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News, The Tribune Explains

The Tribune Explains: McGill Senate

by Calvin Trottier-Chi on

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What is the McGill Senate?

The McGill Senate was established in 1935 as an elected body intended to serve as a link between the McGill community and the Board of Governors (BoG). The BoG is partially comprised of elected Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) executives, with remaining members appointed by the administration. Officially, Senate is the highest governing academic body at McGill and debates and advises on policy related to academia, such as revisions to research misconduct policies and examination policies. The Senate is made up of 13 undergraduate representatives on behalf of SSMU, eight graduate representative on behalf of PGSS, and 90 faculty members and staff, including deans and professors elected from within each faculty. Elected faculty members serve for three years, whereas student representatives serve for one. The Principal and the Secretary-General chair Senate meetings and have the responsibilities of moderating debate and giving the deciding vote in the event of a tie.

What does the McGill Senate Do?

Being an academic body, the Senate focuses on curriculum decisions as well as academic research, and is influenced by the general desires of the student community.

By contrast, the BoG is recognized as McGill’s highest legal body. SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Erin Sobat expressed displeasure that such an arrangement delegates the Senate to the role of an advisory body, with the majority of decision-making happening within the Board and, thus, without much student influence.

“A lot of things that come to Senate are already decided on at the committee level or the administrative level,” Sobat said. “Oftentimes, when something is brought up that’s more operational in nature, usually they’re administrative decisions that they don’t want to discuss more publically, they’ll say that it’s a matter for the Board and we can’t talk about it [at Senate].”

Regular Meetings, Joint Board-Senate Meeting, and Confidential Sessions

There are three arrangements of Senate meetings: Senate’s regular committee meetings, the annual Joint Board-Senate meeting, and confidential sessions.

The Senate is composed of several committees, most of which meet once a month. It has regular standing committees that do not change over time and can create ad hoc committees to address emerging issues. It also has standing regulation committees that are convened when specific regulations are enacted–such as the Committee on Student Grievances–which meets only when a student files a complaint against a university employee.

The Joint Board-Senate meeting has members of the BoG and Senate meet once a year to discuss an important theme. While no binding decisions are made at these meetings, they are important for fostering discussion and cooperation between these two governing bodies. At the end of each meeting, members are asked to suggest next year’s theme. The theme for 2016-2017 is “McGill's Sustainability Plans and Initiatives” and past years’ themes have included “Designing a Smart Campus for the 21st Century” and “Mental Health at McGill University.”

“Board members and Senators are asked to fill out a questionnaire after each Joint Board-Senate meeting; one of the questions is for suggestions of topics for future meetings,” Secretary General Edyta Rogowska said. “No decisions are made [at the meeting], it is simply an opportunity for the Board and the Senate to discuss matters they consider relevant to the university’s mission.”

Senate can also meet confidentially on topics related to private affairs of individuals.


“In practice, [confidential sessions are] generally [for] the Report of the Honorary Degrees and Convocations Committee which contains recommendations on honorary degree recipients and recipients for other awards,” Rogowska said.

Basketball, Sports

Point Counterpoint: Will the Raptors win a championship before the Maple Leafs?

by Wasif Husain and Elias Blahacek on

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It’s a great time to be a Toronto sports fan. The Maple Leafs look rejuvenated while the Blue Jays are making another deep run in the playoffs. However, the Toronto Raptors are the team some people tend to forget. The Raptors have not only developed one of the best home atmospheres in the NBA, but are the Toronto team closest to winning a league title.

Last May marked the end of one of the greatest Toronto sports playoff runs in modern history. After two series victories and two wins in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors were finally eliminated by the eventual champion Cleveland Cavaliers. At the same time, the Maple Leafs were golfing, having just finished dead last in the NHL. Even with the addition of first-overall pick Austin Matthews, the Leafs will not be a contender for many years.

Quality management is key to winning titles and the Raptors’ executives have been making shrewd decisions in recent years. The Leafs, however, have struggled with coaching and management up until very recently. In the 2013-2014 season, the Raptors’ hiring of General Manager Masai Ujiri changed the team’s mindset. Toronto made the postseason for the first time since ex-star Raptor Chris Bosh was playing for the team. It felt like a stepping stone for the franchise. Led by Head Coach Dwayne Casey, point guard Kyle Lowry, and guard Demar Derozan, the Raptors have a core that can sustain success. Ujiri now has a strong balance of veterans and young players. The young-guns like Corey Joseph, Norman Powell, and Delon Wright now have the opportunity to grow with the team. Ujiri’s asset management has been superb as he repeatedly shipped out older players for draft picks and cap space. He then turned the extra money into key additions like DeMarre Carroll and Jared Sullinger.

Science & Technology

Combatting dystopian visions of the future with Seeds of Good Anthropocene project

by Izze Siemann on

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The Earth has reached a new epoch, one in which the climate is largely impacted by human activities. The anthropocene, as scientists call this period, is often viewed as hopeless, a geological age which will bring environmental destruction; or, in an even more dystopian view, an era that will lead to the end of life as we know it.

“The Anthropocene […] is the name for a new geological epoch in which humanity has become a force reshaping the geological, biological, and atmospheric dynamics of Earth,” the Seeds of Good Anthropocene website explains.

As an evolving and unique time period, much is unknown about the anthropocene. In collaboration with Stockholm University in Sweden and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, McGill is leading a project called Seeds of Good Anthropocene.

“We aim to counterbalance current dystopic visions of the future,” the project’s websites states.

Shocking images of environmental peril in the news—as well as some courses at McGill—aren’t helping improve the situation but are rather creating a sense of hopelessness: The Great Barrier Reef is dying, rivers are running dry, and species are going extinct.

Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences and the School of Environment at McGill, Dr. Elena Bennett, brings together “bright spots” of environmental action from around the world to study how humanity can build a healthy anthropocene.

“We see our seeds of good change and our blind spots as pockets of a better future that’s already in existence today,” Bennett said in a video for the World Economic Forum.

As the lead author, Bennett published “Bright spots: seeds of a good anthropocene” in the October 2016 issue of The Ecological Society of America’s Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

“The paper proposed [how] social and environmental projects can reverse a pattern in which human prosperity has come with harms to ecosystems and excluded communities,” Andrew Revkin wrote in The New York Times opinion blog Dot Earth.

The paper on Good anthropocenes provides an introduction to the project and how these bright spots may be used to develop more useful scenarios for the future.

“I want to find ideas that challenge my view of what the world would be like, or have a better vision […of] ‘good’ than I have,” Bennett said. “We try to push for [bright spots] that are transformational, rather than just ‘good news’ stories.”

Bennett and her team are investigating these social and environmental projects. Most were started by citizens with no special qualifications, only the desire to help the environment.

Bennett recounted the tale of a woman in England who noticed that a large portion of the sidewalk in her neighbourhood was unused and could be used to grow vegetables. Replacing cement with vegetable patches became more meaningful, as the community began to came together to cook meals. Health in Harmony, another ‘bright spot’ reviewed in the paper, is a project based in Indonesia that offers free or low-cost health care in exchange for a commitment to protect the native forests. In these cases, both the planet’s climate and communities are becoming stronger and healthier.

The Seeds of a Good Anthropocene project has two inspirational messages. First, there is hope—set aside the dystopian image of a dead and chaotic planet Earth and think about how we can build a better environment for future generations. Second, reporting on ‘bright spots’ may inspire someone to make a similar impact in their neighbourhood.  

Analysis of bright spots will help develop a better image for the future of our planet, and help to create a Good Anthropocene. Although Earth has been damaged by humankind, it can still be saved.

“We can’t build a world that we can’t even imagine,” Bennett said.

Emerging Trends, Private, Student Life

Stick n’ poke tattoo culture spreads across Montreal

by Amber Hord on

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The centuries-old stick n’ poke tattooing technique has skyrocketed in popularity in North America since the 1960s. These DIY tattoos are made by dipping a needle in tattoo ink and repeatedly puncturing the skin. Specifically in Montreal, stick n’ poke tattoos have become increasingly common in recent years as a less expensive alternative to tattoos executed with guns.  

Stick n’ poke tattoos cater to a different clientele than traditional tattoos, not only in their affordability, but also in their unique aesthetic. Though they can differ greatly in style, stick n’ poke tattoos are often characterized by their unique intricate designs. This minimalistic aesthetic of stick n’ pokes cannot be achieved as successfully with gun tattoos.

“Stick n’ poke offers a different visual effect, as it can be more pointillist,” Toronto-based stick n’ poke artist Fion Liu, know in the community as sadstab, said. “Also, with stick n’ poke, you can control how deep the needle can go, unlike tattoos done with guns.”

Much like with traditional tattoos, the designs that clients choose vary a lot depending on the style of the artist. For example, some of Liu’s pieces employ the same image layering technique in three different colours, but each tattoo has a subject that is unique to the client.  


“For the most part, people tend to get artist’s [pre-drawn designs on] flash sheets a lot and embrace the unique aesthetic of each artist,” Liu said. “Generally stick n’ poke artists […] stick with small to medium sized tattoos.”

In addition to the aesthetic differences between gun tattoos and stick n’ pokes,  the latter cut expenses for both the artist and the client. There is no standard fee, and stick n’ poke artists don’t have to give a portion of their earnings to the shop or parlour at which they’re employed, as traditional tattoo artists do. This is one of the driving forces behind the recent boom in popularity of stick n’ poke among students in Montreal.

“Stick n’ pokes are cheaper than normal tattoos,” Chloe Rowen, U3 Arts, said. “It’s convenient too. I got mine in my apartment while I was drinking and hanging out with friends. I was listening to music and had people distracting me, it was great.”

The flexibility and convenience of stick n’ poke tattoos is another key factor in their growth. If the proper tools are available, stick n’ poke tattooing can be performed anywhere, at anytime, by anyone. Liu, for example, has given tattoos backstage at concerts and in the smoking rooms at concert venues. It is also common among students to give and receive stick n’ pokes in a friend’s apartment or at a house party. 

“While some sessions are planned and even paid for, it’s also common that people see my stick n’ pokes at a party, and ask for one on the spot,” Mayson Miller-Thompson, U3 Arts student and local artist, said.

For many, the idea of getting a tattoo in an unregulated space brings up issues of safety and sanitation. Miller-Thompson and Liu both stress safety as important to keep in mind, even though, according to Liu, stick n’ pokes heal more quickly and easily than traditional tattoos.


“I’ve given around 100 stick n’ pokes, and no one has ever gotten an infection,” Miller-Thompson said. “One of the most important things to remember is to use gloves. Also, I notice that people are more comfortable when I unwrap a sterile needle in front of them.”

There is no doubt that social media has helped facilitate the surge of stick n’ pokes. Platforms like Instagram help stick n’ poke artists to develop their  brand and share the specific aesthetic of their tattoos with a wider audience. Liu also attributes much of the rise of stick n’ poke tattoos across Canada to Bunz, a trade-based online community for exchanging goods and services. The site provides a platform for people to connect with stick n’ poke artists in their city, and allows them to trade items, goods, and services for tattoos instead of paying for them. 

“The scene on Bunz has been spreading the word of stick n’ poke quite broadly,” Liu said. “The cheap cost and fast-paced design process are also perks that attract more people to stick n’ poke.”

Stick n’ poke tattoos provide a strong complement to the model of accessibility—financial, and otherwise—that Bunz maintains. Therein lies the undercurrent of its spread across student communities in Montreal; stick n’ poke tattoos are a source of body art that meets the limits of student wallets, and allows the comfort and flexibility to self-decorate in an environment of one’s choice.

Private, Student Life

A planner with an agenda: School Schmool incorporates local art and activism

by Marie Labrosse on

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As the mayhem of the semester engulfs students, many find it difficult to keep track of their busy schedule. A planner can help with that. School Schmool, a multi-purpose agenda published yearly by the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at McGill and Concordia, aims to do exactly that and more.

Presented as “your radical guide to your often unradical school,” School Schmool aims to bring together the activist student communities from McGill, Concordia, and Montreal at large. Aside from an agenda section, the 2016-2017 issue of School Schmool features poetry and visual artwork submitted by local artists and writers. The book also features articles addressing social justice issues, such as gender and racial equality, and a list of groups and resources available to Montreal students. These include health and counselling services, and student activist groups like the Union for Gender Empowerment.

The agenda is just one of QPIRG McGill’s many social-justice oriented projects and endeavours. The student-run non-profit organization is the Quebec branch of Public Interest Research Groups, which began to emerge in the early 1970s in university campuses across the U.S. and Canada. As explained in the planner, QPIRG “conducts research, education, and action on environmental and social justice issues at McGill University and in the Montreal community.”

School Schmool already has an extensive history as a QPIRG project, as it dates back to 1994. At the time, it was an independent bi-annual publication, which included group profiles, articles, and resources for Montreal students, especially those interested in the social and environmental justice issues central to QPIRG’s mandate. When the project was revived in 2006, it followed those same principles while adding a second focus: The agenda. School Schmool now aims to be the ultimate tool to track both students’ busy academic and activist schedules.

For QPIRG McGill’s Outreach Coordinator and recent McGill graduate Raphaële Frison, School Schmool has retained its original purpose, while expanding upon it.

“[School Schmool] was revived as more of an agenda, but still has that original idea of being a resource guide,” Frison said. “We have articles, mixtapes, music suggestions, recipes, astrology. All sorts of things.”

As a collaborative project between the McGill and Concordia branches of QPIRG, School Schmool is representative of the united and diverse activist community that surrounds the organizations. The variety of material featured in the agenda illustrates QPIRG’s efforts to educate and engage students in justice issues that affect the community. For example, an article on intersectional feminism is followed by a “beginner’s guide to herbalism.” The planner also offers tips for the everyday life of a student. The “Super Broke-Ass Guide to Montreal: Students” offers advice in a tone that ranges from straightforward to hilariously enlightening, listing tips such as, “live with lots of roommates,” or “scam yuppies, [because…] yuppies will pay a shit ton of money for things you might already be doing,” or even, “sabotage your local bank/government office/university administration building,” just for fun.

As an agenda, School Schmool has to compete with the many other options supplied by McGill and Concordia, as well as all those found in mainstream stationery stores. The planner’s editorial board pinpoints this competition as one of the reasons for the creation of the alternative planner.

“School Schmool was created because people felt that agendas provided by McGill were way too capitalist,” Annie Chen, a co-coordinator of this year’s issue and recent McGill graduate, said. “They had too many ads which were featured, dependent on having the financial resources to buy ads.”

By being financially independent, School Schmool editors aim to banish what they perceive as an endless capitalist system perpetuated by the alternatives provided by other student organizations and departments.

“I contributed a couple bucks for the agenda because it really matters to me that it’s ad free,” Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, U3 Arts student and owner of a School Schmool agenda, said. “To me, the financial model shows that collectively-financed and collectively-supported projects can work, which I think is an especially important message in the context of austerity.”

School Schmool’s success supersedes a simple opposition to the capitalist system; it aims to act as a comprehensive activist tool for the university student. Chen estimates that the latest edition of the agenda is one of QPIRG’s most successful yet.

“The agenda goes beyond what’s been done with previous publications,” Chen said. “The activist purpose of the project has only gotten stronger over time. One of the mandates of School Schmool is to provide students with things they would never learn otherwise, and I think we’ve achieved that.”

Students who have purchased the agenda also find that School Schmool is not only a useful organizing tool, but also a successfully informative project.

“I really love the texts,” Gilchrist-Blackwood said. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot through them about the organizing context of McGill and Montreal.”

By combining a helpful planner section with engaging artwork and instructive resources about social justice issues of concern for students, School Schmool transcends the purpose of a simple agenda and becomes an essential tool in the arsenal of all politically-dedicated students.

School Schmool 2016-2017 is still available at various locations across McGill—including the QPIRG Office, Midnight Kitchen, and Organic Campus—and across Concordia, while in stock.

McGill, News

SSMU hosts second Student annual Academic Summit

by Holly Cabrera on

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On Oct. 15, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held its second annual Student Academic Summit to educate students on how to effect change on campus through university governance systems. The summit consisted of discussions focused on university advocacy and addressing upcoming initiatives, including faculty-based mental health programming, McGill’s Draft Policy Against Sexual Violence, the Library Improvement Fund, as well as the Office for Students with Disabilities’ (OSD) new Universal Design for Learning (UDL) toolkit. 

According Erin Sobat, SSMU Vice-President (VP) University Affairs and organizer of the event, this year’s summit was targeted not only at student representatives but also anyone interested in effecting meaningful change at McGill. 

“Certainly we want not just to reach students who are already involved, but we also want to make sure that [students] have concrete ways to act,” Sobat said. “The goal of this whole day is SSMU playing this coordinating role where we can provide resources, referrals, and contacts for students to take on [these initiatives] because we just don’t have the capacity to do it all, and we’re also not best suited to advocate for something in a particular department, unlike the students who are most engaged in that department or even just students taking classes.”

Sobat admits that McGill’s governance may appear ambiguous to many students. As such, he intended for the summit to clarify policy development in governance structures.

“Understandably, students don’t have a full picture of how the university is structured in terms of governance and decision-making,” said Sobat. “Even for elected [representatives] or elected Senators, it often takes them a few months of their role to actually understand where they fit and everything, and what can they do [….]  I hope [the summit] makes [it…] more clear, because it can be intimidating”

A portion of the summit was dedicated to the UDL toolkit, an educational framework meant to accommodate different learning styles. In the presentation, Associate Director of the OSD Tanja Beck emphasized how professors can use the UDL toolkit to provide a more inclusive learning experience and to improve evaluation methods for students without disabilities. 

“Professors have a concern that it will lower academic standards, which is really something that we’re not going for at all,” Beck said. “It’s so important for faculty to know what they really want to assess. They need to ask themselves, ‘Am I really assessing if [students] can write by hand or can they also type the essay? Is it really necessary for students to sit down and do a test in 3 hours or can they do it over two days as a take-home exam?’ Once they’ve clearly identified those [priorities], it’s a lot easier to decide when they can be flexible and when they can’t. And that’s really the starting point of UDL.”

According to Elizabeth Reed, U2 Arts student and VP Academic for the Anthropology Students’ Association (ASA), felt that the summit solidified her understanding of students’ rights and introduced her to resources she can recommend to those struggling with their studies.  

“It’s been really helpful to hear more about what I can do for the people I’m supposed to represent,” Reed said. 

Moreover, for Reed, the summit shed light on how to advance projects as a student representative. She felt the summit was helpful in showing her where she can go for help when trying to enact change in her department.

“It’s hard to find that information somewhere else, so these kind of summits are useful because I found out stuff today […] that could really help my projects and the projects of my colleagues [on the ASA],” Reed said. 
 

Behind the Bench, Soccer, Sports

In praise of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool

by Gibran Haque on

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The charismatic Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool FC as a highly pedigreed manager last year. He previously led Borussia Dortmund–a mid-table Bundesliga club before his arrival in 2008–to two Bundesliga titles and a European Champions League final appearance in 2013. Liverpool fans anticipated Klopp’s arrival with sky-high expectations. For the first time in a while a top-four English Premier League (EPL) finish, or even a title seemed within grasp.

Liverpool fans tasted success under former manager Brendan Rodgers when his Luis Suarez-led team finished runners-up in the 2013-14 EPL season. However, the Northern Irishman’s inflexible tactics and insistence on possession football led to his downfall. Klopp’s arrival demanded he address the lack of goals from midfield, a leaky defence, and a team short on confidence. 

In his first game in charge, a 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, Klopp’s now famous ‘gegenpressing’ (counter-pressing) playing style was evident, albeit as a work-in-progress. Gegenpress is organized, aggressive pressing high up the pitch in order to regain possession of the ball as quickly as possible, and then counterattack by moving the ball quickly between players. This requires a high level of structure—one person begins the pressing and the rest of the team follows in order to cover passing lanes and reduce holes in the defence. 

In that match against Tottenham, Klopp started off with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Emre Can and Lucas in the holding roles; Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, and James Milner in the mid-field; and Divock Origi at the top. Liverpool’s game was relentless in its pace and full of excitement. Klopp’s tactics have since developed as he’s experimented with different players and formations.

Fans and the rest of the Premier League now realize how effective Liverpool’s gegenpressing is. The system came into its own against Manchester City in November 2015. Liverpool began with a 4-3-3 formation with Coutinho, Lallana, and Roberto Firmino forming the front three. Firmino–who Rodgers played out of position on the wing or as an attacking midfielder–started in his natural centre-forward position. The strategy proved to be a masterstroke by Klopp. Firmino and Coutinho’s constant pressure and slick skills on the ball proved too much for the usually-solid City defence and the Reds won the game 4-1. This established Firmino not only as a starting forward, but a vital part of the team.

Fastforward to this season and Liverpool have the players required to make Klopp’s system work. Klopp’s insistence on double training sessions in preseason ensured that his players knew his philosophy inside out. The German addressed the Reds’ long-standing defensive frailties by bringing in 6’4” centre-back Joel Matip from Schalke. Klopp also brought in Senegalese international Sadio Mane from Southampton for £30 million to add to Liverpool’s attacking ranks. The forward’s blistering pace, dribbling skills, and shooting ability added much needed directness to Liverpool’s attack.

Tactically, Klopp switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a fluid 4-3-3 with Jordan Henderson, Lallana, and Georginio Wijnaldum in the middle of the park; and Firmino, Coutinho, and Mane in the front three. In this formation, two of the midfielders forward while one sits deep. The midfield pairing of Lallana and Wijnaldum is better equipped to join the attack without having to go wide, as they are joined by the wide attackers when Liverpool has possession of the ball. The introduction of James Milner, a natural winger/midfielder, to left back has also improved Liverpool’s defence.

Klopp finally has a team of players he wants, playing the style he wants. Liverpool seem back at their best, and are genuine title-contenders this season. After the doom and gloom of the mid-2000’s, Jurgen Klopp is ushering in a new era—one that could bring silverware to the club. 

Features

Pride and press: The ecosystem of McGill’s student media

by Emma Avery on

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Growing up, I always answered the ubiquitous question, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ with the word ‘journalist.’ Of course, I didn’t know nearly half of what the term meant, and even now am only beginning to scratch the surface of it. I simply knew that I had a passion for writing and understanding other people; journalism seemed like the logical follow-up to that drive.

However, the declining state of the journalism industry today is daunting. PostMedia, Canada’s largest newspaper chain, cut 90 jobs in Jan. 2015. In the third quarter of 2016, it reported a $23.7 million loss, with print advertising revenues down 19.4 per cent. In Sept. 2015, Montreal’s /La Presse/ laid off 158 employees. It now only prints on Saturdays, instead publishing daily content on its app. In August, /The Toronto Star/ laid off 52 employees.

Student journalists are of course aware of the reality of the journalism industry; campus publications are exploring ways to transition into online content, increase their social media presence, and attract more readers. At the same time, McGill’s student publications are fortunate in that their readership levels are not directly correlated with their survival. /The McGill Tribune/, /The McGill Daily/, and /Le Délit/ are all independent student groups primarily funded by student fees. /The Tribune/ is published by the Societé de Publication de la Tribune, and /The Daily/ and /Le Délit/ are published by the Daily Publications Society and both receive student fees. Other publications—such as /The Bull & Bear/ and /The McGill Students’ Business Review/—receive funding from the Faculty of Management. In the face of a struggling newspaper industry, student newspapers remain somewhat insulated.

Private, Student Life, Word on the Y

Word on the Y: How do you take care of yourself during midterms?

by Jeannie Richardson, Flaminia Cooper, Audrey Carleton, Daniel Freed on

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As midterm season takes over, many McGill students fall victim to stress, putting self-care on the back burner. In a new column titled Word on the Y, in which students passing by the Y-intersection voice their perspective on a question, The McGill Tribune heard from students on how they take care of themselves during midterm season.

 

McGill Tribune (Flaminia Cooper / The McGill Tribune)

Maya Koparkar, U2 International Development Studies

"I [sometimes have] midterm anxiety, so I got a coloring book, and it has a bunch of positive messages in it. It’s really cheesy, I know, but it’s like, 'You did better than you thought,' so if I have to come home after a long day studying at McLennan, I’ll just throw on Netflix and colour, and zone out."

David

David Aird, Vice-President (VP) External of the Students' Society of McGill University

"Oh shit, nothing. I slept in my office last night, it was terrible. I don’t take good care of myself at all. Is that bad?"

graeme

Graeme Balint, U3 Electrical Engineering

"I’m really anal about getting enough sleep, so if an exam is the next morning at [9 a.m.], I’ll go to bed by 1, even if I don’t feel prepared at all. I’d rather be well-rested than cram for another four hours and not get enough sleep."

julie

Julie Chouinard, U2 Chemical Engineering

"I force myself to take nice long showers, and do all the shit that I would normally do, like condition and moisturize."

emma

Emma Farrabee, U1 Chemical Engineering

"I force myself to make real food, normally. And don’t live off of instant meals."

sara

Sara Harvey, U1 English Literature

"I find drinking during midterms actually calms me down. A glass of wine, or three, or six shots of tequila. If you take a break from an essay you’re writing, it’s really, really chill."

merouane

Merouane Ounadjela, U3 Physiology

"I eat a lot of chocolate."

jen

Jennifer Yoon, U3 Political Science and History

"Coffee, coffee, and coffee. Yeah, are you kidding?"

ben

Ben Butz-Weidner, U3 Political Science and History

"When I get my coffee in the morning, I’ll buy a treat, and then I’ll wait [until] later in the day when I get some work done, and then I get to reward myself with it. Plus drinking a lot of water. If you don’t drink water, you end up getting sick.”

simon

Simon Thara, U3 Mechanical Engineering

"I like to take breaks. Also like to have beer at the end of the day. Also, don’t get too stressed!"

kevin

Kevin Cremoux, U1 Political Science

"I recently travelled to New York over the [Thanksgiving weekend…] which was great for me to get my mind off [school]. Listen to lots of music, and eat very healthy […] and getting good sleep as well."

ellie

Ellie Solloway, U2 Arts, Honours Political Science and Sociology

"I would say if you have the capacity to take the day before your midterm slow, then go for it. If you’re not cramming, you should be taking it slow that day, because it helps centre yourself. And work on visualization. Visualizing how you would do well on an exam, because it helps build your confidence, and it also is proven to improve your results."

xander

Xander Smit, U3 Economics

"Sitting in the sun, that makes a world of difference. When you’re just in the library all day, you don’t get your vitamin D. The sun makes everyone happy."

McGill Tribune 

Lucien Viala, U3 Mechanical Engineering

"I try to make sure to eat well and at regular hours. Also, try to exercise to kind of flush things away."

 
McGill Tribune 

Basile Chauffour, U4 Economics and International Development Studies 

"Keeping up with extracurriculars, like sports and music."

Science & Technology

Using chaos to examine the neurophysiology of aesthetics: Defining human appreciation for art and music

by Janine Xu on

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“What do we think is beautiful? How do our brains interpret what we perceive?” Physiology Professor Dr. Leon Glass asked the audience.

His presentation, as part of the Cutting Edge Lectures in Science hosted by the Redpath Museum, discussed how chaos and fractals can be used to define human appreciation of art and music. From strange music generated from computer algorithms to the aesthetics of images of Mandelbrot sets, the audience was drawn into a little-known world where art is combined with science and math.

Chaos models find underlying patterns in a system which otherwise seem to be disordered or random. The 'butterfly effect' is often cited as an example of this model—the metaphorical idea that a butterfly that flaps its wings in Brazil sets off a chain of reactions that eventually causes a tornado in Kansas. In a mathematical sense, an example of chaos would be taking a number between one and zero, subtracting it from one, and multiplying it by four times the original. This results in a seemingly random string of numbers, essentially producing a chaotic sequence.

The theory can also be applied to music. Glass displayed sound clips created by Jeff Pressing, a chemist and jazz musician from the University of Rochester who “songified” an aperiodic time sequence based on different pitches. The result is not completely unexpected—a jumble of cacophonic sounds, akin to smashing piano keys together.

“I don’t know whether you like that, or [not], or would like to go to a concert listening to that,” Glass said.

Yet, when a chaotic sequence is applied to an already well-known piece, the effect is much more pleasing. This time, showing a chaotic variation of Bach’s Prelude in C, the differences are harder to discern—the variation almost sounds like a jazzy interpretation.

“What we think is beautiful is based on human experiences,” Glass explained. “Chaos is alien.”

As a musician himself, Glass plays the french horn in the I Medici di orchestra at McGill. Comparing Bach’s chaotic music variations with Jackson Pollock’s paintings, Glass challenged the audience to consider how cultural heritage along with societal influences can sway perceptions of beauty.

Visually, chaos can be represented in the startlingly beautiful nature of fractals. Mathematically, fractals are geometric structures that repeat on every scale. Fractals can also be found in nature, such as in snowflakes or pinecones.

“[Does fractal art produce] an aesthetically pleasing image?” Glass asked. “[Certainly] much more so than the chaotic music.”

‘Glass patterns’—named after Glass himself—emerge from seeming randomness by Xeroxing a sheet of white paper over and over. By superimposing a transparent cover of one iteration over another, Glass presented a beautiful circular design that eventually formed from dots on a sheet of paper. The audience was completely caught off guard by the emergence of the patterns that there was an audible gasp as the unexpected structure appeared on the screen.

Examining these visuals can help scientists understand what’s happening in the brain. In a 2002 study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, New York University researchers compared the responses of brain cells in monkeys to dynamic Glass patterns by examining information processes that take place at individual neuronal levels.

“[When you] are looking at some complex image, or hearing some complex sound, it’s not just one region of the brain that’s active,” Glass said. “[There] are many different parts of the brain working together.”

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