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A storm of painted lady butterflies in Quebec

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

The reason why so many butterflies have been seen across Eastern Canada

Rain in an American desert, winds in Quebec and more time for reproduction than usual were all factors that lead to the massive increase in painted lady butterflies flitting through air over the last few weeks, according to Maxim Larrivée, the section head of entomological collections and research at the Montreal Insectarium.

“What happened this year is unprecedented.” Larrivée said. He explained this phenomenon is a combination of many factors. “Last winter, there were unusual rains in the Sonoran Desert where the butterflies spent the winter,” which led to a higher survival rate, he explained. In addition, strong southern winds in Quebec in April facilitated the butterflies’ migration north, which is why they showed up a month earlier than usual.

According to Larrivée, the swifter migration allowed the butterflies to produce in larger numbers. Normally, they have time to cycle through one or two generations each summer once they arrive, Larrivée explained. However, since they showed up so early this year, the butterflies had the chance to generate an extra life cycle. “This created this explosion of individuals,” Larrivée said.

There are also factors keeping the butterflies in Quebec longer than expected, Larrivée added. “Normally, when they migrate back to the south in the fall, they go up in the air column and they’ll migrate at 300 to 400 metres in the air,” he explained. “However, what happened this year is they faced heavier southern winds in early September, and that put them to the ground. They are now sitting and waiting for winds to shift from north to south so they can ride them and facilitate the migration.”

Featured Butterflies at the Montreal Insectarium. Photo by Kirubel Mehari

While there were some initial misconceptions among the general public about the type of butterfly filling the skies, Larrivée confirmed that most of the butterflies Quebecers have been seeing are in fact painted lady butterflies. “They are part of a group of butterflies from the gene called Vanessa [cardui],” he said, adding that “painted lady” is their common name. “A lot of people confuse them with monarchs because they are flagship migratory butterflies.”

The distinction, according to Larrivée, is that monarchs are bigger in size, with bright orange and black veins running through their wings. The wings of the painted lady, on the other hand, are brown in the centre, with orange patches visible when the wings are open. When the painted butterfly closes its wings, their mottled pattern blends with the ground. “The good thing about [the phenomenon this year] is that almost every Quebecer will now be able to distinguish a monarch from a painted lady,” Larrivée said.

According to Larrivée, the fall migration of these butterflies finally began in mid-September. “We have been stalled in this warm weather pattern with limited-to-no winds,” he explained. “Normally, the painted lady would take off within a few days after hitting contrary winds.”

However, Larrivée specified that this delay has nothing to do with the hurricanes pummeling the Caribbean in the last month. “I’m sure there are some larger global weather patterns that are influencing this, but I don’t think the hurricanes are related to their abundance,” he said. “We had a similar phenomenon in 2012, but it happened in early August instead of early September. It was a smaller magnitude, but it was historical from our standpoint and it lasted just a few days because the winds changed more rapidly.”

Outside of Quebec, there has also been an increase in painted lady butterflies around the Great Lakes of Ontario, Vermont, Maine and all the states bordering the Great Lakes. Once they begin migrating, the butterflies’ route takes them to the southern American states and northern Mexico. “There will be a few stragglers who will be a bit behind, but the bulk of them should be gone by Oct. 2 ” he said.

Larrivée is the founder and director of eButterfly, an international, data-driven project dedicated to butterfly biodiversity, conservation and education. According to Emma Despland, an associate biology professor at Concordia, eButterfly is a citizen science project where ordinary people can get involved in scientific research by taking pictures of butterflies they see around the world.

“We want to know where the butterflies are and when. So, either you hire an army of thousands of students across the continent or you ask ordinary people, ‘If you see one of these butterflies, let us know,’” Despland said. “It’s a way to get information and get people involved with science and the natural world.”

Two of the assignments in Despland’s class, Techniques in Ecology (BIOL 450), require students to use eButterfly as a resource. “In the first assignment, students have to go out and photograph three butterflies, identify them and upload their identifications on eButterfly,” she said, adding that this gives her students practical experience as naturalists. “I think that’s valuable for Concordia students because they’re very urban, so they don’t have much experience with the natural world,” she said.

Larrivée said he hopes to better map the migratory corridors of the painted lady butterfly to see if this species coordinates or aligns with the monarch. “I’d be really interested to use the sightings reported by our participants on eButterfly to determine what corridors they used to migrate and where to spend the winters in the south,” he said.

Students can contribute to the eButterfly project by sharing their observations and submitting photographs to eButterfly.org.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Lying down for a more peaceful world

Montreal celebrated International Day of Peace by honouring John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s bed-in for peace movement  

When John Lennon, Yoko Ono and her daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, arrived in Montreal in the spring of 1969 for their stay at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel, they brought peace and love to our city.

As John Lennon said, “Peace is not something you wish for. It’s something you make, something you do, something you are and something you give away.” The couple held their second bed-in for peace in Montreal, where they remained in bed for eight consecutive days and invited musicians to sing and journalists to talk about world peace. It was also in their hotel suite, room 1742, that Lennon and Ono composed the famous peace anthem, “Give Peace a Chance.”

Archives of podcasts, exclusive interviews and photos from the bed-in in 1969, inside suite 1742. Photo by Kirubel Mehari

This year, on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace, Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel revealed a redesigned version of suite 1742 that reflects the iconic bed-in scene. “While recreating suite 1742, we realized that we wanted to bring back that powerful cry for peace and make it far-reaching,” said Philippe Demers, the CEO and senior partner of MASSIVart, a Montreal-based production and art agency that collaborated on the project. Real estate agency Ivanhoé Cambridge and Sid Lee were also involved in the remodeling.

According to Demers, it took his company and Sid Lee Architecture over two years to redesign the room. “We began on Nov. 13, 2015, the day of the terror attacks in Paris,” he said. “We felt that people did not understand what John Lennon and Yoko Ono tried to say here back in 1969. It made sense for us to bring their message back, which is a message of peace that is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.”

Montrealers gathered to lie down for peace in celebration of the International Day of Peace at the Place Ville Marie esplanade. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

The concept of the redesign was developed by Sid Lee Architecture, which rearranged the furniture in the suite to match its 1969 layout and reproduced the famous handwritten Hair Peace and Bed Peace signs on the windows. The lyrics of Lennon and Ono’s peace anthem are inscribed on walls and framed photographs of their bed-in hang around the room.

The suite also has interactive features, such as a virtual reality video. “We began shooting with UNLIMITED to make a realistic virtual reality film which brings us back in time to the bed-in of 1969,” said Hanae Bossert, the project manager at MASSIVart. The video allows people to experience the original bed-in as if they were actually there. It presents a 360-degree view of the best moments of the event by condensing eight days into a few powerful minutes.

Montrealers gathered to lie down for peace in celebration of the International Day of Peace at the Place Ville Marie esplanade. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

The room includes an archive cabinet with 12 interactive drawers filled with an assortment of photographs, podcasts, videos, testimonies and historical objects. These elements showcased the couple’s commitment to peace during that famous week nearly 50 years ago. “We also needed to include available archives for people to take the time to read and understand what the bed-in was all about—understand their message of peace and its importance,” Bossert said.

There are three objects around the room that present these archives in an interactive format—one of which is a telephone. “Just pick up the phone, and you’ll automatically hear a registered conversation of John Lennon speaking about peace because he spent so much time talking about peace to the entire world,” Bossert said.

There is also a television showing archive images of the bed-in, and a tape recorder which plays exclusive interviews from journalists with Lennon at the press of a button.

Sophia Alachouzos volunteered at the bed-in. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

According to Bossert, she helped install about 150 pieces of art around the room, a process that was carefully overseen by Arthur Gaillard, the chief curator of MASSIVart. “It was a long selection process—we worked hand in hand with architects to find the right pieces of art which would endure with time,” Gaillard said. All the pieces that were selected were created by Quebec artists.

Also on the International Day of Peace, Sid Lee Collective and MASSIVart invited the public to attend the largest outdoor bed-in ever held in North America. Over 40 beds were placed on Place Ville Marie’s esplanade, each with a unique peace poster printed on its sheets.

Montrealers gathered to lie down for peace in celebration of the International Day of Peace at the Place Ville Marie esplanade. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

These posters were part of the Posters for Peace exhibition which featured the work of 40 international graphic artists depicting their visions for peace, its current state in the world and what needs to be done to achieve it.

“We’ve learned that even the smallest actions can spark change,” said Philippe Meunier, the chief creative officer, co-founder and senior partner at Sid Lee. “With Posters for Peace, we want to give artists a global platform to express themselves on this issue and start a conversation, so that we can build a better tomorrow.”

Feature photo by Kirubel Mehari

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Student Life

Exploring underground vintage pop-up shops

Shopping at the Good Vibes Vintage Pop-Up Shop. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Founding member of Psychic City offers a wide range of vintage clothing at affordable prices

In the basement of a building in the Plateau Mont Royal, down a staircase lined with handwritten signs and graffiti on the walls, once a month you’ll find the vintage pop-up shop Good Vibes.

The home for this underground fashion haven is Psychic City, a multidisciplinary arts venue that hosts music, fashion, comedy and film events. One of the venue’s founding members, Paulina Pietruczuk, previously studied fashion design

 

“Fashion has always been a passion of mine, especially thrifting, recycling clothing and being green,” she said. When her friend suggested she arrange a vintage pop-up shop, Pietruczuk went for it. The most recent shop was open on Sept. 21 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Psychic City will also be playing host to screenings of Hocus Pocus for Halloween and concerts, to name a few of its upcoming events.

The rented space has a cozy, ambient vibe. It’s lit by yellow and colourful fairy lights that nicely complemented the art on the walls. According to Pietruczuk, the space has been home to artistic events for many years. Before becoming an arts venue, the space was used primarily as a practice space for many local bands. However, its purpose recently shifted to emphasize providing a safe place for artists to be creative, whether it’s playing music, sculpting or painting.

Vintage jeans for only $3 a pair. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

On the day that Good Vibes opened its doors, clothing racks filled with different styles, fabrics and textures lined the room. Garments ranged from furry and oversized to tight and silky. Old, wooden chairs surrounded the clothing racks with a black leather couch placed right in the middle. Vintage denim pieces were neatly laid out on a table. A few recognizable brands, like Adidas, Beyonce’s Ivy Park and even a Toronto Raptors jersey, could be spotted in perfect condition, on sale.

One shopper, Hannah Clifford, changed into the pink culotte pants she found at the pop-up as soon as she bought them. She said she has been invested in thrifting for the past eight years because it’s cheaper than shopping at mainstream retailers. She added that she always finds quality second-hand clothing at these types of shops. “The special thing about thrifting personal collections that are on sale is that you get to see a memoir of [the seller’s] mood and their style,” Clifford said.

Clothes weren’t the only items available either. Spread out over one table was an array of handcrafted jewellry by Montreal-based Rufina Ip. Everything from bracelets to chokers to necklaces could be found in a variety of colours, ranging from pinks and oranges to black and blues.

A burgundy velvet quilted bomber jacket with embroidery styled by Alexa Rhynd. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Anyone is welcome to sell their clothing at Good Vibes, according to Pietruczuk. This is why Montrealer Alexa Rhynd was able add some of her clothing to the collection just a few days before the shop opened. She said the clothing she brought were items she was ready to let go of and pass on to a new owner.

Rhynd also included a few pieces she had spiced up herself, such as a burgundy velvet quilted bomber jacket. The garment’s deep red is now complemented by a wall embroidery piece sewn on the back which features a beautiful design bordered with gold. She was also selling a pair of painted jeans. “This is the very beginning,” Rhynd said about her attempts at enhancing clothing. “I don’t know what I’m doing yet, but I’ve already changed a lot.”

Thrifting and buying second-hand clothing can be a great way to recycle your wardrobe and be more green, Pietruczuk added. “Why not do it while enjoying music in a creative space,” she said.

For more information about Psychic City and a list of its upcoming events, visit the venue’s Facebook page.

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Student Life

Elephanté: Where hospitality meets knowledge

Agong Jesse in the courtyard at Elephanté. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Understanding the potential behind teaching someone something new

Elephanté is no more than a two or three-minute walk away from the compound, down the road and around the corner. This is why I go.

It certainly isn’t because the beer is cheap. In fact, a bottle of Tusker Lager is 4,000 Ugandan shillings, nearly $1.50 CAD, which is about 1,000 shillings more than anywhere else. No, I go there because it’s close—but that’s not the only reason to go. Elephanté makes a great pizza and, in this part of the world, for people like me who are accustomed to certain things in life, that is a big sell.

I am in Gulu, Uganda, for the summer. As a communications intern, I am tasked with creating a radio program using the voices and ideas of local young people to empower and inspire others in the community.

As part of my mandate, I’m encouraged to get comfortable and make myself at home. For the most part, that is precisely what I have done. I wouldn’t say I’m a regular at Elephanté, by any means, but I stop by often enough that the staff feel a need to reassure me there is more Tusker Lager on order when I walk through the door. I’m quite a fan of the beer, and the concern the staff at Elephanté show is an expression of their inherent hospitality.

Life is short, so drink the wine, eat the food and get the dessert. – A quote written on the walls of Elephanté

When I walk through the gate and into the open air of the restaurant’s courtyard, my eyes are immediately drawn to the café counter. This is where the light seems to focus and there are usually three or four employees waving at me and smiling. From what I understand, this is normal and, frankly, rather inviting.

With this distraction, by the time I get to the bar to order a drink or pick up a menu, I have walked past and completely ignored any guests sitting in the row of seats that face the courtyard. To be fair, the people seated there often intend to go unnoticed. They’re usually NGO workers catching up on paperwork or volunteers from overseas Skyping someone back home.

Ronald (left) and Dennis behind the service counter at Elephanté Café on Onono
Road in Gulu, Uganda. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Sometimes, they are people just trying to take shelter from the sun. Occasionally, though, they are staff members keeping a keen yet quiet eye on things. This was where Agong Jesse was sitting the first time I noticed him.

My first impression of Jesse was that he was shy and timid—a wallflower. On the contrary, Jesse likes to be surrounded by people and thrives on hospitality. He admitted he is fond of people and said his job is a great opportunity for him to meet and speak with a wide range of people from all over the world.

On the day we met, it was Jesse who spoke first. He knew I was an intern with CEED and was curious to know what project I was working on. After I explained my goal of finding young voices of strength and inspiration in the community, I asked him if he knew anyone who fit that description who I could talk to. He flatly said that perhaps I already was.

Though his tone was soft and his smile pleasant, there was a determined look in Jesse’s eyes as we spoke. I knew there was something he wanted to say. The graceful way he talked with his hands showed me he was confident about his ideas. This was clearly not the first time he had given thought to empowering youth.

“I want to show young people how to bake,” he said, adding that he was passionate about passing along knowledge to others. When I asked him why he was so adamant about the transfer of skills, he said it was because he feels he is in a privileged position. I was impressed—I mean, you don’t really hear that in northern Uganda.

Photo by Travis Sanderson

I did not have to press him as he explained that this attitude was largely due to the generosity of an American man. When Jesse was young, a man named Brian Davis, who worked with the faith-based charity Samaritan’s Purse, sponsored Jesse’s tuition fees so that he could attend a trade school to learn how to bake. I agreed that that is a fortunate position to find one’s self in, but asked him whether that was the only reason for his attitude. “No,” he replied. “My mother helped with that, too.”

His mother, Veronica, owned a restaurant when he was young. Watching her dole out hospitality to anyone who crossed the threshold, he explained, had a significant impact on him. Jesse was basically born into the hospitality business, and it wasn’t long before he was helping his mother set up her restaurant in the early mornings before school.

In fact, his mother would go so far as to invite hungry neighbourhood children to eat at the restaurant, with no expectation of payment. Jesse said this was mostly because she was someone who would rather find solutions than simply identify problems and hope they go away. At one point, his mother even took it upon herself to feed and house a handful of children from a nearby tribe that had sent them out to fend for themselves.

It was Jesse’s mother who took it upon herself to speak to the director of the local school to convince him to eliminate the school fees for the poorer children who had to leave school if they could not pay. Her persuasion worked, and the fees were waived. Now, the children could complete their secondary education for free.

Under the shade in the daytime or under the stars at night; the courtyard seating
area at Elephanté. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Thanks to his mother and Davis, Jesse became a pragmatic person. He said he feels the most important thing he can do with his life is help change somebody else’s for the better, even if it is just one person. He said it’s the least he can do. This philosophy extends to his work life—he said he would rather train someone to do a job rather than hire someone already qualified for the position.

I like the way Jesse looks at the world. He sees that everyone has potential if exposed to the right opportunities, and he wants those skills to be fostered. He said he also thinks each of us has the power to perform and the ability to learn if given the chance.

This is Jesse’s teach-a-man-to-fish approach to life, and he leaves me with one last remark: “Do something. Pass along your knowledge to others so that they, too, can learn.”

______

Community, Empowerment, Education, Development—or CEED—is a non-profit organization based in both Montreal and Gulu, Uganda. It works to empower youth to be agents of change in their communities through cross-cultural skills development and information sharing.

Each year, students from Concordia University travel to Uganda and work alongside Ugandan interns on various community projects that aim to benefit the youth of Gulu.

Travis Sanderson spent three months working as a communications intern in Uganda this summer. He has produced both written material and radio documentaries that reflect his experiences with the people of Uganda.

Photos by Travis Sanderson

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The journey of an award-winning photojournalist

Five kids sleep on the bed while their mother sleeps on the floor. Photo by Barbara Davidson in her feature on gang violence for the Los Angeles Times.

Concordia University invited Barbara Davidson to share insights about her life and career

In the words of renowned war photographer Robert Capa: “If your photographs aren’t good enough, then you’re just not close enough.” One thing is certain: Barbara Davidson has gotten close enough to produce emotional photos that evoke empathy. “The most important thing my upbringing taught me is empathy,” Davidson said. “It’s something that one really has to possess in order to be a really good photojournalist or good journalist.”

On Sept. 14, Concordia University invited Davidson to a homecoming keynote panel at the DB Clarke Theatre. Since graduating from Concordia with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts 27 years ago, Davidson has won three Pulitzer prizes, which is the most prestigious award for journalists. Davidson has also earned a national Emmy Award and was twice named newspaper photographer of the year by Pictures of the Year International. “I usually don’t talk about myself in these presentations. I’m usually far more interested in the people that I document,” she said. “Since it’s Montreal and I’m coming home, I thought that it would be nice to give people a perspective of how I ended up living in the United States and covering all the stories that I covered.”

Davidson discussed elements of her career and life as an award-winning photojournalist, and how she paved her way to success with nothing but hard work and perseverance. She was raised by her Irish mother, who worked part-time while taking care of seven children. “My upbringing had a profound influence on the journalist I became,” she said. “It really taught me what it’s like to go without, to live a life that was difficult. It taught me about the human condition from first-hand experience.”

Barbara Davidson speaking at the homecoming keynote panel at Concordia University. Photo by Kirubel Mehari

According to Davidson, it was her grandfather, who took pictures of her family, who inspired her passion for photography. “He was the original photographer of the family,” she said. “He had an incredible passion for taking pictures.” When Davidson’s parents left Ireland for Canada in search of a better life, they packed bundles of family photos into their suitcases. “We had this drawer that was full of all these family photos, and I loved them so much,” she said. “Photography really meant something in my family. It was a really special thing.”

Davidson was 15 when she first decided she wanted to become a photographer. “I didn’t really know that I would be this kind of photographer. I didn’t know that my dream would end up here on the front page of the Los Angeles Times,” she said.

Davidson began her career working for one of Concordia’s student newspapers, The Link. “I learned a lot about my craft here at Concordia University, working for the student newspaper. It was incredibly important for me,” she said. “I spent more time on that newspaper than I ever did in class.”

Since then, she has travelled around the world, covering different crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States. She documented the catastrophe and repercussions of hurricane Katrina and was recently in Texas covering the devastation of hurricane Harvey for the New York Times. “I had been trained as a Red Cross worker before I became a journalist, so I was and still am always interested in the most vulnerable people,” she said.

Davidson has also done a lot of work abroad. “It was like parachute journalism, where I would be dispatched to Iraq and hit the ground and figure out how to navigate,” she said. During the presentation, Davidson showed a video compilation of some of her photos taken abroad. The rawness of the photos demonstrated how close Davidson managed to get to the lives of thousands of different people all around the world. These pictures said more than a thousand words—they showed the strong emotions people experienced in their most vulnerable life situations.

Ten-year-old Erica Miranda was shot three times in the back, knee and hip March 2 while playing basketball outside her home in Compton. A young man had walked up to the crowded street corner and started firing a handgun in what police believe was a gang assault. A 17-year-old relative of her stepfather and a 45-year-old family friend, both men, were also shot three times and survived. At Long Beach Memorial Medical Center: Miller Children¹s Hospital, Erica waits for her bandage to be changed.

Davidson made it clear that her career did not come easily. It has taken her a long time to get to this point, and she discussed how rejection was part of her journey. “I [used] my rejection to fuel my desire to make it because this craft of photojournalism is so competitive and it’s so difficult so that rejection could have made me fall into a corner and have me cry a lot—but it just made me angry and it made me want it even more,” she said. “It made me say, ‘I’ll show you.’”

Davidson also explained that it isn’t necessary to travel overseas to document death and destruction—it can happen right in your backyard. When Davidson moved to Los Angeles, she said she noticed that many people were desensitized to violence. In nearby low-income neighbourhoods, people were experiencing a high level of gang violence. She decided it was her time to tell a substantive story about the victims of gang violence.

As part of her talk, she showed a short film which introduced the audience to the families she ended up spending a lot of time with for this project. “I always paid attention to people caught in the crossfire, the innocent victims who really had nothing to do with conflict but were caught in it,” Davidson said. When she initially approached her editors at the Los Angeles Times with her story idea, the newspaper rejected it. Davidson ended up working on the story for about six months on her own before she was given the green light to have her work published in the newspaper.

Davidson told the audience loud and clear: “You can study to be a journalist, which is a wonderful thing, but if you don’t have it inside of you to really be a journalist, you’re not going to be a journalist. It’s something a lot more than just learning trade—it’s a way of life. It’s not just a job for me.”

Main photo by Barbara Davidson in her feature on gang violence for the Los Angeles Times

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Concordia literature student to launch self-published book

Concordia English literature student Léandre Larouche will be self-publishing his french Novel, Hétérochrome, in October. Photo by Kirubel Mehari

The French novel focuses on a quest for identity and contemplates existentialism

Hétérochrome is the story of a CEGEP student who, in addition to being fascinated by literature, cinema and existentialism, is deeply curious about what comes after death.

“He decides to commit suicide to get that answer. But by doing so, he realizes it wasn’t the actual reason why he committed suicide,” explained author and Concordia student Léandre Larouche. “There’s something not quite right in his life […] something deeper, psychologically, that really troubled him.” In his third year of English literature, Larouche will be self-publishing this French novel in October.

According to Larouche, Hétérochrome was a product of his boredom. “When I was in high school, I was really bored. I didn’t know what to do with my time so I started writing.” He said he wrote the first draft as a short story in Grade 10 while he and his classmates were learning how to write short stories. “I wrote it about four to five times, and at some point it really got where I wanted,” Larouche said. The full-length version of the novel was written mostly during his CEGEP years. When he began his degree at Concordia, Larouche said he continued to revisit the story until it felt perfect. “The whole thing took over four years,” he said.

Larouche said he can relate to many writers who feel discouraged about their work and don’t believe they can complete it. “I told myself that if I didn’t finish one thing, I was never going to finish anything else. I just kicked my butt,” he said. “It was a feeling of necessity.” After many attempts at contacting publishing companies, Larouche decided to self-publish his novel. “Over the last year, I’ve been knocking at every publisher’s house and nothing good came out of it,” he said. “I felt that it was necessary to make it available now.”

Yet Larouche urges aspiring writers not to use self-publishing as a way to skirt the hard work of producing a novel. “Don’t see [self-publishing] as the easy way. Ultimately, you want to publish [your work], but you also want to make sure it’s publishable. Make sure it’s high-quality. Be organized.”

Larouche said his goal is to sell about 50 copies of Hétérochrome. “You have to be wise and good at self-promoting,” he added. “And learn to accept that it’s going to be small.” Larouche also recommended that writers who choose to self-publish still ask someone to look over their work and give feedback. One thing he said he should have done was ask strangers (often referred to as ghost readers) to read his book so that they could offer comments without a bias. “Make sure it’s read by many different people, and see where their feedback intersects,” he said.

According to Larouche, the first step towards self-publishing is to have a “polished result that you know is ready for publication.” The second step is to shop around for ways of publishing. The third step involves “taking ownership of all responsibilities,” which is taking the initiative in hiring a copy editor and a graphic designer, according to Larouche. The final step is the marketing phase, said Larouche, “you have to brand and sell your book. When it’s printed, you launch it and try to distribute it to bookshops.”

Larouche also advises writers to read their own work out loud to make sure the ideas flow. “You have to do it, otherwise you’ll never hear the rhythm,” he said. “You have these ideas, but it’s hard to put them into words. […] Make sure that every sentence goes well with each other.”

According to Larouche, one of the biggest challenges he faced during the writing process was his own impatience. You want to see the final result, he said, but it can’t get there without time and hard work. Although writing a French book while studying English literature might sound challenging, Larouche said it didn’t affect his work. “If it did, it would be in a positive way,” he said. “I’ve been educated for more than 20 years in French. I can write more complex sentences [in French] and have it perfectly right.”

The novel draws on themes of identity, coming of age, self-exploration and existentialism, among others that many readers, particularly young adults, will find relatable. Larouche said he believes a major theme in Hétérochrome that his readers will connect with is the idea that “everybody feels different.”

“It’s a lot about who you want to be, who you think you want to be, [who] your parents would like you to be, [who] everybody else wants you to be,” he said. “It’s that struggle. It’s definitely something that everybody thinks about.”

Larouche said he hopes his book will encourage university students to reflect on their pasts and the events that made them who they are today. “It’s written from a CEGEP student’s perspective, and in that sense, [university students] will think about themselves when they were in CEGEP,” he said.

For more information or to purchase the book, visit www.leandrelarouche.com.

Photo by Kirubel Mehari

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Student Life

Getting around on two wheels

Bicycles Against Poverty located on Eden Road in Gulu, Uganda. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Bicycles Against Poverty simplifies transportation in Uganda at an affordable cost

Bicycles Against Poverty is only about a 10-minute walk down Eden Road, but as I arrived, I wondered why I did not take a bicycle.

The small handmade sign at the entrance was just a bit off the road —enough that, if you were not looking for it, you might miss it. A yellow dog was lying lazily in the sun next to a sun-faded green gate. Peering through the slats, I could see a modest house and a yard full of tall trees. It reminded me of a farmstead from back home, only filled with mango and palm trees.

Men wearing coveralls were working on a few bicycles at the far end of the yard. Next to me,  the dog yawned, and I assumed he was not their guard dog. Or at least not a very good one.

I let myself in through the gate. In front of the house, I was greeted by a young man standing in the shade. He introduced himself as Nicholas Ogaba, the credit officer for Bicycles Against Poverty, or BAP. He told me he had been working there for almost five years. The first few were spent as a community-based trainer, acting as a liaison with the community, then as an intern. He came aboard full-time three years ago.

Credit Officer at Bicycles Against Poverty, Nicholas Ogaba. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Based in northern Uganda, BAP is a microfinance organization that helps people with modest incomes in need of credit loans. BAP was created in 2009 to assist with the rebuilding of northern Uganda after a brutal, 20-year civil war between Joseph Kony’s militia and government troops. With a significant number of people displaced and many livelihoods drastically altered, the conflict had subsequently left the region struggling to adapt to a whole new way of life.

In the wake of this social disruption, a man named Muyambi Muyambi ventured up to Gulu from the south of the country so that he could better understand what had happened and assess the situation in-person to see what he could do to help.

Since access to reliable and affordable transportation was one of the main concerns in Uganda, both before and after the war, Muyambi explored various ideas that might offer transportation solutions to those who needed it most. Eventually, he thought of the idea that eventually became BAP. It was simple: provide transportation to everyone who needed it by combining modest and reasonable loans with a mode of transportation that would be easy to use and easy to maintain. And so Bicycles Against Poverty (BAP) was born.

According to the numerous people I had spoken with in Uganda, wheeled transportation is not only more convenient than walking, it can also mean access to cleaner water, to improved healthcare and to better education. More importantly, for agriculturally-based communities, it also provides access to better profit margins for produce by allowing small-holdings farmers to access more markets and buyers.

When a simple bicycle is fitted with a sturdy rear rack, it becomes more than just a bicycle. It becomes a sort of truck capable of carrying sacks of grain, bunches of bananas or, in many cases, live chickens. (I even had the opportunity to witness bicycles transporting live pigs and goats.) During my initial meeting at BAP in late June, Ogaba even told me a farmer living outside Gulu had found his wife collapsed and unconscious on the floor of their home, but was able to ferry her to the local healthcare facility on his bicycle. Think about that—a bicycle ambulance.

The Avon Five Star bicycle manufactured in India, but assembled in Gulu. Photo by Travis Sanderson

But why the bicycle? Based on my three months in Uganda, motorcycles, which Ugandans referred to as “bodas,” appeared to be fairly ubiquitous across the country. They filled the streets everywhere I went. However, as many of the boda men told me, these vehicles, which cost more than four million shillings (about $1,400 CAD), are often out of reach for many Ugandans. Not to mention they are expensive to maintain and, of course, the cost of fuel is another expense to factor in. In comparison, a bicycle is affordable, relatively easy to maintain and doesn’t require any fuel.

The total cost of one of these bicycles is 270,000 Ugandan shillings (about $90 CAD). When purchased through BAP, there is no interest charged and, to keep the logistics and associated costs simplified and efficient, groups of 15 people or more are encouraged to apply under a united “village savings and loan association.” Through these associations, individuals agree to a minimum and maximum weekly savings commitment, say between 1,000 and 5,000 shillings. As a group, this fosters a savings pool which can further increase the performance of those savings as well as their purchasing power. Once approved for participation in the program, an initial payment of 40,000 shillings is required to guarantee delivery of a bicycle while the remaining balance is then paid off by the participants at a rate of 24,000 shillings per month for 10 months.

As Ogaba explained to me, the bicycles BAP uses, which are manufactured by an Indian company called Avon, are not only affordable but also noted for their robust construction. This makes them more suited for the rough roads of the Ugandan countryside. The bicycles arrive in Gulu disassembled and in cardboard boxes, but a team of four workmen from BAP can  assemble the bikes at a rate of one every two hours per worker, or a total of 12 per day collectively. The bicycles are then distributed on predetermined days to rural communities by loading all the bikes on a transport truck. Ogaba estimated that more than 1,000 bicycles have been distributed since he’s begun working with the company, and BAP’s bicycles are now distributed anywhere within about 100 kilometres of Gulu to communities such as Amoro and Anaka.

Lead mechanic at BAP, Peko Innocent and operations director, Brian Facet make final adjustments on the delivered bicycles. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Although Muyambi is no longer involved with BAP at the ground level—he’s pursuing his MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business in New Hampshire—he is still an active board member based in the United States.

The organization is now also working to address the transportation needs of participating groups, especially small-holdings farmers who may be more vulnerable with respect to access to markets, water points, healthcare and schooling because of their increased isolation from these resources.

Ogaba said he is confident in his team’s ability to achieve their new goals, and I given no reason to argue. What BAP is doing appears to me to be a well-run and well-thought-out approach to empowerment.

I noticed Ogaba check his watch, and I realised I had taken enough of his time. After all, there were still many bikes to assemble, and delivery day fast approaching. So, with the local customary handshake—a traditional clasp of hands with an added grasp of each other’s thumbs, then back to the clasp—I bade my new friends farewell and made my way back to the sun-faded green gate. As I closed it behind me, my wave goodbye was reciprocated by all inside but went completely unnoticed by the lazy dog, still basking in the sun.

Community, Empowerment, Education, Development—or CEED—is a non-profit organization based in both Montreal and Gulu, Uganda. It works to empower youth to be agents of change in their communities through cross-cultural skills development and information sharing.

Each year, students from Concordia University travel to Uganda and work alongside Ugandan interns on various community projects that aim to benefit the youth of Gulu.

Travis Sanderson spent three months working as a communications intern in Uganda this summer. He has produced both written material and radio documentaries that reflect his experiences with the people of Uganda.

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Student Life

Uncovering privilege in everyday tasks

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Why Canadians should be grateful they don’t have to wash their bed sheets every week

“How often would you say you wash your bed sheets?”

The Canadian interns’ answers: once a week, every two weeks, every month.

Ugandans? Every week.

The distinction was brought up during one of the bi-weekly check-ins for interns living on the compound in Gulu, Uganda, where any frustrations with communal living were aired out and discussed.

There were 11 Canadian and four Ugandan interns living on the compound, which also happened to be our workplace. We slept in huts—six women in one, five in another and the four men in a third. With two beds per bunk, we lived in pretty close quarters. Cleanliness and consideration for others’ space was definitely a recurring issue, especially in the shared common room.

Yet, it came as a surprise for many of us Canadian interns that our Ugandan co-workers were concerned about how often—or rather not often—we washed our bed sheets. Some of us argued that washing sheets was time-consuming, considering everything is washed by hand in Uganda. Others argued that their bed was their own personal space and, therefore, when and how often they washed their bed sheets was of no one else’s concern.

Another argument was Uganda’s frequent and sporadic weather changes. It wasn’t uncommon for it to suddenly rain—sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes all night—in which case our bed sheets would take more than a couple of hours to dry outside.

During a subsequent discussion with just the Canadian interns, however, a different perspective occurred to us. Back home, we have washing machines and dryers for laundry. That alone is a privilege, even in Canada. Laundry becomes less time-consuming. These machines allow us to do our washing without having to worry about weather changes. We get to decide when it’s convenient for us to do laundry.

Back home, we have the technology and the financial resources that not only make doing laundry convenient, but that add a level of comfort and ease to our lives many take for granted. We have a consistent supply of electricity. We have data plans when our Wi-Fi goes out. We have cars to shield us from precipitation when we travel.

This is not to say Ugandans don’t have electricity, Wi-Fi, data plans or cars—but what Canadians call everyday goods are luxury items in Uganda. I should add, though, that Ugandans are doing pretty well, even without our “everyday” goods. Solar panels are used to harness energy, bodas (similar to motorcycles) and bicycles allow people to get around and many Ugandans make do at home without Wi-Fi or data.

Another privilege was pointed out during the interns’ discussion: privacy. Canadians often have the privilege of sleeping in their own room. Even in situations of communal living, such as having roommates or living with family, we often have our own space with our own walls, bed and privacy.

Having a private space gives us the flexibility to wash our sheets at our own discretion. In contrast, Ugandans live not just with their immediate families but their extended families as well. They also have more children on average, meaning more people per household. In these cases, individuals live in closer proximity to one another. This means less privacy, not to mention a greater likelihood of smelling each other’s dirty bed sheets.

In Montreal, bed sheets are simply bed sheets. In Uganda, they were an eye-opening indicator of our privilege back home.

Community, Empowerment, Education, Development—or CEED—is a non-profit organization based in both Montreal and Gulu, Uganda. It works to empower youth to be agents of change in their communities through cross-cultural skills development and information sharing.

Each year, students from Concordia University travel to Uganda and work alongside Ugandan interns on various community projects that aim to benefit the youth of Gulu.

Julie Hoang spent the summer working as the head of social media for the Youth Advocacy and Communications project, which aimed to provide youth in Gulu a platform where they could share their stories of struggle and success.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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Student Life

The value of a motorbike

Aber Diana on her boda outside her home in Layibi, Gulu. Photos by Travis Sanderson

Against the odds, Aber Diana is a single mother thriving in a male-dominated industry

We turned right off the main highway that runs through the city of Gulu onto a rough, stony road that jostled the motorcycle enough to remind me to tightly grip the rear of the seat.

After only a few hundred metres, the driver pulled over beside a cluster of seven small, circular huts with thatched straw roofs, typical of northern Uganda. These modest homes, with their short cement walls, measured only a few metres across and two metres tall at the peak of their conical roofs.

As we dismounted the motorcycle—called a “boda”—and I took in my surroundings, the boda driver began to walk amongst the huts towards one at the back, furthest from the road. I was fumbling with my recorder when it occurred to me that I was finally about to meet Aber Diana.

Three boda drivers, or “boda men,” on their motorbikes while they wait for customers outside the Elephanté Café in Gulu, Uganda. Photo by Travis Sanderson

I first heard about Diana in a 2012 article from a local newspaper called The Daily Monitor. As a communications intern tasked with finding people in the community between the ages of 18 and 35 who have overcome tremendous odds, I knew I needed to find out more about this woman.

Diana is unique, not only because she works in an industry dominated by men, but because she works at night in an industry dominated by men. By day, Gulu, the commercial centre of northern Uganda, is generally a safe and friendly city of about 150,000 people. At night, things change. As interns from Canada, we were discouraged from venturing out at night. It made me curious about what lay beyond the front gate of our compound on Onono Road. The list of reasons we were given varied, but mostly we were warned about running into the mysterious, aggressive “Iron Bar Men.”

In this city, Diana is a boda driver by night. It is important to note that people tend to become boda drivers as a last resort, often because they are uneducated or cannot find another type of work. The job demands long hours for little pay, not to mention the higher-than-usual overhead costs in the form of fuel and boda maintenance. There is also a significant level of stress that comes with navigating the chaotic roads of Uganda where no one really obeys traffic regulations and police are more concerned with taking bribes than enforcing the law. Finally, keep in mind that it is a very male-dominated industry—Diana is one of only three female boda drivers in all of Gulu.

Your security is your brain, and you should not rely on anyone to take care for you during the day or at night.

This is the reason I find Diana so interesting. Why would a 27-year-old single mother of five boys risk working such a dangerous and stressful job, let alone at night? After speaking with what seemed like half of the boda drivers in Gulu—many of whom gave no indication of knowing Diana—I was finally standing at her doorstep thanks to the help of a boda driver I met at the city’s main market.

Diana was outside hanging laundry as we approached her hut. When she noticed us, she was quick to smile, as if she already knew why we were there. Perhaps she did—I had been asking about her for a few days, and it would make sense that the boda driver community talks. Diana is tall and stocky; a solid woman who looks like she can take care of herself. Yet her soft, kind face and gentle smile give her away as a lamb dressed as a lion. Her delicate handshake, light and timid, twined my fingers with hers, and I knew this female boda driver was not being reckless or rebellious. Rather, she was a woman doing what she needed to for her children.

My friend, colleague and translator, Nyeko Geoffrey Augustine, explained the purpose of our visit, and we were immediately ushered into the small hut that was Diana’s home.

The white lace drapery that kept the entrance to her house private got tangled around my arm when I entered. As I tried to sort myself out, a stream of Diana’s family members, including a small child, made their way past me as they exited the hut, barely noticing my graceless entrance.

Typical bodas parked outside the Elephanté Café in Gulu. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Once inside, I realized the space was much larger than it looked from the outside. A pole in the middle of the room appeared to hold up the peak of the roof, and the short cement walls supported its base. The ground was covered with an old, circular sheet of linoleum. The whole space felt like a cozy farm house and instantly made me feel at home. To my right, the blanket that divided the space in half was a bit worn, but clean and in keeping with the atmosphere of  the home—lived-in, but not the least bit run down.

I soon learned that Diana has seldom had the dice roll in her favour. She was born into a poor family in a village called Anaka, in the Alero region of northern Uganda. Her childhood was darkened by a brutal civil war that raged from 1987 to 2007 between President Yoweri Museveni’s government troops and the guerilla group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by  Joseph Kony. At the age of 14, Diana was orphaned when LRA soldiers stormed her village, killing many of the residents, including her parents.

She was afforded a bit of good fortune when an elderly woman from her village took her in. She was able to feed and clothe her, but just barely. The ongoing civil war and the old woman’s financial situation prevented Diana from attending school. When she became pregnant at 14 with twin boys shortly after going to live with the old woman, getting an education was next to impossible. Two years later, pregnant again with another set of twins, Diana said she just decided to accept that she would never receive a proper education.

Now, with a fifth child and the father absent, Diana is left with a lot of responsibility and few options for supporting herself and her children. Yet she refuses to be seen as a victim.

“I do this so that my children forget the meaning of poverty.

The old woman, now 105, still lives in Anaka, and Diana speaks of her as if she were her mother. Diana’s only expressed regret about her upbringing is that she was not able to attend school.

When asked why she chooses to ride at night, Diana got straight to the point. A ride that costs 1000 Ugandan shillings (about 34 cents Canadian) during the day earns twice as much at night. Therefore, she can double her money if she rides at night.

“People often ask me why, being a lady, I would ride at night. And they ask if it is not very dangerous. One thing I tell them is that your security is your brain, and you should not rely on anyone to take care for you during the day or at night,” she said. “You must protect yourself. These words help me to always be careful whenever I ride a boda at night.” After many years of experience, one way she has learned to stay safe is by carrying people she knows whenever possible.

Through Geoffrey, I asked her how she gets along with all the men. I expected her to tell us it is like the Wild West, and that she is ostracised because of her gender. Yet she responded with positivity. “The only way is to live with each other the way you would live with your brothers and sisters at home,” she said.

Diana started riding a boda in 2006, and in her words, learned how to ride a motorcycle “a long time ago … from some men who teach people motorcycle riding at only 200 shillings.” She referred to herself as “a stubborn kid” who would “use part of the money that I got from selling fruits for learning to ride the motorcycle and take the rest back home.”

By the time she had her first set of twins, Diana had at least some knowledge about riding motorcycles, but this was not an instant solution. She still needed to earn enough to support her children. “I then prayed to God to at least help me use this little bit of knowledge that I had to feed my children, at the minimum,” she said. “When I realised that this job really fed my children, I give a big thanks to God.”

Diana’s three-year-old son, Pius, and a neighbourhood friend giggle at their reflections in the camera lens. Photo by Travis Sanderson

Although Diana does not have a motorcycle of her own, she is able to borrow one from a fellow driver for a fee, which she pays every morning after work. “The rest of the money, I use it to feed my children and other things,” she said. The extra money she makes riding at night helps her pay the boda owner with enough left to support her children.

However, riding at night while raising a family is not without its challenges. First, she requires the help of a neighbour, who agrees to stay with the children after Diana leaves for work around 6 p.m. Then, Diana must return home in time to get four of her five children ready for school each morning. She said she sleeps from the time the children leave for school until about 11 a.m. when her youngest son wakes up for the day. After that, she has household chores and three-year-old Pius to care for.

“I do all these things so that my children can live like the other children in their school and neighbourhood,” Diana said. “I also do this so that my children forget the meaning of poverty. And there are some times that I don’t have money, but I make sure they don’t know about it because I want my children to always be with a clear mind of having everything they need.”

I didn’t know how to respond, probably because I am fortunate enough to have never been in such circumstances. She continued, “So if [my children] ask me why I ride a boda and being the woman among the men who rides a boda, I always tell them to not worry. All they must think of is that I do all these things for them.”

As I began to wonder if Diana was the kind of person who has the power and potential to inspire the masses, I asked her if she had any advice to give based on her experiences. “To my sisters out there,” she responded, “I say don’t fear to do something that you feel will get you out of the situation that you are in now. Always remember the reason why the idea came to you in the first place.”

Community, Empowerment, Education, Development—or CEED—is a non-profit organization based in both Montreal and Gulu, Uganda. It works to empower youth to be change agents in their communities through cross-cultural skills development and information sharing.

Each year, students from Concordia University travel to Uganda and work alongside Ugandan interns on various community projects that aim to benefit the youth of Gulu.

Travis Sanderson spent three months working as a communications intern in Uganda this summer. He has produced both written material and radio documentaries that reflect his experiences with the people of Uganda.

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Student Life

A moonlit foodie’s paradise

Attendee being served at the Mon Chicha Bistro kiosk. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Foodfest MTL hosts Montreal’s first all-Asian night market under the Jacques Cartier bridge

The barbecue’s were grilling and the woks were frying. The potato twister was swirling and the knives were chopping. The cooks were stirring, the kiosks were selling and the food-lovers were savouring the market.

Over 20 of Montreal’s best East and Southeast Asian restaurants gathered to serve a crowd of foodies at the newly renovated Village au Pied-du-Courant near the Jacques Cartier bridge. Hosted by Foodfest MTL, it was the city’s first all-Asian night market, with food available throughout the night on Aug 25 and 26.

Night-Market hosted by Foodfest MTL at Village au Pied-du-Courant. Photos by Elisa Barbier

Foodfest MTL, which was launched about a year ago, has seasonal partnerships with around 20 local Asian restaurants. The group collaborates with these establishments to offer customers special deals, often geared towards students but not exclusively.

“We work with a lot of student associations to see the restaurants around them and what can be done,” said Eva Hu, the co-founder of Foodfest MTL. Every few weeks, Hu explained, a new group of four or five restaurants will offer discounts. The rotation allows people to try different restaurants and broaden their experience of East and Southeast Asian cuisine.

The reason Foodfest MTL organized the all-Asian night market, Hu said, was to introduce Montrealers to a wide variety of flavours. “A problem we would see [at night markets] is that they have three stands of milk tea, three stands of sticky tofu or three stands of potato spiral, which is boring and brings up competition which we don’t want either,” she said. “We want each restaurant to shine with their biggest specialities.”

Preparing chicken pad thai at the Phayathai restaurant kiosk. Photo by Elisa Barbier

At Friday’s market, attendees could have their pick of mouth-watering dishes like toppoki from the Korean restaurant Ganadara, steamed baos from EAST, hand-pulled noodles served up by Nudo, Cuisine de Manille’s pork barbecue sticks or Phayathai’s chicken pad thai.

The shaky scaffolding observation deck at Pied-du-Courant was the perfect spot to observe the sea of people swarming from one stand to the next. Foodies shivered as they stood in indistinguishable queues, teased by the chilly breeze that carried succulent scents through the air.

The wait to taste each dish was often long, but the rewards were worth it and varied — everything from the soft, sweet jelly of a raindrop cake to the tender cold cooked-beef that practically melted in your mouth. The remarkable freshness of a Banh mi sandwich could be seen on the faces and in the smiles of people finally able to enjoy their food.

Many attendees could be seen struggling with their chopsticks, dropping them in the sand or admitting defeat over the slippery food that evaded their grasp. Others would simply eat skewers with their hands, a trail of sauce dribbling down their chin. Some preferred to indulge in less traditional dishes, such as oysters or ice cream featuring flavours like Taro, Vietnamese coffee or a neon-green sorbet that tasted like fresh coconut milk.

For Hu, it’s important to support local restaurants and the Asian food scene in Montreal in order to help the businesses and their dishes develop. “Introducing authentic flavours for people will enable them to explore the culture and share a mutual understanding through its goodness, instead of looking at unknown foods or flavors with fear,” Hu said.

Serving a batch of General Tao chicken. Photo by Elisa Barbier

Kiosks serving up not only a wide range of food, but also milk tea, fresh coconut juice, fruits and soft drinks, lined the street to accommodate everyone’s taste buds. The market also featured classic fair-style games where players could win prizes like backpacks or stuffed animals.

On the first evening, the market opened at 5 p.m. and, according to Hu, reached its maximum capacity just an hour and a half later. For people arrived around 7 p.m., the wait time was estimated to be about two hours. “We are letting 3,000 people in per hour so that the people inside clear up and the queues for the kiosks are reduced,” Hu said amidst the crowd of food-lovers.

Despite the overwhelming response to the festival, Hu said Foodfest MTL is trying to keep their events small during their first year to prevent errors and to get meaningful feedback from attendees.

Traditional Vietnamese Banh Mi and salads by the restaurant Tran. Photo by Elisa Barbier

“I wasn’t expecting it to get so big the first year,” Hu said, although she added that upcoming events will have even more restaurants participating, with a wider choice of flavours from different cultures. “What you learn about other cultures, you learn about yourself, too,” Hu said. “And there are only great things that come from that.”

Foodfest MTL’s next event is another Asian night-market on Sept.16 with seven to eight kiosks at Aire commune in the Mile-End.

Photo by Elisa Barbier

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Student Life

The MUTEK international festival of digital creativity turns 18

The TouchDesigner Workshop gathered technicians to learn more about audio visualization techniques. Photo by Sandra Hercegova

Inviting media artists from around the world to discuss the future of creative spaces in cities

The evolution and future of creative spaces in urban cities was the focus of the 18th edition of the MUTEK international festival of digital creativity and electronic music. Top artists within the digital media realm from London, Mexico City, Barcelona and Berlin gathered in Montreal from Aug. 22 to 27.

The festival featured panel conferences, an exhibition focusing on subversions of reality and electronic music parties. There was also a digital lab workshop set up by TouchDesigner, a real-time visual development platform used for creating interactive media systems, such as visuals for music. The workshop allowed digital technicians to learn more about audio visualization techniques on the TouchDesigner platform.

Immersive technology, visual art and live music performances under a stratosphere at the SAT for MUTEK. Photo by Sébastien Roy

On the second day of the festival, the focus was on the city of London and its creative spaces. Londoners who play a role in their local digital art or music communities were invited to participate in panel conferences to discuss their projects and challenges. One speaker was Marie McPartlin, the studio director for Somerset House Studios, which commissions one of those more well-known series of events in London. McPartlin explained how this creative space, Nocturnal City, plays a big role in London’s nightlife and pushes the boundaries of underground culture.

Alongside McPartlin at the panel conference was the director of Montreal’s Never Apart, Anthony Galati; Oliver Baurhenn, the curator and organizer of the CTM Festival in Berlin; and Danji Buck-Moore, a collective member of the creative events space, La Plante, in Montreal.

The panelists discussed the need for spaces that allow artistic experimentation in urban environments and how new, creative spaces can foster diversity and inclusion.

Galati is the music director at Never Apart, a non-profit organization in Montreal which aims to bring social change and spiritual awareness through cultural programming.

Galati has been helping creatives in Montreal gain visibility by providing them with resources to evolve their artistic endeavours. According to Galati, access to creative spaces is difficult and venues in Montreal are lacking. “People are creating more, but access to creative space is a bit tougher nowadays, and this is why we need spaces that promote and perpetuate artistic behaviour and endeavours,” he said.

While there is a general need for creative space in the city, Galati put a particular emphasis on providing such spaces for low-income families and teenagers. The reason is that price is another limiting factor for participants. “It’s expensive to make music, it’s expensive to make art — more collaboration is what cities need,” Galati said.

Immersive technology, visual art and live music performances under a stratosphere at the SAT for MUTEK. Photo by Sébastien Roy

The second panel conference discussed the present and future of audiovisual practices in music festivals, film and digital arts. The panel invited the senior director of the British Film Institute, Tim Stevens; Montreal-based digital artist Myriam Bleau; Antonia Folguera, a content creator for the Sonar Festival in Barcelona; and multidisciplinary artist Paul Purgas from London.

“It’s a very fertile time for art because everyone has a story to tell — we want to support experimentation in the U.K,” said Stevens, who has more than 16 years of experience in film, live cinema and digital media. This was his third time attending the MUTEK festival in Montreal. According to Stevens, creative expression is currently too focused on technological mediums rather than the story itself. “We’re at a time where people are thinking, ‘I want to tell a story, now what’s the best form of technology to use to tell this story?’” he said. “I think my biggest advice would be: don’t worry about technology. Think of the story that you want to tell because that’s where the emotion, passion and the drive comes from.”

“When you are telling a good story, it doesn’t matter what you use,” he added. “I think people obsess too much about the form that they are using when they should just focus on their story.”

Furthermore, the panel discussed the role of immersive technology in the future of audiovisual practices, such as sound and visual aesthetics in movies. According to Stevens, at the moment, VR is only monetized through video games. As it transitions to film and art, people are trying to work out what that means for the future of these mediums. “My biggest concern about VR is that it takes away community experience,” Stevens said. “There is no audience there — it’s just an experience that one person is having. What I love about visual and audio stuff is doing live cinema and seeing everyone’s reactions.”

Stevens also made a point to reflect on the challenges creativity faces in his city. “London is a big city, and there is a lot going on. There [are] a lot of problems with the culture there when it comes to art because you need to make a very loud noise and spend a lot of money to be able to cut through.”

The common thread that emerged throughout the festival was the need to include more space for creativity in urban cities and to make these spaces more accessible and inclusive. “In an ideal world,” Galati said, “there would be cubes everywhere that people can use as multi-purpose spaces.”

Feature photo by Sandra Hercegova 

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Student Life

Documentaries from the comfort of your own home

Graphic by Alexa Hacksworth

Cinema Politica launches online streaming service to showcase independent filmmakers

Instead of staying informed on current events and political issues through short tweets and five-minute news reports, perhaps documentaries are what you’re looking for.

Known for screening films aimed at sparking social change, Cinema Politica recently made its content available through an online streaming service known by its acronym, CPSVOD. Following a two-week free trial, anyone can access this Netflix-style service with a monthly subscription of USD$4.99.

From documentaries to dramatic short films, CPSVOD uploads new content to its library every Tuesday. This service is an updated version of Cinema Politica’s previous online pay-per-view service.

According to the group’s communications coordinator, Danielle Gasher, this new service gives people the opportunity to watch documentaries that would otherwise be hard to access, as most are made by independent filmmakers. It also gives users a glimpse at the various types of independent documentaries being created around the world.

“We want everyone to get engaged socially and politically and take action after seeing these documentaries,” Gasher said.

For the Concordia-based non-profit community, the goal has long been to share the work of independent Canadian and international filmmakers, Gasher said, as well as inspire, educate and engage their audience in politics through art.

Among the documentaries already available for streaming are stories of repression, oppression and many political issues the group feels are overlooked by mainstream media. This includes are Street Politics 101, a documentary about the student strikes in Montreal opposing tuition hikes in 2012.

Dramatic short films are also available such as Stolen, created by Indigenous filmmaker Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs and aimed at addressing the issue of missing Indigenous women across Canada.

According to Gasher, the screening service is the group’s attempt to reach a younger audience by replicating the popular Netflix-style of movie-watching and making their films available on cellphones, tablets, laptops and televisions.

“Not only does it utilize the recent surge of interest in documentaries in the university setting, it’s also a great educational tool,” Gasher said. “As entertaining as these documentaries can be, they are extremely informative about social and political issues going on in the world.”

For more information about Cinema Politica streaming service, visit: https://cinemapolitica.vhx.tv.

Graphic by Alexa Hacksworth

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