Tag: montreal

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News

Partial closure of Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel causes uncertainty

Gabriel Guindi / The Concordian

Will the constructions give public transit a boost?

Constructions on the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel have begun. With three of its six lanes closed, South Shore commuters are weighing their options — including Concordia students.

Half of the tunnel will be closed until 2025. While traffic seemed moderate at the beginning of the first week of construction, the road between the island and the South Shore started getting more congested within a few days.

“We’re adapting in real-time,” said Gilles Payer, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec. Payer explained that it would take two to three weeks for traffic to be regulated. “Right now, people are trying things. They’re changing their habits.”

Joy Benyamin, a first-year journalism student at Concordia, has started to see the effects of the tunnel closure near her home in Brossard. She works at Quartier DIX30 and explained the closure of the tunnel has caused many delays in her commute — even when she’s not trying to get on the island.

“I finish work at five, my sister finishes work at five. My mom picked me up, and my sister works really close to the Champlain bridge [too]. Usually, we turn on one street, and we’re here. But we got stuck on a street for 30 minutes. My mom cut into a residential street, and there was even more traffic, because everyone thought of the same thing. […] It took us one hour from my work to her work. It usually takes us seven minutes.”

Benyamin uses public transit to get to school, so the closures haven’t affected her in that regard.

“I hope more people take public transport to get around,” she said. “On the bus, you have your music, and you sleep. And there’s a bus lane in the morning, so no traffic for you!”

This sentiment is echoed by Mario Lemay, mayor of Sainte-Julie. Public transport is free within Sainte-Julie, and there are a lot of incentive free parking lots at bus terminals to encourage people to use buses when travelling to Montreal. Before the pandemic, these options were popular; according to Lemay, around 90 per cent of the parking spots were filled. 

“It has been less pretty since the pandemic,” he said. After the uncertainty of the last few years, bus companies are having a hard time finding drivers, and fewer drivers means less reliable buses.

Lemay hopes that the closure of the bridge may lead people back to public transit options. He was happy to see the steps taken by the Ministry of Transportation to create more public transit options on the South Shore.

Lemay recommends that people opt to work from home as much as they can, and try to get a schedule that keeps them away from the road at rush hour. 

“There’s less traffic than we expected,” he concluded. “We’ll see with the snow, though.”

The pandemic was also on Payer’s mind when he tried to predict how the closure of the tunnel would affect drivers in the coming weeks.

“No one calls us to say: today, I’ll be teleworking!” he said. 

He pointed out the steps taken by the Ministry to make public transit more appealing, including five free bus lines going into Montreal and, until the end of the month, free STM tickets for commuters once they get to the island. Payer explained that they want to encourage first-time users to try public transit.

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Arts Culture

Seeing Loud: A look at the love story between Jean-Michel Basquiat and music

Man looking at painting - VALENTINE ALIBERT

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts collaborates with the Musée de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris to create the first large-scale multidisciplinary exhibition on the role of music in Basquiat’s art

Upon entering the exhibit, visitors are embraced by the first room’s black painted walls as new-wave music plays. The smell of paint lingers in the air as people gather to admire the artwork while music from punk band The Offs plays loudly in the background. 

This is how curators decided to open Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music, an exhibition centered around the major role that music — be it opera, jazz or hip-hop — played in Basquiat’s life and work. 

Spectators are propelled into the musical universe of Basquiat’s era and the New York underground scene of the 1970s and 1980s that inspired him throughout his artistic career. 

The walls are covered with colourful posters and flyers of the bands that the artist listened to and formerly collaborated with. Between his emblematic crowns and anatomical drawings, musical references start to emerge in visitors’ minds.

Musicologist and guest curator from the Philharmonie de Paris Vincent Bessières explained that the first part of the exhibit was made to give a contextual and biographical background on the importance of music in Basquiat’s life, while the second part centers on how music oriented his pictorial universe. 

From his band Gray to his appearances as a DJ, nothing is forgotten in the extensive discography that has found its way into the artist’s work. 

The scenography uses a multidisciplinary approach that reflects Basquiat’s own methods. 

Woman looking at painting – VALENTINE ALIBERT

Visitors are projected into an atmosphere by the music playing in each room while videos and archives play everywhere. 

Visitors Ismaila Diallo and Anastasi Eosforos said they particularly appreciated the exhibition’s scenography and the way the different parts were orchestrated.

“Seeing urban art in a museum was fun,” said Diallo. “You would think there’s kind of this clash between the two, but it was very well executed.”

Jazz specialist Bessières explained that, even though Basquiat was a painter of his time and was involved in a dynamic and creative environment, he brought past music to the canvas.

“Looking at Basquiat through the prism of music allows at the same time to talk about the social journey of his life but also an interpretive key that allows us to understand things about his work,” said Bessières. “Jazz is really the music that he most celebrated, quoted, and represented in his works.”

For Bassières, these visual references to African-American culture and music are part of Basquiat’s wider connection to his identity as a Black man. 

The exhibition shows how music in Basquiat’s mind connected him to the world as an artist but, more importantly, as a Black artist living in America.

Seeing Loud runs until Feb. 19, 2023. Tickets are $16 for 21 to 30 year olds while general entry is $24. For more information, visit the MMFA’s website.

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News

After two years of being online, the yearly Nuit des sans-abri de Montréal is back

The Nuit des sans-abri comes back after two years of pandemic to hold a vigil to support people experiencing homelessness and raise awareness about the difficulties of living on the street

After gathering for speeches at Phillips Square, community organizers and participants marched to Place Émilie-Gamelin for the 33rd annual Nuit des sans-abri. There, organizers met for a solidarity vigil where people experiencing homelessness could gather around fires and have food and drinks with those present. People played music and made art. Activists put up tents to raise awareness on the various issues affecting the homeless population. 

La Nuit des sans-abri was started in 1989 by several community organizations and spread to various cities across Quebec. Since then, it is held each fall to raise awareness about the difficulties encountered by people experiencing homelessness, poverty, and social disaffiliation. The number of people in this situation in Montreal and throughout Quebec has been on the rise since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to community organizers.  

Marianne Daigle, a community organizer for the Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM) and co-organizer of the Nuit des sans-abri, explained that this year’s event was the first time since the start of the pandemic that it  was held in-person, which the organizers hope let people feel more connected. 

“After two years of the pandemic, it seemed essential to us to have this gathering, which is a mobilizing moment of awareness for civil society,” said Daigle. “The pandemic brought a sense of solidarity, of sharing and now that the pandemic has calmed down we have many more people in precarious situations or who were on the line and that the pandemic has pushed over the line.”

Daigle explained that there is a lack of adapted services for homeless people in Montreal.

“We need to diversify the actions and the type of resources,” said Daigle. “Long-term, temporary and emergency housing, we need all of these because homelessness has a thousand different faces.”

Daigle added that, on top of the labour shortage, community organizations also lack the necessary funding to meet the demand for their services. She explained that the current social and political climate are pushing more and more people out on the streets.

“Each homeless person has an individual journey but there are systemic issues,” explained Daigle. “The housing crisis has added a lot, even the increase of the cost of living that affects us all.” 

Jacques Brochu, an artist who has experienced homelessness, was present to showcase his work. Brochu discussed his experiences using art therapy, which he discovered through the harm reduction community organization, Dopamine, in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Currently in a difficult housing situation, Brochu hopes to soon live in a housing co-operative and eventually become an art therapist. 

Brochu and other people present were quick to denounce the “not in my backyard” effect, from residents opposed to having homeless shelters built in their neighborhoods, ultimately stigmatizing people experiencing homelessness.. Participants also mentioned a lack of political policy and exposure visibility towards the displaced. 

“The most difficult thing is the lack of commitment of the political class,” said Brochu, regarding the recent provincial election. “Politicians don’t want to actually make decisions,” said Brochu.

Categories
Briefs News

International students say goodbye to 20-hour work week limit — for now 

The Hall building at Concordia's Sir George Williams campus. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

The federal government is looking to lean on international students to help address Canada’s labour shortage

On Oct. 7, the federal government announced its plan to temporarily lift the limit on the number of hours international students can work. 

Under the previous policy, international students studying in Canada were permitted to work a maximum of 20 hours per week off-campus. However, there is no such limit for on-campus work.

According to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, this policy will come into effect on Nov. 15 and will remain in place until the end of 2023, allowing international students to work additional hours.

Clément Lechat, an international student at Concordia University, shared his thoughts on this implementation:

“I don’t really understand the 20-hours-a-week limit,” said Lechat. He explained that many international students struggle to support themselves. For the students who can take on the extra hours, he said, “This change is a great opportunity for them.”

Lechat added, “I think it would be a good idea for the government to keep this policy long term.”

Fraser claimed that even as the Canadian economy bounces back following the pandemic, the  country faces an ongoing labour shortage. With over 500,000 international students currently in Canada, Fraser believes they’re important for addressing this issue.

“By allowing international students to work more while they study, we can help ease pressing needs in many sectors,” he said. 

Besides lifting the limit on work hours, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will launch a pilot program to automate the process for international students looking to extend their study permits. This will also be accompanied by the opportunity to extend expired or expiring work permits by an additional 18 months.

Categories
Arts

SIGHT+SOUND: a festival that expands beyond linear definitions of art

Perpendicular screens with TV prompter - ESTHER MORAND/THE CONCORDIAN

Dancing While Waiting (for the end of the world): an exhibit that makes you question the intermediate between one’s body and the inevitable apocalypse

The 12th edition of the digital art festival, SIGHT+SOUND, took place at the Eastern Bloc from Oct. 26 to 30, and performances will continue until Nov. 12.  It’s a festival that primarily aims to provide a platform for emerging artists.

The curators of SIGHT+SOUND are Sarah Ève Tousignant and Nathalie Bachand. 

After two years of moving to an online format during the pandemic, this edition of the festival comes in full force as people are able to interact with the artwork in-person once again. 

The Eastern Bloc was founded in 2007 and is an art center that brings together technology, art, and science. It provides a laboratory space, proposes workshops, and hosts exhibits. SIGHT+SOUND’s theme this year is Dancing While Waiting (for the end of the world). 

The festival is composed not only of an exhibition section but also of a series of dance performances and musical and audio works/installations. It plays between the grounds of definable and uncategorizable artwork. Venues are located all across Montreal. 

The main exhibit was packed into a small rectangular room. Upon entering, one was immediately drawn to a table on the right side of the room that was organized with a series of pillow computers and screens. 

Table at entrance of exhibit – ESTHER MORAND/THE CONCORDIAN

On the left, visitors could raise a tablet over hanging clothes, and view a green body shaped into a dress through the screen. 

Screens were installed at either end of the room, displaying videos of artists’ works. People could use headphones to listen, which created a sense of isolation from the rest of the exhibit as visitors’ eyes and ears were entirely fixated on the short video. Strange and almost human-like figures appeared on the screens. 

In the middle of the room, two large panels perpendicular to each other showed two video screenings simultaneously, while a TV lodged at an angle displayed a TV prompter. One video, tinted in red, showed a woman racing, while the other displayed dancing bodies — some drawn, and some in live-action. 

Perpendicular screens at SIGHT & SOUND, ESTHER MORAND/THE CONCORDIAN

The sharp contrast of black words on the white screen offered a clear reflection of the seriousness of the statement. The text was set as a sort of conversation, discussing climate anxiety and the inability of humanity to focus on saving itself. 

The festival sought to retract individuals from their preconditioned lives surrounded by technology, and allow them to reflect on their states of servitude. It was intended to bring awareness to social spaces, and reappropriate what it means to be in contact with one another.

Categories
Sports

Let’s stop calling young athletes “busts”

CARLEEN LONEY/ The Concordian @shloneys

Everything that’s wrong with labelling prospects and rookies as busts

Let’s begin by defining what a bust is.

A bust is a player who was highly touted and drafted professionally at a high position, but who did not meet expectations. The term carries a negative connotation: that someone is a failure.

There have been discussions going on for decades about how long it takes to determine if a player is a bust or not.

I’d say it takes a few years, two at the very least, before it’s somewhat fair to judge whether or not a player has met expectations.

However, that doesn’t mean I like the word. Because I really don’t, especially not for young players.

Saying an athlete is a bust puts the blame entirely on them, as it implies they’re underperforming. But there are other factors around them that affect their play, including the team that drafted them and is developing them. Let’s also not forget about injuries or personal circumstances outside of their control.

The word bust is used very liberally, and that’s another reason I don’t like it.

You can’t call someone who was drafted higher than expected a bust. You also can’t label someone as a bust because their first few professional games went bad, or if it took them a year or two to reach the major leagues.

People often forget that each athlete is different. Some athletes take longer to develop than others, so while some might start in the big leagues directly after getting drafted and have outstanding success, others might need more time to develop, and sometimes that’s in college, or in the minors. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Of course there are expectations and pressures that come with being drafted high, but the athletes don’t pick when they get drafted. They do their best, and the rest is up to the organizations that draft them.

Also, each draft class is different. Take the 2022 NHL draft class, for example, in which a lot of players lost a year of development because they couldn’t play due to COVID shutdowns. Some draft years are stronger than others. That’s just the way it is.

Management and coaching styles vary between organizations. They might have different plans for their players, and the team in general, which can play a big part in how a player’s confidence grows or diminishes, if they play big or small minutes, if they get sent down to the minors, etc.

And of course, let’s not forget about injuries — the worst reason to call an athlete a bust. Saying someone didn’t meet expectations and is a bust because of something that’s completely out of their control is wrong and people should know better.

Just try to keep in mind that athletes are human, and that prospects and rookies are just kids. You can watch and root for them without being mean and hating on them for needing more time to develop. But if you really want to call someone a bust, maybe, just maybe, give it a few years.

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Community Student Life

University of Münster Case Challenge 2022

Courtesy of Michael Lecchino

John Molson School of Business brings home the first big win at an international case competition since 2019.

This year, the University of Münster Case Challenge (UMCC) took place for the sixth year in a row. Twelve schools from around the globe participated in the event, including the John Molson School of Business representing Concordia University.  

The Concordian had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Lecchino, one of the members on the JMSB team.

“The way JMSB sends delegates to international competitions is you usually have to be a part of JMCC. The JMCC is the John Molson Competition Committee. Once you are a part of this club, you take a case competition course and it teaches you how to do case cracks and get better at these case competitions,” Lecchino explained.

When a student at JMSB gets involved with the JMCC, they often get sent to regional competitions, like the Jeux du Commerce, for example. 

“I was able to participate in and go [to the UMCC] with three other academic delegates. My colleagues were Émile Martel, Dylan Ross, and Taylor Graham. We ended up going to the case competition in Münster, Germany, two weeks ago. There are some case competitions that happen in Australia, Alberta and many more, however they fall into the winter semester,” Lecchino said. 

Lecchino also broke down the competition for The Concordian.

“From when we arrived in Münster, our first case came in on Thursday. This was the shorter case, it was a four-hour case. We crack it and create a presentation and we pitch it to a panel of judges on that very same day,” Lecchino recalled. 

This case was regarding a business called lemon.markets. The business wanted to establish a go-to market strategy and acquire business-to-business customers. The JMSB team successfully pitched it to the panel of judges.

“The next day on Friday, we have a ten-hour case. So we spend ten hours going through the case, creating a presentation and we don’t present. We presented on Saturday morning,” Lecchino said.

The ten-hour-long case was a sustainable urban development strategy for the city of Cologne.

On Saturday morning, the winners of each division were announced. These winners faced off in the finals with their respective presentations for the second case. 

“It was the first time we won and we podiumed at an International case competition since 2019,” Lecchino said. 

The UMCC was a great experience for Lecchino, and he recognized it as a huge honour to be able to represent JMSB alongside his colleagues. 

Categories
Arts

Ji zoongde’eyaang opens with a strong heart

Credit: David Wong

Mother and daughter dig up old works to tell a story on Indigenous heritage in new MAI exhibition

Montréal, arts interculturels, or MAI for short, opened Ji zoongde’eyaang on Oct. 22. The exhibition features work from Lara Kramer and Ida Baptiste, an Anishinaabe Oji-Cree mother-daughter duo. The title, in Anishinaabemowin, means “to have a strong heart”.

Baptiste is a visual artist, traditional pow wow dancer and Ojibwa language teacher based in Rama, Ontario. She is a member of the Berens River First Nation, Treaty 5 territory. Many of her works, consisting of oil on canvas, weaving and printmaking, were famously shown between 1975 and 1990 in Ontario.

Lara Kramer, her daughter, is a performer, choreographer and artist of many disciplines from Oji-Cree and settler descent. Her work is grounded in intergenerational relations, intergenerational knowledge and the impacts of the Indian Residential Schools in Canada. 

Most of the pieces in this exhibition touch on generational practices as well as experiences involving memory, loss and reclamation. Some of the works by Baptiste are from the early ’90s and have never been seen before, representing her experiences from her time at Brandon Indian Residential School in Manitoba.

Baptiste worked as an Ojibwa language teacher at Mnjikaning Kendaaswin Elementary School in Rama, Ontario from 2011 to 2019. “There’s a big language component in all of these works and it’s reflected here with the audio recording of them learning together, but the exhibition of all of these blankets actually started during the pandemic,” said MAI head of communications Jaëlle Dutremble-Rivet.

Much of Baptiste’s works consist of oil paint on canvas. Many of these paintings depict young Indigenous children superimposed over backgrounds thematically tied to residential schools. 

In addition to the language component of this exhibition, Kramer and Baptiste collaborated to gather several trade blankets representative of Kramer’s memories growing up and connecting with her Oji-Cree culture. “Gorgeous Tongue,” one of the blankets on display, represents Kramer’s memories of growing up in poverty. She also touches upon sentiments of rebirth and family lineage. 

“Emily” is a trade blanket that represents Kramer’s relationship to her lineage. She speaks of her “nookomis,” her mother’s mother, and the brief relationship they had. Kramer recounts witnessing her nookomis’ anguish through a series of seemingly paranormal interactions. The piece has heavy tones of generational trauma and the ways in which they shape intergenerational relationships. 

The trade blanket has a lot of meaning. It was used during colonization, spreading smallpox to indigenous communities — a devastation in the genocide against Indigenous people. The blankets were also used in trade between different communities. Kramer and Baptiste are reworking and tasking that symbol, adding regalia from traditional jingle dresses and beading work. 

“The paintings were an addition because at the beginning it was only supposed to be the blankets and a projection,” said Dutremble-Rivet. For instance, the painting titled #64 is a triptych of a young child on a swing set, with a background composed of different numbers. 

“All of the children in residential schools were given numbers, and 64 was Ida’s number,” said Dutremble-Rivet. “There’s a lot of residential school history in Ida’s work. [Ji zoongde’eyaang] is a really important work to show, especially that it was truth and reconciliation day a month ago, so it’s the real history.” 
For more information about the exhibition, please visit the MAI’s website.

Categories
Interview Music

A conversation with Sirintip about her latest album, Carbon

The New York-based artist sat down with The Concordian to talk about her new LP 

Oct. 14 saw the release of the long-awaited Carbon LP from Sirintip (AKA Sirintip Phasuk), and honestly, I am here for it. The New York-based artist took the time and effort to make this album into what it is: a means of communicating the “narrative of science” and implementing data from pollution to turn into musical sequences. She has used her Thai and Swedish influences and poured them into a melting pot with jazz, turning the project into a wonderful concept album.   

The Concordian sat down with the artist to talk about Carbon:

Tell me about your musical upbringing. What is the origin of Sirintip?

So I grew up in Bangkok, Thailand. I was always singing. I started playing Thai instruments in school but then I took private lessons for piano and violin but I was always singing. The music school I went to [in Sweden] had 1,000 kids and everyone could sing, and this happened at the same time that the Harry Potter movies came out so I felt very much like the other kids. We had seven hours of choir singing every week which was intense. Then in my teenage years, I was exposed to jazz and then I did my master’s in New York.

Tell me about your songwriting process, what comes first? What comes last?

So for this album, I started with the concept. There are 13 songs in the album and each song is a specific cause or effect of climate change. So what I did was research, among other topics, plastic pollution: what is it? How does it affect us? For the whole record, I decided that I didn’t want to put anything clearly in the lyrics, I wanted to build the message into the songs. So then people can listen and connect to the songs, and be curious enough to learn and research the concept. I don’t believe that forcing anyone to think or do anything is the way to go around this. I think it’s better to try and inspire conversation. So for “Plastic Bird,” I took plastic trash from my kitchen, recorded it with my ZOOM recorder and uploaded it into Ableton as a sample. When you put all the samples on a drum rack you can play the sounds on your keyboard. 

You all stayed at the Manifold Recording Studio in North Carolina for nine days with some of the artists who collaborated with you on this album. What was the day-to-day experience like for you?

It’s the most incredible experience. The studio is solar-powered which is really cool. That was an important piece for me, not just writing about climate change to sustainability but also to find ways to becoming more sustainable in my artistic practice and it’s so systemic that sometimes it’s just impossible like If we need to perform in Europe, we’re not going to be able to afford a ship to get us there but at least we were able to work in the studio for nine whole days. We’d work the whole day at the studio and then walk three minutes to the guest house, sleep, and then restart the procedure the next day. We were completely immersed without distraction. We were in the middle of nowhere and so there would be a lot of wildlife like deer roaming around right outside the studio.  

You said for your debut album Tribus that “The idea behind the album is to bridge the gap between pop and jazz by combining singable melodies with grooves, jazz harmonies and electronics.” Does this still resonate true with Carbon?

I think that is just something that is inherently me, so when it came to Carbon it was more like “How do we turn this air pollution data into music?” When I grew up in Thailand I would play Thai instruments and in Thailand, on mainstream media it’s just pop music. When I moved to Sweden their main musical export is pop, with people like Max Martin writing a lot of the hits of the 2000s [and even now]. So when I moved to the States I started studying jazz, but because it is an Afro-American tradition and being in New York studying it I realized it was better for me to add to the music by bringing in both my Thai and Swedish influences. I feel like the foundation of my writing is jazz: there’s a lot of complex harmonies, a lot of weird time signatures, as well as challenging concepts and improvisations when live. It’s just packaged in a more pop way, because I feel that it’s important for people like my parents who do not listen to jazz to sing along to it.

What is in store for the future of Sirintip? What do you have coming up?

I want to be working with scientists firsthand. Back in July, I went out on a research vessel with 25 scientists in the North Pacific. They were studying plankton so I was learning from them and working with them and writing music based on their research. Knock on wood I might be going in July to Greenland to study icebergs and glaciers, plus I want to do other research trips too. All this is to bring all that knowledge and write an interdisciplinary suite where I’m combining my electronic roots with an acoustic rhythm section and a small chamber orchestra to present this work so that it comes from science and the work that I’ve discovered with scientists, and to help tell the narrative of scientists

Categories
Concert Reviews Music

Concert Review: The retro-futuristic band Automatic comes back to Montreal with their second album Excess

Automatic playing at Les Foufounes Électriques ESTHER MORAND/The Concordian

 Automatic: fighting capitalism through looped synths 

Automatic performed on Oct. 19 at Les Foufounes Éléctriques, and the show was everything their devout fans were expecting. The trio is composed of Izzy Glaudini, lead vocalist and synth player, Halle Saxon for bass and vocals, and Lola Dompé for drums and vocals. 

“We started in Los Angeles, and we’re all big music fans, we weren’t really close friends, but we all thought we were cool. The best way to start a band is to meet cool people, so that’s what we did,” Glaudini told The Concordian. 

Automatic’s genre skims between retro and techno-pop, sometimes touching upon apocalyptic futuristic sounds thanks to the lead’s synth. Their lyrics and music videos satirize our current society, with the irony of standing by while capitalism breaks everything as the climate crisis ravages on. 

Post-punk Montreal band La Sécurité opened for them. La Sécurité offered a similar genre in sound and in style. Both bands had taken care to form a retro aesthetic with neat sunglasses, pastel-coloured clothes, and a general irreproachable sense of icon. 

Automatic seemed very focused with their instruments, looking up rarely, moving their bodies only slowly when it resonated naturally with the rhythm, not forcibly. They seemed almost aloof to the crowd in front of them, focused entirely on the music they were playing. 

Automatic sequentially had an even pace all throughout their performance. They wanted the audience to perceive the style they had meticulously chosen. They captured the room’s attention with their futuristic keyboard, vocals, and synth sounds. The bass carried most of the songs.

“We have a minimal style. We’ve never had any guitars, we wanted to make it sound different to a lot of the bands that are going around.” Glaudini noted the importance of having the audience’s attention lead to the sound of the bassist. 

When the show was done, the crowd echoed in applause. Instead of retreating backstage, the trio decided to instead join the crowd amongst their friends. This was both funny and humbling. On stage, musicians are often retracted from their humanity, seen as idol-like figures. Their stepping down from the stage at the end of the show almost shyly universalized us as all human and capable of commonality. 

La Sécurité and Automatic’s music is available on BandCamp.

Categories
Sports

Luca Milne is ready to say goodbye to Concordia

Concordia Stingers' fly-half Luca Milne in a men's rugby game vs. the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Credit: EVAN BUHLE/ Concordia Athletics

The men’s rugby fly half looks back on his Stingers career

On Oct. 22, the Stingers’ men’s rugby team played their last game of the season. The 36-29 loss against the Ottawa Gee-Gees meant that for a few graduating players like Luca Milne, a fourth-year political science student, their career with Concordia was officially over.

The starting fly-half had been with the team since he first came to Concordia in 2019, when he was 17 years old. Coming from Ireland, he had never set foot in Canada before.

“Rugby is a lot bigger in Ireland than it is here. I started in high school, when I was about 12,” Milne recalled.

Milne grew up playing soccer and never even considered playing rugby at first.

“My dad played rugby, so he dragged me onto the pitch. I didn’t even want to play when I first saw it. He literally just forced me to play and I had no other choice. That was basically it and I just didn’t stop,” he chuckled.

Milne also noted how rugby facilitated his transition from Ireland to Canada, as well as from high school to university.

“I was really young during my first year,” he said. “I came in a team with a lot of older guys, but I never had any problems. Everyone was very nice and they helped me settle in really well.”

Team captain Stan Blazkowski, who started alongside Milne, looked back on his teammate’s rugby debut.

“He looked like he was still a kid. He wasn’t speaking much and spent his first two games on the development team,” Blazkowski recalled. “Then, he had one good game and the coaches thought it would be a good idea to bring him in on the first team. He had another great game and he’s been our starting #10 ever since.”

That season, the Stingers went on to win the RSEQ championship.

Throughout his three seasons with the Stingers, which would have been four if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, Milne grew to be more comfortable with his role as a fly-half, which he only claimed at Concordia.

“He became more vocal,” said Blazkowski. “Basically, he’s like the quarterback of the team and needs to give a lot of orders, which he wasn’t really comfortable — or used to — [doing] in his first season.”

“The main aspect he improved is communication; the rest, he already had it. The rugby skills and everything, he came with it,” Blazkowski continued.

Milne also felt like his performance over the years improved.

“This year was the first one in which I was able to score a couple tries,” said Milne, who ended the season as the second-best scorer, only eight points behind Blazkowski. “I think I really made progress every year. I always try to improve my game and learn more.”

But for him, what stands out is the close bonds he made with his teammates.

“I’ve played with some of these players for four years, we’ve gone through a lot together,” he said with a hint of nostalgia. “I’m not just never going to see them again. They’re definitely friends for life and we’re always going to remember the days we had on the pitch.”

“Rugby was a huge part of my university life,” he continued. “I spent four days a week training and then, a game on the weekend, and that was every fall for the last four years, so it’s weird now not training anymore,” he said. “I feel restless. I’ll have to keep playing rugby when I leave just to keep myself busy.”

But Milne is at peace with leaving Concordia as well as his beloved rugby team behind.

“Whenever I look back and think about my university life, the first thing that comes to mind is always going to be my rugby days. They have definitely been my most enjoyable and memorable days out of the lot.”

Categories
Community Student Life

Let the good times roll

Graphic by Carleen Loney

How one student’s initiative is bringing the Concordia community together

Among the many clubs to choose from at Concordia, there is one that takes communal building up a notch.

The Concordian spoke with Asma Kattan, a human relations major and founder of the roller skating club, about how she got the idea to form it.

“I am the founder of the roller skating club, I’ve curated it and put all my heart into it. [I wanted] the community to have a place where people can get together to share one hobby and interest and gather to rollerskate,” Kattan explained.

When Kattan was looking for a club to join at Concordia, there was nothing that was remotely close to what she was looking for. 

She made a call to the CSU and got all the information she needed to start her own club at Concordia. Kattan was told that she had to write up a cover letter, a constitution, and petitions.

“We needed around 50 petitions and we exceeded that amount. It was so fulfilling. There is so much big interest for our club now and it is getting bigger and bigger,” Kattan said.

For Kattan, the main goal of the club has always been to unite people and allow them to truly learn from each other.

Roller skating is a great way to improve your overall fitness level because it is essentially a full body workout.

The CSU roller skating club is extremely active on their social media. Their Instagram handle is @rollerskatingclubmtl. On their feed, they have posted many photos and videos from their events that were held in August before school started.

The Concordian was curious to know what the club’s future plans are, going into winter. 

“We usually in the summer head to open tennis courts. In the winter, which is about eight months in Canada, we have it in private indoor safe-gated venues,” Kattan explained.

Kattan has planned four big roller skating events for the winter months. 

For newcomers who want to join the club, Kattan reassured The Concordian that there are full safety measures put in place.

“Precautions are important. We have first of all a tutor that makes sure what level each person is at. So if you’re a beginner, we definitely recommend wearing the protections for roller skating. Most of the people that are members have their own equipment. They’ve been around,” Kattan said.

The club makes all participants sign a waiver of the terms and conditions that outline that the participants are solely responsible for their own safety and security.

If you’re looking for free food, music and lots of good times, look no further. Sign up for the club using this link!

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