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a, Student Life

Exposing how to adjust light on your camera

by Alexandra Allaire on

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A camera is nothing but a box with a hole in it. The hole opens and closes, allowing light to enter the box, and this light is recorded onto film.

You can control how much light, called the “exposure,” your camera uses through three basic functions: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The aperture is how big the hole in your camera is; the shutter speed is how long you leave the hole open; and the ISO is your camera’s sensitivity to light.

The right balance of these three functions will produce the perfect exposure and a good-looking photo; but getting your head around these functions is not a snap. To understand how they work, it’s easier to think about light through “the window analogy.”

Pretend you’re in your living room, looking out your window. Now imagine that your window is the aperture, which determines how much light enters your camera. Depending on the size of your window, the amount of light will change. A big window will let in more light, whereas a small window will let in less.

Your window also has some shutters on the outside. The shutter, of course, is the shutter speed of your camera. It represents the amount of time your camera’s shutter stays open and lets light into your living room.  If you close your shutters quickly, less light will shine through the window, so your room will be less well-lit (your photo will be darker). But if you close them slowly, then more light will be able to come through over time, which will make your room more well-lit (and your photo lighter).

In case the light gets too bright, you also have your sunglasses with you. Your glasses are the ISO, which determines the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. If the room is too bright, you would wear your sunglasses and your eyes would desensitize to the light.

Together, the size of your window, the amount of time you keep your shutters open, and whether you wear sunglasses or not will all determine the exposure of your photo.

Let’s say that you’re taking a photograph on Mount Royal at night and you really want to lighten up the Montreal skyline. To do that you would need to make a bright exposure—you could widen your aperture, increase your ISO number, or choose a slower shutter speed.

Be careful not to overexpose your photo too much; you want to find the exposure that’s just right. In a situation where the light may already be too bright, you would want to use a narrow aperture, a low ISO number, and a high shutter speed.

Experimenting and playing around with these three functions will help you get the exposure you want to produce a great photograph!

 

Aperture range

f/1.4 is considered a wide aperture, and as the numerical value of the aperture increases, the actual size of the aperture decreases. An f/8, for example, is a narrower aperture than an f/5.6.

ISO range

An ISO number can range anywhere from 100-56,000. A high ISO like 1,600 makes your camera very sensitive to the light whereas the lower the ISO number, the less sensitive your camera is to light.

Shutter speed

The typical range of your shutter speed ranges from the fastest being 1/1,000 of a second to the slowest being 1 second.

a, Opinion

Sexual assault policies must be inclusive, comprehensive

by Advocacy Branch, Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students' Society (SACOMSS) on

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Here at the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society’s Advocacy Branch (SACOMSS A-Branch), we commend the stance that McGill has taken towards the recent incidents emailed out on Nov. 21. We are happy that they are committing to creating a co-ordinating role to support survivors of sexual assault, and to consulting more fully with the student population on these matters through forums. A-Branch is happy to be heard by the McGill administration, and would like to continue to co-operate with them to achieve the aim of a safer campus and university culture for all.

With this in mind, we have some recommendations for a future sexual assault policy. McGill has a responsibility to articulate a policy ensuring the protection of its members and freedom from sexual assault at the level of both the individual and the community. We believe that any such policy should be tailored to the empowerment of survivors—we firmly emphasize the need for a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual assault and sexual misconduct on campus. By zero-tolerance, we mean a strong and actively preventative approach to the issue of sexual assault, but we are unable to comment on disciplinary measures at this time.

Regarding McGill’s most recent commitment to hire a co-ordinator to further the dissemination of information addressing sexual assault within the McGill community, A-branch recommends that this role include supporting survivors, receiving complaints, and providing information regarding the university’s policy and other support resources. Such a person should have previous experience supporting survivors of sexual assault and a working knowledge of McGill’s relevant policies and support services. All of the McGill community (including other employees) ought to be able to consult with a designated member of McGill staff on matters of sexual violence and feel that they are informed and supported in these matters.

We are glad that McGill is looking towards the work of projects such as Rez Project, which can be further improved to address the norms of student life, upon which power imbalances that contribute to sexual assault culture can be perpetuated. We hope that projects like these will continue to cultivate sensitivity to, and understanding of, the issues surrounding sexual assault.

Any new policy must be easily accessible on McGill’s website. The website itself should include an individual section that contains information on the policy itself, as well as resources for survivors such as McGill Counselling and McGill Mental health services on-campus, as well as other Montreal services. Additionally, SACOMSS services, such as Drop in and Line (DIAL), Advocacy Branch, and Support Groups could be highlighted for those seeking more information.

We recommend that the policy be formulated to be receptive to and empower survivors, by allowing them to define their own experiences and empowering them to make their own decisions on how best to deal with those experiences. Any policy must avoid blame culture at any cost, and actively encourage survivors of sexual assault to feel comfortable coming forward with their experiences.

Strong policies are written in consent-based language, as opposed to legalistic or overly technical language. Consent must be defined as a positive consent—i.e. saying ‘yes,’ as opposed to the absence of a ‘no.’ We would also like to see a policy that avoids overly complicated language in favour of clarity and accessibility. Columbia University’s Gender Based Misconduct Policy uses examples and definitions to clarify terms such as sexual assault and consent for readers who are unsure. This is just one of many examples of how a policy can be made clearer.

A-Branch expects a policy fully inclusive towards persons of LGBT*QI identities, which includes but is not limited to gender neutral language. If the policy does refer to examples of sexual assault, we expect that the breadth and diversity of experiences of sexual assault will be respected. The policy should not restrict itself to heteronormative conceptions of sexual assault or any other stereotypes.

A-Branch is committed to advocating on behalf of survivors of sexual assault and their allies, and is open to contributing as much as possible to the continued review and formulation of policy in order to ensure that people receive the most support possible at McGill University. We also provide support to students who seek to navigate the McGill Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination.

 

For more information about A-Branch email: [email protected]

 

For help, support or information with experiences of sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination, get in touch, or drop in at SACOMSS.  http://sacomss.org

 

a, Opinion

A Campus Conversation: Sexual assault policy

on

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INTRODUCTION

(Ruidi Zhu / McGill Tribune)
Last week, McGill announced a new set of strategies to confront the issue of sexual assault and build a more cohesive policy on the matter. This comes in the wake of campus debate over the past month, stemming from reports linking three former McGill Redmen football players to a sexual assault incident alleged to have taken place in September 2011. For our final Campus Conversation of the term, we convene voices from across campus discussing how McGill should handle similar issues in the future.
THE CONVERSATION

McGill must deliver on proposed sexual assault measures
McGill Tribune Editorial

Sexual assault policies must be inclusive, comprehensive
Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society

Hasty judgements hazardous in response to sexual assault
Ben Reedijk, SSMU Arts Representative

Coming soon… An online exclusive
Joey Shea, SSMU VP University Affairs

Have your say… CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION

Post your thoughts in the comments section, or send an email to opinion (at) mcgilltribune (dot) com.
a, Features

Revitalizing Indigenous languages

by Jenny Shen on

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Is learning a new language at a young age really the most beneficial? On a scientific level, perhaps. After all, research studies have shown that doing so can enhance a child’s cognitive development, and that there is a critical period for language acquisition at younger ages. But for Indigenous language learners, the focus is not just for children, but for the community at large.

Quebec is home to 11 distinct nations of Indigenous peoples, which include the 10 First Nations as well as the Inuit. Together, they account for approximately 71,000 individuals, constituting nine per cent of the total Indigenous population in Canada. Forty-seven per cent of the Indigenous population in Quebec identified their native language as their respective mother tongue.

However, such statistics by nature are no more than numbers, and they fail to reflect stories of the thousands of people in Quebec facing the challenges of learning their Indigenous language. These stories, after all, do not belong to numbers. They belong to people.

Chelsea Vowel is of Métis descent from the Plains Cree-speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta who recently moved to Montreal.  Although Vowel’s first language was not Cree, she recalls  hearing a small handful of Cree words every once in a while within the community she grew up in.

“It wasn’t until my Law degree at [the] University of Alberta when I started taking a Cree class [that…] I realized that the broken English [I heard as a child] was Cree syntax in English,” Vowel said. “A lot of the things that people were saying and the way they were saying it was because they were translating directly [from Cree]. For me, it proved that […] it was about people speaking English as Cree people. And that was a really big revelation for me and for my confidence about it—for the way that I felt about the language.”

After learning Cree, Vowel now commits herself to Indigenous language education in Montreal.

“I always knew that I needed to teach it to other people,” Vowel said. “My kids first, but other people as well. Right now, I do a lot of writing, a lot of educating, but I spend a fair amount of time gathering Cree resources.”

However, Vowel has recognized some of the difficulties that arise with this task.

“That’s a little difficult here because Plains Cree is not the Cree that’s spoken in Quebec. So I felt sort of intrusive in that way. The Indigenous languages that are being taught in Montreal should represent the Nations that are here in Quebec.”

This divide is one of many challenges people like Vowel face in revitalizing Indigenous languages. With 11 nations of Indigenous people and many dialects from each First Nations language, finding the resources to be able to effectively teach all these languages is no easy feat.

“People […] want to teach Cree, [but] which Cree?” Vowel said. “There’s this […] push to standardize [….] When you have six different dialects, people tend to pick the biggest one, the one that’s represented by the most; [but] we don’t want to get rid of [that] diversity.”

Photo courtesy of Leonor Daigneault.
Photo courtesy of Leonor Daigneault.

Allan Vicaire, the Indigenous education advisor at the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office at McGill, works closely with programs such as Indigenous Awareness Week and workshops targeting students and faculty in order to educate the McGill community about Indigenous people in Canada. Vicaire explained that while the school will hopefully be offering an Indigenous Studies minor in the near future, there are still challenges with incorporating a comprehensive language component.

“[There could be a] resource program [at McGill] in Mohawk, or maybe Inuit or Cree,” Vicaire said. “But most of the times, [groups will] only offer programs in the surrounding communities. Not all languages will be taught at McGill because there are so many.”

Recently, the First Peoples’ House (FPH) at McGill has started to offer a Mi’gmaq language class in an attempt to provide more learning opportunities within the McGill community. Janine Metallic, a Mi’gmaq from Listuguj and PhD candidate in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) and Mi’gmaq language consultant in McGill’s Department of Linguistics, was approached by Vicaire and Paige Isaac, FPH coordinator, to teach the class.

“For the first time ever, there is an opportunity on campus for language learners to get together and learn Mi’gmaq,” Metallic said. “Many of the language learners are Mi’gmaq staff members and students who work and study in various parts of the McGill community. My hope is that having a Mi’gmaq class on campus will provide something that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Montreal—a common space to hear and speak the Mi’gmaq language. The larger goal is to provide a place where we can work toward Mi’gmaq language revitalization, especially among the youth.”

But learning a language—in any dialect—comes with a slew of challenges.

Leith Mahkewa experienced these obstacles firsthand after deciding with her husband that they would raise their children to be first-language speakers in the Kanien’keha (Mohawk) language, despite the fact that both Mahkewa and her husband had learned English first, and Mohawk second. Mahkewa now works as the Mohawk culture and language facilitator at Step By Step Child and Family Centre, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Kanien’keha:ka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa Language and Cultural Centre. In her work, she strives to revitalize Indigenous languages in the Mohawk Nation Territory, just southwest of Montreal. Mahkewa explained that second language learners—those whose first language is English or French rather than their respective Indigenous language—often feel apprehensive toward learning a new language.

“I think everyone wants to [learn], but for whatever their circumstance is, there doesn’t seem to be a commitment,” Mahkewa said. “If it was equivalent to going to university, if it was appreciated as much […] then maybe people would be more apt to do those language-learning courses. The community as a whole has to be dedicated to that. The learning of the language can’t be forced, but people need to know how important it is for [not only] themselves but also for the community.”

Mahkewa further noted that learning a new language, like any endeavour to learn a new skill, will always lead to a hint of self-doubt.

“People are afraid to make mistakes,” Mahkewa said. “They don’t want to feel judged. People feel safe [wherever it is that] they’re learning, but a lot of times it takes more confidence to go out and speak in public. But if you don’t use it, you lose it; so you have to engage with people outside of your comfort zone and speak the language.”

Another pressing challenge that these language learners face is funding.

Anna Daigneault, the Latin America project coordinator and development officer at Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (an organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered languages) highlighted the amount of effort and funding that have to go into programs to teach these languages.

“Language revitalization and documentation require the same components as any big undertaking,” Daigneault said. “It’s going to take time, coordination, scheduling, money, organization, and communication.”

Mahkewa works at Step By Step, where Indigenous language learning is emphasized. (Courtesy of Step by Step)

Though these hurdles still exist, Vowel explained that the rise of the Internet has been helpful in creating resources and programs for learning Indigenous languages.

“I think with some of the tools we have now [online], I’ve seen resources becoming more plentiful and representing different dialects, whereas before […] it’d be expensive to put out a small line of books and do that for six different dialects,” Vowel said.

But solely learning online is not optimal. This has led to the development of “language nests”—programs where adults and children within a community come together to learn in a total immersion experience. The focus of these language nests is to provide a place for learners to interact in the language in order to enhance their learning process.

“You can’t learn in an isolated environment,” Vowel said. “Isolation is the number one language killer.”

Regardless of the volume of difficulties that might arise, many like Vowel and Mahkewa are still taking the initiative to revitalize Indigenous languages in whatever capacity they can manage. For these individuals, the importance of maintaining the language will remain at the forefront of their priorities.

In Daigneault’s experiences working with Living Tongues, she had observed that preserving a sense of self-identity will often supersede any difficulties an individual might face when learning a new language.

“It’s very important on the cultural and identity level for the individual,” Daigneault said. “If the [learner] has a very strong connection with their heritage, then no matter what the potential obstacles are, [that] person will overcome the obstacles to learn their language. And [this] goes beyond the price that it may cost. For a lot of people, learning their language is very important on a spiritual level; it is related to their belief systems and their connection to their own ancestors.”

Amidst all these rising programs and initiatives to revive Indigenous languages both in Quebec and in Canada, there is a constant awareness amongst Indigenous people with regards to the undeniable importance of maintaining these languages.

“When we lose our language, we lose our laws,” Vowel said. “And we lose our ability to access our socio-political order. Because the very way that our languages are structured tells us about how we relate to the world. When we use English to translate our concept, we lose something, and we also import something that doesn’t belong there. When we translate, we are doing a disservice to those concepts.”

Moe Clark, whose background is Métis, and who began learning Cree this past summer, kept those concepts in mind when she worked with Daigneault to assemble an Indigenous language panel this month, featuring many who are involved with language revitalization.

“Preserving Indigenous languages means keeping the entire cosmology, ceremony and culture of a people alive,” Clark said. “In a language exists an entire history of information, of stories—a collective ‘narrative memory,’ as Neil McLeod puts it. Each language informs us of our past, present, and future.”

“We need to go back to our languages,” Vowel said. “The language is what holds our culture together like glue. There is no separation in my mind. The language is the culture; it’s how we express ourselves. When you take the language away, you take away the culture.”

a, Student Life

A new chapter for the Greeks

by Marlee Vinegar on

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Although they largely go unnoticed by McGill students today, McGill’s Greek-letter societies are among some of the oldest student groups on campus.

The first fraternity at McGill, Zeta Psi, was established over a century ago in 1883. Chapter histories and mandates state that the societies were founded on ideals of friendship, philanthropy, scholarship, and leadership.

Decades ago, however, McGill’s fraternities and sororities were perceived as elitist groups where foolhardy behaviour flourished. From as early as the first half of the 20th century, illustrations in Old McGill yearbooks indicate negative perceptions of Greek life, with images denoting the societies’ secretive natures, traditions like paddling and excessive alcohol consumption.

To better understand McGill’s Greek life today, the Tribune looks back to the 1980s, when a series of contentious events changed the way sororities and fraternities exist at McGill.

The eighties

The ’80s were a period when sororities and fraternities flourished at McGill. For cross-country and track and field head coach Dennis Barrett, who was a graduate student at McGill in the ’80s, their popularity was tied to a student body that was generally more engaged in a much more active university sports culture.

At the time, Barrett worked at Gerts (then known as Gertrude’s), which was located where La Prep and the student lounge are in the SSMU Building today.

“Gerts was jam-packed every weekend from Thursday, it was just crazy,” Barrett said. “[Afterwards], staff would head out to a frat party [….] You can bet almost every weekend there would be a frat party.”

According to Barrett, each McGill sports team associated themselves with a fraternity house. These buildings were owned by McGill and scattered throughout the Milton-Parc Community.

Sororities and fraternities also encouraged philanthropy and extracurricular involvement on campus, such as highly publicized blood drives. In this manner, Greek societies and McGill created a stronger feeling of community within a big city like Montreal.

“There’s a line by Gordon Lightfoot that says: “The city that you live in may be quite large, but a circle is small,” and that was the circle at McGill,” Barrett said.

1910 Image from the Old McGill Yearbook depicting fraternities. (Old McGill)

The decline

By the end of the ’80s, the parties escalated. McGill fraternities acquired a negative reputation and were losing support from the university community.

“You get an inch; some people take a foot, and some people take a mile,” Barrett said. “It just got too crazy after a while.”

In 1987, the Tribune reported tense relationships between the Montreal police (SPVM) and fraternities due to unruly parties and the sale of alcohol without a liquor licence.

Barrett recalls one particular incident where one of the last fraternities threw a beach party in their McGill-owned house with sand lining the floor. When the tenants forgot to clean up the sand after the party, the floors were destroyed.

“I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Barrett. “There were some incidents that happened in a couple frats, [and] McGill started to really clamp down.”

On Feb. 2, 1988 the Tribune reported that, with the housing leases of Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, Delta Upsilon, and Phi Delta Theta ending in 1988 and 1989, the university’s Board of Governors decided to end McGill’s role as landlord for the fraternities.

“The need for more residence space (to attract the best students); the poor return on McGill’s investments (only two per cent) and fraternity problems (liquor law infractions, bad house conditions) [are] reasons for the decision to evict the fraternities,” the article states.

Perhaps most significant among the incidences was the sexual assault of a student by fraternity members at a frat party in 1988. The event spurred sexual assault awareness campaigns on campus and led to the creation of the student-run McGill Sexual Assault Center, the predecessor to the Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Student’s Society (SACOMSS).

The incident provoked major criticism of not only fraternities, but also the prevailing culture at large, although the woman who was assaulted said she did not blame the fraternity but rather the individuals.

“[It was] not [the fault of] the fraternity, […] not the building, not the institution,” she was quoted as saying in the Tribune. “I can’t blame an entire house for something that occurred with three individuals and a handful who watched.”

Additionally, changes to SSMU’s equity policy led SSMU to cut ties with the Greek societies in 1989 by revoking the Inter Fraternity Council’s SSMU club status due to their gendered and exclusionary nature.

Today

1930 Image from the Old McGill Yearbook depicting fraternities. (Old McGill)
1930 Image from the Old McGill Yearbook depicting fraternities. (Old McGill)

Since the ’80s, Greek life at McGill has dwindled, with societies remaining unaffiliated to McGill until the Inter Greek Letter Council (IGLC) became a SSMU club in 1999. Currently,there are four sororities and eight fraternities in the council.

According to Brendan Edge, IGLC executive of fraternities, Greek societies today struggle to have students understand them as groups that do more than just party.

“That stereotype still persists—thanks, Animal House— and that’s something that we’re working really hard to counteract,” Edge said.

Unlike in the United States where the legal drinking age is 21 and campus social life is dependent on fraternities, sororities, and school athletics, Montreal has more than enough to keep students busy.

“When I joined two years ago, I didn’t join to get with girls or party hard,” Sigma Chi President Christopher Peake said. “I joined specifically for networking purposes. I knew it was an international fraternity with over 300,000 initiates who could help me in the future.”

Another important part of Greek life is philanthropy. Peake’s fraternity recently held a gala to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The fraternity invited New Democratic Party political figures to the event, which honoured deceased Sigma Chi member Jack Layton.

“It’s nice for the McGill campus to be brought back into a smaller community through Greek Life and be able to get together and give back as one entity,” Ali Bethlenfalvy, IGLC president, said.

Peake said that misconceptions prevail with respect to initiation rituals. Fraternities and sororities at McGill have been actively taking a stance against hazing for more than three decades, including a “no-hazing” policy that dates back to the 1977 National Panhellenic Conference.

“Because [initiation] is shrouded in secrecy, people think it’s something really bad,” Peake said. “The whole process was really inspirational and it focuses you to be introspective and reflect upon yourself and what kind of man you want to be.”

While Peake said he thinks issues such as sexual abuse and excessive drinking are endemic to society and not just Greek life, he sees the societies as environments in which these issues can be addressed.

“When I joined, there were huge parties and the cops would come and shut [them] down because of noise complaints—our house is right next to Greenbriar—but this semester we’re running a dry house,” he said. “We’re promoting responsibility towards drugs and alcohol; there’s a zero-tolerance policy.”

While this policy is part of a probationary measure dictated by the Grand Chapter, the international governing body of Sigma Chi, Peake also emphasized his fraternity’s strong stance on promoting respect for women and building leadership qualities.

Edge said he views the evolution of Greek letter organizations as necessary in a society that is changing quickly. Edge’s own fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi, is designed for gay, bisexual, transgendered, and progressive men.

“We are [a] very special form of organization,” Edge said. “Most of the fraternities in Canada and the United States are open to gay and bisexual men and transgendered as well. But they weren’t originally and that was why we were created.”

In addition, Cyrena Gerardi, IGLC executive of external affairs and Kappa Kappa Gamma member, noted the sororities’ tradition of furthering female empowerment.

“For sororities, we like to promote a lot of women in leadership opportunities and philanthropy that has to do with women empowerment,” she said.

These days, McGill’s Greek letter societies are on the rise, particularly for the sororities, who have doubled their recruitment from last year and have their highest retention rate for members.

“The more consistency we have with large sorority recruitment, the more possibility there is of us adding on a fifth sorority,” Bethlenfalvy said. “[The Greek-letter community] is ever-growing and it’s ever changing, so it’s exciting.”

a, Science & Technology

MCAT 101

by Kieran Steer on

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What is the MCAT?

The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) is the main entrance exam for medical schools in Canada, the U.S and other countries, administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). It is computer-based and currently composed of three sections: Physical Sciences, Verbal Reasoning, and Biological Sciences. The Writing Section was removed in the winter of 2012.

Each section is bell-curved from 1 (low) to 15 (high) for a composite score range between 3 and 45. A 30 is generally considered competitive for medical school, a 35 being around the 95th percentile, and 40+ being between 98th and 99.9th percentile.

Though the MCAT tests facts and knowledge, it is largely passage-based and focuses on analyzing random experiments and research articles. Test takers are then required to answer questions using reasoning and basic chemistry, physics, and biology principles.

 

When should I write the MCAT?

There is not one specific time to write the MCAT. Test takers range from first year undergraduate students to those in their last year of graduate school. That said, here are some courses that are recommended to prepare for each section before writing the MCAT:

Physical Sciences: Introductory physics and chemistry (PHYS 101, 102; CHEM 110, 120).

Verbal Reasoning: no prior knowledge needed. This section is entirely skill-based. (Note that this does not make this section easier, and it is often considered the hardest to prepare for as a result).

Biological Sciences: Introductory molecular and cell biology, physiology, ecology, and organic chemistry. BIOL 111, 112; BIOL 200; PHGY 209, 210; CHEM 212, 222—including the material learned in organic chemistry labs (experimental methods like distillation, chromatography, and  H NMR). Don’t worry, only certain parts of these courses are tested.

 

How to register for the MCAT

You can register for the MCAT through the AAMC website. The MCAT is administered several times a year, but spots fill up quickly so it is ideal to register at least a few months in advance.

 

Test prep companies

AAMC: This company writes the actual MCAT and also offers practice tests and self-evaluation packages. The majority of material is taken from previously administered MCATs.

Kaplan: One of the main test-prep companies, it offers courses, books, and practice tests. Kaplan has a very comprehensive program that gives a detailed review of MCAT material. However, some people find that it focuses too much on facts, which are often not as important because the MCAT passages usually give you the details you need to attack the questions.

The Princeton Review: Another major test-prep company that offers courses, books, and practice tests. The tests are often more difficult than the real MCAT, but can be effective for diagnosing weak areas.

Examkrackers: This company provides a variety of services, but they are mostly known for their 1001 MCAT questions books and the EK 101 Verbal passages book—one of the most widely used resources for MCAT prep. Verbal passages are generally considered to be representative of the actual Verbal Reasoning section on the MCAT.

Gold Standard: Among its many services are 10 full-length practice tests, equating to hours of practice.

Other companies, like Prep101, Berkeley Review, and other online sources also provide preparatory services.

A source of information and support

Students and doctors across North America post discussions in online forums, namely the Student Doctor Network (SDN), which address almost any question you may have about the MCAT. There are some extremely useful posts about various test-prep strategies on SDN.

 

New MCAT

In spring 2015 the MCAT will be changing its sections to include:

“Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems, Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior, and Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills.” The major change is the addition of psychology and sociology.

The AAMC has posted further information about the 2015 MCAT. Students may need to write the new version depending on when they plan on applying to medical school.

 

A final personal wordof advice

Though it is tempting to try to cram vast amounts of information, remember that the MCAT is largely a skills-based test—learn to write the MCAT, not a biology exam. Unlike university finals, most marks lost are those from passage analysis and not lapses in knowledge. Therefore, be sure to practice MCAT passages as much and as early on as possible.

Many experienced MCAT test takers will agree that the MCAT is different for everybody. Each test taker has to find what works for them. A full prep course could be extremely valuable for one person, but a waste of time for another. As different approaches and test-preparation methods work for different people, try to expose yourself to as many prep companies and students who have written the test as possible to find what will help you reach your desired score.

a, Art, Arts & Entertainment

McGill’s underground art show

by Max Berger on

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Prior to last Wednesday, the only type of event I had ever attended at the Arts Lounge—located in the basement of McGill’s Leacock building—were a handful of the weekly Bar des Arts (BDA) gatherings, which always promise a boisterous crowd of tipsy students. The Fridge Door Gallery (FDG) Fall 2013 Vernissage—one of the bi-annual art exhibitions organized by the McGill student-run FDG—offered a similar if slightly less boisterous experience.

As a first-time FDG attendee with little idea of what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to find that such a large and upbeat group of students had come to check out the exhibition. The cheerful student presence was juxtaposed with eerie yet engrossing experimental musical performances interspersed throughout the vernissage.

Sleek, well-designed programs were waiting for people as they walked through the doors of the Arts Lounge, as well as a large printed board that stated and explained the Vernissage’s theme and title, Diffusion | Distortion. Its broad goal as stated in the program was to celebrate artworks that “explore the fluidity of perception.” Nearly all of the artwork was arranged hanging in front of the lounge’s long wall. Lamps were set up to illuminate the various pieces, and ample viewing space was available, with the usual couches that line the room bunched together off to the side, where the pool table is.

The event’s starting time was 6 p.m.; when I came in at 6:15, the majority of guests had already swarmed the table where refreshments were being distributed. I took advantage of that rush to get a first glance at all of the art, positioning myself right in front of it without any competition— in what proved to be a Pyrrhic victory. Since almost all the cheese and crackers were gone by the time I was ready to sample, I only ended up with some grapes, and veggies with dip. Though I wasn’t drinking, the organizers still seemed to be going strong with their generous wine and sangria supplies.

(Wendy Chen / McGill Tribune)
(Wendy Chen / McGill Tribune)

Considering that McGill has no fine art program, I was very impressed with the FDG selection. There was a diverse mixture of paintings, photography, sketches, and digitally-designed work. Staying true to the theme of the night, many of the pieces displayed distorted images, and images that diffused different artistic styles, especially the digital images. One of the standout photos by art history alumnus Elisa Penttilä, called “Evening Haze,” manipulated evening streetlights beautifully, so that they appeared as “near-perfect semi-opaque circles.”

My favourite paintings were a small grouping called “Toxic Trees,” created by U4 Education student Madeleine Williams-Orser. Her unusual natural depictions of forestry and bodies of water are the product of an effort to make her landscapes “look the way that they feel.” The results were distorted landscapes built with wispy shades of green. It was a fascinating interpretation—a complete 180 from traditional Canadian Group of Seven paintings, despite the similar subject.

FDG had arranged for undergraduate Music student Ryan Kelly, who is also pursuing mathematics and linguistics degrees, to perform at the vernissage. Shortly after the event began, the organizers diverted everyone’s attention towards Kelly, and he began to play from a set called around_me that the program clarified “is meant to be extremely uncomfortable for both the performer and the listener.” Given the way the event had unfolded, with students happily socializing and enjoying the complementary items, it was a drastic mood change, and felt like a bit of a misguided effort. However, everyone was respectful and engaged as he revealed his impressive and spooky sounds, which utilized an amplified closing and scratching of a textbook in its arrangement.

By most accounts, Diffusion | Distortion felt like an absolute success; the art was excellent and the vibe was very positive—creepy music notwithstanding. According to the vernissage’s Facebook event, 195 people were expected to show up, and by my estimate, the actual turnout seemed to be right around that—an admirable feat in this era of mass, impersonal online invitations to student events. I’m already excited for the spring vernissage, to which I’ll be promptly arriving at with a mandate of eat first, admire later.

a, Men's Varsity, Sports

Remembering the Redmen

by Remi Lu and Mayaz Alam on

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The post-game scrum had been relocated from the hot and crowded COTC lounge to the gym. Family members and media milled about, sipping lukewarm beer as they waited for the team to emerge. Inside the locker room, the Redmen players peeled off their equipment, catching their breath after the game’s tough result. While the rest of the team showered, starting quarterback Bryan Fuller moved to the centre of the room. He was seething. “Mark my words, we will not lose another game this year.”

The date was Saturday, Sept. 25, 1987, and the McGill Redmen football team had just dropped its second match against the OQIFC-(Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference) leading Bishop’s Gaiters. McGill’s record was now 1-2. The Redmen hadn’t made the playoffs in six years. But Fuller’s words would mark the turning point for the most incredible team in McGill Athletics history, as the Redmen would go on to sweep their remaining games en route to winning the 1987 Championship Vanier Cup.

—————————

“I remember, as early as spring camp before the season, what struck me [was] for my first time in all my years at McGill, I looked at our various positions […] and I couldn’t find a weak area,” Gary Kirchner recalls.

Kirchner, now a teacher at John Abbott College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, sounds reflective over the phone. It was 26 years ago that he was the defensive line coach for the championship McGill football team, but it is clear that the season still stands out in his mind.

“In previous years, we had a very good group of linebackers, or a very good running back—but what struck me was the whole package. I was looking around and thinking, ‘Wow, everybody’s good!’ It’s not like we were a bunch of all-stars, but we were solid [and] we didn’t have a weak defensive line.”

The Redmen entered the 1987 season in the wake of another disappointing year in which the team had failed to make the playoffs. In 1983, a new academic policy at McGill created speculation that the university no longer had a  chance at a top-level football team. The resulting flurry of resignations forced Head Coach Charlie Baillie into hiring a new coaching staff. Yet, in an ironic twist, that same year also saw the arrival of  freshmen Wayne McRae, Bryan Fuller, and Bruno Pietrobon—key players who would later have crucial roles in helping the 1987 team win the Cup.

After starting the season 1-2, Fuller’s prescient speech kicked off what can only be described as one of the most incredible regular season runs in Canadian University Football history. In the games to follow, the Redmen would post staggering triumphs: a comeback win after being down 14-2 at halftime against Carleton, and narrow victories against Concordia, Queen’s, and Ottawa—games which McGill won by an average of only three points.

The wins spoke to the tight-knit nature of the team, which returned 44 veterans to the 1987 roster. McRae, now a financial advisor at Wood Gundy in Montreal, remembers the unbelievable display of team chemistry that was on the field every night.

“It was our character and [the] maturity that our players had on the team, and how strong we were mentally to win those games [that] made the difference,” says McRae.

It started with the “Crazy Dogs”. The bizarrely named offensive line—christened after Fuller’s tendency to feed the players Milkbone Dog Biscuits at halftime—made the local papers and television.

“My offensive line, the Crazy Dogs, were a group of veteran boys,” says John Kesson, then the offensive line coach and now a high school teacher in Pointe Clare, Quebec. “They were absolutely nuts. They were a free-wheeling, very intense bunch of guys [….] It was just unbelievable, that group. It was an eclectic mixture of people.”

Rounding out the locker room personalities were the Power B’s (defensive backs), the Duke Backers (linebackers), and the French Connection (the defensive line).

Fuller and McRae, the starting quarterback and defensive captain respectively, were both in their fourth year at that point. Adding to their efforts were two star sophomore running backs, Mike Soles and Gerry Ifill, who carried the Redmen through the season on multiple 100-yard-plus games. However, as Kesson put it: “[For this team], the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.”

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It wasn’t until a pivotal matchup against the Queen’s Gaels in the OQIFC semifinals that the Redmen believed they had a shot. McGill and Queen’s had historically been fierce rivals, but when the games mattered the most, the Gaels always had the Redmen’s number. McGill had not beaten Queen’s in a playoff game in nearly two decades, and at the half, the Gaels seemed poised to extend the streak with a 24-7 advantage.

Kesson remembers the game fondly for the team’s halftime turnaround.

“Queen’s scored 24 straight points, which was unheard of on our defence,” recalls Kesson. “I remember going in at halftime, and all the coaches were sort of disheartened and everything, and [defensive co-ordinator Larry] Ring [was] sitting at his desk in the corner, and all he said was, ‘They aren’t going to score again.’”

The Redmen rose to the challenge—McGill managed to score 20 unanswered points in the final 30 minutes to win the game, 27-24.

Ring was just one member of the outstanding group of coaches that Baillie had on his coaching staff. Pat Sheahan, that year’s offensive co-ordinator, went on to become the head coach at Concordia, where he led the Stingers to a Vanier Cup appearance. Sheahan is now the head coach at Queen’s, where he won a Vanier Cup in 2009. Ring went on to win his own Cup in 1997 as head coach at the University of Ottawa.

Kirchner remembers the staff as a unique combination of committed individuals.

“The coaching room was one of the most pleasant I’ve been involved with,” Kirchner says. “There was no pressure; everybody was just there doing a job and enjoying it.”

Waiting for McGill in the OQIFC championship game were the Bishop’s Gaiters, the team that had given the Redmen their only losses that season. However, McGill flipped the script on the Vanier Cup favourites, beating their conference rivals with ease. The final score: 32-16.

The season of destiny continued in the Atlantic Bowl as McGill faced off against the St. Mary’s Huskies for the right to play in the Vanier Cup. The Huskies, led by their star quarterback and future Canadian Football Hall-of-Famer Chris Flynn, held a two-point lead with a minute and a half left in the game. McGill’s ruthless defence intercepted Flynn on a late fourth-quarter bomb, and Fuller brought the offence out for the chance to win the game.

“We were marching down the field, and there were three times where we were at three-and-ten, and we went for it and made it all three times,” McRae recalls. “Our field goal kicker [Chuck Petitpas] had missed this short 25-yard field goal [earlier in the game, but] with basically two seconds left on the clock, he kicks this 40-yard field goal with zero seconds to win it by a point.”

They had made it. The Redmen were in the big game that nobody thought they deserved to be in.

The 1987 season is surrounded by an aura of mystique because many across Canada believed it to be a Cinderella story come true. Joe Nemeth, then a freshman offensive lineman and now a member of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), remembers how the team coolly handled the backhanded comments that wrote off its efforts prior to the championship game. The University of British Columbia (UBC)  Thunderbirds—the reigning Vanier Cup Champions—hadn’t lost a game in two years.

“[UBC] was a 14-point favourite and [people were] like, ‘Do you guys even deserve to be on the field?’” Nemeth recalls. “We actually played to that very well [by saying], ‘Oh no, no, we’re very honoured,’ […] but inside the locker room we knew we could [win] it.”

The Thunderbirds had a high-powered passing attack with which they had racked up points all season. This time, however, they only managed one touchdown on the night—and it was achieved long after the game had been decided. McGill dominated UBC, blowing out the reigning champions 47-11.

Soles ran for 203 yards and two touchdowns; Ifill had 122 yards and three touchdowns; McRae returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown; and Ring designed a defence that simply grounded the Thunderbirds. This was no underdog. This was a team that had out-worked its opponents and would not settle for anything less than the best.

—————————

It has been 26 years since Fuller made his season-changing declaration. In that time, the McGill football team has failed to reach the national championships, and the program has fallen to the bottom of the RSEQ. No Redmen football team has come close to replicating the success of the 1987 team.

McRae, now the president of Friends of McGill Football, understands that today’s league is drastically different from the one that he played in years ago.

“Now, the french universities are dominating right across Canada, [which] makes the league very tough,” he says. “A few years back, the average [age] of the McGill Redmen was 17 years old, whereas the average age on Laval was 24. Huge difference—men and boys.”

The 1987 team was a perfect mix of veteran leadership, great coaching, talent, and wild locker room personalities. It was a group of young men that worked hard and refused to back down when faced with difficult odds.

McGill students—much as they are today—were impartial to campus athletics back then. However, the incredible 1987 championship Redmen football team transcended the normally apathetic student body and brought the community together in ways that are almost unimaginable today.

The Redmen have scheduled reunions every five years, with the team’s 30-year banquet approaching quickly. While the players and coaches from that special ‘87 Redmen team have gone on to pursue drastically different careers, a connection like the one they forged that season is not easily broken.

“Ultimately, it feels like it was yesterday,” McRae says. “The most memorable post-season reception we had [that season] was when the whole team got together in this little cement room underneath the stands to say our final goodbyes to each other. That was the most emotional and memorable one. It was fun to be recognized on stage, on camera, on radio, and all the different public events, but that evening when it was just the players and the coaches saying goodbye to each other was probably the one that was most special. [We were strong] because of the bond we had for each other.”

A previous version of this article stated that the Redmen had not made the conference championship since the 1987 win—in fact, the team has managed this twice since then. Rather, the Redmen have not made the national championship since their winning season. The Tribune regrets the error.

 

Additional reporting by Ben Carter-Whitney
Timeline created by Ben Carter-Whitney using Timeline JS

a, Recipes, Student Life

The best holiday recipes of the season

by Matthew Shepherd, Marlee Vinegar, Alessandra Hechanova on

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Apple cinnamon doughnuts

Ingredients 

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

pinch of nutmeg

2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup apple cider

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp apple butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp unsalted butter

8 cups vegetable oil

½ cups sugar

Instructions

1. Place flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl and whisk. Set bowl aside. Coat a second bowl with vegetable oil.

2. Place yeast and one teaspoon sugar in a medium bowl. In the microwave, heat  half a cup of apple cider until warm and stir into yeast and sugar mixture. Let sit for approximately five minutes, or until mixture foams.

3. Whisk remaining sugar, apple cider, egg yolks, apple butter, and vanilla into yeast mixture.

4. Add yeast mixture to the first bowl. Stir until the dough begins to form a ball.

5. Transfer the dough to a lightly-floured surface. Cut unsalted butter into pieces and distribute throughout the dough. Knead for about eight minutes until the butter is fully incorporated.

6. Form dough into a ball, and place in oiled bowl, coating dough in oil. Cover bowl with damp towel and let dough rise for about two hours.

7. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

8. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out until a quarter of an inch thick.

9. Cut out three-inch diameter circles of dough and place on baking sheet about ¼-inch apart. Repeat with any remaining scraps of dough.

10. Cover dough with a damp towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.

11. Heat eight cups of oil in a pot over medium heat. Fit a wire rack over a second baking sheet and set aside.

12. Add four pieces of dough to oil and fry for about two minutes, flipping half way in between, until golden brown. Remove doughnuts with slotted spoon, place on rack, and repeat with the remainder of the dough. Between each set, use tongs to take the cooked doughnuts and coat with sugar, then return to rack.

13. Let doughnuts cool before eating!

—Matthew Shepherd

 

Peppermint schnapps hot chocolate

Ingredients

4 oz peppermint schnapps

5 tbsp sugar

4 cups water

4 tbsp cocoa powder

4 candy canes

whipping cream

Instructions

1. Slowly add 1 tbsp sugar while beating whipping cream, slowly adding 1 tablespooon sugar until peaks form.

2. Boil water in a medium sized pot. Stir in cocoa powder and remaining sugar.

3. Add peppermint schnapps and stir.

4. Pour into individual mugs and top with whipped cream.

5. Garnish with candy cane and enjoy!

—Marlee Vinegar

 

Gingerbread popcorn

Ingredients 

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup popcorn kernels

¾ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup molasses

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cloves

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200o F.

2. Warm oil in a large pot on medium heat and drop three “test” kernels in until popped. Add the rest of the popcorn, shaking the pot constantly.

3. Once popped, remove from heat and set aside.

4. In saucepan, combine butter, sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt over medium-low heat until mixture looks syrupy.

5. Let the mixture bubble, stirring constantly so it does not stick to the pan, and add baking soda.

6. Pour over popcorn.

7. On a baking sheet lined with parchment, spread the popcorn evenly and bake for 1 hour, gently mixing it approximately every 15 minutes.

— Alessandra Hechanova

a, Arts & Entertainment

Venue histories

by Max Berger, Kia Pouliot, Max Bledstein & Will Burgess on

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From the West end to the Mile End, Montreal is home to entertainment venues that make its prolific cultural presence possible. The Tribune’s Arts & Entertainment team dug up the histories of some of the city’s notable venues for a look at how they became what they are today. 

 

The Corona Theatre

The Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre that I’ve come to know during my time at McGill—through incredible live performances by Shad, Hey Rosetta!, and The Arkells—is the product of more than a century of evolution, vastly changed from what it once was.

The Corona Theatre was built in 1912, long before Virgin founder Richard Branson was running his billion-dollar empire—or even alive. Catering to the entertainment of the era, it housed showings of silent movies accompanied by music, and light comedy shows.

Up until the 1960s, the theatre flourished as a landmark of the south-west Montreal district of Little Burgundy. Then, however, its owners ceased to maintain it properly, and it was threatened to be demolished on several occasions.

Towards the end of the 1980s, the little-used building underwent a significant revival as a location for movie filming. A greater breakthrough occurred in 1997 when a non-lucrative arts corporation bought the theatre, began a renovation process, and had it reopened by 1998. More renovations occurred between 2003-2004, and Virgin Mobile became the official sponsor in 2012.

Today, the Corona Theatre is best known as a concert venue that treads between intimacy and spectacle. It also welcomes rental groups to make use of its space. Through the years of change and uncertainty, it has retained most of its core design features: the upper balcony seating and the distinctive arch that creates a grand presence on Rue Notre Dame Ouest. It’s off the beaten track for most McGill students, but it’s well worth the metro trip to take in a show.

— Max Berger

Metropolis

(via Pierre Bourgault)
(via Pierre Bourgault)

At the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles, our famous entertainment district, you’ll find Metropolis. The building that we know and love today as one of the city’s most popular concert venues has undergone many a transformation since its construction over 100 years ago. Opened in 1884 as a skating rink, it was renovated as a theatre. With the rise of cinema in the 1920s, the venue was renovated to house a movie theater and then reverted to a playhouse in the early 1930s. From 1960-1981 it underwent a blue spell, playing host to an adult cinema. The venue closed its doors to the public from 1981 to 1987, but ended the six-year shutdown with a grand reopening as a popular discothèque.

When L’Éqiupe Spectra—a company devoted to developing and raising the profile of the Montreal cultural scene—acquired the venue in 1997, it became the place we know today. Under its current guise Metropolis has featured hundreds of entertainers from all ends of the spectrum. Showcasing huge stars and up-and-comers alike, Metropolis’ acts have ranged from Aziz Ansari to Ziggy Marley. While hosting live performances remains its lifeblood, it occasionally lends itself as a reception hall for launches, corporate parties and events of all sorts.

— Kia Pouliot

 

Resonance

Resonance melds live music and the warm atmosphere of a small coffee shop into an appealing package.

The venue was founded by McGill alumni Martin Helsop and Colin Power in October 2012, based on an idea they had started seriously planning in January of that year. Helsop and Power, a bassist and saxophonist respectively, were inspired to create the venue by their love of performing and their desire to give more musicians a platform for self-expression.

Though Resonance does not identify as a club for one particular type of music, Power and Helsop aim to book more experimental and creative acts. While they tend to showcase mostly acoustic instrumental music, they’re open to having different types of artists, particularly ones who may not yet be getting many opportunities at other venues.

“I want to remind them of their personal reason for existing,” Helsop says.

The venue employs a pay-what-you-want rule for most of their shows. Helsop sees this as a way to encourage people to come without feeling any pressure.

“I hope that people will feel that they can come here on any given night; the audience will be very friendly, and they’ll get exposed to music that they wouldn’t otherwise get exposed to, all with a very low barrier for entry,” Helsop adds.

— Max Bledstein

Cinema du Parc

Despite Cinema du Parc’s current status as a hub for independent and foreign films in Montreal, the theater didn’t always operate under its current aesthetic. Cinema du Parc was founded by the Famous Players Film Company under the name Famous Players du Parc. After going through a variety of name and personnel changes, the art house was reopened under its current name by legendary cinephile Roland Smith. Smith invented the idea of “repertory cinema” (where venues can choose each film they want to show individually, rather than having to show a whole package of them), a method which he instituted at the theatre.

Cinema du Parc distinguishes itself in Montreal through its attempt to bring the Parisian style of cinematic programming, where many different kinds of current films and retrospectives are shown to the bilingual market of Montreal.

Cinema du Parc also plays a big role in the Montreal cinematic scene through its hosting of film festivals. They offer an affordable rate for festivals to rent out their theatres and show films that otherwise would struggle to find an audience in the city.

“What matters most to us is the quality of the film,” says head of press relations Rafaël J. Dostie. “Without us, a lot of films would never get shown.

— Max Bledstein

Theatre Rialto

Theatre Rialto was built between 1923 and 1924, and originally functioned as a movie theatre. Its Neo-baroque architecture, which was designed by Montrealer Joseph-Raoul Gariépy, was inspired by Paris’ Palais Garnier, a large opera house built in the latter half of the 19th century; the large columns on Rialto’s exterior especially mimic those of its Parisian counterpart. Building on the French grandeur of the facade, Rialto’s interior was built by famous Canadian theatre director Emmanuel Briffa, and its various elegant ornaments, balustrades, cartouches, and pilasters are crafted in a Louis XVI style.

The impressive facade and illustrious interior of Rialto were the main reasons the theatre was designated as a National Historic site in 1993. The inclusion of a ballroom, a billiards room, a bowling alley, and a rooftop garden added to its grandeur, and its total of 1,370 seats made it an all-around entertainment destination in Mile End. However, the building ceased operation as a theatre in 1990, and its subsequent designation as a site of cultural and historical significance may have been part of an effort to preserve it from the fate of its old-school contemporary Theatre Seville, which was abandoned in 1985 and demolished in 2010.

In the 2000s, Rialto’s theatre seats were removed, but re-imaginings of its business purpose, including the proposals of a steakhouse and a nightclub, were short-lived. After years of sitting on the property, with no offers of purchase from either the city or private developers, owner Elias Kalogeras finally managed to sell it to businessman Carosielli Ezio, owner of daycare company Le Groupe Merveilles Inc. Now, it plays host to a wide variety of events, including tribute band performances, live author interviews, dance nights, and even speed dating.

— Will Burgess

 

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