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Science & Technology

Survival of the mutated

by Stephanie Deng on

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In his theory of evolution, which dates back to the 1800s, Darwin argues that living organisms evolve over time to promote survival and to produce the fittest offspring. This evolutionary model is based on two concepts: That all life on Earth is interconnected and that its diversity results from certain traits predominating over generations. Usually, these changes take place over thousands, if not millions, of years.

Given the right conditions, evolutionary change can be approximated on much shorter timescales. In a recent study, McGill researchers collaborated with an international team to model natural selection by observing wild mice for 14 months in the Nebraskan desert. Mice with light and dark coloured fur were captured and placed in enclosures with light and dark-coloured soil to investigate their evolution over time.

“My objective was to provide a complete story of adaptation, from mutation to phenotype to fitness, in a single study,” Rowan Barrett, an associate member of McGill’s Department of Biology and lead author on the study, said.

The goal of the study was to succinctly illustrate the process of adaptation, or changes at the genetic level that lead to better survival rates. Adaptations can manifest themselves as behaviours, which may allow for better evasion from predators, or as physically anatomical changes. Such adaptations are the outcome of mutations, or changes in DNA, which are demonstrated by environmentally-sensitive characteristics observable with the naked eye.

While there is a growing number of gene-focused studies that identify the role of  DNA in changing characteristics, Barrett explained that the scientific community knows little about the ecological or genetic factors that prompt the evolutionary changes to begin with. In contrast, his research combined a large-scale field study with laboratory-based tests in order to examine both the ecological and genetic factors that drive adaptation in wild mice.

Throughout the study, both light and dark mice were found to adapt to their new enclosure regardless of whether or not they were originally captured from light or dark regions. Mice placed in darker enclosures overall had a greater survival rate, as did mice placed in enclosures matching their original habitat. Mice placed in light enclosures evolved to have lighter-coloured fur than their ancestors while mice placed in dark enclosures evolved to have fur almost twice as dark.

Researchers found a mutation that deletes part of the Agouti gene decreases pigment molecules, changing fur colour. While the frequency of the deletion seemed to be the same between light and dark mice at the beginning of the experiment, the rate increased for mice in light enclosures and decreased for those in dark enclosures by the end of the study. These findings demonstrate a strong propensity for genetic selection.

Ultimately, the study is an example of evolution in an accelerated time frame. Although the mice are similar, there are variations among them that ensure longevity in a world dictated by the rule that the fittest survive.

The study implemented an experimental setup that effectively imitated the complexities of the evolutionary environment.

“Working outside the lab is difficult because you lose control of a lot of factors,” Barrett said. “You have to adapt to changing circumstances and unexpected problems.”

Science & Technology

The brain in higher resolution

by Farida Rahman on

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McGill’s new 7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, located at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) or ‘the Neuro,’ is the first of its kind in Canada. The T refers to ‘Tesla’, the unit of measurement for the magnetic strength of the machine. At 7T, it outperforms the 3T MRI machine that is the current standard in neuroimaging technology.

“This [7T] scanner has a higher magnetic field than conventional scanners,” Amir Shmuel, an assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery and researcher at the MNI, said. “What this allows [is] better resolution […] and improved contrast [….] We cannot see brain columns and layers at 3 Tesla, [which] are small structural and functional units [of the brain]. They are in the range of 0.4 to one mm. In order to be able to observe them and also detect functional signals, we need 7 Tesla.”

Shmuel and his team obtained $18.8M in funding to cover the new machine and various other projects at the Neuro. The 7T MRI project alone reportedly cost approximately $10M in construction and equipment, although it was covered under a research grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

“At the Neuro, we’ve got a long history of doing what’s called ‘functional MRI’,” Richard Hoge, associate professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery and the director of the MRI program at the MNI, said. “In functional MRI, psychology and basic neuroscience researchers will have subjects inside the scanner while they are doing different tasks [….] Specific types of imaging techniques can help to localize the brain areas that are involved in performing those tasks. So, the motivation for getting the higher yield, the 7T MRI, as opposed to the 3T MRI that we currently have, is that the system [can detect] much smaller functional changes, and it can also localize brain responses much more precisely.”

Researchers at the MNI are interested in using this new technology to uncover previously-elusive structures in daily functions, such as those associated with vision, as well as to studying neurological diseases with greater clarity. While a 7T MRI was installed in the Robarts Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario in 2009, McGill’s new machine is capable of scanning the full body instead of just the head. This opens the door to studying the role of the spine as part of the central nervous system and its implications in neurological diseases.

“[With this research], we very much hope to significantly improve our capacity to detect and to observe early changes in the brain that are associated with multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and dementia,” Shmuel said. “The scanner will allow us to detect subtle changes in the structure and function in the brain, [which is] part of what we expect with neurological disease.”

The MNI is developing its backend computational capabilities to store and analyze the large sets of data from the 7T MRI, in addition to pushing to better define the ethical standards around how data is collected. In terms of accessibility, the MNI intends to make the data collected from the machine available to the public as part of its commitment to open science.

“The Neuro has been a pioneer in institutionalizing the notion that data collected should be shared on open databases that are accessible to other researchers,’ Hoge said. “[This is] to avoid duplication of human experiments and also allow more researchers access to the data, and, hopefully, have a bigger impact on public health and on basic research.”

Equipped with this brand-new technology, the MNI will be focusing on training researchers in how to best use the machinery and interpret the results, as operating it can be a technical challenge. In the future, researchers hope to train students and continue to purchase the latest imaging technology so as to be on the leading edge of neuroscience research.

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Concordia Art History Undergraduate Journal hosts conference on art in a mobile age

by Nicholas Raffoul on

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On Feb. 16 and 17, Concordia’s Art History Undergraduate Journal (CUJAH) hosted their eighth annual conference, Dislocation: Art in a Mobile Age. The discussions focused on locality in art, drawing on issues of representation and mobility. The conference explored how artists claim spaces for production and exhibition. Guest speakers included Concordia students, artists, academics, workshop facilitators, and McGill Professor Charmaine A. Nelson, whose research focuses on black Canadian Studies in the Department of Art History.

In collaboration with CUJAH, The Fine Arts Students Alliance at Concordia (FASA) hosted a panel about redefining and creating spaces for artistic expression in the digital age. Guests discussed pushing the boundaries of a physical gallery space, and how they plan to move toward virtual mediums to present art.

The panel included speakers whose expertise extends beyond the confines of traditional institutions, including digital content creators and dance workshop facilitators. The FASA talk epitomized a new age in art and technology, bringing in creators who use a range of forms, including Google Maps, wearable computing, tech education, and sound and space research.

Lucas LaRochelle, founder of Queering the Map, discussed their storytelling platform and how it acts as a living archive of queer experience and collective memory. Queering the Map is a community-generated mapping project that geolocates queer moments and memories in physical, public spaces, offering queer people the opportunity to document their own experiences. LaRochelle’s mapping project, which started in early 2017, has over 15,000 documented moments in Canada, the U.S., and Australia, and is expanding globally. LaRochelle started the project to examine the relationship between space and memory.

“I was thinking about the multiplicity of feeling that is held in particular locations and what it means for me in relation to that place and what it would feel like to move in a world that was animated by the multiplicity of how people experience space,” LaRochelle said.

Florence Yee, a queer Toronto and Montreal-based artist, also spoke on the panel. Yee’s textile projects use text to reflect their experiences as a diasporic Cantonese person living in Montreal and the tensions that come with trying to express their culture and sexuality within the confines of white institutions. Drawing inspiration from their Cantonese-Canadian history, Yee examines the daily life of individuals in the diaspora through the lens of gender, race, and language. Yee noted the inclusion of their art in galleries as a reclamation of traditionally white, male-dominated spaces.

Nelson was the keynote speaker for CUJAH’s conference, where she presented her research on fugitive slave advertisements in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Her talk focused on newspaper advertisements for slaves mainly in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Jamaica and aimed to shed light on slavery in Canada.

“Found throughout the transatlantic world, fugitive slave advertisements demonstrate the ubiquity of African resistance to slavery,” Nelson writes. “Recalling fugitive slave advertisements as a form of visual culture, this presentation positions them as one part of the colonial infrastructure and network, including slave owners, printers, and jailers, that sustained the racialized distinction between free and unfree populations.”

CUJAH’s weekend-long conference reaffirmed why space matters when discussing the production and display of art. Although the artists, creators, and academics who attended came from diverse professional backgrounds, all of the speakers were keen to pave the way for the future of art.

Arts & Entertainment, Music, Pop Rhetoric

Vampire Weekend’s misplaced nostalgia trip

by Katia Innes on

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Though latte art has long been a staple for the caffeine-addicted and financially-irresponsible youth, it’s becoming a little passé—perhaps pancake art will be the next trend in breakfast-themed artistry. Or at least that’s what Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig thinks. In the music video for “Harmony Hall,” the band’s latest track, Koenig spends a jaunty five-minutes making pancake art with a spirograph, doling out flapjacks for bandmates and celebrity pals including Jonah Hill, Dev Hynes, Danielle Haim and a snake. The video was supposed to build anticipation for Vampire Weekend’s long awaited fourth album Father of the Bride, but its reliance on metatextual references through recycled lyrics and vapid celebrity cameos makes for a hollow and disappointing return.

It’s been a long time since anyone has heard anything from Vampire Weekend. The band’s last album, 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City, was met with widespread praise from finicky music journalists and precocious teens alike. The album was a clean, deliberate evolution from their previous Ralph Lauren tennis-chic indie pop works. Then, as mysteriously as they had appeared, Vampire Weekend retreated from the pinnacle of alternative, Urban Outfitters-friendly pop that they had created.

Nearly six years after Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend has returned a little older and, questionably, wiser. They are no longer the adorably smug recent Ivy-League graduates who played tennis with Jake Gyllenhaal and sang about New England girls who wear Louis Vuitton. Koenig, joined by bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson, have swapped their boat shoes and polos for Chakos and fleece quarter-zips.

“Harmony Hall,” the teaser track for Father of the Bride, attempts to establish a new folk-groove. The song feels hesitant, uncertain whether or not to reuse old tricks to please fans. The inability to invest in either tradition or progress makes the reliance on self-reference all the more obvious. Koenig has inserted the line “I don’t wanna live like this, but I don’t want to die” from “Finger Back,” a track from Modern Vampires of the City, directly into “Harmony Hall.” It’s almost as if Koenig lazily copied and pasted a throwaway, Instagram-popular line into this track simply to please fans.

The choice to open the album with “Harmony Hall” feels cloying—Koenig seems to be begging fans to make the connection with “Finger Back.” The line is little more than a fun Easter Egg for longtime fans, and doesn’t adds anything to their canon. The reliance on using past works to make the current tracks more relevant is rooted in contrived nostalgia.

The video also alludes heavily to past work. The recurring shot of Koenig flipping pancakes as his bandmates, and his famous friends chow down is reminiscent of the video for 2013’s “Diane Young,” which itself parodied The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. This image of the band flexing with other celebrities may have worked alongside the lyrics of “Diane Young” about nihilism and bourgeois culture, but it is disconnected from the new single’s focus on 21st century political uncertainty.

There’s a certain pressure for Father of the Bride to live up to fan’s expectations, the majority of whom were in their teens during Vampire Weekend’s heyday. For many, Vampire Weekend’s past albums conjure up a certain wistfulness for anxious adolescence. It’s not surprising, then, that Koenig and crew chose to tread the well-worn and easy path of appealing to fans through forced nostalgia. However, what once made their music special for fans—lyrics that managed to capture universalities through their obscurity and a worldbeat melding of genres—are simply regurgitated, losing their sheen with each reiteration.

 

Edit: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Rostam Batmanglij did not contribute to the production of ‘Harmony Hall’. The Tribune regrets this error. 

Science & Technology

Measles resurgence spells trouble for Canadians

by Ronny Litvack-Katzman on

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In the first two months of 2019, Canada has seen an increase in the number of active measles cases compared to the same period last year. There are currently ten confirmed cases in British Columbia, enough for the Provincial Health Services Authority to declare an outbreak, and one in Quebec and Ontario, each. For a country like Canada, which declared itself free of measles in 1998, the slow, but steady increase in the number of measles cases per year is a disturbing trend.

The highly infectious and contagious illness is contracted when a person makes contact with the measles virus. Spread via the respiratory tract, the measles virus can remain infectious in the air for up to two hours, making the possibility of contraction very high in densely-populated regions. Measles, like other respiratory viruses, presents a standard set of symptoms including a high fever in excess of 40 degrees celsius and a dry cough, but is punctuated by a characteristic skin rash covering a large area of the body.

“It is probably one of, if not the, most infectious virus[es] known,” Brian Ward, an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Host Resistance, said.  “Before HIV, [measles] was considered to be the most immunocompromising virus around.”

Measles replicates in host cells via a single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) pathway, a method of replication in which the virus harnesses multiple sets of proteins to survive. According to the modern classification system of viruses, this places measles in the same viral replication category as rubella and the mumps viruses, all of which spread quickly from host to host.

Virologists quantify the infectiousness of a disease based on its reproduction number (R number), which is the average number of people that every person with the disease will secondarily infect. The reproduction number for seasonal influenza, the common flu, is two. By contrast, the reproduction number for measles is 18.

Since the disease has scarcely appeared in Canada over the last two decades, public health workers have scrambled to identify and isolate cases of measles over the last week. Most recently, Vancouver reported ten related cases of measles thought to have been transferred through the public school system.

According to the federal government, the best defence against measles is vaccination, which is covered free-of-charge by provincial health care. For a disease with such a high R number, greater immunization coverage is required to achieve herd immunity.

“A highly-vaccinated population, where over 85 per cent, and, ideally, greater than 95 per cent of the population is vaccinated, can truncate [the] spread [of measles] dramatically,” Ward said. “Any imported case will only spread to a small number of secondary cases. As vaccine coverage drops, the outbreaks caused by each imported case become larger.”

A 2018 study in the PLOS Medicine journal confirmed reports of dropping vaccination rates across the United States.

“Since 2009, the number of philosophical-belief vaccine nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) has risen in 12 of the 18 states that currently allow this policy,” the study reads.

Commonly referred to as the ‘anti-vaxxer’ movement, many American cities are currently witnessing the repercussions of parents exempting their children from medically-advised vaccinations. Even though medical science has conclusively proven that vaccinations are overwhelmingly safe, the rate of children who are receiving optional vaccinations continues to decrease.

The Seattle, Washington region, one of the many ‘metropolitan hotspots’ for unvaccinated populations as outlined by the 2018 study, has become the epicentre of the current measles outbreak in the United States. In Washington, the majority of measles cases identified have occurred in individuals under the age of ten who had never received the vaccine.

In order for Canada to avoid falling victim to large gaps in the immunization record and to protect at-risk populations such as the immunocompromised and elderly, children need to remain up to date with all types of vaccinations.

“The worst outcome of measles in Canada would be [the] hospitalization of patients with pneumonia or [another] secondary bacterial infection,” Ward said.

The fateful consequences of having an unvaccinated population would have the greatest negative effects on those Canadians most vulnerable in the first place.

Arts & Entertainment, Books

Anti-reading week reading list

by Sophie Brzozowski, Jonathan Giammaria, Tess Buckley, Katia Innes on

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Two months into the semester, reading for pleasure seems like a long-forgotten pastime. To some, the thought of willingly digesting more information feels like a cruel joke, but we here in the Art & Entertainment section are firm believers in intellectual procrastination. Here are some books you can read to avoid reading.  

Milkman by Anna Burns

Sophie Brzozowski

Set in 1970s Belfast, where rumours spread as easily as mould on a piece of soda bread, Burns’ protagonist, known to readers only as ‘middle sister,’ is the victim of a stalking by a dangerous paramilitary with an insidious agenda. As gossip circulates, middle sister quickly becomes the subject of public scrutiny and intimidation. In a time when flying the wrong flag or reading the wrong book is enough to betray your loyalties, middle sister finds herself the unwitting ally to a dangerous man from the wrong side of the tracks. Written in cryptic, circular, first-person prose, Milkman is a chilling portrait of the political paranoia that accompanied the Troubles as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl.

The Library Book  by Susan Orlean

Jonathan Giammaria

Susan Orlean’s The Library Book hooks its readers with an investigation of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire, prompting her comprehensive examination of the often overlooked institution. Orlean has a knack for weaving multiple narratives together. Throughout the book, the author explores a slew of disparate topics: The settlement of the Wild West, women’s rights modern America, and even the AIDS crisis are all united by their ties to the L.A. Central Library. At times, Orlean’s multiple narratives come across as filler needed to distract readers from the fact that the reason behind the fire remains unknown. Ultimately, however, what begins with the library’s greatest catastrophe becomes emblematic of its enduring status as one of L.A.’s most valuable resources.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Tess Buckley

Those looking for a challenging and canonical read should consider The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Milan Kundera’s 1984 novel tells the story of four people whose lives are intertwined during the 1968 Soviet invasion of Prague. Set against a backdrop of never-ending political upheaval, the characters struggle to navigate the chaos of their lives and maintain a shared lack of control. Although violence shapes and threatens each of the characters’ lives, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is ultimately about love. It is love that distracts and entertains the characters, allowing them to stay sane as violence pervades all aspects of their lives. In the wake of political turbulence, the characters grapple with the frustrating reality that there is no dress rehearsal for life. In just 393 pages, The Unbearable Lightness of Being delves into the philosophy of love, art and politics.  

Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee

Katia Innes

Equal parts domestic thriller and family drama, Native Speaker follows Henry Park, the first-generation son of Korean immigrants, who happens to be a spy. Working for an unnamed independent contracting firm, Henry must tail John Kwang, Queens councilman and fellow Korean-American. Meanwhile, Henry grapples with an earth-shattering tragedy, and tries to reconcile with his wife Leila in the wake. Spanning entire lifetimes, Lee’s narrative seamlessly traverses the rain-soaked streets of Flushing, and the sterile, suburban hell of upstate New York. Though it was released over two decades ago, Native Speaker is increasingly relevant in an era of identity politics and virtue signalling. The novel questions the assumptions upon which relationships are built, and the paradoxical importance and un-importance of race.

 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ demonstrates surprising wisdom

by Tess Buckley on

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Following in the footsteps of shows like Big Mouth and Chewing Gum, Sex Education explores sex and the lack of knowledge that so many young people have on the subject. The series’ protagonist, Otis (Asa Butterfield), is a sexually-repressed teenager whose sex therapist single mother Jean (Gillian Anderson) doesn’t shy from embarrassing conversations. Otis grew up surrounded by manuals, videos and inappropriately-open conversations about sex, creating a home environment that no doubt contributed to his fear of intimacy. Now a reluctant expert on the subject—despite being a virgin—Otis teams up with the school’s resident bad girl, Maeve (Emma Mackey), and the two go into business together, setting up an underground sex therapy clinic to help their equally-inexperienced classmates.

Unlike Otis, Maeve lacks parental guidance, and her complicated home life means that she is constantly working to keep her world from falling apart. As Maeve, Mackey is a pink-haired, leather jacket-wearing young woman who does as she pleases. Unlike so many of her peers, Maeve isn’t preoccupied with social pressure or academic expectations. Instead, she struggles to make rent and takes the fall for her brother’s drug deals gone awry—secrets she keeps to herself for most of the season. Otis’ sheltered life breeds an entirely different set of hardships, and his complicated relationship with his overbearing mother inflicts sexual neuroses and an insatiable desire for perfection.

Despite their respective imperfections, when the two join forces, their combined strengths lead to successful business endeavours. What begins as a professional relationship quickly blossoms into an unlikely friendship. Maeve and Otis challenge one another and encourage growth, and the result is a heartwarming friendship and a charming storyline.

While the show is powerful in its honest portrayal of sexual confusion, it lacks authenticity in other regards. Like many most shows set in high school, Sex Education’s teens are played by adult actors. Butterfeld and Mackey, in addition to many of their cast-mates, are all in their 20s, but were cast to play 16-18 year olds. The show contributes to the long-standing tradition of using adult actors to portray teenagers. In addition to visually misrepresenting young people, Sex Education ascribes age-inappropriate behaviour to young teens more likely to be seen in a college environment, such as casual sex and drug use. The result is a dramatized depiction of high school that misconstrues the lived experiences of actual high schoolers.   

Despite its faults, the show navigates its complicated subject matter with humour and sensitivity. The characters are flawed but sympathetic, the storylines familiar but clever, both elements working together to depict the trials and tribulations of growing up in an age of hyper-sexualization.

Sex Education is an easily-digestible yet worthwhile dramedy, and the show is surprisingly substantial for a Netflix original comedy. The series explores themes of self-confidence and empathy all crammed into an eight-episode lark. While the storyline has the potential to fall victim to cliché high school show plots, Sex Education surprises with refreshing twists.

 

Out on the Town, Student Life

Knocking on the Yellow Door

by Janine Xu on

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Tucked away on the corner of Aylmer and des Pins lies a townhouse with a bright, eye-catching yellow door. Behind that door is an organization that has served McGill students and the Milton-Parc community for nearly a century, aptly named The Yellow Door. Through programs aimed at combatting social isolation, The Yellow Door is a neighbourhood staple, providing a collective space to meet the community’s needs.

The Yellow Door’s long history began in 1887 when the Young Christian Men’s Association (YMCA) of McGill was originally founded to promote Christian values in the McGill community. During the Quiet Revolution, however, the space became secularized, and its mandate focused on offering an inclusive space for members of the neighbourhood to gather. Since then, The Yellow Door has adapted its programing to accommodate the community’s changing demographic.

“[The Yellow Door is] an interesting place because it has changed many times over the years, and always in response to what the community needs,” Kaitlin Fahey, the current executive director at The Yellow Door, said. “[In the ‘60s], the community did not need a place for young Christian men. It needed a place for draft dodgers and for music and spoken word, so it became a folk scene. So, we [became] a coffeehouse, and that’s been going on for 52 years.”

Today, The Yellow Door’s main purpose is to function as a site of social discourse and combat urban isolation by bringing students and seniors together. A unique mandate—to serve the community by constantly evolving in offerings allows The Yellow Door to have such a wide range of activities. For example, in the 1970s, volunteers noticed how drug use across the city was affecting the community and founded a drop-in psychiatric clinic where Douglas Hospital doctors counselled young addicts. Similarly, The Yellow Door Elderly Project, now called the Generations project, was implemented to integrate Milton-Parc’s seniors with its younger generations.

“In the ‘70s, [our purpose] changed again in response to the community’s needs,” Fahey said. “Students [did] a survey of the seniors to see what they needed. The Yellow Door responded and developed the Generations program. It’s still going on today, and it tries to help the seniors in the community.”

Today, The Yellow Door runs four main programs: the Coffeehouse, the Generations project, the Intergenerational Wellness activities, and the Rabbit Hole Café. The Coffeehouse, the oldest folk music coffeehouse still operational in Canada, provides a space for music and spoken word performances every Friday. According to Fahey, the coffeehouse is an alternative venue where any performer can take the stage.

“The Coffeehouse is our open stage, [which we use] to serve the community,” Fahey said. “It’s nonalcoholic, all ages, and any performer can put their name in the hat and perform [anything from poetry to music]. So it really opens up a space for artists and musicians who may not be able to perform anywhere else.”

Similarly, the Generations program connects members of the Milton-Parc community by pairing younger volunteers, mainly McGill students, with seniors living in the area. Currently, there are roughly 250 volunteers, working with 300 seniors. Originally, the program aimed to prevent seniors from feeling isolated by dispatching volunteers to help with various day-to-day tasks including providing technological assistance and accompanying them to medical appointments.

“Seniors may not necessarily interact with students on a regular basis [and vice versa], so the program is very interesting [in that] when we partner them up, [they] get a different perspective on things,” Fahey said. “I remember being in university and everything feels so intense and dramatic. When you meet someone who’s 80 years old, you realize [that] there’s more to life beyond this year, that there’s other things you will experience in life.”

Intergenerational Wellness groups, which also bring seniors and students together, are held weekly at The Yellow Door. Offering activities that range from knitting and reading to meditation and woodcarving, these programs are free to all ages and aim to encourage neighbours to socialize with one another.

“The activities started organically,” Fahey said. “ Someone [would say], ‘I’d like to [share my skills with the community], and we would share our space with them, which is how [the wood-carving class] got started. This is what evolved into our current activities schedule.”

Many campus groups have developed programs at The Yellow Door in collaboration with members of the Intergenerational Wellness team. Sophia Seward, U3 Arts, is an executive director at the Fridge Door Gallery, a student-run art gallery with close ties to the Art Hive program at The Yellow Door. The Art Hive, part of the Intergenerational Wellness group, is a community art studio that provides free art materials, such as paints, pastels, and fabric, to interested members of the community. Seward emphasizes that The Yellow Door’s welcoming setting creates an inclusive space for a diverse group of people to come together and learn a craft.

“[Before joining the Art Hive], I’d never painted anything in my life, but I find that the environment at The Yellow Door really makes you feel safe,” Seward said. “And, it’s free, so you can really take a chance on something new [without worrying about financial constraints].”

Additional McGill groups, such as the McGill Coffee Co-op, have set up shop at The Yellow Door and added to the organization’s legacy of service and community building. Working in tandem with the Rabbit Hole Café, a bi-weekly vegan lunch service hosted by The Yellow Door, the Coffee Co-op provides low-cost beverages to students. Owen Dunkley, U3 Science and an executive at the Coffee Co-op, explained that the co-op was born out of a demand for sustainable, affordable options for Milton-Parc residents.

“Our coffee [and tea] are all free trade,” Dunkley said. “We share a space with the Rabbit Hole Café, and it’s a relaxing environment [….] If you look at the mandates for the Coffee Co-op and the Rabbit Hole Café, and The Yellow Door, they really do line up.”

With Première Moisson’s lease up for renewal in Redpath, Dunkley stresses the importance of providing the student population with affordable and sustainable options.

“So many people complain about how expensive Première Moisson is,” Dunkley said. “McGill can do better [to provide affordable coffee and food to students], and I think [that just] means opening up more spaces [like the Coffee Co-op and the Rabbit Hole Café].”

Accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity are all standards that The Yellow Door strives to accomplish in addition to giving back to the neighbourhood. The Yellow Door finds its mission even more important given its placement in Milton-Parc, where McGill students and older residents often form separate communities.

“[We live] in a funny neighbourhood, right?” Fahey said. “It’s mixed. You have a lot of senior residents [who’ve lived here for a long time] and a lot of students who come and go. I think it’s important to recognize that, even if you’re here for a short amount of time, this is your community, and if you’re interested in it, you can become a part of it either through joining activities […] or volunteering your time.”

Commentary, Opinion

People should be able to self-manage their abortions

by Meyra Çoban on

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Popular depictions of abortion, as featured in the likes of Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, and Netflix’s Sex Education, depict them as invasive surgical procedures taking place in sterile doctors’ offices. While it’s a sign of progress that the topic of abortion is entering the mainstream, pop culture often neglects that abortions can be self-managed. Although medical self-managed abortion is safe and effective, it remains inaccessible to many seeking to terminate a pregnancy because it challenges misogynistic norms of bodily autonomy that society has yet to relinquish.

Self-managed medical abortion requires taking a Mifepristone tablet followed by four Misoprostol tablets. Together, they are known as the ‘abortion pill’ and have been available for purchase in Canada under the name Mifegymiso since 2017. This abortion pill has been in use for 30 years in countries like China and France, and it is the World Health Organisation’s recommended method of early-term medical abortion: It is a safe and effective means of ending a pregnancy within the first nine weeks.

Despite being safe, effective, and legal, access to Mifegymiso in Canada remains inadequate. While less expensive than surgical abortion, the cost of Mifegymiso still ranges between $300 and $450, and insurance coverage varies among provinces. In Oct. 2018, the Yukon government announced that they would begin covering Mifegymiso. In Quebec, health professionals have to undergo special training before they can prescribe it, limiting patients’ access to the drug.

If it were not subject to these restrictions, Mifegymiso could transform abortion access in Canada. It does not require the medical training or equipment necessary for surgical abortions, meaning that it can be administered by prescribing health professionals like pharmacists and nurse-practitioners. Greater access to Mifegymiso could benefit pregnant people in rural or remote areas who would have to travel hundreds of kilometres to the closest abortion clinic.

Mifegymiso can be taken at home or in another environment where the patient feels most comfortable. This benefits those who commonly experience discrimination and prejudice in medical settings, including indigenous, racialized, fat, neurodivergent, and young patients.

Even though the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalized abortion more than 30 years ago, pregnant people still lack bodily autonomy with regard to their healthcare. Limited access to abortions is only one product of outdated sexual mores. For example, in Ontario, young people are denied comprehensive sex education; and, in other provinces, insurance coverage of contraceptives is limited. As with abortion, these regulations restrict the rights of women, trans, and non-binary people and expose ugly misogynistic structures in a society that likes to think of itself as championing gender equality.

Mifegymiso’s launch in Canada is not only a medical milestone, but a social one as well, challenging the unnecessary regulation of women and trans people’s bodies. But this social development is not optional—medical realities depend on it. The uneven roll-out of Mifegymiso has demonstrated how closely linked medical access can be to social norms. Medical advancements have outpaced social progress. Pregnant people could already be self-managing their abortions—we just need to let them.

fangirl
Off the Board, Opinion

Confessions of a fangirl

by Luya Ding on

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When I first arrived at McGill, I was eager to make friends and answer all perfunctory introductory questions—what I study, where I come from, and what residence I live in. However, there was one fact I was always afraid to confess: I was a huge fan of TFBoys, the most popular idol group in China, for two years.

In Asian culture, the term ‘idol’ has evolved beyond the Western understanding of the word. Trained by talent agencies, idols are young celebrities who sing, dance, or act but don’t necessarily have any natural talent in any of these areas. Rather, they are commonly reduced to ‘fresh meat’ with pretty faces.

I became a fan of TFBoys during my final year of high school. With my university entrance exams approaching, I was stressed out and spending countless hours studying. One day, I decided to relax and logged onto Weibo, the largest Chinese social media platform, where I often wasted my time. I noticed a video with thousands of comments: It was a self-produced web series starring Karry Wang and Roy Wang from TFBoys, and I was intrigued.

I didn’t fall for TFBoys immediately. At first, I saw no difference between them and the other idols, who I considered shallow and talentless. That was until I found ‘Karroy,’ a portmanteau created by fans that ship the duo, in the top trending list. Driven by curiosity, I clicked on the link, and a whole new world opened up to me. I started to follow everything about the idol group, who had just made their debut. I was captivated by the songs they covered even though their music wasn’t even that good. Their interactions in blooper reels made my heart flutter and believe that their ‘bromance’ was real. Their unvarnished performances and everyday clothes gave me the false impression that they were not distant stars but my close friends. They were ‘fostered idols,’ meaning that their fans witnessed and engaged heavily in their growth and success. Obsessed with the sense of achievement that fans often feel in helping their idols ascend to fame, I felt increasingly dissatisfied with the limited content on their official accounts and joined the fandom.

Fandoms on Weibo are the most developed, sophisticated, and, yet, eccentric online communities that I have ever encountered. The TFBoys’s fandom was similar to a disciplined army—hierarchical, with proper divisions of labour. The Weibo fandom comprised an entire marketing and production team; some voted for them in various choice awards, others compulsively replayed the group’s songs in hopes of increasing their rankings on major record charts, and many produced fan art. Some of them went as far as creating alternate accounts to up-vote positive comments on TFBoys’s videos, while others kept retweeting their posts to boost their popularity. Fans devoted themselves to supporting their idols like it was their full-time job—without pay. Although I enjoyed the sense of belonging, I did not devote myself to any of these activities, as I was afraid that they would quickly wear down my passion. Still, I read fan-fiction, watched fan-made video clips, and ‘wasted’ my time on my seemingly-useless affection instead of studying.

After my exams were finally over, I got a chance to meet TFBoys before leaving for my undergraduate studies in Canada. I was seated in the front row of a variety show, certainly the climax of my fangirl career. Surprisingly, over the course of my time at university, I found that the magic surrounding them faded away. Perhaps, it was because the idols had offered an escape from reality, whereas my daily life in university was fulfilling. But, their numerous followers on social media are clear evidence that they remain mesmerizing for many. Thanks to TFBoys, I learned video-editing skills and formed lifelong friendships that continue even now that our admiration worn away. And I’m not ashamed to admit my past identity as their fangirl anymore.

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