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a, Chill Thrills, Student Life

Chill Thrills: How to entertain visiting parents in the dead of winter

by Morgan Alexander on

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It’s not often parents come to visit, with temperatures constantly dropping, and plane ticket prices always on the rise. Without summer festivals, it may seem like there is nothing to do. So if parents do eventually decide to come visit in the middle of the school year, make sure to give them an experience worth remembering.

  • Mile end neighbourhood

    Students who live in the Mile End neighbourhood area can take their parents to a hip part of town without going far. The first suggested stop of the day is brunch. The Mile End is filled with delicious brunch places, from rival bagel companies to vegan coffee shops. However, for the brunch place with the most flavour and the fairest price, check out Le Sparrow (5322 Boul. Saint-Laurent). A delicious meal of a full Turkish Breakfast with a pot of tea (or a fresh mimosa) is the perfect start to a lazy afternoon. Follow that by walking down Saint-Laurent and across Mont Royal, checking out all the local shops. Despite the bitter cold, there are enough stores to step into to stave off any frozen toes.

  • Golden square mile

    Take a trip to the west side of campus and spend an afternoon in the Golden Square Mile, which essentially includes the entire McGill campus and the area between McGill and Concordia. Start the day with a tour around campus; parents can see the building that you passed that one really hard exam in, maybe point out your favourite library to spend all-nighters in, then head down to the Ritz Carlton (1228 Sherbrooke Ouest) for high tea. Although that may be too pricey for a regular drop-in, your parents deserve to be pampered, and who can turn down four different types of finger sandwiches, assorted scones, and a tray of pastries? After tea, head just a few blocks down to the Montreal Musée des Beaux Arts (1380 Sherbrooke Ouest). There are always great exhibits, and on a snowy day, there’s nothing nicer than walking around a warm building as the storm rages on outside.

  • Old Montreal

    If your parents are only coming for a day, Old Montreal is the place to go. A heavy layer of beauty, history, and restaurants makes this the go-to place for anyone visiting. There is enough to do at Old Montreal that you can go more than once and still be entertained. While Old Montreal is littered with pricey, high-end restaurants, sometimes sticking to traditional French-Canadian cuisine is just what you need. Marche de la Villette (324 Saint-Paul Ouest) is a full boucherie charcuterie, and its French onion soup is incredible. Afterwards, spend the afternoon walking around the neighbourhood and make sure to schedule a stop at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. It’s always covered in lights when there’s snow on the ground, and serves as a great background for a family photo.

  • Chinatown + Quartier Latin

    For a more culturally eclectic experience, Chinatown and the Quartier Latin lend themselves to an afternoon full of beautiful architecture and a taste of Montreal’s diverse population. Similar to that of the Mile End, the focus of both of these neighborhoods is the various boutiques littered throughout the streets. If shopping really isn’t your parents’ thing, take them to a show at Le Maison Théâtre (245 Ontario), or if no one in your family speaks French, go talk a walk in the Grande Bibliotheque (475 Maisonneuve Est), it’s indoors, warm, and provides a beautiful view of the city. Without a doubt, your day won’t be complete without at least one meal in Chinatown, so if the line isn’t too long, feast on what the Montreal Gazette calls “the best dim sum in Montreal” at La Maison Kam Fung (1111 Saint-Urbain).

a, Student Life, Student of the Week

Student of the Week: Ben Ger

by Aviva LeShaw on

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Although U1 Environment student Ben Ger is primarily studying the economic side of sustainability—he is an Environmental Economics major and a Marketing minor—he emphasized that he always keeps the global picture in mind. Ger explained that sustainability can be broken down into three major categories: Economic, social, and environmental.  

Ger said that it is often difficult for people to wrap their heads around what exactly sustainability is.  

“There’s this idea that it’s some crazy thing in the sky that’s going to come kill us,” he said. “But sustainability at its base level just means making the world work. In terms of social sustainability, it means not discriminating, not judging, not generalizing. Let people do what they want to make themselves happy, as long as it’s not oppressive to anyone else.”  

Ger said that at McGill, he is always trying to help spread happiness. In his first year at McGill, Ger was the president of his residence, Molson Hall, which turned out to be his personal commitment to social sustainability.  

“I wanted to make sure people had an awesome year,” Ger said.

In addition, he helped to promote Fight The Power, a week-long initiative encouraging energy reduction in residences. That same year, he was involved with the McGill chapter of a global organization called Right To Play, which works to promote leadership and life skills for children in underdeveloped areas through play.  

Ger’s first year laid the groundwork for a strong future at McGill, preparing him for a path of more specific interests. In his pursuits this year, Ger has focused more on the things that are important to him, like environment, sustainability, economics, and ethics. As a result, Ger was recently hired as Coordinator of the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Financial Ethics Research Committee, where he is currently responsible for overseeing SSMU’s financial decisions and assessing the ethical level of their actions.  

Ger is also using fashion to promote sustainability and is involved in producing ECOuture, McGill’s environment-friendly fashion show, coming up on March 19. All the clothing in the show is created by local designers and some are produced from sustainable materials. Last semester, Ger was also sustainability ambassador for the SSMU Environment Council.  

Ger spoke highly of McGill as a whole and of the school’s efforts to become and remain sustainable.  

“It’s a growing school with a lot of cool initiatives coming up,” Ger said. “I think they’re starting to narrow in on what forward-thinking is.”

Ger also keeps the environment in mind outside of McGill. This past summer, he worked for the energy company Summitt Energy in Toronto, doing marketing work for its sustainability sector. This coming summer, Ger is planning on working at JCM Capital, a private equity firm in Toronto that invests solely in solar initiatives.

Despite all that he has done, Ger said that he is still striving for more.

“I’m proud of what I’ve done so far,” he said. “But I have not done nearly that much. There’s a lot more to do.”

a, Men's Varsity, Sports

McGill advances to OUA semifinals

by Nicholas Jasinski on

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Concordia Stingers
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The McGill Redmen (21-5-0) advanced to the second round of the OUA men’s hockey playoffs on Sunday night after defeating the Concordia Stingers (8-17-1) 6-3 at McConnell Arena. After dropping the first game of the best-of-three series on Wednesday, the Redmen turned the tide and won back-to-back games to eliminate rival Concordia and progress to the next roun, where they will face the Queen’s University Gaels (13-12-1) in another three-game series.

Game one on Wednesday at McConnell Arena was a wild affair. Concordia managed to pull out a 6-4 victory after McGill uncharacteristically allowed three goals out of four opportunities for the Stingers on the power play. The offensive frenzy proved exciting for Stingers’ fans and served as a learning opportunity for Head Coach Kelly Nobes and his team.

 “We learned a lot about ourselves and what we needed to do after game one,” Nobes said.

In game two on Friday at Concordia’s Ed Meagher Arena, the Redmen had found their rhythm after the shocking upset, shutting out the Stingers to the tune of 5-0. The line of David Rose, Jonathan Brunelle, and Cedric McNicoll combined for 13 points as McNicoll played a role in all five of McGill’s goals on the night, assisting four and netting one himself in the second period. Concordia was in penalty trouble all night, spending a total of 31 out of 39 minutes in the box. The Redmen took advantage of this discrepancy, scoring twice on the power play that evening.

Fifth-year captain Benoit Levesque attributed his team’s success in the last two games of the series to a stronger defensive performance. 

“We knew it was going to be a tough game; they proved that the first night against us,” Levesque explained. “They have a lot of very skilled players and we had to take that into consideration. I think we played a really solid game defensively.”

McGill came out strong in the deciding third game on Sunday, but Concordia got on the scoreboard first, finding the back of the net after only a minute and a half of play. The highlight of the tilt came soon after with a beautiful display of teamwork from  McNicoll and Brunelle. In possession of the puck, Brunelle skated across the centre of the rink about 10 metres from the goal and stopped it in place, skating on and continuing to draw the attention of the Concordia defence. McNicoll sailed in from the wing and slammed the puck straight down the line into the back of the net, catching the entirely unprepared Concordia goaltender off guard.

The rest of the first period continued to be offence-oriented, with both goaltenders put to the test to keep their teams in the contest. Play became increasingly physical as the period wore on, but no penalties were called–in a game like this between rivals, sometimes a non-call is the best call. The second period included the only three power plays of the match, including two for McGill but all scoreless. The pace of the game slowed down and continued into the third as a much more balanced match, but with McGill still leading in possession and converting on more opportunities, ending the game 6-4. Nobes credited his team’s success in the series to a strong sense of teamwork.

“You need everybody going in the playoffs,” Nobes said. “You need everybody pulling on the rope this time of year.”

McGill will face Queen’s in the next round, maintaining home-ice advantage as the top-seeded team in the OUA East. Levesque, in his fifth and final season, said he understands what is necessary for the squad to achieve further success.

“We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing,” Levesque said. “[We’ll keep on] focusing on our team and focusing on doing the right things at the right time.”

a, Student Life

Redpath Museum night tours

by Uliana Bilash on

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On Friday, Feb. 7, McGill’s  Redpath Museum came to life Night-at-the-Museum-style during the annual Redpath Flashlight Tour opened exclusively to McGill students.

The Flashlight Tour originated in 2009 as a part of Nuit Blanche, an all-night festival hosted in Montreal. In 2014, the Redpath Museum Club took over running the event, holding an additional Night at the Museum Flashlight Tour for McGill students only. Due to lack of funding around Halloween—which is when the event usually takes place—the tour was instead scheduled for the Winter semester, and was funded by Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU).

The night began with an audio-visual presentation about the historical context of the building by Ingrid Birker, science outreach coordinator of the Redpath Museum. Following the presentation, students could freely roam the museum with flashlights in hand, listening in on the tour guides’ explanations of the various exhibits.

“It’s definitely the highlight of the club’s year,” Birker said. “[The tour guides] love showing guests what they know about this place, and sharing the stories of the broken bone on the dinosaur […] and the fluorescent minerals. You know, [the] secret spots. They love the chance to get to interact with students.”

According to Vice-President Communications of the Redpath Museum Club Sarah Popov, the event puts the Redpath museum in a new light.

“The funniest part is that people don’t even think about going to the museum during the daytime, but as soon as you turn the lights off and it’s at night, people get really excited about it,” Popov said.

Students were stunned by how flashlights enhanced their visual and learning experience while exploring the exhibits.

“When the lights are off, all your other senses actually get more and more attuned to what’s around you,” Birker said. “It’s actually really quiet here. There’s no sound. People actually start whispering to each other. It’s like they don’t want to break the spell. You also can’t run in the dark. You […] walk and move slower, so people do become way more respectful way more attentive. It’s a magical evening.”

Even first-time tour guide and member of the Redpath Museum Club Lauren McAusland was astonished by the experience of conducting a tour in the dark.

“It’s a completely different atmosphere,” McAusland said. “It’s kind of spooky, fun, and more exciting because […] everything is cast in cool shadows. Even when I was shining my light around some of the mummies, you can see things differently. I didn’t realize that you could see clear through the mummy’s naval cavity into his head in the light until I actually tried to shine my flashlight into his nose. We were putting our flashlights under the big dinosaur and you could see its reflection on the ceiling.”

Around 480 people attended the event. According to McAusland, the club was delighted by students’ enthusiasm for the event. 

“I think it’s just cool to see that it’s the oldest museum specifically built to be a museum in Canada,” said Megha Patel, U0 Science student.

The next Flashlight Tour is scheduled for Feb. 28 a as part of Nuit Blanche. The museum is expecting an even larger turnout, as this event will be open to the public.

“It’s going to be about the same structure, but there are going to be a lot more people there, lined up at the Y-intersection, all the way to the [Roddick] gates,” McAusland said.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

All Aboard the H.M.S. Pinafore

by Clare Murphy on

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Founded in 1964, the McGill Savoy Society was created in memory of Arthur Sullivan and William Gilbert, a lazy social climber and a failed lawyer who built the Savoy Theatre to serve as their stage. This year, the troupe vividly brings to life the witty Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, a sea voyage of the power of love and the possibility of equality in the British class system. 

The operetta—a combination of a British opera and musical—brilliantly satirizes the English identity, exaggerated by the setting on the Pinafore, one of the Queen’s navy ships. The story focuses on the captain’s (Jonah Spungen) daughter, Josephine (Anna Bond and Allegra Johnston), who falls in love with a lowly sailor, Ralph Rackstraw (Sam Strickland), though she is intended to wed Sir Joseph (Stephen Reimer), the First Lord of the Admiralty. The hierarchy of class is emphasized in dress, language, and treatment of the characters. The power of love and the ideal of equality is brought into conflict with the strict hierarchy of the British class as the operetta unfolds. 

Gilbert and Sullivan’s witty speech and lively music makes even the more serious scenes ridiculously humorous. For instance, while waiting to catch Josephine and Ralph eloping, the sounds of the Captain’s dismay are passed off to be “just be the cat.”  

The orchestra, led by Thomas Burton, brilliantly brings the operetta to life, while Jean-Claude Olivier’s set is wonderfully detailed and dynamic. The set replicates a ship, allowing performers to appear in higher and lower positions, and features a door to below decks, allowing the villain, Dick Deadeye (Victor Hsu) to dramatically and creepily come out of the darkness on to the stage. 

Further adding to the realism of the production is the appropriately gaudy costuming of crisp white navy uniforms and women’s parasols. The chorus of the sailors and sisters act as an united group in perfect unison, but still establish their individuality, creating a visually elaborate scene with a balance of variation and similarity in their actions. 

The talent of the whole crew is on display as all the performances are a true joy to listen to and see. Many members of the cast are students in the Faculty of Music, and the depth of their talent and training is evident. Bond shines as the empowered young heroine, well-balanced by Strickland’s boyish charm in play with Reimer’s vapid idealism. Yet it is the antics of the bodacious, aging gypsy beauty, Little Buttercup—referenced as ‘Sluttercup’ by actress Erika Davis—which consistently steal the show. In one stand-out musical number, Davis hypnotizes Spungen, forcing him to act like a cat and purr out the seductively ominous number, “Things are Seldom What They Seem.”

The Savoy Society made the decision to double cast the roles of Josephine and Little Buttercup, allowing a greater number of roles for the numerous strong female performers. This is furthered when gender boundaries are pushed with Sophia Metcalf cast as the male sailor, Billie Bobstay. These actions align with the McGill Savoy Society’s belief of being inclusive, allowing for greater opportunity for all and not being limited by gender norms. 

As with all Gilbert and Sullivan productions, the show ends with all characters romantically pulling their beloved ones into an embrace and a tender kiss., but who will be kissing who is the twist you won’t want to miss you. 

H.M.S. Pinafore runs from Friday, Feb. 20 to Saturday, Feb. 21 at Moyse Hall. Tickets are $10 for students, $20 for adults and $15 for seniors.

a, Student Life

The Yellow Door aims to prevent urban isolation

by Natalie Wong on

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Montreal is a city coloured with many longstanding unique organizations. One such organization is the non-for-profit Yellow Door, located at 3625 Rue Aylmer, which aims to promote creative artistic expression and encourage service for the community.

“The purpose of the Yellow Door is to give young people an opportunity to initiate and participate in projects of various kinds—social and creative—that combat urban isolation, work across multiple generations, and that hopefully lead to positive social change,” said Marc Nerenberg, Yellow Door Coffeehouse Coordinator.

The Yellow Door has a history that has close ties with McGill University, dating back to the early 1900s. McGill students created the YMCA of McGill University in 1887, which the Student Christian Movement of Canada took over in Canadian universities in 1928. During the 1960s, the Yellow Door Coffeehouse grew from an initiative of the Student Christian Movement, where it served to create a spot for creative expression for local artists.

“The Yellow Door Coffeehouse became fairly well-known over time—it was named Canada’s oldest coffeehouse,” said Nerenberg. “Where other coffeehouses were more of a business venture, the [Yellow Door] was a soulful venture.”

From 1967 to 1971, the coffeehouse acted as a setting to help individuals with financial aid and connect them through lunch programs and music. 

“[The coffeehouse] has a very special history,” said Matthew Bouchard, executive director of the Yellow Door. “In the [1960s], there were a lot of draft-dodgers coming from the United States and settling in Montreal. A lot of them settled in this area because it was low-income housing for the most part; they also came along with their music culture [….] Many of them had to live off of very low wages, so we had a soup kitchen, as well as a coffeehouse. The coffeehouse allowed for like-minded individuals to come together to connect and build relationships around music.”

With the growth of the drug scene in Montreal in the early ’70s, the Yellow Door set up a drop-in psychiatric clinic where doctors provided counselling for youth with drug addictions. In 1972, the organization started the Yellow Door Elderly Project, which began when a group of McGill students used the Local Initiatives Projects grant from the federal Liberal Party to conduct door-to-door surveys of the elderly living in the community and recognized a need to provide services to isolated elderly citizens.

Currently, the Yellow Door is still running with donations from the Quebec government, various private corporations and individuals, as well as with grants from Centraide. The Yellow Door currently runs four key projects: The Yellow Door Coffeehouse, the Generations Project, the Rabbit Hole Café, and Branch Out. 

The Generations Project has evolved from the Yellow Door Elderly Project, and is now run by two coordinators with over 250 volunteers, serving around 300 elderly members within the downtown Montreal community. 

“The mission of it is to try to connect generations through service,” said Bouchard. “The idea is that we get young students to volunteer and they are matched with isolated elderly people in the Montreal area [….] It’s very much for both individuals to benefit from it as much as possible.”

The Rabbit Hole Café is a vegan lunch kitchen—funded by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (MORSL) at McGill—that operates every Friday during the school term, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. For a donation of $2, students are provided with a vegan lunch. The Yellow Door also includes a small food bank filled with non-perishable items that students can access during the Rabbit Hole Café hours.

Branch Out is the newest initiative started at the Yellow Door. It currently has two projects—the Youth Engagement Project, which fosters creative mentorship between high school students and university students, and Spontaneous Space, which offers activities such as painting, wood carving, chess, and musical improv, to students for free.

The Yellow Door Coffeehouse, which has run for almost 50 years, still continues every Friday and Saturday night. Various famous singer-songwriters performed at the Coffeehouse, including renowned artists such as Gordon Lightfoot, Rufus Wainwright, and Stan Rogers. It currently runs open mics, and hosts a featured performer every Friday. The Singer-Songwriter Second Saturday Series runs every second Saturday of each month, and includes a featured act.

Gareth Dicker, member of the Yellow Door Board of Directors, highlighted the strong sense of community cultivated by the Coffeehouse.

“The community of the coffeehouse has been going on for over 40 years as well, so it’s a good way to connect with several decades of musicianship, dating back to when folk music was actually popular,” Dicker said.           

a, Basketball, Sports

10 Things: NBA All-Star weekend

by Abdulaziz Atta on

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  • 1) Michael Jordan’s freeze-out All-Star game

    The All-Star game is the stage where the best players in the world get to showcase their talent, but the great Michael Jordan barely got to touch the ball in his first appearance. According to NBA lore, point guard Isiah Thomas ‘froze-out’ Jordan in the 1985 All-Star Game out of jealousy of Jordan’s skyrocketing fame.

     

  • 2) Inaugural NBA fashion show

    As we all know, the NBA’s athletes are known for their interesting wardrobes. This year, LeBron James used the All-Star game as an opportunity to produce the NBA’s first fashion show ever, starring James Harden, DeMarcus Cousins, Russell Westbrook, and many of the league’s notable fashion trailblazers. LeBron’s new teammate J.R. Smith strutted down the runway in a fur-trimmed three-piece suit to narrowly beat out the Mavericks’ Chandler Parsons in the judges’ eyes and was crowned winner of the show.

     

  • 3) Brotherly rivalry

    Two of the most dominant post players in the league today—Marc and Pau Gasol—faced off in an epic battle of East vs. West on Sunday. It marked the first time in NBA history that two brothers started on opposing teams in an All-Star game. Bragging rights at the Gasol family table were on the line, and it looks like Marc will be serving up crawdad burgers for supper.

     

  • 4) Short guys can dunk too

    he Slam Dunk competition is a non-stop aerial assault on the rim, featuring some of the NBA’s most freakishly athletic leapers. We tend to think that the taller players generally have the advantage, but it will come as a surprise to many that the shortest player in the NBA today—the 5’9” Nate Robinson—has the most Slam Dunk trophies to his name, with three titles in all.

     

  • 5) Concrete jungle

    The city that never sleeps was buzzing this weekend thanks to all the All-Star related activities. Some of North America’s biggest celebrities gathered under one roof; there were wild after parties, and we’re betting KD and Russ challenged LeBron and Kyrie to a friendly game of two-on-two in Rucker Park at some point.

     

  • 6) Sticker shock

    Unless you’re an A-list celeb or a Russian oligarch, getting a ticket to the All-Star game is no easy feat. Would you like to sit courtside with Kevin Hart, Rihanna, and Drake, and watch Steph Curry go bonkers from behind the three-point line? It’ll only set you back $9,000. If that’s too much, you can always sit up in the nosebleeds, where tickets go for $700 each.

     

  • 7) Virtual reality

    If those courtside tickets aren’t quite in your price range, or are not immersive enough for you, fear not! The NBA is filming the All-Star weekend with virtual reality cameras, so if you happen to own a pair of virtual reality glasses, then you can experience highlights of the All-Star weekend in virtual reality for free.

     

  • 8) Vintage jerseys

    The 2015 NBA All-Star jersey was designed to reflect New York City’s rich culture and age-old relationship with basketball. The five stars represent each of New York’s five boroughs, and each star has unique patterns meant to demonstrate the boroughs’ main characteristics, such as the vinyl record patterns on one star to pay homage to the great hip-hop scene of the Bronx.

     

  • 9) The Riley rule

    Every year, the head coach with the best record at the break is chosen to represent his respective conference in the All-Star game. Ever since the 1990s, however, the ‘Riley Rule’ has been in place, barring a coach from making consecutive all-star appearances. The rule, of course, is named after Pat Riley, whose incredible Lakers teams in the 1980s earned him eight All-Star nods in nine seasons.

     

  • 10) What All-Star weekend?

    When the All-Star game was conceptualized in 1951, NBA President Maurice Podoloff was skeptical about the idea of having an exhibition match featuring the best players in the league. He was on the verge of nixing the idea, but Walter Brown, the owner of the Boston Celtics, promised to assume all costs if the project failed. Today, in part thanks to Brown’s daring confidence, it is one of the most popular annual sporting events in North America.

     

a, News

McGill students organize vigil for three Muslim students killed in North Carolina

by Julia Dick on

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McGill students gathered at a vigil last Thursday night to mourn and honor the three Muslim students who were killed in a shooting at UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The three victims, Yusor Mohammed Abu-Salha, Deah Bakarat, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, were murdered on Feb. 10 by Craig Stephen Hicks, a resident of Chapel Hill. Hicks turned himself in and was later charged with three counts of first-degree murder. The Chapel Hill police made a statement on Wednesday explaining that they are still investigating the incident, which they believed to be motivated by a parking dispute. 

Students and members of the Montreal community gathered in front of Roddick gates, and moved to stand outside of the Arts building as the vigil grew. A hundred or so people gathered to hold signs and candles in support of the Chapel Hill community. 

While not affiliated with a particular group on campus, the organizers of the vigil, Summia Saed Aldien, U2 Engineering, and Yara Hammami, U2 Arts, stated that they wanted to commemorate the victims and raise awareness within the McGill community. 

“When we heard the news we were shocked,” Hammami said. “We were also shocked that no specific organization […] took the stance and the action to do something.”

Their Facebook event quickly went viral in Montreal. As of Thursday afternoon, over 4,000 people had been invited to the event on the Facebook group.

Aldien stated that the vigil was about establishing solidarity with the three victims.

“We […] have to stand together.” Aldien said. “If we […] do not do this together, then who’s going to stand up to crimes like this that are happening on a daily basis?”

Anna Marchese, a second-year Arts student at McGill, heard about the event through Facebook and stated that she attended the event to stand in solidarity against the shooting.

“I’m here just to combat […] general populations or groups within America that feel as though this act is justified, that feel like it’s all right to attack people because they’re different,” Marchese said. “We’re here, and we’re trying to show our support for the family first and foremost.”

Alaa Moussa, a finance student at Concordia, also heard about the vigil through Facebook. Moussa criticised the media coverage of the incident.  

“From what I heard—and unfortunately there is not much serious coverage—it is probably not a parking spot issue,” Moussa said. “[Hicks] maybe hates all religions, but he killed Muslims.”

Since the shooting, various social media campaigns and public vigils have been held in solidarity with the victims and their families. Social media was also used to decry the shooting as a hate crime and criticize the media for failing to cover it adequately. #ChapelHillShooting and #MuslimLivesMatter became trending topics worldwide on Twitter for most of the week.

The organizers also emphasized that they hoped that the shooter would be brought to justice.

“There’s a sense of dehumanizing it, in a way, and it’s just that we’re trying to highlight that […] Muslim lives matter as well,” Hammami said. “There should be justice for everyone; all lives are equal no matter what, and all innocent lives should be treated [equally].” 

a, Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Debating divestment – Editorial and dissent

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Divest McGill, a student group that attempts to lobby the university to divest its financial holdings in fossil fuel companies, recently submitted a proposal to the McGill Board of Governors (BoG) Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR). This proposal specifically targets the estimated five per cent of McGill’s nearly $1 billion endowment that is invested in fossil fuel companies.

a, Science & Technology, Student Research

This month in student research: Travis Chen

by Chloe Nevitt on

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Travis Chen calls his current lab work a serendipitous event. The U3 pharmacology major has spent the last three years working with two major ant species—Formicidae and Myrmicine.

“Like every first year, I was thinking about [medical] school [and] I was volunteering at a hospital, and [that’s when I] realized it wasn’t for me,” Chen explained. “I [had] met a friend who was doing work in the lab I’m working in now, and they were asking for [more] volunteers, so I decided to join.” 

Chen is currently working in Ehab Abouheif’s lab, an evolutionary developmental biology lab with a focus on understanding the relationship between genotypes and phenotypes.

Together with Ben Fung, a U3 pharmacology major, they have worked to create a developmental stage table for the Formicidea and Myrmicina ants. 

“We basically grew these ant embryos [and] created [developmental stage] tables for them by creating stereotypic stages,” said Chen. 

Researchers who need to target specific stages during the ant’s embryogenesis can use staging tables, like Chen’s, as a reference tool.

“If you want to inject DNA and have transgenic effects, then you have [to know] when [the ant] is in its early stages to [use it] before the DNA cellularizes,” stated Chen.

The team managed to find 17 stages in Formicidae in their 13 days of development, and 13 stages for Myrmicina in 10 days. Currently, the team has two papers in the works that promise to be very ‘ant-heavy,’ Chen said.

First, though, Chen had to learn how to work with the ants, develop new protocols that were specific for his species of interest—something that he said proved to be his most difficult challenge—and deal with the ant bites. 

“[Fung and I] went into this as first-year students, and we didn’t [know how to do] many techniques, so we had to learn everything from lab protocols and books,” Chen said. “It took us about a year to develop the protocols.”

Chen said he finds the job itself incredibly rewarding, and loves working with the animals. 

“Every single one of them is really different,” he said. “The more you work with them, the more you enjoy them.”

After learning more about different ant colonies, Chen explained it became more clear as to why certain species react to certain stimuli. Today, there are 13,000 species of ants catalogued, and scientists predict that the real number should be around 22,000. Furthermore, when comparing the biomass of all the ants in the world to humans, the ratio hovers around one-to-one—a startling comparison.

“They represent 15 to 25 per cent of all land animal biomass,” Chen said. 

There’s an abundance of variety amongst the species due to its size. This is what interests Chen the most. Ants display a trait known as polyphenism—in which one genotype can produce many phenotypes. Humans see this most commonly in traits like height, but in ants, these polyphenic traits can cause a much bigger variance within the population.

“[You can have] a worker that comes out of the same embryo as a queen, and the worker lives six months max, and that same queen can live 20 something years,” Chen explained. 

Being able to understand these phenotypic differences due to hormonal signaling or environmental stresses can provide valuable insight into things like neurodegenerative diseases. Polyphenisms are new in the genetic field, where people traditionally believed that one genotype would result in one phenotype.

Chen largely attributes his success to his passion for his work, and from it, a love of developmental biology has grown—something he hopes to pursue further. 

“I was recommended by my PI [principal investigator] to do a study with a professor at Harvard,” explained Chen. “But it’s up in the air right now.” 

 When getting into research Chen said that it is  important to consider all aspects of the lab experience—not just the science. 

“It’s super cool stuff and the people in the lab really love doing the work they’re doing,” Chen said. “It’s not just the research—it’s the people.”

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