Author: Elisa Barbier

Categories
Opinions

Where am I headed? To the mall, probably.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Not knowing what you’re good at isn’t a bad thing, and neither are gap years

As you grow up, dream jobs come and go as interests evolve. After graduating high school or college, some will have a smooth ride and pursue their first career choice. For others—the majority, I’d say—the road will be bumpier. They will have to fail, to experience and to rethink in order to find the right path.

Not knowing what you are good at, what to pursue in university or as a career can be frightening, especially with the societal expectation to have a certain level of success.

With an educational system combining core knowledge and a hands-on approach, some young Canadian students have opportunities to discover what they excel at. However, not all schools offer the same options, and sometimes students are forced to hastily choose a career before they’ve even finished high school.

When students have to quickly choose which degree to pursue, it can lead them to switching majors once or twice over the course of their education. It is normal to switch programs and to not know what career you should follow.

In fact, only one third of youth under 25 make their career decisions during their early 20s, and only 16 per cent have the same career expectations from age 21 to 23, according to a study published in The Daily.

Finding your forte is a complex challenge that requires trial and error, mainly through personal experiences in and outside of school. It is also important to be well-aware of the strengths and weaknesses you have which could block your learning process in some way.

One solution to all of this questioning and confusion can be a gap year. A gap year at any point in your student life can give you time to test the waters—to find your likes and your dislikes, gain experience, discover new interests and, of course, save money.

I took a gap year after graduating high school. I had great plans to study microbiology in Scotland, but I realized I was not good enough for any scientific field. It took me only four months after graduating to figure out that microbiology would have driven me straight into a wall.

During my gap year, I spent a lot of time just thinking about what my academic strengths were and I tried to relate them to my personality. I concluded I am someone who is curious, but who cannot stick to something for too long, including studying. I didn’t have any strengths at that point, except speaking English.

It was only after looking for something to match my interests and my personality that I stumbled upon journalism. I never thought I would pursue this career, nor that I would ever write for a newspaper. Yet here I am, an extremely exhausted but blooming student.

Time, reflection and a will to experience are your best friends when it comes to figuring out what you are the best at and what to pursue in university or as a career. Mistakes and changes will always happen—but they should never stop you from thriving or figuring out what you were meant to do.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

Tips on taking the dive into the dumpster

Graphic by Thom Bell

A discussion about the food industry through the dos and the don’ts of dumpster diving

When faced with the idea of diving into a dumpster to collect dinner, some may think ew. In our society, garbage is thought of as filthy. So, naturally, a stigma surrounds the dumpster diving practice. But think again.

On March 10, Concordia students Isabella Donati-Simmons and Aven Fisher organized a workshop to talk about the art of ‘diving.’

The workshop, coordinated by Les Échelles, a collective with a focus on a sharing lifestyle, explored the dos and don’ts of the practice, as well as the larger problem of food waste in Canada. The event gathered about 30 people, half of them already experienced divers.

“We are not experts. We are just avid dumpster divers,” Fisher said to start off the workshop.

The participants and organizers discussed major problems surrounding food waste in Canada and around the world. From consumer standards of food aesthetics to transportation and transnational agreements, to the lack of personal connection with food, participants discussed some of the reasons they felt food waste is such a big problem. “The food system is an extremely complex web. It is not just a straight line,” Fisher said.

In Canada, $31 billion worth of food is wasted each year, according to a 2014 report from Value Chain Management International, a global company aiming to improve the efficiency of food chains. This marks a 15 per cent increase from 2010. The same study shows that 47 per cent of this waste comes from individuals in their homes. “It makes you wonder why some are still starving or food insecure, especially the First Nations peoples,” Donati-Simmons said.

Fisher and Donati-Simmons went through “the dumpster rules.” According to the organizers, divers shouldn’t necessarily look at the best-before dates on unopened products and packages. They say it is more important to rely on smell and look instead.

Some products contaminated by mold are still edible. The U.S Department of Agriculture established a list of food which can still be eaten if moldy. This includes hard cheese, firm vegetables, and salami. Donati-Simmons recommends cutting about an inch around and under the mold.

Dumpster divers should equip themselves with a light, preferably a head lamp, gloves and reusable bags. The best places to dive are around small grocery stores or bakeries. The organizers also recommended paying attention to garbage day schedules and store owners’ garbage habits. Fisher also pointed out that it is important not to take more than you need, with respect to other divers.

While the practice is not illegal, it is illegal to trespass. “Most tenants are okay with it and will indicate where to look or even give you wastes, but don’t leave it messy,” Fisher said.

“The best thing is to be respectful [as divers],” Donati-Simmons added.

To clean food collected on a diving trip, a bath of water and vinegar or dish soap does the trick. It must be naturally air-dried before refrigeration to avoid spores during storage. The food can then be prepared or frozen after being dried. The most common uses of recollected food are in soups, jams, smoothies, kimchi or as dried fruit.

The workshop was followed by a diving initiation in the Plateau and a meal at Donati-Simmons’ and Fisher’s house with the recollected food.

“Dumpster diving is sharing, finding new uses, changing the waste culture and realising what our society does,” Donati-Simmons said.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Music

A beginner’s guide to Kawaii metal

An introduction to what may be your next cardio workout playlist

A fresh wave of metal, known as Kawaii metal, began its musical journey seven years ago in Japan. This new subgenre of metal had no difficulty finding its own spot in the music world. Its style has brought something unseen to the metal scene—a uniqueness that gathers fans of varied metal genres and subgenres to mosh.

Kawaii metal is defined as a combination of Japanese pop, power metal and thrash metal. The power metal aesthetic in Kawaii metal brings an upbeat melody with clean, soft and usually high-pitched vocals. The trash metal element, on the other hand, adds complex instrumentals and aggressiveness with deep vocals and screams. Both sub-genres fuse double-bass drumming and complex guitar riffs to form Kawaii metal. The final sound component of Kawaii metal is an energetic and unique melody which combines soft and deep vocals. This sub-genre differs from the male-dominated metal scene as it uniquely introduces feminine voices to the world of heavy rock.

Kawaii metal lyrics tend to differ from the typical, overly-covered topics in metal. The bands prefer to convey empowering and positive lyrics focusing on love rather than death, on life’s pleasure rather than pain, and on social problems rather than murder. One aspect specific to this sub-genre is its mandatory Japanese aesthetic. Kawaii metal singers wear cute, girly school or maid uniforms during their performances. The band’s choice of attire helps the band members develop their stage characters, which makes Kawaii metal performances unique to each band.

One of the most well-known Kawaii metal groups is BABYMETAL. This band is composed of three singers and four musicians who are the centre of attention when it comes to Kawaii metal. When the group was formed in 2010, the lead singer—nicknamed Su-metal—was just 13 years old, and the two other singers, Moametal and Yuimetal, were only 11, according to news website Inverse.

The group developed a goth Lolita look with a concept centered on the uniqueness of their music. This concept is based on the “entity” invented by the band, the Fox God. The Fox God is a spirit—nor human, nor animal. According to the band, the Fox God selected the girls of BABYMETAL to be part of the group because they had no prior knowledge of metal, making them perfect in the eyes of the Fox God. As a rule held by the Fox God, BABYMETAL is never to reveal their future plans to the media or answer any questions regarding new projects—instead, in interviews, they simply say: “only the Fox God knows.” During the summer of 2014, BABYMETAL embarked on a world tour.  This has helped Kawaii metal pierce through to the international music scene. Since 2014, the band has won 23 music awards.

Not all listeners accept this style of metal as innovative. In fact, some metal fans don’t consider the genre to be representative of the spirit of metal as it appears as a musical act or pop show. Some Kawaii metal groups, including BABYMETAL, have made it their goal to truly differentiate themselves from the pop music industry and instead represent the metal community as best as they can. Recently, BABYMETAL has had the honour of opening for Lady Gaga, Metallica, Guns ‘n’ Roses and, currently, Korn and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ on both of their U.S. tours. BABYMETAL also wrote and played the song “Road of Resistance” with DragonForce, according to BABYMETAL’s website.

BABYMETAL’s Japanese tones and exciting guitar riffs attract many curious listeners and Japanese bands to follow suit. Notable Kawaii metal groups at the moment are Doll＄Boxx, BAND-MAID and LadyBaby. To stay true to the Japanese-pop aspect of Kawaii metal, all of the abovementioned bands have a specific concept and theme to attract and develop a specific target audience. Kawaii metal is a great go-to genre to get your body moving if you’re looking for motivation to study, exercise or do chores. For those who wish to explore Kawaii metal further, Twitter is a good place to start, as you’ll find an active community sharing new groups and songs.

Explore Kawaii Metal

BABYMETAL:

from BabyMetal:

  • Megitsune
  • Ijime, Dame, Zettai
  • Headbanger
  • Catch me if you can

from Metal Resistance:

  • Karate
  • Road of Resistance
  • Awadama Fever

LadyBaby:

singles:

  • Nippon Manju
  • Age Age Money
  • C’est si bon Kibun

Doll＄Boxx:

from Dolls Apartment:

  • Monopoly
  • Take my Chance

BAND-MAID:

from New Beginning:

  • Thrill
  • Don’t let me Down

from Brand New Maid:

  • Don’t You Tell ME
Categories
News

Climate change as reported in the media

Nagata; Waridel; Lukcas; Barney; Solomon Wood; Callison; and De Souza. Photo by Elisa Barbier.

Journalists analyze how the media talks about climate change at McGill University

Canadian social activists gathered at McGill University on Thursday evening to discuss how climate change is reported on in the Canadian media and whether the coverage is effective. The six guests, who all work in the media, answered questions from the audience.

The panelists included Candis Callison, a media professor at the University of British Columbia; Mike De Souza, the managing editor at the National Observer; Martin Lukacs, an investigative journalist for The Guardian; Kai Nagata, the communications director at Dogwood Initiative; Laure Waridel, the executive director of CIRODD, and Linda Solomon Wood, editor-in-chief of the National Observer.

To introduce the evening’s discussion, moderator Darin Barney explained how every day last year, half a million solar panels were installed, putting emphasis on the shift to renewable energies worldwide. However, Barney added, 80 per cent of global energy consumption still remains in fossil fuels, according to NASA.

A McGill graduate student opened the floor for questions by asking if the success of the media in conveying the message of climate change could be measured and how Canada is doing in such measure. Callison pointed out that it’s hard to find a way to measure it because, “for many, climate change is a background issue.”

“We have failed. Despite the knowledge and numbers, we fail to communicate,” Waridel added.

The following question was directed at De Souza and inquired about the responsibility of journalists to communicate information about climate change.

Audience members in the Frank Adams Auditorium on McGill University. Photo by Elisa Barbier.

“We have huge responsibilities,” De Souza replied. “It is a two-way street, both the media and the public. Journalists have covered climate change in Canada extensively.” However, he added that many investigate stories on climate change cannot be done due to the budget cuts news corporations are faced with.

Solomon Wood answered a question concerning the need for journalists as professionals, explaining that new types of media are bringing news to the public from new and diversified perspectives in a way that traditional media outlets are not able to. However, she said, “We still need people to dig into stories that some may not care [about].”

It was pointed out by Waridel that the traditional way of reporting on climate change in media leads to a current stagnant situation where “nobody wants to feel like the bad guy.’’ Therefore, calling out companies and people who have had a negative impact on climate is complex. Nagata added that presenting one clear message to the public is a difficult task—different people have different news sources, and often stick to the ones that reinforce their ideas about climate change, whether they’re accurate or not.

Waridel also defined climate change as “a dysfunction of the economy.” She said that, because many of us define ourselves by what we consume, “we need to be aware of what goes against climate change and switch it. It will not change if the citizens are not pushing for a change.”

“We are hoping that there is this leader that will save us,” she said. “[But] we all need to take action.”

Categories
Student Life

Tech your discrimination elsewhere

From left to right: Behrmann, Palluet, Gendron, Godoy, Testaouni. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Queer Tech MTL hosts a panel on identifying as LGBTQ+ within tech industries

Getting together. Networking. Breaking free from isolation.

This is what Queer Tech MTL is all about. It’s a group that invites people who self-identify as part of the tech and LGBTQ+ communities to gather at monthly events.

The meetings, which started in October 2016, explore elements of the workplace for members of the LGBTQ+ community. They also offer many networking opportunities.

Attendees arrive for the panel. Photo by Elisa Barbier

On Jan. 18, the group gathered at the Keatext office in the Mile-End. Keatext is a text analytics app that helps businesses quickly review customer feedback.

At the meeting, attendees were welcomed with snacks and beverages to hear about “creating the authentic self at work.” Luc Plamondon, who has worked at Keatext for four years now, offered up the space to Queer Tech MTL.

Queer Tech MTL was launched in September 2015 by Naoufel Testaouni, who was soon joined by Jason Behrmann. Testaouni has been working for tech companies on and off over the last five years, and is now a customer experience manager for the data services company, Local Logic. Behrmann completed a PhD at McGill, focusing his research on assessing the social and ethical implications of technologies in healthcare for the LGBTQ+ population. He now works as a communication corporate strategist for FinTech.

Testaouni said the idea for Queer Tech MTL came when he found himself looking for the LGBTQ+ community within tech corporations, but was unable to find anyone. Queer Tech MTL is made up of 400 members who attend events on and off.

“We encourage startups to come, to learn how to promote diversity in their companies,” said Testaouni.

The meeting featured a panel composed of Marie Isabelle Gendron from Pratt and Whitney Canada, Carlos A. Godoy L. from TD Bank and Elodie Palluet from Keyrus Canada. Before starting, Behrmann presented the crowd with statistics on the LGBTQ+ community within the tech world.

“Nearly half of transsexuals do not get promoted, hired or get fired,” said Behrmann. “And, 63 per cent of graduate students go back into the closet when they get a job.”

The panelists discussed their experiences with coming out at work. Gendron said Oct. 7, 2014 was “like a day of resurgence” for her. That was the day she came out as transsexual at her job.

When reminiscing about her experience, she said she remembers it was a shock for her boss, but she was accepting of her nevertheless. It was a big challenge, Gendron said. “Being transsexual is not a choice, but coming out is the choice to live,” she said.

Godoy came out while working for TD Bank. He said TD bank is known for their support of LGBTQ+ clients and employees. “I have it super easy—I am a white French-Canadian, born in Montreal. I am a man mostly interested in men, and I am a banker,” said Godoy. However, he said he has, nonetheless, lived through instances of discrimination in the workplace. He recalled once being called “the drag queen” by one of his former employers.

Testaouni introducing the panelists. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Palluet said she had a more complicated coming-out experience. She has had to resign from two positions because of her boss’ behaviour. Now, however, Palluet said she is at a job where she does not experience discrimination.

The panelists described the tech environment in Montreal as “very friendly” and “young.” However, Katherine Chennel, an aerospace engineer who attended the meeting but is not a member of Queer Tech MTL, told The Concordian she experienced something very different when she came out while working at Bombardier. She said she was coincidentally offered a retirement package soon after coming out as transsexual.

The panelists also discussed measures taken by their corporations to further integrate the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace. Gendron said she has seen Pratt and Whitney take measures to help all employees of the community feel safe, and she has received a lot of support. The company has psychologists to educate people in the workplace and implement anti-discrimination policies.

“I want my employees to be happy at work,” said Godoy, quoting William Edmund Clark, the executive chief of TD. Godoy added that TD sent a controversial and revolutionary memo in the early 90s to all its employees. The memo read, “We know that there are gays and lesbians. Some of you may have a same-sex partner, and we want you to know that your partner is entitled to the same things as another employee’s wife or husband.”

Attendees during the panel. Photo by Elisa Barbier.

Gendron talked about Fondation Émergence, an initiative to educate the public on the LGBTQ+ community and the problems they still face today. The initiative will be presenting a documentary showcasing the LGBTQ+ community within three different companies in two months. Palluet added exposing the problems the community still faces is an important part of the education process.

Godoy, Palluet and Gendron concluded by saying that listening to oneself and being one’s authentic self are the keys to living a happy life.

The next Queer Tech MTL event will be held on Feb.16 at 5605 Ave. de Gaspé, second floor.

Categories
Opinions

Feeling dreadful about our bodies

Graphic by Thom Bell

Body shaming is an omnipresent form of bullying enforced by the media

“Is it my fault? How could it not be my fault?”    

This stream of thought has run through my mind many times, pushing me to rigorously restrict myself and give in to unhealthy eating habits.

2017 has not failed to remind me of my poor diet. Several gym ads have already started to stress me out by guilting me into working out and get my beach body underway.

This constant reminder and underlying guilt is experienced daily by many. It is what I like to call “passive body shaming.” It occurs when the media perpetuates an ideal, often unattainable body type via commercials and advertising, in turn making you feel bad or guilty of your own appearance. This form of bullying takes many shapes and can have a serious physical and psychological consequences . Body shaming is highly common in schools, the workplace and public spaces. It affects individuals who don’t think they meet beauty standards established by the media. There is often a double standard—women are judged more often and earlier in life than men, according to a study conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy of Connecticut University.

Beauty standards shaped by the media play an important role in how we see ourselves, and the standards are different depending on where one comes from, their culture, or their gender. The first time I experienced fat shaming was in junior high when I moved to a new town. At the time, what led the bullies to lash out was the environment. This rich Parisian suburb had a different standard of beauty and body image compared to the countryside where I was originally from. My body was rather buff, from years of rock-climbing and snowboarding, whereas my female classmates were thin and gentle-looking.

It’s not only the students who are bullying, as the Rudd Center study states. They are also teachers, parents, colleagues, superiors and strangers who create daily stress and insecurity for many. While some perpetrators might use body shaming to motivate the targeted individual to lose weight, it often has the opposite effect. In fact, body shaming lead to induced anxiety and depression, as well as binge eating and embarrassment of exercising, according to the New York Times.

From my own experience facing judgement from strangers and the dirty looks I have gotten when I was eating by myself has forced me to be more self-conscious while I snack. I remember being told: “Maybe if she didn’t eat so much she would look better.”

For years, the media, strangers and classmates have shaped my vision of the perfect body type. Their so-called “helpful” comments, including the generic “just take smaller quantities,” “exercise more” or the great “you just need to control yourself,” have done more harm than good.

Today, if someone asks me what kind of body type I would ideally want, I will mention Korean pop idols for their slender bodies. My own standard of beauty has been incredibly influenced by the media, and it is also a standard that is physically unattainable. To overcome body shaming, one needs to be confident and practice self-love. Ending the constant competition and comparison regarding body types will empower and tighten communities.

Categories
Sports

Concordia student pursues career in mixed martial arts

Ahimon is currently focusing on kickboxing, which he said can be exhausting. Photos by Elisa Barbier.

Exercise science student Sean Michael Ahimon is training hard for a career in the UFC

Sean Michael Ahimon, a mixed martial arts fighter and Concordia University student, has been practicing one specific philosophy for most of his life.

“When you go [into the fighting ring], there is no blaming anyone else. If you mess up, it’s on you,” Ahimon said.

Ahimon, 18, started martial arts at the age of nine when his mom suggested he get into it because he was being bullied at school. Early on, he met Derek Watson—his instructor—who gave him a strong passion for martial arts. However, Ahimon said his instructor left only six months after he arrived, as Watson was unhappy with his superior’s choices when it came to running the school.

It was only during a taekwondo demonstration by Watson at Ahimon’s middle school that the two had the chance to meet again. Right after, Ahimon signed up at Watson’s school, Strive Martial Arts. This was a turning point for Ahimon and his art. He furthered his training and earned his black belt. He had his first competition during his first year of high school.

“It was nerve-wracking. I didn’t know what to expect. I remember watching a bunch of videos of taekwondo Olympians and trying to copy what they do,” Ahimon said. “When the fight started, I just went blank. I just remember spinning, spinning, spinning.”

On that day, Ahimon would dodge every kick and countered with roundhouse kicks—a semicircular kick that strikes the opponent with the front of the leg. Yet, as he executed a tornado kick—a roundhouse kick with a body rotation—he mistakenly landed on his kicking foot, performing a 540 tornado kick that directly hit his opponent. The kick got him the attention of 10 different martial arts schools, since it is rarely used for purposes other than displaying one’s abilities outside of fights.

From then on, Ahimon started taking taekwondo seriously. He started wrestling with his high school team and started kickboxing during his sophomore year. By the end of high school, Ahimon was the fifth-ranked wrestler in his home state of Maryland. During that time, he also fought three kickboxing fights and 70 taekwondo fights.

As he continued to participate in multiple competitions for different martial arts, Ahimon said he learned how to deal with the tension from competing. Nevertheless, Ahimon said he still feels nervous sometimes, but he thinks it’s a good thing—it creates an out-of-body experience that makes the fight more memorable, he said.

In terms of his fighting ability, reaching a higher level pushed him to be more conscious of his moves, since opponents at higher levels are better at countering. He said fighting is more of a strategy game for him now.

In April, Ahimon competed at the German Grand Prix in Hamburg with the US national taekwondo team. It was his first national tournament and the team lost by three points to Germany. After the competition, Ahimon said he wanted to move from competing in taekwondo to kickboxing, as he was tired of it.

When it comes to practice, Ahimon described it as fun, although the intensity has continued to increase.

“[There is] lots of kicking and I get tired fast,” Ahimon said. “But when you are tired, you still have to kick.”

Nowadays, Ahimon trains three hours a day, five days a week at Tristar gym, which is the same gym UFC fighter George St-Pierre trained at. When he trains, Ahimon switches between pad work, sweep drills, weight-lifting and cardio. Sometimes, he even gets to spar with other MMA fighters.

Ahimon does cardio in addition to his other exercises.

When reflecting on what made him want to pursue his dream of becoming a professional MMA fighter, Ahimon said it was all because of a fight he saw on TV.

“I always threw [dreams] out there when I was a little kid,” Ahimon said. “One day in seventh grade, I was thinking of extreme things I wanted to be, and I turned on the TV and UFC was the first thing that came on.”

The fight was between Chad Mendes and Rani Yahya. According to Ahimon, if it wasn’t for that fight, he probably wouldn’t be pursuing a career in MMA, and would never have gotten so invested in combat sports.

Ahimon is currently studying exercise science at Concordia, but his main goal is to switch into the journalism program. Writing articles in high school gave him the passion to want to pursue journalism.

“I like writing articles, specifically about sports and music. I like to break those things down,” Ahimon said.

Ahimon has been trying to adjust to life in Montreal, all while finding a healthy balance between his new training regimen, his schoolwork and his social life. He said it’s hard to find a happy medium. However, living in residence has allowed him to cut down transportation time and meet with friends easily. When it comes to school, he said his mindset is, if he completes his assignments properly and quickly, he will be able to compete more.

While talking about the difference between team sports and an individual sport like mixed martial arts, Ahimon said the feeling you get from both are different, as individual sports allow you to truly feel and see your strength. This is something he feels team sports lacks.

“When you play a team sport, you will never ever ever understand what it is to win a fight,” Ahimon said. In his opinion, in combat sports, “it is all your hard work that determines the outcome of the fight.” Ahimon added, with a team, on the other hand, one’s ability may be less decisive in competition.  “When you win, you physically controlled your own destiny, not your team,” he said.

Ahimon’s next fight is Dec. 3, although his opponent and the location of the fight are still unknown.

Categories
Student Life

My experience with mental health

Graphic by Florence Yee

Dealing with depression, binge eating disorder and attention disorders

I used to try to pinpoint when it all started, but I have come to realize that there is no precise beginning to my experience with mental illness.

In my case, it was just an accumulation of things, like drops that accumulate in a glass until it inevitably overflows.

I grew up in Annecy, France, surrounded by mountains, lakes, nature and caring friends and relatives—a perfect environment.

Everything began crumbling apart when my parents divorced.

I first met with a psychologist when I was seven, to help me understand and accept my parents’ situation.

My parents eventually remarried, and I ended up moving to Paris with my mother in the eighth grade. That is when I truly started to feel my glass begin to overflow.

I faced rejection. I faced rejection because of my fashion style, because of the place I came from. Most importantly, I faced rejection because I made the mistake of being open about my homosexuality. I dealt with daily looks of disgust.

At the age of 14, I began binge eating. It started as a nasty habit, and turned into an addiction that I still fight. I would come home, walk straight to the kitchen, sit on the floor with my bag and jacket still on and stare at the wall as I compulsively stuffed my face with food.

I developed perfectionism and attention problems in high school. School has always been a challenge for me. Seeing my grades drop due to all my emotional struggles only generated more stress linked to failure and limited my attention span even more. I found myself in a vicious circle. My glass was overflowing. It was too much.

During my last year of high school, I asked my mother to help me find a psychiatrist who could help me, at the very least, with my attention deficit. The psychiatrist ended up diagnosing me with depression, and I was prescribed a daily dose of antidepressants.

It was then that my life started to slowly piece itself back together.

After six months, I had stopped taking the medication.  The pills helped and I started focusing on the things I loved in my life again. I started feeling better.

During my healing process, I talked to friends who could relate and help, or at least listen.  I eliminated toxic relationships from my life. I focused on doing things I truly loved. I did photography and drawing. I watched anime. I skateboarded and baked.  Over time, focusing on my hobbies and passions made me feel better.

These were all things I had left behind during my dark time. It took me time to realize that these things were what I was missing to help myself heal.

Most of all, I wouldn’t have gotten better without working on self-love. It took baby steps to gain back my confidence but every day, no matter how hard, I would tell myself that I should love myself for who I am.

I still have downs, and I have accepted that I always will. I don’t believe there are any immediate or magical solutions to mental illness. It was little and then progressively bigger steps that helped me towards remission. That’s what it takes. Open up to someone, surround yourself with the people who love you, do what you enjoy and work on being healthy.

Graphic by Florence Yee

Categories
Student Life

Humans of Concordia: Jack Beaumont

Toronto-born design student, Jack Beaumont. Photo by Elisa Barbier

A first-year design student making clothes, the sustainable and eco-friendly way

Alexander McQueen’s controversial designs sparked Jack Beaumont’s passion for fashion at a young age. This passion quickly turned to action and, at the age of seven, they started sewing.

Beaumont’s brand, Conatus, officially launched two years ago when the designer was 17 years old.

The idea: to manufacture sustainable clothing. “I realized that the planet is sick and, in order to help it heal itself, we need to work on sustainability,” said Beaumont. Now 19, Beaumont is a first-year design student at Concordia.

Conatus is unique, focusing on using sustainable fabrics and dyes for its clothing. “When it comes to fashion, there are already too many people that are doing fashion unsustainably,” said Beaumont. “Eco-fashion is really the only way we can go in 2016.”

Beaumont was born in Toronto and moved to Vancouver in 2002. They finally settled down in Vernon, B.C. in 2009, where they still live when they are not staying in residence during the school year.  Beaumont said growing up identifying as non-binary was hard.

“When I was in Vancouver, the harassment got to a point where there were no other options but to relocate,” said Beaumont. Through the brand, however, Beaumont was able to create a kind of “shell” from the bullying. They said expressing themselves through fashion helped them stay strong.

Beaumont also aims to create clothing that acts as a shell—making the person wearing the garment feel strong and protected but, most importantly, themselves. “There is that fine balance between the strength and rigidity but also the fragility and the softness [of the frabrics],” said Beaumont.

Before Beaumont began producing clothes, they extensively researched and taught themselves about fabrics, dyes and different methods of production using organic fabrics. “When I was formulating [dyes], I researched some of the traditional and contemporary methods of dyeing,” said Beaumont. Black walnut became one of their favourites products to derive dye from.  Beaumont produces their clothes from their home in Vernon, B.C.

The designer described Conatus as avant-garde—an innovative and extravagant type of fashion. “People admire the brand as it is, but some couldn’t see themselves wearing a lot of it, as it very conceptual,” said Beaumont. The pieces they make have a modern haute-couture look to them.  A lot of the clothing is sleek, clean, monochromatic and not too fitted.

Beaumont hopes that they can eventually bring Conatus to a less niche clientele, with more wearable pieces.

“I hope that it is something that Concordia can teach me—sort of being able to take your own spin on a design and make it somehow wearable and sellable,” said Beaumont.

The young designer and their brand have slowly garnered worldwide attention, thanks to their social media platforms, through which Beaumont posts and sells most of their merchandise.

The clients, mostly individuals concerned with the environment, contact Beaumont directly through social media, or through their website that is temporarily down. From there, they discuss the details of the piece, including size and colour.  If the client is based in Vernon, the order is hand delivered.

One of the designer’s ideas for a future project is to take silk fibres and replicate them through a 3D printer or use a vat of genetically-modified bacteria to have them produce a garment formed from bacterial structures.

While Beaumont plans to re-launch their website in the near future, for now, you can find their  portfolio on Tumblr under “jackbeaumontportfolio.”

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