CE), commonly known as Ovid, was one of the most famous writers from what is called the “Golden Age of Latin Literature.” While Ovid gained success from his love poems, he was also forced into exile in 8 CE for allegedly encouraging illicit love in his elegy Ars Amatoria—an exile that was only revoked in 2017, more than 2,000 years later. Fortunately, most of Ovid’s poetry survived, including his most well-known work: The narrative poem the Metamorphoses. 

Although no less impressive in artistry, the McGill Classics Play, supported by a non-profit venture of the same name, is a tradition slightly younger than Ovid’s poetry. In 2011, Lynn Kozak, a McGill Classics professor, offered a simple challenge to ambitious Classics students: Translate original Greek or Roman texts and adapt them into original amateur theatre productions. Since then, the McGill Classics Play has staged a diverse array of impressive works, ranging from Sophocles’ Philoktetes to Euripides’ Hekabe. This year, Taryn Power, U3 Arts, and Keisuke Nakajima,  BA ‘21,  took on the roles of co-directors. After nearly a year of hard work, they successfully adapted Ovid’s poetry into a narrative that tackles questions about the nature of love. 

“We did the translations ourselves,” Nakajima said in an email to The McGill Tribune. “A lot of the dialogues [and] monologues are taken from Ovid’s poems [….] On the other hand, there are a few scenes where we took more creative freedom.” 

Some of these liberties included Orpheus’ (El Bush, U1 Arts) love of wearing Crocs in sport-mode, a Romeo-and-Juliet-inspired dialogue between star-crossed lovers Pyramus (Alexandra An) and Thisbe (Emma Weiser, U1 Arts), and the main narrative that ties the story together: Ovid’s (Gabrielle Gaston, U3 Arts) creative slump after his exile. Luckily for him, Amor (Fiona Vail, U2 Arts), a goddess of love, comes to joyfully persuade him to retell his favourite stories in hopes of rekindling his love for poetry—and possibly for the goddess Amor as well. 

Ovid’s work often played with gender and sexuality—meaning that the play was ripe for interpretation. Nakajima and Power spent time carefully interpreting each line. For example, a skit starring Iphis (Sierra Burgoyne, U3 Science) describes a situation where Iphis, who is biologically female, presents themselves as a man to protect themselves from their father’s misogynistic beliefs. 

“There was essentially two readings of the story in Ovid, and we ended up choosing one,” Power said. “One is that it’s a lesbian story, and then the other one is that it’s a story about gender non-conformity. We ended up going with the second one, just because honestly, I think it’s more ‘Ovid’ [….] It’s very much not like a physical metamorphosis. It’s all performative.”

The directors’ translations of the texts themselves were exercises in creativity and critical thinking. The play features several original funny folk tunes and wistful ballads created by Troy Lebane (U4 Music Education) and musician Taya Kendall, which further emphasize the themes of love and heartbreak in Ovid’s poems. The success of Ovid’s Metamorphoses only confirms the cast and crew’s resilience: They created a show from a dead language, brought characters to life, and produced a performance all within the chaos of a pandemic. The love that the directors have for the production goes to show that Ovid’s words on love—although from a different time and language—continue to bear weight today. 

“It’s truly been a production where everyone’s been helping,” Power said. “Troy did the music, my best friend Taya did music and graphic design and everything else. Grace, [the set designer], has literally devoted her life to this play, and so I couldn’t ask for more support outside the cast and inside the cast.”

Student Life, Word on the Y

Word on the Y: Experiences with burnout

by Abby McCormick on

More in Student Life:

With finals season upon us, McGill students and faculty alike are entering a period of intense academic stress and anxiety. The turmoils of the past months, from online classes to several spikes in COVID-19 cases, have offered no relief. These high-pressure situations are the perfect recipe for burnout and ––the exhaustion that comes from prolonged stress. While these moments can leave you feeling alone, it is important to remember that many other McGill students face similar mental and physical fatigue. Here are some of their experiences with learning to combat burnout. 

“I did not know what burnout was until a few months ago as I was starting my first year as a university student. Back when I burned out in middle and high school, I thought I was simply disinterested or lazy, which just caused the negative cycle of thoughts to continue to persist. I recently booked an appointment with my local wellness advisor and got connected to a counsellor at the Wellness Hub, and though I can’t speak for everyone’s experience, it’s personally been one of the best choices I’ve made this year. They’ve helped me to pay attention to things I didn’t even know were going on in my body, have a way better sense of what is healthy for me, and learn that it’s okay to lighten my load. Even though many unexpected stresses and barriers have hit me this year, I’m happy I have this new knowledge and set of skills to tackle future ones and I feel more hopeful for the future than I have in years.”

—C.S., U0 Science

“Continuous uncertainty surrounding whether I get to have in-person classes has led to burnout for me in my first two years at McGill. What gets me through rough patches is having established habits and routines with regards to my schoolwork that establish a sort of bare minimum, so I at least never fall too far behind. I guess it’s not really a solution for burnout, but it minimizes the damage.”

—Jacob Van Oorschot, U1 Science 

“Burnout has hit me really hard with the McGill workload. Things tend to snowball one way or another. I have found it helpful to turn the snowball around toward productivity by forcing myself to get moving so that I am likely to continue that momentum.” 

—Ophelia Kaya, U2 Arts 

“I struggled with burnout for a few years in high school and into my first year of university. I felt so much pressure to perform well and get good marks. I had taken on too many responsibilities and my expectations for myself were too high. I began to detach and make excuses for why I couldn’t do things. I eventually reached out to a therapist who helped me realize I needed to change my expectations and just do enough, that I couldn’t do everything. I took a step back and focussed more on what I could enjoy in each thing I was doing, rather than what I was achieving in every aspect of my life.”

—C.W., U0 Arts 

“It was like I could not focus on anything. I could not delay gratification and I had a hard time getting easy things done, like cooking and doing laundry. I’m not out of it yet, but I had to take a step back from school and other activities to start my recovery.”

—L.R., U2 Science

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