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Student Life

Walking the runway for men’s health

Les Cours Mont-Royal will be hosting a fashion show for the Movember Foundation on Nov. 16. Photo by Jennifer Li.

Local boutiques to host Les Cours Mont-Royal’s first all-male fashion show

Boutiques from the downtown shopping mall Les Cours Mont-Royal are putting a fashion spin on the typical Movember awareness campaign. On Nov. 16, IIIMnkys, Matinique and Maison 1455 are teaming up to host a menswear fashion show in support of the Canadian Movember Foundation.

According to Alexandre Dufresne, the event’s organizer and manager of IIIMnkys, “we want to associate menswear [with Movember], not just the moustache.” Although the shopping mall hosts a mixed-gender fashion show every second Friday, this Movember event will be the first all-male fashion show at Les Cours Mont-Royal dedicated to men’s health, Dufresne said.

The Movember Foundation prides itself on “tackling men’s health on a global scale, year round,” according to their website. The charity aims to raise awareness about testicular cancer—the most common cancer found in young Canadian men—and prostate cancer by encouraging yearly medical screenings. The Movember Foundation also works to shed light on mental health issues experienced by men and advocate for suicide prevention. According to the foundation’s website, three out of four people who commit suicide in Canada are men, and one in 10 Canadian men will experience severe depression.

Among the brands sponsoring the event are Kuwalla, “one of our big local brands who, every year, give one per cent of their profits on T-shirts to a charity of their choice,” said Dufresne. MOJO Products and other local brands sold at IIIMnkys are also among the event’s sponsors.

In addition to the fashion show, surprise gifts will be handed out to attendees on the third floor of the mall throughout the day, Dufresne said. “A barber is donating his time to advise men on grooming practices, and there’s so much more,” he added. “It’s an event that we’ve been working on for months. I hope people show up for the cause.”

Les Cours Mont-Royal’s Movember fashion show starts at 7 p.m. on Nov. 16. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated and will go to the Movember Foundation. For more information or to volunteer at the event, send an email to alex@soltron.ca or call 514-284-1333.

Photo by Jennifer Li

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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

A creative storytelling series by Concordia students

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Book author Léandre Larouche shares his short story, “Infrastructure”

The main street is walking down my body. I’ve been wandering around for too long now. Thanks to the downtown lights, I see the city’s true colours. I see the uncovered faces of churches, condos, skyscrapers and bridges; and the main street keeps walking down my body. I feel its heavy weight crash onto my soul. There’s something uncanny about being alone. It’s as if everything was more evident, more noteworthy. I notice how run-down our infrastructure is.

Simultaneous construction around the city is at an all-time high; it monopolizes the public space from the street level to the sky. Giant ladders stand still leaned up against building walls, while operating cranes and piles of materials occupy entire parking lots. Every corner, ostracized, finds itself hijacked by construction equipment. But at this time—it’s 11:30 p.m.—nothing’s going on, everything’s frozen. I see my city as a sad, grayish picture, one upon which I’m forced to lay my eyes, sad and bitter and resentful. I didn’t ask to see the city as it is. I didn’t ask to be alone tonight.

There are so many bars here, more than I thought. Never would I have expected to see so many of them, on just one street, although I know this city as no one else does. Nor would I have imagined so many people congregating inside them. My friends and I are of the most loyal, trustworthy regulars to the bars we cherish and call home; we never miss, at least not without a good reason, the rendezvous that has become tradition. We are earnest drinkers, fervent chatters and lovers of people; yet I was blissfully unaware that my city had so many choices.

Just to my left is a brewery I must have gone to a dozen times. As I walk by it, a group of men stand next to the door, smoking cigarettes, chatting and laughing loudly. These rather muscular guys, with beards and all, are clearly having a good time. I pass just in front of them, slow down and turn back. I shoot a glance inside the bar. I can see the people; I can feel the vibe. They walk and talk and drink in the laid-back atmosphere; the bar is half modern, half antique. I want to go in. I want to go in and sit down and have a drink. But I refrain and keep walking.

Further down the main street is another bar which I more or less know. I mean to enter that one too. The dim light at the entrance suggests a tiny ray of hope for me. I approach the door, stare at the doorman, and then decide to back off. This place isn’t for me, after all. I keep walking, paying more and more attention to bars and, as I remain in motion, I see plenty of them. I see plenty but they’re all full. As soon as I look in, if I dare do so, I don’t see any place for me to sneak in. The counters are unwelcoming and so are the tables. There’s no place where I might belong.

I accelerate my pace, throwing glances at bars I pass, and I don’t go in. I note each one’s crowdedness, biting my lips. Panic grows apace, my heart pounding, my head hurting and my mouth becoming dry. I grow dizzy and uncomfortable; I can’t see the surrounding light. After a while, I hit the end of the main street only to find myself faced with deep shame. There must be something wrong with me, I think. All the moments spent with friends in bars rush to my mind. Why am I so lonely? Why am I so abnormal? I thought I was someone.

The only place I can get into is a pizza place, empty and just about to close. Once inside, I sit down, slice in hand, and gaze at a condo building being demolished outside. They’re not done with it yet, but it already looks like a perfect wreck. I bite into my pizza and tomato sauce falls onto my shirt. The cashier is cleaning up behind me. It’s 11:59 p.m. now, and the dawn of a new day threatens me. In a minute, it will be Friday night no more, and I feel like a disappointed disappointment. I wonder what everyone might be doing right now. I sigh. My infrastructure isn’t any better than the city’s.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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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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Student Life

A laundry service for students by students

The founders of Wafty, from left, Nicholas Auclair, Parker Graham and Marlin Jayasekera discuss their business journey. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Wafty will pick up your laundry, wash your clothes, fold and deliver your load

For students, doing laundry can be very time-consuming. First, separating colours and delicates before loading your clothes into the washing machine takes time. Then everything has to either air dry or run through a cycle in the dryer before you can move on to folding it all. The next thing you know, you have just spent three hours doing laundry when you should have been writing an essay that’s due tomorrow. Sound familiar?

If you are a student living in downtown Montreal, then Wafty is at your service. Launched on Oct. 1, it is a laundry service “for students, by students,” according to their website. Wafty—an acronym for “wash and fold to you”—will pick up laundry from your home, clean and deliver it, nicely folded, within two days.

The business was founded by three Montreal students: Marlin Jayasekera, a second-year Concordia software engineering student; Parker Graham, a second-year art history and economics major at McGill University; and Nicholas Auclair, a first-year Concordia mechanical engineering student.

Graham and Jayasekera had spent the last year brainstorming ideas for their own business. While laundry wasn’t initially on their mind, the students realized after moving out that it can be one of the most time-consuming chores. Doing laundry can take a few hours a week, and for students, that time can be better spent working on assignments or studying for exams, Graham explained. Not only was time an issue, but Jayasekera said he faced the issue of finding a place to do laundry since his building doesn’t have a laundry room. This is what inspired the idea for Wafty.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

It didn’t take long before Jayasekera learned that creative business ideas are often initially met with skepticism. When he told his mother about his plan to start a laundry service, he said she responded with: “You don’t even do your laundry! And you’re going to do other people’s laundry?”

Nonetheless, Jayasekera and Graham pursued the idea of creating a service that would make it easier for students to do their laundry. The more they developed the idea, the more people encouraged them to make it happen. According to Graham, when he proposed the service to friends, they often responded with disbelief that no one had thought about offering a laundry service to students before. It was then that he realized Wafty might actually work.

Auclair, an old friend of Graham’s, joined the duo a little later. He said he was intrigued by the unique learning opportunity the business provided. “We’re constantly learning through trial and error,” Auclair said. “So if we see that something is not working, we adjust.” “Having one extra person to separate the load was very helpful, no pun intended,” Jayasekera said.

When the trio realized doing all the laundry themselves would be inefficient, Graham said they decided to outsource their laundry to increase productivity and be able to help out more students. Unfortunately, several local laundromats laughed when the Wafty partners made their pitch. “You have to be persistent, and you can’t get discouraged by rejection,” Auclair said. The Wafty founders said they went through many ideas and versions of their laundry service before finding the most productive business model. “It’s been a rollercoaster to get to where we are now,” Graham added.

Every pound of laundry costs $1.99. All you have to do is pack up your clothes and they will be picked up and dropped off at your home on weekdays between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The laundry is washed and folded at the laundromat Wafty partnered with in the Milton Park borough.

According to Graham, the products the Buanderie Du Parc laundromat uses are 100 per cent natural. And for every 15 pounds of laundry a student has washed, Wafty donates $1 to the British Columbia-based One Tree Planted, an organization that plants one tree for every dollar donated.

The first time Wafty got an order from a client the trio didn’t know personally, they said it felt like an accomplishment—and the business is still growing. Graham justified Wafty’s success because it’s an affordable and convenient service for students. “As long as you’re a student and struggling [with laundry], we’ll come help you” Jayasekera added.

To try out Wafty’s services, visit their website.

Feature photo by Sandra Hercegova

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Student Life

Fashion Preview welcomes local designers

Coquette en Soie’s collection features silky dresses with vibrant colours. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

The fashion runway show is expanding fashion in Canada and internationally

Supporting and facilitating the visibility of Montreal fashion designers on a national and international scale is the goal of Fashion Preview. For its eighth edition, the event gathered over 2,000 visitors from Oct. 17 to 19.   “Fashion Preview, in its three days of parades and presentations of collections, allows us to discover the talents of tomorrow and to understand, through their work, the culture and the esthetics of the young people of Montreal,” said journalist Elisabeth Clauss from the magazine Elle Belgique.

To support the local industry, each edition of Fashion Preview is a thematic runway show featuring the latest creations of students from local fashion programs at Cégep Marie-Victorin, École des sciences de la gestion de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG-UQAM) and LaSalle College. “The idea behind Fashion Preview is to showcase the work of up-and-coming fashion designers,” said Marie-Eve Faust, a professor at UQAM’s fashion school.

Oscar Mendoza’s models gathering at the end of his runway show. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

On Oct. 18, Fashion Preview hosted four runway shows featuring the collections of local brands, including Oneself, Coquette en Soie, Oscar Mendoza and Helmer. Oneself presented an elegant collection that approached women’s femininity with naivety and youthfulness. “It’s inspired by the 70s. It’s the contrast between the young adult and the mature adult,” said Sophie Cardinal, the designer of Oneself. “Even though, as women, we grow up, we still have this inner child within us. In this collection, I tried to point towards that aspect of women.”

This was the designer’s third collection for Oneself, and Cardinal is already anticipating a flair of colour for her upcoming summer collection. “The colours will be brighter because I find that Montreal is lacking in that area,” she said, adding that colours such as red, green and purple will be trending next summer. “I’m currently inspired by the sun and its tones. Everything that is rainbow-like and flashy because it’s in style these days.”

A model from Sonia Cardinal’s Oneself collection. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

The core of Cardinal’s designs are inspired by vintage styles. “Three quarters of my wardrobe is vintage clothing so it’s important for me to have that touch in my collections,” she said. According to Cardinal, featuring her collection at Fashion Preview took a lot of preparation. “Doing it alone, it was a lot of work, but the team here at Fashion Preview are very attentionate,” she said. For the show, Cardinal was given the freedom to choose models who fit her brand image and develop a connection with them before the event.

“It differs from the old stereotypes of mannequin girls that don’t speak or show any emotions,” she said. “Here, I was able to establish different relationships with people and be able to be open to different body types, nationalities and personalities.”

One of the models for Oneself, Fatou Alhya Diagne, told The Concordian about her experience modelling for Fashion Preview. “I already did fashion shows previously, but this was my first official one with press and media,” she said. “It was interesting to see how Oneself’s adapted diversity to their collection.” “Every time I do a show, it reminds me of how important it is to create platforms of representation in order to showcase unity and diversity of people of colour and our communities to the larger fashion industry,” Diagne said. “I’m happy that I was able to be part of this whole fashion show and to have a view of the industry from a closer perspective.”

Fashion Preview also featured several pop-up shops attendees could visit during the show’s intermissions. One of the stands featured the handmade jewelry brand Bijoux Pepine. Founder and designer Perrine Marez is already selling her jewelry in 25 stores across Canada after just one year of designing jewelry full-time. “I want to have jewelry that is made by sand, pigments and spices,” she said. According to Marez, her inspirations come from architecture, graphic art and ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Chinese and Aztecs. “My inspiration makes me more open to the world. It reflects my clientele that are more international,” she said.

The second runway show featured a collection of silk dresses by Montreal brand Coquette en Soie. The dresses were elegant and feminine with lots of bold colours. According to the designer, Marie-Josée Mercil, her collection respects the fair trade industry by supporting independent silk producers. Her inspiration for bold colours and creative designs stems from her years spent traveling the world.

Oscar Mendoza, a former UQAM fashion student, also presented his new collection at Fashion Preview. “My collections are the story of a dream, created in a place where reality touches the surreal,” he explained. “I try to metamorphose feelings into shapes, into textures, into ideas that will decorate people’s behaviour or be the expression tool for people’s personas.” “What is fashion for but an instrument to demonstrate who we are, to excel our own self-expression to surpass us and show the world the strong opinions we have,” Mendoza added.

Helmer’s interactive closing runway show featured men wearing sombreros. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

Photos by Sandra Hercegova

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Student Life

Redefining waste for a cleaner tomorrow

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

In pursuit of waste justice: student groups launch Concordia’s first Zero Waste Week

How many times a day do you throw something in the trash? Do you give it much thought when you do? New research published by the Worldwatch Institute suggests that the amount of waste produced worldwide could double by 2025—from today’s 1.3 billion tons per year to a whopping 2.6 billion.

In an effort to promote sustainable waste management practices, Concordia student groups such as the Dish Project, Concordia’s Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR) and Waste Not Want Not are kicking off the university’s first edition of Zero Waste Week on Oct. 23.

The principal organizer of Zero Waste Week is the Dish Project. This student-run, zero-waste resource organization will be hosting multiple workshops from Oct. 23 to 27 that offer creative solutions for reducing waste. The Dish Project aims to reduce the volume of disposable items sent to landfills by storing and lending out reusable dishes to Concordia students hosting events. The service is available at little-to-no cost, making it accessible and economical.

The Dish Project offers a variety of reusable dishes for events on campus. Photo courtesy of the Dish Project.

“Up until recently, the Dish Project was mostly just focused on our operations of lending out reusable dishes to help reduce waste in and around Concordia,” said Vanessa Macri, the organization’s general coordinator. “However, after reevaluating ourselves internally, we thought that there was a gap with waste justice education on campus. So now we’ve started engaging with students a lot more. One thing that we thought would be a great vehicle to help us do that was Quebec’s Waste Reduction Week [from Oct. 21 to 29].”

Maya Spring, the Dish Project’s outreach and engagement coordinator, will be co-hosting four workshops over the course of Zero Waste Week. “I find that, in today’s society, there’s such a disconnect between us and the waste that we produce,” Spring said. “I think the first step towards breaking that disconnect is talking about waste, which is a huge part of Zero Waste Week and the workshops we’re putting on.”

CUCCR will also be participating in Zero Waste Week with a “Do It Yourshelf” shelf-making workshop on Oct. 27. For those who have yet to discover its hidden location in the Hall building basement, CUCCR is an initiative that collects used art materials and supplies from around campus and makes them available for repurpose by the general public.

Rather than solely focusing on waste reduction, CUCCR looks at how unwanted materials can actually be useful to people. Recent Concordia MA graduate Anna Timm-Bottos spearheaded this project with the help of funding won in Concordia’s Big Hairy Ideas competition. “I saw so much material being thrown out that I knew someone else could use if only we could capture it,” she said, adding that CUCCR plays a key role in Concordia’s sustainability efforts and in changing the larger culture around waste.

Waste-sorting games will be hosted in the downtown library cafeteria on Oct. 25 and 27 by Concordia’s composting advocacy group, Waste Not Want Not. Another beneficiary of the Big Hairy Ideas competition, Waste Not Want Not works to strengthen Concordia’s infrastructure in pursuit of zero-waste goals. Anyone conscious of their trash output is likely already aware of the many benefits of composting—not only does separating organics from other trash decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and creates fertilizer for plants. Waste Not Want Not’s mandate includes providing access to on-site composting facilities, increasing the number of composting bins around campus and educating students on why composting is integral to building a more sustainable future, according to the organization’s website.

“We’re hoping this week will open people’s eyes to the impacts of waste. It’s one thing to recycle and compost, but it’s another thing to understand where your waste actually goes,” Macri said. “We want Zero Waste Week to show that waste reduction doesn’t just stop at recycling and composting—you can also reduce, upcycle, reuse materials and get creative with how you’re repurposing waste. Hopefully folks will take that away along with how many opportunities there are at Concordia to get involved in the waste justice movement.”

For additional information about the Dish Project, visit www.dishproject.ca. To find out more about CUCCR, drop by H013-7, open Tuesdays to Thursdays between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. or visit www.cuccr.ca. For details about the Waste Not Want Not composting advocacy group, visit www.concordiacompost.ca.

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Student Life

Can trauma be transmitted intergenerationally?

Dr. Rachel Yehuda gave a talk at Dawson College on Oct. 16 about her 30 years of research in epigenetics. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Dr. Rachel Yehuda reveals groundbreaking research on trauma and its biological risk factors

Before post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was officially identified in 1980, little was known about the repercussions of a traumatic incident. “In general, when we talk about the effects of trauma, we are talking about a moving target,” said Dr. Rachel Yehuda. “We are talking about a dynamic process that moves and develops and changes. We are not talking about something that is static.”  

Yehuda’s focus on PTSD is part of her broader research in epigenetics—the study of changes in gene expression rather than alterations to the genetic code. “Some of the epigenetic changes are inheritable, but others can occur in development in response to environmental influences and particularly in uterine influences,” Yehuda explained to an audience at Dawson College on Oct. 16.

Yehuda is a professor of neuroscience and the vice-chair of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She is also the mental healthcare patient director at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. She has authored more than 250 published papers, chapters and books in the field of traumatic stress and the neurobiology of PTSD. Her epigenetics research led her to studying the children of Holocaust survivors and pregnant women who survived the 9/11 attacks. The purpose was to demonstrate how traumatic stress can be transmitted biologically to the next generation.

“I was studying the effects of stress and learning something that I thought was quite fascinating which was how stress hormones affect the brain and brain development in particular,” she said. Yehuda received her PhD in psychology and neurochemistry and her master of science in biological psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which allowed her to pursue the study of stress psychology further. While she was earning her PhD, PTSD was a relatively new diagnosis. “This was the first recognition by psychiatry that the effects of a traumatic stressor could be long-lasting,” she said. “It was a very brave thing to do because stress research didn’t really offer a paradigm for understanding this.”

In 1991, Yehuda became an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “I became very fascinated with some questions after I became acquainted with the concept of PTSD,” she said. According to Yehuda, the main question on her mind was why the effects of trauma endure once a traumatic event is over. She also studied the factors that cause people to react differently to trauma “because, surely, we don’t all respond the same way,” she said. “Why do survivors feel transformed by traumatic experiences?”

According to Yehuda, when a person experiences fear, their fight-or-flight response is activated. “The startle response orients you to danger. All the things that your body might have been doing at the time of trauma—like ovulation or digesting your lunch—all these things had to slow down so that all your energy could be preserved […] to increase your heart rate, blood pressure and cause the release of adrenaline,” she said.

When the brain senses the immediate danger has passed, it sends a signal to the adrenal glands to release cortisol. This hormone has the effect of reducing the amount of adrenaline circulating in a person’s system. According to Yehuda, the more severe the stressor, the more cortisol is secreted to bring the body back to normal.

“It’s a really well-balanced system that is designed to activate and calm itself down,” she said.

What Yehuda discovered during a clinical study in 1991, however, was that Vietnam war veterans with PTSD had lower levels of cortisol in their systems at the time compared to Vietnam veterans who didn’t have the disorder. “I couldn’t understand what would explain why a trauma survivor would have low cortisol,” she said.

In an attempt to understand these results, Yehuda spoke with her postdoctoral advisor. “It can’t be the war in Vietnam,” she told him. “I grew up in a Jewish community full of Holocaust survivors, and you don’t see Holocaust survivors in mental hospitals. You don’t see Holocaust survivors being so disabled.”

His response: “Rachel, that is a testable hypothesis.”

At the beginning of her research, Yehuda came across a Holocaust survivor who had many symptoms common with PTSD. “I couldn’t help but ask her: how did you live with your symptoms for so long? Why didn’t you ever seek treatment?,” she said. According to Yehuda, only three per cent the people she studied had ever been to a mental health professional in their lives. “Her response to me was: where am I supposed to go?”

It was then that Yehuda decided to open the first clinic for Holocaust survivors at Mount Sinai with a program dedicated to their treatment. She has spent more than 30 years conducting extensive research and interviewing Holocaust survivors and their children.

“What blew me away even more was the Holocaust survivors with PTSD also had lower cortisol levels,” she said.

During this first part of her research, Yehuda found that changes in DNA function, gene expression, brain structure and function, neurochemistry, metabolism, hormone regulation and immune function are all possible effects of trauma. “All these things can persist well beyond the effects of the fight-or-flight response,” she said.

Further on in her studies, Yehuda came across literature that disputed the myth of traumatic damage to the second generation. “Interestingly, that literature came from Montreal. A lot of that literature was written by second-generation Holocaust survivors,” she said. This inspired Yehuda to ask more questions and develop hypotheses. “Do Holocaust offspring have more mental health problems? Do they show biologic alterations that reflect psychiatric vulnerability? If so, do these biological alterations transmit somehow through the experience of being raised by Holocaust survivors?,” she said.

To test her hypotheses, Yehuda decided to ask the Holocaust survivors she had initially studied if she could interview their children. What she learned from this research was that the higher levels of mental illness and low levels of cortisol in these children were caused by a biological change in their parent which occurred in response to surviving the Holocaust.

According to Yehuda, parental trauma can affect the next generation in many different ways including in utero and postnatally. Another conclusion drawn from her epigenetics study was that, when exposed to something traumatic during pregnancy, as many as three generations can be affected.

“The mother is affected, her fetus is affected and the fetuses gametes are affected. That is one way in which this exposure [to trauma] and pregnancy might have effects,” she said.

Through her research, the conclusion that trauma can be transmitted intergenerationally led Yehuda to form a new hypothesis: what gets transmitted to the offspring of trauma survivors isn’t the trauma itself, but rather the body’s solution for dealing with trauma. “I can’t prove this yet, but I think it is true,” Yehuda said. “Maybe someone in this room will prove it, because you are young and science is a great field, and we now have the tools and techniques to be able to do so.”

Photo by Sandra Hercegova

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Student Life

An exchange student begins her first business: Roma Experiences

TingLi Lorigiano during her stay in Santorini, Greece. Photo courtesy of TingLi Lorigiano

Concordia alumna, TingLi Lorigiano shares her travel exchange journey

Travelling across Europe, going on student exchange, learning a new language and starting a business all sound like goals many students have on their bucket list. One student not only managed to accomplish all these thing, but she did it in just one year.

Concordia alumna TingLi Lorigiano embarked on a year-long student exchange to Italy, during which time she also visited 30 cities in 10 countries. During her stay in Italy, Lorigiano founded Roma Experiences, the first Chinese tour operator service in Rome.

Mountains in the northern part of Italy at Bolzano-Trentino Alto Adige. Photo by TingLi Lorigiano

“I was at the Colosseum in Rome, and I realised that there weren’t any Chinese tour groups,” she said. “So, I inquired what the situation was like, and I decided that I would just start my own.”

Lorigiano is of Italian and Chinese descent and grew up immersed in both cultures. “I grew up with serious Chinese traditions and very traditional Italian traditions. I always had to explain Italian traditions to my Chinese friends and vice versa,” she said. “I felt that it’s important for Chinese visitors to learn about Italian traditions, so I wanted to help them learn about Italian culture.”

According to Lorigiano, no one working in the piazza of the Colosseum spoke Chinese—most were European. “There was a language barrier,” she said. “I connected the two worlds.” Lorigiano speaks fluent Mandarin and was learning to speak Italian at that time. She is now fluent in Italian.

Pasta at Osteria Da Fortunata in Rome, Italy. Photo by TingLi Lorigiano

She started by organizing tours where she would bring Chinese tourists to various restaurants and to visit historical sites such as the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.

With a major in genetic engineering and experience in the tech industry, Lorigiano had no problem setting up her own website and logistics for her business. After creating all the social media accounts, she hired 10 people to be part of her team. “I raised a team from one to 10 in my first three months in a country that I’ve never worked in before, and I didn’t yet speak fluent Italian. I hired tour guides and team promoters. We delivered wonderful historical experiences to Chinese tourists at least three times a day,” she said. “I had to be very meticulous with logistics. I had to buy tickets ahead of time, I had to know how the Colosseum ticketing system worked.”

According to Lorigiano, Roma Experiences has been running for the last eight months and has generated $40,000 CAD in sales revenue. “I was able to sustain myself for the last seven months in Italy. I used the money to travel, pay my rent, live in Rome,” she said.

The business is still running now that Lorigiano is home. The company’s vice-president took over the company. “It’s pretty cool to know that, before this year, in Rome, there were no Chinese tours available. And now they are,” Lorigiano said.

Creating Roma Experiences was an enriching leadership experience for Lorigiano. “It taught me a lot about business, and it showed me that my passions are not in tourism. My passion is in tech. I was way more interested in the website, e-commerce and the retail technology part of it.”

Camels in the Marrakech Morocco desert. Photo by TingLi Lorigiano

In November, Lorigiano is moving to London to work for a tech startup. “I knew that I wanted to work somewhere where the tech scene was more apparent, more vivid and vibrant, so London was the best choice for me,” she said.

Based on her experience, Lorigiano insisted that studying abroad can be life-changing. “You never know what is going to happen,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to go on exchange […] People grow up in Montreal, they work in Montreal, but there are so many other opportunities. Being Canadian, you have great visa opportunities as well.”

Lorigiano said she would advise students to check out all the job, volunteer and internship opportunities offered at Concordia to see what might interest them. “Make a list of things that you think are really important, and just highlight what you want to go visit or inquire about,” she said. “You need to think about what you are losing and what you are gaining.”

“You grow the most when you are put in the most uncomfortable situations such as travelling and being part of things that you are not comfortable with,” Lorigiano said. “It’s just a really great experience.”  

Photos courtesy of TingLi Lorigiano

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Student Life

Riverside St-Henri a community hub for Montrealers

Owner Nicolas Hamel is also a renowned DJ in the city and aims to make Riverside a musical hub. Photo by Adrian Knowler.

DJ and club owner Nicolas Hamel has a unique vision for this new venue

Riverside St-Henri isn’t Nicolas Hamel’s first bar in Montreal, but he’s doing things a little bit differently this time. The 30-year-old owner of Mme Lee has been in the bar industry since he was 16. He also used to own Newspeak, Ping Pong Club and Studio 270, a recording studio in the Plateau. But he doesn’t see Riverside as just another bar.

“I don’t want Riverside St-Henri to be seen only as a bar; it’s a community hub,” Hamel said. “We’re not another business that’s just there for the trend. We’re trying to help and get involved in the community long-term.”

Hamel has big plans for Riverside—as big as the property’s 10,000 square foot grounds. Work is in progress to add a community garden for families, a café and restaurant to go with the multitude of night-life options already offered in the city. He has a three-year roadmap for integrating new features into the venue, like free Wi-Fi throughout the property and seminars hosted in the building or the venue’s garden space. Riverside is also the home to experimental events, such as a live 3D virtual reality (VR) broadcast organized by a crew from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in September.

Riverside, which opened in July, is a venue that doesn’t fall neatly into an existing category of business. It’s a wine bar, but it’s also a dance club. Inside, there are booths to sit at and a huge bar. Step outside and you’re in a casual outdoor beer garden-style terrasse with colourful picnic tables, a shipping container fashioned into a bar and young people chatting around oil drums painted à la Keith Haring. The soft lighting is provided by bare bulbs strung overhead. Walk a little further and you’ll wander out into the vast lawn that Hamel wants to convert into a community garden and gathering place.

Owner of Riverside St-Henri, Nicolas Hamel, talks about his plans for the new venue. Photo by Adrian Knowler

“It’s my first place that’s not just about business,” Hamel explained. “I want it be a place where people can eventually say, ‘Hey, I helped grow those vegetables.’ That’s part of the mentality that I’m trying to build, but it’s complicated and it takes time.”

Part of Hamel’s vision for the venue includes creating the most environmentally friendly business possible.

“Environmental sustainability is super important to me,” Hamel said. He is focused on using sustainable water and smart waste management programs to limit Riverside’s ecological footprint.

“The way the location is set up allows me to test stuff, like capturing rain water. I cannot do that in a downtown location, but I can try that [at Riverside],” Hamel said.

Even within Riverside’s existing functions as a bar and club, there’s a lot of flexibility. “To go from a chill beer garden to a nice wine bar to a good club, it’s all about timing and refinement,” Hamel said. “I have a clientele for every time of the night. Everybody from the youth of Westmount and N.D.G. to the moms and pops of St-Henri.”

However, Hamel acknowledged that the way the public perceives Riverside is out of his control. “People are very quick now to put something in a box.”

When it comes to delivering quality wine to his clientele, Hamel said he is trying to encourage younger people to enjoy high-end wines while keeping the price down. “We’re trying to push quality, niche wines to a more [accessible] market,” Hamel said. “We’re trying to elevate the willingness of people to discover more.”

The size of the venue gives Hamel some advantages such as partnering with local restaurants and food trucks that sell in front of Riverside every day. Hamel plans to add a full kitchen to Riverside as well. “I want to eventually have somebody come at eight in the morning for a coffee and stay until 3 a.m. at the club,” he said. “My goal is to have seven different businesses with seven different ambiances.”

Riverside St-Henri is located at 5020 St-Ambroise St. with a large outdoor garden and patio. Photo by Adrian Knowler

As well as being bar owner, Hamel is a 12-year veteran of the Montreal DJing scene and just released a techno project with his DJ partner under the name Anti Anti. He said he wants Riverside to become a “musical hub.”

He described the music the venue plays on its massive sound system as “more dance, boogie, disco-ish stuff.”

”We do have some hip hop playing, but it’s not a Top 40 place,” Hamel added. “It’s quality music but very accessible. I want people to feel somewhere else when they’re here.”

Hamel draws positive comparisons between outdoor music festivals like Osheaga and the atmosphere at Riverside. “When you go to a festival, everybody is smiling. When I created this place, that was the mentality I wanted to bring.”

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Student Life

Fast and yummy vegan recipes

Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Quick, healthy and filling dishes for students who are always on the go

Being a student isn’t easy. Being a healthy student when living by yourself can quickly become mission impossible. Juggling classes, part-time jobs and a social life, time constraints often lead students to eat take-out or simply skip meals. A remedy for this could be to try out two of my favorite recipes from HurryTheFoodUp and Pretty Bees—both websites offer quick-to-make vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free recipes.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes

By Hauke Fox on HurryTheFoodUp

Serves four people.

Preparation time: five minutes. Cook time: 20 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup cooked steel-cut oats
  • 1/3 cup canola oil, regular or organic
  • 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
  • 3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
  • Vegan spread for frying
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon.
  2. Add the canola oil, non-dairy milk, vanilla extract and cooked steel-cut oats. Stir to combine.
  3. Add the chocolate chips and stir until evenly mixed. Set aside for a few minutes—you will see the batter puff up because of the baking powder.
  4. Heat the vegan spread in a skillet over medium heat.
  5. Once the spread is sizzling, pour a tablespoon of the batter into the pan. Reduce the heat slightly.
  6. Watch the pancake closely—when the edges start to firm up and look cooked, use a spatula to flip the pancake carefully.
  7. Cook until golden brown, usually two to four minutes on each side. Remember to add more vegan spread to the pan between each round of pancakes.

Vegan Chickpea Curry

By Kelly Roenicke on Pretty Bees

Serves three people.

Preparation time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 15 minutes.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup basmati rice
    Vegan Chickpea Curry. Photo by Elisa Barbier
  • 2 pinches of salt
  • 2 small onions, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • ½ lime, juice
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons curry paste or powder, to taste
  • 1 can (1.5 cups) coconut milk
  • 1 can (400g with liquid) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce, to taste
  • 2 medium tomatoes or a handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped. (The sweeter the better).
  • 1 cup basil leaves, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup or sugar
  1. In a pot, add rice to 500 ml of water. Throw in a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Keep an eye on the rice. When the water is boiling, put a lid on the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook for another 8 to 10 minutes until the water is fully absorbed by the rice.
  2. In a large pan, cook onions in olive oil at low-medium heat until the onions start to soften and turn clear, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
  3. Add one tablespoon of curry paste and the milk, stirring until the curry dissolves. Add another pinch of salt. Add more curry paste to taste.
  4. Add the chickpeas and soy sauce, and cook on medium heat for about five minutes, bringing the curry to a boil. If it starts to burn, reduce heat immediately.
  5. Add the tomatoes, basil and lime juice, and gently simmer the curry for another two minutes. Add more soy sauce to taste and stir in maple syrup or sugar.
  6. Serve the curry in a bowl over rice.
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