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a, Opinion

Let’s Talk About Race

by Emma Avery on

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At McGill, issues surrounding sexuality, gender, and consent have come to the forefront of campus dialogue in recent years; however, the same awareness of racial equality and representation does not exist. Conversations about racial issues are so invisible that many students are not even aware that there is anything to talk about at all, despite the fact that, in my experience, racist comments are still present in day-to-day conversation.

Even though racial tensions in Canada have not yet reached the boiling point that they have in the U.S., it does not mean that they don’t exist. Every time another headline-making incident of racism is exposed, Canadians become briefly aware of localized issues—but once media coverage stops, so does the discussion. Rarely do single events translate into sustained dialogue about equity, diversity, representation, and racism as a whole. These are not singular events, but connected phenomena.

Although awareness-raising initiatives do exist at McGill and are important catalysts for change, what is really needed is change in the education structure in order to increase awareness and understanding throughout the entire student body. The lack of representation among faculty and within education curricula must be made visible so that the conversation about race can extend across campus.

 

Rarely do single events translate into sustained dialogue about equity, diversity, representation, and racism as a whole. These are not singular events, but connected phenomena.

Efforts are being made by administrative and student groups to raise awareness about racial issues on campus and in Canada. One of these is Rez Project, which is launching a mandatory workshop, Race and Colonialism, for students living in residence. Initiatives such as these are great in theory and important for bringing such topics onto McGill students’ radars, but are not solutions by themselves, and they do not reach the entire student body. Inevitably, some students don’t notice or see them as warranting attention. Furthermore, racial issues can be extremely individual and may require more discussion and context than Rez Project can provide. Although it is a good start, simply expanding these initiatives wouldn’t have the desired effects without simultaneous change in McGill’s actual education structure.

Weaving the conversation into classroom discussions is crucial to increasing awareness and understanding because it is the only way to ensure that visibility is achieved amongst the entire student body. For example, Lakehead University and the University of Winnipeg have started requiring students to take an indigenous studies course before graduating.

Another part of restructuring education involves better representation among faculty. This might also lead to a greater range of courses being taught, based on works from varying cultural perspectives that are often left out of curriculums. Compared to other Canadian universities, McGill falls short in terms of minority representation at the faculty level, with only one full-time indigenous faculty member relative to other Canadian universities. University of British Columbia employs 33 indigenous professors across faculties, and the University of Manitoba employs 22. Currently, there are no black professors in the department of history, even for classes of African history, and only one black political science professor. McGill is committed in its mission statement to “offering the best possible education” to its students; but to fulfill this, it needs to expose them to a diverse range of perspectives.

If this diversity is not visible to students, it is difficult to have thorough conversations about race, diversity and ethnocentrism. Indeed, universities are the most important places to have these conversations because racial issues, both past and present, are relevant to a wide range of disciplines and influence the way students learn, form opinions, and go on to use their knowledge in society after graduating. Visibility of such issues requires the continuation of initiatives to promote equity and fight discrimination by students, as well as a change in administrative practices. McGill must work towards greater equality through better representation of minorities among faculty and course subjects, as well as the creation of mandatory courses on minority issues. Mandating a class on indigenous studies is no less justifiable than requiring engineers to tak an arts elective (which is the current policy for McGill engineering undergraduates). Many McGill professors and students are aware of these issues, but anyone can look at the demographic of McGill’s faculty and see that it is disproportionately skewed. Greater diversity is necessary to foster greater dialogue, which is central to everything education is about.

 

Emma Avery is a second year anthropology and urban systems student at McGill. Her favourite television show is (still) The Office. She is passionate about soccer, dogs, and St-Viateur bagels.

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 
a, Off the Board, Opinion

When users perish, their social media accounts live on

by Adrien Hu on

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Two weeks ago, I received a rather typical notification from Facebook. “One of your friends has a birthday this week,” prompted the note. “Wish her a happy birthday.”

To a vast number Facebook users, this notification is oftentimes annoying, yet surely innocent in its intentions. But one thing Facebook failed to take into account was that this particular friend of mine had committed suicide two years prior. What ensued was even more disturbing. Two years after her death, my friend’s profile page was full of updated links, holiday wishes, and I-miss-yous. Her social activity had continued as though she were still the person behind the screen—she even added new friends and changed her profile picture. Although all of this was done with good intentions by family and friends in an attempt to remember her, I could not help but wonder: What would she think if she saw this? Was this really what she wanted? For me, this desperate social perpetuation of the deceased is no longer authentic. It strips these individuals—who can no longer defend themselves—of their right to death and peace online. As death is the literal end of a person’s life, updating that individual’s social media post-mortem is inauthentic and disrespectful. Facebook must do more to guard against this.

Currently, the social media behemoth has over one billion users. Due to Facebook’s popularity, three out of five people who die will own active accounts. As of December 2014, over 4,329 Facebook users die each day.

Interestingly, death on Facebook was not always this prevalent. Founded in 2004, the site’s demographic initially consisted only of young college students; death here was rare. As Facebook grew in popularity, more people over the age of 65 began registering compared to any other age group. Now that the overall age of Facebook users is growing older, the problem of deceased Facebook users has, and will, continue to increase.  

Unlike a physical funeral, an online memorial of continuous messages defies the timespan of death.

To remedy the social presence of the deceased, Facebook’s policies allow for users’ accounts to be reported and memorialized. To do this, a user must report the deceased’s name, approximated date of death, and proof, such as a death certificate or obituary. Once memorialized, no one can login or make changes to the profile; the account’s content as it existed before the death will remain as is, along with the privacy settings; other users will not receive birthday reminders or invitations to connect; new friend requests will no longer be accepted, but existing Facebook friends of the user can still share memories in a memorialized timeline. These innovations are all part of an attempt to honour a person’s memories respectfully on Facebook; but, while thoughtful, this strategy is too naïve.

Already, many users have been kicked out of their accounts when obituaries with identical names were submitted as proof of death. Simon Thulbourn, a German software engineer and famous victim of this phenomenon, discovered that there was, ironically, no way to submit proof of his ‘aliveness.’ Only after taking his frustration onto Twitter and going viral, did this prompt an apology from Facebook, and his account’s reactivation.

Also, once the Facebook account is memorialized, new friends cannot be added. In cases where the deceased is not yet Facebook friends with family members, the latter will be locked out from the memorialized timeline, which defeats the purpose.

To top it off, proof of death is not always easy to come by. Without an obituary, only the immediate family of the Facebook user may have access to hard proof of death. Memorializing the account is then up to the family’s discretion and technological know-how.

Facebook’s policies on memorializing users is deficient. A better procedure should be available—one that integrates automation to aid active reports. Phrase recognition algorithms detecting posts with phrases such as “RIP” can be considered. Accounts lacking a set number of posts from the user per year should be flagged for review automatically. But perhaps most importantly, a deceased person’s accounts should be memorialized in a way where no future posts by others is possible. Unlike a physical funeral, an online memorial of continuous messages defies the timespan of death. On Facebook, posts by friends and family stretching out over years after death make it seem as if a loved one is still forever suspended in a state of dying. By eliminating this, social media can preserve an authentic representation of a person’s life, and allow for a peaceful end on Facebook.

Death is a physical inevitability, and we should give it the same closure on social media that it has in real life. In the case of my friend’s suicide, this right to die must not be outweighed by our need to remember on social media.

 

Adrien Hu is a U3 double major in biology and sociology. She is an avid lover of Netflix, anime, and creating emoji. Look, a cat! ^ .. ^

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 

 
a, Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Research briefs: Thanksgiving weekend

by Natasha Michaeloff on

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Pumpkin and mammoth pies

Americans who celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend have mastodons and mammoths to thank for the pumpkin pie on the table. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers established a link between the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna—mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths, and others—and the existence of modern pumpkin and squash in North America. 

The researchers theorized that ancient humans did not originally eat pumpkins and squash because of their toxicity and bitter taste, which results from a compound called cucurbitacin. This acted as the plant’s built-in defence system against predators.

“Initially, humans probably ate the seeds of the wild gourds after some washing to get rid of the bitter taste,” explained archaeologist Bruce Smith to Smithsonian Science News. “[Then, over the course of thousands of years] humans selected for non-bitter forms—they would have grown them and cultivated them and then selected through the seeds, finding seeds that had less bitterness and planting them selectively.”

In order to be able to selectively breed plants, however, there must be a variety of plants to choose from—and this is where mammoths come into play. Scientists have discovered fossilized mammoth dung that suggests that the megafauna who lived 12,000 years ago consumed bitter wild gourds. Since the mammoths’ bodies were so massive, the fruit presented a comparatively small amount of cucurbitacin and posed no harm. 

The seeds would pass through the animal’s digestive tract and be deposited along with ‘fertilizer,’ which would help new plants grow, and spread pumpkins and squash across North America. This created a large pool from which farmers could choose from to domesticate.

“It’s been suggested before—and I think it’s a very reasonable hypothesis—that wild species of pumpkin and squash weren’t used for food early in the domestication process,” said Penn State University post-doctoral fellow Logan Kistler in an interview with ScienceDaily.

Pumpkins and squash have been tested and tweaked to meet the needs of mankind. Like dogs, corn, and wheat, the domestication of squash and pumpkins was a slow and deliberate process, relying on a number of large factors. Today, this has enabled it to become a staple in the diets of people around the world, especially on Thanksgiving.

Loneliness & the body

It has long been thought that social isolation is worse for people than consistent social interaction; however, how much worse and precisely in what way has not been determined—until earlier this week.

According to recent studies conducted at the University of Chicago, the inherent stress of being socially isolated causes the body to trigger sympathetic nervous system signalling. The sympathetic nervous system controls the fight or flight response, and induces changes in leukocytes, or white blood cells. More specifically, white blood cells begin activating what is known as the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA). This induces the expression of genes that contribute to inflammation, and a decrease in the expression of antiviral genes. When the CTRA pathway is activated, and the expression of genes is altered, people become more susceptible to illnesses. 

The study, which sampled 141 adults between the ages of 50 and 68, found to be a reciprocal relationship between CTRA and loneliness, with loneliness even predicting the presence of CTRA and vice versa. 

 “Much of what’s triggered by social isolation is non-conscious,” said University of Chicago psychologist Dr. John Cacioppo, one of the researchers spearheading the project, in his TEDTalk on the subject. 

When alone, the body enters self-preservation mode, which can manifest itself into feelings of paranoia.

“If [one is] looking for dangers, [one is] more likely to see dangers, whether they exist or not,” explained Cacioppo. “[This] culminates in a greater likelihood of negative social interactions, when they do occur.”

a, Student Life, Student of the Week

Student of the Week: Dawn Cheung

by Tiffany Le on

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Dawn Cheung, U4 English Literature major and East Asian Studies minor, is actively contributing to student life on campus in many ways, including through her management of the popular Facebook page: Free Food on Campus and in Montreal. 

Cheung has been living in Montreal since 2007, after moving from Coquitlam, British Columbia with her family upon graduating high school. She lived in and out of the city and went to CEGEP before starting at McGill.

Since September 2014, Cheung has been the president of McGill Students Spoken Word Associated Youth (McSWAY), an outlet for students to express themselves through performance poetry. McSWAY creates a safe space for students to share their thoughts through performance, and provides workshops on spoken word.

“We support people gathering together to share all kinds of poetry—mainly the performance aspect by both dramatizing and having fun with it,” she said.

Cheung’s most popular endeavour, however, used by countless students every day, is the McGill Free Food on Campus and in Montreal group. The Facebook group was created by another McGill student, Margaret Lu, three years ago. Cheung inherited it when Lu graduated, and has been the groups’ administrator for the last two years. It has since grown to more than 10 thousand members.

Cheung’s decision to take responsibility for the group is inspired by both personal reasons and a desire to give back.

“One, I like free food,” Cheung said, “Two, there’s a lot of spamming in the group [that needed regulating].”

It does not take Cheung too much time to regulate, but she does rule with a bit of an iron fist. The group is strictly for free food, and any posts that do not comply are taken down. The rules are clear: First infractions receive a warning; second infractions receive a complete ban. The group also links to other pages that might be a better fit for the content, such as Cheap Food on Campus or Samosa Search.

Although she runs it, Cheung insists that the group is pretty self-maintained.

“The group is run by the people who want free food and I help keep the content aligned with their interest,” Cheung said. “However, if people see a post that brings their hopes up and then they see it is for sale they will ridicule the post in the comments.”

Cheung is also always aiming to improve the group through member feedback. Recently, the group’s name was changed to specify “in Montreal.”

“There’s places off campus as well that [have] really good free food, [like] the free fish and chips in Monkland,” she said.

Cheung will be graduating at the end of this semester, but she is not nervous about finishing up her degree. In fact, she already has experience with convocations. For the past two years, she’s been co-head usher for convocation at McGill.

“I’ve seen people graduate all the time, [I have been there] every single ceremony,” Cheung explained. “I feel okay [about graduating myself], I see it as an extended vacation.”

In January 2016, the responsibility of the group will be passed on again and Cheung is looking for just the right person to hand off the group to.

“I just want to make sure people can find out about the group and join it and contribute information,” Cheung said. “There are conferences and events with tons of extra food at the end that should not go to waste. We say where it is and tell people to come get it.” 

Under Cheung’s care, the Free Food group has successfully adapted the reality of a society with an unbelievably high amount of food waste to meet the mindset of frugal students—a service to McGill that will continue to be used and appreciated long after her graduation.

 

McGill Tribune (MT): What was your Halloween costume this year? 

Dawn Cheung (DC): My partner was the cow and I was the farmer at a couple costume contest—we won. [Then] we switched halfway through the night because we can fit into each other’s clothes.

MT: What is your greatest regret?

DC: That I couldn’t get all the free food. Sometimes I see the free food posts, but then it’s too late and there’s no time, or I was busy and couldn’t get it.

MT: What is the best thing that happened this year?

DC: I moved out! I no longer live with my family.

a, McGill, News

The Internet of Things: Increased connectivity in Canada

by Emily Hu on

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On Tuesday, Nov. 24, the McGill Intellectual Property & Information Technology Policy Club (IPITPOL) hosted a panel to discuss aspects of privacy and governance concerning the internet of things. The Internet of Things is a term referring to a continuously expanding network of physical devices with network connectivity, and the ability to collect and transmit this data through an integrated network widely known as ‘the cloud.’

The panel featured Sunny Handa, a professor at McGill’s Faculty of Law and co-head of the Information Technology Group and India’s Working Group at Blake, Cassels, and Graydon LLP.  Richard Janda, a professor at McGill’s Faculty of Law, and Fenwick McKelvey an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University, were also members of the panel.

During the discussion, Handa drew attention to the accessibility of information. A data breach in the cloud can provide companies with consumer information, which enables companies to draw pre-concluded notions about a consumer’s health and persona and can affect things such as life insurance and career opportunities.

“The internet of things is really about big data collection,” said Handa. “Some of you may have this little device [… and] it’s monitoring your heart rate, it’s monitoring your steps, it’s monitoring everything, and […] it gets uploaded into a facility in the cloud that may not be [secure], and if it’s not, then that data goes wherever it shouldn’t go. Then, decisions can be made.”

Handa gave an example to highlight the problematic nature of big data collection.

“An insurance company buys that data, and threats from that tend to be way too high,” she said. “And you might say ‘well, who cares about how many steps I take?’ But, that combined with other data enables the companies to make decisions[1] .”

Handa later highlighted the amount of legal autonomy that transnational, internet-based companies like Netflix have in Canada, in explaining the dispute between Netflix and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In 2014, Netflix and Google refused to provide evidence of their claims that Canadian content was thriving online. Though CRTC tried to obtain this information from Netflix using the Canadian judicial system, their attempts ultimately fell short. Netflix remained in Canada, though failing to provide proof of their compliance with CRTC’s policies.

“Regulators don’t deal well with globalized [companies],” said Handa. “They have no tools and no backing to implement regulation [….] They completely lost control over non-Canadian providers.”

The difficulties of regulating international transnational companies inside Canadian borders may prove to be problematic for Canadian law.

“You can operate for a period of time, despite being outside of the law, to the point where you can rewrite the law [….]” explained McKelvey, referring to the Netflix case.

McKelvey further emphasized the advantage that cloud-based companies have over Canadian companies due to different levels of adherence to Canadian regulations. The limited abilities of Bell to collect consumer data versus Google’s large agglomerated consumer data base creates an unfair advantage for internet companies. Collecting data allows companies to better target and serve their customers.

“In 2012, Bell changed its privacy policy in order to be able to collect data across all devices and be able to file it into one aggregate data base,” said McKelvey. “What came about that was in 2014, due to the government[2]  […] Bell retracted this. Google is a far less regulated system […,] you have only certain companies that follow regulations, and that creates a disparity and a disadvantage for Bell and the fact [is] that they are kind of penalized [….]”

Janda evaluated how the Internet of Things will continue to expand until society becomes automatized around it. According to him, we are currently experiencing a transitional phase.

“Our technology will become the backdrop to the automatic mode of thinking,” he said. “For example, the way we drive on the roads [.…] You respond to certain [road] signs [… and] it becomes an automatic methodology of our thinking [.…] As technology becomes more automatized and as we start to relate to all of our ‘things’ as carrying with them data, it becomes when I’m using this […] I can orient my behaviour into optimal ways.”

 

Aziz Ansari Master of None
a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Pop Dialectic: Aziz Ansari’s Master of None

by Evelyn Goessling and Anna St. Clair on

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There’s no denying that Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix original series, Master of None, has taken the millennial world by storm. Featuring an extremely diverse cast and tackling anything from the quest to find the best taco to institutional racism, the show is being touted as the best comedy of the year. But is it really that incredible? Two writers discuss whether Ansari’s new show is a fresh perspective or just another show about nothing.

ANOTHER MILLENNIAL TROPE

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix show, Master of None, presents another story of New York living—with few off-the-wall twists to keep viewers interested.

In Master of None Ansari plays Dev, an actor working and living in New York City facing many issues that all ‘new adults’ deal with. He goes on dates, auditions, awkwardly gets through one-night stands, and frets about his future, like most young adults do. Many sitcoms, like New Girl and Broad City, for example, are based on the same new-adult-big-world premise, but include an outrageous character or plot hook to grab the audience’s attention.

The show has no such character or scenario. Instead, viewers see a relatively normal, albeit funnier-than-average, man go through his life over the course of a few months. Although the lack of drama is off-putting, there are many moments for small laughs, as there probably would be if you were friends with Aziz Ansari. Unfortunately, the only real draw to the show is that it features Ansari; otherwise it would certainly get lost in the sea of sitcoms about 20-somethings living in New York City, dealing with adulthood in any manner of comedic or dramatic mishaps.

Master of None is a Netflix production, and Ansari’s third project with the company. Considering this, it’s easier to understand the lack of punchy drama. Without the pressure of network executives and publicly-released ratings, shows produced by Netflix can be slower, and more subtle. In this way, Master of None is perfect for Netflix, but perhaps not for broad audiences.

This is just the most recent release in a media trend that’s putting network TV in a panic. The way that people watch TV is completely changing, and with the change in consumption comes an opportunity for change in content. In this case,Master of None takes that opportunity and runs with it. In every episode he showcases different relevant modern issues, such as everyday racism, sexism, and immigration. Netflix has given a great deal of freedom to television writers, producers, and actors, and beyond Master of None it will be exciting to see how far the streaming company goes in pushing the boundaries of typical television.

One virtue of the show is that it puts a different spin on otherwise familiar scenario. There is something to be said for a depiction of life on TV as the slow, at times awkward, sometimes funny little interactions that make up most of life. It’s easy to identify with Dev and his friends, because they don’t have the wild and unrealistic quirks that many sitcom characters do (see: J.D. in Scrubs or Barney in How I Met Your Mother). Unlike these shows Master of None has very minimal dramatization, which at some moments make the show feel boring, and leaves some conversations coming off as extremely self-conscious. The script becomes more noticeable because there’s no wacky comedy to distract from it.

Unlike most of it’s peers, Master of None unabashedly addresses issues of diversity and representation in the media. Then the show goes further by dedicating an entire episode to everyday sexism, and another to the experience of immigrant families in the United States. Another episode specifically explores discrimination against Indian actors in the entertainment industry, including instances of brownface in film that have gone unnoticed for decades. While issues of diversity are addressed explicitly in the show’s plot, Master of None implicitly tackles the problem with an astonishingly diverse cast free of stereotypical tropes.

Master of None works, but not quite. It works as a showcase of Ansari’s versatility in comedy and drama. It works as a discussion of race and representation. Master of None is a mature step in Ansari’s career, and an adventurous combination of his comedic talents and knack for social commentary. As a TV show, Master of None fails to capture the attention of viewers expecting Ansari’s usual upbeat banter.

–Evelyn Goessling

THE SEINFELD ABOUT SOMETHING

When it comes to TV shows set in New York, the need to have a diverse cast becomes more pressing. It’s always imperative to tell the stories of people of colour, but in a city as diverse as New York, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to write an excellent comedy featuring an entirely white cast. One of the biggest criticisms of HBO’s Girls is it’s lack of racial diversity. No 20-something living in New York has a group of friends composed entirely of white people, unless they live in a very specific square blockage on the Upper East Side (see Gossip Girl). Aziz Ansari’s Master of None accurately captures the experience of not just an Indian man living and working in New York, but of any 20 or 30 something in the modern world.

For too long, TV and movie execs have relied on the excuse that casting people of colour as leading men and women will lead to a certain flop. Recent successful shows like The Mindy Project and Fresh Off the Boat have proved that to be false. When shows take place in a city as diverse as New York, that logic seems even more bizarre.

Like ‘90s TV favourite Seinfeld, Master of None follows the everyday life of an actor/comedian in New York. Aziz Ansari plays a fictionalized version of himself, Dev Shah, and each episode is full of the same kind of situational humour that made Seinfeld famous. For instance, in one episode Dev struggles with the ethics of having a sexual relationship with a married woman (Claire Danes). When her husband rudely cuts in front of him at a trendy ice cream shop—stealing the last artisanal hipster dessert—Dev casts aside his uncertainties and begins having spiteful sex with the woman.

Whereas in the ‘90s Seinfeld could get away with an all white cast in a show that made New York City a character in itself, today that lack of diversity is not only unrepresentative, it’s simply unrealistic. The fourth episode in Masters of None, “Indians on TV,” begins with a trip through every Indian stereotype in the media; from the dinner of monkey brains in Indiana Jones, to Apu from The Simpsons, and up to Ashton Kutcher in brownface in a Popchips commercial. The episode revolves around Dev auditioning for a movie with a friend and fellow Indian actor. When he accidently sees an email from the producer he learns the unspoken truth. There can be one Indian guy, but there can’t be two. As Dev says, “Black people just got to there can be two and even then there can’t be three.” Yet Master of None proves there can be two, three, or four and not feel like an ‘Indian show,’ but a show for everyone in today’s ethnic mosaic cities.

And it’s not just immigration and racial issues that Master of None captures with impeccable humour and accuracy. The social scene of 2015 doesn’t revolve around a group of friends all hanging out at a coffee shop anymore, nor can people expect friends to spontaneously burst into our apartments with urgent news. Instead the social humour of Master of None is best depicted when Dev gathers his friends for a night spent binge-watching Sherlock. To his friends’ dismay, he keeps pausing the show to read a text from a girl out loud.Master of None doesn’t need an outrageous character or plot hook to keep viewers interested. Instead, its plot hook comes in it’s immense courage to tackle a range of social issues most sitcoms would balk at. It’s not just immigration and diversity issues that it examines with a light-hearted wit. A later episode paints a touching picture about how we care for our elderly family members that forces watchers to want to immediately call their grandma.

Master of None shows Ansari’s talent as a writer in it’s creative depiction of modern life. While it does address dating and relationships like most sitcoms, this never feels like a trope, but rather an authentic portrait. Dev’s relationship with Rachel (Noel Wells) isn’t forced simply to add a love interest to the action. Their relationship is well-written and it’s clear to from their goofy personalities why the two would date. Even in the familiar sitcom territory of relationships, Master of Noneshows off its strong writing.

Master of None is the comedy show society needs in 2015. It’s not afraid to bring diversity issues to the forefront with clever observational humour. At the same time, its diversity never feels forced, but natural. It’s not trying to be diverse—it’s simply mirroring the real people and their real lives in 2015. With wit and creativity its comments on modern life and relationships make it one of the year’s best comedies.

– Anna St. Clair

trading basics palm
a, Arts & Entertainment

Album Review: Trading Basics – Palm

by Caleb McKend on

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In mid-October, while promoting an upcoming anniversary show, the fantastic American blog-turned-label Exploding in Sound’s Facebook page posted a live performance under a caption heralding the quartet as “EIS, the next generation.” The post seemed apt. The Pennsylvania/New York-based band, Palm, has one foot in the ’90s-esque, oddball guitar rock of their label-mates (LVL UP, Pile, Speedy Ortiz). On their debut album Trading Basics, the other foot is planted firmly in the future, one full of off-kilter beats and echoing yelps. Palm can undoubtedly shred like its peers, but choose to do so off the beaten path, drumming up a devilishly intricate style of art-rock and skipping the dominant influence of Pavement, and heading straight towards Sun City Girls.

The first thing to notice when approaching Trading Basics is just how wrong it sounds. The guitars of Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt sound dissonantly clawed at—picks are dragged full force across the strings, finger-contorting arpeggios are feverishly exchanged—while the backbone of drummer Hugo Stanley and bassist Gerasimos Livitanos pops up and down through rhythms, equal parts tight and sporadic. The album constantly feels like it’s about to fall apart under the weight of its own jangle and polyrhythms, as in the scattered back-and-forths of “Child Actor” and instrumental track “You Are What Eats You.”

Yet, outside the chaos, Palm create their own brand of catchy music. After the first layer of noise, you stumble upon genuine earworms and some of the smartest melodies to come out of the underground music scene in recent memory. The third track, “Ankles,” particularly functions as a standout showcase for both Stanley’s jittery beats and the group’s knack for infectiously warped vocal lines, with Kurt’s Panda Bear-like yelps of “I don’t need you” ready to spend days resonating in your skull.

The prevalent pitfall in an album as forwardly technical as Trading Basics is the lack of feeling beneath the spectacle, something Palm seems to circle around without fully falling into. The lyrics are minimal and often seem secondary to the melodies, even when vocals are the most prominent part of the mix. The emotions missing on the surface of the lyrics, however, are made up for by the vocal performances themselves. Simply look to Alpert’s ghostly calls on “Crank,” or the surprisingly sweet harmonies opening “Second Ward” for examples.

Trading Basics is an album distinct and memorable as much for its approach to melody as its weirdness. Where bands before and after them look to odd rhythms or jagged guitars as a way to stand out, Palm have built something more complex. Beyond the experimentation, it’s clear they aren’t just showing off, but rather looking towards the future.

Standout tracks:

“Ankles,” “Child Actor,” and “Second Ward”

Sounds like:

Women, Animal Collective, Krill

Best Lyric:

“If we can’t get home for supper/we must just have to suuuufferrrrr” – Crank

a, Arts & Entertainment

Album Review: Purpose – Justin Bieber

by James MacFarlane on

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Justin Bieber’s last few years have been tumultuous, to say the least. At the beginning of his career he was a teen idol who—likely under the direction of a PR team—always said and did the right things. Then, as he grew older, he developed more individuality; ultimately manifesting itself in the form of eggs, drag races, garbage-can urinals, and half-hearted “hold-me-back-bro” attempts at assaulting paparazzi. Biebs’ poor behaviour and scrapes with the law caused him to become the laughing stock of the internet, tabloids, and the general public. Thus, Bieber’s newly released album Purpose comes at a pivotal point in his life as he transitions from adolescence to adulthood.

The album experiments with new musical styles: It’s clear that the days of teen pop Bieber are far behind. The album is a mélange of slow trap-infused jams, hip-hop tracks, and pop music hits. In “Life is Worth Living” and Children,” Bieber croons over piano music; “Love Yourself” has a folksy guitar accompaniment. The album’s sole guest verses are from hip-hop megastars Big Sean, Nas, and Travis Scott. In “No Sense” and “We Are,” Bieber uses his rhythmic abilities to create his own hip-hop flow, while “I’ll Show You,” “What Do You Mean?,” and “Sorry” are pop songs that have already proved themselves popular on commercial radio.

The album is incredibly well-produced throughout: “No Sense” is a case in point, which has a beat that is part ethereal and part hard-hitting; however, despite the production tricks, one cannot help but shake the feeling that some of these pop instrumentals (“What Do You Mean?” in particular) are better suited for a Travelocity commercial than this highly anticipated comeback album.

Although his production has changed for the better, his lyrics are reminiscent of his teen-pop era. Each song seems to be a love letter to an unidentified person who goes by the name of “baby.” “Life is Worth Living” is his best song lyrically, but that’s not saying much. He begins each song with a few thoughtful bars, but he never tells a good story, instead choosing to devolve every song into a love letter. Bieber takes few risks with his lyrics on his new album, which is disappointing to those who wished to see his music evolve beyond teen pop.

Paradoxically, Bieber could improve his music by taking less agency over his own lyrics. He is listed as a writer on every song, which is admirable, but his lyrics remain weaker than those of most competing musicians. Bieber’s next album could also benefit from more guest features. Nas adds a masterful verse to “We Are.” Travis Scott prevents “No Sense” from becoming too repetitive by jumping in at the last minute. Big Sean is the best part of the lacklustre “No Pressure.”

Bieber tries to do too much in one album. His vocals are impressive and production is impeccable, but he could have improved this project by focusing more on one musical style. It makes sense that Biebs would want to experiment with many different genres—he is trying to escape his teen pop reputation after all—however, his lyrics too often revert back to the same themes that brought him hits in years past. Purpose is not the impressive album it could have been, but it shows some signs of definite improvement.

Standout Tracks:

“No sense” and “Life Is Worth Living.”

Sounds like:

A confused mix of Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown

Best Lyric:

Life is worth living so live another day / The meaning of forgiveness / People make mistakes doesn't mean you have to give in

a, News, SSMU

Omar El-Sharawy elected SSMU VP Internal

by Calvin Trottier-Chi and Shrinkhala Dawadi on

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Omar El-Sharawy was elected Vice-President (VP) Internal of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) with 4807 points earlier today The runner-up, Kahli Douglas, got 4445 points. The turnout for the election was 8.7 per cent.

SSMU President Kareem Ibrahim explained that since the 2014-2015 school year, SSMU has been using a preferential ballot system for all elections.

“The reason [we implemented the preferential ballot system] was so that there would be a way for votes essentially not to be lost if certain candidates were not elected in a race that had more than two candidates,” Ibrahim explained. “It originally came out of the 2013-2014 presidential election, and that was because they didn’t want someone to feel that their vote is wasted.”

The preferential ballot system accounts for the order in which students rank their preferences for candidates. If a candidate wins the majority of votes—that is, they are ranked as the first choice by the majority of students—then they are elected. If no candidate has enough first place ranks to warrant a majority, then the candidate with the least amount of first place votes is eliminated. The rankings are then re-counted.

Ibrahim stated that he was looking forward to working with El-Sharawy.

“[I’m] definitely looking forward to working with Omar,” Ibrahim said. “I was on Council with him two years ago and I know he has a lot of ideas. What I especially appreciate about Omar is that he is willing to identify issues at SSMU that can be improved upon, and I hope that is something we’ll actualize with his time here. I’m looking forward to having him as part of the team.”

El-Sharawy explained that he was excited to join the SSMU executive team.

"I am ecstatic to become the next VP Internal,” he said. “Although I will only have four months, I will ensure to continue the great work of the executive team and [the Students’ Society Network Program] (SSPN) who have managed to uphold the VP Internal responsibilities, create new platforms to engage the student body and promote student engagement and consultation. I am excited to become part of such a hard working executive team and work together to tackle our weaknesses and improve our strengths."

The other candidates were Lou Bernardi, who got 4388 points, Jason Rutman, who got 3639 points, and Tim Mapley, who got 3241 points.

This most recent by-election was called as the previous election for VP Internal failed to elect a student to the position, and 51.7 per cent of students voted “No” to Alexei Simakov, the only candidate running. The position was left vacant after Lola Baraldi resigned earlier this year.

El-Sharawy’s term is scheduled to begin in January.

With additional reporting by Laura Hanrahan.
a, Opinion

SSMU VP Internal byelection endorsement: Omar El-Sharawy

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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In order to present the most informed endorsements as possible, we reached out to each of the candidates and did research on their platforms and Facebook campagins. The Tribune Editorial Board debated and discussed the candidates in depth and voted on our endorsement for the position. The endorsement required a two-thirds majority vote. Should you have questions about our endorsement process, please email us at [email protected] Tribune has also has profiles of the candidates. 

The Tribune endorses a “Yes” vote for Omar El-Sharawy in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) Internal byelection. El-Sharawy approaches the position with the most experience out of all of the candidates, having served as a Frosh coordinator, Inter-Residence Council (IRC) VP External, and Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) representative to SSMU. These relevant experiences make him the most-well prepared of the candidates running to assume the VP Internal position mid-year; his platform makes him the most exciting.

In terms of concrete plans, El-Sharawy proposes several ideas for each relevant aspect of the Internal portfolio. Notably, he would seek to increase inter-faculty communication and collaboration during Frosh, improve communication with students by continuing to explore new platforms through which to disseminate information and listserv content, and ensure the success of future events by improving planning and student consultation. Additionally, El-Sharawy has shown an understanding of the temporary nature of this mandate: His platform is focused on achieving objectives slated for the second half of the year, including proactively transitioning to a successor. The combination of his experience with his realistic and creative proposals makes him the most viable candidate.

While Kahli Douglas’ platform includes practical objectives that the SSMU VP Internal should seek to fulfill, she lacks vision for how to achieve them. Douglas failed to elaborate on how she hoped to achieve such goals as engaging and communicating with students, or improving Frosh.

Similarly, Tim Mapley’s campaign platform lacks any concrete ideas to implement as VP Internal. While he does understand that the most important aspects of the position are communication, events, equity, and engagement, he offers little on how to further improve or address these issues.

Lou Bernardi and Jason Rutman are both running as protest candidates, but have added little in the way of constructive criticism. Though all candidates have a right to run whatever campaign they choose, offering to prolong what has an already lengthy process does not address the underlying problems these two candidates argue exist.

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