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The many exclamations of professional sports commentators

by Adam Burton, Adam Menikefs, Zoe Babad-Palmer, Sarah Farnand on

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Any sport can have its defining moments, be it a buzzer-beating shot or a record-breaking win. While some moments are more awe-inspiring than others, many of the most popular are defined by the sports commentators that bring them to life. The McGill Tribune highlights its favourite sports commentator moments to celebrate the memorable dialogues of the the wordsmiths of the sporting world.

“Touch em all Joe” – Tom Cheek

Blue Jays radio announcer Tom Cheek delivered one of the most iconic calls in sports history during Joe Carter’s famous belt to left field that won Toronto the 1993 World Series. Leading up to the moment, the defending champion Blue Jays were down by a single run heading into the ninth inning after the Philadelphia Phillies had taken a 6-5 lead late in the game. Phillies reliever Mitch Williams was called in to secure the win and send the Fall Classic to Game 7. After two batters reached base safely, All-Star outfielder Joe Carter arrived at the plate as the winning run. Carter, who had recorded the final out of the 1992 World Series the year prior, took a 2-2 pitch to deep left field and ended the World Series with a walk-off home run for only the second time in Major League Baseball history. As Carter rounded the bases, Tom Cheek delivered a line that will forever be etched in Canadian sports and baseball history: “Touch ‘em all Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!” 

“We will see you… tomorrow night!” – Joe Buck

Joe Buck famously delivered this line after the St. Louis Cardinals escaped elimination in the 2011 World Series by winning Game 6, one of the greatest games in Fall Classic history, on a walk-off home run by third baseman David Freese. The line was a perfect homage to his late father, who also commentated and used it 20 years earlier during the 1991 World Series. The Cardinals trailed the World Series three games to two at home, and were down to their last strike before David Freese tied the ball game in the bottom of the ninth inning. As the game continued into extra innings, Freese led off in the bottom of the 11th. The Cardinals’ third baseman took a 3-2 pitch to dead center field, homering to end the ball game and having Buck proclaim, “We will see you.. tomorrow night!” 

The Cardinals would defeat the Texas Rangers in Game 7 the following day to win the 2011 World Series. 

“The Canadiens win the Stanley Cup!” – Bob Cole

On June 9, 1993, the Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 in the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals. Even 29 years later, the call from Bob Cole at the end of this game will forever live in the memories of Montreal Canadiens fans: “And now, a 24th Stanley Cup banner will hang from the rafters of the famous Forum in Montreal! The Canadiens win the Stanley Cup!”

The Canadiens have not won a Cup since 1993, but fans still hold out hope. One can only imagine what the call would be when they win their elusive 25th championship.

“Down goes Frazier!”- Howard Cosell

This call by Howard Cosell is nearly as iconic as the event where it occurred: “The Sunshine Showdown” in Kingston, Jamaica. The 1973 face off saw then-undefeated boxing legends George Foreman and Joe Frazier go head to head in one of the most anticipated fights in boxing history.

The fight lasted only two rounds, with Foreman coming out confidently in the opening moments of the fight. Less than two minutes in, he knocked Frazier down with a right uppercut, and did so six more times in the next round. Foreman ended the fight with an overhand right followed by a powerful right hook. Sport commentating legend Howard Cosell was so shocked by the show of dominance that he exclaimed, “Down goes Frazier!” three times in a row. 

Foreman defended his title two more times, eventually losing to Muhammed Ali at the famed “Rumble in the Jungle.”

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“Do you believe in miracles?” – Al Michaels

In perhaps the most famous Olympic hockey game, the “Miracle on Ice” saw a team of mostly amateur U.S. players face off against the heavily favoured Soviet team composed of professionals. The teams met in the first medal round, and at the end of the first period, the score was tied at 2-2. The Soviets went up in the second period 3-2, but blew their lead in the final period when the U.S. scored two goals. The gravity of the win struck Al Michaels in the final seconds of the game. His voice grew more excited, and with three seconds to go, Michaels shouted, “Do you believe in miracles?” 

At the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) gala, the “Miracle on Ice” was honored as the best international ice hockey story of the past 100 years. 

“Bang! Bang!” – Mike Breen

NBA superstar Stephen Curry has hit some of the most improbable clutch shots of the last decade, and his game winner against the Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime on May 30, 2016 takes the crown. 

The Warriors came into the game with a 52-5 win-loss ratio, and would eventually set the record for the most regular season wins at 73-9. Curry scored an astounding 46 points, 31 of which came after halftime. He also set the record for most three pointers in a game, the last of which was one of the most audacious 35-foot shots with two seconds remaining on the clock. Commentator Mike Breen could not believe his eyes, gasping before shouting, “Bang! Bang! Oh, what a shot from Curry!” 

After the game, Breen commented further on the shot. 

“The team took your breath away some nights. And to cap it off with that shot, I just kind of lost it.” 

This shot will go down as one of the most emblematic game winners for one of the greatest basketball teams of all time. 

“Look at Mills! Look at Mills!” – Dick Bank

Two years after almost taking his life, Billy Mills, an Oglala Lakota U.S. Olympic runner, won the gold medal for the 10-kilometre race in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The victory was one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history as Mills, unknown in the running world at the time, outsprinted Australian Ron Clarke, the then world record holder. The historic race was even more memorable because of Dick Bank’s announcing.

When Bank, who was working as a spotter with NBC’s Bud Palmer, saw Mills coming towards the finish and, started cheering enthusiastically when Palmer did not mention Mills’ name:

“Look at Mills! Look at Mills!”

A few days after the race, NBC fired Bank for shouting over Palmer as Mills sprinted the final 80 yards of the race. Mills remains the only American to win Olympic gold for the 10,000-metre run.

Runner’s World
Arts & Entertainment, Books, Film and TV, Music

Stuff we liked this Reading Week

by India Blaisdell, Michelle Siegel, Angelica Voutsinas, Erika MacKenzie, Atsushi Ikeda on

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There was no chance we’d be studying over the break. So, with lockdown limiting our options for respite, the solutions to burnout were simple: Media, lots of media. From a never ending supply of TV shows, books, movies, and music, here are The McGill Tribune’s favourites from Reading Week 2021.

A Discovery of Witches, India Blaisdell

Adapted from the trilogy by Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches is a must-watch show for lovers of fantasy and dark academia. Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer) is a witch and university professor who, while conducting research at Oxford, accidentally finds a magical book that has been missing for centuries. Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode) is a vampire who believes this book could save vampires, witches, and daemons from extinction. Once Matthew and Diana meet, they quickly fall for each other. Bathed in gorgeous orange and blue lighting, and led by a strong cast and script, the show hooks its audience with an enthralling, romantic, and binge-worthy narrative.

Clone High, Michelle Siegel

In the midst of everything 2021 has thrown at students thus far, I found solace in returning to a simpler time: The early 2000s. Released in 2002, Clone High is an odd conglomerate of historical science fiction animation mixed with a healthy dose of parody and self-referential humour. The show follows the teenaged clones of historical figures as they navigate the woes of high school life in the shadow of their biological counterparts. Created by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse fame and Bill Lawrence of Scrubs fame, Clone High is an angsty and humorous portrait of a time that many university students do not actively remember, yet feel immense ownership and kinship toward.

One Night in Miami, Angelica Voutsinas

On Feb. 25, 1964, following Cassius Clay’s shocking defeat of Sonny Liston, the infamous boxer met with Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown to celebrate his historic win. While the world will never know what these four influential actors in the civil rights movement discussed, One Night in Miami depicts playwright Kemp Powers’ fictional account of the evening. The play-turned-film’s one-act structure features a series of conversations between the four together and broken off in pairs, allowing for the cast’s intoxicating performances to shine. Each actor’s ability to depict such iconic figures—not mention their enthralling group dynamics—makes for a captivating account of this historical and elusive meeting.

You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried, Erika MacKenzie 

If you are as obsessed with 80s teen movies as I am, you will love Susannah Gora’s 2010 book on the stories behind some of the most beloved movies, filmmakers, and actors of the era. Gora dives into the history behind films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Say Anything. She also discusses John Hughes’ legacy and his reputation as the most prolific writer of the decade. The book explores how the young actors of the 80s, such as Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Judd Nelson, were named the “brat pack” after an infamously unflattering 1985 New York Magazine article was published describing the group as hard-partying, spoiled Hollywood royalty. Despite the challenges that the article posed for these actors’ careers, their films remained the most cherished works of a generation.

“YESS i’m a MESS,” Wheelchair Sports Camp, Atsushi Ikeda

“The hardest shit since MC Ren”? Contentious maybe, but let’s roll with rap scholar Mac Foster’s comment, since Kalyn Heffernan, the queer, disabled MC of Wheelchair Sports Camp just dropped the hardest track you have heard since lockdown. Think Crumb’s pristine psychedelia mixed with up-your-ass brass hits and a flow that is as ruthless as it is relatable; “boo hoo” //and// “me too.” Better yet, do not think at all and just watch the band tear it up in full PPE as Heffernan flies out of her ballpit of a bedroom to declare “YESS I’m a MESS / YESS I’m in debt / YESS I’m upset / But I got outta bed / So it can’t be that bad / can it?” Just //try// to answer that one.

McGill, News

AGSEM pens open letter condemning continued issues with Workday

by Sequoia Kim on

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In October 2020, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) sounded the alarm over technical issues with the newly implemented Workday Human Resources (HR) system, which left hundreds of employees without pay for months. Two months into the Winter 2021 semester, some McGill employees are still without pay from Fall 2020, others have yet to be paid for work completed since January 2021, and many continue to experience technical difficulties with the Workday interface. In response to persisting issues on Workday, including its decentralized problem-solving method, AGSEM sent an open letter to the McGill administration on March 2 condemning the university’s lack of response to their complaints and set forth several demands.

Although most delayed pay cases were resolved by the end of the Fall 2020 semester, Jessica Rose, AGSEM’s grievance officer, estimates that there are still roughly one dozen outstanding incidents, with new cases arriving in her inbox on occasion.

“I was talking to someone earlier today [and] they have not been paid a single cent for the work they did in the fall,” Rose said. “We just had a partial resolution for somebody who just got paid for work [they] did in the summer [2020].”

After spending much of last semester supporting individuals experiencing payroll issues, AGSEM’s recent letter calls attention to the broader operational and managerial shortcomings of the Workday module. The system’s hiring and registration process is one such shortfall: Employees must be “terminated” from any previous employment before they can register as “hired” for a new position. According to Rose, this setup inconveniences employees who work multiple jobs at the university.

“For Workday, you are supposed to have one profile that covers all [your jobs],” Rose said. “But there is no way for all these different offices who are hiring the same person to coordinate with each other. If different information is put in at those two different levels, [employers] are not going to see it, payroll is going to see it. Payroll does not know where it comes from and […] is not set up to take the initiative to troubleshoot anything that comes their way.” 

While delayed pay was a recurring problem in the Fall semester, Rose was surprised to see employees being overpaid in the Winter 2021.

“[Some employee] contracts were entered for the wrong number of hours, or [employees worked] extra hours but were never actually paid for them,” Rose said. “We are also seeing a ton of issues where people were apparently overpaid. Now McGill is trying to garnish their wages, except there are a ton of errors in the way that they have calculated that.”

Raad Jassim, president of the McGill Course Lecturers and Instructors Union (MCILU), echoed some of the letter’s frustrations regarding Workday. Reflecting on his experience with the Banner/Minerva system—the HR system McGill used preceding Workday—Jassim felt the previous system was more functional. 

“[In Banner], I could see my taxes, I could see my address, I could see my deposit of salaries, I could see my job description,” Jassim said. “If I want to go back 20 years, it [was] all there.”

Following the transition to Workday, Jassim lost access to previously logged information and could only obtain it by submitting a request to McGill’s HR. Jassim recalled how inaccurate data input caused humorous mistakes, but nevertheless served as a testament to the system’s poor infrastructure.

“Sometimes [Workday states] I am hired in 2020, [and] sometimes I am hired way back in 1990,” Jassim said. “So […] when did I start my master’s at McGill? When I am looking at the data, it shows that I started in 1901.”

Jassim has been assisting MCILU constituents settle Workday-related issues since the Summer 2020 semester and is currently pushing the administration for reforms. One notable reform includes carrying over previous profile information so that individuals are spared from having to re-input data for every new employment session.

“If you reinstate yourself in the onboarding [and] you forget to put your pension plan, […] your retirement savings plan, [or] you do not know how, you will be deprived of the benefits,” Jassim said. “So I am asking McGill [to change this] because I do not want to do that every time. It has to be automatic.”

Mario Roy, president of AGSEM, believes the burden of Workday’s faulty system has fallen on employees and unions, who are left to troubleshoot and resolve a wide array of individual complications.

“I’ve been receiving a lot of comments from the hiring units on the fact that this system is much harder to manage, as compared to the past system,” Roy said. “When we receive complaints from our members, sometimes they have been working hours and hours on the phone trying to resolve something [….] When they call HR it is always a back and forth with the union, with HR, with IT services. [McGill] needs […] to improve [the system] overall, instead of looking at it case-by-case.”

The letter demands that McGill conduct an audit of outstanding employees who have experienced issues with Workday and that the university form a task force to ensure impactful solutions are implemented. Rose stated that McGill should consult with unions and workers on solutions moving forward and urged the administration to streamline Workday’s management.

“We want to see that McGill is putting in the management infrastructure that is needed,” Rose said. “There is no software solution for this, it is a manpower and managerial issue. It has to be something that has central coordination because staff in the hiring units are working as hard as they can.”

In an email to The McGill Tribune, a representative from the McGill administration stated that the university has resolved all known delayed payments from the Fall 2021 semester and is moving quickly to address issues as they arise.

“Since the roll-out of Workday back in August, more than 30 staff members from the [Retirement to Recruitment] team and the HR Service desk, in addition to staff in Payroll, Staffing and Academic Personnel have been focussed on supporting end users and resolving the various business process issues that have surfaced over the course of the fall semester,” the representative wrote. “Since then, a number of measures have been put in place to help ensure the next round of hiring for Winter 2021 goes as smoothly as possible. Enhanced user support and training and process improvements are ongoing and will continue to be a priority.”

Rose maintains that McGill’s response to the Workday situation constitutes a demonstrated failure of leadership on the part of the university. 

“The one comment from our members that keeps ringing in my head is, ‘I feel completely abandoned by McGill,’” Rose said. “It is one thing to be frustrated by the circumstances of the last year, but to feel abandoned is assuming that the university leadership has completely forgotten about you and has moved on from the problem before fixing it. There are people who are taking home six figures who are supposed to be fixing this and they are not.”

AGSEM has filed for arbitration for collective grievances on late payments from Fall and Summer 2021. The union is hoping to reach a settlement with McGill to compensate its members but will move the case in front of an arbitrator if a settlement is not reached soon.

Student Life

Student Refugee Program changes lives through education

by Taneeshaa Pradhan on

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In 1978, the non-profit organization World University Service of Canada (WUSC) implemented the Student Refugee Program (SRP) at Carleton University. SRP is a refugee resettlement program that focusses on financial sponsorship and integration for students hoping to study and work in the country. In the years since, the initiative has grown to support students in over 95 post-secondary institutions in Canada. As part of this program, all SRP scholars gain permanent residency status after they arrive in Canada. This is made possible through the organisation’s status as a Canadian National Sponsorship Agreement Holder with the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. 

The SRP was implemented at McGill in 1986 with the resettlement and integration of one student. Since its conception, the intake has increased to support three new students arriving each year. The management of SRP at each school is delegated to the campus’ Local Committee. The McGill Local Committee is made up of volunteers who ensure that SRP scholars are supported during their resettlement. Alice Ishimwe, U2 Arts and a social work intern at WUSC, explained the role of the Local Committee. 

“While we are assisted by WUSC […], the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and the Canadian government, it’s mostly the Local Committee that takes care of the ins and outs of integration for the students,” Ishimwe said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

The student-led Local Committee prioritizes the creation of a peer support network that connects resettled students with one another. Ishimwe described the importance of student involvement in the Local Committee.

“We call it the Peer-to-Peer Sponsorship model,”  Ishimwe said. The big organizations help us with interviews on the ground […] in the camps […], but when students come here they are our responsibility.”

Student-led support begins from the moment students arrive at the airport. To SRP scholars like Manyang Lual Jok, U3 Science, who arrived in Montreal in 2017, these efforts help to create a support system. 

“What makes WUSC unique in terms of integration is the point that […] the first people who pick you up are schoolmates, [ which makes] it easier to interact and ask questions,” Jok said. “For all of us, the first point of contact is always the Local Committee [….] They can go on to become your mentors.”

The SRP program currently relocates students from Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda to Canada and sponsors the students’ expenses for one year, after which they can apply for federal student loans. In the six countries where the SRP operates, there are government-mandated restrictions on higher education. Jeanne-Armelle Uwilingiyimana, U3 Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, explained the necessity of a program like SRP in aiding her relocation to Montreal from Malawi in 2017.

“The whole experience was a life-changing opportunity [….] In my cohort, 250 people applied and 22 were selected,” Uwilingiyimana said in an interview with the Tribune. “It is very sought-after [….] When you graduate high school, you could apply to university but […] the government does not fund refugees or non-Malawians to go to university [….] I don’t see how my future would have been beyond WUSC.”

WUSC McGill recognizes that limited quotas on students admitted through SRP to Canadian universities can leave behind many deserving students during the selection process. Ishimwe explained that in an effort to address this constraint, the upcoming Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) referendum will include a question that asks for an increase in the fees that students pay to support the program. 

“[Currently], each student at McGill [is] paying $2 per semester to help us sustain the program,” Ishimwe said. “We are going to see if we can increase that due to the high number of refugees across the world, especially because of COVID-19.” 

The organization hopes to increase the student fee from $2 to $4 through the referendum. 2018 SRP scholar Gattuoch Kuon, U2 Science, explained the significance of this proposed change.  

“To do good for the world […], don’t see it as four bucks,” Kuon said. See it as four people and their families. You are changing lives.”

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Human Rights Watch Film Festival shares compassion through screens

by Lowell Wolfe on

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From Feb. 18-22, Human Rights Watch Canada showcased a selection of their films for Toronto’s 18th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival, a cinematographic exhibition that celebrates diverse human perspectives from around the world. With COVID-19 disrupting the festival’s typical execution, Canadian cinematographer and festival co-chair Nicholas de Pencier discussed how the team adapted their original vision to a virtual format.  

“This year’s festival looks radically different from last year’s and the many previous years,” Pencier said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “We would gather for a number of nights in the winter in a theatre and have that sense of community around films that resonate issues of human rights [….] The whole team has had to reimagine what a festival looks like in the constraints of being limited to a virtual iteration [….] In fact, there [have been] some wonderful bonuses.”

Pencier is referring to the festival’s free charge and its online accessibility for this edition. All five films—A La Calle, I am Samuel, Love Child, Maxima, and Wake Up on Mars—were posted on the festival’s website. Anyone who registered for the event could watch them any time over the festival’s four-day period.

“Before, if there was a film that you really wanted to see and it was a Tuesday night, you had to be free to come down to the Bloor Cinema in downtown Toronto,” Pencier said. “This year, if you live anywhere in the country, you can download the film at your leisure, at a time that’s convenient to you [….] That’s a huge bonus in terms of its accessibility.”

The festival’s featured films explored the challenges and hardships that people face worldwide. I am Samuel, directed by Peter Mirumi, follows Samuel, a gay man living in Kenya, where laws and cultural values discriminate against queer people. Samuel is caught between two lives: His relationship with his partner in Nairobi brings him joy; however, his sexual identity creates tension with his family, who are farmers in rural Kenya. The film’s tense display of these difficult circumstances is moving.

“There’s a real sort of buzz about films that are new, that are vibrant, that will inspire you and raise your consciousness about really important things,” Pencier said. “[In] I am Samuel, where the struggles to live a queer identity in certain countries are just so formidable, […] the bravery of people who don’t deny their identity is really heartwarming and edifying to learn about through a film like this. [It] has a really intimate access to the protagonist.” 

Other films, such as Maxima by Claudia Sparrow, showcased environmental injustices and Indigenous sovereignty issues. In Maxima, Indigenous Peruvian environmental activist and farmer Máxima Acuña fights the Newmont Mining Corporation for her family’s right to remain on their land. The film displays beautiful vistas of the Peruvian Highlands, which emphasize the land’s significance to Acuña and her family as they try to protect it from an intimidating and exploitative company.

“I really get a sense of [Máxima] and her personal struggle,” Pencier said. “This Herculean effort that she has to make against an adversary that so many people would give up [on], would be afraid [of], would cave in to, [and] she doesn’t. It’s this wonderfully intimate story and knowledge of her that resonates the much broader theme of Indigenous peoples, the sovereignty of the land that they are on, and the exploitation of their land by huge, powerful colonial interests.” 

The film’s topics, which ranged from struggles for democracy to the lived experience of refugees, shared a humanitarian outlook that brought viewers new perspectives on their own lives, and those of others. 

“As soon as there is an awareness of suffering anywhere in the world, all of us as moral beings have to try and reconcile what we have as capital that we might apply to ease that suffering,” Pencier said. “Film has the power to move you emotionally.”

Creative

The T: “A tense SSMU General Assembly and a Judicial Board hearing on BDS” Mar. 2

by Sequoia Kim on

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This week on the show:

  • The SSMU General Assembly loses quorum, fails to pass Divest for Human Rights motion
  • Legislative Council debates and approves the Divest for Human Rights motion
  • Judicial Board holds a hearing re-interpreting a 2016 Boycotts, Divestments, Sanctions (BDS) ruling
  • An investigation into the curfew’s impact on migrant, undocumented, or temporary workers

Episode links:

Host: Sequoia Kim, News Editor
Guest speakers: News Staff Writer Ella Milloy, Contributor Nina Russell, Managing Editor Sophia Gorbounov
Podcast Producers: Multimedia Editors Sarah Ford & Alex Hinton, Creative Director Aidan Martin, Editor-In-Chief Helen Wu
Artwork design: Design Editor Chloe Rodriguez

 

content warning, McGill, News

Sex and Self event covers decolonization and destigmatizing Black sexuality

by Hanna Hipwell Serfaty on

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Content Warning: Sexual violence, racial violence, intergenerational trauma, slavery

Sex & Self, a sexual education organization at McGill, hosted the virtual seminar “Decolonizing and Destigmatizing Black Sexuality” on Feb. 21. This seminar was the second installment of their Black History Month “Facing the Facts” series, and featured Jet Setting Jasmine, a clinical therapist and co-owner of Royal Fetish Films, and King Noire, fellow co-owner of Royal Fetish Films. The event was co-hosted by Chelsea Martin, co-founder of Toronto’s Manifesto, an organization seeking to uplift Black and Indigenous communities, and Felicia Gisondi, U3 Education and founder of Sex & Self.

The panellists explored a wide array of topics, including white supremacy, systemic racism, and the history of the hyper-sexualization of Black individuals. All the proceeds raised from the event were donated to the BIPOC Adult Industry Collective, an organization that aims to support BIPOC adult performers and make the adult entertainment industry a safe space.

King Noire began the discussion by noting how diverse ideas about gender, sexuality, and sexual liberation have existed for generations in Africa before European colonization in the late 19th century.

“It is important to note that [in the] civilizations across the continent of Africa, there were many different forms of sexual orientation and ideas of gender,” King Noire said.

King Noire explained the term post-traumatic slave syndrome (PTSS) to the audience, leading into a discussion about how slavery has directly led to the hyper-sexualization of Black individuals. PTSS is a theory that explains the adaptive survival behaviours of Black communities as a consequence of the multigenerational effects of centuries of enslavement.

Jasmine then shared her own interactions with policing and experiences of systemic racism within the adult entertainment industry, noting how certain forms of pornography—like police porn—reinforce negative stereotypes and contribute to the eroticization and fetishization of Black individuals.

“[Police porn] really is a mockery, because there is no resolve,” Jasmine said. “You’re not telling a historical thing that used to happen, you are selling our reality as entertainment, [and] normalizing it by either making it funny or sexualized.”

Jasmine emphasized the importance of reframing sex to be more pleasure-centred for Black individuals. King Noire and Jasmine currently facilitate fetish training and host workshops on a variety of topics, including sex-positive parenting, the importance of consent, and how to stay safe in the sex industry.

“A major key to Black sexual liberation is about us finding pleasure-centred sex,” Jasmine said. “[There are] no models through history of pleasure-centred sex, [since] everything has been done for the utilization of our oppressor. [The key] is allowing Black and Brown people to […] reconnect to spirituality, which was pleasure-centred sex, and the pre-colonial ways in which we connect to our bodies.”

King Noire also spoke about his efforts to steer the porn industry away from the white cis male gaze and the racial stereotyping that the industry perpetuates. His work aims to create a safe space for Black individuals to explore all kinds of fetishes, sexualities, and gender identities.

“What we’ve been working to do is […] to give a voice to Black sexuality and its ranges, [and show] just how broad the spectrum is,” King Noire said.

Gisondi hopes that the event’s in-depth discussion on the intersections of race and sexuality will ignite further conversations and see more people understand their own sexuality. 

“Too many individuals lack a basic understanding of their own sexuality,” Gisondi wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “By providing folks with the historical understanding of how sexuality and race are intertwined, a new dimension to our participants’ understanding of modern-day sexuality in the anti-racist context was achieved.”

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the proceeds of this event went to BIPOC Project. In actuality, the proceeds went to the BIPOC Adult Industry Collective. The Tribune regrets this error.

The faculty is looking to reduce classes with under 20 people; full-time professors will now teach larger classes. (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
McGill, News

McGill announces return to in-person classes for Fall 2021

by Emilia Chavanne on

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On Feb. 23, McGill University announced their intention to return to in-person teaching for the Fall 2021 semester. The return to campus will be a gradual process, beginning with Tier 2 in-person activities which are currently being implemented during the Winter 2021 semester. The administration’s announcement raised many questions amongst students, but gave the McGill community some sense of certainty for the upcoming semester. 

The university stated at a Feb. 26 press conference that the Quebec government has prioritized the return to in-person education to support students’ mental health and improve academic experiences. Associate Provost (Teaching and Academic Programs) Christopher Buddle detailed what McGill students can expect for the return to in-person classes.

“[For] larger lectures, there is a plan that those will be offered online for students,” Buddle said. “Other kinds of activities, [like] labs, tutorials, conferences […] will be planned for in-person, and most smaller classes will be planned for in-person as well [….] Some students might see a blended approach where some of the core components of the class might be online, with other components in person.”

Jemark Earle, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) President, was surprised by the announcement.

“Although I do think [this decision] was made a bit early, I do appreciate this advanced notice because it gives a lot of time to make this alternative planning,” Earle said. “It is hard to say if the decision was rushed [….] But it is also important this happened, since last year […], the decisions were made a bit too late.”

The university stated that it made their decision early to allow more time for preparation and to grant students a sense of certainty.

“One of the important pieces that came through in the discussions was the importance of a degree of certainty around what the expectations might be for the fall,” Buddle said. “It comes from some students [or] for potentially incoming students who are looking at a lot of different options for next fall as well and wanting to understand what the universities were doing. It might seem early to many in the community, but I think it’s really a signal that we are confident in our planning”

While Earle believes that many students are excited to return to campus, other organizations are concerned about the risk of exposing community members to COVID-19. Mario Roy, president of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), maintains that the university did not consult teaching assistants (TAs) on how the mandatory return to campus will impact them.

“We have not been consulted by McGill on this position even though we have requested many times to be consulted before taking such decisions,” Roy said. “Some of the TAs have been requested to come back to work in person and some have been consulted and agreed and in other cases, they weren’t consulted [….] [McGill] does not care about […] the family situation, they only care about the students or members themselves, they do not worry about the people they might be putting at risk.”

Although McGill has a plan in place for in-person academic activities, the rollout of extracurricular activities on campus remains uncertain. Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau explained that the degree of in-person activities allowed will depend on how the pandemic evolves.

“We will put a priority on our academic activities to be in-person,” Labeau said. “We will be continuing to plan with different possible scenarios. All the scenarios will have the teaching research components, the core academic activities, and then we will have all the other activities in the plans. In some of these scenarios, it won’t be possible to have an in-person Frosh, and in some other [scenarios], it will.”

News, SSMU

SSMU Legislative Council approves Divest for Human Rights Policy

by Nina Russell on

More in News:

The Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Legislative Council convened on Feb. 25, where council members voted on the Motion Regarding the Adoption of the Divest for Human Rights Policy. The policy encourages SSMU to lobby the McGill administration to divest from companies that are complicit in a variety of human rights violations. It was initially put forth at the Feb. 16 SSMU General Assembly (GA), but was only adopted in a consultative capacity after approximately 80 attendees left the meeting prior to the vote, causing the assembly to lose quorum. Following 90 per cent approval for the motion at the GA, the coalition that authored the motion released a petition on Feb. 22 to encourage the Legislative Council to vote in favour of the motion.

The policy targets companies such as Puma and Nordstrom, which profit off China’s incarceration of the Ugyhur people in East Turkestan through the use of forced labour camps. Other companies mentioned in the policy include the Oshkosh Corporation, which manufactures vehicles that the Israeli military uses.

SSMU Vice-President (VP) of External Affairs Ayo Ogunremi urged the council to keep the results of the GA in mind when discussing the motion.

“I would note the significance of the motion being approved last week at the consultative forum and […] the fact that quorum was reached at GA last week and then was lost as a result of an exit [of a significant number of students],” Ogunremi said. “The result was 90 per cent in favour of this motion. I think that’s very important to consider going forward.”

The debate period, which lasted for almost two hours, centred on sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 of the policy—sections that call to divest from arms manufacturing giant Lockheed Martin, and Re/Max, a real-estate company operating in occupied Palestinian territories. Some councillors believed that the policy unfairly targeted Israel, while others argued that this focus detracted from its substance, and defended the policy.

Maya Garfinkel, a U3 Arts student and research coordinator for Students for Peace and Disarmament, argued that the concerns surrounding human rights that were mentioned in the policy are important to McGill students. 

“There have been claims here that [the motion] misrepresents what is going on in Israel and Palestine right now,” Garfinkel said. “I just want to ask, what claim for Palestinian human rights would this council not take issue with? Anything regarding Palestinian human rights is contentious, and the reason that we’re bringing this up is because McGill students are concerned with these issues.”

Councillors on both sides of the issue were optimistic about the engagement in student government that the policy garnered, given that the petition urging the Legislative Council to vote in favour of the motion received 378 signatures. VP University Affairs Brooklyn Frizzle noted that the motion encouraged students to voice their concerns on issues relating to student governance.

“While I understand concerns over the disenfranchisement of students, I would say that this is an example of students being engaged, interested, and hopeful [about] participation in student governance,” Frizzle said.

The motion was approved, with 21 councillors voting in favour, four abstaining, and five opposed. 

The Council also approved a motion amending the internal regulations of elections and referenda, which would provide a clear framework for students to organize “No” campaigns in opposition to a referendum question. The motion was approved with 29 in favour, one abstention, and none against.

Moment of the Meeting:

Management Representative Noah Gundermann unsuccessfully moved to postpone the Motion Regarding the Adoption of the Divest for Human Rights Policy as the minutes from the GA had not been distributed to councillors before the meeting, as per SSMU’s internal regulations on governance. No one seconded it, and the debate proceeded as planned.

Soundbite:

“While I understand the importance of [the] SSMU’s mandate to be a leader in cultural, social, and environmental issues, many of my constituents mention this as a reason for being inactive and disillusioned with student government. They’re frustrated when they see most of their representatives’ time being taken up by hot-button global issues when it feels to them that the issues they face on campus, such as the lack of support for sexual assault survivors and inadequate mental health resources, seem to fall by the wayside.” – Libby Williamson, Arts Representative to SSMU, on her reasons for opposing the Divest for Human Rights motion.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Wavelength Winter Festival kicks off with a virtual bang

by Deana Korsunsky on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

On Feb. 20, Toronto-based music festival Wavelength welcomed virtual attendees to the first show of its series. The non-profit arts organization has celebrated emerging artists for over 20 years, featuring local performers at the forefront of its events. This year was no exception: Toronto-based Zoon and Montreal-based Maryze and Backxwash took to the virtual stage to kick off the February music series. The show was divided into three livestreamed YouTube premieres with 30-minute intervals between performances, each artist having pre-recorded their set at their local venues. The resulting joint concert was a smoothly organized and phenomenally engaging success. 

The night’s first performer was Maryze, accompanied by producer Solomon KI on electric percussion. Filmed in the Diving Bell Social Club, Maryze gave a bewitching performance on a stage laden with fairy lights, candles, flowers, and of course, a diving bell. Gracefully moving around the stage while singing hits including “B.O.Y,” “Dis Moi,” and her soon-to-be-released track “Too Late,” Maryze curated an enchanting atmosphere, lulling listeners with her soft, hypnotic melodies. In-between songs, Maryze noted that this was her first performance in months, smiling as she did so.

“It’s really nice to be singing again and playing with Solomon and being on a stage,” Maryze said.

Maryze concluded her half-hour set with a cover of Caroline Polachek’s “Ocean of Tears,” effortlessly hitting every high note, enchanting viewers with the spell-binding atmosphere that she had cultivated throughout the set. 

The night’s second show was performed by Zoon, whose self-described Indigenous shoegaze pop performance contrasted beautifully with Maryze’s witchy, alt-pop tunes. Zoon’s set was filmed in the Toronto music studio Palace Sound, and featured Andrew McLeod on drums, Drew Rutty on bass, and Cole Sefton on lead guitar. The set was a feature film production rather than a recorded concert, heavily intermixing elements of sound, lighting, and camera editing to create a trance-like viewing and listening experience. The setlist was largely instrumental, with Zoon’s soft, nearly lyric-less vocalizations interspersed to highlight the varying melodic tempos. The camera moved between musicians, zooming in and out of their instruments, superimposing Zoon’s mouthing of lyrics in between shots, and blurring performers to create a dazy, ethereal ambience.

Polaris 2020 prize winner Backxwash ended the show on a fabulously demonic note. The Montreal rapper appeared onstage at La Sala Rossa in front of a pulpit and curtains, a tableau backlit in a red hue. Clad in devil horns, dark robes, a cross necklace, a crimson wig, and thick black eyeliner, Backxwash made clear her intention: Deliver to viewers a rebellious, subversive, satanic sermon. 

Armed with what seemed to be the most powerful bass line in existence and a fiery desire to shock and awe, Backxwash gave an incredible performance of—bluntly put—banger after banger. Backxwash performed many of her hits from her album Deviancy, including a rendition of her song “Devil in a Moshpit,” which was so consuming, made viewers forget that they were not, in fact, in a mosh pit. Livestream commenters raved during the performance, with one viewer even pointing out the extent to which Backxwash transported them to her virtual show. 

“[S]creaming at the screen like I’m on the rail at the show,” the viewer commented.

Wavelength’s pandemic premiere epitomized that the live music industry is not dead, but rather hibernating, and it will give its all to break out of the current performance slump. Each artist curated their own unique atmosphere that successfully transcended distance and device screens to envelop virtual attendees. From Maryze’s beguiling vocals to Zoon’s nostalgic instrumentals, to Backxwash’s satanic, digital rave, the evening was a phenomenal success. 

Saturday’s performances can be found here. The Wavelength concert series schedule can be found here.

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