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McGill, News

SSMU Indigenous Affairs prepares to host academic conference

by Kyle Dewsnap on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Indigenous Affairs Committee (IAC), in partnership with the Indigenous Law Association, the Desautels Indigenous Business Society, the McGill students chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and the Indigenous Student Alliance, is preparing to host an academic conference. On March 14 and 15, the conference titled ‘Intergenerational Strength and Resiliency’ will host a total of 14 events including panels, workshops, and keynote speakers. According to SSMU Indigenous Affairs Commissioner Tomas Jirousek, the conference hopes to highlight Indigenous approaches to teaching and learning.

“[The conference has] focussed on different themes over the years,” Jirousek said. “This year, we chose to focus on intergenerational strength and resilience through an academic conference, but not specifically the type of Western conferences that we constantly refer to in academia [….] We have activists coming in, we have elders, we have politicians. There’s a lot of really cool different kinds of knowledge bases that we’re bringing together.”

Roméo Saganash, who will be delivering one of the keynote addresses, has been lauded for his activism for Indigenous issues. Saganash, from the Cree community of Waswanipi, is the first Indigenous Member of Parliament (MP) to hold a seat in Quebec. A survivor of the residential school system, Saganash has spent over 20 years furthering the legal and constitutional rights of Indigenous people, including his contributions to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Catie Galbraith, a member of the IAC and a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, expressed their excitement over Saganash’s visit. 

“[The IAC was] able to get in touch because Roméo follows our Vice-President Events, Janelle Bruneau, on Twitter and she slid into his DMs,” Galbraith said in a message to The McGill Tribune. “Roméo is one of those figures that is pretty beloved amongst Indigenous youth—he’s pretty famously called other politicians out on their bullshit, and that type of refusal is super empowering to watch.”

Galbraith referred to Saganash’s use of an expletive during question period in the Canadian House of Commons: In September 2018, Saganash denounced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s support of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a project that has not yet received consent from the Squamish Nation on Tsleil-Waututh in British Columbia. Jirousek praised Saganash’s ability to remain resilient during his eight year tenure as the MP for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

“Roméo got right involved in the mud and the muck of [politics],” Jirousek said. “And so you’ve seen him be this passionate, powerful voice for Cree people in his own riding […] in the House of Commons, and his work speaks for itself. I remember […] last year when he called up the Prime Minister and said ‘You don’t give a fuck about Indigenous rights.’”

In addition to Saganash, another keynote address will be given by Cindy Blackstock, a Gitxsan social worker who was spied on after suing the federal government for discriminating against First Nations children on reserves by underfunding social services. Nakuset, the Executive Director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, will also be delivering a talk. Jirousek cited both Blackstock and Nakuset as inspirations for his activism. 

“[Blackstock and] Nakuset have been really big role models for myself over the last couple of years,” Jirousek said. “Anytime I have an event, I reach out to Nakuset. I can’t remember the last time that I’ve actually done something of significance without Nakuset there by my side.” 

To Claire Grenier, the SSMU’s Community Affairs Coordinator and a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, events like these are important to fostering a dynamic and diverse community of Indigenous students.

“Administration [and] Enrollment Services are really pushing [for] Indigenous students to enroll at McGill,” Grenier said. “But there’s no support or community that’s really pushed to them, or there’s just nothing there that lets them know that there is a community, that there’s a space for them to learn and to keep Indigenous identity, even in a city like Montreal that’s so urban [….] I think this conference […] to have this as a really distinct moment in the year for Indigenous youth to come together and kind of reconnect and really even get to know other Indigenous students at McGill that they can get involved with, that they can become friends with and share their experiences with, I think that’s really important.”

Interested students are encouraged to visit the event’s Facebook page to view a list of events, and to reserve their tickets for the keynote address on March 15 at 5:00 pm.

Editorial, Opinion

McGill needs to address its colonial legacy

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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McGill’s Vice-Principal Academic Christopher Manfredi is very proud of his efforts to advance McGill’s academic commitment to equity and inclusion. Manfredi says so in the McGill Reporter’s recent feature interview “Confronting Colonialism”, where he  introduced McGill’s new Provostial Research Scholars in Institutional Histories, Slavery, and Colonialism program. The program will fund two new research positions which will investigate McGill’s historic connections to the transatlantic slave trade as well as McGill’s colonial legacy and its impact on Black and Indigenous communities. 

Initially, the addition of these positions seems like a positive step towards McGill addressing its problematic ties to slavery and colonialism. Initiatives such as the Black Students’ Bill of Rights, put forward by the Black Students’ Network, have made it clear that a number of students feel the university must engage in a public acknowledgment of these realities, and the addition of this program is one way for it to do so. However, the media materials put out to publicize this program largely overshadow the continuous efforts that have been made over the past several years by Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) members of the McGill community to shed light on McGill’s colonial legacy. The McGill Reporter article praises Vice-Principal Manfredi for making strides toward inclusion when McGill should instead be crediting BIPOC members of its community for advancing equity at the university. 

In 2019, the culmination of years of effort from Indigenous community leaders resulted in the changing of the Men’s Varsity team name. This semester, Professor Charmaine Nelson is teaching an art history course titled  ‘James McGill was a Slaveowner: Slavery and the History of Universities.’  These examples represent only a fraction of the work that BIPOC individuals have done to address McGill’s continued colonial legacy, and these are the endeavours that should be highlighted by the McGill administration. However, the administration seeks to idolize Vice-Principal Manfredi’s working groups and task forces which, though better than nothing at all, do not yield sufficient structural change. The irony of a white man, in Vice-Principal Manfredi, taking credit for equity initiatives added to McGill’s community by BIPOC individuals seems lost on the administration. 

McGill continues to engage in neocolonial practices: McGill invests in TC Energy, the company behind Coastal GasLink, the company currently attempting to construct a gas pipeline on unceded, untreatied Wet’suwet’en territory. McGill continues its colonial legacy by deciding how to invest its money, and in doing so, they are not only complicit but actively abetting the contemporary oppression of BIPOC. Moreover, many of McGill’s buildings are named after known racists, such as the Ferrier building which is named after James Ferrier, a Conservative politician who engaged in colonial harms such as illegally buying Egyptian mummies from looters, which remain in the Redpath Museum today.

 To fulfill its commitments to diversity and inclusion, McGill must acknowledge and address their current contributions to oppression, rather than making illusory attempts to unveil past instances of it. The administration must also embolden BIPOC members of the McGill community by highlighting classes, such as those taught by Professor Nelson, and publicizing efforts, such as the #ChangetheName movement by Indigenous activists, in their media materials. McGill should pursue these ends rather than allowing elite, white members of the faculty to take credit for the increased equity of the university community. In terms of its own efforts, the administration should continue to fund research like that involved in the new Provostial Research program, as well as fund the publication of the results of said research.

 “To fulfill its commitments to diversity and inclusion, McGill must acknowledge and address their current contributions to oppression, rather than making illusory attempts to unveil past instances of it.”

As it stands, the administration portrays the university’s novel commitment to diversity and inclusion as a way to bolster its image for its upcoming bicentennial celebration. Research programs should not be mere tokens used by McGill to solicit donations from well-intentioned donors; they should be constructed as substantive efforts to halt the colonial behaviours which pervade McGill’s reputation. 

The Tribune calls for McGill to divest from companies that contribute to the continued oppression of BIPOC in contemporary communities, both directly and tangentially. This includes divesting from fossil fuels, completely and unequivocally. Finally, the Tribune calls for the removal of the James McGill statue from McGill’s campus, with recognition of James McGill’s slave owner status and the implications of his deification in McGill’s institutional history. 

 

Commentary, Opinion

It’s time for another Climate Strike

by Climate Justice Action McGill on

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Sometimes the burden of climate change feels like a futile battle. We’ll use a reusable water bottle, never touch a plastic straw, attend the climate strike, donate to fight Australia’s wildfires, and tweet #FridaysForFuture at our politicians, but still temperatures are rising, pollution is increasing, and our institutions and governments remain complicit. We can’t carry the responsibility of ending the climate crisis by individual actions when our economic and political systems are designed to exploit earth’s resources and allow the hoarding of wealth by an elite few. We need to utilize our collective strength and demand systemic change, or else our future will be annihilated. It’s time for another climate strike. 

The Canadian government declared a climate emergency on June 17, but approved the Trans Mountain Pipeline extension the following day, violating the sovereignty and human rights of the Secwepemc nation and other Indigenous communities while cementing Canada’s international role as a climate criminal. The McGill administration has touted carbon reduction and sustainability on campus, but won’t divest from oil, coal, and gas or discontinue its research focused on weapons and the fossil fuel industry. To members of the McGill administration, whose wealth insulates them from the onslaught of climate change, maintaining an unsustainable and traditional social order is more important than transitioning towards a livable future. To them money is more important than our collective livelihood. To the members of C-JAM, their actions are nothing more than fraudulent greenwashing and attempt to depoliticize the climate crisis. Given the consequences, this can no longer be accepted. We need those abusing their power to feel our shared power. 

The fact that some are contemplating or denying that it is time to act relies on a lot of privilege. The fatal consequences of the climate crisis are already here, seen by the recent disasters in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Puerto Rico, the Carribean and more; this will only get worse. The effects of climate change disproportionately impact systematically marginalized groups (including Indigenous, Black, poor, racialized, and Global South communities) who are least responsible for the ecological crisis, while the corporate and political elite emit the majority of carbon and abdicate any responsibility. Due to the ways that systems of oppression overlap and reinforce one another, if we are to combat racism, sexism, classism and other forms of oppression, we must turn to climate justice. For example, those that want to weaken or abolish environmental regulations are the same people who invade Indigenous lands and violently disregard sovereignty rights and Indigenous knowledge. We see this now as Coastal GasLink and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are illegally occupying Wet’suwet’en territory, harassing, surveilling, and arresting land defenders to protect oil and the colonial state. As students with the ability to democratically strike, it is imperative that we mobilize alongside the many activists leading the movement to transform the world at a crucial moment in history. We must envision environmental prosperity in the context of social equity, because no one is free until we all are. It’s time for McGill to stop being complicit. 

The protests on March 15 and Sept. 27, 2019 were historic in size, but without sustained momentum, their influence on McGill’s administration and Canada’s government leaders dwindles; their relevance, galvanism, and potential are lost. Together, across McGill’s faculties and departments, students can democratically vote for a strike that will legitimize our demands and increase public consciousness of the urgency of climate change. Our collective power, combined with that of other educational institutions, can force recognition by both McGill and the Canadian federal government. Our privilege to perform intellectual labour roles is shared with our responsibility to forge a future that’s worth earning our education for. As future workers, students provide a vital service to the economy and McGill and without our cooperation, neither will be able to function smoothly. Striking is powerful enough to force the government to listen to us rather than waiting for their insufficient responses to petitions, letters, and speeches. Nothing is as politically empowering within a democratic society than people committing non-violent direct action against institutional authority. Only with collectivized, disruptive, and prolonged action will we progress the fight against climate change. 

As millions of people are rising up around the world, it is time for us to take a stand against the systems of oppression that are preventing necessary climate action. It’s with all of this in mind that we’re joining the Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES) in their strike week. From March 30-April 3, strike with us and participate in campus protests and actions. Join environmental groups country-wide to collectively take the future into our hands.

governance
McGill, News

SSMU Legislative Council discusses fee increases due to construction

by Deisha Paliwal on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council reconvened on Feb. 27 to debate fee increases associated with library renovations and student clubs food sale fundraisers.   

The meeting began with a presentation by Dean of Libraries Colleen Cook, who shared the feedback received from consultations with students regarding library improvements. Cook reported that students feel the need for more seating and a better atmosphere in the libraries on campus, and that the university will be funding a six-year project to reconfigure the McLennan-Redpath Complex into the Fiat Lux Library Building. The new $13.27 per semester fee, which is currently up for renewal for the next 10 years, according to Cook, will be put towards doubling the amount of study spaces available and purchasing new learning technology.

Cook assured the council that student input is being sought to ensure that the project reflects the needs of the community.  

“Each library has an advisory committee, and there is student representation on those, as well as on the Senate Committee on Libraries,” Cook said. “We also actively reach out to students in formal and informal channels.”

SSMU Law Representative Beatrice Mackie challenged Cook about the reality that sections of the library will remain quiet during the renovations and expressed concern for the availability of study spaces during the construction period.

In response, Cook acknowledged that space will be lost within the complex during the construction, but affirmed that temporary study spaces will be available elsewhere. 

“I am confident that with all the libraries in our constellation of libraries, we will always have some quiet spaces for students during this project,” Cook said. “In the end, we have to do this. We are truly far behind.” 

The council meeting also passed the Motion Regarding SSMU Club Fund Fee Referendum Question, which was moved by Vice-President Student Life Billy Kawasaki. The policy proposes a $0.82 increase to the opt-outable SSMU Club Fund Fee to help eliminate the financial burden of the $25 Food Handling Sales permit. After a SSMU club was reprimanded by the City of Montreal for unsafe food handling last semester, all clubs and services must pay SSMU to use the food handling equipment for all food-related fundraisers.

Medicine Senator André Lametti raised an objection to SSMU’s plans to subsidize this expense of the permit in order to reduce the cost of hosting a food sale fundraiser for student clubs and services. 

“I think subsidizing the price of samosas is against our core values,” Lametti said. “It is a progressive tax where all students contribute to people who want to buy food on campus, while the students with [fewer] financial resources have to stick to the cheaper option of bringing food themselves.”

Arts Representative Adin Chan emphasized the potential of the fee increase to allow student groups to operate effectively.  

“While it is important to appreciate that samosas are essential to McGill culture, we should not overlook that clubs rely on the funding [raised by samosa sales],” Chan said. “Having to pay the $25 fee is counterproductive to the very purpose of [a] sale, which is to generate revenue for the good services that clubs serve on campus.” 

Following further debate, the motion carried with 14 in favour, six opposed, and three abstaining. 

The Legislative Council will reconvene on Feb. 12 in McConnell Engineering 603 at 6:00 pm. 

 

Moment of the Meeting:

Clubs Representative Victoria Flaherty emphasized the importance of subsidizing food on campus by describing a $12 sandwich with a single tomato she saw in the McConnell Café. 

Soundbite:

“No one likes samosas more than I do. In fact, I was one of the only two SSMU [representatives] to go to the protest. But I am concerned that our solution to this is passing another fee. I think there are other avenues we should [pursue] before charging this [fee] to the student body, such as advocating to Montreal Public Health.” – SSMU Music Representative Sebastian Duckett, on the proposed club fee increase. 

Arts & Entertainment

Stuff we liked this Reading Week

by Brianna Cheng, Joey Caplan, Jonathan Giammaria, Lydie Hua on

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Reading Week opens up doors of possibilities for McGill students: It can lead to a tropical vacation, a time of productivity and self-reflection, or a much needed moment to simply relax and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Rest assured, The McGill Tribune did a ton of relaxing, which involved catching up on our favourite movies, music, and vlogs. 

Emmymadeinjapan

Brianna Cheng

For the past three years, Reading Week for me has meant returning home to my family and watching movies with my parents, only for my mom to fall asleep 10 minutes in. Though we are (usually) best friends, we often fail to agree on our viewing preferences. But, this year, we sat elbow to elbow every day watching emmymadeinjapan. At 1.85 million subscribers, emmymadeinjapan is a Youtube channel that documents the culinary adventures of Emmy, a home cook from Rhode Island who finds joy in creating or recreating unthinkable recipes or testing widely unknown ingredients. Some of her videos include making a cake out of instant ramen, shaping ice cream into the shape of fried chicken, and creating edible towels. Emmy is hilarious, inventive and heart-warming. But most of all, Emmy’s channel is something my mom and I can enjoy together in my sliver of time away from McGill.  

Beanpole

Joey Caplan

Everyone is talking about Portrait of a Lady on Fire, but the only essential 2019 foreign historical fiction film revolving around the relationship between two women is Beanpole. The film is both an exploration of how WWII devastated the landscape of Russia and a complicated story of obsession, power, and guilt. Its disturbingly explicit take on some of the subject matter involved makes Beanpole a difficult but rewarding experience, which also sums up my Reading Week spent catching up on overdue assignments.

‘Stupid Love’ by Lady Gaga

Jonathan Giammaria

For days the anticipation for Lady Gaga’s new single, “Stupid Love,” built up. At midnight on Feb. 27, the single dropped. It’s an eclectic bop where Gaga’s belts out her pleas for love amidst electronic synth riffs. The next day, Gaga released the accompanying music video. In it, pink Kindness Punks dance it out to impeccable choreography to bring peace to warring, polychromatic desert tribes and restore balance to CHROMATICA. “Stupid Love” is hectic and absurd. It’s the melding of auteurism and pop that Gaga has striven for throughout her entire career. It’s a bizarre fever dream, a return to form for Mother Monster, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since its release. Gaga, as we came to know her in the early 2010’s, is back. 

 

When Harry Met Sally

Lydie Hua

Having never been to New York City, I felt like I needed to prepare myself mentally for the trip I was to take this Reading Week, and think about what it is I really knew about the fabled metropolis. Most importantly, I knew that this city was where my parents met and where they got married exactly 20 years ago on March 6. This notion brought me back to the classic that is the movie When Harry Met Sally. One of the wittier Rom-Coms of the late 1980s, I found that when rewatching it on the ride there, this movie was still just as good as I remembered. For the rest of the week, I found myself exploring Washington Square Park, and looking for where in the Metropolitan museum, Harry asks Sally on a date, or for the streets Harry runs through at the end of the movie. Much to my disappointment though, the final and best scene of the movie was actually shot in Los Angeles

 

McGill, News

SSMU General Assembly receives lacklustre attendance

by Lucas Bird on

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The Student’s Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) General Assembly (GA) took place on Feb. 24 and failed to reach quorum. The assembly missed its 350 member quorum by a margin of roughly 300, though the assembly room began to fill as the meeting neared its end in anticipation of the SSMU executive candidates debate which followed. All SSMU executives were in attendance, except notably Vice-President (VP) External Adam Gwiazda-Amsel who was attending a community caucus in the Milton Parc community. During the initial question-and-answer period, audience members probed the lack of individuals in attendance, the use and misuse of SSMU executive social media accounts, and the reopening status of the University Centre building.

Following the Q&A, the executives took turns presenting a summary of their activities during the past semester as well as their successes and failures in meeting their campaign objectives. SSMU President Bryan Buraga emphasized new renovations which are being carried out on newly acquired commercial buildings on Peel street. SSMU plans to convert these buildings into an “all-in-one wellness center for students” in order to ameliorate many of the Wellness Hub’s shortcomings that students have noted.

Buraga also reported that he had no new information to provide about the reopening of the University Centre.

In Gwiazda-Amsel’s absence, Buraga also delivered the VP External’s presentation.

During VP Sanchi Bhalla’s report, past candidate for SSMU VP External Noah Merali asked the VP Internal whether she had followed up on a promise made on Dec. 16th to seek out intensive allyship training following last semester’s controversy between her and the SSMU Indigenous Affairs Commissioner Tomas Jirousek. Bhalla clarified her actions following the promise.

“There is a volunteering opportunity in a week and a half, and I plan to be there, the last [volunteering opportunity] happened while I was away, so I wasn’t able to follow up until now,” Bhalla said.

Finally, during his report, VP Finance Samuel Haward stressed his recent success in shifting the entirety of SSMU’s financial structure from ScotiaBank to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Haward felt that the change will simplify a significant amount of future financial logistics for SSMU clubs, and that the transition was seamless.

“We did a bank transition last week and nobody noticed, which is the best thing ever. You may have noticed if you got a cheque from SSMU recently that it is an RBC cheque [and] not a [Scotiabank] cheque. That should be the only thing you noticed,” Haward said.

Moment of the meeting:

After concerns were raised about Gwiazda-Amsel’s use of his official Twitter account as a platform to express his political opinions, President Bryan Buraga, wielding a large piece of pepperoni pizza in one hand and a microphone in the other, came to the VP External’s defense, saying that tweets of this nature fit within the scope of official SSMU social media accounts.

Soundbite:

“I can’t comment specifically on what the VP External said […] but what I will say is that, as a political body, [SSMU work’s] with a variety of different political organizations from different political perspectives in order to get what we believe is the best result for our students. This may or may not include anarchist groups.” —SSMU President Bryan Buraga, about a statement from VP External Adam Gwiazda-Amsel in which he stated he worked with ‘anarchist groups.’

Art, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Nuit Blanche 2020 provides the antidote to winter blues

by Lydie Hua on

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As the leap day came to an end, Montreal found another way to overcome the lack of daylight and the harsh weather. Montreal’s Nuit Blanche, a famed annual tradition, took place from Feb. 29 into the early morning of Mar. 1. Nuit Blanche offered Montrealers something to look forward to amidst the winter gloom. The event, which was filled with music, art installations, and significantly, brightly colored lights, fell in the middle of one the most depressing time of the year. For audience members who had attended the event in previous years, 2020’s iteration of the festivities did not disappoint. The exciting mixture of art forms attracted more than 300 000 people, all of whom were eager to see the hundreds of attractions spread out across the area. 

This year’s theme was “Nuit Blanche verte,” and some notable sights included the light displays and shows part of the “Montréal en Lumière” in the Quartier des Spectacles, which included a Ferris wheel covered in neon lights and an enormous slide at the center of the whole festival. On top of these attractions, the night also featured artists who played with the colour green through various exhibitions of green-themed artwork while others used it as an opportunity to spread messages of warnings about global warming. An important example of this was “From the Big Land.” This piece of visual art, displayed at Concordia, plays with sound and images to create a kaleidoscope of enchanting scenery as images from Glenn Gear’s (a Newfoundland-born and Montreal-based filmmaker and visual artist of mixed Inuit ancestry from Nunatsiavut) photographs of Labrador’s nature as well as beadwork and sealskin, mixed with images from archives of other Indigenous artwork. The installation explores the way in which we think about the planet, Indigenous land, and its cultural and historical contexts.

To add to this environment, several DJs played music throughout the night, which made for an overall positive mood.

Meanwhile, McGill came alive for the night, with installations set up across campus. The Redpath Museum went dark, shuttering its lights to allow for visitors to wander its halls with a flashlight, in line with the Montréal en Lumière theme. The museum being something students rarely take advantage of, this was an extra exciting opportunity to discover what this McGill landmark has to offer. Even the Schulich School of Music had a series of musical chairs set up, while the Otto Maass Chemistry Building, which demonstrated feats of green chemistry. Organized by the Chemistry Outreach Group, the exhibit featured several impressive explosions.

Students might have also enjoyed night clubs that night which also participated in the Nuit Blanche like Café Campus organizing a themed night “Retour à la Jungle,” while some bars were allowed to serve alcohol until 6:00 am.

Overall, Nuit Blanche is definitely an event worth attending. Even while you are in the midst of midterms and essays or endless labs and lectures, this festival reminds students as well as all Montrealers that there are several ways to take a break from our bustling lives. This year’s ‘Nuit Blanche verte’ offered an escape from our very restricting bubbles.

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment

‘Collector’ is just fine

by Sophie Brzozowski on

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“Plugged in, something’s wrong,” sings Disq frontman Isaac DeBroux-Slone on “D19,” the fourth track off of the alt-indie band’s debut album Collector. Against the backdrop of a trebly acoustic rhythm guitar, DeBroux-Slone’s aching vocals sound wistful as he sings of a brief but torrid affair with a faulty D19 microphone. “D19 could have been my queen/ Prettiest mic I’d ever seen,” he howls during the  chorus, while the instrumentals swell behind him in an appropriately maudlin fashion.

Released on March 6, to Saddle Creek records, Collector was received by a small but loyal fanbase who had eagerly awaited the Wisconsin natives’ first LP. Adapted from a handful of demos written by all five members of the band over the course of several years, the songs are eclectic yet cohesive as a collection. Working within a long-established and much revered tradition of quirky, midwestern, DIY, folk-rock, Disq’s sound feels classic. The album has inspired comparisons to many of the 23-35 year-old white, male, guitar-based indie musicians that came to define the genre in the early 2000s—early Beck or late Stephen Malkmus, to name a couple.

Lyrically, however, the band have updated  familiar songwriting tropes to suit the current decade. On “Daily Routine,” DeBroux-Slone sings of a technological ennui, brought on by hours of scrolling and staring at screens—a familiar breed of melancholy for many a modern listener. To their credit, as well, the band seems quick to poke fun at their own doldrums. “Drum in my head/ Fill up on bread/ What do I need/ To make it complete?” goes the second verse of “Drum In.” Indeed, those artists who deign to write guitar-based music about nothing much at all in the year 2020 should all take a page out of Disq’s book and approach their craft with a sense of humour. 

Ask a Scientist, Science & Technology

In conversation with Laura Pavelka

by Thomas Bahen on

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International Women’s Day on March 8 recognizes the accomplishments of women in various fields all over the world. The International Women’s Day website describes the day as an opportunity to “[celebrate] the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.” While all of these are important pursuits that should be celebrated, there is a strange and frustratingly common omission of the word ‘scientific’ from the list. At McGill, female scientists like Laura Pavelka, a faculty lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, are proving that International Women’s Day should not overlook the scientific endeavours and successes of women in science.

Pavelka discussed CHEM 110 and other chemistry courses she teaches, her career in academia, and how her perspective has shifted as she has transitioned from student to professor in an interview with The McGill Tribune. As a teaching professor, Pavelka focusses on communicating her courses’ materials in an exciting and informative way. 

“Definitely at McGill, we have really talented undergrads who will get bored if you are not challenging them enough, no matter how interesting you make it,” Pavelka said. “It is a line that I am constantly playing with.” 

The difficulty of a course, particularly CHEM 110, can be a foundational moment for students’ appreciation of the subject. For Pavelka, the largest classes of her undergraduate experience were the most intimidating, and she hopes to change that for her students. She remembers when professors took time to answer questions during office hours or after class and values this kind of attention for her students. She cites her passion for chemistry as a major component to her continued success as a teaching professor.

“I was not a 10-year-old who had a chemistry set,” Pavelka said. “When I got my first chance to work at a lab in my undergrad, that’s when I first fell in love with chemistry.” 

From there, it was easy for Pavelka to take the leap to graduate school. During her PhD at Western University, Pavelka met Kim Baines, her biggest professional influence and supervisor.

“She did everything,” Pavelka said. “She was one of these people who just seemed to be able to do research, family, teaching. She juggled everything seemingly effortlessly. I know that I learned so much from her during my PhD, and she just happened to be female. For me, it was like, okay, this is possible, […] you can do it all.” 

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related fields (STEM) is well documented starting at the undergraduate level. Statistics Canada published a study last year that found that, out of the undergraduate cohort of 130,000 students entering their first year in 2010, 44 per cent of first-year undergraduate students in STEM programs identify as female. Importantly, the study found that 17 per cent of women left a STEM field of study after their first year. Compared to men, women were more likely to leave earlier on, although if they did stay, they persisted in the field longer.  

During Pavelka’s PhD, only two out of the 35 faculty were women. Since then, the numbers have gotten a bit better: At McGill, Pavelka is one of 12 women in a faculty of 35. Despite her increasing accomplishments in the academic world, she did not imagine herself becoming a professor until she got a job offer at McGill, admitting that her younger self would still be surprised to see her teaching several hundred students at once. 

Taking these experiences to heart, Pavelka has advice for any young undergraduate reaching their first major hurdle. 

“Regardless of gender, your path is not going to be a straight line,” Pavelka said. “Stick with what you are doing at the time. Take opportunities as they come. Maintain some level of challenge and see where it leads you.”

Out on the Town, Student Life

District Bagel opens a second branch in the heart of the Mile End

by ET Wu on

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There is nothing as satisfying as taking the first bite into warm, fresh bread. District Bagel is a bakery that aims to blend this experience with a welcoming hangout spot. With a vast menu of bagels, coffees, and other comfort foods, such as pizza, lasagna, and paninis, the place offers fresh, kosher options for all to enjoy. With the second branch of this 12-year-old bakery opening on Parc Avenue by the corner of Bernard Avenue, customers can now enjoy their meal with the scenery of the iconic Mile End neighbourhood.

“We have a very nice seating area, […] we have wifi [and] a [variety] of food to enjoy,” Samuel Itzkowitz, the general manager of the branch, said. “You can come over with friends, have a conversation, or just come to study with a view of Parc Avenue. It’s just a very cozy place.” 

The interior design of the new District Bagel location differs from other bakeries in the area in that they have a place that bears similarity to a welcoming living room. Patrons can enjoy the bakery’s goods as a complement to their break from busy life, or as a pick-me-up while they get their work done. With widely-spaced furniture and large wooden tables reminiscent of a living room, people can sit for hours in comfort and enjoy its cozy ambience.

Another reason to stop by District Bagel is the quality of their food. While the shop is not a traditional restaurant per se, they offer a wide variety of meals and other à-la-carte options that cater to a wide variety of palates, all of which are freshly made. Itzkowitz discussed the high standards that the chain upholds to deliver quality bagels.

“[The bagels are] made every day […] in the morning,” Itzkowitz said. “They’re shipped here not [lukewarm], but hot [and] are made in a brick oven. The bakers bake until one o’clock, and then […] they start making the dough for the next day.”  

The bakery serves a cornucopia of bagels, with a variety of flavours that are a must-try for those looking for a slight twist on the beloved pastry. 

“We produce kosher bagels, [and] we have all kinds,” Itzkowitz said. “We have regular, sesame, whole wheat, multi-grain, jalapeno, cinnamon, all kinds of flavours.”

Being a kosher catering business, the bakery takes these restrictions seriously. Their decision to open a branch in the heart of the Mile End reflects their desire to serve the Jewish communities of the neighbourhood. For Itzikowitz, growing up in an area of trendy restaurants in Brooklyn, as well as his experiences working with another kosher joint, was key to creating a hip and inclusive bakery-hangout spot.

“I’m from a neighbourhood called Williamsburg, [where] my grandfather actually worked in a restaurant [there],” Itzkowitz said. “Then, I got married to a girl in Montreal, so I [moved] here [and] I  worked at Deli 365 on Bernard, [which] is the second [oldest] kosher deli in Montreal.”

For Itzikowitz, the switch from working at a deli to a bakery was a no brainer.

“Kosher food [doesn’t allow us to] mix meat and dairy,” Itzikowitz said. “We are strictly a dairy place, and over [at Deli 365] they are strictly meat […. so when] I got an offer from District Bagel. […] I [knew that I] love bagels more than meat so I took it, and I’m very happy.” 

So whether you are looking for a place to hang out with friends over paninis or are finding a delicious restaurant that places a strong emphasis on kosher restrictions, District Bagel is definitely a place to try. 

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