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Science & Technology

Predicting Alzheimer’s with artificial intelligence

by Sam Min on

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Researchers in the Douglas Mental Health University Institute’s Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory at McGill have created an artificial intelligence-based algorithm to recognize dementia before its onset—an elusive task, even for neurologists. The algorithm uses statistics to learn what the determining markers of the disease are—a process called machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence.

With a success rate of 84 per cent, the algorithm identified individuals who would develop dementia 24 months later.

Dementia is a disease characterized by memory loss. It can range from subtle to severe, with many types—the most common form being Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, no practical treatment exists for Alzheimer’s, while only a few pharmacological studies have reported conclusive data on preventing its onset.

The development of the novel algorithm used in the study took time. First, the algorithm had to be trained to analyze the expression of amyloid protein—a marker for Alzheimer’s—in positron emission tomography (PET) scans of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). These scans are employed by a variety of researchers to identify the health of organs and tissues.

The algorithm had to go through a series of processes before it was applied among patients. Computer scientist and master’s student at McGill University Sulantha Mathotaarachchi told The McGill Newsroom that he “used hundreds of amyloid PET scans of MCI patients […] to train the team’s algorithm.”

Once the training session was complete, the team applied the algorithm to a new pool of patients with mild cognitive impairments, and predict which patients would develop dementia.

Amyloid protein can pile up, forming a deposit in the brain. However, not all regions that have the amyloid deposit may pertain to progression of Alzheimer’s. Over time, the amyloid chunk can grow or wither in specific regions. Identifying such locales within the brain is crucial to make this algorithm capable of predicting the course of the disease.

“The algorithm operates in two stages: First it identifies the brain regions which [could be relevant to Alzheimer’s] progression,” Mathotaarachchi said. “[The second] step is to use these signatures with machine learning to predict if an individual will progress to Alzheimer’s dementia in 24 months.”

The creation of this algorithm marks an unprecedented achievement in the history of  Alzheimer’s research. However, according to Mathotaarachchi, amyloid is only one of the biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.

“The algorithm could be used to enrich clinical trial populations,” Mathotaarachchi said, since subjects who are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s make good candidates for testing the efficacy of new drugs.

To test the efficacy of a drug during clinical trials, clinicians recruit patients, divide them into two groups, and administer a drug of interest to one group (the experimental group), and a placebo to the other. The goal is to prevent the experimental group from developing the illness. However, it is difficult to select patients who will develop the targeted disease in the first place. Some members of the experimental group may not have developed the disease being studied, with or without the drug of interest.

In an interview with Live Science, Dr. Pedro Rosa-Neto, a senior co-author of the paper and associate professor in the Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at McGill, discussed how this algorithm could benefit future pharmaceutical studies.

“If you can tell from a group of individuals who is the one that will develop the disease, [you] can better test new medications that could be capable of preventing the disease.”  Rosa-Neto said.

With this artificial intelligence-based algorithm, clinician-scientists can select more accurate patient-pools to test the effects of drugs in trials for Alzheimer’s studies.

“The future steps will be to incorporate more biomarkers, including structural imaging and neuropsychiatric measurements,” Mathotaarachchi said.

The lab has also created a real-time prediction tool, free and online.

“This is a pilot prototype using amyloid imaging data,” Mathotaarachchi said. “However, the framework can be used with any biomarker measurements available, including neuropsychiatric measurements.”

With this algorithm, clinicians could find apt patients for Alzheimer's studies, run efficient drug trials, and hopefully discover one that would prove effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease.  

McGill, News

Senate report shows increase in reports of sexual harassment

by Jesse Wu on

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At this academic year’s first Senate meeting on Sept. 19, student representatives, faculty, and administration reviewed the Final Report on the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education. Senate also delivered reports on cases of sexual harassment on campus during the 2016-2017 academic year, and discussed improvements within Counselling Services including shortened wait times for students.

 

Development of the Indigenous Task Force

At the beginning of his presentation on the Provost’s Task Force, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi pointed out the need to improve McGill's efforts in Aboriginal education. He launched a task force on Indigenous education in Fall 2016 and spent this summer implementing it.

“As we discovered more than a year ago, […] we’re actually doing quite a bit [in the area of indigenous education], but we can do more,” Manfredi said. “We can do more in a more coordinated way, so what we need to do is to progress the past, invest in the present, and build to the future.”

In the report, the task force asked the university to create a second staffed Indigenous Recruitment Officer position to engage directly with indigenous students and identify their academic interests at McGill. Whereas in 2016 there was reported to be 300 indigenous students enrolled at McGill, the Provost’s academic plan aims to increase that number to at least 1,000.

Manfredi also highlighted recent initiatives to make attending McGill more feasible to students from a variety of backgrounds, such as McGill’s new acceptance of transfer credits from Ontario colleges and the new Youth in Care Bursary for students who spent time in foster care or youth protection.

“The intention [of these initiatives] is to make McGill accessible for capable students with a wide variety of backgrounds,” Manfredi said. “Beyond opening doors, we must reduce barriers to entry.”

 

Reported increase of sexual harassment claims

According to the Annual Report on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law prepared by Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) Angela Campbell, there were 42 inquiries and complaints of harassment, sexual harassment, and discrimination last year, higher than the yearly average of 36 cases.

The report indicated that 36 per cent of complainants during the 2016-2017 academic year were undergraduate students, while 42 per cent of respondents were academic staff. The total number of student respondents increased, and male respondents nearly doubled from 20 to 38 in the past two years.

62 per cent of the cases did not proceed beyond the inquiry stage, during which a complainant brings forward concerns about their experience with sexual harassment to an Assessor or the Senior Equity and Inclusion Officer, Pascale Legros. After the inquiry stage, both parties then decide whether or not to carry out a full investigation into the complaint. This year, 7 per cent of the complaints were withdrawn in the process and the remaining 31 per cent proceeded to a full investigation.

“[Having] 31 per cent of cases proceed with a formal investigation [is] actually quite a significant proportion," Campbell said. "The year before, only 10 per cent of cases went to a formal investigation. Last year also saw the highest number of cases ever since the policy’s establishment go through a full investigation process.”

 

Committee on Student Services

After facing criticism last year over the capacity of McGill’s Counselling and Mental Health Services to serve all students, the Committee on Student Services adopted a Stepped Care Model to expand counselling options. Led by Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens, the committee spearheaded the inclusion of new forms of treatment, including Therapist Assisted Online programs to group counselling, while doubling the number of Client Care Clinicians assigned to each student as their mental-health care provider.  

“Hopefully the services will greatly improve this year, so that’s something I am really, really happy to report on,” Dyens said. "[Nonetheless], we still need all the advice, suggestions, and ideas that we can get.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV, Music

Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA live-scores classic kung fu film

by Brandon Kaufman on

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At the Rialto Theatre, on Friday, Sept. 15, Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA hovered over his computer, smiling and quietly conversing with the DJ beside him. The two were positioned almost offstage that afternoon, preparing to provide a live-scoring of the 1978 kung fu movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The crowd let out a roaring cheer as the hip-hop legend approached centre stage. He offered a few generic comments about the movie, apologized for the presence of a large timer on-screen—it was necessary for the “composers”—and returned to his shadowy booth. 

RZA began with some breezy soul instrumentals over the opening credits. Mere minutes after this period of calm, a meticulously choreographed action scene exploded onto the screen, as RZA spun one of his abrasive bangers. The audience rapped along with the record in sheer elation.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a fictionalized account of the life of San Te (Gordon Liu), a student living in 18th century China. After the brutal murders of his friends and family at the hands of the oppressive Manchu government, Te becomes determined to seek revenge—pleading for an opportunity to train at the famed temple of Shaolin. The exclusive sanctuary initially rejects the non-member, but the headmaster takes pity on him. He begins training persistently to join the temple as a master. RZA overlaid a montage of Te’s strenuous training with the downtempo “C.R.E.A.M,” setting the stage for an emotional climax.

A story of dedication, rebellion, and most importantly, mastering the three section staff (a prestigious Chinese flail weapon) the movie is rightly considered the apotheosis of martial arts pictures. Te’s master immediately notices his remarkable progress. He asks him to choose one of the 35 chambers to head—each is dedicated to mastering a specific aspect of kung fu. He requests instead to create a new chamber, one devoted to training the common man. Te is initially rejected, the elitist temple accepts only the rich and noble. However, after leading his country to victory, he is granted his wish. The film concludes with Te training laymen in the hitherto elitist art of kung fu.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is in command of its audience from the start. A palpable rush jolts the heart as the viewer watches the protagonist dodge the keen sword of his foe and quickly strike back. This adrenaline-like surge—which only the best action movies are able to bring about—heightened as RZA simultaneously played Wu-Tang’s “Bring Da Ruckus.”

At the end of the film, RZA returned to the stage and spoke about his personal connection to the film. As a child, he, his brother, and cousin (GZA and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, both Wu-Tang members) watched the movie on repeat. From this, they developed insatiable appetites for art.

Both the music and aesthetic of the Wu-Tang Clan are as fundamentally egalitarian as the concept of the 36th chamber. Their unpretentious songs are raw, simplistic, and to the point. Wu-Tang members don’t look or behave like platinum-selling superstars. They don hoodies and loose-fitting jeans, and rap about being on food stamps and mispronouncing words. The late Ol’ Dirty Bastard  summed it up best at the Grammy’s in 1998 when—10 years before Kanye—he interrupted Puff Daddy’s Best Rap Album of the Year acceptance speech to declare that “Wu-Tang is for the children.”

RZA finished up his speech with some words about perseverance. He reminded the audience that only 25 years ago, he was unknown and destitute, trying to make his friends laugh by spitting absurd lyrics over stripped-down beats. When he closed the show, the audience shot to their feet and gave him a standing ovation. RZA and San Te are two souls separated only by two centuries.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

“Kuso”: A film about bodily substances that has no substance

by Leo Stillinger on

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The magic of cinema lies in projected images’ power to profoundly move us. Everybody knows what it feels like to laugh at Ghostbusters (1984), or to cry at Marley & Me (2008). Kuso, the new film directed by the electronic musician Flying Lotus, demonstrates the power of movies to move us in a different way: That is, to gross us the fuck out.

Kuso prompted walkouts when it premiered at Sundance, along with awed reviews declaring it the “grossest movie ever made.” Even before it screened as part of FilmPOP (the film component of Pop Montreal), a Cinema du Parc employee gave a blunt warning: “This movie is really fucked up.”

Kuso is spectacularly, mercilessly disgusting—a film difficult to describe and even harder to watch. It is a journey into the darkest depths of the human subconscious. Unfortunately, in spite of the countless bodily substances smeared across the screen, the film itself lacks substance. Kuso engages neither the mind, nor the heart, but rather the gag reflex.

Imagine an  experimental conceptual short made by a hipster film student, then cross it with The Human Centipede (2009). This is Kuso. The plot, as far as can be ascertained, follows the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles—weaving together the stories of several survivors. In one scene, a boy befriends an alien creature in the woods—and then feeds it his excrement. At another point, a talking cockroach appears out of nowhere and declares, “Do not fear the feces.” It’s not a joke, but rather a necessary piece of advice, for it’s hard to overstate the sheer quantity of feces—along with pus, blood, and semen—in which the film is drenched throughout its 92 long minutes.

Alternating between jarringly indiscernible plot lines and confusing visual tangents, Kuso is a disorienting experience, creative if not cohesive. One highlight is the soundtrack, an ominous groove created by Flying Lotus himself, along with various artists including  Aphex Twin and Thundercat. The music gives the film an underlying consistency, which it otherwise lacks.

Occasional relief comes from the film’s perverse humor, and the best moments of Kuso are its funniest as well. When you laugh at a woman getting hit in the face with her own fetus, you’re also laughing at how quickly your own morals have degraded.

At times Kuso hints at aspirations of becoming something more than a gross-out flick, like in the segment of spoken word poetry referencing “21st-century power structures.” Yet the film teases such themes only to fall back into self-indulgent depravity. That’s a shame, because a post-quake Los Angeles would be a perfect setting for an allegorical look at American society, and the shock of Kuso would have been more powerful if there was something thought-provoking underlying it.

Instead, the film is primarily an experiment in just how far the moviegoer is willing to be pushed. “When will you walk out?” it seems to ask. When a cockroach emerges from the therapist’s anus? When a guy gets a blowjob from the talking boil on his girlfriend’s neck? Kuso makes you question your own limits, even if you don’t want to.

Kuso is a difficult experience to communicate. Just as the film’s earthquake bonds its survivors together, the film itself creates a special bond between anyone who sits through it. For better or for worse, it’s hard to forget.

Student Life, The Viewpoint

Viewpoint: Trying (and failing) to run my first marathon

by Mary Keith on

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Sometimes life gets busy and it becomes hard to focus on ourselves. I, for instance, tend to neglect my health when school and work get in the way, eventually leading me to short, impulsive, guilt-motivated spurts of fitness. In one of these moments this past summer, I talked myself into registering for Montreal’s Sept. 24 Rock N’ Roll marathon—two months, two weeks, and six days before the race. Having previously run a half-marathon, I felt well equipped to add another 13.1 miles in 11 weeks. Boy oh boy, was I wrong.  

I had my work cut out for me from the start. Not only had I not run seriously in a couple months, but I had also moved for the summer from sea-level Montreal to Crested Butte, Colorado, a city with an altitude of 8,909 feet. I was out of shape, and given the altitude, I could not run down a short driveway without a frightening amount of wheezing. Higher altitude air contains less oxygen, so transitioning to running in Crested Butte took a lot out of me during the first couple weeks. However, this effort meant that running in Montreal would be easy in comparison. I believed that if I could run in Colorado, I would surely be able to run the marathon in Montreal come September.

For many runners, marathon training is a long process that involves starting small and increasing one’s mileage each week. The ideal training time is four to five months, and I only gave myself two-and-a-half.  

My training began with alternating between running and walking for three miles until I could run three without stopping. This progression took two weeks, but soon thereafter, my internship took over and the 14-hour work shifts started to hinder my improvement. I knew what was happening: I had aimed too high, and I wasn’t taking the steps to keep myself on track. After weeks of ignoring training, I had forgotten all about my marathon registration. My passion and commitment had gone out the window. 

(Elli Slavitch / The McGill Tribune)

 

Beginning to feel foolish about registering for the marathon, I realized how much I’d overestimated the time I had available to invest in training. Every day that I didn’t run added to my feelings of guilt for under preparing myself. I knew that I was setting myself up for 26.2 miles of absolute pain. Avoiding my training was no way to indulge my pride. I thought about backing out of the race, registering for another one in 2018, and starting this year-long training process from scratch. Instead, I let my ego take over and decided to stick with the goal I had originally set.

Thus, I began another short, guilt-filled burst of training. Work was finally slowing down, so I was able to find more time to incorporate training programs into my daily schedule. I set aside an hour or two everyday to run for as long a distance as I could manage. With only a little over a month to go, I really had no choice.   

Once I got back to Montreal for the school year, my focus switched toward my social life, pushing the marathon to the back of my mind. My training took a full stop and instead, I filled up on beer at OAP with the rest of McGill. Before I knew it, I had not trained in over a week. My motivation levels were sinking fast.

As time in my half-hearted training schedule ran out, the subject line “Marathon is cancelled,” showed up in my email inbox. Officials made the call to cancel the race on Sept. 20—Montreal would face record high temperatures on the day of the race, therefore it would be unsafe to continue with the full marathon. So, on Sunday, Sept. 24, I slept in, avoided the heat, and thanked my lucky stars for not having to go through with my thoughtless decision.

From this tiresome venture, I’ve learned that beer is not fuel, running downhill is fun, and spontaneity pays its price. On a more serious note, however, this defeat taught me a lot about how I treat myself—by setting unrealistic goals and poorly-thought-out expectations, I just made matters worse for myself. I’ve come to realize that sometimes life is going to be unbalanced; maybe with more thought and time put into an appropriate training routine, I could return to my dreams of running a marathon. Though it sounds cliché, this applies to any endeavour: Setting your mind and prioritizing your goals, and knowing when to skip out on OAP to squeeze in a run, can lead to incredible outcomes.

From the BrainSTEM, Science & Technology

‘Westworld’ and the ethical dilemma of sentient machines

by Karl Neumann on

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While deep in conversation with your childhood best friend, you catch glimpse of a frayed wire and grey hinge protruding from the side of their neck.

“I thought you knew,” they calmly remark at your gaze. Suddenly they swing the hinge open to reveal an intricate set of wires and flashing lights hiding behind what you thought was their face. “I’m synthetic, but I think and feel just as you do, so what difference does it make?”

What difference does it make?

Despite Facebook’s $7 million investment into a new artificial intelligence (AI) lab at McGill, AI is still far from matching human capabilities. Nonetheless, pop culture encourages viewers to ponder the controversy of the future of AI. HBO’s critically-acclaimed series, Westworld, explicitly wrestles with many of these same themes.

In the show, humanoid machines known as “hosts” are designed to entertain human customers in a life-sized, Western-themed, adult playground. The hosts are pre-programmed with memories and daily routines—convinced that their lives are as ‘real’ as any human’s. However, their memories reset daily, while guests—humans visiting the park—continue to use them for their own enjoyment.

As the show progresses, the line between hosts and guests blurs. Hosts begin to learn about their imprisonment and question their purpose. They are capable of everything the guests are, most notably the ability to suffer, which raises the question as to whether it is ethical to use the hosts as appliances for the guests’ pleasure.

Modern society grapples with the concept of equality among race, gender, and numerous other identity traits. Now, society must consider what ‘equality’ among those biologically created, and those engineered, means. As with most ethical questions, no answers are self-evident—but philosophy and cognitive science can help shed light on this dilemma.

An important insight comes from what Alan Turing coined the “Imitation Game”—now referred to as the “Turing Test.” Simply, if something can convince humans that it’s able to think, then they must assume it’s conscious.

A converse philosophical quandary, the “Problem of Other Minds,” highlights that an individual can never be certain that anyone else is thinking. Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am,” reassures said person that only they, themselves, can. Although humans believe that other humans are capable of thought because they’re similar, they can never be sure.

However, non-human animals also seem capable of thought, despite having brains that humans struggle to understand. With all of this in mind, if a machine with sensory receptors and a speaker system can maintain a conversation and respond to its environment, one must conclude that it’s conscious. Stevan Harnad, adjunct professor of psychology and cognitive science at McGill and the Université du Québec à Montréal, insists that composition of the cognizer is irrelevant.

“Why would anyone think that [controlling the AI] is any different than a human, because of the metal?” said Harnad.

He went on to assert that the current treatment of non-human beings, AI or otherwise, is more a matter of power than ethics.

Harnad also drew parallels between Westworld and the rodeos that just occurred for Montreal’s 375th anniversary. Bulls in the rodeo are used as a means to an end for human pleasure in the same way the show’s hosts are. Modern treatment of animals dates back to Descartes’ declaration of animals as “automatons”—devoid of feeling—as absurd as that may seem now. This sentiment creates a real-life Westworld in McGill’s own backyard.
History is filled with ethical failures that were only obvious in hindsight. The debate regarding how to treat non-human individuals isn’t a new one, but with the inevitable progress in AI, the time to discuss in thought experiments is shrinking. Conventional ethics assert that discrimination based on origin is unethical. AI demonstrates that human-like cognition can originate outside the realm of biology, and the treatment of animals shows how incoherent the valuation of non-human feeling can be.

If the question is a matter of flesh versus steel, and not consciousness versus unconsciousness, the answer is clear: There is no difference.

Features

Tank tops, hoodies, and bonus points

by Egor Fedorov & Cassandra Lee on

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The two of us met the way many McGillians seem to: On a Saturday night in a poorly-lit bar, a pitcher of Sleeman between us. That evening, we had a conversation about our reservations concerning the various social events we had taken part in: Hype Week, Carnival, Science Games, and Faculty Olympics.

We both felt that these events generated an unhealthy social hierarchy, with the event organizers at the top like “party gods.” The events appeared to revolve around this group of people whom everyone, ourselves included, tried to please and impress. As trusting second years, we instantly felt compelled to befriend these older students and be liked by them. We acted this way despite the fact that they were not particularly approachable, not always helpful, or even people we necessarily liked. And yet we attended event after event, constantly trying to impress and outdo one another. Each event felt like a popularity contest on steroids.

At the time, we were embarrassed to speak so critically of these events, and to think that such hierarchies existed. What our conversation revealed was that the “VIP” culture we were trying so hard to adjust troubled us. Three years later, after finishing our undergraduate degrees and four consecutive years of fierce partying, we return to this conversation with a lot more to say.

McGill, News

New Assistant Professor Kelly Gordon introduces feminism to the McGill political science scene

by Emilienne Hamel on

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As of Fall 2017, the newest addition to the McGill faculty is Assistant Professor Kelly Gordon, a proud feminist who is introducing McGill students in her class to the role of gender in politics. This is her first academic position, directly following the finalization of her of post-doctoral work at the University of Ottawa (UO).

In the Department of Political Science, where 26 of the 36 professors are male, Gordon focuses her research on conservative politics and the role that gender plays in political persuasion. Gordon believes the field of political science could benefit from a gender studies analysis it is currently lacking.

“It’s very difficult to understand contemporary politics without studying gender,” Gordon said. “[And] it’s very difficult to understand Donald Trump without understanding the role masculinity plays in politics [….Feminism] is more of a lens through which you see the world. It’s not a defined set of policies or ideas.”

Gordon completed her Masters of Arts in Political Studies and Feminist and Gender Studies at UO in 2010. She was inspired to pursue a career in academia after noticing the misconceptions surrounding conservative politics, especially the differences between East Coast Canadians’ perceptions of life in conservative Alberta and the reality. During her undergraduate degree, she never planned on becoming a professor.

“I had no idea that this was the route that I was even going to take,” Gordon said. “I think when I was doing my undergrad, I wasn’t really sure what a PhD even was.”

Gordon was originally inspired to focus on the role of gender in politics by her mother, who worked as an abortion provider. She also sought inspiration from a 1983 book called Right-Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin, which argues that the American political right mobilizes women by exploiting their fears.

“I disagree with most of [the book], but I think that it was a huge catalyst for me being interested in conservative politics as a feminist,” Gordon said. “Feminism is about economics [and] social, racial, legal injustice. Feminism is for everyone.”

Gordon applied her vision by working in a variety of areas within gender and politics. In 2015, she co-wrote a book with her thesis supervisor, Paul Saurette, titled The Changing Voice of the Anti-Abortion Movement: The Rise of “Pro-Woman” Rhetoric in Canada and the United States.  In 2016, the work received the Donald Smiley Prize for best book relating to the study of government and politics in Canada. Yet, Gordon’s proudest achievement is sitting on a task force at UO in 2014 and 2015 that revised the university’s sexual assault and sexual violence policies.

“We undertook a big consultation with all the different stakeholders at the university,” Gordon said. “[I] got involved with being an advocate for survivors of sexual violence, and I think that’s something that I’m the most proud of that I’ve done.”

Currently, Gordon is teaching POLI 379: Topics in Canadian Politics and researching several independent pursuits such as the implications and motivations of victimization, conservative political persuasion, and the men’s rights movement in Canada. Gordon hopes to complete her works that are currently in progress—titled “Think About the Men!: Victimhood, Conservative Ideology, and Men’s Right Activism in Canada” and  “Gendering Political Persuasion: Sex Work, Bill c-36, and Discourse of Victimization in Canadian Conservatism”—during her time at McGill.

“I’m really just getting started,” Gordon said. “I really enjoy teaching. Until now, there really hasn’t been a gender and politics course offered within the political science department. My students are super excited about it, which makes me really excited about it.”

Laughing Matters, Opinion

True-Bro: The Prime Minister reflects on his student days at McGill

by Isaac Berman on

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Justin Trudeau (B.A. ’94) recently made his return to McGill for the first time since becoming Prime Minister of Canada. As he exited the front doors of the Faculty Club, a rambunctious hoard of McGill students rushed to greet him. Trudeau proceeded to reminisce about his time as a McGill student, and how it helped shape him into the leader he is today.

Trudeau just wrapped up a meeting with the Fijian Prime Minister regarding trade agreements and tariffs. This is a topic that especially stimulates him, but what trumps the feeling of euphoria that he gets from a good handshake and photo-op are the memories he has from the 45th annual Carnival, where he admirably anchored his team, entitled “Cum Campbell,” to boat race victory just a few blocks away at Café Campus.

Suddenly, an RCMP officer on Trudeau’s detail acted like he had an important matter that needed addressing by the Prime Minister. Instead, after the officer yanked Trudeau aside, he presented a 330-ml bottle of Smirnoff Ice to him. Trudeau proceeded to get down on one knee as the crowd of students began to chant, “HERE’S TO JUSTIN, HERE’S TO JUSTIN…”

Trudeau tossed the bottle into the crowd, and continued taking selfies with the students, not wanting to pass up the opportunity to be visible in as many students’ Snapchat stories as possible and further inspire Canada’s future leaders.

At that point, Trudeau’s senior advisor, and fellow McGill alumnus, Gerald Butts (B.A. ’94, M.A. ’96), exited the Faculty Club to join Trudeau. Trudeau gave Butts a light tap on his butt, before winking at him and continuing on to a blacked-out van in a side alleyway. This version of blacking out is different from the one he was familiar with in his years at McGill.

Trudeau proceeded to get down on one knee as the crowd of students began to chant, “HERE’S TO JUSTIN, HERE’S TO JUSTIN…”

As the motorcade passed Upper Residence, Trudeau and “Gerry-Boy” [sic] debated the merits of approving the Kinder Morgan pipeline, in preparation for an interview he had later that day with the CBC. Trudeau and Butts owe their debating experience to their years on the McGill Debate Team. At this point, Trudeau pensively looked out the window—as if he were in a Celine Dion music video—and saw a picnic table just outside of Gardner Hall. This table reminded him of the many nights he and “G-Sauce” [sic] spent sharing a joint and arguing over whether or not a burrito can be classified as a sandwich. For the record, Justin was always in favour of the resolution that a burrito is, in fact, a sandwich.

The procession of government vehicles continued down University Street past the McConnell Engineering Building. The sight of the McConnell basement helped Trudeau recall stories about Julie Payette (B.Eng. ’86). Many people believe that Payette was named Governor General because of her extensive service to Canada as an astronaut, engineer, and businesswoman. And she was, of course, but the Prime Minister had one additional reason for appointing her to be the Queen’s representative—the insane stuff she used to get up to at Blues Pub. We’re talking ‘drinking beers out of a hard hat’ crazy—along with some other lore that cannot be discussed on these pages.

The Prime Minister looked around on that beautiful late summer afternoon at all the young faces of McGill students in both the mob that has gathered around his car, as well as on the rest of campus. He knew that they would all go on to do great things with their lives, leading the next generation of innovators in many different disciplines. However, the Prime Minister also hoped from the bottom of his heart that the students remember that their time at McGill is fleeting, so that they make the most of every second, form relationships over a beer or a joint (after July 1, 2018), and who knows—they might even meet their own future senior advisor or Governor General.

 

 

Isaac Berman is a U3 Computer Engineering Student. His childhood crush was Jane Goodall and his favourite pastime is filling out online resume forms for job applications.

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 

Student Life

Exploring loneliness within McGill’s nooks and crannies

by Avleen Mokha & Stephanie Sim on

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Fear has an infinite number of personalities. Often times, the cliché examples come to mind, like phobia of spiders, snakes, or the dark. But there are fears that often go undiscussed, like the fear of being alone. It is a fear of living in isolation, of being devoid of the comfort that friends and family bring.

By psychological definition, and it’s no stranger to the millions of teens who move away from home for the first time to attend university; especially those who cross borders and oceans to get to McGill. The fear of loneliness hides in simple social activities that are often taken for granted, like sitting with friends at lunch, or knowing everyone in your classes. These things seem like a given until you realize that you’re eating your third meal alone that day, or that you haven’t left your room in well over five hours. Soon thereafter, the fear of loneliness sets in.

But not all students experience loneliness the same way; certain communities are more susceptible to this phenomenon, and the way it resonates with each is nuanced and varied.

The first year can feel like the hardest

One of the groups that loneliness most notably permeates is first years–and many freshmen try to counter their fears by trying to connect with as many people as possible. The result is often an overabundance of superficial acquaintanceships stemming from the same frivolous icebreaker questions heard everywhere on campus during the first week or two, such as “What are you majoring in?” and “What residence are you living in?” These questions barely skim the surface, testing the waters for potential connections that students are expected to make. There’s a race to build one’s network of friends and acquaintances—but resorting to superficial friendships can leave people feeling lonelier than they were initially.

“These [icebreaker] questions were really just conversation starters,” Isabella Lyons, U0 Arts, explained. “I only really remembered where people told me they were from because if we were both from the same place, it was something to bond over.”

For many, the struggle to maintain relationships often continues throughout university. In second year, when many students move off campus out of a student residence, they tend to lose the infrastructure of a communal space to help them socialize.

“In the first year, you’re mostly just looking for anybody that you can find to latch onto,” Matthew Foster, U2 Arts, said. “That’s why it’s a lot easier to make friends. But moving into the second year, you realize how easy it is to lose them. In the second year, I’d say it is more difficult to form friendships as well. You don’t have a lot of the same systems that put people [with similar interests as you] together.”

Transitioning from a dormitory is just one example of how new environments change patterns of socializing. For students from abroad, making an international–even intercontinental–move by themselves is not only daunting, it can be rather isolating.

International moves make for even harder transitions

For international students, finding a place on campus can be even more difficult. According to McGill Enrolment Services’ Admission profile, 32.1 per cent of the 6,467 students in the entering class of 2016-2017 were international students. Tackling cultural differences, dealing with homesickness, and building professional and social networks from scratch are just a few of the obstacles international students face.   

“When I [moved from India], I was all alone,” Ravdeep Singh Boparai said. “I had to deal with everything from a different study pattern to harsh winter. Culturally, with people coming from different cultures and regions here, some mix [with each other], some do not.”

As a non-native English speaker, Boparai initially found it difficult to navigate social circles on campus.

“Now, after six months, I am able to understand people more than I used to,” Boparai said. “But some people don’t understand me, and then avoid me, or the person with whom I’ll be talking will misunderstand me.”

Though McGill’s international aspect can make it difficult to find the right niche, student organizations and events offer hope in the midst of loneliness.

“I think joining clubs and taking part in extracurriculars is one of the biggest [ways to keep] a network of people of common interests,” Foster said. “There are always people who are looking for people like them. I admit, it becomes more difficult as you go on. But I think it’s also the nature of friendships, the ones that remain are [the] genuine [ones].”

Though loneliness strikes certain communities in different ways, it can become a nuisance no matter the time or place.

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