For many Star Wars fans, there is a degree of apprehension about Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). The second-most recent Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi (2017), received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, yet still divided the fandom in half—fans either loved it, or absolutely hated it. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has the lowest audience score of any Star Wars film, a 46 per cent approval rate, which jars with the 91 per cent approval rating awarded by critics. By focusing on Han Solo, one of the most iconic and beloved characters in the Star Wars mythos, Solo set the bar high to satisfy fans, and that’s not even accounting for the allegedly-bumpy production. The cast is surprisingly strong, but the film’s plot can drag and underwhelm, making for a relatively bland film. With stakes as high, it comes as quite the surprise that Solo’s biggest flaw is just that it’s boring.
The opening of the film is fast-paced: Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) attempts to escape from the planet Corellia with his love interest Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) in a dynamic starship chase. Unfortunately, while escaping, the two are separated, and Solo must embark on a journey around the galaxy to make his way back to Qi’ra. Along the way, he is taken under the wing of professional thief and mentor Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), befriends the wookie Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and begins his path to becoming one of the most infamous rogues in the galaxy.
One of the highlights of the film is the cast: It’s hard to follow Harrison Ford, but Ehrenreich’s performance is laudable. Ehrenreich captures Ford’s trademark arrogance, but he also reveals a younger, more naive Han Solo, one who could feasibly grow into a hardened smuggler. Suotamo is flawless as Chewbacca, and Donald Glover, playing Lando Calrissian, is equally excellent, encapsulating the charm and slyness of the character. The band of supporting characters, including Harrelson and Clarke, make for a fun production, with Paul Bettany particularly shining as crime lord Dryden Vos.
Unlike the Last Jedi, Solo is a simple movie, and while it contains its fair share of action, it brings little new material to the table. The plot is predictable, and the knowledge that its most important characters—Han, Chewie, and Lando—all appear in later films means that viewers know they will survive, minimizing the threats they face. While there are moments that are genuinely entertaining, the pacing is uneven. Several scenes give the impression that the film is about to end, whereas others drag on.
As with many highly-anticipated series, the over-hyped promotion contributed to the mediocre viewing experience. Solo’s predecessor in the anthology series, Rogue One (2016), was a gripping film that flexed its creative muscles, and featured a cast of never-before-seen characters in the Star Wars universe. In comparison, Solo explores many of the most important stories and questions related to the character of Han Solo, but doesn’t always deliver satisfying resolutions, and the result is underwhelming. Certain scenes that should have felt suspenseful are instead lacklustre, due to the aforementioned knowledge of characters’ futures. The pacing issues result in specific events feeling rushed. Scenes that should be iconic—like when Han and Chewie acquire the Millennium Falcon—feel unfulfilling. The fan-baiting is excessive, and the audience is left feeling inundated with references. The entire experience just feels superfluous.
With Episode 9 scheduled for release in Dec. 2019, as well as another anthology film in the vein of Rogue One and Solo, and two additional trilogies in the works, there is still a lot more Star Wars on the horizon. Although The Last Jedi polarized fans and critics, it was at least an attempt at a new vision for the series. With so many upcoming Star Wars films, fans of the franchise will have to ask themselves if they want future projects to take creative risks, or just deliver more of the same material. However, if Solo is any indication, we may have a slew of subpar Star Wars films in store.
The saga continues: Starting tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will face off in the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive season. While this matchup seemed inevitable to some, neither team had an easy path to the Finals. Both failed to secure first place in their respective conferences, and, as a result, had to win Game 7 on the road in the Conference Finals. But, with the help of a key injury and extraordinarily unlucky 3-point shooting, they have begun another chapter in the story of one of sports’ greatest rivalries.
After dominating the basketball world for the past four seasons, the heavily-favoured Warriors are looking to repeat their easy five-game victory over the Cavs in last year’s Finals. While LeBron James is reaping the rewards of one of the best seasons in his storied career, this iteration of the Cavaliers’ roster is composed of James’ weakest supporting cast yet. Key helpers from past seasons, like Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson, have either declined in their performance or left the team entirely For Cleveland to win this series, they will desperately need the support of forward Kevin Love, who will only just be returning to the floor from a concussion sustained in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Cleveland must also limit the Warriors’ Kevin Durant, a glaring mismatch with any Cavalier guard besides James, but James must preserve his energy in order to play up to 48 minutes and run the offence. Durant is averaging 29 points per game in the postseason and, standing at nearly seven feet tall, is arguably the Warriors’ most dynamic offensive threat.
For Cleveland, this series might be the last that they enjoy in the spotlight for quite some time. With LeBron James seeking a stronger team to surround himself with and perhaps a better relationship with his team’s owner, it seems likely that he will take his talents elsewhere next season. Houston Rockets guard and close friend Chris Paul has purportedly already started recruiting the four-time MVP.
The Warriors, on the other hand, have coasted through much of the 2017-2018 season—even, at times, in the playoffs. In an interview with TNT, coach Steve Kerr described the first quarter of the Warriors’ seventh game against the Houston Rockets as “one of the worst quarters of basketball [they had] ever played.” In Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Houston, the consequences of the Warriors’ uneven performance became evident in light of the Rockets’ relatively consistent lead. Closing performances allowed the Warriors to come back in each game and take the series, but it won’t be easy for them to continue at this pace in the final games of the season.
Golden State’s Hamptons 5 lineup—the four All-Stars Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, and versatile wing Andre Iguodala—is nearly-unstoppable at full force. However, the deadly lineup has been sidelined for most of the first three playoff rounds: Both Curry and Iguodala have sustained knee injuries causing them to miss the first six games and the last four games of the playoffs, respectively.
Iguodala and Love are key to their teams’ successes. Iguodala is the Warriors’ best choice to limit James’s impact, whereas Love is the greatest option the Cavs have to support him. With Love performing at sub-optimal strength and without a secondary scorer, only James will be there to carry an entire team’s load of the work against the Warriors.
The Warriors will need to stay healthy and maintain an energetic performance in order to hold onto the edge they have on the Cavs. LeBron versus the world has been an enjoyable watch thus far, and his greatest challenge yet will be entertaining regardless of the outcome. But, even as James has done incredible things this postseason, his Cavaliers don’t have enough firepower to dethrone the Warriors at their best.
After a hard-fought month and a half of playoff hockey, the 2018 Stanley Cup Final is here. In a surprising twist, the final two teams standing are the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights.
At the beginning of the season, no one could have predicted that the expansion Golden Knights would have made it to the playoffs—let alone the championship round. Since 1968, no expansion team has played well enough to reach the playoffs in their inaugural season. In fact, the Capitals went 8-67-5 in their opening campaign 43 years ago, the worst mark in NHL history. However, the Golden Knights’ 51-24-7 record and 109 points were good enough to secure the Pacific Division title.
Last June, Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee constructed a roster of overlooked and unwanted players. William Karlsson, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the expansion draft last June, had scored no more than nine goals in a single season prior to 2017-18. This year, he put up forty-three. Deryk Engelland, 36 years old and an enforcer for the Calgary Flames last season, stepped into a leadership role as an assistant captain for the first time in his career. Every player had something to prove and the opportunity to do so.
Although it remained somewhat doubtful whether they could translate their success to the postseason, the Golden Knights quickly swept the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round before taking down the San Jose Sharks in six games. Their greatest challenge came in the Western Conference Finals against the Winnipeg Jets, a high-scoring team with aspirations of their own. However, Golden Knights goaltender Marc-André Fleury stifled the Jets offence, and Vegas took the series in five games. As long as Fleury stays solid in the crease, Washington is in serious trouble.
However, if Washington continues to play its game, they will be just as threatening. With 11 division championships over the past two decades, the Capitals have been one of the best teams in the NHL, but have consistently faltered in the playoffs. They have failed to advance beyond the second round since 1998 and have fallen to the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in each of the past two seasons. This year, they finally slayed their dragon and rode their momentum through a seven-game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning to earn their spot in the franchise’s second Stanley Cup Final ever.
Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin finally has the opportunity to add a Stanley Cup ring to his trophy case. The 13-year veteran will see his best opportunity to add a championship to his resume. He can thank McPhee for some of his team’s success: Before leading Vegas, the executive served as GM for the Caps and built most of the team that his current project will have to face.
Ultimately, when it comes to this point in the postseason, all bets are off. Both teams have momentum entering the series, but whichever team holds onto it will be set to raise the Stanley Cup.
Given how evenly matched these two teams are, this series will go the distance. If Fleury stays hot and shuts down the Washington offence, Vegas will defeat Washington on home ice and get their storybook ending. Whatever the result, hockey fans can expect a thrilling series.
Ousmane Guindo, a sociology major, was one of three McGill athletes invited to the 2018 CFL Eastern Regional Combine. Overall, Guindo feels satisfied with the legacy he and his teammates are leaving behind. Collectively, they have striven to combat a defeatist attitude within the football program; McGill’s four victories in the 2016 season were the programs highest win total since 2006.
“We changed the culture at McGill, the losing culture,” Guindo said. “And, for me, that was the best memory.”
Guindo will also miss the daily motivation that his teammates provided him with.
“Sometimes […] you’re like ‘Damn, I don’t want to practice,’ [….but] even though it was hard […] at least you were with your guys, and there were people helping you […] on your bad days,” Guindo said.
Guindo enjoyed his time with the football team so much that, after four strong seasons with the Redmen, he is negotiating the possibility of returning for a fifth.
“I love the guys, I love the culture,” Guindo said. “Playing with the guys one last time, that would be one of my biggest wishes.”
(mcgillathletics.ca)
François Bourque
Redmen basketball forward François Bourque will be hanging up his sneakers for the foreseeable future.
“Yeah, that’s it for me,” Bourque said. “At least for a while […] I’m taking a little break.”
Of his many memories at McGill, Bourque looks back most fondly on his travels with the team. In November 2016, he and three of his teammates travelled around China for the World University League 3×3 basketball championships.
“That was an overall amazing experience,” Bourque said. “[Especially because] McGill was representing Canada and we were ranked last overall and we ended up winning the whole tournament.”
To his and his teammates’ amusement, the locals of Xiamen were excited to welcome Bourque and his teammates.
“They’re not used to […] a lot of tourists, so when we got there, they were treating us like professional basketball players,” Bourque said. “Because I guess they’re not used to seeing six-foot-five or six-foot-six basketball players, wherever we would go in the city, they were just taking a bunch of pictures of us, asking us for autographs [….] It was cool to be treated like superstars.”
Bourque put a number on the signatures he’s given out over his basketball career.
“Here, in Montreal, not many,” Bourque said. “In China, probably over 50.”
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Nathan Chiarlitti
Nathan Chiarlitti had a productive final season as the captain of the Redmen hockey team, scoring five goals and accumulating 20 assists in 44 games. Graduating with a MSc in exercise physiology, he received the Richard Pound Trophy for Proficiency and Leadership in Athletics at the McGill athletics awards gala.
After playing for three years with the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, Chiarlitti’s two years sporting McGill colours mark the end of his university eligibility. Moving forward, Chiarlitti said that he will miss being able to play with his teammates.
“Any time you can leave a job, or you can leave school and go see your best friends for an hour and a half, two hours, […] I think that’s an unbelievable opportunity,” Chiarlitti said.
His favourite memory of his time at McGill was playing in and winning the Queen’s Cup this season.
“The first couple periods […] I remember how prepared the boys were and how much we wanted it going on the road [….] It was just one of those memorable games.”
Another resonant memory was the Redmen’s 2017 bus adventure: The team got trapped in a snowstorm on their way to nationals in New Brunswick last year, and their bus broke down on their way home too.
Chiarlitti recently signed on to play pro hockey in Australia this summer and will be beginning a MD-PhD program at the University of Ottawa in September.
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Francis Lambert-Lemay
Francis Lambert-Lemay was an exceptional defender for the Redmen hockey team, contributing two goals and 11 assists over the course of the season. Lambert-Lemay is graduating with a BA in economics.
After he graduates, Lambert-Lemay explained that he will miss his teammates the most.
“After a long day at school, heading to the rink and seeing all of the guys,” Lambert-Lemay said. “That’s what I’m going to miss the most, just being surrounded [by] friends.”
Lambert-Lemay looked back fondly on the team’s two trips to nationals, the annual Carnival Games, and a pre-season trip to Colorado in his rookie season; however, his favourite memory of all is winning the Queen’s Cup Championship this year.
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Myriam Robitaille
After four successful years at McGill, Myriam Robitaille has big plans for her volleyball career, including potential gigs with a professional European team and the Canadian national senior team.
“I signed [an] agent to play [professionally] in Europe next year, so I am waiting on news from him,” Robitaille said. “Otherwise, in the next years, I would like to be part of the [Canadian senior national] team [….] Maybe [playing in the] 2024 [Olympics] would be a good objective.”
Although she will ultimately find herself among a new group of teammates wherever she plays in upcoming years, Robitaille fondly remembers the many great individuals she met at McGill.
“Throughout the whole four years, I met different people,” Robitaille said. “And every year there was a different vibe, but a good one.”
In addition to her teammates, she will miss her classmates and other students. She was quick to describe McGillians as focused and driven, highlighting the inclusiveness of the McGill community.
“[I’m going to miss] the belonging feeling,” Robitaille said. ”With the team, but with the school as well, I met so many great people.”
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Frédérique Potvin
Frédérique Potvin, a guard for the Marlet basketball team, came to McGill after three seasons playing for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. This season, she started in 32 games, averaging 13.8 points per game. Her favourite memory as a Martlet is winning the national championship in 2017.
“[Winning the championship] is not something many people can say they have accomplished, and I will definitely cherish this accomplishment for the rest of my life,” Potvin wrote in a message to the The McGill Tribune.
Potvin is graduating with a BA in social work. After graduation, she hopes to play professionally.
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Marjolaine Ste-Marie
As a fifth-year member of the McGill volleyball team, Marjolaine Ste-Marie has made many memories as a Martlet. The team’s trip to Manitoba for nationals in 2016, where they forced the eventual national champion University of Toronto Varsity Blues to a fifth set during the quarter finals, remains one of her favourite moments on the team.
“It was such a great experience that was so much fun,” Ste-Marie said of the tournament.
Without a doubt, the thing she will miss the most about being a McGill Martlet are the people—players and coaches alike—who accompanied her along the way. From describing the moment when a teammate hid in a laundry basket to scare the coaches, to catching up with other players right after her interview with the Tribune, Ste-Marie always seemed at home around her teammates.
Graduating with a BSc in physical therapy, Ste-Marie will be working at Accès Physio on Montreal’s South Shore.
“I’m going to stay in sports, helping other athletes,” Ste-Marie said.
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Érika Cournoyer
While fans won’t be able to find Érika Cournoyer on the court in a McGill jersey next year, they will be able to spot her in the stands cheering on her girls. Cournoyer is staying on at McGill to finish her graduate Diploma in management.
Despite hundreds of hours on the court and in the gym, Cournoyer never tired of spending time with her teammates.
“We always see each other, [almost] every day,” Cournoyer said. “[If] we don’t see each other for two days, we’re all like, ‘I miss you.’”
The group’s tight bond comes with some great memories, and for Cournoyer, the most notable of them was the team’s quarter-final game against the Varsity Blues at nationals in 2016.
“There were a lot of people […] so it was super loud,” Cournoyer said. “We went into five sets. It was [an] intense game.”
(mcgillathletics.ca)
Simone Cseplo
Simone Cseplo is a Martlet backstroker and freestyler graduating with a BA in sociology. She plans to take a year off to work after graduation but aims to eventually return to university to earn a master’s degree in communications and marketing.
Cseplo’s favourite memory from her time at McGill is winning a medal at nationals in her first year.
“At that moment, I was so proud and overwhelmed to be a Martlet and [to] be part of a team where one person’s success radiated to the entire team,” Cseplo wrote in a message to Tribune. “They are an incredible group of caring and supportive people and are the reason why I loved the sport so much.”
Editor’s note: The McGill Tribune compiled a list of the top-10 most read Opinion articles of the 2017-18 year, reflecting, among other things, a year of controversial Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) action, growing discussion around the pervasiveness of sexual assault on university campuses and beyond, and continued criticism of the McGill administration’s shortcomings when it comes to student mental health.
1. Commentary: McGill students need a Fall reading week to maintain mental health
At Western University, two high-profile suicides led to the creation of a Fall reading week in the 2017-18 year. Meanwhile, McGill Health Services reported increased student demand for mental health support in October and November. In light of this evidence of stress that comes with midterm season, contributor Johanna Cline argued for the necessity of a Fall reading week. A month later, on Nov. 21, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens quashed the idea in an interview with the McGill Reporter, claiming that good “hygiene de vie” is all that students need to maintain their mental health. Subsequent student backlash to his comments—and SSMU’s adoption of the Policy on Implementation of a Fall Reading Break following a Winter 2018 referendum question—demonstrate the continued relevance of this article, and the rising demand for a Fall reading week at McGill.
2. Letter to the Editor: I work for SSMU. I’m giving the record some context
October 2017 saw drama among SSMU executives reach a climax: At the October 19 Legislative Council meeting, the rest of the executive team announced a position of no confidence in President Muna Tojiboeva, prompting Tojiboeva to write a letter to The Bull and Bear on October 20 to defend herself. Alison Gu, one of the 2017-2018 SSMU sustainability commissioners, provided context to the situation, elaborating on the challenges she faced while working under the President: “Tojiboeva never treated me poorly or unfairly; in fact, she was often very nice and understanding,” Gu wrote. “My concern is that it takes very little to be nice. A good SSMU President needs to be more.”
Adding fuel to the fire of the campus free speech debate, Wilfred Laurier University teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd’s supervisor reprimanded Shepherd for screening part of a Jordan Peterson debate on gendered pronouns in her communication studies class. Contributor Keating Reid pushed back against Laurier’s perceived need for censorship, arguing that, in fact, university classrooms are some of the safest spaces to have these difficult conversations.
4. Off the Board: The guilty male conscience in the age of #MeToo
Since October 2017, the #MeToo movement has swept across Facebook newsfeeds and into campus conversations. A babe.net expose of a woman named Grace’s unsettling experience with actor Aziz Ansari sparked particularly divisive discussion around how society ought to understand consent, with some columnists coming forward in defence of Ansari. News Editor Domenic Casciato reflected on these skeptical, largely male reactions to the Ansari case, and to #MeToo moments more broadly: “I have never met Ansari nor has he ever been my role model, and yet, while discussing the article, I felt protective—almost as if I was being personally attacked,” Casciato wrote. “I later realized that this is the exact opposite of how I, and other young men, should have responded to Grace’s experience.”
In November 2017, following increasingly public divisions within the SSMU executive team, former vice-president finance Arisha Khan stepped down from her position, citing mental and physical health reasons. In this op-ed publicly announcing her resignation, Khan discussed her reasons for leaving, her experiences with fellow executives and on the SSMU Board of Directors, and the consequences of a student society that serves individual personal or political interests at the expense of those of the student body. “Recent history at SSMU has shed light on its failures: A lack of oversight, and blatant abuses of power,” Khan wrote. “SSMU can be better, and should be better.”
6. Editorial: Student mental health needs admin support, not “hygiene de vie”
In a November 2017 McGill Reporter interview, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens attempted to assuage rising student mental health concerns and calls for a Fall reading week. It backfired. Horribly. In response to Dyens’ appeal to “hygiene de vie,” the Tribune editorial board gave the McGill administration a reality check on its hands-off approach to student mental health: “The Student Life and Learning Office exists to ‘support students inside and outside of the classroom.’ To that end, it is insufficient to divert attention to the logistics of implementing a Fall reading week, or offer self-care tips, in lieu of providing adequate—and desperately needed—resources.”
7. Laughing Matters: The agonies of email etiquette and prof dudes
Technically, emailing a professor is a menial task. Yet, as any stressed-out McGill student can attest, it is also an elaborate, gruelling mind game. So when Dean of Students Chris Buddle chided students for lazy email etiquette in February, contributor Isaac Berman set the record straight: “Based on my own enduring struggles, I can only assume that the entire McGill student population is already a neurotic, over-analyzing mess when it comes to using electronic mail with our professors,” Berman wrote.
8. Editorial: If SSMU Council won’t stand up for student press, students must
In November 2017, controversy ensued after SSMU Council endorsed a “No” vote to the Daily Publication Society’s (DPS) existence referendum, putting the fate of two campus newspapers—The McGill Daily and Le Délit—into question. The referendum provoked a heated “No” campaign, with many students voicing disagreement with the Daily’s anti-Zionist editorial slant. The Tribune editorial board urged students to look beyond political divisions and continue to support their student press. “Regardless of current views on SSMU, the Council’s failure to endorse the DPS’ existence is shameful. It is a failure to endorse a diversity of independent publications—and, by extension, a critical, balanced, and representative campus press, an essential tenet of SSMU’s democratic legitimacy.” Ultimately, the DPS referendum passed with 65 per cent of students voting “Yes”.
In the lead-up to the 2018-2019 SSMU executive elections, contributor Kyle Dewsnap addressed the age-old question: Why don’t students care about SSMU? According to Dewsnap, SSMU’s lack of “political efficacy”—in other words, its inability to engage voters—is due to its executives’ incompetency and unprofessionalism. “SSMU is in desperate need of an overhaul: It must shift from being a playground for political-wannabes to a legitimate, necessary, and functioning governing body,” Dewsnap wrote. “Like in any democratic system, this kind of political shift requires cooperation between both the electorate and the elected.”
10. Commentary: “What were you wearing?” And other questions to stop asking rape victims
Contributor Phoebe Balshin eloquently illustrated the harm victim-blaming inflicts on survivors of sexual assault.
“Words cannot describe the shame, regret, loneliness, fear, and sadness a person who was raped feels. It is of utmost importance that university communities and society at large do not further contribute to the problem by engaging in questions that offer perpetrators an excuse. Upstream administrators, as well as friends and peers, need to realize how their questions affect victims, and (prepare to) be there for support, rather than interrogation. Instead, ask a victim what you can do to help them. It is difficult to know how to support someone during a traumatic event, but it is essential to think before you ask questions, and realize that certain questions may haunt a victim for years to come.”
On April 11, McGill and Concordia students gathered in front of the James Administration building to challenge the school’s handling of sexual assault complaints. Contributor Sofia Mikton takes a look back at that rally.
Shot by Bilal Virji and Sofia Mikton
Edited by Sofia Mikton
In many ways, it feels like we are in an era full of newfound support for sexual assault survivors; public awareness campaigns like #MeToo and op-eds from celebrities such as Uma Thurman have helped facilitate, at least in many liberal cosmopolitan spaces, a more empathetic and trusting climate for outspoken survivors. Awareness and compassion is not solely allotted to celebrities with a platform, however, and recognition of sexual assault as an everyday reality is on the looming cultural horizon. Community acceptance of a survivor’s story, as well as a sensitivity to their triggers, is absolutely crucial for the healing process to begin.
But, for many survivors, there is a disconnect between increased awareness of sexual assault and their own personal healing. Shanly Dixon works at the Atwater Library and Computer Center under a Status of Women Canada funding project to address gender-based sexual violence on Montreal campuses. Dixon teamed up with Alanna Thain, an associate professor of Cultural Studies and World Cinemas in McGill’s Department of English and Director of McGill’s Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (IGSF), and McGill students Cassie Jones (U4 Anthropology) and Sofia Misenheimer (MA Communication Studies), to coordinate a day-long event, Growth on the Horizon: A Day of Arts-Based Healing at McGill. Held on March 22 in buildings across the Downtown campus, from library classrooms to publicly-accessible booths in the Arts building foyer, the event was composed of several workshops and themed discussions during which students could be reminded of the pervasiveness of sexual assault and the ways in which survivors can begin to outsource their pain through artistic creation.
“We envisioned healing as a multifaceted experience which can include healing at the personal, interpersonal, community, and institutional levels—healing among students, healing between educational administrations and the students, and the healing of institutional processes and systems,” Jones and Misenheimer wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune.
Workshops ranged from watching a dramatic skit about the university complaint process, to screen printing wearable patches, to adding ribbons to form a cooperatively-woven tapestry. Participating students had a variety of outlets to choose from.
“[At the event] you could look, listen, write, draw, respond, drink healing tea, take a walk in the woods, screenprint a patch with an encouraging message, or walk away with a sticker to remind you that you aren’t alone in this,” Jones and Misenheimer wrote.
The event coordinators created one of the art installations themselves: “Altaring Solitude” is collection of curated objects on a wicker altar covered with dozens of fresh flowers.
“We wanted to represent the anniversary effect,” Jones said, “We have a psychological and embodied memory of trauma that can be re-triggered after an event; sometimes the time of year victims were assaulted, even if it’s years ago, can [make them] re-experience those symptoms in a phantom-like but very real way.”
At the bottom compartment of the altar nestled a mailbox-like basket; individuals could take a piece of loose paper, symbolically ripped from campus-issued agendas and old metro maps (common places where trauma is inflicted), and write their wish of healing as a method of letting go. The final step was to fold and place the paper in the basket.
“If you don’t feel comfortable, you can write about healing and what healing means to you, or a message that you extend to women and men and non-binary folk of a future that you envision,” Jones and Misenheimer wrote. “We have the basket [both] open and closed because we want to hear your voice but we want to be protective of your voice. You can take any flower once you submit your message.”
The mission to inspire and incite healing processes through art doesn’t stop in the McGill Arts lobby, Misenheimer explained as she headed a table promoting a project called “Post-Secrets.”
“What people need [as sexual assault survivors] isn’t the same across institutions,” Misenheimer said. “We support other students taking on the initiative [at CEGEPs], so we have installations that will travel, and each school would build on that [artistic healing].”
Besides the impressive scope of the project, aimed at addressing issues across the province, the project’s accessibility is not hampered by its aspirations: Sexual healing through artistic processes is still an intimate, yet safe, path for a survivor to embark upon.
David Rawalia runs a screenprinting organization called “Machino.” Rawalia’s booth at the event offered students the chance to personally screenprint a feminist message, like “If you want the rose you must respect the thorns,” or “End rape culture: normalize no more.” Rawalia feels encouraged in his work.
“[This] is an occasion to encourage having people have these quotes on their person to express their frustrations or feelings of survival and well-being in the face of gendered violence,” Rawlia said. “We chose small patches so that people can display them how and where they want.”
Recently, McGill has been rocked by student groups demanding a response from an administration that they see as having largely avoided tangible steps towards addressing sexual violence on campus. For activists and supporters who give their time and energy towards the perpetually frustrating efforts of demanding positive change, an artistic approach to their own personal healing can supplement their activist efforts in a regenerating way. Where protesting requires an almost inhuman amount of persistence and bravery, creating art–from weaving to painting to participating in a collaborative installation–allows for room to breathe, absorb the pain of survival, and be at peace. As Jones’ project, “Altaring Solitude,” projects, healing is best administered through a collective safe space.
“[In one part of the altar] we cast our own hands and carved them out of plaster.” Jones said. “My [hand holds] flowers to represent healing. Sophia’s has light, to represent something that’s hard to protect, but that is important [to preserve].”
Sometimes, especially these days, that light is difficult to shelter without the wind snuffing its brilliance, but Misenheimer and Jones have tapped into something that may just kindle its brightness.
In September 2017 it was announced that McGill’s eating disorder program had been put under review. The comprehensive treatment program had served 70 participants annually, and was the only program of its kind at McGill.
Multimedia editor Tristan Surman tells the story of his personal experience with eating disorders, and uses it to contextualize an investigation into why a program, that was so helpful to people, became inaccessible to students.
The stories behind the two bakeries that make up Montreal’s bagel-loving
Montreal’s bagels are world-famous.Hand rolled, bathed in sweetened water (using honey or malt syrup), and baked in a wood-fired oven, each bagel is made with love and care. Although they can be found in bakeries across the city, most locals will tell you that the best Montreal bagels are those from St-Viateur Bagel or Fairmount Bagel, located just a block apart from each other in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood.
Fairmount is Montreal’s first bagel bakery, opened in 1919 by Jewish Russian immigrant Isadore Shlafman. He named the shop “Montreal Bagel Bakery,” and it was located on St-Laurent Boulevard, until it moved to Fairmount Avenue in 1949, when Isadore renamed the bakery to “Fairmount Bagels” with the help of his son Jack. Currently, Isadore’s grandson Irwin Shlafman runs Fairmount.
“Being in a family business, you’re always under the watchful eye of the founder, and you can never do anything that is going to award a pat on the back, but you can always do something that will award a kick in the butt,” Shlafman said in the short documentaryBagels in the Blood.
St-Viateur Bagels came along 40-some years later, founded in 1957 by a Jewish immigrant from Poland named Myer Lewkowicz. Lewkowicz arrived in Montreal in 1953 after having survived the Holocaust, where he was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Originally, Lewkowicz started his career working at Montreal Bagel Bakery alongside Isadore and Jack Shlafman, but decided to open up his own bagel shop on St-Viateur Street a few years later. Currently, St-Viateur is run by Joe Morena, who has worked at the shop since he was 15 years old. Morena ended up partnering with Lewkowicz later on in his career, and bought the shop after Lewkowicz died in 1994.
To this day, many stay loyal to St. Viateur, as a way of honouring Lewkowicz’s legacy.
“St-Viateur is important to the Montreal community because they are a heritage of our wave of Jewish immigrants,” Olivia Farley, U2 Arts, said. “I live in Laval, so before a St-Viateur bakery opened here, we would drive 40 minutes to go get them. It’s such a big part of our family that my aunt living in Ontario makes us pick up three dozen when we go visit her and she freezes them to conserve them.”
Millions of people have visited Fairmount and St-Viateur as they are both considered food staples in Montreal. However, the two shops are not only famous for their bagels, but also for their close-knit community of loyal customers.
“I am personally a bigger fan of Fairmont bagels but mostly because they are the ones my family has eaten my whole life,” Maddie Coombs, U1 Arts, said. “Whenever I think about going to get bagels, Fairmont is the first place that I think to go to. I think of going with my dad, getting bagels and a little tub of cream cheese, and finding somewhere to sit and talk. Going to get bagels makes dealing with bad weather and school easier, it’s a nice break and a nice thing to share with friends.”
Although uncontestedly popular among those in Montreal, St-Viateur and Fairmount bagels are so prized that often people who move away from the city still crave the taste of the bagel.
In fact, in 2008, astronaut Gregory Chamitoff (a Montrealer who also happens to be Irwin Shlafman’s cousin) took 18 Fairmount bagels with him to the International Space Station, unable to go six months without his bagels. Fairmount bagels became the first bagels in space.
In the end, however, the debate between Fairmount and St-Viateur doesn’t really matter. When pushed about the St-Viateur versus Fairmount debate, Shlafman equates it to boxing’s Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier rivalry.
“They’re the two top contenders in the world for that particular position so I don’t see that being an Ali fan as opposed to a Frazier fan makes you wrong,” Shlafman said.
