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McGill, News, SSMU

McGill administration conducts investigation into divisive SSMU GA

by Andras Nemeth on

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On Oct. 25, McGill University announced the launch of an investigation into whether anti-Semitism was present at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Fall General Assembly (GA). The announcement, sent via email to students and staff, was a response to allegations of religious prejudice at the GA when three of 10 members of the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) were not ratified, one of whom—Noah Lew—was Jewish.   

Former McGill professor of Education and ombudsperson Spencer Boudreau is the lead investigator looking into the allegations. Since the beginning of November, he has interviewed all of the SSMU executives and other student representatives present at the Fall GA.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, SSMU VP External Connor Spencer explained her initial concerns that the inquiry lacked authenticity and integrity.

“A conversation that we were having was [that] there’s a direct conflict of interest for one institution to be investigating another institution,” Spencer said. “It’s very weird for McGill to be investigating SSMU, especially [given] last year, when [the administration threatened] to cut our funding around this issue. There was an initial pessimism as to what the point of the investigation was, and whether or not there was going to be bias in the investigation because of how the administration handled [the Sadikov investigation] last year.”

However, as the inquiry has progressed, Spencer has found her concerns to be somewhat abated.

“Everyone was wary when McGill launched the investigation as to its intent and scope […] but I think the folks that have spoken to [Boudreau] are feeling a little more reassured,” Spencer said. “It seems like he is legitimately trying to figure out whether the claims of anti-Semitism are true.”

The Oct. 25 email also announced the creation of the Principal’s Task Force for Respect and Inclusion in Campus Life. The Task Force will operate independently of the investigation, broadly examining freedom of expression, respect, and inclusivity on campus, and make recommendations for university improvements in these realms in a final report on April 27, 2018.

Dean of Science R. Bruce Lennox and Associate Professor of Law Nandini Ramanujam, co-chairs of the Principal’s Task Force on Respect and Inclusion in Campus Life, spoke at a press conference on Nov. 21 about preparations to launch the Force’s operations in the Winter term. The Task Force, which will include both graduate and undergraduate students, will attempt to evaluate the state of respectful debate on campus by conducting campus-wide surveys of students, faculty, and campus organizations. Based on the surveys’ results, the Task Force then intends to delegate specific working groups, host a town hall meeting, and draft a list of concrete recommendations for the university.

“The overlap between respect and inclusion is respectful debate, respectful discussion, and I think the Venn diagram of those two entities is where we're going to operate,” Lennox said. "How does one apply the concepts of freedom of expression in an academic environment?”

Lennox clarified that, although the Task Force was announced alongside the investigation, this timing was coincidental, with the Task Force not exclusively concerned with anti-Semitism or particular groups or events.

“There was a coincident announcement of an investigation into [the Fall GA], and there was an announcement that a task force would be struck, whose definition was not specific at that time,” Lennox said. “But the task force did not arise from that event, it’s been an ongoing discussion [….] We will assure you that this isn’t about an incident or a crisis, it’s about who we are as an institution.”

Ramanujam also sees the Task Force as an effort to address McGill’s long-standing interests in inclusivity. According to Ramanujam, it is the product of an ongoing conversation among faculty members that dates back generations.

“I see our work not as reactive but proactive,” Ramanujam said. “We are all a part of the collective university space, the Faculty of Law has been talking a great deal for a long time about safe spaces, inclusive spaces, respectful spaces, and […] so I see this [Task Force] as something that is neither the beginning or the end of this process.”

With the goal to alleviate any concerns over inclusivity on campus, Lennox is confident that McGill suffers from no extraordinary challenges in cultivating a culture of inclusion and respect compared to other universities. She hopes that the University can take a leadership role in providing space for safe discussions.

“[University] is where our society expects people to be able to express their point of view, to debate it, and to listen, so that as a construct has incredible value,” Lennox said. “We have a tremendous leadership responsibility, and I think McGill in particular, because of who McGill is, with diversity in our student population, our staff, our faculty, [is] in a sweet spot for dealing with this challenge.”

 

News, PGSS, SSMU

PGSS shows low voter turnout in DPS existence referendum

by Caitlin Kindig on

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On Nov. 17, Elections SSMU, the body that oversees SSMU voting procedures, announced the Daily Publication Society’s (DPS) successful existence referendum results, which showed an irregularly low voter turnout from Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) members. The successful vote ensured that the DPS, which publishes both Le Délit and The McGill Daily, will continue to collect non-opt outable student fees to operate for the next five years. But according to PGSS Financial Affairs Officer Matthew Satterthwaite, 1000 graduate students’ names were missing from the list of students that Elections SSMU emailed the referendum poll to. These students were thus not informed of the upcoming to vote.

“I do not believe this mistake [of not including PGSS members] was intentional, as the DPS did not know how to properly administer a referendum,” Satterthwaite said. “Groups seeking an official PGSS referendum must go through the PGSS Council. The PGSS effectively had no idea this referendum was happening until the ballot came out.”

Previous PGSS referenda have maintained a voter turnout rate of 14 per cent or higher. However, according to the Elections SSMU email on Nov. 17 announcing the DPS referendum results, 725 out of the 7,636 graduate students voted, a turnout rate of nine per cent. Satterthwaite noted that the percentage of graduate students who voted on the DPS referendum is even lower because not all members of PGSS are eligible to vote on DPS affairs.

“If you look at the voter breakdown in the email that was sent, it says there are about 7,600 registered PGSS [members], but we’re actually closer to 8,600 members,” Satterthwaite said. “The membership of the PGSS is not exactly the membership of the DPS.”

Satterthwaite believes that PGSS voters were also unaware about the upcoming referendum because the DPS did not present at the PGSS Legislative Council. However, the society was under no obligation to present at Council, since its referendum was not under PGSS.

“[The executives] had no idea that graduate students would be voting for [the DPS existence referendum], so most other graduate students wouldn’t have known,” Satterthwaite said. “Normally, [referenda] are brought up at our Council, so that the [Post-Graduate Student Associations] PGSAs can transmit the information beforehand. The PGSS [executives] and our Council were not informed about [the referendum], and so that whole line of communication was cut.”

The low voter turnout followed Elections SSMU’s choice to restart voting after the first day on Nov. 13. During the referendum, the DPS accidentally provided Elections SSMU with an outdated list of PGSS members eligible to vote from the summer, which excluded graduate students who enrolled for the Fall 2017 semester. As a result, Elections SSMU suspended the original ballot and created a new one using an updated list of eligible PGSS voters that the DPS supplied.

SSMU Deputy Elections Officer Isaac Levy, who supervises SSMU electoral officers and administers elections and referenda, first noticed the problem with the email list.

“From what we have observed and heard from some students who contacted us, some of the PGSS members did not receive emails from our Simply Voting email blasts when the mass emails were sent out,” Levy said. “We are currently looking into the matter from our end to figure out why this may be.”

In an email to The McGill Tribune, Marc Cataford, chairperson of the DPS Board of Directors, explained that a number of accidental factors resulted in an incomplete PGSS voter list.

“The error itself is a mix of a total absence of institutional memory on referenda on our end [and] on Elections SSMU’s end, and after talking with someone from PGSS, they didn’t seem to know the specifics of how it really worked either,” Cataford wrote. “In any case, at no point was there foul play and the error was not of bad faith. The second I was notified of the error, I got in communication with PGSS, with Election SSMU, and with people at McGill to […] make sure that the election can be conducted in a fair manner that gives all of our membership a voice.”

 

Science & Technology

Les Olympes de la Parole introduced to North America

by Selin Altuntur on

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On Nov. 15, the University Women’s Club of Montreal (UWCM) launched the first ever North American rendition of “Les Olympes de la Parole,” an academic competition that aims to engage young women in both local and global issues of gender inequality.

Les Olympes de la Parole was first launched in 2001 by the Association Française des Femmes Diplômées des Universités first launched Les Olympes de la Parole in 2001, an event that is now organized in multiple countries around the world. The competition was named after Olympe de Gouges, a French playwright and activist who was executed for treason in 1793 because of her work.

At the official launch of the competition, Saôde Savary, president of the UWCM, spoke to the importance of implementing "Les Olympes de la Parole" in Montreal.

“The UWCM believes it is now time for Canadian girls to join the global conversation to empower their voices, to support policies that foster a gender equal society and start paving the way for all the girls in North America,” Savary said. “Addressing gender inequality is a complex issue that requires multiple perspectives in order to create sound solutions.”

Several teams of students from Villa Maria College, The Study, and Sacred Heart School of Montreal will be spearheading their own projects centered around a common theme: How improved access to information technologies can empower young Indigenous women in Canada. Speaker Deidre Kahwinehtha Diome, Chair of the Kanawake Combined School Committee, emphasized how much she valued the acknowledgement offered by the UWCM toward her community.

“So often, there is a feeling of alienation that […] Indigenous people are alone in their struggle,” Kahwinehtha Diome said, “[But] when [the UWCM] decided [they] were going to launch this new initiative, Les Olympes de la Parole, [… they] chose [the] topic to be about us, people like me who are working in the trenches every day. And what that felt like to me, was caring, was compassion, was recognition for me and the struggle of all of our people.”

The UWCM invited representatives from all three secondary schools to speak at the launch of the competition. Maria Di Scala, a social studies teacher at Villa Maria, emphasized that today’s students are responsible for creating innovative solutions to issues of gender equity and access to technology.

“Olympe de Gouges herself is a prime example of what Villa Maria has always striven to do, to provide our students with the tools to critically reflect upon social injustices, particularly gender [inequality], and to use their passion and unique position as simultaneously oppressed and privileged in crafting creative and effective solutions,” Di Scala said. “De Gouges […] proved that the ultimate recipe to female empowerment is the combination of education, voice and perseverance.”

Students at The Study have witnessed firsthand how improving access to modern technologies can improve the learning experiences of young women and men. The Study is partnered with a sister school in Nicaragua, where seniors participate in a community service trip and raise funds to provide the school with laptops and printers. Two students from The Study, Mia Strack Van Schyndel and Delila Farias, spoke about the barriers significant to learning experiences.

“We realized that the best way to understand the challenges that Indigenous girls are facing is to speak directly to these women,” Van Schyndel said. “We [met] with Mayor [Madeleine] Redfern, the first female mayor of Iqaluit [….] She brought to our attention that first and foremost, the largest hurdle in regards to new technology is the lack of access to a reliable, affordable Internet connection. As it stands, the only Internet connection [in Iqaluit] is available through satellite, which is slow, unreliable, and expensive [….] This leaves many remote communities in the country not only physically isolated, but socially as well.”

Farias echoed Van Schyndel’s sentiment. She highlighted how the UWCM’s initiative could benefit Indigenous students living on reservations.

“The bridge that this project will build between us and the indigenous women in certain regions of Canada could potentially open numerous doors and offer them opportunities that would not otherwise have been offered,” Farias said.

 

The UWCM will host a gala on April 6, 2018, where the three winning teams of Les Olympes de la Parole will be announced. The projects led by these teams will be put in motion by the UWCM, with the help of the schools involved.

 

academic
Arts & Entertainment, Books

Nonfiction November—The Tribune’s favourite reads

by Dylan Adamson, Christina Stackpole, Avleen Mokha, Nicholas Jasinski, Katia Innes, Sophie Brzozowski, James Collier, Maxime Scraire on

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Short of listening to a podcast, or reading a long article start-to-finish, reading nonfiction literature remains the best way of feeling like an intelligent, contemporary being. As finals season begins to rear its ugly head, and long days turn into longer nights spent in McLennan, pleasure reading can feel like a distant memory; a luxury reserved for parents, graduates, and retirees. In memoriam of this long forgotten hobby, and because we are chained to the law of alliteration, The McGill Tribune asked writers and editors to compile their favourite nonfiction tomes for our final November issue.

 Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood – Trevor Noah

Avleen K Mokha 

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, is a bittersweet but important read. Born to a white father and a black mother under the South African apartheid regime, Noah was a criminal at birth. The autobiography is not chronological—yet each chapter, based around one key event in Noah’s life, flows seamlessly. Noah’s voice is incredible; he brings profound insight into seemingly mundane anecdotes. His mischievous charisma and mature outlook on politics and society complement each other in this page-turning read.

Paris to the Moon – Adam Gopnik

Katia Innes

Adam Gopnik left his long-time job at The New Yorker in 1995 to move to Paris, bringing his wife Martha, and their infant son Luke along. Paris to the Moon collects his five years in the City of Light, and frames them as a moment of transition: Between comfort and adventure, security and risk—all teetering on the edge of the new millennium. This collection of essays paints an honest and beautiful depiction of a city from the unique perspective of an outsider.

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 – Michael Azzerad

Dylan Adamson

Michael Azzerad’s tour through the dwindling days of American indie rock concludes with the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991). Over the course of 13 narratives detailing the histories of 13 indie bands—from Beat Happening to Black Flag—Azzerad positions Nevermind not as the beginning of grunge, but as the tombstone of truly independent rock music. With vivid, descriptive intimacy, Azzerod dusts off decades-old anecdotes about basement recording studios, filthy tour vans, and backstage brawls. A perfect read for any baby boomer dad who thinks rock died when Led Zeppelin broke up, Our Band Could Be Your Life showcases a thriving DIY post-punk scene existing outside capitalist structures of music distribution.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies – Jared Diamond

Nicholas Jasinski 

In his 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning history of human development, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, UCLA geography professor Jared Diamond takes readers on a tour of the past 13,000 years of our species on Earth. Diamond uncovers and convincingly explains the underlying causes and influences that led societies on certain continents to develop at different rates than those on others. His inquiry ranges from geographical and environmental factors to the effects of religion, disease, and weapons of war on an evolving society. Diamond’s writing is thoroughly-researched and detail-rich, and he successfully presents a plethora of information without making his work feel like a textbook.

Columbine – Dave Cullen

Christina Stackpole

As one of the first reporters on the scene of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, Dave Cullen presents the most detailed study of the shooting to date. Combining interviews with students, families, and locals and detailed research into case files and evidence, Cullen focuses little on the hour of the shooting itself, and more on the lead-up and aftermath. Exploring the backgrounds of the shooters and victims, the months of grief and controversy after the event, and the critical roles of local law enforcement and the media, Cullen eschews a reductive portrait of the killers, and examines multiple perspectives on the shooting and its repercussion.

Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 – Lizzy Goodman

Sophie Brzozowski 

The turn of the millennium should have been a bleak time for rock ‘n roll in New York City, with then Mayor Rudy Giuliani cracking down on sex and drugs. Instead, during this era, the city became a backdrop for a revolution that would change the music industry forever. Over the course of a decade, author Lizzy Goodman compiled over 2,000 interviews detailing the Strokes-era New York music scene in all of its debauchery. Bartenders, fans, industry tycoons, and, of course, rockstars recount in depraved detail their favorite shows, parties, and music from this hay-day, proving once and for all that rock ‘n roll did change the world.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman – Jill Lepore

James Collier

William Marston was a Harvard psychologist who invented the lie detector in the 1920s.  He also created Wonder Woman, the first female superhero.  The bizarre and fascinating life story of Wonder Woman’s creator takes centre stage in The Secret History of Wonder Woman—a dense 400-page epic that covers enormous ground in its telling of the struggle for women's rights over the course of the 20th century. Lepore’s extensive research pays off, and her sleuthing connects a treasure trove of rough drafts and private documents to reveal one of the most intricate and intriguing backstories behind a comic book character.

Read The Tribune’s review of Angela Robinson’s 2017 film adaptation

Sick in the Head: Conversations about Life and Comedy – Judd Apatow

Maxime Scraire

In Sick in the Head, Judd Apatow, the talent behind modern-day classics like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, interviewed his favourite funny people about their upbringings and creative processes. Martin Short, Chris Rock, Seth Rogen, Spike Jonze, Stephen Colbert, Sarah Silverman, and Jim Carrey are only a few of the countless comedy icons who appear in the book. Raw, funny, and enlightening, Sick in the Head is an essential read for comedy nerds.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Cielo: Alison McAlpine’s conversation with the sky

by Leo Stillinger on

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Among the 142 films featured at the latest Montréal International Documentary Festival (Nov. 9 – 19), one of the most memorable was Cielo, the first feature film by Canadian director Alison McAlpine. Set in the Chilean Atacama Desert, Cielo is an exploration of the night sky’s hold over the people who live in the driest desert in the world.

Cielo is not a typical documentary. Slow-moving and poetic, it floats between gorgeous footage of the stars, conversations with subjects, and McAlpine’s own philosophical musings presented in voiceover narration. More of a meditation than a narrative, Cielo invites viewers to ask their own questions, without ever forcing a response.

The McGill Tribune sat down with McAlpine, who currently lives in Montreal, to discuss how the project was first conceived. McAlpine had been working on a different film project in Chile when, one night, she was caught in a power outage. The experience affected her in a way that was both emotional and intellectual.

“I was there, by chance, in this little village in the desert, and there was a blackout […] and there was no moon, of course no street lights, and I looked up, and I had never seen a sky so extraordinarily beautiful,” McAlpine said. “I was full of questions, and also astounded by the beauty.”

She quickly abandoned her old project.

“I went with this emotional urgency to explore my questions,” McAlpine said. “For me, filmmaking is an inquiry of questions, [questions] hopefully that are important and provocative and evocative and turn your head around.”  

These scientific and metaphysical questions, posed in voiceover to the sky itself, propel the film.

“It felt like [the film] needed a voiceover, but I didn’t want a traditional ‘voice-of-God’ documentary,” McAlpine said. “It did merit various drafts, and some of them were quite clever, but they never felt authentic to me. So finally I stumbled upon [the idea of] a conversation with the sky.”

This loose structure—a conversation with the sky—allowed her to imbue her intellectual and philosophical investigation with human feeling and poetry.

“I wanted to risk being emotional, and simple,” McAlpine said.

Rather than hire a professional voice actor to perform the voiceover, she recorded it herself, often improvising in the recording studio.

“The most vulnerable part is when it’s your [own] voice,” McAlpine said. “I like the expression, ‘the voice is the muscle of the soul.’ And I think it’s very hard for most of us to listen to our own voices.”

Cielo features a wide cast of subjects, whom McAlpine affectionately refers to as her “characters:” Planet hunters working in observatories, a man who takes photographs of UFOs, folk story-tellers, and a miner who writes poetry about the stars. To find these characters, she had to follow her gut.

“It’s really a process of intuition, and chance,” McAlpine said.

Using the observatories as her “constellation,” she journeyed through the desert, hitchhiking to a community of chozas—shack-like houses—where she found a married couple, who later feature in the film arguing about the nature of gravity. The husband told her to go to a mine called Inca de Oro, where she found a miner who reads his poetry in the film.

“I took a bus there, and there I found the miner poet,” McAlpine said. “[…] It was a process of one person leading you to the next, just by chance.”          

McAlpine returned to Chile four times. She only began the process of filming with a Chilean crew once she had stayed with her characters and established relationships with them.

“I had their trust, I really got to know these people,” McAlpine said. “I wanted an intimacy.”

Cielo indeed contains an intimacy, and one that is shared between many parties: The filmmaker, the characters, the viewer, and the sky. Covering one of the largest subjects imaginable, the night sky, she has created a touching film on a remarkably human scale.

“A story can be something very small,” McAlpine said. “A moment that feels to me authentic […] where we rediscover the world.”

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment

Reputation is an intimate examination of life and love

by Avery Warkentin on

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In her newest album, Reputation, Taylor Swift bids goodbye to the days of “riding shotgun with her hair undone.” Swift’s sixth studio album, is a self-aware examination of life away from the spotlight. For most of the year before Reputation’s release, Swift spent her time off of social media and had dropped out of the mainstream gossip news cycle.

The result of this self-inflicted media isolation is an album that’s darker and more introspective than anything the country-pop star has ever produced. Unfortunately, the debut single off the album, “Look What You Made Me Do,” which seemed to be an anthem of self-pity, is a weak representation of the emotional vulnerability that Reputation explores.

Reputation builds on the synthetic-pop sounds that ///1989// debuted but, thematically, the album is an ode to the darker and more intimate side of love. In “Dress,” Taylor sings, “I only bought this dress so you could take it off.” The singer swears for the first time in “I Did Something Bad:” “If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing.” These songs are filled with allusions to the mundane, every-day, messy reality that is loving someone. Rather than singing of grandiose love affairs and excruciating heartbreak,

Taylor is choosing to follow the small moments, both good and bad, that make up real-life love stories. “New Year’s Day” perfectly embodies this reflection and examines life after the clock strikes midnight. The reality, of course, is that relationships are more about “cleaning up bottles” than extravagant parties.

Maybe the most telling line of the album, however, comes from “Call It What You Want” as Taylor sings “Nobody’s heard from me in months / I’m doing better than I ever was”. As a singer nearing her 30s, Taylor is allowing herself to grow up and prove that her identity—and reputation—are more than what we see in the tabloids.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Flying Lotus soars into third dimension with new live show

by Lucas Bird on

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Flying Lotus burst through Montreal on Nov. 9 in living and breathing color. Stephen Ellison, the DJ and MC colloquially known as FlyLo, has developed a cult following over the last ten years by refining his organic and complexly-layered sound. Critics heavily praised his fifth studio album, You’re Dead following its release in 2014. FlyLo is an experimental, electronic artist who crafts beats that in many ways defy boundary and categorization, and his performance at MTelus delivered on that reputation and then some.

As I was handed my 3D glasses on the way into the venue that night, I was unsure of what to expect. Two separate lackluster DJs opened the show, and played a mix of bass boosted dance rhythms and some experimental deep house accompanied by a live drummer. It was clear that the three-dimensional aspect of the show would be executed through a large projection screen at the back of the stage, although it wasn’t used for either opener.

When Flying Lotus came on to perform, the dynamic shifted entirely. The large podium at center stage, which had been shrouded in darkness for the openers, became lit with fluorescent pink lights. FlyLo calmly took his position behind it and took us on a journey. He looked mystic in his shawl adorned with what appeared to be religious figures. The glasses until now had made no difference to the screen, displaying only a red emblem. Now it transformed into a sea of three dimensional red waves. FlyLo opened his set with a beat which featured some ethereal synth at first, before building into an exotic, trance-like, rhythm. The show from then on was sublime.

One thing that sets FlyLo apart from other DJs is the interactive nature of his performances. Throughout the concert, he came out from behind his podium and engaged with the crowd—touching their hands and dancing in unison with fans.

Lotus’s musical catalogue is far more diverse than most producers. His sound is at one moment soft and lulling, and the next bombastic and symphonic. The music he creates has a rare power to envelope and infest your mind with feeling and rhythm, and the 3D graphics spectacularly enhanced this effect. When his beats were less organized, free form, and supple, the backgrounds were liquid and flowing, taking the form of jellyfish, water, and other viscous forms. When his sound was focused, driving, and hyper organized, he was accompanied by geometric shapes, kaleidoscopic patterns, and other rigid forms. During “Descent Into Madness,” a beautifully rendered Imperial Star Destroyer floated behind him, spraying pillars of multi-colour dust into the screen below and seemingly into the crowd.

Ellison was constantly surrounded and enveloped by the graphics, making it hard to distinguish him from the virtual reality behind him. Nothing is more characteristic of FlyLo than to make the separation between himself, and his performance, indistinguishable. He rarely stopped to break in between songs, which gave his set a very continuous and malleable feel, and allowed him to showcase his extraordinary mixing ability, flawlessly transitioning between sonically distinct beats. Flying Lotus has an uncanny talent for creating a specific atmosphere or transfer a feeling through the auditory medium, without lyrics. His live performance brings this skill to an even higher level. FlyLo ended his show quickly, thanking the crowd and poignantly surmising that, “This has only ever been about sharing in creativity and art, creating a safe space for all, and spreading the love.” As he left the stage, I believed every word; Flying Lotus in 3D is something truly special to behold.

Creative, In Competition With, Sports

In Competition With: McGill Quidditch

by April Barrett on

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When two sports editors try their hand at actual sports who reigns supreme? On the second episode of In Competition With Selwynne and Stephen face-off in the most magical of McGill sports, Quidditch. 

Featuring: Selwynne Hawkins and Stephen Gill
Directed by April Barrett
Edited by Patrick Beacham and April Barrett
Crew: Emma Avery

Laughing Matters, Opinion

What the great coffee debate boils down to: Instant is best

by Caitlyn Atkinson on

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With coffee shops lining every street corner in Montreal, residents are bound to become regulars at a spot of choice. They find a cafe to lose themselves in an essay on a Sunday afternoon and acquire a signature drink. However, the greatest coffee experience of all is a simple cup of instant coffee.

As we approach the holidays, there are a number of volatile topics of conversation that are best avoided. The only thing worse than Aunt Jean drunkenly detailing her voting history over Christmas dinner is the man who yells at you on the train because someone said “Happy Holidays,” instead of “Merry Christmas.” However, I’ve learned that in my family, the most outrageous reactions often come around dessert, when I break out my instant coffee and giant mug, sparking a polarizing discussion. It seems that once a person establishes a go-to cup of coffee, they’re stuck for life—and will never fail to defend their cup.

Coffee habits are entrenched lifestyle practices. People vary, but, for many, how one drinks coffee quickly engrains itself into one’s personality. My overworked aunt looks me dead in the eye, hands shaking as she grips a full thermos, and professes her love for French vanillas with four shots of espresso. Someone else will sip iced coffee even as they shiver in a winter jacket with the threat of a Montreal snowfall approaching, and swear they’d never drink anything else. Then there’s the person walking out of Starbucks, holding either a Frappuccino or some convoluted holiday drink that, in either scenario, they paid way too much for.

 

Despite its flaws, nothing compares to the literally and figuratively simple joys instant coffee affords.

Instant coffee is my half sweet, non-fat, extra-whip peppermint mocha. I do recognize that instant coffee is objectively bad—not since the 10th grade have I been naïve enough to believe otherwise. No matter the brand or how refined your palate is, you’ll taste the bitter, almost sour qualities of instant coffee, especially in the aftertaste. Yet, this is not the point.

Despite its flaws, nothing compares to the literally and figuratively simple joys instant coffee affords. Aside from not having to change out of your pajamas to drink it—which already gives it a serious advantage over coffee shop concoctions—it is also the cheapest cup of joe you’ll ever get. Pro tip: Buy at least six jars any time it is on sale and hoard them. They almost never go bad—or well, get any worse.

The advantages of instant coffee go above and beyond practicality. Consider, for a moment, waking up on a Saturday morning, just after midterms have ended and prior to the start of finals, knowing that for one short day, there is nothing pressing to do. Smell the overly pungent coffee granules that permeate the air, as an unmeasured—and definitely far too much—amount falls into a mug. Let the water boil while Netflix plays in the background, and you meander from one tangle of blankets in bed to another makeshift blanket cocoon at your desk. For good measure, I like to lay out some math homework that I know full well will not get done.

With cold hands, grasp that hot cup and take a sip—the first one is always too hot, so burn your mouth and wait another five minutes. There exists a 20 minute window when instant coffee is cool enough to drink, but not cold enough that it becomes literally undrinkable. Finish the cup at your leisure—but again, I stress, do not let it get cold—and then take your portable wrap of warmth, and boil the kettle again.

It is time to put an end to the pretentious coffee debate. Of course, no respectable coffee lover will ever tell you that Maxwell House Instant Dark Roast is better than the rich, full-bodied cup of joe they sipped on while traveling abroad in Barthelona. However, this self-proclaimed coffee expert will tell you that there is no better feeling in the world than bundling up, relaxing, and drinking up the slightly-too-strong scent of a hot cup of instant coffee.

 

 

Caitlyn Atkinson is a U0 Management student, and is deeply involved in the Chandler and Monica vs Ross and Rachel debate.

 

@mcgilltribop | opinion@mcgilltribune

 

 
Student Life

TEDxMcGill event gave voice to students and activists alike

by Samantha Ling on

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On Nov. 11, TEDxMcGill held its fifth annual conference at Montreal’s McCord Museum. Over 100 passionate attendees from the McGill and Montreal communities filed into the museum to watch the series of talks, all of which were centred around the theme ‘giving voice.’ The lineup featured 10 speakers and musical performers in fields ranging from artificial intelligence to LGBTQ+ activism, all speaking on how their work has inspired positive change locally or globally.

From teaching music in indigenous communities to including inter-disciplinary space exploration, the diverse lineup of speakers demonstrated how essential hearing a multitude of voices is in everyday life.

The event’s musical performers interpreted ‘giving voice’ through their voices. Moe Clark and Ahau Marino—musicians, composers, and educators—performed two pieces at the event and used a multitude of musical techniques, such as a looping pedal that layered sound effects over live vocals, to convey music’s ability to empower. After years of exploring various genres of cultural sounds together and teaching music to Indigenous high school students, Clark and Marino have developed a strong partnership.

“Giving voice comes from, for us, using our bodies as the sight for connection, for creation, and for communication,” Clark said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “And a lot of that comes from the creative capacity to build kinship. Some of that kinship comes from other performers, and artists. And some of that kinship comes from other forces.”

The diversity of fields represented at the conference reminded attendees that there are no limitations to how one can ‘give voice.’ One speaker, Olivia Nuamah, a community builder and activist, spoke about her experience serving as the executive director of Pride Toronto, one of the largest cultural events in North America. Nuamah’s work deals extensively with representing minority groups within the pride community.

“It’s too easy to look at that LGBTQ+ and think that the group is a whole bunch of the same people, when it’s not,” Nuamah told the Tribune. “It’s quite nuanced.”

She also encouraged students to get involved in LGBTQ+ activism, explaining that the first steps to doing so are to learn more about the community and to support local pride events.

“Lots of people are involved in Pride Toronto and Pride Montreal,” Nuamah said.  “We’re looking for as many allies as possible to support what we’re trying to say.”

Another speaker, Paul Albert-Lebrun, U3 engineering, encouraged students to join the space conversation in his talk about the McGill Space Systems Group (MSSG). Albert-Lebrun co-founded the group with McGill alumni Angus McLean and Harris Innes-Miller, graduates in Engineering and Arts, respectively, in the class of 2015. Albert-Lebrun’s decision to create the MSSG stemmed from his interest in interdisciplinary space research. He encouraged students of all faculties to get involved in galactic dialogue—not just those in the field of science.

“I challenge everyone in the audience to think of how their discipline can get involved in space,” Albert-Lebrun told the Tribune. “Getting to space technologically shouldn’t be the only question. The question should be how we get there as a global society.”

Regardless of their area of expertise or major of study, attendees left the event feeling invigorated by the call to make an impact and give voice to others.

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