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Commentary, Opinion

Why our mothers and grandmothers won’t say #MeToo

by Sophie Panzer on

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The holidays are awkward enough without having to explain the definition of sexual assault to your relatives. Yet, my sisters and I found ourselves doing just that at the end of 2017, when the subject of  #MeToo, a movement created by Tarana Burke to increase awareness about sexual harassment and assault, came up at a family gathering. My mother voiced her desire to support us no matter what, but seemed confused when we explained that unwanted sexual advances are harassment and that sexual contact without enthusiastic consent is assault.

“Don’t these attitudes lead to self-victimization?” my mother asked. “Whatever happened to women’s empowerment?”

These questions are central to the growing backlash against the #MeToo movement. Notably, there is a stark generational divide in the discourse. Many Generation X and baby boomer women resist #MeToo because they view it as a threat to women’s agency. Younger millennial and Gen Z women who believe in the importance of enthusiastic consent feel failed by the feminism of older generations, which frames empowerment as conforming to the worst tenets of toxic masculinity—“bite the bullet,” “don’t show fear or pain,” or, “boys will be boys”—rather than challenging them.

To young women, empowerment means actively resisting harmful norms, not tolerating them. This requires pushing back against inappropriate behaviour not only in the office, but in personal relationships as well. For example, no adult should expect sex, flirtation, or romance to magically occur without communication between partners. It’s not robotic, it’s respectful. If young women want allies in their quest to change norms, they must be open to talking with older generations in order to reconcile these different visions of empowerment.

One of the main concerns older women have with #MeToo is that it creates a culture of victimhood. The literary critic Daphne Merkin wrote in The New York Times, “We seem to be returning to a victimology paradigm for young women, in particular, in which they are perceived to be—and perceive themselves to be—as frail as Victorian housewives.” Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, wrote in The Globe and Mail that she does not believe “that women are children, incapable of agency or of making moral decisions. If they were, we’re back to the 19th century.”

 

To young women, empowerment means actively resisting harmful norms, not tolerating them.

 

Some older women also do not believe that “a bad night”—or any non-consensual sexual activity that is not technically rape—should be considered assault. Many people questioned whether “Grace’s” account of her date with Aziz Ansari—in which he ignored her verbal and nonverbal cues—constituted assault. In her Atlantic response piece, “The Humiliation of Aziz Ansari,” writer Caitlin Flanagan bemoaned the fragility of “the young,” dismissed the woman’s feelings of violation as “regret,” and attacked the allegations as “3,000 words of revenge porn.”

Other women have questioned what romance and sex would look like without the male behaviour young women condemn. Slate’s executive editor, Alison Benedikt, published an article about her marriage to a former boss who treated her in a way that, by today’s standards, would be viewed as harassment. He drunkenly kissed her at a work event and openly leered at her in the office while wielding power over her career. She viewed his advances as romantic and wonders whether the excitement of flirting will be able to withstand the standards of consent that #MeToo advocates.

These critics were fine when the #MeToo discussion was limited to the likes of Harvey Weinstein, but fail to recognize that the behaviours of serial abusers, local office creeps, and aggressive frat boys are linked. These behaviours are not equally morally depraved—no one is calling for Ansari to face the same legal consequences as Weinstein—but they all stem from the same culture of misogynistic entitlement.

As women continue to push back against sexual assault and harassment, notions of women’s empowerment must evolve past those of our mothers and grandmothers. My discussion with my older relatives about #MeToo was awkward, difficult, and frustrating, but young women need to keep having these conversations across generations in order to move forward with them.  

Sophie Panzer is a U3 History major. Her interests include eating carbs, reading books, and walking dogs.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]
News, SSMU

SSMU introduces new Gendered and Sexual Violence Policy with new coordinator

by Jackie Yao on

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As of Jan. 8, Caitlin Salvino, chair of Our Turn, a national student group committed to preventing sexual violence on campuses and advocating for survivors, became the official Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Gendered and Sexualized Violence Policy (GSVP) Coordinator. She aims to create a proactive policy to address sexual violence on campus and complement McGill’s Policy against Sexual Violence.

Although SSMU completed the first GSVP draft in July 2017 in accordance with the Community Disclosure Network’s (CDN) original timeline recommendations, initial consultations in Fall 2017 revealed students’ concerns over an underdeveloped survivor-focused framework and the lack of gender-based violence policies.

The CDN—a network for survivors of sexual and gendered violence to disclose their experiences and seek support—was established in February 2017 following incidents involving former SSMU executives. In response to the allegations, the CDN called for the creation of the GSVP and has continued to advise SSMU on relevant cases. According to a CDN member who wished to remain anonymous, the policy’s quality should take precedence over adherence to the proposed schedule.

“Drafting policy like this takes time to do properly,” the member wrote. “[The CDN feels] extremely confident in [Salvino’s] ability to take on this project. She is incredibly well-qualified for this work.”

Salvino will be holding open forums on Feb. 5 and Feb. 12 as well as community-specific consultations in the coming weeks to spark discussion on the policy. The new GSVP draft will be delivered to student groups in March and the final GSVP report will be published on May 31.

“Right now, we are doing consultations and researching into current [sexual and gendered violence] policies and provincial law,” Salvino said. “[Starting a new GSVP draft] is kind of about stepping back, speaking to as many people as possible from many communities, and trying to create a policy that is much more holistic.”

Priya Dube, U3 Arts, and Bee Khaleeli, U2 Arts, will work alongside Salvino as Gender and Sexual Violence Policy Advisors. Their positions will provide context on previous initiatives and recognize McGill student groups that work to address gendered and sexual violence, such as the Black Students’ Network (BSN). To BSN Vice-President (VP) Political Affairs Christelle Tessono, the GSVP is particularly important because people of colour are at greater risk of sexual violence, making it necessary for their perspective to be heard.

“It is important to understand that sexual violence targets everyone […] and to talk about sexual violence without recognizing how it targets every specific body doesn’t do justice to dismantling rape culture,” Tessono said. “[The BSN is concerned about] how we make sure that we hold each other accountable and how SSMU plays a role in creating that culture.”

Salvino praises SSMU as the first student union in Canada to tackle sexual and gendered violence through policy, although she warns that the Society will likely face hurdles in enforcing the GSVP. SSMU VP External Connor Spencer notes the culture of mistrust around SSMU and institutional pushback, especially regarding survivor confidentiality and executive dismissal, as major limitations.

“Quebec Labour [standards] are the superseding documents to all SSMU documents and people are typically not even willing to look into bending those rules or interpreting them in a way that is accessible,” Spencer said. “It’s [also] going to take many years of good executives to combat [students’ mistrust of SSMU] and one policy is not going to fix that, but hopefully [the GSVP] is a first of many steps.”

SSMU has been exploring implementation methods such as training club executives on how to report disclosures, tying club funding to workshop attendance, and encouraging faculties to include points from the GSVP in their own constitutions. Spencer recommends that sexual and gendered violence survivors seek help from SSMU, the McGill administration, and survivor-orientated groups like the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS).

“My own definition of a pro-survivor approach is choice, and the ability to make informed choices,” Spencer said. “At the student union level, we can facilitate [student accomodations] a lot better because we have the connections with the [McGill administration] office and know what has come before [….] so that we can better advocate for certain folks.”

Student Life

Not sure where to study? Four alternative study spots on campus

by Yara Shaheen-Abuelreish on

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The Winter semester is in full swing, which means it’s time for students to bury their heads back into their textbooks. With the wounds of last finals season still healing, the memories of the Schulich and Redpath-McLennan libraries are scarring for many students. The McGill Tribune has compiled a list of five alternative study spots on campus to try based on mood and study habits, to switch up their study environment while staying on top of their work.

When you’re seeking solitude – Islamic Studies Library

Address: Morrice Hall, 3485 McTavish Street

Open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week, this library’s calm and reclusive atmosphere is perfect if you’re looking to work in a silent environment by yourself. The bookshelves, brimming with historical material, inspire curiosity and serenity. The private carrels spread across the library are the perfect spots to be focused-yet-relaxed while doing readings for tomorrow’s class, or solving equations at your own pace. Check it out if you find yourself looking for a calm place to study, but be warned that outlets are sparse, so come prepared with a fully-charged battery.

Noise Level – 2/5

If you’re feeling social – Geographic Information Centre

Address: 5th floor, Burnside Hall, 805 Sherbrooke Street West

The Geographic Information Center (GIC) is a bustling study area filled with students chatting in small groups. Situated on the fifth floor of busy Burnside Hall, the centre’s lively open space is the ideal environment for students in need of a little background noise to focus. The large tables make for great group study spaces, and the rows of computers by the door are perfect for students hoping to leave their laptops at home. If you’re overwhelmed by the oppressively silent environment of libraries, and can’t seem to work in isolation, the GIC is the perfect place to study in the company of peers.

Noise level – 4/5

For a motivated morning –  Osler Library of the History of Medicine

Address: 3rd Floor, McIntyre Medical, 3655 Promenade Sir-William-Osler

With its tall windows, dispersed plants, and towering wooden bookshelves, this library’s atmosphere is immediately welcoming. These characteristics, combined with the intense silence of the building, make it easy to focus on schoolwork and lose track of time. However, the library’s opening hour of 9 a.m. and early closing time of 5 p.m. during the week best suits a crowd of morning risers with daytime study habits. So, if you find yourself in McMed at an early hour, this study spot may be the best for you. Beware that you’ll need a charged laptop to get through this study session, as there aren’t many outlets in the library. Although, with the Med Café on the fifth floor of the building, students can grab a snack and charge their laptops during a lunch-time study break.

Noise Level – 1/5

 

When you need to focus – Birks Reading Room

Address: 2nd floor, Birks Building, 3250 University Street

Situated within the Religious Studies building, the Birks Reading Room is a small and orderly space where students are required to remove their shoes before entering. The main floor of the library is filled with bookshelves holding encyclopedias on every known religion. Despite the picturesque setting, the mood is tense due to the strictly upheld rules about noise level. For students seeking a silent study day, the lack of distraction, small crowd, and abundance of outlets allow for long periods of concentrated work. If you’re looking to take advantage of the natural light for calm reading or people-watching, head up to the second-floor study space and grab one of the many individual chairs in the room featuring large windows overlooking University Street.

Noise Level – 1/5

Student Life

McGill’s annual International Food Festival: Sharing culture through curries, couscous, and more

by Mathilde Hourticq on

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On Jan. 25, the third floor of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) building bustled with hungry students leaning over plates of food at the International Food Festival. The festival, hosted annually since 2012 by the McGill-based organization Borderless World Volunteers (BWV), raises funds for student volunteer trips with non-governmental organizations each summer.

Emillee Hernandez, Co-President of BWV and U3 Arts and Science student, one of the many organizers of the festival, described the organization’s reasoning behind the creation of the event.

“BWV was founded in 2003,” Hernandez said. “From there this event was [created] to celebrate Montreal’s cultural diversity. We wanted to figure out some sort of medium that was both entertaining but also made enough money to support these trips.”

In addition to on-campus events, BWV also focuses on what they can do to support those in need in Montreal.

“We have affiliations with local organizations,” Hernandez said. “We don’t give money to them but we supply [them with] volunteers. A lot of times we’ll partner with organizations that are oriented towards helping the homeless. We also do our own sandwich distributions.”

For the first time in the six years that the festival has been running, student societies and cultural groups on campus were invited to join local restaurants in sharing their traditional cuisines. The diversity in food options from table to table at the event was remarkable–from Italian food, to Japanese, to Middle-Eastern.

For Dounia Bennis, U3 Arts and president of the McGill Moroccan Students’ Association, the festival was an opportunity to share her culture while also becoming familiar with other cultures.

“We really try to be present in as many cultural food events as possible, to really get people to learn about Morocco, its culture, and its food,” Bennis said.

A lot of the food at the event, however, was brought in from local sponsor restaurants. David King-Hope, vice-president of the International Food Festival Committee and U4 Engineering student, described the sponsor-student relationship was as advantageous for both parties.

“We’re always looking for ways to make it more beneficial for the sponsors,” King-Hope said. “In doing things like printing individual banners for each restaurant [which] enhances their advertising.”

One of the restaurants present was Student Tasty Biryani, whose co-owner Salman Syed believes it’s important for restaurants to support charitable events for reasons beyond being good advertising.

“We are participating [to serve] the community,” Syed said. “We feel this is not just for business, it’s for a good cause.”

In a community as diverse as McGill, events such as the International Food Festival serve to bring people together to celebrate differences while simultaneously commemorating one’s own culture. What better way to do this than through an activity everyone enjoys—Eating.

Science & Technology

Learning a second language may benefit children with autism

by Holly Cabrera on

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For many, fluency in more than one language would be considered an obvious asset. Yet, the concept of a “bilingual advantage” is still widely debated, particularly for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Often, parents are advised to raise children with ASD monolingually to avoid compounding potential language delays resulting from autism. Controversy surrounding the effects of bilingualism on executive functions, or the set of cognitive processes that control behaviour, is especially prevalent.

A new study conducted by Associate Professor Aparna Nadig from the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and McGill alumnus Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero, suggests that proficiency in a second language may help—and not hinder—the cognitive flexibility of children with ASD. After presenting 40 children between the ages of six and nine with a series of card sorting tasks, the researchers found that those who were bilingual performed significantly better on the most complex phase than the monolingual subjects. For the tests, children were seated at a laptop and ranked images of boats and rabbits based on their size and colour.

“Something that I, and even the parents, found interesting was that the task the children were doing on the laptop was quite challenging, even for adults,” Gonzalez-Barrero said. “It had different phases, but on the most complex [one], the bilingual children [with ASD] performed really well. [Some] parents observing their children were surprised [….They] told me that ‘If you asked me to perform this task, I think I wouldn’t be as good as my child.’”

According to Nadig, activities related to cognitive flexibility, including switching from one task to another (set-shifting) and approaching a problem from a different perspective are actions that people with autism typically struggle to carry out. Gonzalez-Barrero explained that, given the stringent requirements for the population study, the scientific literature on children with ASD—let alone bilingual children with autism—is limited.

“This is the first study to our knowledge that is looking at whether bilingualism may provide advantages on cognitive flexibility for children with autism spectrum disorders,” Gonzalez-Barrero said. “There are several articles that have reported a bilingual advantage in adults and in children [suggesting] better cognitive skills in some specific tasks for bilingual relative to monolingual individuals, but this hasn’t been explored [extensively] in children with developmental disorders [….] We wanted to see if the bilingual advantage could be generalized to children in the autism spectrum.”

For this study alone, participants had to undergo a two-hour testing session in each language they spoke—English, French, or Spanish—and had to have received at least 20 per cent exposure to their second language since birth. Participants’ parents and independent bilingual graders also listened to the subjects’ speech and rated their fluency on a four-point scale.

With their work, Nadig and Gonzalez-Barrero contributed additional literature for families to consult when making important educational and child rearing decisions.

“There are an increasing number of families with children with ASD for whom using two or more languages is a common and valued practice,” Nadig said. “As we know in bilingual societies such as ours, speaking only one language can be a significant obstacle in adulthood for employment, educational, and community opportunities.”

Nadig and Gonzalez-Barrero’s study is long-term, and they will continue observing the same group of children over three to five years. In this next phase of their research, they hope to examine the effects of bilingualism on the childrens’ daily life behaviours, such as their ability to set-shift when confronted with a challenging activity.

“We have a companion study to this one that will be coming out shortly, where we investigated more complex language skills at school age in the same sample of children with ASD,” Nadig said. “We found there that bilingual children’s language skills were still in the normal range in their dominant language, so once again, the take home message is that bilingualism is not harmful.”

Student Life

Finding the humour in embarrassing moments: Students share their most uncomfortable confessions

by Mary Keith on

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We’ve all been there: Wiping out in the middle of the Y-intersection, spilling Premiere Moisson coffee all over a new shirt, or running out of a class mid-lecture to vomit after a rough night out. These are the stories we tend to hide from the rest of the world. But this week, The McGill Tribune brings you some of its readers’ most uncomfortable and unfortunate tales of embarrassment.

Responses have been edited for style and length.

 

John M., Art History

“I was […] at a random house party in the [Milton-Parc neighbourhood] and I was flirting with [a girl] when I suddenly puked on her. I quickly left the apartment as I was embarrassed. The following morning I realized that I left with the wrong coat so I had to go back to the place. And guess who opens the door? The girl that received my vomit. Obviously, my reaction was to run away without saying a thing. I never went back and I still wear another man’s coat.”

Sanchi B., Management:

“I got pushed into a snowbank in front of the Frank Dawson Adams auditorium by 8-year-olds.”

Liam K., Economics:

“In my first year, I went to Gerts to watch the first 2016 presidential debate and got so drunk that within 10 minutes I was on the floor of the bar on my back chanting for Hillary Clinton while my best friend dragged me out of the bar by the back of my shirt. I’ll never go back to Gerts again.”

Alexa R., Engineering:

“I farted really loudly in Leacock 132.”

Gaby M., International Development Studies and Political Science:

“I was walking in late [to my 300-level Poli class] because I had stopped to get a burrito for lunch on the way, and had ended up being in line longer than expected. As I’m scrambling through the door and looking around for a seat […] my burrito, that I had already unraveled since I had started eating, begun toppling over [….] In between my lack of coordination and my mouth completely missing the burrito, all the condiments ended up inside my shirt amidst a sea of curious onlookers. The class is an hour and a half long [and] I didn’t have the nerve to go to the bathroom. I had guacamole-covered chicken touching my breasts. For 90 minutes.”

Elijah S., Arts, Sociology:

“One time during finals, I was walking through Redpath and saw someone in front of me waving and going in for a high five. I didn’t know him and was a little caught off guard but I thought he was just being motivational to try to get me through exams so I enthusiastically returned the coming high five only to realize a split second before our hands met that he was saying hi to the person behind me. I was so physically close to both of them at this point that it was too late to be able to just casually walk away, so I had to awkwardly say ‘my bad’ before turning red and sprint walking away.”

Fact or Fiction, Science & Technology

Can vitamin C really cure the common cold?

by Ronny Litvack-Katzman on

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It’s that time of the year again. Flu season is upon us, and everyone seems to be getting sick.

Most people resort to their personal catalogue of remedies and preventive strategies to avoid the winter plague—among them, reaching for a bottle of ascorbic acid, or vitamin C.

The theory that vitamin C could prevent the common cold first received public interest when Linus Pauling, a famous American chemist and winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, put the idea to the test. In 1970, Pauling published Vitamin C and the Common Cold, a book outlining his belief that vitamin C could provide a cure for this everyday ailment.

Pauling was met with harsh criticism from his peers after the book’s publication. Today, there remains little backing for his claims in scientific literature, with the majority of evidence showing that vitamin C neither prevents nor cures one’s cold symptoms.

While the vitamin may not prevent colds, it serves a number of other purposes. Joe Schwarcz, director of the Office for Science and Society and a professor in the Department of Chemistry, discussed the role of vitamins in maintaining overall health with The McGill Tribune.

“[Vitamins are] any substance that the body cannot manufacture and therefore must be provided by the diet to prevent certain diseases,” Schwarcz said.

For over 200 years, vitamin C has been used as a treatment for scurvy, a disease resulting from a lack of the vitamin that causes gum disease, weakness, and skin hemorrhaging. While vitamin C deficiencies are obviously detrimental to human health, controversy has arisen around whether or not the vitamin is beneficial in excess. Vitamin C’s primary purpose in the body is in the growth and repair of connective tissues, and is required for the functioning of a number of enzymes. More generally, it works as an antioxidant, a property that has given it plenty of attention as a potential cold remedy.

“There has been a lot of discussion about [vitamin C] being an antioxidant,” Schwarcz said. “In that way reducing the risk of various diseases in which free radicals are implicated.”

Free radicals are molecules in the body that are produced as byproducts of oxygen metabolism. These unpaired molecules can cause significant damage to living cells, increasing a person’s vulnerability to viral infections like colds. Antioxidants like vitamin C safely interact with free radicals, preventing them from damaging vital cells. This argument has become the basis of how antioxidant supplements like vitamin C can treat a variety of diseases, among them the common cold.

Although these assumptions seem reasonable, Schwarcz explained that current research does not sustain these claims.

In clinical trials, vitamin C has never been able to stop the cold virus from entering the body. This medical application has rarely been successful, save for some modern vaccinations.

“Taking a supplemental dose of vitamin C will in no way prevent you from coming into contact with a virus that can lead to a cold,” Laura Plante, a McGill instructor and Registered Dietician, wrote in an email to the Tribune.

While vitamin C may not prevent or cure the common cold, some studies have shown that large doses at the onset of symptoms could reduce their severity. However, Schwarcz expressed that even this finding remains contentious in the scientific community.

Deficiencies of any vitamin can lead to serious health complications. The best strategy for remaining healthy during the year is to get your daily intake of vitamin C through fruits and vegetables.

“Citruses are generally thought to be the best sources [of vitamin C], [although] red bell peppers supply us with up to double the vitamin C in [a portion of the same size],” Plante said.

While eating foods rich in vitamin C may reduce your chance of scurvy, there is no consensus supporting the idea that vitamin C is an effective cold remedy.

“There is no magic cure,” Plante said. “Science holds no proof that chicken soup helps cure the common cold either! Still, that has yet to stop us from having a bowl and presumably [feeling] its benefits.”

Student Life

Having a night in: Hosting dinner parties on a budget

by Eloise Haliburton on

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As the semester goes on, it becomes harder and harder to find time for socializing with friends, meaning you need to put a little more effort into getting together. When keeping up friendships, nothing says “I care about you” like a homemade meal. But as much fun as a dinner party is, serving up a quality meal is often unrealistic on a student budget. In order to help students with their dinner party plans, The McGill Tribune has created a student budget-friendly menu for hosting the perfect night in.

Setting up your space

In small student apartments, there’s rarely room for a grand dining table, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting your friends together for a meal. In fact, you may find that eating in an intimate non-traditional setting might even bring you closer together. Throw down a spare sheet or a blanket and use some couch cushions as floor pillows. For decoration, consider placing tealight candles in clean glasses and putting them in the middle of the blanket for some cozy mood lighting. If you’ve set up your space and realize you don’t have quite enough cutlery and tableware for everyone, there’s no shame in asking people to bring their own. This way, you don’t end up with someone eating soup with chopsticks, and you cut back on the number of dishes you have to wash later.

Start with drinks

What’s a dinner party without a fun cocktail? If you want to be fancy, there are ways to do this on a budget. The SAQ’s “petits prix” (low prices) section is the best place to grab a cheap and fruity bottle of red wine to use for some homemade sangria. Depending which sangria recipe you decide on, the only additional ingredients you’ll need are citrus fruits, berries, and juice, which you may already have in your fridge.

Easy traditional red sangria

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cored apple, chopped
  • 1/2 orange, rind on, sliced into small pieces, large seeds removed
  • 3-4 tablespoons organic brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup orange juice, plus more to taste
  • 1/3 cup brandy, plus more to taste
  • 1 (750ml) bottle of red wine
  • 1 cup ice

Instructions:

  1. Add apple, orange, and brown sugar to a large pitcher
  2. Stir with a wooden spoon for 45 seconds
  3. Add orange juice and brandy and stir for 30 more seconds
  4. Add red wine and stir until well mixed
  5. Taste and adjust flavour with juice or brandy, as needed
  6. Add ice to chill and stir once
  7. Serve as is, or garnish with additional orange

(Adapted from minimalistbaker.com)

Serve up dinner

Often, the most expensive part of any meal is the meat—so consider skipping this element altogether! There are tons of easy vegetarian recipes such as stir-frys and chilis that will not only taste delicious, but greatly reduce the cost of groceries for your dinner party. In addition, if you have leftovers, these dishes are easily freezable and can be used for a meal later in the week. To save money, plan ahead and make a list of ingredients in order to avoid buying unnecessary items. If you’re unsure of what to make, buy ingredients that could work for multiple dishes.

Easy vegetarian chili recipe

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 1-3 tablespoons chili powder (more will be spicier)
  • 2 tablespoons of cumin
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/4-2 teaspoons of chili flakes
  • 2 peppers, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 3 stalks of celery, diced
  • 2 (28 oz) cans of whole tomatoes and their juice
  • 2 can of kidney or white beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups of frozen corn
  • Salt and pepper
  • Optional toppings: sour cream, cheddar cheese, cilantro, diced avocados, or green onion.

Instructions:

  1. With your hands, crush the canned tomatoes until they are smooth
  2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat
  3. Add onion and sauté for about three minutes
  4. Add garlic and sauté for around one minute
  5. Add spices and stir for about 30 seconds
  6. Add peppers, carrots, and celery and cook for about five minutes, or until they just start to soften
  7. Add tomatoes and their juice to the pan
  8. Bring all the ingredients to a simmer
  9. Once the chili begins to simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low
  10. Continue to stir occasionally for about 20 minutes
  11. Add beans and corn then cook until the chili returns to a simmer
  12. Salt to taste
  13. Serve on its own or topped with additional toppings

(Adapted from theendlessmeal.com)

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

TNC’s FUSE finds meaning in confusion

by Kevin Reynolds on

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Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre’s (TNC) FUSE is a confusing play. It includes little in terms of conventional plot structure or character development, and several days after seeing it, I am still having a hard time knowing what to make of it. If you like linear narratives and happy endings, this play might not be for you. However, for those looking for something different, or at least to leave Morrice Hall with more questions than answers, this play gives much to enjoy.

FUSE begins with a debate between prologues. Three characters, each personifying a prologue, argue over how a play should begin. The three prologues put forth theories dealing with the nature of art, theatre, and life itself. One character memorably laments that playwrights, unlike other artists, give their audience all the answers in their work. Although the line was delivered with some irony, it is nevertheless clear that FUSE avoids neat answers.

The play continues in a similar fashion as it began. Each act elaborates on a different theme by using unconventional devices like spoken word poetry and borrowed news headlines. Several motifs run consistent throughout the work, including femininity, existential anxiety, and expression of the body. These little scenes and the palpable emotion they imparted on the crowd come to form a plot of their own. FUSE does not move toward something so much as it digs deeper into the initial themes with which it began.

However, the casts’ performances are what really make the play. The emotion conveyed by each actor serves to translate some of the play’s more cerebral or esoteric moments into something immediately understandable. In addition to playing the role of prologues, some of the actors played audience members. These planted spectators left the crowd to take their place on stage on cue, making the transition from observer to actor seem natural, although still unexpected. By blurring the distinction between audience member and cast member, one begins to wonder what the role as an observer really is, and how a play can be shaped by interpretation and the environment in which it is viewed.

With scenes dealing with global violence and personal drama, FUSE asks audiences whether they play the parts of observers or actors in their own lives. In many ways, these questions are the hallmarks of great art. Not only does it make one question the nature of the piece, but life itself is viewed and inspected in relation to what is unfolding on stage.  

Although FUSE relishes its abundance of unanswered questions, it is unquestionably worth seeing. Despite some confusion, FUSE is filled with good writing, moving performances, a healthy dose of continental philosophy, and a nearly glutinous serving of skepticism. I find it very hard to believe the play’s slogan, “Everything is Meaningless.” It might take several viewings to grasp, but there is a lot to take to heart here. 

TNC’s FUSE is playing from  January 31 – February 3 at 8 p.m. in Morrice Hall in the Islamic Studies Building, 3485 Rue McTavish. Tickets are $6 for students and $10 general admission.

Sports

Chopping, chanting, and chainsaws at MacDonald Campus

by Miya Keilin on

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On Jan. 27, the McGill Woodsmen team hosted the 58th annual Mac Woodsmen competition at MacDonald Campus. More than 130 competitors from seven schools competed in 14 events throughout the day. A decently-sized crowd milled about the area, moving from event to event to cheer on their friends and family members while classic rock hits from the 1980s blared from nearby speakers, completing the atmosphere of friendly lumberjack competition.

A woodsmen team is composed of six members. McGill had four teams competing Saturday, two men’s and two women’s. Each competed in four team events, and each team member did a singles and a doubles event.

The singles events include the pole climb, super swede, single buck, chainsaw, axe throw, and water boil, plus a Mac Campus specialty—the snowshoe race. The doubles events all revolve around chopping: The standing block chop, quarter split, and underhand chop are differentiated only by the orientation of the block that is being chopped. The team events are pulp toss, log roll, swede, and cross cut. And, yes, all the events are as awesome as their names suggest.   

In the morning, 10 events took place in designated areas across the field. In the five corrals, marked off by red “danger” tape, competitors held the standing block chop, quarter split, super swede, chainsaw, and single buck. In the adjacent snow-covered rugby field, the snowshoe race (two laps around the field in snowshoes) was contested. Axe throw, pole climb, log roll, and pulp toss were all on the outer boundary of the main area.

All the morning events happened simultaneously—running continuously from 9 a.m. until the lunch break at noon—but the competitors still found plenty of time to cheer each other on and socialize with family and friends. When their competition times drew near, however, the athletes lost their easy-going manner and psyched themselves up to perform.

“We do a chant, like a cheer, before [the event],” second-year woodsmen Victoria Tseng Paepcke said, referring to a loud, intense huddle every team did before their team events.

The chants are specific to each team and work to create a bond between members.

“The team spirit just keeps us going,” fourth-year woodsmen Alice Viala added.

McGill had one of the largest teams at the competition and found much success in the morning. One of the men’s teams had to deal with a fallen log during its log roll run, but quickly recovered and still managed a decent time. McGill axe thrower Thierry Philippot had an excellent go in his singles event, hitting the target on all three tries.

After the break, the competition was partitioned into five corrales, with each school completing the remaining events in their respective sections. Fans crowded around the corral where their school competed and cheered on the teams.

The first two events were team sawing competitions. The events were set up like relays, where each player or double would saw off a cookie (a biscuit-shaped piece of wood) and then hand off the saw to the next. The underhand chop went third. This event had a similar relay nature but both teammates started in a chopping position, standing atop their blocks, and then chopped one after the other.

The final event of the day was the water boil. Competitors chopped up a log, used matches to start a fire, and heated up water in a tin can until it boiled over. Though this was the longest event, it was far from dull. Teammates shouted advice from the sides, and competitors got down on the ground, blowing furiously into their fires—all while the crowd watched with anxious anticipation.

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