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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.”

Ask Ainsley, Student Life

Ask Ainsley: How should I handle rejection?

by Ainsley on

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Dear Ainsley, 

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me. I’ve sent out over 20 summer job applications, got two interviews, and no offers. I’m entering my final year next year and am worried that I’ll be unprepared to enter the workforce without professional experience. Plus, though I know I shouldn’t compare myself with others, seeing my friends all getting offers and being set for the summer months makes me feel awful about myself. How do I stop feeling this way? 

From, 

SAD (Searching Aimlessly Daily)

Dear SAD, 

I feel you! Rejection, though a universal experience, is never easy. Despite the urge you may have to hop on Indeed.com and immediately start the job search again, we suggest you take an adequate amount of time to feel. Take a few hours, or however much time you need, to spend alone with yourself. It’s important to acknowledge, rather than suppress, any painful emotions so they don’t fester and hinder you from putting yourself out there in the future. At the same time, avoid overanalyzing your every decision throughout the failed hiring process—you won’t arrive at any concrete answers and this kind of circular thinking will only compound negative emotions. 

After the grieving process, remind yourself that these instances of rejection do not define your worth or skill level in any way. The recruiters on the other side of the job board are not omniscient. They’re fallible, messy humans just like you. A one-page cover letter, C.V., and 15-minute interview can’t accurately encapsulate all of your assets and skills, and is an inherently unnatural way of meeting people. Mastering this process, like any other exam or course, is a matter of practice. As students just entering into the workforce, rejections don’t reflect on your inherent abilities, but rather on your familiarity and experience navigating the specific forms of self-presentation that job searches typically require. 

It’s cheesy, but my word of encouragement to you is—don’t give up. Forget obsessing over your past applications, and instead reflect on the areas you can improve on. You may be avoiding your friends who have received acceptances out of anxiety or jealousy—and of course, we know that you’re happy for them, but a tinge of envy is only natural. However, rather than indulging in those negative emotions and cutting off a source of support during a difficult time, take advantage of their wisdom: Ask if they’re willing to read over your future cover letters and host mock interviews with you. Do they have any unique tactics? Especially if these folks are in the same field as you, it’s likely that the jobs they’ve applied for have similar expectations to your own prospects. By seeking to learn from your friends’ successes, it will be easier to see their achievements as logical results rather than a personal affront to your competence. 

Putting yourself out there is an accomplishment in itself—with each interview, you’ll become more prepared for the next one, and each cover letter you compose is a great writing experience. It’s also important to remember that rejection is normal, even necessary. Regardless of you who are, everyone has had the experience of sending out dozens of resumes without receiving a response. Many famous writers, for instance, have been rejected at one point or another—try, like them, to shift your mindset entirely. If you frame your goal around receiving 100 rejections instead of acceptances, your success will be inevitable! It’s a matter of putting yourself out there, even when the going gets tough.

I hope you find this advice helpful as you navigate your job search. Remember, all you need is one yes. 

Sincerely,

Ainsley

Student Life

Exam-season survival guide

by Jackie Lee on

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If there’s one thing we can learn from Montreal’s frigid winters, it’s that they always beget spring; a period of stasis, then, is essential for growth. As we enter a new season—as well as exam season—remember that amid the hustle culture of academia, rest itself is a radical act of resistance. To help you prioritize your well-being during this transitional period, the Tribune has compiled a list of simple reminders. Though they may seem obvious, they are important to remember nonetheless.  

  1. Always ask for an extension 

Asking for extensions can be anxiety-inducing. If you’re feeling too ashamed or intimidated to reach out, just remember: Professors and TAs are people too. In reaching out, even just to check in, you’re giving others the opportunity to help you. Many are happy to accommodate students or compromise on deadlines to an extent. There’s no need to trauma-dump in your email—keep it simple and polite. Outline briefly where you’re struggling and offer a time frame or plan that would allow you to complete the work in full. If the deadline is imminent, consider requesting an incomplete, or K grade—an alternative option of which many professors aren’t aware. Since they do not impact your GPA, K grades are a good last resort if completing a course is just out of reach. Get in contact with your professor ASAP to iron out the details.

  1. Get enough sleep 

With academic and personal schedules that can stretch late into the night, cordoning a full eight hours for sleep can seem unattainable. But a good-night’s rest is essential to your well-being. Ask yourself if ratcheting up sleep debt is worth it: Sleep deprivation will impact your mood and productivity, and can seriously compromise your health. Some studies even suggest that it can take up to four days of adequate rest to make up just one hour of lost sleep. Yikes!

Resting will only improve your GPA in the long term. Instead of powering through the week and hibernating all weekend, try to wake at a consistent time and take short naps to supplement the rest (ha)—but remember not to nap too close to bedtime, and be sure to set an alarm to avoid the dreaded nap hangover. Classes are ending; so too are any dreaded 8:30 a.m. lectures. Try switching up your studying to align not with your academic time table, but your body’s schedule. If you’re most productive at night, don’t feel pressured to be an early bird. No matter your specific chronotype, at the end—ish—of the day, just sleep. 

  1. Normalize having “you time”

“Live in the moment” is an adage that rings closer to a tired cliché belonging on a Forever-21 T-shirt than actionable advice. Yet it still holds true: There is more to life than non-stop hustle. Between exam cramming or paper bullshitting, there still exists slow, quiet moments to appreciate. Try your best to set aside breaks for yourself without screen time. Although there’s nothing easier than mindlessly scrolling, you’re likely to feel more guilty than invigorated in the end. Consider spending a study break engaging in an activity you’ll feel accomplished in completing: Listen to a new playlist on a walk; cook a hearty meal; bake a tasty treat. If you’re tight on time, clearing your mind can be as simple as breathing mindfully. Practicing mindfulness techniques can also prove helpful in calming yourself down if any mid-exam panic begins to set in. 

  1. And remember: Don’t define yourself by your work

Being invested in studying is a good thing—that passion is precious. However, defining your self-worth by the quality or quantity of your work can destabilize your sense of self when you inevitably fail to surpass your self-imposed and impossibly high standards. And if you instinctively cringed from the word “fail” in that last sentence, take a moment to reflect. Don’t be afraid of failure. External factors like scholarships or job applications can make it seem like your life hinges on your grades—but valuing a high GPA for whatever reason is not mutually exclusive to the responsibility you have to your own health. The way your work is received ultimately does not define you, and neither does a letter on a transcript. Amidst toxic attitudes in academia that your worth is tied to your work, it’s a powerful and liberating act to decide that the work you produce and the grades you receive are only but a reductive representation of you. Plus, distancing yourself from your academic performance can be healthy, actually. (Even though acing an exam is a hell of an addicting dopamine hit, we know!)

News, The Tribune Explains

Tribune Explains: McGill’s Office of First Nations and Inuit Education

by Shani Laskin on

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McGill’s Office for First Nation and Inuit Education (OFNIE), nested under the Department of Integrated Studies in Education and part of the university’s Faculty of Education, has been in operation since 1975. In the decades since its inception, the office has amassed partnerships with five different Indigenous education organizations across Quebec: The Cree School Board, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, the Listuguj Education Training and Employment Directorate, the Kahnawà:ke Education Centre, and the Naskapi Education Committee. Currently, the office provides six in-community post-secondary programs, including certificates in education, Indigenous language and culture, and Bachelors of Education degrees.

Assistant director Jim Howden remarked that despite its age, it is often underappreciated at McGill. 

“We are probably one of the best-kept secrets here at McGill,” said Howden.

What are the office’s current priorities?

The office is always working to improve its current programs as well as expand them to other communities and more students. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Howden noted that the Listuguj Education Training and Employee Directorate had its first graduating class in the Bachelor of Education First Nations and Inuit program in 2020. The four-year program graduated 15 students. Its success influenced the Kahnawà:ke Education Centre to create a similar program with OFNIE for their students. These programs, Howden explained, are useful in providing a path for Indigenous people to become educators in their own communities. 

“And that’s a truly remarkable feat,” said Howden. “Because, it’s creating Indigenous teachers for Indigenous children in Indigenous communities, and so there’s less need for non-Indigenous teachers like myself.”

Greta Cheechoo, director of education services at the Cree School Board and graduate of two programs partnered with OFNIE, spoke to the Tribune about the value of offering Bachelor of Education programs.

“The programs help the communities to have [many] qualified and competent teachers to teach in our schools,” said Cheechoo.

What do OFNIE partnerships bring to Indigenous communities?

Many of the students pursuing Bachelors of Education or education certificates with OFNIE are adult learners going back to school. Bethany Douglas, a post-secondary counsellor for the Kahnawà:ke Education Centre, explained the significance of having in-community education opportunities as opposed to programs offered on a university campus. For Douglas, the urgency, uniqueness, and usefulness of the partnership with McGill allows these groups to offer the degrees in their students’ communities.

“Our cohort is made up of primarily mature learners, adult students who are returning to school after being out of the school system for a few years. Many have families of their own and have been working in the field of education already for a number of years,” said Douglas. “It would be impossible for most, if not all, our students, to leave full-time jobs to attend post-secondary full time. Our program is in-community, with community instructors as much as possible, so our students have access to a unique program that isn’t found on any [other] campus.”

OFNIE meets annually with a steering committee that provides feedback and guides the office in course delivery and successful programming. Howden emphasized that the partnership between McGill and the associated education organizations is collaborative. 

“We co-create,” said Howden. “We don’t parachute in with the BA program [….] It truly is a discussion working through and creating new courses.”

What role do Indigenous leaders take in these partnered degrees?

While the number varies depending on the partnership, many of OFNIE’s program instructors are Indigenous. Howden spoke to the importance of highlighting Indigenous knowledge and leadership in course delivery.

“There’s a lot more Indigenous knowledge that is brought in, there’s a lot more of the beliefs and values of the community,” said Howden. “We work with the communities, scholars, knowledge holders, and elders in some situations where they deliver the course. We encourage and welcome the McGill presence at every step of the way. But we also favour the Indigenous instructors that know the culture that know the programs that know the children.”

McGill, News

McGill Residences face COVID-19 surge as preventative measures loosen up

by Sabrina Nelson on

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Between March 20 and 26, McGill reported 473 COVID-19 cases on campus, an increase of 330 from the previous week. Along with the rise in cases, many preventative measures are being lifted by both the Quebec government and McGill. After the province disabled the vaccine passport application, McGill announced it would drop vaccine passports at McGill starting March 28, and that all in person final exams would go ahead as scheduled. Starting April 1, McGill will also be consolidating rapid testing in residences into a single site at Carrefour Sherbrooke. Previously, there were four sites—Carrefour Sherbrooke, New Residence Hall, McConnell Hall, and Macdonald Campus Laird Hall—and rapid testing was only available for symptomatic students living in residence.

On the McGill subreddit, students and floor fellows living in residences have expressed concern regarding the sudden increase in cases and the lack of preventative action taken by the university. Christian Tonnesen, vice-president floor fellow, suspects that the number of cases reported by McGill is not representative of the actual number of COVID-19 cases within the campus community, noting that students often do not inform McGill of their positive test results. 

“I have had many floor fellows approach me and let me know that they suspect, and/or have often been told, that a majority of their students have COVID-19, or have been in close contact with someone who does have it,” Tonnesen wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “It strikes me as ironic that for an institution that was very hardline on COVID-19 and took many precautions regarding isolating students and relocating them last year, to have them throw up their hands and say, ‘Welp, we tried, but there are not enough rooms. Good luck everyone.’”

Nina McConnell, a U1 Economics student living in New Residence, approves of McGill’s management of the new wave. For her, tight restrictions at the start of the year, like visitor limits, made socializing difficult and felt arbitrary at times. 

“​​I appreciate the loosening up of the restrictions even despite what’s going on,” McConnell said. “There was a period when it was a little scary when they were out of isolation rooms in residence, but other than that I think they’ve been handling it pretty well. We still need to mask, we still go down to the dining hall and are distanced. But I think, overall, it’s better to manage it this way than to have the extremely tight restrictions that were happening at the beginning of the year when there were less cases.” 

Dr. Anne Gatignol, a professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill, believes that loosening restrictions will increase contamination, which she believes is inevitable at some point. Nevertheless, given that so many students have been contracting COVID-19, Gatignol encourages students to take precautions to protect themselves against the new variant and other respiratory infections. 

“If you remove the mask, you increase the circulation of all respiratory viruses, and we already see an increase in flu and colds due to many other viruses,” Gatignol said. “As SARS-CoV2 Omicron BA.2 variant circulates and is more contagious than the original Omicron, it would be much better to keep masks on most of the time when distancing is not possible. It would protect against COVID, but also against the flu and other respiratory infections.”

Frédérique Mazérolle, media relations officer at McGill, wrote to the Tribune that McGill had revised its protocols in residence to support student safety in light of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Quebec. She explained that appropriate measures will remain in place, and that McGill will remain vigilant as the pandemic evolves. 

“We urge students that test positive to continue isolating in their rooms and to report their test results to the McGill Case Management group. In the event that our self-isolation rooms reach capacity, and in order to accommodate all students in residence, a new room may be temporarily assigned if necessary,” Mazérolle wrote. “If there is increased demand in the future for rapid testing in residences, we will ensure that testing is ramped up to meet capacity.”

Tonnesen believes that the current measures McGill has implemented to tackle the surge are insufficient. As a result, he explained, floor fellows have had to work with students to create their own COVID-19 safety measures as best as they can. 

“Since McGill is failing to act, there are groups of students and floor fellows in residences with shared bathrooms who have had to do the work McGill hasn’t, such as creating ‘COVID’ and  ‘NON-COVID’ sinks and bathrooms in residences with shared facilities or organizing food delivery,” Tonnesen wrote. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say McGill has weighed the pros and cons and decided that the COVID disaster in residence will hopefully pass with minimal media coverage and is therefore not worth the financial cost of ensuring the bare minimum safety requirements for students and floor fellows.”

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