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Arts & Entertainment, Books

Red Colored Elegy is the perfect introduction to gekiga manga

by Dylan Adamson on

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Ichiro, the male lead of Red Colored Elegy, repeats a sort of young-male-tortured-artist catch phrase throughout the manga: “I want to draw comics.” Fortunately for readers, Seiichi Hayashi, Red’s author and illustrator, has a more realized sense of vocation. His cornerstone of the gekiga manga–the adult manga, or alternative manga, subgenre–Red, plots the doomed romance of live-in couple Ichiro and Sachiko in 1960s Tokyo.

Originally serialized in 1970 in the legendary alternative manga magazine Garo, Hayashi’s work is reprinted in English by Montreal comic book publisher Drawn & Quarterly, complete with an afterword from comics scholar Ryan Holmberg. With this 2018 paperback translation, following a hardcover first issue in 2008, Hayashi joins the ranks of gekiga legends Yoshihiro Tatsumi (A Drifting Life (2009)) and Shigero Mizuki (Kitaro (1960-69)) in Drawn & Quarterly’s ever-expanding catalogue of Japanese manga-kas.

Red’s influence at the peak of gekiga manga is pretty well unparalleled. It inspired at least one song in 1971, and it’s difficult to imagine Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (1987) not taking at least a few cues from Hayashi’s melancholic, dreamlike romantic flare. On the North American side of things, David Mazzucchelli’s 2009 masterwork, Asterios Polyp, in turn seems inconceivable without Hayashi’s trailblazing work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCDMlYSygWc

Critics have frequently drawn comparisons of Red to the French and Japanese New Wave cinemas, and for good reason. Ichiro and Sachiko are two financially insecure but romantically-engrossed 20-somethings, casting aside the morals of their parents’ generation in favour of days spent atop futons, complaining about writer’s block and laughing hysterically about nothing at all. Though the story itself is sexy in ways that an urban romance starring two young people smoking indoors can scarcely avoid, Red’s emotional heft derives from its stunning visual innovations. Ichiro and Sachiko don’t say too much, but to reduce their relationship to language would be to neglect the expressive weight of Hayashi’s images.

Akin to the French New Wave’s emblematic use of jump cuts and episodic sequencing, Hayashi’s panel-to-panel relationships seem to function on the principles of free-association, often requiring the reader to reorient themself before advancing in the narrative. Intense arguments and tender reconciliations alike are interrupted by abrupt, full-page spreads of waves or light fixtures. If the anti-establishment gravitas of a dōsei (Japanese for an unmarried live-in relationship) in 1960s Japan has been somewhat lost to the years, Hayashi’s freewheeling and poetic approach to storytelling maintains every ounce of its subversive potential.

While many of Hayashi’s more naturalistic, larger panels have a grandeur that is sure to bring to mind the 19th century ukiyo-e prints of High-School-Art-Boy-Facebook-Cover-Photos, Red’s wealth of contemporary reference points places it in a larger context of modernizing Japanese visual culture. Ichiro and Sachiko are both cartoonists struggling to earn fair wages in the increasingly-mechanized Japanese animation business. Hayashi himself was a young animator with Tōei Animation, the self-proclaimed Disney of Asia, where he worked under the same factory-like conditions as fellow animator Hayao Miyazaki. While Ichiro feels artistically unfulfilled in his animating work, Sachiko barely earns a living as a celluloid animator, several rungs down the ladder, where she is repeatedly harassed by her male superiors. At one point, as the two lovers rush together, Hayashi suddenly illustrates Sachiko and Ichiro as Sleeping Beauty and the Prince, dually reflecting the fantastical element of their romance and the fixation on Disney in the early days of “Japanimation.”

Unlike much of gekiga manga—Tatsumi’s work specifically, being preoccupied with pollution and urban degradation—Red finds beauty on the streets of Tokyo. While Ichiro and Sachiko’s life in Tokyo is represented as fragile, Hayashi’s wandering gaze never fails to depict a Tokyo brimming with life and possibility. Even in the face of the couple’s slow and painful heartbreak, Red’s visuals maintain their kinetic energy. Red breezes through its 235 pages, but it’s the manga’s re-readability that has brought its influence overseas almost 40 years after its original publishing.

Student Life

Montreal’s four most drinkable wines under 10 dollars

by Gabriel Helfant on

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Since the great Four Loko ban of 2017, many of McGill’s students, staff, and administrators have found themselves dazed and confused, hopelessly searching for an affordable alcoholic substitute to take the edge off. For some, the end of the sugary and colourful malt beverage era is an opportunity to delve into the world of sophisticated drinks—and what’s more sophisticated than a glass of vino? To help students explore the wonders of wine while sticking to a budget, The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of Montreal’s four best wines available at the Société des Alcools du Québec (SAQ) for under $10.

Astica Sauvignon Blanc: $8.60

Let the price speak for itself—this fruity white wine belongs in a bag and should only be consumed during Frosh week. Although Astica is more traveled than your friends on exchange, claiming to come from Argentina, it seems more at home in an Upper Residence dorm room. At first smell, you can tell this is a cheap wine—simultaneously very watered down and sickeningly sweet. But with its 13 per cent alcohol content and low price, this bottle has a high bang-to-buck ratio, making it the best choice if you’re looking to drink wine in large quantities. Just be careful, it’s probably not the type of wine you would want to bring home to your parents.

Domaine La Hitaire Les Tours: $9.25

Like many at McGill, La Hitaire sells itself through its pride in its French roots. Although the bottle presents itself more seriously then Astica, La Hitaire could still be confused for spiked fruit punch based on its citrusy taste. If you are looking to avoid the bitter taste of alcohol, La Hitaire is your best choice for a white wine, coming in at an unimpressive 10.5 per cent alcohol content. Buyer beware though: Sugary wines like these almost always guarantee a pounding headache the next morning.

Vila Regia: $8.95

At the sight and taste of Vila Regia, one could say that Portugal has truly outdone itself. This red wine perfectly combines subtle fruity flavours with a bottle aesthetic that wouldn’t offend a real adult. Vila Regia represents the best of both worlds—it’s perfect to drink at a cheap pizza party or to use in sangria at a more formal dinner gathering.

 

 

Firriato Nari Nero d’Avola / Petit Verdot: $9.50

This red wine tastes like what we can only imagine adulthood feels like—dry, stressful, and painfully serious. With a whopping 13.5 per cent alcohol content, the beverage smells like the McGill medical clinic, and does not taste much better. This wine’s redeeming factor is the bottle’s fancy design, which makes it somewhat acceptable to present in sophisticated environments.

Out on the Town, Student Life

Moving on in the Mile End: How gentrification is changing Montreal’s music scene

by Janine Xu on

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 In November 2017, Divan Orange, a popular music venue on St-Laurent Boulevard, announced that it would be permanently closing its doors due to financial hardships. Divan Orange was a staple of Montreal’s independent music community for 13 years, having hosted over 10,000 shows and kickstarting the careers of many popular artists such as Coeur de Pirate, Arcade Fire, and Patrick Watson.

Several months later, in February 2018, iconic Mile End coffee shop and live music venue Le Cagibi announced that, due to rent hikes, it would be moving from its location on St-Laurent and St-Viateur to a space five blocks north on St-Zotique Street in Little Italy. Operating for over 10 years, Le Cagibi’s vegetarian menu and small stage in the back room made it an inclusive, intimate space for musicians and music-lovers alike.

Divan Orange and Le Cagibi are both small music venues that showcase under-the-radar acts. As the Mile End gentrifes, intimate music spaces like these are being forced out of the neighbourhood due to financial strain. Not only is this a loss for local artists and regular show attendees, but the closure of these venues is leading to a loss of cultural tradition in Montreal’s vibrant music scene.

In a letter to culture site Urbania, the Divan Orange team cited difficult relationships with neighbours, rent and tax hikes, and a lack of support from public institutions as major factors contributing to the establishment’s closure. More specifically, in 2014, Divan Orange was fined roughly $18,000 due to excessive noise complaints made by a neighbour living above the bar, who reportedly phoned the police 85 times in two months. In response to the fine, members of the Divan Orange cooperative launched two crowdfunding campaigns to get the financial support to pay off the charges, but ultimately, this wasn’t enough to allow the bar to stay afloat.

Julien Senez-Gagnon, a spokesperson for the Divan Orange team, explained to the The McGill Tribune that the bar had been struggling to survive financially for over a year, and that the decision to permanently shut down was due to a lack of resources.

“We mentioned [online] that our financial situation is untenable,” Senez-Gagnon said. “The [noise complaints] hurt us very much.”

Senez-Gagnon noted that Divan Orange’s monetary problems were indicative of a larger issue that other small venues in Quebec are facing. For example, Le Cercle, a restaurant and music venue in Quebec City has also closed its doors due to financial issues.

“[This] is a systemic problem,” Senez-Gagnon said. “It’s not unique to Divan Orange. You see small alternative music venues closing down. We want to [raise awareness] that [other venues like Divan Orange] need support, [whether it be] finance or subsidizing. Montreal holds such a great identity towards its culture.”

Similarly, Le Cagibi is being pushed out of their Mile End location due to financial strain from rent hikes. The Montreal Gazette’s T’cha Dunlevy revealed that the building hosting the café changed owners in 2017, and the new owners increased the rent from $3,417 to $7,500 per month.

“That’s a huge increase,” Pamela Hart, president of Le Cagibi cooperative, said to Dunlevy. “We proposed $5,000 [for the whole space], but [the new owners] said that was absolutely not enough.”

The building is co-owned by Jeremy Kornbluth and Brandon Shiller, who also own the Jean-Talon Market building where a Starbucks was controversially opened in 2015, prompting complaints of gentrification, which led to its closure in 2017. Shiller is the son of Stephen Shiller of prominent real estate firm Shiller Lavy Realties, which has now bought seven commercial properties along the iconic St-Viateur Street in the Mile End. According to Dunlevy, Shiller Lavy Realties has been instrumental in replacing other small businesses along the street, including small locally-owned Pâtisserie & Boulangerie Clarke, which closed in 2015 and was replaced with a chain sushi restaurant.

In the end, Hart explained that the decision to relocate Le Cagibi was not an easy one. The café has been a staple in the Mile End for years, and it has maintained the history of its space (which was previously Café Esperanza, and before that, a pharmacy), by using vintage wood drawers and shelves from its previous occupants. Having lived in the Mile End on and off for over eight years herself, Hart is especially sad to see the cultural environment of the neighbourhood change.

“I’ve seen [the] Mile End change a lot,” Hart said. “What we’re looking at right now is basically a small group of men [coming in] and curating our whole neighbourhood. To me, [that] doesn’t feel right.”

With its new location, Le Cagibi is making big changes. Not only does its management plan to expand its menu options, they are also currently transitioning to a worker’s cooperative structure, in which a team of 10 founding members and five board members work collectively to run the new location rather than having one person in charge of everything. Hart explained that a co-op would allow for employees to have more agency and flexibility in making decisions.

“[The co-op] is much more secure for us in the long run,” Hart explained. “When you have a group of people who are all equally committed, when everyone’s voice is worth the same, it allows you a lot of diversity [and] freedom for individual workers.”

Le Cagibi is also hosting a crowdfunding campaign, seeking $35,000 to cover 40 per cent of moving costs. Unfortunately, the new space has only one room, leaving live music performances out of the question for now.

Emmett McCleary, U3 Arts, has performed at both Le Divan Orange and Le Cagibi. As a musician, he has felt the importance of keeping small music venues alive firsthand.

“Both [Divan Orange and Le Cagibi] are great,” McCleary said. “Le Cagibi in particular. When I was getting started in Montreal, it was good because it was incredibly cheap to book […] at $75 per night. [As a musician just starting out], you can [easily] book shows and play live. It makes the whole bureaucracy [of booking shows] more accessible, and you don’t have to […] know someone who knows someone.”

McCleary acknowledged that while McGill students may feel helpless as they watch their favourite cafés and music venues close, it is important to continue to go see live shows to support both the acts and the venues.

“Continue to seek out live music in non-traditional places, and support local music wherever it exists,” McCleary suggested.

Both Senez-Gagnon and Hart confirmed that public support for the venues has been overwhelming, with people expressing emotional and financial support through social media and crowdfunding.

“People had [Divan Orange] really close to heart,” Senez-Gagnon said. “People really loved it, musicians as well as the general public. Even when [we] were going through hard times, the public has always been there for us. It’s actually what kept us going for so long, to see that support.”

Hart also believes that raising awareness on social media is an important way to support venues such as Le Cagibi if donating isn’t an option.

“The community has [really been] there for us,” Hart said. “[Students can support us by] sharing our events and coming to our shows. We want to see all our favourite students [at our new location, whether] it be studying with their laptops or [enjoying] a cup of coffee. We want everyone to feel welcome and invited.”

Divan Orange’s last show is set for March 18, and Le Cagibi plans on relocating in April.

Hockey, Sports

International hockey has a shootout problem

by Owen Gibbs on

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International hockey tournaments are in full swing around this time of year. The World Junior Championships take place around New Year’s, the World Championships are in the spring, and every four years, we get to see hockey at the Winter Olympics. Needless to say, it’s a good season to be a hockey fan. While these tournaments are exciting, there has been one highly unpopular event that has increased in frequency to the point of critical mass in recent years: The shootout.

Shootouts suffer from one fundamental problem: They don’t provide a satisfactory finish to hockey games. A disappointing ending takes away from the excitement of the game’s preceding action. The shootout takes what is fundamentally a team sport—built on teamwork and collective skill—and turns it into an individual show. Teamwork is imperative in hockey, so to resort to the individuality and fluke outcomes that shootouts encourage seems inconceivable. Yet, they remain prevalent. It’s time for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to consider scrapping and replacing shootouts.

At the 2017 World Junior Championships in January, strong Canadian and American teams faced off in the gold medal game in an exciting match that ended in a tie, forcing overtime. After a scoreless-but-exciting overtime period, the game went to a shootout, essentially a skills contest that didn’t necessarily represent the competition as a whole. At the World Championships five months later, history repeated itself when the gold medal game between the North American rivals ended in another shootout. Most recently, the latest iteration of the infamous Canada-U.S. rivalry in women’s hockey ended in a shootout at the gold medal game of the PyeongChang Olympic Games.

Something needs to be done about this long standing issue, but few have agreed on what. The most logical conclusion is to get rid of shootouts outright; however, this decision can create problems in and of itself, such as unnecessary strain on athletes and the fact that few tiebreakers besides overtime would be more exciting or team-oriented than shootouts. New overtime rules, however, have the potential to decrease the amount of shootouts. For ideas, the IIHF can look to the NHL.

In 2015-2016, after poor reception to the shootout format, the NHL switched from its previous four-on-four overtime format to three-on-three. With fewer players on the ice, it became much easier for teams to create scoring chances, and the goals started to flow. The number of games resulting in shootouts fell from 170 to 107 in just one season. Fifty-six per cent of games that required extra time in 2014-15 ended in a shootout, while just 38 per cent did a year later.

Furthermore, in the NHL, these three-on-three periods last no more than five minutes. The IIHF could introduce three-on-three overtime, and even double that length—from five minutes to 10. Shoutouts wouldn’t become extinct, but with a limited number of games—as is the case in a tournament—the likelihood of a gold medal coming down to a shootout would decrease considerably. Otherwise, the IIHF could turn to the NHL playoff overtime system, where the game continues in 20-minute periods until someone scores. However, since tournament games typically take place in quick succession in the same building, this option is only viable for the gold medal game.

The frequency of shootouts in international competitions has gotten out of hand, and the IIHF needs to address the problem. The World Championship qualifiers take place in April, and the tournament itself follows in May. The stream of international tournaments is practically infinite, so the IIHF has plenty of opportunities to make changes. The puck is in the IIHF’s zone—and it’s their turn to play it.

Basketball, Sports

March Madness players to watch

by Stephen Gill on

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The comeback: Michael Porter Jr., University of Missouri

After three miserable seasons with a combined 27-67 record, new Head Coach Cuonzo Martin seemed to be turning the Missouri Tigers program around by nabbing a star-studded recruiting class—headlined by a projected top-five NBA Draft pick in Michael Porter Jr. However, excitement quickly came to a stop after Porter suffered a supposedly season-ending back injury in just his second minute of college play at the start of the 2017-18 season.

Fortunately, the rest of the Tigers held down the fort as Porter’s recovery progressed more quickly than expected. Now, Porter’s return will provide an injection of elite talent to a suddenly-scary Mizzou squad—which includes his brother Jontay, an emerging star in his own right.

 

The veteran: Devonte’ Graham, University of Kansas

Prior to this season, Devonte’ Graham was a typical Kansas Jayhawks guard, providing the perennial power with consistently strong, but under-the-radar, point guard play. After a season as a role player and two as a supporting starter, Graham has risen to become the central figure on the first-seeded Jayhawks, leading the team in points, assists, and steals per game and earning first-team All-American honours in the process.

Beyond the box score, Graham might be the single most important player on any team of Kansas’s elite level. The senior provides the Jayhawks with the team’s only reliable play-making, which explains why he ranks fifth in the NCAA in minutes played.

 

The journeyman: Marcus Foster, Creighton University

A lot can change in a few years. Marcus Foster entered the Kansas State Wildcats basketball program to little fanfare, but instantly took college basketball by storm with 25 points in his second career game. Foster followed up with consistently strong performances and ended his season as one of the country’s premier freshmen. Fast forward a year as Foster lost focus and gained weight, leading to his dismissal from the K-State basketball program.

But after sitting out for a year with the Creighton Bluejays, he flipped the script once again. Foster played a vital role for the Jays in 2016-17, and has again stepped up his game this season to be one of college basketball’s most prolific scorers. With little first-round draft buzz to his name, Foster will look to turn the tables one last time before his senior season concludes—starting with a matchup against none other than his former Wildcats.

 

The villain: Grayson Allen, Duke University

Despite competing in a sport monopolized by prolific one-and-done talents, Grayson Allen has kept a firm grip on the college basketball spotlight for four years. His long run of infamy began innocently enough with an explosive dunk during a 2015 Blue Devils Final Four victory. He held fans’ attention in the time since, consistently providing solid contributions and borderline-dirty plays.

Combining Allen’s questionable antics with Duke’s traditionally villainous brand, college basketball has found its bad boy. Alongside Duke’s latest set of blue-chippers, Allen will look to his undeniable talents—in creating wins and controversy—to troll fans one final time.

Commentary, Opinion

Financial transparency is severely lacking at SSMU

by Gabriel Rincon on

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Students are now in the homestretch of the Winter semester, but there is one obstacle: Election season. Over the next two weeks, McGill will be treated to another round of prospective Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) executives for the 2018-2019 school year. Student politicians have often tried to earn cheap political points by making the largely nebulous promise of increasing trust and transparency. Indeed, current president Muna Tojiboeva was elected in Winter 2017 after making exactly those promises.

Yet, there have not been any significant improvements on either of those fronts, as evidenced by a motion of non-confidence against Tojiboeva at the Fall General Assembly in October 2017. If anything, SSMU seems just as dysfunctional as last year––the early resignation of Vice-President (VP) Operations Anuradha Mallik and the murky suspension of VP Finance Arisha Khan from the Board of Directors are only highlights. However, the most appalling SSMU scandal this semester was the controversial $4,000 loan to AVEQ, because it revealed the serious gaps in SSMU’s financial administration. Rather than making more vague promises about communication and student trust, the future VP Finance should propose clear, actionable steps to improve SSMU’s financial transparency and reporting of expenses.

Rather than making more vague promises about communication and student trust, the future VP Finance should propose clear, actionable steps to improve SSMU’s financial transparency and reporting of expenses.

After using a SSMU credit card to fund and host an AVEQ conference, SSMU executives Connor Spencer and Isabelle Oke defended their actions by claiming they were standard practice. The incident revealed how unclear the rules on discretionary spending are—even VP Finance Esteban Herpin seemed unclear on the rules. The fact that AVEQ will pay SSMU back doesn’t change the troubling lack of clarity on executives’ access to company credit cards.

Certainly, there should be rules governing when executives are allowed to rack up thousands in credit card charges. However, since these rules are not public, students have to assume that either they don’t exist, or take Spencer and Oke’s word that they followed them. If SSMU is serious about promoting transparency, it needs to release all internal regulations on discretionary spending so that the electorate can assess whether they are stringent enough, and hold executives accountable to them in the future. The confusion as to whether Spencer and Oke committed any wrongdoing is unacceptable, and could have been avoided with clear standards outlining how the SSMU executive handles discretionary spending.

SSMU does not report the executive’s departmental budgets, or indeed the budget itself, in sufficient detail. The 2018 budget is a spreadsheet with no explanation for any of the values—it only shows net movements in cash, after the money is spent, instead of budgeted gross values. To top it off, there is no reporting as to how each department spends its allocated funds. For example, the 2018 budget projects the VP External department to be over $40,000 in deficit. The specific benefits that students receive for that money is unknown, since the budget does not elaborate on individual departmental budgets. Students should demand that the incoming executive team publish more detailed budgets and expenditure reports that account for every dime earned and spent by each SSMU portfolio. Specifically, departmental budgets should be public and expenditures should be in gross rather than net values. While audited financial reports require this type of accounting, the budget doesn’t need to be in net values, nor should it be. After all, the AVEQ conference debacle could be only one of various ambiguous discretionary expenses.

Ultimately, in order to hold representatives accountable, students need to know how SSMU is spending their money. Right now, there is no clarity on how executives budget their money, and how much various portfolios spend on what. When the incoming VP Finance promises to prioritize transparency, students should demand real measurable objectives. If Jun Wang—the only remaining candidate for VP Finance—wants to add real transparency to his platform, he should take these policy proposals into consideration.

McGill, News

McGill Senate tackles distraction in lectures

by Cherry Wu on

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The McGill University Senate, a governing body that supervises all academic matters on campus, convened on Feb. 21 to discuss the implementation of interactive learning methods in classrooms. Deputy Provost Student Life and Learning Ollivier Dyens (DPSLL) also delivered a report about progress made by the office of Student Life and Learning (SLL) in 2016-2017.

 

Engaged Classroom in a Digital World

During the meeting, a guest panel discussed how the presence of devices such as laptops and cellphones has changed the social and educational dynamics of lectures. The panel, composed of two professors and one student, was invited to speak about their experiences with interactive learning strategies and technologies such as polling software and group work.

The first panelist, Assistant Professor Sharmistha Bhadra, Faculty of Engineering, complained that students are easily distracted by their electronic devices during lectures.

“[In a lecture] I’m the only one talking, but most of the students are not engaging,” Bhadra said. “They are looking at their cell phones or their computers […or have] just stopped showing up to classes. It was very discouraging because I felt like I wasn’t doing a good job. When it came to the final, [those] who didn’t show up to class or engage in class did terribly.”

Bhadra suggested professors use active learning techniques such as group activities to increase student engagement.

“I tried to rely more on the black boards to solve problems [collectively] and [was able to] incorporate more student input,” Bhadra said.

Kenneth Ragan, Professor in the Faculty of Science and the second panelist, shared his experiences leading two freshmen physics lectures with up to 700 students in attendance. In order to boost class participation, he said he implemented polling technology and allotted time during lessons for students to discuss course material. He emphasized the effectiveness of the latter method in particular.

“Interaction between students is at least as important as interaction with the professor,” Ragan said. “Peer instruction happens when you have a group of students whose knowledge individually is very incomplete but are able to bounce ideas off of each other and effectively find a solution.”

The last panelist, Salma Youssef, U3 Biochemistry, presented a collection of student testimonies on classroom engagement and interactive learning strategies. Many students endorsed activities like classroom simulations and small-group discussions—the latter of which Youssef corroborated.

“In my personal experience, I found that in courses like chemistry, when professors pause and allow the students to think through the material, and then prompt one of the students to answer, made learning a lot more effective,” Youssef said.

 

Dyens presents Annual Report from Student Life and Learning (2016-17)

Dyens presented the Annual Report, which highlights achievements by Student Life and Learning, an administrative office which aims to foster students’ academic development and well-being through a number of services including Student Housing and Hospitality Services and Athletics and Recreation.

In the past year, SLL received $8 million in provincial grants to implement more experiential learning initiatives. The funding was divided between a number of programs for both undergraduate and graduate students.

“$1.5 million was allocated to Enriched Educational Opportunities (EEO), so all faculties can provide more bursary for work experience opportunities outside the classroom,” Dyens said. “Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies also received $1.5 million to implement more PhD internships.”

Dyens also outlined ways to improve SLL’s performance after his departure from his office this Summer.

“In the next year, we need to focus a bit more on the customer service aspect to respond to student needs more quickly,” Dyens said. “This will also include the Mental Health and Wellness Strategy, which will come out soon. It’s really the customer service aspect that make the biggest difference for how the students feel about the SLL.”

The Senate will reconvene on March 28.

Science & Technology

Bioenergy Plantations: A step towards meeting our climate change goals

by Zoe Doran on

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On April 22 2016, nations from across the globe signed the Paris Agreement, an international climate accord with the aim of managing countries’ greenhouse gas emissions and reducing average global temperatures increases to 2℃ above pre-industrial levels. Since 2015, it has become increasingly apparent that further reducing emissions will not be enough to achieve the goals that were set in Paris. Instead, many scientists are turning to negative emission technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), which combines multiple existing technologies to extract previously emitted CO2.

BECCS operates by cultivating fast-growing grasses and trees grown on large-scale bioenergy plantations that are burned to generate energy. But, instead of emitting carbon into the atmosphere after a burn, the carbon produced from biotic material is pumped and stored underground. Uniquely, BECCS releases zero greenhouse gases, as the grasses and trees absorb atmospheric carbon through carbon sequestration. This technology returns atmospheric carbon to the geological reserves where it originated, eliminating emissions while generating energy.

To economic opportunists, BECCS is a promising solution for combating climate change because it doesn’t require widespread lifestyle changes. But, like many new technologies, BECCS is not without its flaws.

Fossils fuels are much more energetically dense than biotic material—a large mass must therefore be cultivated to generate a significant amount of energy. Joann Whalen, a professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences described the energy-density barrier of BECCs technology.

“The energy gain from a bioenergy plantation is highly dependent on the amount of energy required to move the plant biomass from its area of origin (e.g., a field) to the conversion facility,” Whalen wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “[Biomass is] not a dense fuel source compared to fossil fuels.”

The technical feasibility of BECCS is further complicated because storing carbon in geological reserves is an energy-intensive process which requires expensive technologies. Grant Clark, an professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering, believes that BECCS will probably be used in tandem with other energy technologies in the future.

“[BECCS] could be one aspect of the energy jigsaw puzzle,” Clark wrote in an email to the Tribune. “If it becomes popular, it will probably be an interim solution that will be phased out of the energy portfolio as other, more robust and efficient technologies become less expensive”.

Unless bioenergy plantations are strictly confined to marginal lands, increasing the area of land that is used for bioenergy plantations reduces the land available for agriculture and livestock. Don Smith, a professor in the Department of Plant Science, and expert researcher in root-colonizing bacteria, has developed a small protein that could make food stocks on marginal lands more resilient.

“[This protein] regulates aspects of the plant’s genome […with the] capacity to help plants grow under more challenging environmental conditions, [like those affected by] climate change,”  Smith wrote in an email to the Tribune. “[…This compound] could build more climate change resilient agriculture, which in turn makes BECCS a more realistic prospect as agriculture on marginal lands becomes more reliable.”

Looking to the future, Whalen doesn’t see BECCS as the end-all, be-all solution to climate change mitigation, but rather, as a component of a larger comprehensive plan.

“We cannot stop the rising carbon dioxide levels with bioenergy plantations alone, but they’re a part of the solution, along with other renewable energy solutions that are practical at this time—geothermal, wind, solar and hydro power—and those that may come to be practical in the future, [such as algae],” Whalen wrote.

For the time being, BECCS is a preliminary technology that is a step in the right direction toward weaning humans off of their dependence on fossil fuels.

Off the Board, Opinion

Journalism still matters

by Calvin Trottier-Chi on

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Returning home for reading week often comes with the usual barrage of concern from my family over my choice to pursue journalism as a career. “Journalism is a dying field,” my family members say. “Anybody with a blog can be a journalist.” Yet, I could scarcely go a day without one of my friends or family fretting over American tariffs, Trudeau’s travels, or Russian nerve agents. I was baffled at the apparent disparity between their bleak outlook on the future of the media industry and their consistent interest in updates on global affairs. This disconnect is the result of people seeing information as a freely and easily accessible public good and taking it for granted. Yet, although readers can get their information through social media, there is no replacement for the investigation and impartiality of journalism.

Although readers can get their information through social media, there is no replacement for the investigation and impartiality of journalism.

While mainstream conversation about journalism today tends to focus on its decline as a profitable business, with the prevalence of people griping about news in the U.S., it might seem like journalism is seeing a resurgence. Indeed, in what is affectionately referred to as the “Trump bump,” millennials increasingly started paying for media subscriptions after the 2016 election to content from organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Journal and The Washington Post. Thanks to his uncanny ability to be thoroughly offensive, people from a diverse range of backgrounds have a newfound stake in politics. Trump’s stance on travel bans and the environment show that administrative decisions have very real impacts.

Yet, as appealing as it is to mock Trump or an opposing political party, all readers must recognize what those willing to pay for subscriptions already do: That journalism functions most importantly as a reliable, common information source. It is this function that needs to be valued—and paid for—by news consumers.

It is difficult to separate our opinions on the news itself and our opinions of the events it reports. This is especially true given the popularity of receiving news through social media or celebrities like YouTube star Philip DeFranco and host of Last Week Tonight John Oliver. However, one should not substitute journalists for media personalities. Distributing and putting a favourable spin on informative content is not the same thing as producing it. The latter is what journalists do, and it is no small task. Impactful stories don’t happen overnight—they require sifting through hours of formal meetings, and maintaining longstanding reputations of professionalism. It’s this enormous investigative legwork that subscribing readers pay for. Although citizen journalism—the process by which the public shares news information—is an important process of making stories viral, it is not a sufficient replacement for the value of thorough, fact-oriented journalistic investigation.

What distinguishes journalists from entertainers and political commentators is that they are mandated, to the best of their ability, to present relevant information to the public in an unbiased way. Trump’s polarizing allegations of fake news obscures this fundamental value of news reporting. Upon googling the difference between Fox News and CNN, I see readers from both sides disavowing the other as sensationalist nonsense. In general, as tempting as it is to seek out like-minded individuals, it is necessary for readers to recognize the value of a range of news sources, despite differences, in order for journalism to fulfill its role within society. A free press fulfills a role analogous to the judiciary, as it empowers the people through a mandate of truth. To forsake this would be dangerous, as, logically, society needs to have some basis of common understanding to be able to function.

As a news editor, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of providing an impartial source of information. Whether it is a debate over student federations, politics, or religion, people need to realize any public conversation requires a common information base, and journalism is the ideal third-party platform to provide that. If people are not adequately informed, arguments over General Assemblies and Task Force forums will only become increasingly polarized.

We need to be able to differentiate between the very real—yet manageable—technological growth pains, the political leveraging against journalism, and our own personal biases. Journalism is about recognizing truth and common experiences, and that is a value as old as society. As such, it is a value worth preserving.

Out on the Town, Student Life

Caffè Farina offers a taste of Italy in Saint-Henri

by Jade Prévost-Manuel on

More in Out on the Town:

Tucked away in the quiet southwestern borough of Saint-Henri lies Caffè Farina, a new Italian espresso bar and eatery that opened in November 2017. Serving bold coffees and caffès—Italian espresso drinks—alongside traditional sandwich recipes straight from nonna’s kitchen, Caffè Farina offers a hip twist on the authentic Italian experience.

 

After only four months on the block, Caffè Farina has been phenomenally successful, according to owner Vincent Pesce.  

“Feb. 16 [was] our three-month anniversary,” Pesce said. “We were supposed to open up before that, but there was so much construction on the street [that] we didn’t want [it] to interfere with [business] so we waited, and two days after we opened, the street was opened [back up] and ready to go.”

The brain-child of Pesce and his long-time friends, Farina’s menu is comprised of unique, family-inherited Italian recipes that the owners grew up eating.

“We’re four different families,” Pesce said. “We all came together and [this was] pretty much one idea we always wanted to do together.”

Luring in third-wave café experts with its sophisticated blue suede couches, marble decor, and iconic neon “Ciao Bella” tube sign, Caffè Farina’s atmosphere is so charming you would swear you were in Italy. Its menu offers four traditional Italian sandwiches, packed with hearty Italian-style meats on rustic, non-fat ciabatta buns for $10 each.

The bread Farina uses for its sandwiches is sourced from Boulangerie San Pietro, an Italian bakery that has served Little Italy for over 35 years. But, according to Pesce, the search for the perfect bun to cradle their meaty sandwiches was no small feat. Pesce and his partner scoured Montreal in search of the ideal bread.

“One day my partner [said] ‘you have to go try all the bread in the city,’” Pesce explained. “So for every bakery we really knew, we tried all the bread. I’m still full from that day. And I gotta say, [our final choice] was fantastic. We toast it in the oven a bit and it comes out nice and hot—it doesn’t break your palette and it’s perfect with the meat.”

Aiming to cater to the masses, Pesce considers it important for Caffè Farina to offer recipes and prices that anybody can love.

“My customer base is huge,” Pesce said. “From the millenials, to the lawyers, to doctors [and] students […] We’ve kept our prices very low for that reason. The sandwiches here are $10, the coffee is super cheap as well.”

In the summer, the café plans to open up its doors by installing an outdoor terrace that will cater to summer street-goers and window-shoppers, offering an aperitivo-style menu during happy hour.

“In Italy, it’s very known to have a 5 à 8, so [during happy hour] we’re going to [sell] small focaccias, pizzas, and [drinks] for half the price, or two for one,” Pesce said.

Pesce is planning to expand Farina’s main menu as well.

“We make [seven] fantastic things, and they’re good for now,” Pesce said. “In the future, we’ll have a pasta of the week, meatballs, maybe a folded pizza, like in Naples, [we’re adding things] slowly, slowly, you know?”

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