Latest News

a, Student Life, Student of the Week

Student of the Week: Susan Wang

by Saloni Singh on

More in a:

Susan Wang, a U3 physiology major, is deeply passionate about helping others. Whether it is through pursuing a career in medicine, sharing her artistic talents, or connecting with new people, it is clear that building meaningful relationships is an integral part of her life. While completing medical school applications, Wang has found creative ways to get away from the stress of school by being actively involved in the McGill and greater Montreal community.

Wang is currently the VP External of the Sketching Club. As McGill’s only visual arts student organization, the Sketching Club holds weekly events such as art shows, regular nude drawing sessions with student models, and field trips. This week, the club will be attending the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal. Wang has also recently taken up graphic design—she designs posters, flyers, business cards, and logos for various businesses and organizations. Despite devoting so much time to it, she sees art simply as a way to de-stress and relax.

“I love art and it’s a great hobby, but in terms of work, I don’t want to pursue it,” Wang said. “I think when you put pressure on a hobby, it becomes less of a hobby, more of work.”

Interested in helping the elderly, Wang currently volunteers at Fulford House, a retirement home in Montreal. She has found a unique way to combine this with her love for drawing. During the weekly sessions, she often spends time drawing portraits of the 100-year-old woman she visits in order to connect with her better.

“It’s really meaningful because you’re able to sit down with someone and just look at them,” Wang said. “For somebody in a retirement home, they don’t get looked at very often. But to have an hour of time where you’re just staring at them and acknowledging them, it makes a huge difference.”

Furthermore, she emphasized the importance of medical issues such as palliative care. According to Wang, it is important that people are informed about how their lives should end, and what options are available to them. In the future, she hopes to work with the elderly, or possibly in oncology.

Her love for helping others also manifests in the various teaching opportunities she has undertaken. Wang works with The Homework Zone, where she teaches elementary school-level reading and math to children. She is also involved with Freshman Interest Groups, where she talks to students about careers in science and what to expect at McGill. This summer, Wang will be teaching English to young children in China, where she hopes to get in touch with her roots and improve her own language skills.

While Wang’s time at McGill is coming to an end, the bonds she has created during her time in Montreal, as well as the meaningful interactions she has built with various individuals has made the university experience extremely worthwhile for her.

“I think a school is defined by its people more than by its buildings or programs,” Wang said. “I hope that through these experiences, I’ve been able to [bring] new perspectives on different things so people can take that and go wherever they want with it.”

 

McGill Tribune: McGill Tribune: What is your favourite place at McGill?

 

Susan Wang: Second floor of the Law Library. It’s like my home away from home.

 

MT: If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, which would it be?

 

SW: I have my phases. Recently I’m really into K Pop, so I guess it would be “You and I” by Ailee.

 

MT: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would it be called?

 

SW: I think it would be “She thought she could, so she did.” This quote has always stuck with me.

 

MT: Which character do you most identify with?

 

SW: I don’t personally identify with her, but people tell me I look like Mulan.

 

MT: What is your favourite word?

 

SW: It’s not a complicated word, but I just really like “crisps.” 

a, Science & Technology

Mexico’s Dark Knight

by Chloe Nevitt on

More in a:

The Redpath Museum offered a screening of the documentary The Bat Man of Mexico this past Sunday, inviting viewers deep into the Mexican wilderness. The documentary features Mexican ecologist Rodrigo Medellin and his passion: Bats. Medellin is personally saving tequila, one bat at a time. While the link between tequila and bats is not immediately clear, the existence of one relies heavily on the existence of the other. 

“[Bats] pollinate the agaves, which is the plant from which we extract tequila,” explained Medellin. “So no bats [means] no tequila.”

When considering bats, Medellin’s specialty is the lesser long-nosed bat, a medium-sized bat found in Central and North America. His efforts in preserving the habitat and populations of the lesser long-nosed bat won him worldwide attention and recognition. In 2012, Rodrigo was awarded the Whitley Gold Award for his work. This event, Medellin explained, is what catalyzed the production of The Bat Man of Mexico.

“During the ceremony, I [had] the incredible honour of meeting David Attenborough and spending two golden hours […] talking to him,” Medellin said. “At the end of those two hours, he said, ‘I don’t have any more power in BBC, but whatever little power I have left, I’m going to invest in doing a documentary with you.’” 

Attenborough narrates Medellin’s story, and even managed to make wading through guano—bat excrement—seem delightful. But as the story progressed, the initial curiosity about this man and his bats evolved into something much deeper: Medellin’s love for the lesser long-nosed bat was incredibly contagious.  

Understanding and studying bats involves following them into their habitat; caves. Viewers are brought deep inside the caves, and thanks to cameras equipped with infrared and high-speed technologies, the experience is startlingly real. It is only when we are deep inside these caves, however, that the extent of Medellin’s passion is witnessed. Here, while surrounded by cockroaches, snakes, and obviously, bats, he is at his happiest. 

“The peacefulness in here is really overwhelming, it’s really nice,” he says in The Bat Man of Mexico, as he is surrounded by hundreds of bats flying over his head. “The only sound around you [is] the bats flying around you. I could just lie here and take a nap and it’d be a very nice nap.”

The curiosities possessed by these bats, while seemingly random, serve a very distinct purpose. Their heads, characteristic snouts, and tongues, are ideal for eating the nectar from agave flowers—the perfect key to a complex lock. After licking out the nectar, the bat flies off, completely covered in pollen. This bat will then visit another plant to feed off of, completing the process of pollination. The process is well-known and deceptively easy; in the U.S., if humans were to replace bees as pollinators, the annual cost would be $90 trillion.

While the figure is less when applied to bats, the idea is the same, and considering that over 500 species of flowers rely on bats for their pollination—including the beloved agave—preserving their existence is paramount. 

Relative to honeybees, garnering support for bats proves to be a more challenging problem. Especially in Mexico, some bats, like vampire bats, are not only considered pests—spreading diseases and damaging crops—but they are also frequently stigmatized by myths that are hundreds of years old. But this is a challenge Medellin is willing to meet.

 “All I want is for people to get the right information about bats,” explained Medellin. “If that entails [the people of Mexico] calling me the Bat Man, so be it, I am the Bat Man.” 

a, Arts & Entertainment

Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside

by Campbell McClintock on

More in a:

“I’ve never been behind myself this much,” Los Angeles-based rapper, producer, and Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt said about his second LP, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside.  However, Earl’s confidence is more self-effacing and anti-social than Kendrick Lamar’s self-love anthem “i” or Drake’s grocery list of achievements “Started from the Bottom.” Rather, Earl has found his voice in a dimly lit corner several dimensions away from the spotlight.

The album’s opening track, “Huey,” immediately one-ups the self-doubting lyrical drawl of Earl’s first LP Doris (2013).  He’s not here to waste time talking about critics who “pretend to get it”—he’s amping up to spend another day alone, preferring the melancholy of isolation to the overwhelming distractions of the outside world.  On “Mantra” and “Faucet,” Earl articulates the logic of his solitary tendencies—his fame has catalyzed countless breakups, turning friends into enemies and enemies into friends.  For Earl, the unavoidable ills of relationships only get in the way of more important, more existential matters.

Over the course of the album, Earl’s beats recede deeper into a cavernous darkness. He drenches his snares and hi-hats with the sludgy reverb of an abandoned factory, punctuating their low frequency drone with chopped-up jazz chords and detuned guitars. The album’s aesthetic is best encapsulated in the Hiro Murai-directed video for “Grief,” which borrows its pitch-dark approach from Jonathan Glazer’s arthouse alien film Under the Skin (2013).  This is Earl’s world, a collection of bodies isolated from one another by a sea of shadows, and despite its bleakness, he has the lyrical tact to navigate it confidently—but only from the comfort of his home.

a, McGill, News

Arts students vote in favour of Arts Internship Office fees

by Jenna Stanwood on

More in a:

On March 23, the Arts Undergraduate Society of McGill (AUS) announced that students had voted to create a new, non-opt-outable five-year student fee to continue funding the Arts Internship Office (AIO). Seventy-seven point one (77.1) per cent of students voted in favour of the fee, which will charge Arts students $14 per semester, and Arts & Science students $7 per semester for five years. After the five years, an endowment fund will be created through donations to continue to fund the office.

A follow-up question that proposed creating a student advisory committee to oversee the office and fundraising was also passed by 86.5 per cent. The committee will be comprised of students and AIO staff, and will have input into office operations and fundraising progress.

The AIO was previously funded through a grant from the Quebec government’s Ministry of Education. The grant was discontinued at the beginning of this year due to budget cuts.

The AIO provides a database of internships, funding for students participating in unpaid internship programs, and funding for students participating in research projects with McGill faculty. Students may apply to internships directly through the office, or seek funding for internships they have found on their own. 

“The AIO is the only office […] that directly helps students in the Faculty of Arts with employment opportunities,” AUS President Ava Liu said. “Obviously there’s [the Career Planning Services],  but that’s more for post-graduate [students] and the entire student body, while [the AIO] is just for students who are studying for a [Bachelor of Arts].” 

According to Liu, after receiving notification of the loss of funding, the Dean’s office (Faculty of Arts) began looking for alternative funding sources for the AIO. Unable to find another option, the plan for a temporary student fee was formed. The dean held meetings with the AUS council to discuss the issue, followed by an open town hall-style meeting with AUS members. Throughout the campaigns leading up to the referendum, feedback was generally positive, and students did not form a “No” committee against the question.

“Once students became aware of the impending closure of the office and learned more about the amazing internships, advice, and awards that the office provides, they were quite likely to offer their enthusiastic support for the campaign,” said Ariel Shapiro, co-chair of the “Yes” committee and a student employee of the AIO. 

According to Liu, the money raised from the student fees will go towards funding the day-to-day functions of the office, including paying the employees. All other programs run by the AIO are funded through private donations. 

Alexander Shadeed, U3 Arts, has had help from the AIO in finding internships.

“Last year and this year, the AIO helped me secure an internship with the Montreal NGO Academics Without Borders,” he said. “As well, I received an internship award that helped me perform my responsibilities at my internship to the best of my abilities [….] Fourteen dollars is a price that’s well-worth the services, internships opportunities, and financial awards you have access to through the AIO.”

According to Liu, the dean of the Arts faculty and the outgoing AUS president will meet sometime before classes end to finalize the plans for forming the student committee.

a, Science & Technology

Jeremy Hansen touches down at McGill

by Clare Lyle on

More in a:

The Frank Dawson Adams (FDA) auditorium hosted an auspicious guest on Wednesday when Jeremy Hansen walked through the doors. The Canadian astronaut talked about his profession, space travel, and how space fits into society.

He presented the audience with stunning images of Earth taken from the International Space Station (ISS) and pictures of far-away planets gathered from a variety of space shuttles. 

While sending robots to explore the solar system produces valuable scientific data, sending people into space is what actually captures the public’s interest.

The talk would not have been complete without a discussion on how to become an astronaut. Hansen’s path was conventional: He joined air cadets in school, went on to the Royal Military College to study Space Science, attended flight school, and then spent a few years flying F-18 fighter jets before applying to the Canadian Space Agency.

“I always had [it] in the back of my mind that I wanted to get to space,” Hansen said. “I was very fortunate almost six years ago when the Canadian Space Agency hired David St-Jacques and [me] to start training to fly in space.” 

The astronaut selection process is intense. Thousands of applicants are gradually pared down in a months-long process. Hansen attributed much of his success to the attitude with which he approached the application.

“I just wanted to do my best,” he explained. “Other people were sure that they were going to be an astronaut, so they put a lot of pressure on themselves […] and ultimately that ended up hurting them [because] they didn’t perform as well on the tests.”

Hansen calls himself a “rookie astronaut” because he hasn’t gone into space yet. So far, his training has been limited to Earth, an invaluable process that includes training in multiple disciplines such as geology and survival situations. 

The job, while rewarding, is incredibly demanding. When asked how he managed to balance his relationship with his family with a career as an astronaut, Hansen acknowledged that it was a challenge.

“I’m gone one week a month,” he said. “But it’s comparable to other high-energy jobs [….] I aim for quality over quantity, so even if I’m not there with my kids all the time, I’m still able to make the most of my time with them.” 

When evaluating the benefits and the drawbacks, choosing the life of an astronaut may seem futile, given the scarcity of career opportunities. However, this career may be more relevant now than ever before. 

“We’re starting to see more private corporations getting into space exploration [with] companies like SpaceX and Boeing building cheaper ways of getting people into space,” Hansen explained.

These private industries have the potential to make space more accessible. 

Hansen is less optimistic about the Mars One mission—a program designed to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2027. Beyond the technical challenges of the journey and landing, he also highlighted the psychological issues associated with abandoning Earth.

“It doesn’t surprise me that there are people who are willing to go to Mars on a one-way trip,” he said. “When you get to Mars […] it’s going to be super cool. But then when all that is done you’re going [to think]: ‘Wow, this sucks. The Earth was such an awesome place […] and I’m going to live in this tin can for the rest of my life.’ And I think that’s going to be really hard on people.”

Still, Hansen believes that humans will be able to send a mission into deep space within the next few decades, even if it isn’t for permanent settlement. It’s in these future missions that Hansen believes society has the most to learn.

“For me, this is why we explore,” Hansen said. “Often, we achieve specific objectives, but ultimately, [we know] that there is often more to discover in the things that we didn’t know to look for.”

a, Off the Board, Opinion

Off the board: Rethinking the culture of lifehacking

by Cece Zhang on

More in a:

‘Lifehacks’ is a word for “tricks, skills, or shortcuts that are meant to increase a person’s productivity or efficiency in their everyday lives,” according to KnowYourMeme. Entire websites are devoted towards this goal, and best-selling books have been written on the subject. Lifehackers advocate to ‘make everything in your life better.’

The world of lifehacks seemed to have a solution to every problem I could possibly have: from how to best plan my meals throughout the week (batch cook on the weekends) to how to do taxes more efficiently or even on how to find my purpose in life. Pages of these glorious treasures were free for me to peruse, with useful sentences helpfully highlighted by bold text, and pictures and list formats dotting the articles. It told me what apps were the best for my phone, which outfit was scientifically proven to keep me warm in the winter, and how I should meditate to preserve mental well-being. And it presented everything in a sequenced list, clearly and succinctly, much like how I imagined the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe would look.

Somewhere along the way, I became enamored with the concept of lifehacking, drunk on the promise of more productivity. Like diets or other wonder pills, it promised many miracles under shiny enticing titles one after another: “five tricks to getting more done,” “How to become a morning person,” and “How to build lasting habits.” Ironically, all these how-tos ultimately led to my downfall. I grew so obsessed with the pursuit of a perfect productive schedule that the pursuit had began to affect my productivity. I would spend hours on the very websites that promised to help me do more, wasting away my time on idealistic dreams. What was supposed to be the means to an end gradually became the destination that I was trying to reach. And the nature of lifehacks as being a continuous effort in self-improvement meant there was no end to that journey.

Somewhere along the line, I became enamored with the concept of lifehacking, drunk on the promise of more productivity.

The prevalence of “lifehacking” demonstrates the degree to which our culture values productivity. With the daily information overload we face, it’s easy to imagine you can cheat the system somehow through shortcuts and tricks. I am not attempting to undermine the usefulness of some of the tips and advice, but focusing so much energy on being efficient often creates a false sense of productivity in itself.

Lifehacks are appealing since they offer a tangible action to plan for the future. But productivity tricks can only be temporary band-aids until they are built into long-term habits. These habits can mostly only be established through nitty gritty work, a back and forth of finding what works for the individual, and tailoring activities towards that. The seven-point lists that claim to provide an ‘optimal’ way to do live life are certainly tempting to follow, but also try to circumvent the entire process of trying and failing that is so integral to all eventual successes. While the tips and tricks can help in the short term, ultimately life isn’t meant to be hacked; it’s meant to be lived.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Peer Review: Mountain of Servants

by Michael Kalman on

More in a:

Sometimes, amazing things can be the product of pure chance and timing. This is exactly the case with Daniel Lombroso’s documentary, Mountain of Servants, which documents the Syriacs, a dwindling minority in Eastern Turkey. Lombroso is a U3 Political Science major here at McGill University who grew up in Westchester County, New York. 

“In high school, I sold brownies to buy my first shitty little camera,” recounted Lombroso, as he explained how he began filming in his early teens. “I loved filmmaking. I just never knew how it would transfer into a job, so I kept doing it on the side when I came to McGill.” 

During his first semester at McGill, Lombroso decided to try and direct a more professional film than those of his high school shorts. 

“In December of my first year at New Rez, I was like, I’m going to make my first real movie, so I put out an ad on Craigslist looking for middle-aged balding men to be in it,” he remarked between laughs. 

Unfortunately, the film didn’t pan out as well as he had hoped, and that experience opened his eyes. 

“That’s when I first started understanding what makes a good movie,” Lombroso added. 

He took a short break afterwards to focus on his major, but wanted to film again when the opportunity arose.

That very opportunity presented itself while Daniel was on exchange in Istanbul, Turkey. During his stay, he became enthralled with the nationwide municipal elections occurring at the time and started a blog called Voices of Istanbul. 

“It was like Humans of New York with a picture of a person with [his or her] comments,” he explained. “I never could have predicted it, but my blog blew up and people were emailing me to be featured. I had about 60 people featured on my blog.” 

Mountain of Servants (Excerpt) from Daniel Lombroso on Vimeo.

Among those people was a man named Mehmed Aziz Yirik, who requested a time to have tea and sit down to discuss a possible creative collaboration. Yirik wanted to visit his family in eastern Turkey and suggested a documentary on the ancient civilization native to the area. 

“We knew we needed to raise $3,000 to make this [project] work,” said Lombroso. “Mehmed’s father was the barber of the town and seemed to know everyone. His father’s friends didn’t speak any English, but we pitched our idea anyways.” 

Like many aspects of this project, the interviews were not simple to arrange. 

“Everything was a slow, tedious process,” Lombroso commented. “No one communicated through email. It was first, come over and meet my family and have tea and coffee and then tell me why you’re worth my time, and we’ll see from there.” 

Post-production was not an easy task either. 

“I came out with 15 hours of footage in a language I didn’t even understand,” explained Lombroso. 

With the help of local Montreal editors and commentary by John Cavanagh from the BBC, Mountain of Servants was completed this January. It has already been accepted to four film festivals and took home the “Best of Fest” award at Student Television at McGill’s FOKUS Film Festival this past weekend. 

He describes the 14-minute documentary as a transparent gateway into the lives of Syriacs of Tur Abdin, instead of a historian’s point of view, and hopes that the film will spur outside interest in this incredible civilization. 

“I didn’t want it to be a documentary of interviews with professors,” Lombroso said. “I wanted to interview the actual people on the ground.”

If you’d like to learn more about this project, email Daniel Lombroso at [email protected].

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Deep Cuts: Dark Undertones

by Jonathan Herlin on

More in a:

Chainsaw 

Artist: Ramones

Album: Ramones

Released: February 4, 1976

This song begins with a chainsaw. Jonny Ramone’s heavily distorted, relentless guitar keeps up that chainsaw sound throughout—power chords, power chords, and more power chords—and Joey Ramone’s doo-wop, ooooh-oh-oh vocals don’t even try to disguise the fact that the song is about a gruesome chainsaw murder, which is kind of punk: “Texas Chainsaw massacre/ They took my baby away from me.” What’s even more punk, however, is the next line: “They chopped her up and I don’t care, woah-oh.” 

 

Carmelita

Artist: Linda Ronstadt

Album: Simple Dreams

Released:  September, 1977

Originally written and performed by Warren Zevon, “Carmelita” has led to numerous covers, but Linda Ronstadt’s is the prettiest. The guitar is reminiscent of mariachi and Ronstadt’s vocals are dreamy and unfocused. It makes for a stark contrast to the lyrics, which follow a desperate junkie as he appeals to his lover (Carmelita) to pull him out of the abyss of heroin withdrawal: “Carmelita, hold me tighter/ I think I’m sinking down/ and I’m all strung out on heroin/ on the outskirts of town.” 

 

Right Profile

Artist: The Clash

Album: London Calling

Released: December 14, 1979

London Calling is such a masterpiece that this track is easy to overlook. Behind the elaborate horns and reggae/ska/whatever-influenced guitar are some seriously dark lyrics. I don’t really know what they discuss, but its probably something to do with alcoholism and/or drug addiction: “Nembutal numbs it all/ but I prefer alcohol.” Ultimately though, Strummer’s vocals just degrade into “aarpghargahshhhsh.” 

 

Salad Days

Artist: Mac Demarco

Album: Salad Days

Released: April 1, 2014

The titular track of Mac Demarco’s second album is, in fact, an allusion to Shakespeare: the expression refers to youthful idealism and indiscretion. Demarco, however, the typical slacker that he is, looks back on those days not with regret but with nostalgia. Now he’s just getting old and has to do grown up stuff: “As I’m getting older/ chip up on my shoulder/ rolling through life/ roll over and die.” The guitar is so pleasant, and as a result, so artificial, that it could be from an early Beach Boys record. This dissonance, exploring lyrical authenticity against instrumental artifice, is what Demarco wants to convey. 

a, News

Burnside basement renovation turns to crowdfunding initiative

by Mayaz Alam on

More in a:

Students from the Faculties of Science and Arts & Science have launched a crowdfunding campaign to renovate the Burnside Basement. The initiative is hosted on McGill’s Seeds of Change fundraising platform, which was launched in May 2014. 

“[The project aims to] help a group of entrepreneurial students […] transform their dark and dreary Burnside Basement into a welcoming all-access space for students to study, relax, exchange ideas, and obtain essential resources,” the project website reads.

The renovations, which are slated to primarily occur during the summer months, do not have a fixed timeline for completion. According to Jeremy Goh, U2 Science and a member of the project team, both short-term and long-term changes are planned for the space [and] aim to improve student usability and sustainability of the building.

“Ideally, we’d like to replace the furniture, create a group study area with surfaces for collaborating, and improve the lighting of the space,” Goh said. “For later phases, we want to explore how feasible it would be to section off the space to reduce noise pollution.”

Eric Mitchell, U2 Science and Vice-President External of the Neuroscience Undergraduates of McGill (NUM), a group that has an office in the Burnside basement, said that the project is a positive step towards improving the space, which is currently the primary student space for students in the Faculties of Science and Arts & Science. 

“I don’t think the basement adequately meets the needs of science students currently,” Mitchell said. “In its role as a main hub for us, it needs to be improved. Currently the space lacks proper studying infrastructure–desks, chairs, and couches are either in poor condition or insufficient in quantity.”

This is not the only student-initiated effort to improve spaces primarily used by students. Earlier this year, the Management Undergraduate Society (MUS) passed a referendum question that instituted a $40 per semester per student non-opt-outable space improvement fee for the Bronfman Building. The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) also introduced the Student Space Improvement Fee (SCSS) earlier this year following a referendum. Funds from the SCSS fee will also help with renovations of Burnside Hall. 

According to Goh, funding the renovations through Seeds of Change was suggested by the Faculty of Science administration as a way to draw alumni support for renovations.

“The crowdfunding project allows the funds to be raised to be used almost immediately after the campaign ends, [letting] us start the renovations during the summer,” Goh explained. “Additionally, only a portion of the [SCSS] fee is eligible to go towards initiatives like [the] Burnside basement and the budget must be passed through [the SUS] General Council. This means that the funds from the [SCSS] fee would not be put towards Burnside until October of Fall 2015.”

Goh also expressed that the $6,000 target for the project was set based on previous campaigns and strategies, and that a budget for the predicted renovations is yet to be determined.

“The budget for the renovations will happen once we receive quotes from McGill Facilities and the designer,” Goh said. “Since the project must be completed through […] McGill, prices are higher than hiring an [external] contractor. Everything we want to do in terms of construction has to go through McGill, but purchases for furniture can be through external sources. However, if we get a whiteboard, for example, it will need to be installed by a union worker from McGill, for which we will be charged.”

Rafael Páez Estrada, a recent graduate from the Faculty of Science from the class of 2014, sees the renovations as necessary to help current students create a better sense of identity. 

“I think that the initiative is extremely important from a practical point of view, but also from an identity point of view,” he said. “It’s important to have our space be something we are proud of, and a place where we can feel comfortable.”

Páez Estrada also underscored the importance of parental and alumni support. 

“Donating and encouraging parents to do so is crucial because it will also add a sense of belonging to the place,” Estrada said. “I intend to donate as soon as the summer starts and I start working and making money.”

Mitchell stated that he was appreciative of students’ efforts given the lack of tangible support from the administration to improve existing infrastructure.

“In an ideal world, this project wouldn’t have to happen,” Mitchell said. “I know that SUS has taken part in negotiations with McGill [in the past] and there hasn’t been much progress with regards to the university’s support for science student spaces.”  

a, Student Life, The Viewpoint

The Viewpoint: More than just a cup of coffee

by Harrison Glotman on

More in a:

Don’t let the Van Houtte corporate name fool you. With the numerous Van Houtte cafés located around Montreal, it may be easy to mistake the small franchise tucked below La Cité as just part of the larger corporation. However, like a piece of art, this café radiates with the personality of its owners. When I first stopped by, I was intrigued by the owners’ positivity and general disposition. In interacting with customers and with each other, they seemed to possess a certain glow. Through my regular morning visits, I quickly learned that the source of that glow was their deep passion and pride.    

The story behind the café is a fascinating one. All three owners abandoned their professional careers and stable salaries to run it. It all began when Sacha Hajjar, who needed to pay for his degree at Concordia and picked up a few shifts at the Van Houtte café near campus. His passion for coffee began at the age of 16, but his father told him that he needed an academic education. Sacha started with two engineering jobs after graduation before realizing that he was not well suited for the corporate life. He bought the café in 1998 at the age of 23, and has not looked back since. Rosie Hajjar and Carla Hajjar, an accountant and lawyer, did the same shortly after.

At first, it was difficult for me to grasp why they gave up such stable careers for the café. However, their happy demeanour, constant enjoyment, and sincere interactions with customers helped me realize that my original idea of success was incomplete. During my years in school, success was defined based simply on a letter grade. After graduation, the definition of success is hazy and unclear. I found that without conventional metrics to indicate if I was doing a good job, setting goals around my own definition of success became increasingly important. 

For Rosie, Sacha, and Carla, success is about being proud and deeply invested in what they do. Like characters in a novel, they complement each other perfectly. Rosie is a nurturer at heart, always offering a big smile and kind words, while her husband Sacha is outspoken and frank. The nurturing words from Rosie mixed with the witty, free-spirited anecdotes from Sacha offer the perfect morning refreshment. Together, they are constantly seeking to improve the experience, because they recognize that the simple things in life—like a warm greeting and muffin—are enough to make a difference in each day.  

Through my encounters with the trio, I realized that it is difficult and frightening to follow a passion. When Sacha bought the café, it was running a deficit and many doubted his ability to turn it around.  However, my visits made me realize that things tend to work out if passion is incorporated into an action. Although hard work separates the best from the average, passion precludes hard work. While the trio at the café gave up so much and appear to work so hard with long hours at the small café, they are hardly working at all because it is something they love.  

Cafés and small businesses like this one—where the passion and personality of the owners are omnipresent—remind me how important it is to do what you love. While students, including myself, are raised in an environment where prestigious grades and honour rolls are motivation enough to do well, I learned from my interactions at that small Van Houtte café that after graduation, passion is a much more powerful force than prestige in becoming the best at what you do.   

1 … 837 838 839 840 841 … 1,363

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue