Author: Juliette Palin

Long-distance relationships — could you make it work?

It can’t be that hard to live in different cities… right?

Long-distance relationships always seemed implausible when I was younger: how could two people be in a relationship, yet spend their day-to-day life apart?

I had seen my parents go on work trips for a week or two at a time and all seemed well, but my media consumption also showed me the well-known trope of girl and boy in a long-distance relationship: girl surprises boy, boy is cheating on girl, girl eats a whole pint of ice cream on a curb in the rain.

But while sitting at the dinner table during one of my parent’s dinner parties, picking the green peas out of my rice, I overheard my mom’s diplomat friend say something strange. “Yup! This fall, I’m moving to Sweden, while David stays back in Seoul until next winter. Then he will come join me…” A unique situation notwithstanding, I started to realize there are nuances in relationships, and different things can work for different people.

Fast-forward 10 years, and here I am, two-and-a-half years deep into a long-distance relationship. When I moved to Montreal two years ago for school, I was forced to leave my partner behind in our country’s quaint little capital. Although we had only been together a little over six months, and had initially planned to break up like most people do when they start this new phase of life, we decided to give it a go!

Ottawa to Montreal is only two hours by bus, train or car — so when I say to people my partner and I live in different cities and they initially give me a glance of pity, I must swiftly clarify that it’s a mainly-long-distance-relationship-but-is-it-really-long-distance since we practically see each other every second week.

When I tell people how long we’ve made it work, they always seem impressed — for me, it didn’t seem exceptional — we were just like any other relationship. It didn’t occur to me that we were doing anything different. Yet the more I think about it, the more I see the differences between relationships where two partners live in the same city, and those where they don’t.

Here are a couple things I like to keep in mind when trying to navigate the relationship landscape.

Communication is key

This may be one of the biggest relationship clichés, but it rings more true than ever when you have to decipher body language and tone over FaceTime or texts. In general, 20-somethings have trouble communicating their feelings efficiently, which can lead to frustration and miscommunication.

In my experience, I’ve found that I often get frustrated when my partner can’t match my “energy” when it is convenient to me: you could call it a remnant of immature childish behaviour. I tend to take my frustration out on him, which has led to me creating an unsafe space for him to express his feelings in the past.

Rather than shutting down and getting upset that my partner can’t relate to my current state of mind, I need to allow him to feel what he wants, without it impeding my own expressions. In short, it’s okay to be experiencing different things at different times — acknowledge what your person is feeling, and empathize with them without letting it impact you in the now.

The independent side of your relationship

When you’re in your twenties, everyone is always expected to be mingling — going out and meeting all kinds of people. And I mean, I like going to restaurants, or even the occasional party or park hangout. All around me there is a perception that being in a partnership — especially a long-distance one — could have a negative impact on the quality of your classic ‘uni life’ experiences, but I disagree.

Maybe I’m lucky in the sense that I hate clubbing — so even if I was single, it would never be something I would pursue — but I’ve found that if there is a basic sense of trust between you and your partner, you are able to do all the fun partying and mingling you want, without the pressure of flirting and/or rejecting flirtation. Instead, you get to go make friends and then come home to a heartwarming text reminding you to take some Advil from your boo thang.

Speaking of my boo thang, shoutout to him for being super kind and driving up to Montreal every second week despite the parking situation in the Plateau — love you.

 

Feature graphic by Madeline Schmidt

Hazukido — your new go-to spot?

The front of the bakery Hazukido in dowtown Montreal in Septembre 2021.

A croissant review by a self-proclaimed expert

My TikTok “For You” page is filled with videos starting with, “If you’re from Montreal, you’ve GOT to try this spot…” Being a lover of all foods, I watch these very attentively, pulling my face as close to my phone screen as I can to absorb all the details, sometimes even bending in half so that my body wraps around my phone.

Despite my obsession with finding the newest trendy spots on the island, I have rarely taken the time to actually try these places out. I’m either too lazy, or can’t justify spending the money on something I could make myself. But one thing I cannot cook at home for the life of me is croissants.

You’ve seen the videos of pastry chefs laminating dough with obnoxious amounts of butter, the precise folding and rolling — it’s all too much! I will always buy fresh pastries, and I won’t ever feel bad about it!

Last week, I saw a TikTok about Hazukido croissants, a new spot right near St-Catherine St. and Guy. The Japanese/Taiwanese fusion pastry shop specializes in croissants made with Elle & Vire, a type of French butter that makes for especially great croissants. The pastry shop also adopted a method of proofing the dough that creates a complex “honeycomb” pattern in the pastry.

There have been long lines to get in since the opening; when I talked to the people behind me in line, they told me they had also found Hazukido on TikTok, and had made the journey downtown to try them. A limit of three croissants per customer was placed to ensure everyone would get some — but I got four!

Now let’s get into it.

Raspberry Panna Cotta 

Okay, now this is a croissant I can get behind.

Here, the honeycomb structure and buttery-flakiness that is mentioned all throughout Hazukido’s advertising rang very true: the croissant was light, and had the perfect orgasm-inducing crunch sound and feel. The outside was crispy, golden and light, while the inside was soft and chewy.

The raspberry panna cotta filling is different from anything I’ve tried before — unlike your typical jam-stuffed pastry, this filling was creamy, almost like a tart raspberry custard. This may be too niche, but have you ever had the berry and yogurt smoothie from Pret A Manger? Well, it was reminiscent of those delicate flavours. The filling was evenly piped in, making for an enjoyable experience throughout.

I ate this one up so fast I surprised myself. 8.3/10.

Smoked chicken croissant 

This is the first of the four that I tried. The croissant was sliced horizontally down the middle (creating two triangles) and then sandwiched on top of one another. The halves were coated in what seemed to be a béarnaise sauce — made with mayo, garlic and some parsley. On top of each layer was a slice of deli-cut smoked chicken and some melted cheese.

When I took my first bite, the savoury flavour and buttery texture hit first, followed by the slightly dense dough. The croissant had been weighed down, taking away from the flakiness of the layered pastry. I also ate this one cold.

I’m gonna be honest: this croissant was not my favorite. It tasted like a slightly better Starbucks breakfast sandwich, and at the tune of $5.25. From what I could tell, the cheese was a single Kraft slice and generic shredded cheese that had been melted and created a tough, chewy, leathery layer that was difficult to get through.

The flavour was there, but the execution on this was a 6/10 for me.

Salted Egg Yolk 

This is one of the most coveted items on the menu — it’s been written about, praised, and is one of the reasons Hazukido made it to North America.

This salty-sweet creamy croissant is topped with black sesame, which brings a surprising depth of flavour to the classic pastry.

The croissant itself was delicious, and brought to my attention the superiority of sweet croissants — maybe that has to do with the weight of the fillings, but who knows. The salted egg yolk was creamy, granulated, and had very strong red bean paste vibes (I think that may have come mainly from the black sesame though).

All around, I enjoyed the experience created by this unorthodox flavour pairing. 7.5/10.

Golden Cheese

This final savoury treat brings our croissant tour to a close. This croissant was cut in two, sub-style, and stuffed with what looked like shredded gouda. On the top of your unconventional sub, there’s a melted piece of “golden” Australian cheese, topped with flaky salt.

I have no idea what Australian cheese is, but to me it tastes like a piece of snazzy Kraft Single was melted and then left at room temperature to harden and turn into the strangest rubber substance. The taste was good — once again giving me notes of a fast-food grilled cheese, but with more butter. The pastry itself was nice and soft, but altogether I found it a little too heavy, and I was left feeling a little nauseous.

In all fairness though, I had just eaten four croissants in a row… 7/10. 

Try it out for yourself and see if you agree with my opinions by visiting Hazukido! The address is 1629 Saint-Catherine St. W in Montreal.

 

Photos by Lou Neveux-Pardijon and Juliette Palin

Confessions of an ADHD-riddled crochet-holic

The unconventional way I got through Zoom learning: crochet

When I was young, my grandma taught me to knit for the first time. I was five years old, sitting on her lap on a cold December day, when she first introduced me to the sport. She held my hands in hers as the needle weaved through the yarn, creating a line of crooked stitches in fluffy red wool.

It wasn’t until years later, a little after I turned 18, that my sister gifted me two pairs of knitting needles and a couple bundles of bright coloured yarn, when I finally picked up the hobby for good.

A couple months before the great gift that started it all, I had received a diagnosis for hyperactive ADHD, coupled up with chronic anxiety — I was in for the ride of my life.

I swiftly moved from making simple tension squares and knitting hand cloths to more intricate projects like… scarves. But in all seriousness, I always got too overwhelmed by having to handle the two needles required for knitting, and never really understood the concept of tougher projects. My goal with knitting was to create something I could enjoy, wear, and pass down, just like my grandma had done for me. But the works of art I was knitting weren’t gonna cut it.

One day, I was thrifting (as per usual), and stumbled across the wall of random stuff that Value Village packages up in little plastic baggies. These are sometimes filled with mangled Barbie dolls, scraps of a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy… you get the point. But this particular day, I decided to intentionally look at what was there, and found a plastic bag filled with crochet needles, all for $3.75.

I decided “Why not give crochet a shot,” making it the 17th hobby I would try out that year. It quickly became a love affair. 

For those who don’t know, crochet is knitting’s little sister; it requires only one needle, or “hook,” and some yarn, or any material weaved into a thread that you can hook onto.

At first, it was just me, my laptop, my hook and my yarn. I learned all the basics; slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet, half double crochet, how to chain, the magic circle, and so on. I started making hats, bags, coasters, and different fun patterns of granny squares.

Instead of overwhelming me, I felt I was able to grow within this form of creative expression, and to this day it has become one of the only hobbies that I have stuck with.

People with ADHD often struggle with holding onto projects, hobbies, or habits you’re either trying to pick up or kick. You quickly get sidetracked by small things that are normal parts of life, and so it’s hard to stay focused and committed to one thing that you love.

When March 2020 hit, and the unthinkable happened, my first year of university was shifted into an environment where being actively engaged with the class material was extremely difficult for me, and pretty much everyone else. I began classes online, and finished my semester cosplaying as a hermit in my partner’s basement, eating junk food and squinting whenever I was confronted by daylight.

When September rolled around, I was ready and excited for my second year of school. In the journalism department, many of the classes are smaller than what you’d expect in a university setting, with most of them consisting of around 20 people. At least I wasn’t in an online class with over 200 participants — sorry sociology majors.

Still, they were long lectures; I realized I wouldn’t get through them if I got distracted by every noise, feeling, thought or impulse I had. However, I am a grown-ass woman, and I refuse to own a fidget spinner. So I started to crochet during class.

All of a sudden, I could get through the two hours of a two-hour lecture and actually grasp the content. My hands were busy, and somehow that opened up my ears to absorb what was being said. I was no longer held captive by my own thoughts, because all I was doing was thinking about my next stitch while I listened to what sounded like a slightly boring podcast on business reporting — how educational!

Even though I had friends kind enough to send me their notes, professors who would share slideshows with me so I could catch up if I needed to, or revise something if I had been too distracted — I didn’t need it.  After learning to crochet, I was able to concentrate and absorb information properly. This has been the best tool I have found to help me thrive in the online environment. 

Now all I have to figure out is how to get professors to allow me to crochet in class… I am only kind of kidding.

 

Photoraph by Juliette Palin

How to make paper in a world that refuses to go paperless

We need to stop cutting down trees

There is a specific satisfaction you get from holding a good, solid book in your hands, or flipping through your freshly-printed 10 page essay. A feeling that is not satisfied by holding a Kindle, e-reader, or scrolling through a word doc.

We all know that paper is made from trees, and trees are becoming more scarce. This sad reality can be traced back to the paper product industry, since it accounts for 42 per cent of deforestation worldwide. Paper products such as packaging, cardboard, newspapers, magazines, contracts, and more are responsible for one third of Canada’s waste, and only a quarter of this number ends up being recycled.

It would be dumb to try and deny the importance of forests in the world, especially large old-growth forests that have immense ecosystems of their own. These provide us with oxygen, medicinal plants, and are often home to Indigenous communities, some of which have never had contact with the “modern” world.

Going paperless could be considered in a very “plugged in” setting, but not everyone has access to computers, or even a stable internet connection. Ideally, we could recycle all of our paper, and create a cycle of continuous use without the need for virgin material. But sadly, humans often make the mistake of putting paper in the wrong bin or recycling paper contaminated with food — rendering the paper no longer recyclable and contaminating the rest of the bin it was thrown into — which puts a damper on our plans.

There is a process in which paper is cut up into tiny little pieces, which you can picture like blended paper confetti. Then, it is thrown in water with a solvent, and a mesh frame filters the paper chunks into a unified sheet. The paper is then laid out, dried with sponges, and left out in the open until fully solid.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the most satisfying paper feel is that of a rugged, thick sheet that has rough edges. The recycled paper confetti comes together to form a beautiful speckled cream colour. It’s a calming and beautiful process that could help the paper industry navigate toward reusing instead of chopping.

There are however downsides to recycled paper; it takes an abundant amount of energy to make. But let’s see what the outcome is when we weigh the pros from the cons, according to this BBC Science article:

Cons:

  • Making recycled paper uses fossil fuels for energy instead of burning wood products like regular paper mills do.
  • The cost of recycling and transporting paper waste materials is an issue, including the energy cost of transporting scraps

Pros:

  • Generally speaking, recycling paper is better than making it from scratch since it uses less raw materials, and is able to reuse the resources already used to make the initial product
  • Making recycled paper creates 35 per cent less water pollution than starting from scratch
  • Making recycled paper our only paper would theoretically decrease paper production air pollution by 74 per cent
  • The cost of machinery to start a recycled paper business ranges from thirty to sixty thousand dollars, which stays relatively affordable in comparison to any other general production startup costs.

I don’t know about you, but I’m reading more pros than cons.

Basically, there’s a huge untapped market that we could dig into, to reduce the amount of trees cut down for paper products, as well as reuse secondary raw materials in a way that would reduce the overall size of landfills. Obviously it’s not that black-and-white, but maybe this is a small way to make a real difference?

 

Photo by Lou Neveux-Pardijon

Where to get the goods

A look into Concordia students’ passion for fashion

Over the past few years, trend cycles have accelerated exponentially. A combination of fast fashion, social media and capitalism has created a whirlwind of trends for us to stay on top of, adapt to, and incorporate into our own personal styles.

This week I thought it would be fun to take an adventure and see what people were wearing around Concordia’s downtown campus. Keep in mind there are nearly 50,000 students at our little university, so this is what I saw while I was at the downtown campus, sitting in the Hall Building for a couple of hours.

If you saw me standing awkwardly staring at people’s outfits, no you didn’t.

Many people are leaning into an academic vibe for the return to school: think lots of trousers, loafers, white tube socks and funky button-ups.

If you are in the market for some trousers, I think the best place to find them is a thrift store, such as Renaissance (Montreal’s Goodwill) or Value Village, though it is a little pricier. Additionally, you can always go walking on Saint Laurent Blvd. in between Sherbrooke St. and Mont-Royal Ave., where many independent thrift stores can be found.

Loafers are a staple in any fashion forward wardrobe, and have taken the place of the Doc Marten Jadons as the ruling shoes this fall. Recently, Geox Spherica loafers went viral on TikTok and generally sold out, apart from a few select sizes. Other good places to find loafers are at the aforementioned Doc Martens, as well as Vagabond, or even better, thrifted! I’ve found three pairs of platform and non-platform loafers at thrift stores around Montreal just this past month!!

Good button-ups can be found everywhere, but especially in thrift stores! This may seem redundant, but the patterns that you are looking for from House of Sunny, Jacquemus and higher-end fashion all take inspiration from vintage designs. I suggest taking your time in the women’s blouse section, and playing around with sizing. If you’re looking for a “shimmy shake top,” definitely go for a more oversized piece. If you’re going for a fitted, cinched vibe, then more true to size will work.

If you’re more into the early 2000s era, you’re probably very familiar with thrifting already. You’re looking for low-waisted, straight or wide-leg jeans with embroidery, top stitching and a funky graphic design. You’re looking for halter tops with beaded details, matching tracksuits and platform shoes. I highly recommend checking out La Vegan Baddie’s website (coming soon), a Y2K reseller located in Montreal, with a world of hidden gems . You can always take the time and thrift these finds yourself, but I do not recommend giving into the fast fashion replicas of this era. It gives me… unauthentic and middle school vibes — but you do you.

Fashion is always changing and growing, and so does your personal style. So let’s all keep in mind to grow our styles instead of replicating the entirety of an aesthetic you saw once on TikTok and sorta liked. Learn to isolate the elements that bring you joy, and that “make the outfit.” From there, incorporate that aesthetic into one that’s all your own.

 

Feature graphic by James Fay

Categories
Opinions

“My body, my choice”, an ironic juxtaposition

How the use of this controversial slogan has shifted

Growing up, I heard the phrase “My body, my choice” often, whether it was in the context of a history class, in the news, or from a speech my mom once gave me. And then, in the mid 2010s, I discovered the ongoing feminism, womanism, and intersectional feminism movement, and the fight towards the right to decide what’s best for our bodies.

In today’s context, the phrase has been co-opted by a new movement – anti-vaxx – that intrudes upon the safety of many. 

The disease we shall not speak of has created a faction of society that has a fundamental problem with wearing a small piece of cloth over their mouths, getting a vaccine to protect themselves and others from stronger, more contagious variants of the virus, and the use of vaccine passports.

So now, here we are, at a crossroads between the right to choose and the right to… choose, I guess?

It is important to acknowledge that traditional feminism has a long and continued history of excluding Black women and women of colour. In the 1970s, women fought for the right to work outside the home and to ensure their reproductive rights, specifically in the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade, which made abortion services legal, though not nessesarily accessible.

Women everywhere were fighting for the right to choose, but white women mostly ignored important issues that mainly impacted women of colour. This resulted in the start of the womanism movement, which focuses specifically on the everyday concerns related to the Black female experience. It takes a focus on the deeper issues and the intersectionality between being a woman and a person of colour, ultimately addressing concerns that white folks were not interested in.

The phrase “My body, my choice” used to represent a movement that — although flawed — had an overarching goal to give power back to women, specifically when it came to our reproductive freedom. It’s ironic now to hear the slogan chanted by some of the same people who would yell “GOD LOVES YOU” as you walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic.

There are obviously some good reasons to not get vaccinated, such as if you have a health condition that is recognized as having a negative reaction to the vaccine.

Additionally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 49 per cent of Black Americans stated their lack of trust in the institutions that provide vaccines. There is a documented history of mistreatment of marginalized peoples in the era of eugenics, such as Black Americans, people of Asian and Pacific descent, Indigenous persons, and disabled people. Non-consensual medical experimentation, which goes along with medical professionals having a disregard for the pain and suffering of their patients, has led to a continued lack of trust in western medical institutions for many marginalized people.

Other reasons, such as the side effects of the vaccine or thinking COVID-19 isn’t a real threat seem like a bad joke to me. I can believe some Trump constituents were brainwashed into believing the pandemic wasn’t a real threat, I just cannot get over the hypocrisy in that belief. For decades, women have been fighting for freedom and independence for their reproductive rights, but that has always been outrageous to white conservative Americans, who are composed of 85 per cent Christians. They expect us to just sit down and listen to the Bible whether or not we believe what it says. But today, when the entire world is collectively enduring a pandemic, these same people cannot handle being told what to do.

For decades, people with uterus’s have had to put up and deal with inaccessible healthcare and old white men making the decisions about our vaginas and sex lives, but as soon as those same people experience one hundredth of what it is to have your body regulated, all I hear is whining.

And the fact that the so-called injustice of today is as simple as wearing a mask, in comparison to taking any method of contraception, highly gatekept abortions, the realities of having to live with those decisions, the external judgment, your body and your choices being debated every election, and plain old birth control side effects, whether it’s an IUD and your gyno has to crawl up your cervix every five years, or you have a pill to take everyday — a pill that could make you gain weight, lose weight, have acne, mood swings, painful period cramps, and the list goes on and on.  Keep in mind, I just had to think of my own experiences to make this list… which does not even scratch the surface.

But now, this same person is angry their president didn’t get elected, mad that there’s a hoax of a virus the elite Liberals have created, and that they blew it out of proportion to control us.

Instead of being mad, I’m just going to laugh at the irony of today. It’s everywhere you look, in each nook and cranny around us – from every social media post to every article.

 

Feature graphic by James Fay

Pick your fighter — your University persona

A satirical take on our coping mechanisms

 

Welcome back to your favorite simulation game: University! This fall, as per usual, you can pick and choose which Vice you’d like to play as! There are many options, ranging from extremely serious to relatively innocent coping habits. Remember, each vice comes with some advantages, but mainly downfalls! Take the time to evaluate your life choices this semester – and read these descriptions thoroughly!

 

The Smoker 

This is a timeless vice! Perfect for the fall aesthetic, feed your inner loathing with small “cancer sticks,” as your friends will call them. Of course, smoking cigarettes is bad for you, but it DOES look cool… right? At least, that’s what you thought back when you were 13 picturing what your life would look like now!

Cigarettes are perfect for the procrastinator. These small and inexpensive stinky paper cones will allow you to take excessive breaks all throughout the day, chat with random strangers, and bond over your love of the “forbidden fruit.” According to StatCan, just over 1.5 million Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 smoke daily or occasionally. When the studying gets going, you’re outside freezing your fingertips off (and trust me, I’m there with you).

 

The Online Shopper 

This one is relatively new! In recent years, going into physical stores has been difficult, not to mention how much work it was to shop in person anyway. Take on a vice that allows you to shop not-so-guilt-free from your couch, bed, or even the bathtub! 94 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 25 to 44 shop online, with average spendings of over $2,000 a year. As students, we already spend so much time online… may as well spend most of your money there. Or, better yet, spend your rent on your fifth matching sweatsuit ‘cause they are just SO comfy.

 

The one with a JUUL tied to their hand

Yes, this is a different category. This vice, while sharing some of the same components as the cigarette vice (nicotine, the one true addicting queen), is completely different in its application. See, while cigarettes force you to take a break from your hardships, you can vape pretty much anytime, anywhere. This is why it is the perfect vice for those who are just too stressed to take any time off. Let the sweet juice enter your lungs, and set up camp ‘cause the taste of Mango Ice is never leaving the back of your throat.

 

The Foodie

This vice may seem innocent, but it can wreak havoc on the inside of your bank account. When a university student uses food as a coping mechanism, it will consist mainly of takeout — whether it’s sushi, pizza, tacos, Indian food, or anything else your mouth desires, anything goes! The big problem here is that you lack motivation to cook the giant meal of your dreams, not to mention the work piling up around your takeout containers.

 

The Drinker

Ah, a classic… Drinking to make it through the school year is the most popular vice. Not only does it help numb you through the endless readings, papers, tests, and lectures, it is also the perfect vice to help you let loose and forget your troubles. This drinking potion is very popular in Canada — a 2016 survey done by the National College Health Assessment survey showed that 35 per cent of students reported having five or more drinks of alcohol per sitting over the last two weeks.

That much alcohol goes against what the Canadian government recommends as a healthy amount, but when have vices been about being healthy? With alcohol, you’ll never be cold, but you might be lonely, since your self-destructive behaviour will push people away faster than you can say “my drink is empty.”

 

The Stoner

This one is my personal favorite, and one I’ve adopted in everyday life. Weed is one of the most stereotypical “college” things you see — your favourite media tropes of lazy hippie stoners whose eyes won’t open, and are too slow to understand even the simplest joke. This is not my experience, rather that the devil’s lettuce helps to numb me from the realities of my day-to-day life, while still being able to sober up and work (at least a little bit). In terms of how popular weed is, it has seen a rise in recent years with so-called legalization. Back in 2019, just over 50 per cent of Concordia students smoked weed, with 4.2 per cent smoking on a daily basis.

Let’s give an example, shall we? As I write this, I struggle to find the words to describe this lifestyle. I ask myself: ugh why is this so hard to do, as I take my third bowl of the day, and it’s not even 4:20 yet. No wonder I’m having trouble writing.

 

The resources 

On a more realistic note, the point is to highlight the behaviours we tend to adopt during the year, and how these are NOT healthy coping mechanisms. Also, I am guilty of every vice, so this also applies to your humble writer, me. Here are some resources at Concordia University for anyone struggling with mental health issues, drug and alcohol addiction, or anything else. Concordia has a wide variety of mental health support services for you.

 

Graphic by Madeline Schmidt

Categories
News

Academic advising at Concordia

How students feel towards their advisors, and the University’s response

At Concordia, the main way for students to communicate issues regarding their academics is through their advisors. From faculty to faculty, their roles and qualifications will defer, but they all generally have the same responsibilities: to help students through any academic hardships.

Mainly, one will reach out to an academic advisor when facing scheduling problems, registration problems, or even problems with a professor. Oftentimes, advisors are advertised as a helpful tool for students, and make communication between the administration and Concordia’s 45,000 students easier.

A statement from the university to The Concordian highlights that, “Advisors at the department level may be administrative staff, or faculty members who undertake academic advising responsibilities in addition to their teaching and research portfolios.”

However, there has been lots of criticism directed toward the advisors. In particular, on Facebook student pages, there have been many memes and posts talking about the lack of student support.

Per department, there are approximately half a dozen advisors per faculty. For example, the Arts and Science Faculty has over 19,000 students, and six advisors. This would mean that on average, each advisor is responsible for 3,000 students. These advisors would be a part of the Student Academic Services.

According to the Concordia website, the Arts and Science advisor’s role is to, “recruit, counsel and guide students from the time of their application to admission into a program in the Faculty of Arts and Science, until completion of the program.”

Lucy Neubacher is a second year student at Concordia University, studying Anthropology and Sociology under the Arts and Science Faculty (ASF) umbrella. She has reached out to academic advisors on two separate occasions, and both times was left with more questions than answers.

She says, “First year, I had reached out to my academic advisor a couple times, and every time I was just getting very broad answers, nothing really answered my questions.”

This year, when there was a communication issue with one of her professors, Nubacker hoped to speak with an academic advisor in hopes of resolving the situation.

“Because [my professor] is the head of the department, I didn’t have anyone else to complain to about him. So I thought reaching out to my academic advisor would be worth it.”

When she finally got in touch with her advisor, she only received a link to the Concordia website, which did not help her.

“I didn’t know who else to talk to, I was really opening up to [the advisor] about, you know, my struggles and what I wanted to do. And the academic advisor just sent me an email saying ‘sorry to hear that here’s a link if you need help.’”

Academic advising at Concordia is structured in many different ways, depending on the faculty. The university’s statement explains, “Each faculty has its own advising structure with some having a mix of department level advising and Student Academic Services advising while others have a more centralized structure.”

The first advising method would apply to the ASF, while the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) has a more centralized approach.

“Advisors and the Student Academic Services provide academic advising on a broad range of topics, while department advisors (often called program advisors) can guide students through the requirements for undergraduate programs (such as course sequences, registration and substitutions),” read the statement, about the first advising approach.

For JMSB, their advising takes place in the Undergraduate Student Affairs Office.

“Students only have to go to that office to get all of the academic advising they need for their academic program. John Molson advisors are professionals who support students from the time they are accepted to the school to graduation.”

A JMSB student, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that in his case, academic advisors helped him during registration. He says, “For me, personally, they’ve been very helpful … [An advisor] actually helped me last semester, in getting me in touch and directing me, because I wanted to register for this course that was restrictive, that you needed certain prerequisites.”

“I don’t think the advisors are to blame. It’s the administration at Concordia, who haven’t prepared properly, given that everything has shifted online. They still have one advisor for a thousand students. And obviously students have more questions, because it’s more confusing now.”

Since the pandemic began, there has been an increase in requests for advising.

But the Central Advising Working Group (CAWG), established in late 2018, aims to “champion effective academic advising service to students through sharing best practices, increasing engagement between staff who support students, providing support to advisors, and addressing areas for improvement within academic advising at Concordia. The group’s work is ongoing and looking at ways to improve undergraduate student academic advising.”

Hopefully, the CAWG will be able to hold academic advisors accountable at Concordia accountable.

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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The Black Student Union utilizes its social media to educate the Concordia student body

How four young women started the organization

Concordia students Amaria Phillips, Lorry Joseph, Tanou Bah and Ernithe Edmond were all shocked to see there was no Black club or union at Concordia University.

“We were like, ‘Wait a minute, there’s no actual like, Black club?’ It’s either Caribbean or African? But there’s not one for just Black people,” said Phillips.

For example, McGill, the other anglophone university in Montreal, does have a Black Student Network, which acts similarly to a union. Before the BSU initiative, this overarching support would fall under the Concordia Student Union’s responsibilities.

Phillips said, “We realized that, really, there was no Black Student Union period, then we kind of like changed our minds and we said, ‘Okay, let’s just do a Black Student Union’ … It’s going to be something that’s actually going to advocate for students.”

“We kind of found a good batch of people to help the BSU take off … We’re so like-minded,” said Phillips.

The process of becoming an official student union at Concordia is a complicated one.

“We put a lot of focus in establishing [the BSU],” said Phillips. Tired of wasting time trying to establish themselves, the BSU decided to create its own path for representation.

Now, almost a year later, they have grown their team to 13 students who help run the day-to-day operations, just by asking who wanted to be involved.

“We put something on social media to ask if anyone wants to join the team. And yeah, a lot of people were DM’ing back and saying ‘Yeah, I’m interested,’” said Phillips.

The BSU’s main platform is their social media — mainly Instagram. Run by Kyla Renee Jallow and Beza Getachew, the BSU is able to spread awareness on Black issues and educate their followers on Black Canadian History.

Phillips is excited to see the growth that comes along with the bigger team. She said, “Since we decided to start the executive team, our Instagram grew from, I think five hundred to now nine hundred something in a month.”

The increase in posts also helped grow their following. On the heels of Black History Month, Phillips does not plan to slow down the flow of information shared on the page. She said, “We’ve gotten so many messages of people saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that,’ or ‘I really wish that I would have known that before, that it was taught in schools.’”

The executive team decided to extend Black History Month to Black History Year, in order to educate and highlight Black history and Black people in general, because “Black History is everyone’s history,” said Phillips.

“There’s so many things we didn’t get to cover for the month,” said Phillips, so may as well continue to put an emphasis on reteaching ourselves to our history.

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Changing your name at Concordia — what you might not know

A simple application through CU’s website allows any student to change their name without need for justification

Concordia University has a very diverse student body, whether through ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

Because of this diverse student body, there are some issues that the administration has tried to address. For example, there is a very clear and precise procedure Concordia offers in order for students to change the name they use, without needing to give a reason.

The issue is, many students aren’t aware it exists.

Gino Eloise studied Biochemistry at Concordia, and has used they/them pronouns ever since enrolling. However, they used to go by a different name, which is still used in academic settings. They haven’t officially registered their new name with Concordia, in part because it’s a recent change, but also because they didn’t know how.

“I didn’t even know it was something that can change or whether it would just be extra trouble for everyone,” said Eloise.

“I just feel like my identity is a burden. So I don’t go through like, the trouble of making it known, especially in academic settings,” they said. They also explained that they experience a lot of misgendering, “Especially since I look the way that I look — I’m very fem presenting.”

Ariane Lussier-Gendron, the health and resources coordinator at Queer Concordia explained that although there is a way of changing names at Concordia, it isn’t necessarily well known.

One common thread at Concordia may be that there is a gap between what the university does for its students and what the students know about. Having recently gotten involved with Queer Concordia, Lussier-Gendron has already received emails from students, asking for help accessing these resources.

She explained, “Personally, I’ve had people come to me by email asking me questions. Not exactly related to this, but something similar, and I have had to do the research myself. So we don’t have a protocol or anything, but that is actually something I’m working on.”

Through her research, Lussier-Gendron found two students who had gone through the procedure to change names, and to her surprise they had fairly positive experiences.

One downside to this process may be that Concordia doesn’t inform professors of changes.

“[One student] changed their name, like mid-semester. And they said, ‘I kind of wish [Concordia] would email your profs about the change.’ Because they wound up having to do it themselves, and that was a little bit awkward,” said Lussier-Gengron.

An easily fixable detail.

All in all, this procedure does what it needs to do — now it’s just a question of telling students that this is an easy process; that, despite some hurdles, it’s possible to change your name without having to justify your decision.

 

Graphic by @the.beta.lab

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Concordia professor uses racial slur during a class

The Black Student Union advocates for students to be heard

 

On Feb. 3, just a few days into Black History Month, a Concordia faculty member who guest lectured in an undisclosed class said the N-word. The faculty member and the class in which the incident took place have not been named in order to avoid any ill-treatment.

Pierrette Manege, a student in Women’s Studies and Immigration Studies, and Amanda Asomani-Nyarko, an English Literature major, came forward last week after hearing the slur uttered in their class room.

They said that during a conversation pertaining to feminism and the power that certain words hold, the white lecturer gave a trigger warning and then listed a couple of words that could be considered offensive.

“She was like, ‘oh, words such as coloured’, and then she said the N-word, and then she said Black … It was just words that targeted the Black community,” said Manege.

Surprised and confused, Manege recognized that this was not okay with her.

“I’ve had instances where I haven’t said anything and I felt really guilty. So this time I was like, I’m going to put it into the chat and just let her know that I don’t feel comfortable with what she just said. Specifically, her saying the N-word fully as a white woman,” said Manege.

Asomani-Nyarkowhen noted this isn’t the first time she’s heard a professor say the N-word in class.

Reflecting on this particular incident, she said, “I was numb, and then my numbness turned into anger, and then confusion as to why this is happening. And then I wanted to say something, but then I also felt like, they’re gonna think I’m just being sensitive or the angry Black woman, you know?”

In the end, Asomani-Nyarko decided to express her agreement with Manege’s comment in the chat, stating the two were not okay with a white professor using the N-word in any context.

When the speaker saw that there were messages in the chat, she asked them to either turn their mics on or she’d read the messages aloud. When she got to Manege and Asomani-Nyarko’s comments, the speaker got “visibly uncomfortable,” said Manege.

She said, “She became very defensive, and, in her defense, decided to justify her use of that word.”

Often, white professors will use the ‘academic context’ armour to get away with saying this slur in classrooms. Amaria Phillips, a co-founder and president of the Black Student Union disagrees with this defence.

She said, “There’s no tolerance, not even in an academic setting to say, a slur that …  not only has been used in the past, but it’s still used in the present. It’s still used now, in this day and age against Black people, to demean them and to hurt them.”

Not only does this seem like common sense, said Phillips, but in the political climate that we find ourselves in — with the uprise of the Black Lives Matter movement and now during Black History Month — Phillips finds it unacceptable that Black students should have to feel unsafe in classrooms.

Phillips added that Black students are already discriminated against outside of school. She added, “Coming to classes, still [having to] hear the N-word, and then be told, ‘Oh, your opinion doesn’t matter about the N-word.’”

Phillips spoke about how the N-word never needs to be said out loud. She said, “Why not just say “the N-word”…. I don’t understand why you have to pronounce the whole word. And again, it goes back to kind of like proving that [white professors] could do it.”

Tanou Bah, co-founder and Vice President of the BSU, and Phillips explained why this word should be banned from campus. Phillips said, “I think that Black students especially, and Black people in the Black community have been telling non-Black people ‘can you stop’ for years, and yet, just again, it’s like they don’t care.”

Concordia University has responded to this incident, stating, “Our goal is to work collaboratively towards a resolution and prevention plan that recognizes the concerns and experiences of our students and supports the discussion of difficult knowledge.”

They have implemented the Black Perspectives Office and a Task Force on Anti-Black Racism, in an effort to give Black students the agency they deserve. While these have been helpful, the Black Student Union, a non-profit organization that is not currently registered with the CSU, has taken the main stage in advocating for Manege and Asomani-Nyarko, as well as other Black students.

 

The BSU’s role at Concordia 

 

At Concordia, all undergraduate clubs and fee levy groups (one funded by students for students) fall under the CSU’s umbrella. These groups have to register through the CSU.

For the BSU, this process has yet to take place. Phillips explained that when the idea for the student association came to mind, the initial goal was to form a group to celebrate and advocate for Black students with no ethnic specificity.

She said, “So there was just one for Caribbean or African [students]. But there was not one for, you know, Black people, and Black students. And like, if you are American, where do you fall into?”

The group recognized that many predominantly white universities have Black student unions, or something similar to ensure representation, and decided to pursue this goal. At Concordia, this representation would fall under the CSU if it wasn’t for the Black Student Union.

Isaiah Joyner, the general coordinator at the CSU, explained that the BSU approached them to try to start the process of being a registered student association. He said, “So typically, what you would see is organizations, or like a lot of fee levies would start off as a CSU club.”

However — and this may just be a case of miscommunication through Zoom and dozens of emails — the BSU decided to go down a different route. They are currently a non-profit organization, bypassing the CSU — for now.

If the BSU wants to become a fee-levy organization, the process may not be so straightforward. Joyner explained, “Concordia is a little tricky, because one, they don’t collect race-based data … We wouldn’t be able to just levy the Black students, we have to levy all students for a certain credit to give [the BSU] a budget and let them operate, and do all that good stuff.”

This would pose issues with any students wanting to opt out of the Black Student Union, because typically students can not opt out of representative organizations.

However, the BSU is something that would be beneficial to overall student life, no matter how complicated it may be to institute it.

Phillips expressed there may have been some apprehension when the idea of the BSU was first brought up. She explained that the goal of the BSU was to ensure representation of Black students at a higher academic level, among other things.

“When we voiced that, that’s when we got a lot of opposition. And you know, we got advice, but it wasn’t as helpful as we wanted it to be. And, yeah, I think that that opposition kind of discouraged us a little bit too,” said Phillips.

Joyner explained that this is a tedious process that all organizations must go through. He said, “We gave them all the information, we let them know the different processes, so as to why they haven’t followed up and tried to do it, like, through the CSU channels … I guess it’s not what they’re envisioning.”

“We’re still here with open arms and we want to support it. These are important issues that Black students are facing,” said Joyner.

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