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Student Life

The unbalanced world of technology

Photo by Alex Hutchins.

President of the Harvey Mudd College discusses women in tech programs and careers

Concordia’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering invited Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College (HMC) to discuss the lack of women in the tech world, the progress that is already underway and what still needs to be done.

Harvey Mudd College president, Maria Klawe. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

HMC is a private school located in California, dedicated to the study of science, engineering and mathematics. At the lecture on Nov. 7, Klawe discussed the lack of gender diversity in the tech industry and how HMC is finding innovative ways to change that.

According to a 2013 Atlantic article, “We Need More Women in Tech: The Data Proves It,” women’s participation in the tech industry has decreased over the last decade. Similarly, Klawe’s own research found that, more than any other STEM discipline (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), computer science programs in North America have seen women’s enrolment decline from mid-30 per cent in the 80s to approximately 15 per cent today.

In an effort to recruit more students, Concordia offers small amounts of award money to incite top students to enroll into technology programs.

Klawe said there needs to be improvement in the enrollment process for female undergraduate students in computer science and engineering programs worldwide.  That being said, she also believes the problem goes beyond school, and into the workforce.  First, to successfully recruit female candidates, Klawe proposed that hiring committees be  trained to avoid gender biases.  “What we all need to accept about ourselves is that we grow up in a culture that makes us more likely to think that nurses are going to be female and engineering and computer scientists will be male,” said Klawe.

According to a 2010 research report from the National Center for Women and Information Technology, authors Catherine Ashcraft and Sarah Plithe found that 56 per cent of women working in the tech industry leave their organizations at the mid-level point of the careers, in other words, after 10 to 20 years. Klawe said this is because of women’s own perceptions that they lack the same advancement opportunities as their male colleagues. Therefore, she said, there should be more effort made to keep these women in the tech industry.

“If we make learning and work environments interesting and supportive, build confidence and community among women and demystify success, women will come, thrive and stay [in tech careers],” said Klawe.

The demand for people graduating with computer science and engineering degrees is higher than Klawe has seen in her lifetime. The jobs within the computer science discipline are flexible and pay well, but Klawe said the most important reason more women are needed in tech careers is because they provide different backgrounds and perspectives. She thinks this would lead to more creativity and better solutions to problems.

In addition to her work with HMC, Klawe is also the co-founder of the Computer Research Association (CRA), which was founded in 1991. CRA’s goal is to find ways to get more women in computer research institutions. The association also developed the Distributed Mentor Project (DMP), which allows female undergraduate students to conduct a research project in their field of interest with the guidance of a female mentor from a university faculty different from their own.

“We need more women in academia because, from research, we know that it is important for young women to see role models, and, often the faculty that they are going to interact with are those role models,” Klawe explained. Indeed, a 2015 Higher Education Statistics Agency report found that, globally, only 22 per cent of university professors are women.

HMC has increased its percentage of female computer science majors from 10 per cent to 40 per cent since Klawe’s arrival at the college in 2006.

Maria Klawe. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The college’s department of computer science revamped its program in 2005, grouping students in computer science introductory classes depending on their prior experience and knowledge in the discipline. This initiative was created in an effort to make female and male students feel like they belong, and can work together on the same level, within the tech industry.

HMC also arranges for first-year undeclared major students to be taken to the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, where 90 per cent of attendees are women. The conference is the world’s largest annual gathering of women from the technology industry. Klawe said this conference is a good way to expose students to successful women from the industry. “[Students] will be inspired,” said Klawe, “and no matter what they major in later on, they will know that there are tons of technical women who have great experiences in their careers.”

While advocates like Klawe strive for more balance between women and men in the tech world, she emphasized that this is not a solo mission for women. “It is not the women that need to fix the imbalance,” she said. Ultimately, Klawe said entire communities need to decide if the representation of women in the tech world should be a priority.

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Student Life

My experience with learning disabilities

Graphic by Thom Bell

One Concordia student’s experience dealing with dyslexia and learning disabilities

It is without question that the greatest thing dyslexia has taught me is patience.

In elementary school, I didn’t start out on the same even playing field as the rest of the kids when it came to reading.  It was obvious to everyone. As a kid, being dyslexic and having memory problems felt like I was trying to join in on a game that, not only did I not know the rules to, but that I wasn’t allowed to play. It was incredibly alienating.

While my friends were reading Magic Tree House books, I couldn’t even read street signs. I knew I was different. At the time, the only logical conclusion I could come to was that I must not be very smart. When you’re nine years old and you think you’re dumb because you can’t read, spell, do math or really participate in school… well it almost shut me down.

Fortunately, I was lucky.  My parents decided to remove me from the French immersion program I was in at the time, and transferred me to a school with a special education program.  I know this was a delicate and serious decision for my parents to make.  Transferring schools meant uprooting the entire social life of a child who was already dealing with severe emotional anxiety.

Obviously, I think they worried that I had trouble making friends. After all, I was a rash-covered, highly nervous little kid who spent the majority of the day in a separate special education class. I only recently found out that my dad was so worried about me during this time that, after dropping me off at school in the mornings, he would sometimes sit in the car and just cry before driving away to work.

I say that I am incredibly lucky because I had a good support system and hard work on my part eventually made things easier.  Also, lots of educational testing, being given the resources I needed in my special education program and having amazing teachers who were thoughtful, kind, passionate, patient and incredibly dedicated made a huge difference. I was given the time and opportunity to come into my own, in a protected bubble where my results on educational testing didn’t matter.

At Concordia, I am still benefiting from the same kinds of resources I had back in elementary school, thanks in large part to the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities and some of the amazing and accommodating professors I have had during my time at Concordia.

My only piece of advice for those with learning disabilities, or for their family members, is to be patient. It can be a very long road when you have a learning disability, so it’s important to celebrate the small victories and remain determined. This patience and hard work will hopefully bring you closer to your goals and to success in school and life, as it did for me.

Graphic by Thom Bell

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Student Life

My experience with name discrimination

Graphic by Thom Bell

Last year, my roommate invited me to go back home with her to Vermont for the weekend.

As a Canadian citizen, I did not expect any problems at the border. When we got there, the border patrol agent took our passports in order to identify us. The officer breezed through my roommate’s passport. He read her Western name aloud, calmly. With my passport in his hand, he paused. His demeanour changed.

It is important to note that, although I identify with the name Jenny, my legal name is Jihan.  Ironically, Jenny is not a nickname to appeal to western preferences. My mother and father had differing ideas of what they wanted to name me, so they compromised. One would be my legal name and one would be the name they would call me. Thus, although I have a traditional eastern name as well as a traditional western name, I did not choose either nor did I choose which one would I would identify with.

The agent looked at the name on my passport with what I can only describe as a hybrid look of disgust and frustration. Finally, he looked at me and asked, “What’s your name?” as if he would not even allow himself to say it aloud. Sheepishly, I replied “Jihan… sorry.” He gave me one last look of distaste and stamped my passport.

As we drove off, my roommate was incredulous.  She couldn’t believe how rude the agent had been, but she also couldn’t believe I had apologized.

Apologizing for my own name to that agent was the result of 21 years worth of microaggressions that I have had to silently endure as a minority raised in Canada.

That instance of discrimination was not the first, nor would it be the last. My name would go on to cause more unpleasant reactions from people attempting to pronounce it.

When I was younger, I hated when a substitute teacher would come to class because I knew what would happen during attendance. This stranger would do what every other stranger did to my name: they would stumble on it and proceed to get frustrated or embarrassed.

To be clear, I don’t believe the problem lies in the mispronunciation of my name or any other non-Western name. The problem occurs when my name is perceived as an inconvenience to those unfamiliar with it.

In my experience, this feeling of inconvenience usually leads to a feeling of aversion.

It is in every face that is scrunched up, not in confusion but in frustration. It is in every careless pronunciation of a name, butchered, with no apology. It is in every shortening or changing of a non-Western name to make it sound more Western. For example, some people legally change their names because it is a commonly accepted fact that it will be easier for minorities to get a job this way.

These are all microaggressions that may not be noticeable to those doing it, but the “othering” that occurs through them has real impacts on the self esteem and self identification of those receiving them.

It is through these types of microaggressions that we see larger, more overt results of discrimination and racial stereotyping such as categorizing typical African American names, and thus the people with those names, as “ghetto”, or traditional Arab names (and people) as “dangerous”.

Unfortunately, this demonstrates that discrimination can occur in far more insidious ways than we actively know about.

Graphic by Thom Bell

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Student Life

Food isn’t always good for the skin

Graphic by Thom Bell

Lemon juice treatments, baking soda masks, sugar scrubs—type “DIY acne treatment” into Google, and you are likely to find a slew of articles that praise these treatments and other common household items for their alleged pimple-fighting benefits.

But are these trending DIY ingredients truly effective in treating pesky skin ailments? The kind of skin-care advice found in many women’s magazines, as well as in online beauty and health articles, may actually be ruining your skin.

Let’s begin with the widely-acclaimed beauty blog miracle ingredient: lemon. A health.com article titled “15 Home Remedies to Make a Pimple Vanish,” advises readers to “wipe lemon juice across your pimples with a cotton ball, and leave it on overnight.”

This common skin care treatment overlooks an important aspect of our skin’s chemical makeup: its acid mantle. The acid mantle is the skin’s barrier to bacteria, viruses and other potential contaminants—it is measured by pH.  Through their research for Wake Forest University’s department of dermatology in North Carolina, Dr. Saba Ali and Dr. Gil Yosipovitch stressed the importance of the skin’s acid mantle.

Ali and Yosipovitch expressed in their research paper some concern over the disregard to acid mantle.  They argued that skin’s acid mantle is vital, and that “recognizing factors that alter skin pH and selecting products that preserve the acid mantle is of prime importance” in treating skin.

Exogenous factors, like products that are too acidic (low pH) or too alkaline (high pH), cause damage to the skin’s barrier and lead to “compromised skin,” according to a research paper by American dermatologist, James Del Rosso.

Lemon juice has a pH level of two, while human skin is roughly 5.5. Therefore, Del Rosso explained, this difference in pH levels means using lemon juice on your face can lead to loss of skin elasticity, increased skin rigidity and acne.

According to a 2014 research paper by endocrinologist Dr. Stacey E Anderson and dermatologist Dr. Barbara Jean Meade, having compromised skin can make you more at risk to toxic chemicals that irritate and further damage the skin.  This is because, if the skin’s pH is compromised, chemicals can get through the outer layer of the skin, and inside the body.

Another popular ingredient seen in amateur skin care articles is baking soda. According to Doctor Oz’s website, “you don’t need harsh chemicals to fight acne. Try a mixture of baking soda and honey to help clear skin.”

Baking soda is an alkaline, with a pH of nine. Whether alkaline or acidic, Anderson and Meade’s research found that the pH of daily skin care products is very important to protect the skin barrier.  Baking soda’s pH is, therefore, just too high for skin to handle.

However, some household items are proven to be good remedies.  The aforementioned skin-clearing mixture of honey and baking soda, while best to be avoided, includes honey. In a research publication for the Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, dermatologists Tahereh Eteraf-Oskouei and Moslem Najafi explored honey’s benefits.  They argued that topical application of honey has healing effects for superficial skin burns and operation wounds, making honey a safe ingredient in DIY skin care treatments.  Honey’s average pH is 3.9, but can range anywhere from 3.4 to 6.1.

While some websites may provide acne-sufferers faulty skin care advice, online communities exist to counteract the wave of careless information. Forums on Reddit, for example, pride themselves on circulating facts about skin care discovered in scientific journals.

Graphic by Thom Bell

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Student Life

Discussing death in a positive way

University of the Streets Café hosts a discussion on embracing death

Attendees and speakers discussed embracing and accepting death through rituals at the University of the Streets Café event held on Nov. 4.

The conversation was held in honour of the Latin American holiday Dia de los Muertos, which translates to “day of the dead.”  The public holiday is mostly associated with Mexico, where it originated, but is also celebrated in the rest of Latin America. This holiday, which was celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2, unfolds as a festival, with lots of face painting, dancing, music and remembering.

The discussion featured speakers Kit Racette, who runs regular Death Cafés that allow people to speak openly and freely about death in a non-judgmental environment, and Lilia Luna Gonzalez, who grew up in Mexico and, as such, offered a different cultural perspective on the subject of death and insight on Mexican rituals surrounding it.

About 20 people gathered at the Ruche d’Art St-Henri, a small art studio filled with artwork and candles, to discuss death and its many different aspects. The discussion explored the cultural norms surrounding death, dealing with both grieving and accepting one’s own death, different methods of burial and other similar topics. Anyone present at the discussion was encouraged to take part in the discourse. The conversation was moderated by Genevieve Brown, a Concordia student.

Racette voiced her beliefs regarding the way modern Western societies handle death. “For me, the question of death is really important,” she said. “When was the last time you actually had a conversation about death? There’s a modern-day absence of the relationship with death, that people have had for thousands of years… There is an absence of ritual.”

She spoke about how death is often perceived negatively in modern Western culture, rather than as something that’s an unavoidable part of life. “The idea that death is a failure is deeply ingrained in our culture,” she said. She believes that embracing death is an important part of life. “When we realize that our days are limited, we give ourselves the chance to value every day, every encounter, every moment,” she said.

The Death Café project was started in 2010 by a British man named Jon Underwood. Now, people host Death Cafés in their homes and public venues in over 30 countries. Racette has hosted numerous Death Cafés, including this event, in the greater Montreal region.

Gonzalez, who grew up in Mexico, shared her experiences with death from a different cultural point of view. She went over many key differences between how death is looked at in Mexico versus how it is handled in Canada and the US.

For example, she said, “Here, we’re obsessed with control, both in how we die and what happens after.” She spoke about how, in Mexico, death is seen as much less taboo and negative. She shared anecdotes about how, throughout her childhood, the annual Dia de los Muertos celebrations were focused on remembering those who were lost in a positive way, with brightly coloured artwork and flowers in abundance. She mentioned that, in Mexico, death isn’t usually seen as something to be feared—it’s simply a part of life.

Many of the meeting’s attendees shared stories and personal experiences with death, which fit with both Racette’s goal of encouraging discourse about death and Gonzalez’s personal recollections of how Mexican culture treats it.

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Student Life

The healthy side with Fardad

Graphic by Thom Bell

The human balance: How does our body achieve balance?

The human body is a crazy, fascinating thing. It works hard to keep all its systems balanced.  As students, we know it’s not easy to be balanced.  Let’s look at how the human body works, and how it is able to keep that balance.

As with many other complex life forms, humans are made of living biological units called cells. Cells are basic units of life—all living things are made up of one or more cells.

  • Humans are made up of more than 30 trillion cells—of many different types. Your muscle cells and brain cells are worlds apart.
  • Similar cells in your body with similar functions and structures work together to form tissue, like muscle tissue or nerve tissue. Tissues work together to do a particular job. For example, your heart pumps blood throughout your body, and your lungs oxygenate your blood. These tissues are collectively called organs.
  • Different organs also work together. Your circulatory system, which includes your heart, your blood and blood vessels, and your lungs, transports nutrients and oxygen through your body, among other functions. These organs are collectively called organ systems.
  • Finally, an organism is a collection of organ systems working together to form an entity, such as humans, animals, plants, fungi or bacteria.

As you see, the human body is a very complex system. All humans are formed from a marriage between two cells: a sperm and an egg.  Doesn’t it make you wonder how all these different types of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems cooperate and coordinate with each other in almost perfect harmony? How did we develop to be this complex machine with a high cognitive function?  And what happens when a part in this complex machine fails?

Let’s define health and disease. A human is healthy when all these parts work well and in harmony with each other. This is called homeostasis—keeping a relatively stable environment, suitable for continual maintenance and growth. The keyword here is relatively, which is important because, depending on the specific system, the body is tolerant towards some turbulence. For example, your body can tolerate a dramatic change in external temperature. When the environmental temperature changes suddenly, your body will immediately work to compensate the negative change and return your body to a favourable temperature.

You have hardwired mechanisms that counterbalance negative changes in your body. Some of these changes encompass a relatively generous range, as with temperature, but some encompass a much narrower range. For instance, blood pH (i.e. its acidity) is tightly controlled between 7.35 and 7.45. Your body keeps a close eye on these levels. A sudden change in pH can be fatal: think alcohol intoxication, as an example. If you binge drink too fast, there may be no coming back. Unfortunately, this is not as uncommon as we’d like to think.

Basically, for all intents and purposes, homeostasis means health. A severe deviation from a homeostatic state causes unease… so we call it a disease.  Diseases can be caused by a multitude of sources. It can be external such as viruses, bacteria and fungi or internal such as cancer, genetics and old age.

Fardad is a science student here at Concordia. He wants to share his research and learning about the science field with the Concordia community.

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Student Life

Relearning what it means to be Cree

Joseph Naytowhow performing a Cree song. Photo by Danielle Gasher

Cree storyteller discusses his return to Indigenous culture and ways of learning

Cree storyteller, actor, musician and residential school survivor Joseph Naytowhow discussed his approach to “Cree ways of knowing” during a lecture held at Concordia on Nov. 2.

The lecture was organized by the university’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture, and was moderated by David Howes, a professor of anthropology and co-director of Concordia’s Centre for Sensory Studies.

In a packed conference room on the Hall building’s seventh floor, Howes introduced Naytowhow to the sea of attendees with warmth and pride. “One of our purposes this afternoon is to explore what it might mean to indigenize a university education,” said Howes.  “It’s precisely that idea of bridging the distance between the academy, Concordia University, and Cree ways of knowing that we are here to explore this afternoon.”

Naytowhow, who was born in Sturgeon Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, discussed his past and personal experiences of embracing and relearning his Cree culture. When Naytowhow got out of the residential school system after 13 years, he felt he had to relearn how to be Cree. “I was empty. There was nothing… I was basically Canadian,” said Naytowhow.

Residential schools were introduced in Canada as a means of assimilation.  The school system was put in place by the Canadian government in 1880, and the last residential school closed in 1986. The Catholic Church ran these schools, which aimed to assimilate aboriginal children into mainstream Canadian society, into the English language and into the Christian faith.

Naytowhow attended All Saints residential school in Saskatchewan. There, Naytowhow said he faced different forms of abuse, which made him feel detached from his culture and language.  The experience also affected his confidence and sense of self-worth.

“I’m still working on forgiving the Anglicans,” he said. “They really did a number on me and my people, my relatives, my family.”

Naytowhow said it was an elder he met at the University of Saskatchewan, where he was pursuing an undergraduate degree in education, who reintroduced him to what he lost during his time at All Saints. The elder, Solomon Mosquito, inspired him to re-embrace  his culture and language and to begin a healing process using the Cree way of seeing life.

Photo by Danielle Gasher

“Something tweaked inside of me that I had to go and spend time with him. So I missed classes,” he said. Naytowhow described the Cree way of learning as experiencing things with all senses, with open-mindedness, with forgiveness and with an appreciation for the elements, living beings and nature.

Naytowhow recalled a comparison Mosquito made that helped him understand how expansive the Cree way of thinking, learning and being is. He said Mosquito compared the Cree way of knowing to the pharmaceutical aisles in a drugstore, because of how vast and diverse it is.  “It just totally placed that image right in my mind…What a great way to explain it,” said Naytowhow, laughing.

While Naytowhow didn’t directly address what universities can do to bring Indigenous knowledge to school curriculums, he said that “learning is about observation, insight,” and that schools could benefit from using that approach in classrooms across Canada.

Universities across Canada are starting to introduce ways to further bridge the gap between Indigenous ways of learning and universities.  According to a University Affairs 2016 article, “Indigenizing the academy,” the University of Regina, Brock University, Lakehead University and the University of Winnipeg, among others, have introduced measures to better include and represent Indigenous culture in their teaching.

Naytowhow said that relearning his Cree culture has helped and still helps him heal from his past in the residential school system. “I can’t hang on to this grudge forever—it’s going to kill me. I’m working on that.”

Indeed, Naytowhow still heavily works on healing and put a lot of importance on forgiveness once he started getting back in touch with his “Cree side.” “There’s still some debris,” he said. “I call them my little demons.”

Photo by Danielle Gasher

“I had to go to high mountains; I had to go to the valley; I had to go to sweats; I had to go to ceremonies. I went into Buddhist communities. I went through therapy, life skills; I went to the University of Regina. I got married, [at a] pretty young age—20 years old. I didn’t have a clue of what marriage was about,” he said, laughing again.

Above all, Naytowhow said he couldn’t have gotten through his healing journey without music.  “It’s hard to stop, I just want to keep on going,” said Naytowhow with a laugh as he ended a song he performed during the lecture. “Drumming saved my life,” said Naytowhow, with his drum still in hand. “It’s like a primal scream.”

While Naytowhow still has his demons, he will never forget the day a nun apologized to him for all the harm the Catholic Church caused Indigenous peoples in Canada. “At the time, I was still angry. I didn’t really respond in a compassionate way,” he said. Today, Naytowhow said he would have.

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Arts

The Night You Leave the Door Unlocked

Photo from Flickr

The Night You Leave the Door Unlocked

I slip to my ceramic tub,
the clawed feet curl hard.
I fantasize about a stranger

strolling into the apartment and robbing
your dressing drawers. I leave
angry at my shower head.

When you wake me too early
on purpose, I shiver
for your benefit.

You remind me of the kitchen corner,
how weak I am from the anemia,
that I let the bed sheet air-dry because I like it rough.

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Student Life

Sustainability and creativity harvested into one

Photo by Cristina Sanza

Concordia farmer Elizabeth Chernichenko is bringing small-scale farming to big heights

Nearly four hours away, on the Quebec island of L’Isle Aux Allumettes, resides 26-year-old Concordia student Elizabeth Chernichenko. The island borders the Ottawa river and is home to less than 1,500 people. There, Ontario-native Chernichenko owns a small waterfront property, about two acres large. It carries a stretch of marshland, various trees, and a humus vegetable field. A variety of potato plants, beans, peppers, zucchini and herbs, among other produce, flourish on the land. Chernichenko calls it Classic Eve Gardens—her very own farm, where she is in charge of all aspects of it: from the growing and harvesting of produce, to the business aspects such as pricing and selling.

“I think that this project was an effort to do what I loved as a job—to be self-employed,” said Chernichenko. She said she wants to learn about ecology, agriculture and the business side of small-scale farming, in conjunction with her undergrad degree in human environment from Concordia. “I’d like to have a very well-rounded practical and university theoretical education,” she said. She stays at the farm Thursday through Sunday, and comes back to Montreal for school the rest of the week.

Chernichenko said she was interested in environmental issues and sustainability from a young age. She worked with environmental stewardship organizations after high school and volunteered at farms in her early adulthood. After working full-time at an organic farm last summer, Chernichenko realized how much she enjoyed farming.

Photo by Elizabeth Chernichenko

“I found that I hadn’t been exhausted like I had been at other jobs, like in the service industry or in the movie industry. I could work countless hours [at the farm] and still find myself really enjoying my time and myself,” she explained. “I found out last summer for sure, that organic farming and gardening was an area that I could find my growth, knowledge-wise, entrepreneurial-wise and personally.”

With a little bit of luck and the right connection at the right time, she was able to acquire a property in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes. A co-worker at the farm where she worked was looking to give up land they had recently inherited. They asked Chernichenko if she would like to take it over, and after a long bout of thinking, she took up the opportunity and started her own business. It took over six months of planning before she moved.

“I had to prepare myself for the complete unknown. I’d never lived alone in the country before, let alone so remote,” she said. Upon telling friends and family her plans, they weren’t too optimistic. “It was a really hard thing to overcome. Very few people were supportive, either skeptical or negative about me doing it,” she said with a laugh. “I showed them.”

The Classic Eve Gardens logo features a sketch of a woman’s face, wearing a floppy hat and sunglasses. Chernichenko said the somewhat feminine look of her logo was intentional. “I wanted to say that yes, it’s a pretty little farm run by a ‘pretty little girl,’ but the products and business should speak for itself when a person looks at the fruit of labour,” she said.

Farming involves a lot of physical labour, as well as thinking outside of the box, Chernichenko said. “Farming is a career of problem-solving,” she said. “You have goals, you have a vision, and you take whatever resources you have. You have to be extremely resourceful and creative.”

Creative she has been. Chernichenko’s farm doesn’t have a water infrastructure—instead, the water is sourced naturally, from a springpool on the upper part of her property. “It was this beautiful, fresh, ground-filtered water that was coming out and pooling. It was home to a lot of frogs,” she said. Since her property is on a slope, she had the idea of creating an aqueduct to feed the water down to the plant field by digging a trench.

Photo by Cristina Sanza

However, with the dry weather, the water would get absorbed. “I ended up having to put a hose in, build a dam and let gravity feed it down the line into a hole that I dug by my field. That was my water source the entire summer: good old-fashioned gravity,” she said with a laugh. For her, learning the practice of farming is largely a matter of trial and error.

While Chernichenko’s produce is organic, she hasn’t been able to afford an official organic certification—she’s still debating as to whether it’s really necessary. “I might just stick with non-certified organic,” she said. “My efforts have been organic. I think if people are cool with that, then the certification that the province does is irrelevant.”

She does not use pesticides or chemicals on her plants—instead, she physically picks the bugs off of them, which usually takes about an hour per day. “On a small scale, these things are manageable,” she said. “You do that every day, and you actually get rid of them.”

Her ultimate goal is to find a way to make small and medium-sized farms work from an economical and sustainable standpoint. “That’s my goal and dream, to see how to teach people and myself a way that it can work,” she said. “I find that you can take away a lot of the abrasive, unnatural methods [used in farming] by sizing down and being efficient and profitable on a small scale.”

Photo by Cristina Sanza

Chernichenko was particularly impressed, upon coming to Concordia, with the various groups engaged in urban agriculture or advocating for food-related issues, such as food production and security. For the average student interested in food sustainability, her advice is simple: “Your money is your voting power, so it’s important to make the right decisions. Ask questions about your food.”

She has recently started a new business venture: cooperative pricing—or Pay What You Can (PWYC). For those who can’t afford to pay the full price of her goods, she’s opted to let them pay as much as they can afford to, and encourages those who can afford the products to subsidize someone else’s costs. The products range from $2.50 to about $13. This year, she harvested beans, peas, pumpkins, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, beets, a wide variety of herbs, 24 kinds of heirloom tomatoes, and much more.

Chernichenko currently sells at three markets: Cobden Farmers Market and Eganville Farmers’ Market—both located in Ontario, and the Concordia Farmers’ Market, which takes place every Wednesday from noon to 6 p.m. in the mezzanine of the Hall Building. The market runs until the end of the semester, and resumes at the start of the winter semester. Visit Facebook to learn more about Classic Eve Gardens.

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Student Life

La Habanera: A place transporting Tabarnacos to Cuba

Photo by Shakti Langlois Ortega

Trendy Cuban restaurant is serving mucho mojitos and impressive dishes

Quebecers love Cuba. It is a known fact. According to the Toronto Star, 1.2 million Canadians travel to Cuba, annually.  The link between our province and the beloved communist state is so prominent that Cubans affectionately call us “Tabarnacos” and “Jean Coutus.”

That connection is what the staff at La Habanera restaurant wanted to bring to Montreal. “We wanted to create a nice vibe from Cuba,” manager Louis-Philippe Rouleau told The Concordian.  Rouleau said the idea was to create “something that you couldn’t get in Montreal.”

Photo by Shakti Langlois Ortega

La Habanera is unique. Inspired by the vibrant colours of Cuban culture, the restaurant’s DIY-style décor is probably the most charming aspect of the downtown restaurant. Its vintage look recreates the antique charm of Old Havana. About 30 tables occupy the small space, and along the back wall sits a  turquoise banquette. Dozens of strategically scattered picture frames filled with vintage Cuban portraits, maps and photos cover the walls, giving the space a relaxed feel. Some may even consider it the perfect Instagram-worthy backdrop to any photo.

Walking into La Habanera feels like stepping into a closet-sized version of Cuba. If you are up to it, you can even test your Spanish skills with the staff, since most of them speak it fluently.

No Cuban-inspired restaurant would be complete without a salsa playlist and this place offers one that will have you dancing in your seat. If you dare, get up between bites and show off your dance moves.

Although delicious and beautifully prepared, the food served at La Habanera is nothing like the typical food found in traditional Cuban households. On the menu, you will find a variety of creative and tasteful small, tapas-style plates inspired by authentic Cuban ingredients, such as plantain and seafood. The restaurant basically takes traditional ingredients to make non-traditional or gourmet dishes.

Plantain cups filled with rum, coconut, and garlic dulce de leche shrimps. Photo by Shakti Langlois Ortega

One of the restaurant’s signature dishes, rum, coconut and garlic dulce de leche shrimps served in plantain cups, is a perfect example of that.

To recreate the open and heart-warming Cuban atmosphere and experience, La Habanera encourages clients to order several plates to share. The spot also offers a special tasting menu for groups, which is a surprise menu picked and designed by the chefs.

You can seat yourself either at the beautiful turquoise banquette, in one of the cozy diner-style booths or at the bar, while a bartender concocts one of the spot’s exotic house cocktails, like the Bloody Maria Con Lychee. The drink translates to a cherry tomato and lychee Bloody Mary.

With more than 20 different types of rum, the Cuban liquor of choice, La Habanera offers an exclusive selection of mouth-watering mojitos made with fresh fruits and herbs.

Designed for millennials, with its trendy yet unpretentious vibe, La Habanera can be your go-to spot for anything from a promising Tinder date to an unforgettable birthday dinner.

La Habanera is the latest restaurant from a team of people who are also behind Montreal’s Mexican restaurants La Cerveceria and Escondite, and the Japanese fusion spot, Biiru. The team will also opening a Hawaiian poke takeout restaurant soon.

La Habanera is located at 1216 Avenue Union, Montréal, QC H3B 3C4.

The spot is open Tuesday to Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Categories
Student Life

Have we learned anything at all?

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Concordia’s German program worked with The Holocaust Education and Genocide Prevention Foundation to host a workshop on moral responsibility in today’s politics

The Holocaust served as historical background in a presentation on moral responsibility in modern-day politics organized by Concordia’s German program on Oct. 27.

Matthias Pum, an Austrian who travels abroad to conduct Holocaust memorial services, spoke to a group of about 30 people on Thursday about the context and causes of the Holocaust, and how many Austrian and German citizens were convinced the actions of the National Socialist government were right and justified.

He used examples to show how Nazi propaganda was “emotionally-based” and presented “opinion or fiction as a matter of fact.”

Photo by Alex Hutchins

He referenced the words of Hermann Goering, one of the highest-ranking Nazi officials, to illustrate how populations can be influenced into believing anything. “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country,” Pum said.

Pum pointed out how the unwillingness from the majority of countries in the world to accept Jewish refugees during the Nazi regime is comparable to the current treatment of Syrian refugees.

He referenced the Evian Conference of 1938, where representatives from 32 countries gathered to discuss helping Jewish refugees. In the end, only the Dominican Republic increased their refugee intake.  The economic depression of the 30s made countries hesitant to take in refugees.  According to the United States Memorial Museum’s website, “all this red tape existed against the backdrop of other hardships: competition with thousands of equally desperate people, slow mail that made communication with would-be sponsors difficult, financial hardships, and oppressive measures in Germany that made even the simplest task a chore.”

While Syrian refugees are accepted in greater numbers than the Jewish refugees were, Pum believes that wealthier countries need to do more to accommodate and assist the refugees fleeing the current civil war in the Middle East.

Pum blamed “right-wing populism” and parties such as the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ),​ Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland​ Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party for modern anti-refugee sentiment in Europe.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

While none of the parties he mentioned are currently in power in their respective countries, the FPÖ is presently polling seven points higher than the next most popular party, and the Alternative für Deutschland Party is gaining support and slowly becoming Germany’s third most popular political party.

Pum discussed an ad by the Alternative für Deutschland, which urged citizens to have the “courage to stand by Germany.” He likened this to Goering’s aforementioned words, saying the ad implied the same denunciation and vilification of “pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”

Pum’s overall message was about the importance of learning from history in order avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. He believes modern “right-wing populism” is all too similar to the mentality that overtook Germany and Austria before and during World War II, a mentality that led to the Holocaust. He said he believes anyone is capable of making difference in the world by learning about the historical context of past events and applying that knowledge to modern day circumstances.

Categories
Student Life

Making city living responsible living

Graphic by Thom Bell

University of the Streets Café hosted a talk on urban health, environment and social problems

University of the Streets Café held a discussion on the impacts of city living for Montrealers, and invited attendees to share their thoughts, experiences and ideas about how to improve all aspects of city living.

“We tend to forget that we live in the city at the cost of someone else,” said Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay, a guest speaker for the bilingual conversation, which took place at Montreal’s downtown YMCA on Oct. 10. Mukhopadhyay is a family doctor in Northern Ontario, a volunteer physician with Médecins du Monde Montreal and the co-coordinator of the Canadian chapter of the People’s Health.

Mukhopadhyay said that people tend to believe that cities like Montreal are self-sustainable urban organisms.  However, he said most resources come from outside the city, and cities may not actually be the healthiest places to live. “Cities are not the centre of our society,” he said.

For example, he explained that a lot of food travels a long way to get to cities, and as a result, it is often more processed than the food that gets shipped to rural or suburban areas.

Other factors, such as housing and public transit infrastructure in cities, can be damaging to physical health and have major influence on people’s well-being, said Mukhopadhyay.  These factors can result in sickness, such as asthma in kids.

Robyn Maynard, a Montreal-based activist, educator and writer, addressed the social and economic inequalities suffered by communities within Montreal every day. Maynard’s research focuses on gender and race issues, and her fieldwork experience includes street work within the disadvantaged communities of Montreal.  She said the city can be a discriminating place for minorities, and the at-risk population, which includes homeless people, drug addicts and sex workers. She noted that part of the population is often denied security.

She and Mukhopadhyay agreed what people think makes a city healthy may actually make it unhealthy.

Attendees discussed who is responsible for addressing these problems, and brainstormed solutions for making the city a better, healthier and safer place to live.

One of the proposed solutions was for people to attend their neighbourhood and city council meetings. Attendees discussed this solution as a good starting point for getting involved in the conversation of city health and security, and opposing elitist urban planning.

Abby Lippman, the event moderator, discussed violence and its toxic effects on Montreal and other cities. Lippman is an associate researcher at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and a long-time feminist activist.

“I think about violence as what the system is doing to people. I think the system is being violent by taking money, by taking health away, by putting up lousy housing,” she said.  She suggested that if society and authorities worked on bettering people’s health, then violence control would naturally occur.

The next University of the Streets Café conversation will take place on Oct. 27 at Aux Deux Marie, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aux Deux Maries is located at 4329 St-Denis St. The conversation will explore the topic of rebuilding communities.

Graphic by Thom Bell

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