Author: Mina Mazumder

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Student Life

Empowering yourself with knowledge

From left, Dana Ades-Landy, Lynn Posluns and Nathalie Tremblay discuss women’s health on Feb. 23 at Concordia. Photo by Mina Mazumder.

Women’s health research discussed at panel hosted by the International Women’s Forum

Three notable women at the helm of major health organizations spoke about the most recent statistics, research and innovations concerning women’s health at a panel discussion hosted by the International Women’s Forum (IWF) at Concordia on Feb. 23.

According to Dana Ades-Landy, the CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death for women in Canada, and 78 per cent of women with cardiovascular disease are misdiagnosed. “Most of them are sent home with an antidepressant,” she said.

Although inaccurate information is prevalent on the internet, Ades-Landy said it is crucial that women trust medical professionals and other reliable sources, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s website. “Your doctor should be a sound source of information,” she said. One common misconception about heart disease is that it only affects older people, but “the face of heart disease and stroke today is changing,”  Ades-Landy warned. “It’s killing young woman.”

While many causes of brain-related diseases are still unknown, Lynn Posluns, the president of the Women’s Brain Health Initiative, said researchers have found a definite link between hormonal issues and brain health. For example, the risk of dementia increases dramatically among women who have a hysterectomy and double oophorectomy prior to natural menopause, according to Posluns. Similarly, “you’re more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease if your mother has it than if your father does, but we do not know why,” she said.

Since there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease yet, Posluns stressed the importance of prevention. “One third of all dementia cases are avoidable. Most people don’t realize that,” she said, adding that Alzheimer’s begins to cause brain damage 20 to 25 years before a person experiences visible symptoms.  Among the proven methods of prevention is learning a new language, “which can add seven years of cognitive benefit to your brain,” Posluns said.

On the topic of breast cancer, Nathalie Tremblay, the CEO of the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, said new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and large amounts of medical data have allowed researchers to tackle the disease in its earliest stage. “You can see biomarkers and mutations without having the very difficult biopsy and wasting time in trying newer therapies,” she explained.

In addition to widely known tips, such as eating healthy, exercising regularly, drinking moderately and not smoking, Tremblay said women can lower their risk of breast cancer by “knowing your genes [and] family history.” She nonetheless emphasized the importance of engaging in physical activities, specifying that they should be consistent rather than intensive: “Thirty minutes every day for five to six days, or one hour for three days, and moderate to slightly high [intensity].” Lastly, Tremblay’s message to young women was to be their own advocate. “You own your health, and you are responsible. Don’t wait for people to tell you that you have an [illness]. Empower yourself. Make changes to have a better life.”

Feature photo by Mina Mazumder

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Student Life

Creating understanding through film

The non-profit Never Apart welcomed Meera Darji, a film production student from England, for a screening of her latest documentary, Transindia. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

British film student Meera Darji explores India’s marginalized hijras in Transindia

The idea to explore India’s LGBTQ+ community for her final university project arose when Meera Darji, a British film student, began researching the country’s perception of sexuality. Through her research, she discovered hijras, people who adopt a gender role that is neither male nor female.

“They go through the whole castration process, but they do not fully transform into a woman,” Darji explained at a screening of her latest documentary, Transindia, on Feb. 10. The event was hosted by the Montreal-based non-profit organization Never Apart. “It’s almost as if they are marrying into the community, and they have these vows and values that they live upon throughout [their lives].”

Darji described hijras as being “quite spiritual” and perceiving themselves as having a sort of “female power.” In 1871, after the British colonized India, hijras were criminalized under the Criminal Tribes Act, which was repealed in 1952. Despite this change, the hijra community is still marginalized in India, according to a synopsis of the documentary. “I only [heard] negative rumours that my family had told me,” said Darji, who has relatives living in India.

According to Darji, the most common rumor about hijras is that they curse people who make eye contact with them or who do not give them money when they beg at weddings. Marginalization and prejudice makes it difficult for hijras to find jobs, Darji explained, so often their only source of income is begging. When she traveled to Idian and met the hijras, Darji discovered how inaccurate society’s perception of them is. “They were welcoming and invited me to their house to have dinner,” she said. “We became really good friends. I wasn’t expecting that.”

Darji claimed the most challenging part about making the documentary was gaining access to the hijra community. “In India, different districts have their own hijra communities,” she said. There is a tea store next to her grandfather’s temple where hijras spend a lot of time socializing. One morning, Darji received a phone call from her grandfather who then handed the phone to a hijra. This is what allowed Darji to begin making connections with the community.

Then came the next hurdle: building trust. When she arrived in India, Darji said she spent an entire week with hijras to get to know them better before she started filming. “I spent time with them without a camera,” she said. “I wanted to show them that I genuinely cared about them and that I didn’t just want to get amazing footage.”
What Darji learned during her time with hijras is that, although they are marginalized by the wider Indian society, they welcome people like them as family. “They see themselves as having mothers and sisters within that community, so they don’t feel like they are alone,” Darji said. “They feel like they have nowhere else to go except for this community, so they are all on the same journey, and they stick together.”

Darji said she wants more people to understand the hijras’ perspective and accept them as they are. “I want to show an understanding through the film so that people can accept [them],” she told The Concordian. “If you don’t have education for something, how are you going to understand it?”
This is part of Darji’s belief that communication is vital to creating social change and acceptance in our society. “Start conversations,” she asserted, adding that film is a great way of doing so because it captures people’s attention. “Now you know about the hijras—maybe tell your family and friends about it. The best way is talking about it.”

Photo by Sandra Hercegova

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News

Sifting through the archives

Concordia student Neveatha Selvarajah explores Montreal's black history. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Concordia course explores the history of the Negro Community Centre

Last year, Concordia history students who were enrolled in a course titled “Telling Stories” sifted through archives collected from the Negro Community Centre (NCC) for the first time.

“We asked ourselves: ‘What’s in the boxes, and how can we return those stories to the community?” said Steven High, the Concordia history professor in charge of the course. High is also a founding member of the university’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, which offered support and resources to the students for this project.

The students detailed what they found in research papers that were showcased at the public launch of the NCC Archive at the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Liberty Hall in Little Burgundy on April 11, 2017. A year later, new students enrolled in the course continue to explore the history of what was once a cultural and recreational hub for Montreal’s black community.

“The NCC was an important hub in that community from 1927 to 1992,” said High, whose essay “Remembering the Negro Community Centre” was published in the winter 2018 issue of Quebec Heritage News. After the centre closed its doors in 1992, “it was abandoned until five or six years later, when the NCC invited Concordia to go in and save all of these records,” High recounted. “They saved about 100 boxes of material.” The building that used to house the NCC was demolished in 2014.

It is the material from these 100 boxes that Concordia students like Neveatha Selvarajah continue to explore.

“We wanted to understand various social spaces that aid the development of children within the Little Burgundy region,” she said. In addition to the NCC archives, Selvarajah went through online databases documenting the history of childhood spaces for the project. “We interviewed Patrick Thornhill, a lifetime member of the Union United Church on Delisle Street. He explained his experience within the church and within the NCC helped him cope with racism throughout his life,” she said.

Selvarajah said she hopes to open up an online network to continue sharing the stories of the NCC and exploring the Little Burgundy community beyond the classroom setting. “My goal is to work with Little Burgundy when I do my master’s,” she said. “I hope to be able to do a public history through a website and have my thesis as a website.”

Kelann Currie-Williams, a fourth-year communication studies student, was also among the students enrolled in last semester’s edition of “Telling Stories.” She said the research and community work she did through the course did not fulfill all of her wishes to give back to the Little Burgundy community and the larger Montreal black community. In Currie-Williams’s opinion, so much more needs to be done in terms of networking and helping black community centres thrive in Montreal.

“The network needs to be strengthened between all of us,” she said. Currie-Williams’s goal is to create a network of various black community centres in Montreal in the hopes of developing a space similar to the NCC, but that focuses on teaching the long-standing history of blackness in Canada.

“My envisioning would be to see all of these communities working together in such a seamless way. I see that being the future,” she said, adding that she hopes to initiate this project with High during her graduate studies.

“I think Black History Month is really important because it shines a spotlight onto that history, but it should not be limited to February,” High said. “We should be doing it year-round. Montreal’s Black History has been overlooked, and it’s a rich history. When you study Little Burgundy, it’s connected to Harlem, Detroit and global decolonization movements. It’s amazing how interconnected the black diaspora is.”

Feature photo by Alex Hutchins

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Student Life

Diversity and inclusion in video games

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

Game Curious Montreal aims to break stereotypes about dominant gaming culture

The purpose of Game Curious Montreal’s events is to “build bridges between different communities … and create a space for people who feel excluded or marginalized in dominant gaming culture,” according to Carolyn Jong, a collective member of the organization.

Attendees of the latest event, held at Café Aquin on Sunday, Jan. 28., played video games and munched on snacks, but the conversation quickly became a discussion about how the games they played addressed real-life struggles, such as oil mining and the loss of native languages due to colonialism.

In the video game Idle No More: Blockade, for example, players fight stereotypes about Indigenous people rather than physical monsters. “It’s empowering because it shows counter-arguments and ways to push back against those stereotypes,” Jong said. “[The game is] about gathering people to fight back against a corporation that’s trying to put a pipeline through Indigenous lands. I think that’s a good model and message to be shown through games.”

Game Curious Montreal is a working group of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia, a resource centre for student and community research that promotes awareness of grassroots social and environmental activism, according to the QPIRG’s website.

Gersande La Flèche, another collective member, pointed out that Game Curious Montreal events also aim to eradicate stereotypes about gamers. “We are trying to reach out to people who don’t consider themselves ‘gamers’. We want people who don’t know what video games can be or should be,” La Flèche said, emphasizing the importance of keeping an open mind. “Even if you think you’re bad at games, you’re probably not,” they said. “You just probably haven’t found the game that’s made for you.”

Similarly, Jong advises students and gamers not to give up if they feel constrained or excluded from the dominant gaming culture. “You’re not alone. There are lots of other people who probably have felt that way,” she said. “It’s the culture that’s trying to enforce the boundaries. There are a lot of different kinds of skills when it comes to games. Being good at games doesn’t matter.”

La Flèche said they believe supporting video games about resistance is a concrete way to fight back against colonialism. “The game My Grandmother’s Lingo is about [a native language] that colonialism was trying to eradicate,” they explained. “Sharing a game about your grandmother’s language and sharing words is a step of resistance as well as bringing awareness to the issue.”

However, La Flèche encouraged people to show support for Indigenous communities in the real world as well by volunteering and making donations to Indigenous resource centres and homeless shelters. “Supporting murdered and missing Indigenous women is also a big one,” they added. “[We have] women’s marches that draw so many people, so why aren’t we drawing the same amount of people to marches for murdered and missing Indigenous women?”

For Moustafa Chamli, another Game Curious Montreal member, it’s important to support video games that fight against oppression by giving representation to minority groups. “In video games, you rarely get the First Nations or black person perspective,” he said. “The barometre of standard media has been set as cis-hetero-white-male, so any differing view becomes anathema or too different.”

Chamli emphasized the necessity of giving Indigenous people space in society and the gaming world. “They have things to say. They have an anger and sadness that need to be expressed,” he said. “Understand that other cultures deserve to exist and help them grow, not by taking their space but by giving them the space that they should be having.”

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Student Life

Students learn to act from ACT

Autodidacts Concordia Theatre (ACT) welcomed students from all programs to audition for roles in this year’s student-run theatre production. Photo by Kirubel Mehari

The university’s student-run theatre club casts for their second production

Autodidacts Concordia Theatre (ACT) held three auditions from Jan. 23 to 26 for students interested in being part of this year’s student-run play. According to Zoë Bujold, ACT’s co-president, the purpose of the club is to allow students from a range of disciplines to take part in a theatre production. “[It’s] a means for students to express themselves,” she said. “People can act, write or work backstage.”

When the club was first founded in 2016, it primarily hosted weekly workshops “that focused on different aspects of the craft, such as acting, stage presence, voice, projection, improvisation and dance,” said Alexander Luiz Cruz, the club’s treasurer and assistant director.

Last year’s student-written and student-produced performance, titled Swimming Solo, combined comedy and drama, Bujold said. This year’s play, however, will be more serious, centred on life, death and moving on.

“Twelve different souls try to make their way to the afterlife or away from it while stuck in an otherworldly limbo,” Cruz explained. “It’s basically a meditation on the human experience, memory and the finite nature of life, with a dash of hilarity. It’s something that we’ve never done before, so we are really excited.”

According to Cruz, all the proceeds from the performances will go to the Theresa Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps grandmothers and orphaned children of AIDS victims in Malawi. This includes providing funds for school bursaries, wells, bedding and medicine, among other necessities, according to the organization’s website.

“It’s about giving back to the community, not only in Montreal by helping students acquire theatre skills but also a world-wide community,” Cruz said. Last year’s performance raised about $1,200 in ticket sales and donations, he added.

Matias Rittatore, the club’s secretary and assistant stage manager, said ACT is an opportunity for students to prepare themselves for the professional theatre world. “It’s one of those things where you need to get experience to get experience, so we offer people an opportunity to get that first step,” he said, adding that the club gives participants the chance to learn and make mistakes in a low-stakes environment.

“It’s more accessible,” added Dexter Lavery-Callender, the club’s co-president and assistant director. “We hold each other’s hands, and we guide you.”

The Autodidacts Concordia Theatre production will be performed from Wednesday, May 16 to Saturday, May 19 at 8 p.m. at the Mainline Theatre.

Photo by Kirubel Mehari

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Student Life

Writing unapologetically, performing openly

Kafein café-bar celebrated its 100th Poetry Nite show on Jan. 16. Several of the night’s performers opened up about what this art form means to them. Photo by Alex Hutchins

What poetry means to the readers at Kafein café-bar’s 100th Poetry Nite show

Spoken-word poetry not only helps the reader share their personal battles; it also helps listeners who are going through similar experiences, according to poet Eliza Prestley. She was among the group of new and returning poets who shared their work at Kafein café-bar’s 100th Poetry Nite show on Jan. 16.

“It’s a healing process,” she said. “When there are poems that address a topic that multiple people are dealing with, you can hear it in [the audience’s] reactions. There is an understanding that someone else feels this too.”

For Prestley, poetry is an art form that connects with its audience in a way that not many art forms can. “If someone else has written it, they [expressed] what you have felt or what you’ve experienced, but you [wouldn’t have] put it into those exact words,” she said, adding that hearing someone else express an experience you have been through can identify and validate your own experience.

Last Tuesday night, Prestley read two poems centred on the theme of sickness and its challenges. “It’s about different ways that people are sick; how I consider myself sick and how others view me as sick through things like thinking that homosexuality is sick,” she explained.

Mariam Saleh, another reader that evening, described poetry as liberating. “There’s something empowering in telling a room of strangers all of these deep, personal things about yourself and knowing that it’s okay because it’s just a poem,” she said. “It’s about making something beautiful out of emotions that are negative.”

Saleh’s first poem was about her journey to Canada. “My first poem was about being care-free, love and being young,” she explained. “I came here to Montreal after living in Egypt, and I just wanted to encapsulate the feeling of summer and languidness.”

Saleh emphasized the importance of words in our society. “I think everyone is a writer at heart,” she said. “What is really beautiful about humanity is that we have language, and the things we can do with language are really amazing.”

Preksha Ashk, who also read a piece at the event, said poetry is an emotional release. “For me, it’s my therapy. It’s one of those things that kept me going when there was nothing else.”

This wasn’t the first time any of these poets had read at Poetry Nite. According to all three, every time they get up in front of this audience, they can be themselves without judgment. “I’ve performed at Kafein a couple of times,” Saleh said. “It’s a safe space. Especially with sharing art, it puts you in a vulnerable position, and it’s not always easy to do it. It’s always great that there are places like these that are made to be a safe environment where everyone can contribute and share [their poetry] and accept and support each other.”

Prestley, Saleh and Ashk each encouraged students to write unapologetically whenever possible. “Focus on yourself and what you want to share. Don’t think so much [about] how others will react,” Prestley said.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

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Opinions

The French-English language debate… again

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

Opting out of “hi” is demeaning to the thousands of English-speakers in Quebec

On Nov. 30, 111 votes were submitted to the National Assembly endorsing the use of “bonjour” as a substitution for “bonjour, hi” among businesses and the retail industry in Quebec, reported the Montreal Gazette.

Soon after, the hashtag #bonjourhi flooded social media to support keeping the former greeting. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard also made a former federal civil servant, William Floch, the new English-language community secretariat to “rebuild bridges with an estranged English-speaking minority,” reported the Montreal Gazette.

In my opinion, it is totally understandable to use Bill 101 and French immersion to promote French among the children of immigrants and Quebec citizens as a whole. However, asking merchants to omit the word “hi” from store greetings discriminates against anglophones and their right to speak their native language. According to the 2016 census, a total of 286,275 people only speak English in Montreal compared to the 1.4 million people who only speak French.

I believe it is offensive to these citizens because it risks alienating them and making them feel unaccepted when they arrive at a store and are not greeted in their spoken language.

While it is true that French is the official language in Quebec, it is also true that multiculturalism and diversity are celebrated within the province. Therefore, I believe that, in order to be true to our values and avoid hypocrisy, we ought to keep the “bonjour, hi” greeting to maintain an inclusive environment for both francophones and anglophones—not to mention allophones who might still be learning either language.

Giving customers the choice to speak either French or English is much more convenient than leaving them with only one option. Many people are not comfortable speaking French or they feel self-conscious about their fluency. Therefore, stripping away someone’s choice to speak a language is wrong because it goes against their freedom of expression and risks leaving them uncomfortable.

I believe there are other ways to encourage Quebecers to speak French that do not infringe on their freedom of expression. These alternatives can include playing more French radio stations in certain retail stores and businesses, and the promotion of French advertisements on public transit and in shopping malls.

We must allow the members of our society to decide which language they prefer to speak because it’s a personal decision. Choosing one language over another shouldn’t be forced on customers. We should allow the client to decide, especially in a customer service environment where their needs should be heard and met. It completely defeats the purpose of customer service when you are putting the customer in an uncomfortable position.

In addition, many anglophone customers are less likely to return to a store if they feel unwelcomed. Therefore, this change could negatively affect a business’ sales in the long-run. We need to remember that Quebec is a province within Canada—where the official languages are both English and French.

Lastly, Montreal is a very tourist-friendly city, and we must maintain our hospitality towards visitors by showing how bilingual and multicultural our city can be. I believe this push towards bonjour-only would discourage English-speaking tourists from travelling to Montreal.

This discrimination will only hurt the government in the long-run because many citizens who feel threatened by this rise of a French-speaking environment may choose to leave the province and make a new life for themselves elsewhere. According to CBC News, 10,175 anglophones left Quebec between 2011 and 2016. Although the economy was a large factor in that change, we can’t ignore the possibility that anglophones might feel uncomfortable living in a province that doesn’t respect their language preference.

Do we really want to foster an environment where anglophones, immigrants and tourists are not accepted in a city that strongly promotes diversity?

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Student Life

The ever-evolving world of fashion business

The Fashion Business Uncovered conference invited entrepreneurs in the fashion industry to discuss retail. Photo by Alex Hutchins

The Fashion Business Uncovered conference gathers entrepreneurs to discuss the future of retail

A gathering of world-renowned entrepreneurs shared their experiences in the fashion industry on Nov. 17 during the fifth edition of the Fashion Business Uncovered conference, hosted by advertising company Sid Lee.

Among these entrepreneurs were Gregoire Baret, a general manager for Aldo Group; Marie-Pierre Bossé, a store manager for the Montreal-based Groupe Dynamite, which includes the Dynamite and Garage brands; and Hugo Thibault, the senior director of global communications and digital marketing for the coat brand Mackage.

According to Megan Munroe, the co-executive director of Fashion Business Uncovered, this year’s event brought together more invitees and speakers than previous years. “The reason why everyone is here is because they want a career in fashion, so we really wanted to pay homage to that,” she said.

Charles de Brabant, executive director of the McGill University Bensadoun School of Retail Management, was invited as a guest speaker. Photo by Alex Hutchins

Inviting successful entrepreneurs from the fashion industry to speak at these events, Munroe added, is a great way to shed light on the success stories of people in the industry and showcase different perspectives about fashion. “The essence of our event is to educate people who may only have an education in business and how they can apply that to a hobby they are really passionate about [like fashion],” Munroe said. “Our goal is to show that there are so many ways that you can work in the fashion industry that extend beyond just designing or modelling.”

Several of the speakers emphasized how fashion and business are changing rapidly. According to Baret, the main issue now is that retail stores are trying to compete with the efficiency online stores, such as Amazon, provide costumer’s. “It forces the industry to redefine the role of retail stores,” he said. “The waiting time [for customers] has shortened because of offers and commerce. Now, it is normal to instantly get your product, a wider set of choices and instant product recommendations.”

However, Baret said he still believes in the importance of human contact in the consumer’s experience. “Today, despite everything, the physical moments in a retail store are important for giving advice and guidance, as well as the physical contact with the product,” he said. He also pointed out that technology cannot replace face-to-face communication. “It gives you a human side, a point of view where technology cannot replace a seller or a human,” Baret said, adding that these interactions in retail “help to give a supplementary quality service.”

Gregoire Baret, general manager for Aldo Group advised business students to take risks and learn from their failures. Photo by Alex Hutchins

According to Charles de Brabant, the executive director of the McGill University Bensadoun School of Retail Management, changes in the technology and fashion industries are giving companies new ways to grow their business. “The biggest change is in the digital space, from social media to e-commerce,” he said. “It allows certain business models to survive and thrive, because the community is a global community and that’s the way fashion has evolved.”

Despite all the changes, de Brabant pointed out that the fashion business industry still makes a difference in the lives of consumers. “The reason why I love this industry is because it touches the heart, and if you get it right, you make people’s lives happier,” he said. “This is an industry where you have got to show some passion, love and understanding.”

Baret emphasized importance of being creative and bold in business, citing Netflix’s toppling of  traditional film rental stores such as Blockbuster. According to Baret, the business idea of Netflix is one that inspires innovation and risk-taking.“Today, if you want to stay relevant for consumers, you need to be bold,” he said. “You need to be brave and you need to be able to take such risks and adapt to new environments.”

As such, Baret advises business students to take risks and to learn from their failures. “We see that in many success stories; the first couple of years were difficult. You need to be able to take risks, be able to adapt, be able to learn from your small and big failures and continue to advance.”

Photos by Alex Hutchins

Categories
Opinions

The real reason behind gun violence in the U.S.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

Blaming mental illness for shooting massacres is offensive and misleading

Blaming mental illness for gun violence is not okay, and I believe President Donald Trump is only causing more harm when he encourages the use of guns to supposedly prevent gun violence.

On Nov. 5, a gunman opened fire at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, reported The New York Times. The shooter was later found dead in his car and identified by authorities as Devin Patrick Kelley. He killed 26 people.
Trump, who was in Japan at the time, blamed the shooting on mental illness. He called the tragedy “a mental health problem at the highest level” and described the shooter as a “very deranged individual,” according to The New York Times. I believe Trump is using mental illness as a scapegoat for acts of violence. He also specified that “this isn’t a guns situation,” according to the same source. This further proves his incompetence as president.

In my opinion, Trump is unable to tackle this nationwide issue in an objective fashion. He is turning away from the real issue destroying the lives of many Americans each year. According to the not-for-profit corporation Gun Violence Archive, approximately 13,286 people were killed in the United States by firearms in 2015.

Not only is blaming gun violence on mental illness largely false, it is also offensive and misleading. Doing so increases the stigma around mental illness and perpetuates the incorrect assumption that mentally ill people are violent. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the majority of people with mental illness are no more likely to be violent than anyone else. Only three to five per cent of violent acts in the United States can be attributed to individuals with serious mental illness, according to the same source.

Not only does Trump fail to assign fault where it is due, I believe he is promoting gun violence. Two days after the Texas shooting, the president praised another man in the church who shot Kelley. “If he didn’t have a gun,” Trump claimed, “instead of having 26 dead, you would have had hundreds more dead. That’s how I feel about it,” reported NBC News. With his pro-gun stance, Trump is fostering the view that gun ownership helps prevent massacres, and gun misuse is due to mental illness.

While I do believe mental illness and the availability of psychological services in the United States needs to be addressed, I think it is clear that gun control is what will prevent so many mass shootings from happening. The best way to prevent these tragedies is to ban the weapons that are used to hurt so many rather than promote equally violent retaliation. In the aftermath of the 2006 Dawson shooting here in Montreal, the college built a garden to promote a peaceful, safe space and began offering a non-violent communication course for students to take as an elective. I strongly believe this is the type of attitude the American president needs to have if there is any hope of lessening the number of tragedies his country regularly faces.

Following Trump’s response to the Texas shooting, the hashtag #LivingWithMentalIllnessIs began trending on Twitter. This is a positive step towards something bigger. This hashtag gives people who live with mental illness a platform where they can share their stories and disprove Trump’s views of why gun violence takes place. I also hope this hashtag promotes peaceful communication between people and ends the stigmatization of mental illness as a dangerous or violent disorder.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Student Life

A look at global warming through a camera lens

Members of Concordia's Italian Studies Association alongside photojournalist Luca Bracali. Photo by Enrico Barbini

Photojournalist, explorer and environmentalist Luca Bracali uses photography to help save our planet

Some educate in classrooms. Others, like Luca Bracali, an Italian photojournalist, explorer and environmentalist, aim to educate youth about global warming through a camera lens.

“My job is to try to save a bit of our planet,” said Bracali at a talk hosted by Concordia’s Italian Studies Association (ISA) on Nov. 6. “I am really in love with our planet because it belongs to everybody. It is the only thing that we need to share.”

Bracali wanted people around the world to understand the importance of the environment, and he chose photography as the medium because it is “the most international language of all,” he said.

Bracali’s love of photography started when he was a child. “When I was really young, I was really shy. I decided to start with photography [as an outlet].” His career began with photographing cars and fashion models, but he soon realized taking photos of material possessions was not fulfilling.

In 1991, when Bracali began travelling the world, he discovered his true mission—to help save the planet using photography. “I fell in love with this after my first trip,” he said. Since then, Bracali has traveled to 140 countries and worked for National Geographic. His photography focuses on capturing the natural world’s picturesque mountains, wildlife, northern lights, deserts, prairies and icebergs.

Photojournalist Luca Bracali gave a talk at Concordia University on Nov. 6. Photo by Enrico Barbini

In 2003, Bracali traveled to Antarctica to visit the Vernadsky Research Base where a hole in the ozone layer was first discovered back in 1985. It was during this trip that Bracali decided he wanted to explore the topic of global warming and find ways to help protect the planet.

According to Bracali, one of his most challenging trips was a visit to the North Pole. “It’s something that I had done once in my life, and it’s the only trip I would not do twice.” He said even the simplest things, such as water to drink, were difficult to come by. “You don’t have anything to drink […] you have to melt and dig the snow,” he said. “As soon as you remove your gloves, you can get frostbites. You use fire to melt the snow and, finally, you can drink something.”

The greatest threat Bracali faced on that trip, however, was the possibility of encountering a polar bear. “You go to sleep with a gun,” he said. “If the bear enters your tent, you have to find the gun [in the dark].”

Bracali said the ultimate goal of his photographs is to show the danger our planet faces because of global warming. “I try to capture something related to ice-melting, [or] something that is there now that won’t be there anymore in 20 years, such as ice or polar bears,” he said.

When discussing the everyday habits people can change to help save the planet and reduce waste, Bracali emphasized the importance of conserving water. “For showers, maybe you can have two or three showers maximum per week,” he said. He also suggested people avoid long showers by turning off the water when using soap and only turning it back on to rinse off. “Water is a precious element,” Bracali added.

According to Giuliano Sandoval, president of Concordia’s ISA, the purpose of Bracali’s talk was to actively raise awareness about global warming. “We can make a difference, even in the smallest action. We all need to be concerned with our planet,” he said. “Things are changing, and global warming is happening. People need to be conscious of it.”

Olivia Venneri, the vice-president of finance for Concordia’s ISA, said the talk was part of the association’s initiative to advocate for the environment and educating young people. This included going “to elementary schools, high schools and CEGEPs to talk about the environment.”

During his talk, Bracali also offered advice to aspiring photographers. “Be ambitious but very humble,” he said. “Have a project on your mind and try to develop it as much as you can. With technology nowadays, everything is so easy, so you must keep a very focused project on your mind.”

He later told The Concordian: “My goal is trying to teach young people how to preserve and take care of our planet. I want to go to elementary [schools] and to universities to show [students] the beauty of our planet,” he said. “It’s your planet. Please open your eyes.”

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Student Life

The issue of over-diagnosing in psychiatry

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

McGill’s Dr. Joel Paris discussed the line between pathology and normalcy

While the leaves fell and the seasonal blues kicked in, Dr. Joel Paris, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University, gave a lecture on Oct. 30 about the dangers and consequences of over-diagnosing in psychiatry.

According to Paris, there is no rule of thumb when it comes to differentiating between being sad and experiencing depression. “What is the difference between being unhappy and having a mental disorder? This is not so easy,” he said to those gathered at McGill’s Robert Palmer Howard Amphitheatre. “It is difficult to establish any clear boundary between pathology and normality.”

Over-diagnosis is when an illness or disorder is diagnosed more often than is actually present in patients, Paris explained. Along with under-diagnosis, it is the biggest issue in psychiatry at the moment, according to Paris. “Either you miss something or claim that something is there when it isn’t there,” he said.

Paris told lecture attendees that most psychiatrists tend to favour over-diagnosis when in doubt. Disorders such as schizophrenia are easier to diagnose due to specific symptoms that arise in those affected with the illness, he explained. However, symptoms for disorders such as classical bipolar disorder can be similar to other illnesses, increasing the likelihood of misdiagnosis or over-diagnosis.

“Over-diagnosis leads to overtreatment,” Paris said. “Antibiotics are the classic example, where people with colds get antibiotics. This creates an antibiotic resistance in the population.”

According to Paris, about 11 per cent of Canadians are currently on antidepressants. He said this number demonstrates that antidepressants are being over-prescribed, which is a consequence of over-diagnosis. “People in my field are handing out prescriptions like it’s nobody’s business when it comes to antidepressants, and antipsychotics too,” he said.

According to Paris, over-diagnosis and over-prescribing in psychology and psychiatry has affected the way society views diagnoses of mental illness. He called it a diagnostic epidemic. As he explained, the problem lies in people discussing symptoms as if they were professionally-made diagnoses. “The media picks this up and feeds these epidemics. People talk about these things, even socialize it,” Paris said. The fact that it is common for people to declare, “I think I have ADHD” or “my father is bipolar” without a diagnosis exemplifies this, he added.

In looking at mental disorders and the degree to which they are over-diagnosed, Paris said he has found some common mistakes in the diagnosis of everything from depression and bipolar disorder to post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and personality disorders. For example, some professionals are likely to diagnose a highly introverted person with Asperger’s syndrome, Paris explained. “People who are highly-introverted just like to be alone,” he said, adding that this does not necessarily mean they fit the diagnostic criteria of the autism spectrum.

According to Paris there needs to be change in the field of psychiatry and in the way our healthcare system addresses mental health. “If everyone in the population received 20 sessions of psychotherapy, the government health system would save a lot of money,” he said as an example.

Mental health services, such as psychotherapy, also receive less funding compared to treatments for physical conditions because of the stigma around mental illness and a common fear in society of being diagnosed with a mental disorder, Paris explained. “I think people hate people with mental disorders because they are afraid to have one themselves,” he said.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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Student Life

The city’s oldest costume rental shop

A glimpse into the closet of Joseph Ponton Costumes shop. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Joseph Ponton Costumes celebrates 152 years of business in Montreal

At a time when temporary Halloween costume shops pop up in every available storefront, Joseph Ponton Costumes is celebrating 152 years of creating and renting out costumes. “We first opened our store in the Old Port area of Montreal back in 1865,” said Carmelle Gagné, the co-owner of Joseph Ponton Costumes. “After 149 years, we decided to move [to Hochelaga-Maisonneuve] in August 2014 due to the fact that we all live nearby and it is more convenient for us.”

Co-owner of Joseph Ponton Costumes, Carmelle Gagné gave us a tour of the costume rental shop. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Gagné said many students have chosen to rent rather than purchase costumes for Halloween this year. “Many students are coming [to our store] wanting to be film characters. This year, students want costumes of characters in Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek and Superheroes,” she said. “Young people come in groups, and they have a lot of fun just dressing up.”

 

Gagné said it’s important for the store to update its costumes to attract a younger crowd. “Our costumes change every year depending on what’s in fashion. This year, many students are requesting costumes of the clown from the It movie by Stephen King,” Gagné said, adding that Halloween costume requests often depend on what movies and TV shows are popular at the time.“Some of the other popular choices include vampire and demon costumes, especially with films these days, and also clothing from the Middle Ages,” said Jocelyne Brassard, the former owner and now a part-time employee at Joseph Ponton. According to Gagné, one costume that seems to be ageless and unaffected by trends is the cowboy. “Many children and young adults want to be cowboys,” she said. “It is the costume that is the most widely requested by all ages every year.”

Upstairs at Joseph Ponton, costumes are organized by time period. “From hippies to cowboys, we have costumes of all ages, including outfits from the 20s and the 60s,” she said. Downstairs, the selection is a little more miscellaneous, with costumes ranging from the characters in films like Back to the Future to comic book characters and superheros, including the Hulk, Wolverine, Superman, Batman, the Joker and Harley Quinn. “We even have costumes for people who want to dress up in groups such as multiple characters of Star Trek,” Gagné added.

The atelier where costumes get created and altered. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Aside from co-owning the store, Gagné works as a seamstress for Joseph Ponton Costumes. She especially enjoys creating handmade Victorian-style costumes. “I first started making costumes for theatres, and now I do it for Joseph Ponton Costumes,” she said. As for renting a costume, the price ranges from $35 to $150. “When people come here, we ask for a deposit, which is the same price of the costume,” Brassard said. “The rental period is from Thursday to Monday for weekends, and 48 hours for weekdays.”

According to Brassard, since many people order their costumes online these days, the ones who come to the store are people who want to specifically try out the garments or find unique costumes. “Here, that is our specialty,” Brassard said. “When we first opened, our goal was [and still is] to provide handmade costumes for our customers.”

Although shopping for costumes online has become a trend over the past years, Brassard recommends students come experience what the store has to offer. “You need to at least come and visit,” she said, emphasizing the shop’s handmade selection. “See what we have to offer because we do have many beautiful costumes that you cannot find elsewhere.”

Photos by Mackenzie Lad

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