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Know Your Athlete, Sports

Know Your Athlete: Iman Ibrahim

by Zoe Mineret on

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Montreal native Iman Ibrahim has always preferred team sports—her time as a Martlet has only bolstered her love for basketball. The point guard joined the team after being scouted while playing for Dawson College during her CEGEP studies. After considering a few different schools, Ibrahim ultimately decided that McGill would be the best fit.

Ibrahim had already been considering McGill for a few years after meeting former coach Ryan Thorne in high school. She credits Thorne for giving her a good impression of McGill and its team—an impression that ultimately helped consolidate her choice during CEGEP.

Ibrahim started playing basketball when she was six years old, after her elementary school coach was impressed by her running skills during recess and asked her to try out for the team. Since those elementary days of shooting hoops, Ibrahim has never looked back.

Throughout her basketball career, Ibrahim has found that a large part of success in basketball hinges on team chemistry and effective communication.

“I’m social and open-minded, which is important for basketball as you spend time with a group and have to communicate with people,” Ibrahim said. “This communication reflects on game performance, which is why it is important to have a bond outside of the court.”

Through her many years on the court, Ibrahim says she has forged meaningful connections and friendships that she hopes to maintain for life. 

“I still have friends from my old teams, I met some of my closest friends through basketball. I also met my boyfriend through the sport,” said Ibrahim. “It literally built my life.”

Beyond the camaraderie Ibrahim shares with her teammates, she also values her coaches, whom she credits with helping improve her performance.

“The head coach used to be the assistant coach, so she knows what she’s doing. I regularly saw her in the bleachers at Dawson College,” said Ibrahim. “Associate coach Dianna Ros used to play with McGill and won during their strong era. They are both people with experience that know what it takes to win.”

Like her coaches, Ibrahim has a solid winning mentality and has total faith in the Martlets’ ability to succeed. She explained how this year, the other teams had more experience playing together, so the Martlets had to work on strengthening their mental resilience. Once they gain the right experience and team cohesion, Ibrahim is confident that they will become unstoppable.

“People see us lose a lot, but you need to trust the process,” Ibrahim said. “I know that before [this year] they were super strong but we are young and trying to rebuild, and that is a process. We will come back even stronger.”

In addition to basketball, Ibrahim enjoys watching other McGill teams play. She has attended football, soccer, and rugby games, and follows all the team pages on Instagram. As both a viewer and athlete, Ibrahim has noticed disparities in attendance between the men’s and women’s games—an unfortunate reality that she has seen continue throughout her life.

“I think women’s basketball is really interesting and it should be followed by more people,” Ibrahim said. “I understand the NBA has more viewers than the WNBA. It would be intelligent if they had the women play before the men in an effort to bring more viewers who would tune in before the NBA game.”

Ibrahim has learned to deal with the pressure and commitment of basketball as it has been a part of her life for such a long time. Thanks to her drive and dedication, she has always managed to balance both her coursework and athletic commitments. However, if she gets overwhelmed, she knows that she has a solid support network she can reach out to.

“If I feel down, I discuss it with my friends or boyfriend,” Ibrahim said. “They also play the sport, so they are able to understand my feelings and know what to say.”

Her proudest moment as a player was when she won the National Championship in Quebec after winning Provincials with Dawson College. The best part: She didn’t expect the victory, which made it all the more incredible. 

Iman Ibrahim has the capabilities and drive to help push her team to achieve success. With her discipline, passion, and remarkable skill, the Martlets can count on the point guard to give her all to bring victory back to McGill. 

Arts & Entertainment, Comedy, Film and TV

Rest in Peace, gold-hearted Betty White

by Louis Lussier-Piette on

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Television comedian and actress Betty White passed away on Dec. 31, just three weeks before her 100th birthday. Often nicknamed the “grandmother of America,” White had the rare quality of being beloved by all, regardless of generation or political stance. The actress leaves behind a spectacular legacy as a pioneer of television, with a career that spanned over eight decades, earning her the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a woman.

White first entered the spotlight as a radio host in the 1940s, until her television breakthrough in 1952 as the host of talk show The Betty White Show. Only one year later, she became the first woman to produce a TV show with Life with Elizabeth, which earned her the honorary title of “mayor of Hollywood.” After hosting and starring in various TV shows, White gained international success in 1973 with The Mary Tyler Moore Show. White’s brilliant performance as the sassy and salacious Sue Ann rapidly transformed her into a comedy icon. Ten years later, she joined the main cast of cult classic The Golden Girls as the sweet and naive Rose Nylund. She spent the last decades of her career proving that comedy has no age limit. White made history as Saturday Night Live’s oldest host in 2010, leading the show at 88 years old. Her appearance on SNL turned her into an internet sensation, allowing a new generation to discover the genius of her wit. 

White’s impact on 1950s Hollywood makes her one of the most influential figures of contemporary entertainment. She had the bravery to dive headfirst into Hollywood’s misogynistic boy’s club as one of the first women to take on an executive role, breaking barriers for all women following her path. As a performer and host, her wit and self-awareness pushed back against the stereotypical portrayal of women as compliant housewives in the media.

Beyond her unmatched humour, what made Betty White such an iconic figure was the time and effort she dedicated to social causes and animal rights activism offscreen. She possessed a combination of empathy, warmth, and talent that is rarely found in Hollywood.

White was a vocal advocate for gay rights, even in the 1980s, when holding such an opinion could have destroyed her career. As one of the first sitcoms to tackle issues related to the queer community, The Golden Girls is often dubbed as a classic of gay television. White has always supported her queer fans, both by being vocally supportive of the community and by dedicating herself to the fight against AIDS. Years before the United States legalized same-sex marriage, White never hesitated to assert her support for the cause. She was also a long-time supporter of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Trevor Project, among other 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations. 

Another one of White’s lifelong causes was advocating for the welfare of all animals. The actress produced and hosted a talk show called The Pet Set, which showcased celebrities and their pets in the 1970s, also discussing wildlife conservation. The organization American Humane was always present on set to make sure their animal guests were treated fairly. White remained involved with the organization until her death. 

Upon hearing of her death, fans launched the #BettyWhiteChallenge to encourage people to donate money to their local shelter for Betty White’s 100th birthday, which was on Jan. 17.  

Off the Board, Opinion

A race for comfort

by Matthew Molinaro on

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A question that continues to trouble Black Lives Matter activists and organizers almost two years after the largest uprisings in recent history is how to disseminate powerful, transformative messages to those uninvolved, unaware, or uninterested in racial justice. To answer this question, critics pen a deluge of columns: Defund the police does not help real people, in-your-face activism hurts trans people, performative Instagram posts embolden “soft moralizers.” The list goes on and. In short, progress remains far from reach as radical, divisive action keeps us behind. But, in dealing with these plentiful critiques, those interested in the pursuit of liberation should be cautious about the underlying messages these counter-intuitive lines of argument send: To tailor interactions, demands, and movements to people’s comfort levels instead diminishes their credibility.

Beyond my own involvement in activist groups, in countless of my interpersonal encounters with white people, I notice a glaze when I speak about race. Perhaps I am doing something wrong––it is too early, too late, too political, too ‘heavy’ to discuss this topic. It is my fault for assuming they do not know, the person probably has good intentions, they disavow yet accept their “white guilt,”—perhaps I should be lucky that they’re listening. I know I am not alone in facing these thoughts that plague me; I am surely one of many Black individuals, among other people of colour, who feel this emotional, yet often essential, toll to educate. Carefully scripting my experience and my knowledge into palatable pieces for my interlocutor’s digestion exhausts my energy; I wonder what I will receive in return.

Without denying the shift in attitudes during racial discourse, there must be a turn toward embracing discomfort in conversation. In popular culture, activism, and in the workplace, ideas of civility, respectability, and safe spaces need to be enhanced to account for their limiting potential for engagement. Civility and respectability politics uplift the already uplifted, placing socially constructed restrictions on what one can and cannot say above the justified emotions of racialized people. It may seem rude to make another person uncomfortable, but confronting these uncomfortable realities is a risk necessary to mobilizing for justice. Articulating one’s experiences with white supremacy is something that transcends dialogue. Put simply, when the fleeting conversation ends, we go back into––if we ever left––the real, unequal world, we re-enter unjust systems and institutions where we are unsafe. When I prioritize someone’s comfort over my experience, for instance to avoid triggering oppressive white tears, it is disrespectful to the both of us. This misrepresentation misses the mark, the discussion achieves nothing, and our chances for coming to mutual respect becomes merely a guise. 

This formulation of discomfort is years in the making. In 1981, Black feminist Bernice Johnson Reagon argued that discomfort is a foundational aspect of coalition-building and solidarity. Importantly, this applies across causes; as people begin to conceive of themselves as allies to different marginalized groups, Reagon suggests that allyship hinges on a profound sense of discomfort at our world. It, in fact, would be the only logical response to recognizing and combating how structural injustice and oppression affect people’s lives not only in Canada, but around the globe. Likewise, political philosopher Iris Marion Young viewed communication across difference as a gift-giving process, and some trans activists of colour, like actress Alexandra Billings, urge cisgender people to listen silently as if underground, as a reflection of historically suppressed trans resistance. To learn later that Canada enslaved Black and Indigenous people, that Canada’s normalized anti-Asian racism goes back centuries, that Canada continues to commit cultural and colonial genocide of Indigenous peoples, is the gift of privilege. Rather than shy away, our discomfort should compel us to act not against the subject of these histories, but the system that perpetuates and erases these histories.

Though discourse alone will not save us, it is a valiant first step in intersectional fights for justice in Canada and around the world. By accepting discomfort as an integral component in conversation and activism, we take the risk of sharing our truest selves, transforming contrived comfort into communal courage to move to liberation for all. 

Science & Technology

Three-factor model predicts psychiatric illnesses with 90 per cent accuracy

by Madhura Lotlikar on

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Remember the butterflies in your stomach and the tingling sensation that gives you shivers when you are just about to pitch an exciting project idea to your professor? Or when you finally deliver your handmade gift that you spent countless hours perfecting? Last summer, Marco Leyton, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill, experienced a similar feeling. He and his research team spent months trying to find errors in their three-factor model that can predict a lifetime history of multiple mental illnesses by tapping into just three factors: Biology, behaviour, and childhood trauma.

“Not only did the three factors predict who had a psychiatric problem, but the strength of the effect was extraordinary,” Leyton wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “We then spent the next few months searching for an error but couldn’t find one. It was an exciting summer.”

Fortunately, the model was accurate and could predict the participants’ lifetime history of psychiatric illnesses with 90 per cent accuracy based on incidences of childhood trauma, temperamental traits, and midbrain dopamine regulation. 


The 52 participants, who were followed since birth, showed various psychiatric illnesses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, mood and anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders, and more. The fact that the three-factor model could predict a wide variety of psychiatric illnesses, Leyton argued, bolsters the notion that they may have common origins.   

“Comorbidity is a norm: People who meet criteria for one disorder are also likely to meet criteria for other disorders either at the same time or in succession,” said Leyton, whose research focusses on finding causes of addiction-related psychiatric illnesses. 

The striking strength of this model comes from the team’s ability to assess all three factors together for the first time. 

“Childhood trauma is the most quintessential, unanimously known risk factor for every psychiatric disorder, unfortunately,” said Maisha Iqbal, the first author of the paper and a neuroscience master’s student at McGill.”

The team assessed childhood trauma from a self-report questionnaire that included questions about emotional and physical neglect and abuse. However, due to many contributing factors, including genetic predisposition, family history, resilient brains, and flexible coping skills, some people were able to live their adult lives relatively unscathed. Thus, individual factors alone cannot accurately predict the onset of psychiatric illnesses.  

Researchers combined this with scores obtained from another questionnaire assessing participants’ externalizing traits between the ages of 11 to 16. These included their temperamental traits, aggression, and impulsivity.   

Adding positron emission tomography scan data to the model revealed that poorly regulated dopamine increased the prediction accuracy of the model even further. Dopamine is a chemical produced in the brain that influences mood, and triggers feelings of reward, pleasure and motivation. It is the same chemical that makes people feel rewarded when someone likes their post on Instagram, or makes them feel punished when they get scolded. It is also involved in pathways regulating drug addiction and movement disorders. When misregulated, it affects one’s motivation, attention, emotional and behavioral responses to situations, posing a biological risk for various attention and mood disorders.  

Administering early diagnosis and intervention protocols for psychiatric illnesses has the potential to greatly improve patient well-being at various levels. Studies like this one may help convince policymakers to encourage the use of predictive algorithms, like the three-factor model, in clinics—which are often discredited due to the inaccuracy of the ones currently available.

Further complications arise if models include neuroimaging or biological analyses, because of their logistical limitations as well as a need for higher levels of expertise to run them. But with the emergence of new technologies aiming to make portable and cost-effective neuroimaging devices, this research still holds promise. 

Note that this study establishes only a predictive, rather than a causal link between these factors and psychiatric illnesses. The team’s next steps are to replicate this effect in a larger and more diverse cohort of participants.  

 Seek access to mental health resources and assistance when needed. 

McGill, News

Federal government requires international students to be doubly vaccinated to enter

by Henry Olsen on

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The rapid rise in cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has spurred the Canadian government to implement a restriction requiring all international students entering the country to be fully vaccinated, as of Jan. 15. The Quebec College of Physicians has also called on the government to enforce stricter vaccination requirements, such as mandating three doses of an accepted vaccine in order to hold a vaccine passport. 

The Canadian government considers a person to be fully vaccinated if they have received two doses of an approved vaccine and it has been 14 days past their second dose. Booster shots—a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine—became available in Canada on Jan. 4 and became available to those aged 18 and over in Quebec on Jan. 14. However, Dr.Theresa Tam informed Canadians that the government would not change the definition of a fully vaccinated person. 

Frédérique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, told The McGill Tribune in an email that the administration will respect the Quebec government’s evolving directives regarding the vaccine passport. 

“At McGill, vaccination passports are required to access a wide range of non-essential activities on- and off-campus,” Mazerolle wrote. “[The] university intends to apply the passport to the fullest extent possible under law to provide strong incentives for members of the McGill community to get vaccinated.”

Some international students, however, do not think McGill is doing enough to guide students through the changing safety measures. Anna Tripier, U1 Math and Biology, who is returning to Montreal from the United States, feels that the administration has shown a lack of concern for the wellbeing of its students.

“Though McGill has put a lot of effort into handling vaccination by following the Quebec laws,  I’m actually disappointed with the lack of resources and effort McGill has shown toward helping its students and faculty feel safe,” Tripier told the Tribune.

To help rectify this, Tripier suggests that more testing sites should be made available, along with higher quality tests. More importantly, she believes a university-wide vaccine mandate would be an effective tool in combating COVID-19. 

“I strongly support [a] decision to mandate vaccines,” Tripier said. “I think it’s the fastest way to slow the spread of COVID and reduce the amount of people heavily impacted by it.” 

Lucille Applegate, a U1 Arts student from France, too, is in support of a campus-wide vaccine mandate. The ethics and legality of requiring vaccines has, however, been hotly debated at McGill, with professors from the faculty of Law warning the university  of the liability risk of not imposing a vaccine mandate. Applegate believes that those hesitant about getting vaccinated should “trust science,” even if “it’s new and can be scary.”

Students’ discontent with McGill’s vaccination policies also extends to the federal government’s regulations. Tripier, for instance, has mixed feelings about the Canadian government’s new travel restriction because she worries some international students may not have access to vaccines. Applegate, on the other hand, feels this new rule is a natural progression in Canada’s regulations.

“I think this guideline is the only logical sequence of what Canada’s policy has been for the last few months, especially with the vaccine passport that has been in place,” Applegate remarked. 
As of Jan. 13, the McGill COVID-19 Situation Dashboard reported that 96.3 per cent of students were “adequately vaccinated.” Statistics regarding faculty and staff were last updated on Dec. 9. At the time, McGill reported that 92.2 per cent of McGill faculty and staff were adequately vaccinated. The Quebec government considers “adequately vaccinated” people to be those who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, who caught COVID-19 in the last six months, or who caught COVID-19 more than six months ago and have received one dose of a COVID vaccine. 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Pop Dialectic: The duality of dark teen dramas

by Paulina Kasak, Signy Harnad on

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Content Warning: Mentions of drug addiction and sexual violence.

Even for university students, TV shows that centre teenage characters in and around high school have widespread appeal. Skins, which premiered in 2007, and Euphoria, which premiered in 2019, stand apart from other shows for their brutal depictions of partying, drug use, sex, and mental illness. Although only the latter is still airing, The McGill Tribune weighs how each show marks the dark teen drama genre. 

Skins: E4’s drama that transformed teen TV for good — Signy Harnad

In 2007, audiences were introduced to a group of teenagers from Bristol who got high on drugs, had promiscuous sex, and swore like sailors. The world would never be the same.

The British E4 network commissioned this television series, Skins, as their flagship show. Penned by father-and-son writing duo Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain, it was set to be a “show about teenagers, but one that actually means something.” The series zeroes in on a group of mates in Bristol who sleep with each other, attend raucous house parties, and drink to excess. More than 10 years later, it remains an authentic, wickedly funny, and indulgently offensive slice of late 2000s British teenage life.

For six seasons—and one final run we will not speak of—Skins veered from nightclub escapades to existential reflections on mortality, mental health issues, and smoking more “spliffs” than you know you ought to. It treated viewers to a gold rush of generation-defining characters, ranging from the rebellious to the quirky—I remember having a soft spot for Mike Bailey’s endearing Sid. 

And then there was the way the show was able to overhaul its image every two years by culling the entire cast across three generations of characters. This not only enabled viewers to meet a brand new group of teens every two seasons, but also served as a glaring reminder that no matter how immutable this time in our lives may seem, it does end—we grow up.

Perhaps what was most groundbreaking about Skins, though, was that the personal struggles of the characters were not simply the glossy dramas of adults transplanted onto teenagers—programming that dominated TV schedules in the early 2000s (think Gossip Girl, The O.C., and One Tree Hill). The stories were more raw, honest, and relatable.

Despite all its ups and downs and occasional missteps, Skins became symptomatic of a pre-Instagram, post-indie era, providing an intimate snapshot of teen life in all its idealistic glory. Granted, during certain over-the-top moments, such as when fan-favourite Freddie is clubbed to death by a rogue psychiatrist, Skins really takes the I don’t remember that happening at my high school cake. Nevertheless, the show was never meant to depict anything but a state of sustained mayhem, much like adolescence itself.

Euphoria: HBO’s teen noir that 2022 needs — Paulina Kasak

HBO’s Euphoria first premiered in June 2019. The series is an adaptation of an Israeli show of the same name, which first aired in 2012. This epic series continues to make a mark on teen pop culture, simultaneously mesmerizing and utterly shocking the viewer through scenes of drug abuse, sex, drinking, bullying, and more. It is this alluring taboo content that paints the perfect picture of chaotic and misguided teenhood.  

The series’ title best encapsulates the internal goals of the show, which portrays the darkest moments, thoughts, and actions of a group of high school teens as they try to find joy by any means possible. Euphoria’s teenagers go to extreme lengths in search of what they hope will make them feel alive. The second season, which premiered on Jan. 9, focusses on Rue (Zendaya), who continues to struggle with drug addiction, while other beloved characters such as Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) deal with the vicious repercussions of being constantly objectified by almost everyone around them. Though only two episodes have been released, season two seems to surpass the shock value of its predecessor in the best way possible.   

There is something daring about placing teens at the centre of darkness and violence. Although it isn’t the first show to do this, Euphoria captures dark teen drama in a way that others do not—it inspires empathy for its characters, despite each of their fatal flaws. The viewer is often caught between the desire to watch on and feelings of overwhelming discomfort in watching teens experience such hardship. As appalling as Euphoria’s characters and their actions can get, the series provides realistic commentary on the realities of contemporary American teenagers. It is the undeniable plausibility of these violent mental and physical experiences that make the series what it is.

The series also offers a captivating take on the rather melancholic lives of this group of teens, destigmatizing topics such as mental illness and abusive relationships, rather than romanticizing them as other TV predecessors have done. It is the series’ inclusivity and bravery, in all respects, that marks it as a must-watch unique to contemporary culture.     

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘The Lost Daughter’ dares to grant nuance to mothers in film

by Maya Abuali on

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Warning: spoilers ahead

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, released on Netflix on Dec. 31, contains all the familiar ingredients of a substantial horror film: Dark omens, riveting tension, and a score that has the audience constantly bracing for impact. Despite the film’s mundane activity and warm setting, its chilling subtext leaves viewers clawing into their seats with anticipation. When it comes to evoking unsettling emotions, Gyllenhaal doesn’t settle for child’s play—pun intended. In lieu of demonic jumpscares or tales of twisted abuse, the film tackles a forbidden subversion of what is perceived as innate human nature: The begrudging mother.

Said mother, Leda Caruso (the brilliant Olivia Colman) is a 48-year-old professor of Italian literature on summer vacation on a fictional Greek island. Almost as soon as she arrives, dark bodements encroach, including a bowl of rotting fruit, a piercing cicada, and an obnoxiously loud Italian-American family who interfere with the quiet ambiance of the beach. Although these phenomena may seem like normal disruptions one would expect on vacation, the shuddering tension imbued in the cinematography warns of something much more sinister.

Nina (Dakota Johnson), the enchanting and languid young mother of the American family, and her three-year-old daughter, immediately capture Leda’s attention. When Leda notices the child go briefly missing, spurring Nina into a maternal panic, she is flooded with memories. The audience then meets twenty-something Leda (now portrayed by Jessie Buckley) fraught and splashing about in search of her own daughter Bianca at that same beach. Alarm colours her voice enough to prepare the viewer for imminent tragedy—but it doesn’t come until far later in the film.

When the climactic reveal unearths itself in Leda’s dialogue with Nina, it is not at all as harrowing as the viewer expects. The film sets viewers up for a stomach-churning revelation. But instead, we learn that Leda, battered inside and in great need of respite, renounced her role as a mother and left her daughters with her husband (Jack Farthing) for three years. The plot reveal is still incredibly unnerving because of how transgressive Leda’s aversion to motherhood seems. It is often said that motherhood is a crucially enlightening stage in a woman’s self-actualization; that it gives women a key purpose. Whether in film or in life, mothers are expected to willingly forgo their identities and submit to their duties. Like the Virgin Mary, they are to be selfless child-bearers devoid of sensuality. And above all, they are to relish  in these sacrifices.

Leda’s rejection of motherhood—however temporary—is deeply unsettling. Rarely is maternal defiance explored on screen, despite the much deeper sins that television has dared to portray. Of course, there have certainly been representations of anti-mother characters, as seen in Hereditary, Carrie, Cinderella. But almost always, if a mother character shows the slightest bit of resentment or dissatisfaction toward her role, she is immediately painted as a villain. 

It is immensely refreshing to see a character like Leda, one with such rich complexity that the audience simply cannot hate her, despite her selfish actions. Though the responsibilities of young parenthood seemed to weigh on her like a crushing burden, the film depicts Leda as anything but uncaring. In one scene, for instance, Leda takes a hairpin and combs it through the young mother Nina’s hair, securing it in her hat. Nina melts under Leda’s nurturing touch, closing her eyes to savour being looked after for once. Leda also often calls her now-grown children, smiling and at peace, and inquires about their lives, suggesting that her maternal relationship with them has become easier. In her flashbacks throughout the film, younger Leda can indeed be harsh and vengeful toward her children. But she can also be radiant, inquisitive, and at times even ardent with her daughters. Colman and Buckley’s stirring performances make it all the more impossible to condemn the character.

Leda’s absence, though undeniably selfish, was a desperate move for self-preservation. Women of her stock—who feel plundered by motherhood, not bolstered by it—do not only exist in fiction. Gyllenhaal does an excellent job introducing this insanely human posture to film. One can only hope that women continue to be portrayed as truly autonomous individuals rather than one-dimensional caregivers. 

McGill, News

Omicron wave disrupts athletics programs and sports clubs at McGill

by Eric Birzneck on

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All Athletics and Recreation programming at McGill came to a halt on Jan. 6, when the university suspended athletic activities—including both recreational and varsity sports—due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. In a Jan. 11 update, the university announced that a limited amount of individual athletics programming, such as running, would return on Jan. 17. Intramurals and sports clubs are to remain suspended. 

In an email to The McGill Tribune, Zachary McRae, Athletics and Recreation’s communications officer, explained that the closure of the fitness centres and cancellation of sporting activities was in adherence to Quebec’s public health mandate. On Jan. 13, the government stipulated that the 10 p.m. curfew would be lifted on Jan. 17, but that gyms and indoor recreation facilities would remain closed.

“Athletics and Recreation [now] has permission to resume offering jogging, singles tennis, singles badminton, recreational skating and lap swimming,” McRae said. “Advanced bookings will be required to participate.”

Assistant Manager of Intramurals Ryne Bondy informed the Tribune in an email that there is no date planned for team intramurals to resume, as government restrictions continue to prohibit team sports. When the government eases these restrictions, Athletics and Recreation is considering implementing a shortened season, similar in format to Fall 2021, that would consist of only four games, rather than the typical six. Bondy explained that a plan is in place in the event that team intramurals are allowed to continue.

“We have everything ready to go and just need the green light to safely resume from public health,” Bondy wrote. “We had numerous protocols in place in the fall, increased buffer between matches, roster limits, no fans, increased sanitation. These can easily be transferred to the winter season and won’t be new for our participants.”

The suspension of activities has also affected the operations of McGill’s many sports clubs. Mei Yang, an executive of McGill’s Naginata Club, explained in an email that the suspension of in-person activities has complicated the training process for members as partner drills like sparring are not possible.

“In the past, we have run online practices and other social activities, but the scope of techniques that we can teach beginners online is drastically reduced,” Yang wrote. “Anything beyond the very basics is near impossible to properly teach without adequate space and in-person advising, so beginners tend to suffer the most during online practices.”

Akiko Nakagawa, another Naginata Club executive, agreed that the suspension has been difficult for athletics clubs because online training is not as effective in maintaining one’s physical fitness. 

“Naginata is a very technical practice, so we can all definitely feel our skills getting rusty after not practicing for a few months,” Nakagawa wrote. “It’s also pretty decent aerobic exercise, so I’m definitely more out of shape now than I was when we were practicing in person.”

Yang explained that club activities serve as an important opportunity for social interaction. In lieu of in-person activities, the club plans to organize game nights, movie screenings, and online viewings of tournament videos.

“Normally we socialize during or after our in-person practices, but since that’s no longer possible under the suspension we plan to move our socialization online through platforms like Discord,” Yang wrote. “The Naginata Club is the one of the few places where I can consistently talk to people who I consider to be friends, and taking this opportunity away deprives all club members of much-needed human contact.”

Commentary, Opinion

Blood in the stadium

by Hongkongers at McGill on

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When the Olympic flag rises in Beijing’s National Stadium this February, it will not be a moment of prestige or celebration. It will be a painful reminder that, in the eyes of the world, the horrors and abuses of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can be swept aside to make way for a flashy spectacle. To us Hongkongers fortunate enough to speak from the relative safety of Canada, the event symbolizes how the CCP has jailed or exiled an entire generation of young Hongkongers in its quest to crush dissent and manufacture a sanitized image of China for the world. McGill students must push their Members of Parliament to support a full boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. 

The human rights abuses of the Chinese state are more serious than ever before. In East Turkestan, the CCP’s ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims has resulted in at least one million people locked up in concentration camps, where many suffer torture and forced sterilization. In Tibet, forced relocation, arbitrary arrest, and torture in police detention are all common tactics to prevent Tibetans from speaking up like they did against the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And in Hong Kong, over 10,000 protesters—many of whom are teenagers—have been arrested as a government crackdown on university unions and student activism charges on. 

Despite the ever-worsening human rights situation in China, preparations are going ahead as planned for what some activists are now calling the “Genocide Games.” The world must not make the same mistake that it did in 1936: Despite a global “boycott” campaign against the Berlin “Nazi” Olympics, many countries ultimately still sent their athletes to the Games, which Hitler used to promote the Nazi regime. Consequently, an opportunity to censure his regime was lost. However, Olympic boycotts have been effective in the past: In 1976, 22 African countries boycotted the Montreal Olympics in protest of the International Olympic Commitee’s indifference toward apartheid in South Africa, and as a result, Canada lost one million dollars—equivalent to nearly five million dollars today––in hotel and ticket sales. A boycott of the Genocide Games would deny the CCP a chance to use media coverage of the Games to distract worldwide viewers from their various human rights atrocities.

Some counter that a boycott is detrimental to the well-being of the athletes—the Olympics only happen once every four years; a boycott would mean that athletes lose their chance at competing at one of the highest levels of sport. While this is true, it is important to keep in mind who pays the price for these Olympic dreams. For every young Canadian who receives a medal on the winner’s podium in Beijing, there are thousands of young Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hongkongers who remain locked behind bars. Long after the medal-winners and foreign journalists have departed, the targets of the CCP’s ire, left behind in China, pay the price. 

Politics and sports are inseparable; nowhere is this truer than in China, where political freedom is severely repressed. The recent case of Peng Shuai, a tennis star who vanished after daring to accuse a former senior Communist Party official of sexual assault, shows that even Olympians enjoy no special exemption in the eyes of the regime. In support of Peng, the Women’s Tennis Association has rightly pulled out of China entirely—the equivalent of a full boycott of the country’s actions. 

Those looking forward to the sights and spectacle of the Beijing Olympics should consider how many lives they would be okay sacrificing for the sake of a sporting event and its associated advertising revenue. Consider how many people will be silenced to appease a repressive dictatorship. While moral questions are rarely easy to answer, hopefully in this case, the human cost of business as usual with the Genocide Games is clear.

Arts & Entertainment, Internet

Where do I begin: ‘Hot Ones’

by Charlotte Hayes on

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In the Internet’s depthless sea of celebrity interviews, YouTube series Hot Ones offers a refreshingly authentic look into the lives of celebrities. The secret? Feeding guests unbearably hot chicken wings.

Hosted by Sean Evans and produced by First We Feast, the show draws audiences in with promises of, as Evans puts it, “hot questions and even hotter wings.” In each episode, Evans sits down with a famous guest to eat 10 chicken wings, each one topped with a hot sauce that gets increasingly spicier than the last. As if doing it once isn’t enough of a challenge, Evans manages to finish all 10 wings in every episode. With hot sauces ranging in spiciness from 1,800 to over 2,000,000 Scoville units, it is not uncommon for guests to react with statements similar to Joey Diaz’s during Season 3: “That is fuckin’ hot, Jack.” 

In between each wing, Evans asks guests questions about their personal life, public personas, and creative processes. With such a simple concept, it’s miraculous that the show is so popular. But after finishing its 16th season, the Hot Ones YouTube channel has garnered over 715 million views. On a platform flooded with content, the show manages to hold viewers’ attention by doing what no other show dares to do: Torture its guests. 

The show’s brilliance lies in how it puts its guests in vulnerable positions, encouraging them to open up. As the wings get progressively spicier, the questions become deeper and more personal. Although Evans’ interview style is seemingly laidback and casual, he lets the wings do the talking. As guests suffer and toil in the heat that lies on their own tongues, they tend to give honest, and often insightful answers. Sometimes they even lose bowel control.

Currently, the most-watched Hot Ones episode features Evans’ interview with Gordon Ramsay, from the eighth season. This episode gives us a private peek of a more soft-spoken Ramsay that directly conflicts with his belligerent TV persona. With a glimpse into his training as a chef, personal reflections on past contestants of his hit reality show Master Chef Jr., and the recipe for the perfect burger, Ramsay’s appearance is a perfect example of what the show does best; it allows—or at times forces—celebrities to turn off the act and really connect with the host. 

Possibly the most viral clip from the show is from “Paul Rudd Does a Historic Dab While Eating Spicy Wings.” Rudd reflects on the inauthentic nature of late-night talk shows and press junkets while offering insight on succeeding in show business for over 25 years. After finishing off the final wing, Rudd remarks to Evans, “Hey, look at us…who would have thought?” Rudd’s statement has been clipped into a six-second audio clip dubbed the ‘#paulruddchallenge’ which has been viewed just under a million times on TikTok. 

A favourite episode of mine is the fourth episode of season nine: “Aubrey Plaza Snorts Milk While Eating Spicy Wings.” Like many things Plaza is known to do, this interview can only be described as unhinged. As the video title suggests, to cope with the pain of the hot sauce, Plaza decides to pour milk up her nose. When the pain of the hot only sauce gets worse, Plaza entertains the possibility that she may be hallucinating. 

On a platform oversaturated with content, Hot Ones is a strange breath of fresh air. Evans’ interview style flawlessly rounds out the show’s unique format, cultivating original and light-hearted conversations that allow audiences to gain a new perspective on the guests. With its increasing popularity, Hot Ones has even released its own line of hot sauces so that fans of the show can play—or suffer—along at home. 

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