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Arts & Entertainment, Internet

Escapism, identity, and the evolution of TikTok aesthetics

by Noma Mirny on

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Tweed peacoats, plaid dresses, corsets, and cutlasses found discarded in antique store basements have attracted a new group of buyers in 2021: Teenagers. 

“Aesthetics,” a branch of philosophy that studies the nature and qualifications of beauty, taste, and art, has been given a whole new meaning in the last decade by Gen Z social media users. The contemporary understanding of the term has completely changed to now align with a collection of visuals that represent a broad array of concepts ranging from historical eras, locations, genres of fiction, music, and even pre-existing subcultures. The most prevalent of 2021 aesthetics can be narrowed down to two categories: Cottagecore, an aesthetic that romanticizes cottage life, and Dark Academia, a style that engages in the eerie visuals of early 20th-century academia. As these two aesthetics—along with many other similar aesthetics—gain popularity in the online lives of young people, it becomes important to understand how they arose, what they are, and what their modern-day implications may be.

For starters, Tumblr might have a few answers. Created in 2007, Tumblr was the first image-oriented social media platform to go mainstream. Pinterest and Instagram, both launched in 2010, followed soon after. Unlike its other social media predecessors, the platform centered around users’ ability to create a distinct visual identity by curating their blog with an individualized colour scheme and font palette, along with the reblogging of content. Zoe Karkossa, U4 Science, has avidly tracked the development of Tumblr aesthetics since she started her blog in 2013.

“Tumblr was the first platform to really capitalize on the use of visual images as symbols,” Karkossa said. “You had Flickr [before], but that was […] meant to be photos that you took. [On] Tumblr, you had the option of curating […] images that other people have taken.”

Karkossa argues that Tumblr provided access to a huge database of pictures and GIFs, which made certain recurring images, products, and color schemes popular among users. Before the white, upper-middle class VSCO blogger aesthetic, there were “basic” bloggers who drank Starbucks, wore Uggs, and posted highly stylized inspirational quotes on Instagram. While older millennials were evolving from the Scene kids of MySpace into early 2010s Hipsters, younger millennials and Gen Z-er’s were building off of the styles on these online platforms to curate their own visual identities.

Beyond curating moodboard blogs, Tumblr was ultimately a fan-centric space. Teens on 2012-2014 era Tumblr created fandoms surrounding YouTubers, bands, shows, and even authors. With so many people discussing the same content—whether it was the Arctic Monkeys AM, Troye Sivan and Tyler Oakley’s “Boyfriend Tag” video, or the unforgettable Mishapocalypse—certain fashion styles also gained popularity on the website, like galaxy leggings and flower crowns. In turn, the mainstream “basic” aesthetic contended with a newer, though no less homogenous, fandom aesthetic.

Carrie Rentschler, an associate professor at McGill’s Department of Art History & Communication Studies who studies aesthetics through the lens of social media activism, noted that social media users must be aware of how different websites provide different avenues of expression for their creators. An aesthetic develops when certain visuals can move between different platforms, adapting in accordance to the new websites. 

“There is a kind of […] revision process that aesthetics are going through as part of the creative process,” Rentschler said. “You have this corpus of material on social media and cross-platform movement of […] emerging aesthetics and […] conventions. [Content creators have] a way of doing things that is not directly agreed upon [but rather, they] have chosen to make similar decisions.”

Whereas Tumblr provided anonymity through its reblogging function—allowing the creation of a visual identity to be developed sans ownership—Instagram shifted visual communication toward a form of individualized social signalling. Instagram users do not simply curate content, they create it. The images an individual posts on Instagram—like the Helvetica-filtered early 2010’s circle of shoes photo—signified, to some extent, the fashion that they subscribed to and the internet subculture they were a part of. Simultaneously, Pinterest users can curate their style by searching up images and creating boards. Not long after, Instagram pages with moodboards followed. 

It should come as no surprise, then, that the aesthetics that originated on Tumblr  and were popularized through Instagram have taken TikTok by storm. The significance of aesthetics, however, lies not in their existence, but in their unexpected mainstream appeal, global influence, and escapist nature. 

No aesthetic is perhaps as escapist as Cottagecore, a theme that originated on Tumblr in 2017—although arguably popularized by Marie Antoinette—and presents a romanticized version of rural life, complete with green-coated fields, airy dresses, flowers, woven baskets, self-subsistence, and frolics through mystical fields. While it is an undeniably beautiful and otherworldly aesthetic that has sprouted many offshoots of its own, Cottagecore also has complicated socio-political undertones. It upholds a conservatively traditional lifestyle, yet at the same time is championed by queer women who find sapphic appeal in a sustainable, unpreturbed, romantic pastoral life. Furthermore, it idolizes anti-capitalism in its pursuit of self-subsistence, but is inherently consumerist in its pursuit of a certain lifestyle—it takes money to be able to buy an array of vintage dresses, curate a charcuterie board, and to even have the time to frolic in a field.

Even so, the Cottagecore aesthetic holds no malicious intent, and provides the viewer a flower-spotted escape from a complicated and stressful world. Taylor Swift’s release of two Cottagecore-themed albums in 2020 has pushed the aesthetic into the mainstream. 

On the other end of the optical and atmospheric spectrum is Dark Academia, a  neoclassicist subset of the larger “Academia” aesthetic which focusses on a certain macabre, academically rigorous, elite university lifestyle, reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. Think studying in a coffee-stained sweater vest, hidden in the nook of a snowed-in library, while you pore over an ancient Greek text to the sound of Vivaldi far off in the distance. 

Jesse Smith, U1 Arts and TikTok content creator, delves into the details of their preferred aesthetic: Dark Academia.

“Whereas Cottagecore is Midsommar without the horror […], Dark Academia is very Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, [and] to an extent, Harry Potter,” Smith said. “A lot of the aesthetic has the undertones of nefariousness. You want to create a secret society with your friends and hide murder. That is not actually something you want to do, but that’s the vibe you’re going for.”

What both of these aesthetics have in common is that they provide young people a form of unique self-expression and a way to elude a world filled with death, disease, racialized violence, and political turmoil. Smith argues that Dark Academia ultimately boils down to self-expression and a growing opposition to the conventions and practices of the fashion industry. 

“We have a lot more of an opportunity, and a willingness to not conform,” Smith said. “A lot of the movement towards aesthetics is against the fashion industry [because] aesthetics can’t be mass produced in the quality people are looking for. Fashion aesthetics have moved the younger generations more towards thrifting and higher quality clothing [….] People care a lot more about how they feel in their clothing rather than how that clothing presents them to the world.” 

Maybe the emergence of these strange subcultures is for the best: Pushing against fast fashion, pursuing a unique sense of self-expression in lockdown, and looking for a fantastical form of escape are arguably some of the best things young people can be doing right now. When the world feels like it is on fire, there is nothing wrong with putting on a flowy dress, closing your eyes, and thinking of a life where a trickling stream, a bloom of lily flowers, and a homemade meal await you by a cottage on a hill. Maybe you will even find yourself along the way. 

 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘CARNE y ARENA’ fuses uncanny simulation and intimate portraiture

by Atsushi Ikeda on

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Content warning: Graphic violence.

Dubbed a semi-fictionalized ethnography by director Alejandro Iñárritu, CARNE y ARENA, or Flesh and Sand, is a VR exhibition that immerses participants into the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States. For 15 harrowing minutes, CARNE y ARENA takes participants across the U.S.-Mexico border, hounded by sirens, searchlights, and the desert wind. But the exhibition—on display at Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal, a gallery housed in a former Lachine Canal shipyard—is not so much about border crossings as it is about what is left behind: Families that could not make it, shoes piled in detention rooms, and footprints in the sand.

The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first is an immersive seven-minute film experience where participants don headphones, a loaded backpack, and a VR headset. Accompanied by a group of 10 virtual immigrants, participants walk barefoot through a room filled with sand to simulate a desert. The threat of being caught by U.S. authorities is ever-present as one crosses the desert: At one point I ran—trying to find virtual cover from border patrol—into a not-so-virtual wall. All the gestures, dialogue, and character models are based on real stories with details cultivated from hundreds of interviews with immigrants. As Iñárritu says, the film is a slice of their nightmare. 

The second part of the exhibit begins once participants exit the “desert,” sans headset, into a dark hallway filled with 10 private viewing boxes, each containing a screen situated in a private alcove. Each screen plays a video profile of an immigrant as their stories unfold in text—from the trauma of being thrown into a freezing cell at the border, to the disorientation of a life in America marked by hope, fear, and sacrifice. During each video vignette, the camera shots widen almost imperceptibly to give a fuller picture of the people that risk being forgotten: Luis, who crossed the border at age nine, and years later was the first undocumented immigrant to graduate from UCLA Law School under the DACA policy; Lina, a maid from Guatemala, who had to work, wait, and pray for 20 years before seeing her daughter again. These may very well be the people you encounter in everyday life.

Once flung from the 360° immersion of a simulated desert trek, walking through the exhibit and engaging with each virtual person face-to-face feels like a personal encounter with each of their stories, down to the last haunting detail. From the helpless sounds of someone dying of heat exhaustion, to refugees packed like sardines into train cars or trailers with barely enough space to breathe, the exhibit invites participants to view each vignette individually. Together, they evoke a sense of compassion that is much more complex because it is cumulative. If the screens were displayed regularly—say, in horizontal Zoom grid fashion—participants would be liable to walking by them without absorbing their content. Through frantic immersion and slow intensity—the dizzying technical experiment and the intimate portrait that follows—Iñárritu’s project succeeds in turning the numbing statistics of immigration into real, human stories.

“VR is all that cinema is not, and vice versa; the frame is gone and the two-dimensional limits are dissolved,” reads Iñárritu’s artist statement, which touches on other binaries like spectator and participant, U.S. and T.H.E.M. Formal innovations aside, there is something uncanny about taking part in this VR exhibit when the entire world has been coated in an unreal sheen.

“Virtually present, physically invisible” has been CARNE y ARENA’s tagline since its 2017 Cannes premiere. Four years later, the phrase still sticks with you for many reasons, as you walk through Griffintown—with shoes on—after the exhibit.

 

CARNE y ARENA, co-produced and optimized for international touring by PHI Studio, is running at Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal. Tickets are sold out until June 20, but extra dates have been added up to July 11.

 

 

Sports

Female athletes deserve equal treatment

by Sarah Farnand, Sophia Gorbounov on

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At the start of the NCAA March Madness tournaments on March 18, Stanford sport performance coach Ali Kerschner released photos comparing the training facilities for the men’s and women’s tournaments. Fans and athletes alike called out the NCAA for the vast differences between the men’s and women’s training facilities and merchandise. This inequity, unfortunately, is not a new problem: For as long as women have played sports, equal representation, as well as the salary and funding gap between men’s and women’s sports has been an issue. These disparities are caused by sexism and the stigma around women’s sports. Male athletes earn more in almost every professional sport, which is a discrepancy that must be rectified. 

Rikki Bowles, B.Ed. ‘10, is the interim head coach for the McGill Women’s Basketball team. In an email to The McGill Tribune, Bowles explained that she believed lack of publicity to be one of the main barriers women face in professional and collegiate basketball. 

“In my opinion, two of the main inequities are the promotion of the WNBA and their players’ salaries in comparison to those in the NBA,” Bowles wrote. “This is not unique to professional basketball but is a trend across many professional sports [….] With less investment, this affects ticket and merchandise sales, broadcasting deals, and in turn affects the […] ability to increase salaries.”

(McGill Athletics)

Men’s conferences in the March Madness tournaments receive over $1.6 million in funding from the NCAA, while the women’s conferences receive nothing.

The NCAA, which governs both the women’s and men’s programs, decides where to allocate funds. In the women’s “swag bags,” which are given to all teams who make the NCAA tournament, there is no  mention of March Madness or even “2021,” while the men’s gifts had all been labelled with the year and location of “the big dance.” 

Aside from the merch, however, it is the women’s training facilities that are receiving the most backlash. The women’s workout area consisted of a single dumbbell rack with six sets of weights all under 30 pounds, yoga mats, and one stationary bike for all 64 teams to share. The NCAA cited a lack of space as the reason for the lacklustre setup, but Oregon Ducks star Sedona Prince exposed the NCAA by releasing a video of large conference rooms filled with nothing but air. The NCAA is a nonprofit designed to help all of its athletes succeed, yet by treating women’s basketball as inferior, the NCAA has hindered the ability of female basketball players to develop and sharpen their skills. Even though the women’s tournament generates significantly less revenue than the men’s, primarily due to lack of promotion, the women players still deserve equitable treatment. 

The differences in support for men and women are also apparent in professional basketball, where WNBA players make an average yearly income of $80,000, compared to the NBA player’s average of $7.4 million. After players like Skylar Diggins-Smith called out the disparity, the NBA pointed to revenues as the reason for these vast differences, stating that the NBA draws larger audiences and secures more profitable broadcasting deals. Regardless of the amount of revenue, WNBA players receive only an estimated 20 per cent of their league’s revenue, whereas NBA players receive 50 per cent. If women were also paid 50 per cent of league revenue, they would make an average of around $200,000. 

The age difference between the NBA and WNBA is another excuse used to explain these discrepancies. Men’s professional basketball, which has been around for 50 more years than women’s basketball, has had more time to build a fan base. A larger fan base can generate more revenue which can be used to attract talent and more resources. If we choose to invest in the WNBA, they can also build themselves into a higher revenue organization.

There is a general stigma that women’s sports are less exciting and generate fewer ticket and merchandise sales. 

The systemic misogyny in athletics must be dismantled, and this process can start by adding structural and monetary support to women’s programs. Education and awareness at all levels of sport is also required to remove the stigma around the validity of women’s sports.

Evelyn Silverson-Tokatlidis, U3 Arts, is a wing for the McGill Rugby Team and the president of the McGill Varsity Council. She explained the disrespect she feels when compared to her male counterparts. 

“This lack of respect trickles through to the everyday life of a female athlete,” Silverson-Tokatlidis wrote to the Tribune. “We see it on social media, where nasty comments from people disrespect and hate female athletes.”

Silverson-Tokatlidis said she faced criticism for choosing a historically male-dominated sport. She recalled a friend telling her that she should stop playing rugby to avoid looking too masculine. 

“Through[out] my whole rugby playing career, I was constantly met with comments from people questioning why I play such an aggressive sport if I was a woman,” Silverson-Tokatlidis wrote. “Meeting strangers and telling them that I play rugby, I was always met with shock and surprise, as if others cannot comprehend that a woman can play a ‘men’s sport.’”

Silverson-Tokatlidis believes that advocacy for equity must extend beyond the world of athletes and toward all women. 

“I believe it is incredibly important to speak out about these issues so others can understand what we go through,” Silverson-Tokatlidis wrote. “We can ignite these conversations with non-avid sports fans by relating some of our aspects to barriers that [women] face in a non-sport context.”

Colette Beauvais, U1 Engineering and a member of the McGill Tennis Team, recalled feeling alienated by underrepresentation in her sport. 

“When I was growing up, I tried to join some club that was predominantly male,” Beauvais said in an interview with the Tribune. “It’s difficult going into that environment and feeling equal or represented.”

Julia Moskal, U2 Science, who also plays for the McGill Tennis Team, agreed with Beauvais that these feelings stem, in part, from the lack of funding and representation at professional levels of tennis. 

“The opportunity and the funding for professional sports once you reach [a high] level is a lot lower in women’s sports,” Moskal said in an interview with the Tribune. “When [young women are] picking out what they want to spend their time on, put energy into, it is a lot harder to get motivated.”

Women’s professional tennis also lacks funding and female tennis players are underpaid. In 1973 for example, Billie Jean King, a world-renowned tennis player with 39 Grand Slam titles, threatened to boycott the U.S. Open until men and women received equal pay for their wins. Along with eight other players and promoter Gladys Heldman, King started her own tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, which later became the basis for the Women’s Tennis Association Tour. 

(Steve Flink / US Open)

The journey to end misogyny and oppression in sports, both at local and professional levels, is far from over. Nonetheless, athletes like Makena Moore, U3 Science and a captain of the McGill Tennis Team, are prepared to uplift the next generation of young women athletes and help break down the barriers they may face. 

“My hope is that I can inspire the [next] group of young girls,” Moore said in an interview with the Tribune. “I really do think that getting to a grassroots level of sport […] is really where you can start the inspiration, and let young girls know that they do belong in sport just as much as anybody else.”

Chill Thrills, Student Life

Graduating in the age of COVID-19

by Josephine Wang on

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For graduating students, the opportunity to don a cap and gown and stand on a podium while family cheers you on is an important rite of passage. For the class of 2021, commencement ceremonies will look different than they did pre-pandemic. Instead of celebrating graduation with friends and family, this spring’s graduates will be watching their names flash across the computer screen at home. But COVID-19 does not mean students cannot celebrate––for this year’s graduating class, here are a few tips to have the perfect celebration from the comfort of home. 

Celebrate your last final

It’s officially over. After doing nothing but cramming for finals, presentations, and research papers, you deserve a celebration. While all the bars, clubs, restaurants, and basically anything fun are closed, there are still ways to have fun: Instead of drinking alone indoors, move the party with family outdoors to enjoy the warmer weather.

Pick an outfit

Wearing your favorite outfit, doing your hair, and putting on makeup can make graduation feel more authentic. But let’s be real—doing all that would take too much effort, and the daily uniform of sweats and unbrushed hair is much more comfortable. So feel free to change up the graduation traditions this year, and do what you’ve been doing all semester and keep your camera off.

Host a virtual graduation party

The parties and celebrations leading up to convocation are perhaps the rosiest part of graduation, allowing students to reflect on their experience at McGill through rose-coloured glasses and forget about all the tears shed in McLennan. Of course, COVID-19 means no more Grad Balls, but who needs them when you can coordinate your own virtual graduation party. Nothing screams party like seeing your friends’ faces crowded into your computer screen. 

Show up on time

On graduation day, make sure to arrive on time to hear the commencement address. Unfortunately, if you live anywhere outside of the Eastern Time Zone, it may mean waking up at 4 a.m. to watch speakers try to figure out how to unmute themselves. If you find yourself busy on graduation day, you can always watch the recording later, just like how you’ve been doing for all of your classes. 

Have a photoshoot

Photos are undoubtedly the most important part of the graduation experience: Without a graduation picture on Instagram, did you even really graduate? But with no in-person ceremony this year, students will need to be creative with their pictures. If you’re a whiz at Photoshop, just insert yourself and your friends into some iconic McGill landmarks. Alternatively, you can take a more realistic grad photo. While you’re catching up on “Love is Blind,” throw on your cap and gown and take some portrait shots on your living room couch. After all, that is basically where you’ve attended school the past year. 

Post-ceremony

After the ceremony, grads typically go out to dinner with friends or family, where toasts are made, tears are shed, and drunken moments are shared on social media. There’s no reason why this year has to be any different. Make a toast to yourself in front of your bathroom mirror, cry at the thought of entering the workforce for the next 40 years of your life, and drink that wine, because you survived McGill.  

To say that this year did not go according to plan would be a gross understatement. Having missed out on many hallmark events and memories, it is only natural to feel a sense of sadness. Try and think about all of the things we gained from this unique experience, and share them with your friends, who might also be struggling to find the bright side. 

Congratulations to the class of 2021! We finally did it. 

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Exploring the microbiota of human breast milk

by Namrata Rana on

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Until recently, scientists presumed that breast milk—the primary source of infant nutrition— was microbe-free. However, recent studies have found that breast milk contains a healthy dose of good bacteria. These microbes originate from the mother’s gut microbiota—the harmless micro-organisms that colonize the human digestive system. The microbiome performs diverse functions like warning the immune system of pathogens, strengthening intestine walls, and regulating metabolism. 

Infants, however, are not exposed to bacteria in the womb and only begin to establish their gut microbiota after birth. Breastfeeding is one way infants develop their immune systems. 

A new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology by researchers at McGill and the Center for Studies of Sensory Impairment, Aging and Metabolism (CeSSIAM) reported significant differences in the bacterial composition of breast milk when comparing the initial and later months of infant development.  

“We observed several common bacteria over both samples of breast milk, but found some more aggressive bacteria in late-stage milk [breast milk at six months],” Dr. Emmanuel Gonzalez, co-author and metagenomic specialist with the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4), said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. 

Using high-resolution imaging technology, the researchers characterized distinct bacterial colonies found in breast milk. The most common commensal bacterial species found in early milk were Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, which are known to inhabit nasal passages and skin in adults. Sphingobium yanoikuyae, a bacterial species found in late milk stages, is also critical to soil bioremediation and can degrade hydrocarbons like oil and caffeine in the environment. 

In their study, the researchers recruited Guatemalan mothers who breastfed for at least six months and evaluated the long-term changes in the bacteria present in their breast milk. They also identified breastfeeding patterns common among low-income countries that are underrepresented in research. Cultural and economic disparities among countries also influence breastfeeding habits: Only four per cent of babies in low- to middle-income countries are never breastfed, compared to 21 per cent of babies in North America.  

“When we consistently pick participants from the same environment, we create biases in our results that can prevent us from understanding how much our own ecosystem is having an effect,” Gonzalez said.

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for six months after birth. However, the organization reported that globally, only 41 per cent of mothers adhere to these guidelines, whereas in North America, only 26 per cent of mothers breastfeed long term. This disparity is primarily due to increased maternal employment in North America, where only 10 per cent of full-time working mothers breastfeed for a full six months. 

“Our next steps to understand the complexity of breast milk is to look for other types of microbes like fungi, worms, and viruses, which can provide insight into the stability of the microbiome,”  Gonzalez said. “In previous studies on pain and its relationship with microbiota, we know that bacteria can sense and react to human hormones, which could be a potential factor that influences these changes.”        

While the benefits of breastfeeding are fiercely debated, breast milk does provide high nutritional value for babies, as it contains easily digestible vitamins, proteins, and fats, in addition to healthy bacteria. Immediately after birth, breast milk provides a source of microbial antigens that cause the immune system to produce defensive antibodies. A recent study on maternal microbiota reported that Lactobacillus reuteri, a common probiotic, can prime the most abundant antibody, Immunoglobulin A (IgA), for defence in infant mice. These results suggest that IgA is critical in preventing infections. 

Future directions for this research include developing artificial breast milk alternatives supplemented with probiotics to improve infant health.

“Just as billions of humans inhabit this planet, there are several millions of organisms inhabiting their own world [inside of] a human,” Gonzalez said. “A small portion of this world exists within human milk as well, which is shared from one human to another.”

McGill, Montreal, News

Students petition McGill Board of Governors to support Dollarama workers

by Respina Rostamifar on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), and the McGill Corporate Accountability Project have created a petition calling on the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) to support Dollarama warehouse workers. Dollarama has been widely criticized for hiring their employees through temporary placement agencies—which prevent stable work status and workplace accountability—and for harbouring unsafe working conditions. 

The petition urges the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) to demand that the Dollarama corporation produce a report on the company’s possible human rights violations resulting from its use of third-party staffing agencies. The petition also calls on the university’s Office of Investments to collaborate with the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) and the Association des Travailleurs et Travailleuses d’Agences de Placements (ATTAP) in the adoption of a new Dollarama corporate engagement strategy.

Samuel Helguero, 2L Law and member of McGill Corporate Accountability Project (MCAP), stated that Dollarama refuses to hire all its staff through permanent placement. According to Helguero, the company also subjects its employees to unsafe work conditions—which have only worsened since the onset of the pandemic, with mishandled outbreaks and a lack of safety equipment. 

“The conditions documented, particularly in Dollarama warehouses, have been nothing short of reprehensible,” Helguero said. “There, one finds poor safety training, dangerously crowded workspaces, and relentless pushes for productivity. Temporary placement agencies act to ensure that migrant workers are not permanently working for any one company or warehouse, creating problems with training and work stability.”

As of December 2020, McGill holds a $3.3 million stock share in Dollarama Inc. The university’s investment was highlighted by a presentation from the IWC on the poor working conditions of Dollarama employees during the Jan. 28 SSMU Legislative Council meeting. In accordance, the Council voted to approve a motion supporting student solidarity with Dollarama warehouse workers. 

Tori Coon, BA ‘19 and the internal affairs officer at AMUSE, believes that it is crucial for the university to recognize its connection to the Dollarama corporation, especially considering Dollarama’s apparent lack of accountability regarding employee safety.

“It is vital for campus unions to recognize the way McGill is implicated in workers’ struggles beyond those of their direct employees,” Coon said. “The university’s silence on the treatment of warehouse workers in companies they invest in is a reflection of their disregard for casual staff, many of whom are paid under a living wage and have worked throughout the pandemic without hazard pay.”

Ayo Ogunremi, SSMU Vice-President (VP) External Affairs, spoke to the Tribune about SSMU’s recent advocacy on Dollarama workers’ rights.

“Through the VP External office, SSMU is working with MCAP to bring awareness about Dollarama’s exploitative labour practices to the McGill community and administration,” Ogunremi said. “The campaign will direct its advocacy towards McGill’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility, which reviews the university’s investment portfolio for socially harmful investments, though only at the request of the McGill community.”

Ogunremi was disappointed to discover that SSMU currently invests in the Dollarama franchise, and stated that the Society will take measures to divest from the company.

“I discovered that SSMU is also invested in Dollarama,” Ogunremi said. “It is just 0.38 per cent of our investment portfolio, but the market value of the shares is just over $13,000. This was a bit sickening to discover, but it is going to be included in the Finance Committee’s annual report on our investment portfolio, so the good news is that we are heading towards divestment.”

Student Life

The mission to rediscover a love for Montreal

by Lilly Lecanu-Fayet on

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As winter draws to a close and ushers in the first teases of warmer weather, it is the perfect time to emerge from hibernation and experience all that Montreal has to offer. During the colder months, it is easy for the once-vibrant city to feel stagnant––icy sidewalks, leafless trees, and gloomy days can cause anyone to slip into a seasonal funk. The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of things to do around Montreal that will help you rediscover your love for the city. 

Take an architectural tour of your favourite neighbourhood

Montreal is renowned for its street murals, but if you’re sick of touring the same art every other week, try going to a new neighbourhood to experience its unique architecture. Take a stroll through Outremont and look at the old houses, or walk up Côte St. Catherine at sunset to see a side of the skyline that is markedly different from the typical lookout spot on the mountain. As spring begins and the sun shines for longer, exploring these neighbourhoods is a nice way to take a break from the McGill bubble.

Browse an independent bookstore

Montreal has an amazing assortment of independently owned bookstores, particularly in the Mile-End and Plateau neighbourhoods. Some of the more popular stores include The Word on Rue Milton and S.W. Welch on Rue St. Viateur, but a walk down streets like Mont Royal or Duluth will lead passersby past numerous bookstores with specialties varying from children’s books to graphic novels. Even if you are not looking to buy anything, there is something very relaxing about browsing a bookshop. In the age of Amazon and one-click online shopping, flipping through books can bring a nice sense of nostalgia. 

People-watch in a neighbourhood park

Picnic season is almost upon us. Take yourself––and maybe someone in your bubble––to relax in a park while people-watching. Montreal has an abundance of parks, and Montrealers love to use them for picnicking and recreation. Some lesser-known ones are Parc Outremont and Parc Palomino-Brind’Amour, but a quick stroll in any direction will surely lead to a hidden gem. As the weather warms up, everyone will soon flock to parks, making them great people-watching spots––you may even spot some cute dogs. Take advantage of Montreal’s picnic law and bring a bottle of wine to make it a classy affair. 

Explore an open air market 

Jean-Talon and Atwater markets are two of Montreal’s most visited sites. Not only are they great places to buy fresh produce, but they also provide a great opportunity to spend time outside. At the end of April, they become open-air markets with vendors selling pastries, produce, and artisanal products like teas and maple syrup. The energy at these spots is infectious, and will help with overcoming the winter blues and kicking off a summer spent outdoors. 

Take a bike ride along La Petite Voie du Fleuve

La Petite Voie du Fleuve is a 30-kilometre bike path starting in Parc Jean Drapeau and winding along the St Lawrence River. The path is well maintained, and can be reached by cutting through Nun’s Island and crossing the Champlain Bridge. BIXI bikes will be available soon enough, and there are stations situated toward the beginning of the path so riders can easily switch them out when their time expires. Leaving the island once in a while can be cathartic, and this path offers a great view of the city as well as the majestic river Montreal is situated on. 

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Actors shine through screens in ‘Inaccurate Conceptions’

by Erika MacKenzie on

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Players’ Theatre’s production of Inaccurate Conceptions, written by Sharon Reichert and directed by Kiara Pollice, U2 Education, ran from March 25-27. The 30-minute play, cleverly adapted to be performed live on Zoom, explored romance, gossip, and breakups. During the brief and intimate runtime, the audience glimpsed a relationship between four friends all trying to resolve the tensions underlying their dynamic. 

Inaccurate Conceptions revolves around Owen (William Marc Smyth, U1 Arts & Science) as he navigates how to break up with his current girlfriend, Angela (Alexa Marston, U1 Arts), to begin a relationship with their friend Lisa (Bailey Bird, U1 Arts). A meta solution for a stageless production, the three of them and their friend Joanne (Mia Berthier, U2 Arts & Science) are on a virtual call together gossiping about a couple, Larry and Dana from The Young and the Restless. When Angela briefly leaves Zoom for a snack, their fictive gossip turns into a discussion about how Owen should end his relationship with Angela. 

Despite Zoom’s limits on personal interactions, the actors’ natural chemistry made Inaccurate Conceptions a captivating play. Members of the cast complimented each other’s energy, which helped to convey the authenticity of their “onstage” friendships. 

Smyth successfully captured Owen’s awkwardness: His long pauses, wandering eyes, and nervous laughter brought to life his character’s precarious standing. In contrast, Bird played Lisa with self-assured confidence. In juxtaposition to Smyth’s sheepishness, Bird maintained eye contact with the camera and delivered her lines with steady speed and volume.

On the other hand, Marston and Bethier, who portrayed Owen’s current girlfriend Angela and their other friend Joanne, respectively, accurately embodied their roles looking in from the outside to figure out Owen and Lisa’s burgeoning relationship. Marston conveyed Angela’s aloofness through subtle characterizations, such as delivering her lines while twirling her hair, chewing with her mouth open, and appearing oblivious to the conversation’s serious undertones. Berthier portrayed Joanne’s frustration over her inability to understand Owen and Lisa’s secret by bringing herself closer to the camera every time she demanded answers from Owen and Lisa. Berthier’s performance offered a nice comedic relief to the dramatic—and albeit frustrating—situation. 

Inaccurate Conceptions ends without a firm resolution, as Reichart decided to leave unresolved tension between Owen and Lisa at the end of the play. During their discussion about Larry and Dana from The Young and the Restless, Owen and Lisa engage in a debate about abortion politics. Owen felt that the father has a right to know about his child, whereas Lisa believed that the mother should be able to make decisions without telling the father. By the end of the play, Lisa and Owen’s conflicting perspectives on parenthood are never fully resolved, but the audience is left believing that they will have a happy relationship together. This unresolved argument highlights the complexity of their romantic relationship and leaves the audience wanting more. 

As the show’s director, Pollice made excellent use of Zoom by giving her actors a unique mobility that would be impossible to carry out on stage. Throughout the show, Angela weaved in and out of frame at random, giving the other actors an opportunity to react to her unexpected presence on screen. Angela’s presence and absence acts as a literal elephant in the room, emphasizing the awkwardness of the conversation. 

Despite failing to issue a content warning for its discussions of heavy material, Inaccurate Conception was overall a creative and intimate play that explored the intricacy of romantic relationships and offered its actors an opportunity to showcase their talents on the screen. Players’ McGill has once again demonstrated its resilience in shifting to an online format.

Science & Technology

PCR: The unlikely hero of the COVID-19 pandemic

by Justin Galouzi on

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Since the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique by Kary Mullis in 1985, scientists have taken for granted the ability to make millions of DNA copies. Despite being hailed as a groundbreaking technology at the time, its spotlight was stolen in 2013 by CRISPR, a precise gene editing tool. Over the past year, however, PCR has regained attention as a COVID-19 diagnostic tool.

PCR exploits the cell’s natural process of division to amplify DNA sequences. When cells divide, they replicate their genetic material, passing one complete set of genetic material to each daughter cell. In human cells, the genetic material mainly consists of DNA. To copy DNA, the cell separates the two strands and replicates the genetic code base by base. Polymerases, a family of proteins, serve as catalysts in this process: Without them, cells would be unable to replicate.

In PCR, DNA strands are separated by heating to a temperature between 48-72 degrees Celsius. However, the naturally occurring human DNA polymerase denatures in these high temperatures. To address this problem, scientists often use another member of the polymerase family: The thermostable Taq polymerase.

“Taq polymerase is capable of resisting the high temperatures needed to separate the two DNA chains,” Dr. Rodrigo Reyes, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at McGill, wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “This is because it was originally isolated from a thermophilic bacteria, Thermus aquaticus, that grows at temperatures of about 70 degrees Celsius.”

The PCR replication cycle is done 30 to 40 times to yield as many DNA copies as necessary, with each cycle doubling the quantity of genetic material. Since PCR is the first step in certain DNA sequencing techniques such as the Sanger method, its ability to produce up to 1 billion copies allows for the analysis of large genetic datasets. 

“Our capacity to amplify DNA is like a superpower,” Reyes wrote. “PCR is an essential tool in many biomedical research applications. But it is also widely used outside of research labs.”

In addition to detecting COVID-19, PCR can also detect several other diseases. Moreover, it is essential in DNA profiling, a process that compares genetic information between different people. Certain regions of DNA are similar for every person while other regions vary between individuals. PCR amplifies one or more of these variable regions so scientists can compare DNA samples. This is particularly useful in forensics, where genetic material found at a crime scene can be amplified and cross-correlated with databases to identify an individual. Scientists can also match DNA samples to a descendant by observing similarities in the DNA sequences to determine if two people are related.

PCR’s other uses range from testing for antibiotic resistance to studying biodiversity in aquatic environments.

“Taq polymerase is used to amplify the few molecules of DNA that can be found in water samples, helping to detect the presence of particular organisms in these environments,” Reyes wrote.

According to Reyes, Taq polymerase also has its flaws: It can only synthesize short sequences of DNA at a time. This is particularly limiting when researchers want to analyze large amounts of genetic data. Furthermore, PCR must be performed in a special instrument called a thermocycler that generates excessive heat, limiting access to these tests to well-equipped laboratories.

Reyes’ lab hopes to produce human-engineered polymerases that can extend the genetic code in bacteria and allow them to make DNA by using other types of building blocks in addition to the four nitrogenous bases currently found in nature.

“[These engineered polymerases] would help to extend the chemistry that cells can use,” Reyes wrote. “Such advancement would eventually help in our goal of using bacteria as small factories for the synthesis of a diverse range of useful chemical compounds used in our daily lives, and help to decrease our dependence on oil-based products.”

McGill, Montreal, News

East Asian Studies department hosts town hall on anti-Asian racism

by Maya Mau on

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The East Asian Studies department held a town hall session on March 23 to discuss the spike in anti-Asian racism in the United States and Canada. Over 50 participants, including faculty members and students, attended the town hall and engaged in discussions about their ongoing experiences. The department also released a statement standing with members of the community grieving from the shooting in Atlanta on March 19, where eight people—including six Asian women—were murdered. 

The recent spike in anti-Asian racism involves acts ranging from microaggressions to physical violence, with many pointing to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-Chinese rhetoric. The spike in incidents of anti-Asian racism is not confined to the United States: A Chinese Canadian National Council report from Sept. 2020 showed that since the pandemic, there were more hate crimes per capita against people of Asian descent in Canada than in the United States.

Yuriko Furuhata, associate professor in the East Asian Studies department who specializes in Japanese film and media, believes that the media of all sorts—including entertainment and news—plays a role in shaping public perception of minority communities. Furuhata explained that as an Asian American woman, she recognizes how deeply these tragedies can affect people, and emphasized that she wanted to provide a safe place for students.

“As someone who grew up in Japan and is now working and living in Canada, I recognize that I occupy multiple positionalities, and I would like to acknowledge that we cannot flatten differences and privileges within Asian communities,” Furuhata wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “As an educator, I also believe that knowledge based on solidarity can be empowering and collective learning is important in order to counter and fight against the power of negative knowledge such as racial and gendered stereotypes.”

Monica Batac, a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work, attended the town hall because she felt disheartened by McGill’s institutional silence on anti-Asian racism, and hoped for an opportunity to discuss the next steps to confront anti-Asian racism. A member of Pan-Asian Collective (PAC)—a Montreal-based organization that aims to empower Asian communities—Batac has often felt that McGill fails to offer resources to students to learn about Asian Canadian history.

“PAC should be celebrated for doing […] peer and popular education,” Batac wrote. “Many of the topics address pressing issues and untold histories, concerns, and movements we don’t even hear about in our university classrooms.”

During the Fall 2020 semester, Batac taught EAST 303—a Chinese studies topics class that focussed on “Unsettling Asian Migrations: Experimenting Pedagogies for Decolonization.” In her class, Batac integrated social work, feminism, and ethnic study pedagogies to discuss the impact of racism against people of Asian descent. Batac is grateful that her class allowed students to understand the Asian immigrant experience and wished there were more spaces—like the town hall—in which underrepresented communities can have such discussions.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to teach this one-time course, because the students and I left knowing the class community we created was unique,” Batac wrote. “It is a shame on McGill that such spaces are rare.”

The McGill administration spoke to The McGill Tribune on how they plan to address anti-Asian racism on campus. On behalf of the university, Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle emphasized that McGill is working to take concrete action to implement more equitable hiring processes and increase student awareness on racism in general, but did not mention any specific plans to prevent anti-Asian racism.

“Though we are making progress, this work is ongoing and more remains to be done,” Mazerolle wrote. “The EDI Strategic Plan and Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism are two recent examples of McGill’s efforts in increasing the representation and success of equity-deserving groups on campus [….] We are committed to a respectful and inclusive environment for students, staff, and faculty. Our priority is to ensure the success, well-being and safety of all.”

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