Tag: montreal

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Concordia Student Union News

Former CSU councillor delivers resignation speech to CSU Council of Representatives

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) reconvened for the second Regular Council Meeting (RCM) of the fall semester. The major developments from this RCM are as follows:

CSU pledges $35,000 to Students For Consent Culture (SFCC)

The CSU executive team unanimously passed a motion to renew a grant worth $35,000 to SFCC. SFCC is a student-based organization dedicated towards ending sexual violence on campus.

SCFF’s representatives told the CSU the funding will be used to help support ongoing SFCC projects and advocate for further implementation of sex violence and safe space policies on Concordia’s campuses.

The decision comes after representatives from the CSU announced a withdrawal from Concordia’s Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence.

CSU committees remain understaffed

The shortage of volunteers that affected many CSU committees last month continues as many committees struggled to fill the vacant positions on their respective bodies. Less than a third of the 18 vacant committee seats were filled by the end of the appointment phase of the RCM. 

The Student Life Committee (SLC), which oversees the allocation of $30,000 in the special-project fund, once again failed to reach the minimum requirement of members to reconvene. Amina Vance, an arts and science councillor, was the only volunteer to join SLC at the RCM. 

Councillor Vance stated that she was motivated to temporarily join the committee solely to open the special-project fund.

“It just seems so unfair that we have this money that we can open to students and special projects,” said Vance.

Despite Vance’s appointment to the SLC, the special projects fund will remain inaccessible until an additional councillor joins the committee.

Ikjot Singh appointed as CEO of the CSU 

The CSU voted unanimously to appoint second-year finance student Ikjot Singh as the CEO of the CSU. 

CSU General Coordinator Fawaz Halloum put forward Singh’s candidacy during the RCM on Oct. 12. The CSU’s appointments committee recommended Singh for the position after interviewing candidates on Oct. 3. 2022.  

Singh will be responsible for overseeing all CSU elections and enforcing CSU regulations during the election process for the duration of his mandate.

Former CSU councillor Jeremya Deneault delivers resignation speech to the Council of Representatives.

During the announcement period of the second RCM, former CSU councillor Jeremya Deneault took the opportunity to address the Council of Representatives for the last time. Deneault’s speech was delivered retrospectively after his resignation during the previous RCM on Sept. 19.

Deneault’s speech was reflective of his time working for the council and his legacy as the CSU’s first openly autistic councillor. 

In addition, Deneault accused the CSU of fostering a hostile culture between rival student alliances.

The former councillor also addressed the backlash he faced for comments he made allegedly trivializing gender neutral pronouns while in office.

When reached for comment, Deneault said: “People deserve both to have their pronouns respected and to have some time to adapt their speech. I understand some people might have concerns about me, but at the end of the day I’m a fun person who simply wanted to ease some of the boredom and tension at meetings with some lighthearted humour.”

Correction:

In a previous version of this article, the appointment of Ijkot Singh was attributed to the CSU’s executive team. The executive team brought forward the motion to present Ijkot Singh as CEO of the CSU to the council of representatives, who then voted unanimously to ratify the appointment.

Photo by Lucas Marsh

Categories
Arts

Optimista kicks off

Optimista Conferance. DALIA NARDOLILLO/The Concordian

An exhibition about having courage against all odds

Saturday, Oct. 15. marked the launch of the Optimista Conferences organized by Yellow Pad sessions. Each conference has a specific theme: courage, compassion, love, and community.

The Concordian had the chance to speak with Grace Sebeh Byrne, one of the co-founders of the series of cine conferences, to get a better understanding of the idea behind the event.

“Optimista is a response to what happened during the pandemic. Before Optimista we used to put on more traditional film festivals. But then we have kids in our twenties, we mentor a lot of young people and it’s very clear that there is a sense of hopelessness and despair and mostly isolation. That’s a big horrible thing, to experience isolation,” Byrne explained.

During a time when we all felt isolated during the pandemic, Byrne wanted to come up with something that would bring back hope into the community. 

“We are very passionate about the arts. Art we know is a powerful tool for social change. We asked ourselves, what are we going to create, a nice and safe and welcoming immersive experience. People can come in and enjoy the arts and at the same time explore themes,” Byrne said.

Over the course of four cine conferences, art lovers can gather and experience various keynote speakers, performers, and photo galleries grouped together for every themed night.

On the opening night of Optimista, there was the visual artist Augustina Pedrocca exhibited her photographs entitled, Happy and Beautiful out of Spite.

 

Pedrocca presented an evocative series of portraits that clearly documented the loves, pleasures, hardships, and heartaches of Montreal’s Queer Community.

During the main portion of the night Diana León, a performing artist,  put on a beautiful choreographed performance. The main idea behind her performance was to put forth the idea of self-love despite the times that we live in. 

Two documentaries were shown during the inaugural night. The first was a short film entitled The Black Cop by Gamal “G” Tuwara.

Tuwara flew all the way from England just to be a part of the conference and give a talk about his documentary. 

The Black Cop follows Tuwara’s journey in the British police force. He explored his earliest memories of racial profiling and harassment in the force, as well as the homophobia he endured.

The second film of the night featured a longer documentary entitled Writing with Fire which followed the story of India’s only women-run newspaper. It was directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh.

The Concordian had the honour of getting to chat with Tuwara right after the screening of the film. Tuwara, or G as he prefers to be called, gave The Concordian truly inspiring advice for individuals that face adversity in their chosen career field. 

“First of all, I would say to build up your network around you and find people that you can talk to and trust. Talking and sharing the story is what makes it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I know it could be scary asking for help because in your head you think that you might be failing. It’s quite the contrary, asking for help makes you stronger,” G explained.

If you can take anything away from the inaugural event, it is the following; don’t be afraid to be yourself in dark times and pursue what you believe in.

Photographs by Dalia Nardolillo/The Concordian

Categories
Briefs News

The Grey Nuns reading room reopens for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic

The Grey Nun's reading room early friday morning. Kaitlynn Rodney/ The Concordian

The working space located in an old chapel is one of Concordia’s gems 

A hidden gem, the working space is barely occupied and a great silence reigns the grounds. Upon entrance, every little movement is echoed inside the massive church. The great height of the ceilings provide a sense of liberty and space to let one’s ideas wander. One can study at the working spaces at either corner of the church, or even on the altar. 

The Grey Nuns reading room reopened its doors to students after being closed throughout the pandemic. Located at 1190 Guy St., this working space provides a quiet hub away from the chaos of the city. The reading room is the former chapel of the mother house of the order of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, also known as the “Grey Nuns.” 

Lorrie Edmonds, a monitor at the reading room, says she enjoys working in that space for its peaceful and awe-inspiring aspect but also for its rich history.

“The Grey Nuns reading room is also a Heritage Canada designated space,” said Edmonds. “So I also see our monitor duties as being stewards of this amazing space that’s been preserved since the 1800s. There is a lot of history to this space.” 

The edifice was built by the Grey Nuns order, a Catholic monastic order, in 1871 and acquired by Concordia in 2007 to turn it into a student residence at a time where the demand for apartments and inflation rose and students needed a living space downtown. When the last nuns left, the question of what to do with the chapel arose.

“The chapel was available and deconsecrated,” explained Edmonds. “Many businesses submitted proposals about what they would do with the chapel space […] Heritage Canada approved Concordia’s proposal to maintain the peace of the chapel itself to create a reading room. It was minimally invasive to the structure itself.” 

Beyond its grandeur, the deconsecrated appropriation of the chapel is both attractive and revolutionary. It allows us to conceive places of worship as historical artifacts, where new ways of life can take place, adapted to our times.

Categories
Arts

Making the editorial world accessible

OK Stamp Press, which sold books and zines at the event, was founded by Concordia assistant professor maya oppenheimer and former professor M. Wright. CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

OK Stamp Press proposes to bridge the gap between what is seen as publishable while raising queer voices

Volume MTL is an annual Montreal festival showcasing publishing and editing groups. This year, its fifth edition took place from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2.

OK Stamp press is “an experimental project press” that organizes different projects, such as book projects, social tactics-oriented events, and activism/solidarity work with local organizations and community members. 

It was OK Stamp’s first time at this festival. They started making books in 2020, but only formed a collective this year.  

Dr. Maya Rae Oppenheimer, assistant professor in the Studio Arts department at Concordia University and co-founder of OK Stamp Press, discussed her editing group and their presence at the festival with The Concordian. 

Oppenheimer explained that the project was born “from [my] personal experience [as] a student in fine arts at the University of Manitoba in the 1990s; I was keen to publish my work but didn’t know where.” 

Oppenheimer explained that the collective’s primary goals are “to center mutual aid,” meaning the printing organization does not make money from the book sales. “We give books to mobilize mutual aid within reader communities.”

She discussed the liberty of zines as mediums of expression. “The DIY nature of zines permits authenticity, in the expression of ideas, the choice of how to put words, to feelings, to ideas.” She added, “with zines and small presses, there’s more agency in the editorial process. Zines are more direct, unfiltered, affordable.” 

Oppenheimer discussed the importance of centering queer and underrepresented folks. She noted “publishing is a community-oriented project. We’re always trying to grow and showcase other people’s work.” 

This is possible through people buying the proposed books through donations. Their books are available at the Concordia Fine Arts Reading Room.

The purpose of the collective is to work with emerging queer artists “so they get experience going through the editorial book design process, and so they can get a CV line which opens up different grant access applications.” 

Oppenheimer emphasized that certain grant applications require people to have already been published, and this collective helps people do precisely that. 

Oppenheimer noted the importance of paying authors for their work. Some of their financing is made possible through grants. 

The idea is to “represent folks and spaces where they might not otherwise feel comfortable or welcome or afford to table books.”

“As a writer and bookmaker, there’s such potential for books to be powerful dissemination tools and sometimes we put a lot of pressure on exhibits, and the method to measure success, but books, zines, and pamphlets are such rich cultural objects that do just that.”

There is indeed a table fee at Volume MTL 5. Oppenheimer added that because of this financial tax, their table shared space with other organizations, who wouldn’t have the financial ability to hold a table of their own. 

On their table at the event, they held titles around carceral justice. She showed The Concordian a book, Open Letters, which focuses on the false accusation of Ricky Cummings as he faces Death Row in Texas. 

“It’s a way of getting Ricky’s thoughts and ideas and situation on paper to disseminate, to advocate for his cause and the cause of carceral justice in general.” 

The editorial collective seeks to use its access to publishing as a ground for social justice advocacy. 

“Books and letter writing is an important way of connecting communities that are either separated by prisons or political borders,” said Oppenheimer.

“In editing, with the authors, it’s always an exchange,” she continued. “We have a collaboration agreement rather than a contract. Folks can withdraw writing at any time, it’s always a dialogue about how we edit to support their work, not to alter their work in any way, and they always have the right to refuse edits.” 

“We always accept submissions. It’s very much collaborative,” she added. 

A new project the collective is working on is called Epistolary Webs — epistolary meaning letters, and webs meaning the connections between people. The project serves to connect individuals by creating a book made of a collection of letters. It will ultimately raise funds for carceral justice organizations. 

“The letters can be anything and everything from a love letter, a breakup letter you want to share, an invoice, a bill, something you find on the sidewalk, a crunchy text; it’s taking correspondence in an expanded sense, but then using it to raise money for carceral justice.” 

To get involved, people can visit OK Stamp on their website. Furthermore, letter donations for the Epistolary Webs project are welcome. 

Categories
Arts

Public Intimacy—discovering the margin between the public and the private

Exhibition, Courtesy: JewishMuseum

The interactive piece kicks off the reopening of the Museum of Jewish Montreal

There is a line drawn between public and private spheres. In our lives, everyone has a limit as to what is kept personal and what we want to display to the public. As of Oct.13, art enthusiasts have the chance to explore this idea through the creation of Berlin artists Sophia Hirsch and Johannes Mundinger titled Public Intimacy, showcased at the Museum of Jewish Montreal until Jan. 22. 

The installation is composed of a plethora of curtains hung from a tall metal framework. Curtains of different materials, densities, and colors, are meant for the public to wander through and reflect upon. It’s a maze, and it provides the chance to close each participant off from the rest of the public, allowing them as much intimacy as they desire. 

“The curtains are second hand, they all come from a regional context that has a history with the Holocaust, the contemporary rise of neo-fascism,” said Stokvis-Hauer. “I don’t think that the exhibition is only about that, either. There are a million different things that public privacy can be associated with, it’s such a broad topic.”

The installation’s walls are occupied by immense photographs of mysterious residential windows, accompanied by existential and thought-provoking questions. 

The curtains were found around the Berlin area in historic places. Some were found in abandoned buildings previously occupied by German Democratic Republic government officials, some belonged to Mundingers’ grandmother, and others were found on the street. 

In 2019, the two artists were called in by the Museum of Jewish Montreal to present a project on-site. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down any works in progress, and the Museum of Jewish Montreal was shut down. 

This is the first exhibition since the museum’s reopening and the first Montreal-based project for the artist tandem. In this new space, the artists found even more room for freedom of discovery.

There certainly is an element of the exhibition that harkens to the past and present and leans towards elements of “Jewishness,” according to the museum’s artistic director Alyssa Stokvis-Hauer.  Themes of racism, xenophobia, and possibly other matters relevant to a broader community than the Jewish. 

“We aren’t Jewish ourselves, but we have history with the culture,” said Mundinger. The artist had been invited to participate in an exhibition at the Galicia Jewish museum located in Kraków in Poland. Hirsch had gone as far as spending three years with a concentration camp survivor to create his biography in the form of a graphic novel. The work is not yet published through an official company.

In terms of an exhibit, the museum’s staff team saw Public Intimacy as a connection of interest to the Jewish community in Montreal. For the team, there’s a wide range of interesting questions that are relevant to the Jewish community, and further relevant to other communities. 

“What’s so great about Johannes and Sophia’s work is that it asks infinite questions,” added Stokvis-Hauer. “It invites everyone to think about where the line is between public and private on the macro and micro scales.” This piece, she emphasized, is meditative.

If you want your brain and heartstrings tugged on, all while experiencing the essence of a homely yet conflicted culture, you should visit the installation in the Mile End before it closes on Jan. 22. You can read more about the event on the Museum’s website.

Categories
News

Montreal sex work activists gather in support of the constitutional challenge to sex work laws that took place last week in Ontario

CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

The Sex Work Autonomous Committee organized a rally in front of the Montreal courthouse to support their colleagues from the Canadian Alliance for Sex Law Reform

On Friday Oct. 7, the Montreal-based organization Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC) gathered in front of the courthouse for a rally in support of a constitutional challenge to Canadian sex work laws carried out last week by the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (CASWLR) in front of the Ontario Superior Court. 

The alliance is made up of 25 different sex workers’ rights groups — three of which are based in Montreal — as well as six individual applicants. These groups are challenging Canada’s sex work-specific criminal laws by arguing they violate sex workers’ constitutional rights to safety, health, autonomy and equality with the ultimate aim of decriminalizing sex work. 

The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) is the current legislative regime around sex work, and was implemented in 2014 under Stephen Harper’s conservative government. The CASWLR is aiming to strike it down because of its harmful consequences on the lives of sex workers.

The organizers of the demonstration led several chants, including “Sex work, real work!” CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

Melina May, a sex worker activist involved with SWAC, explained that before this act passed, Canada did not have a legal framework specific to sex work. While the laws do not directly criminalize workers, their implementation contributed to an environment that made their work more precarious, dangerous and difficult.

“We are not directly criminalized and that’s how they presented it at first too, like: ‘we’re going to protect sex workers and, by criminalizing clients, we’re going to eradicate the industry,’ but that’s obviously not true,” explained May. 

CASWLR national coordinator, Jenn Clamen, explained the introduction of these laws criminalized sex work for the first time officially, putting sex workers in difficult situations. 

“What that means is that sex workers are always forced into a context of criminalization,” explained Clamen. “And when you’re forced into working and living in criminalization it means you are separate from more mainstream social projects.”

CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

Both Clamen and May explained the current laws prevent sex workers from organizing and working together, which is often a safety measure they take to avoid agression. 

“You’re forced to work in isolation because you’re constantly avoiding detection by law enforcement and police and that isolation comes with a lot of risks,” explained Clamen.

Clamen explained sex workers face many risks when detected by law enforcement, be it losing their livelihood, their housing or their children. For some, it can also mean risking detainment and deportation. Since the law prevents any kind of communication for the purpose of offering sexual services, sex workers have a harder time communicating with their clients which can put them in dangerous situations. 

“When you’re prevented from communicating, you’re in a situation where you can’t actually consent to the conditions under which you’re selling sex,” explained Clamen.

The CASWLR hopes the court will first find the PCEPA to be unconstitutional, to then bring their case to the Appeal Court and eventually reach the Supreme Court to fully decriminalize sex work throughout Canada. The Ontario Superior Court will come to a decision in up to six months. 

To support their case, the Alliance has submitted over 12,000 pages of evidence to demonstrate that the current legal framework does not fulfill its original purpose of reducing sex work but merely makes it more dangerous. 

Clamen explained that this research-based evidence (that also includes testimonies from sex workers) was backed in court by various intervener organizations that have brought forth how some marginalized communities are particularly impacted by sex work laws.

Sandra Wesley, the executive director of Stella, l’amie de Maimie, a Montreal-based organization made up of sex workers, explained that years of organizing has allowed the sex workers’ rights movement to gather the collective knowledge necessary to bring this case forward. 

“The reason that there is so many documents is because, despite the prevalent idea that anti-sex work activists need to speak for us […] in reality sex workers are really quite vocal,” said Wesley. 

“Sex workers have been involved in research for a long time, we’ve been organized so we’ve been able to build knowledge collectively about everything that has to do with the reality of sex workers.”

Categories
Community Student Life

Things to do in Montreal this month

CHRISTINE BEAUDOIN/The COncordian

October is not only for frights but many adventurous nights.

  1. Ramen Ramen Fest 

Where: In participating restaurants around Montreal 

When: Oct. 11-16 

What: A celebration of the iconic dish. You can try different ramen dishes around Montreal and then vote for the best online.

  1. Fright Fest

Where: La Ronde, Île Sainte-Hélène

When: every Saturday and Sunday from Oct. 8-30 

What: The amusement park has several haunted houses open to try, as well as zombies and vampires parading the park. 

  1.  Arab World Festival of Montreal

Where: Place des Arts 

When: Oct. 29 through Nov. 13

What: A multidisciplinary event that looks at the intercultural exchanges of the Arab and Western world. You can see a variety of performance pieces, art exhibits, and films from all over the world. 

  1. Montreal Connect

Where: online and in Montreal 

When: Oct. 15 – 23 

What: A festival that looks at digital development and its connection with many topics. Expect guest speakers, events and conferences. 

  1. Fika

What: An immersive festival of Scandinavian and Nordic culture and art.

Where: Participating locations around Montreal 

When: Oct. 17-23

  1.  SOS Labyrinthe Halloween Special

What: A halloween themed maze.

When: Every weekend until Halloween 

Where: Old Port of Montreal 

  1. Imagining a Queer Eruv: A Walking Conversation

Where: Starting in St-Viateur Park Outremont, 

When: Oct. 19

What: A walk and discussion with artist and researcher Iso E. Setel. 

  1. Walk the Promenade Fleuve-Montagne

Where: From Mont Royal near Pine and Peel

When: Any day

What: A 3.8 km walk that connects Mount Royal and the St. Lawrence river. 

  1. Le sentier du cœur de l’île

Where: downtown Montreal

When: Any day 

What: An interactive path that you can walk or cycle that goes across some of Montreal’s cultural landscapes as well as art installations.

  1. Quinn’s Farm 

Where: 2495 Boul Perrot, Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot

What: Farm visit including apple picking and pumpkin picking. 

When: October

  1. Yayoi Kusama: DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE

Where: PHI Centre 

What: Yayoi Kusama is one of the most popular living contemporary artists today. She worked alongside the PHI Centre to bring her first exhibit to Montreal in celebration of the location’s 15th anniversary. 

When: Wednesday to Sunday until Jan. 15

  1. Festival du Nouveau Cinéma

Where: Participating venues around Montreal

When: Oct. 5 -16 

What: A festival showing hundreds of new and interesting films from a wide variety of genres. 

  1. Montreal’s Off Jazz Festival 

Where: Varying locations around Montreal

When: Oct. 6-15

What: A series of jazz concerts and shows, organised by Montreal jazz artists.

  1. Light The Night

Where: Virtual event

When: Saturday, Oct. 22

What: A fundraiser for those affected by blood cancer. 

  1. Carnaval des Couleurs

Where: Quartier de Spectacles

When: Oct. 7-9 

What: A celebration of LGBTQ+ communities, with shows and themed workshops regarding issues on homophobia and racism.

Categories
Opinions

How About We Stop Making True Crime Content Our Whole Personality?

Graphic by James Fay

Let’s take a step back and think about the harmful narratives it can perpetuate.

With the amount of controversy and hype — if we can even call it that — around the Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix, I couldn’t help but reflect on the ethics of true crime content as a form of entertainment.

It’s nothing new that true crime content is enjoyable to watch for many. It has everything a compelling story needs: good and evil characters, a mystery that needs to be solved and a denouement that can either be frustrating or satisfying.

After all, crime has always been a subject of interest even before Netflix made documentaries or YouTubers recorded podcasts about it.

Although it may seem like a new thing because of social media, vigilantism has always been around. Public executions and the role of the church in presenting criminals as evil made the public invested in crimes in their area.

Today, it has become a genre on TV, a topic of debate, a hobby, a whole culture. With content on YouTube, Netflix, and TikTok, true crime has also created spaces for community discussions on Reddit, Facebook, and blogs.

The casualness with which true crime “fans” consume this content and discuss their obsessions with specific cases is weird when we put it in perspective.

Although being obsessed with serial killers has been discussed before and has been deemed “not okay” in the true crime community, they’re still exploiting someone else’s story.

When I see discussions around whether true crime content production/consumption is ethical or not, the conclusion I sometimes see is that it’s okay as long as we don’t romanticize the attacker and that we give the victim the main voice by focusing our re-telling of the events from their perspective.

But how is that any better for the victims’ friends and family? And who are we to say that we have the right to tell that person’s story?

As someone who lost a friend to murder, I would not like to see a YouTuber trying to make a name for themselves by exploiting her story and plastering her face in their thumbnail.

The topic has been so desensitized that you can now watch a Gen Z college student talk you through someone’s horrible death right before plugging in an ad for a Ring doorbell to keep you safe from being the topic of their next video.

This type of content also tends to over-simplify judicial procedures and due processes in our legal system. It’s easy to make a video detailing all the horrible things a criminal has done to their victims to appeal to the humanity of the viewer and skip over all the steps of our criminal justice system before sentencing.

From having explored it first-hand myself by shadowing a criminal court judge for a year, I can say that the criminal justice system is much more gray and complex than simply identifying guilt and locking criminals away for life if they seem to deserve it. 

It’s also important to make a distinction between real-life criminality and true crime content. True crime content focuses on a very small percentage of the most brutal and sensational crimes because those make the most interesting stories.

The police-reported crime statistics of 2021 released by Statistics Canada shows that violent crimes only accounted for 890 individuals per 100,000 while property and other crimes accounted for 2,219 and 2,266 respectively.

This trend is also presented in a graph as being steady since 1962.

Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey

True crime content tends to perpetuate myths about violent crimes that can be harmful to viewers, like the stranger-danger myth that can be responsible for a lot of profiling and false accusations.

This type of content does not explore these nuances, as it is produced as a form of entertainment.

Since it sensationalizes criminality as extremely gruesome and relies on dramatizing truly depraved and violent acts for viewers’ entertainment, it’s impossible for true crime content to deliver an accurate portrayal of these real-life tragedies without throwing audiences off.

It is much simpler to present it as a black-and-white issue and ignore the legal process altogether, than to simplify it in a way that fits the producers’ narrative.

Although true crime content is filled with problematic portrayals of criminality and makes people profit off other people’s stories, watching it does not inherently make you a bad person.

However, I can’t help but think that there is something inherently wrong with the community of “fans” when I stumble upon a TikTok that desensitizes the content. It’s always a young adult white woman reminding everyone of how comfortable she is watching true crime content from her bed, and how that makes her “special.”

What is so wrong with fictional crime series after all?

Categories
Community

Three unique VR activities to try out over the weekend in Montreal

Courtesy PHI Centre

Bring a few friends and venture into a realistic sci-fi adventure or get a “bird’s eye view” of a new and innovative flight simulator experience.

When you think of Montreal and its surrounding regions, a booming virtual reality (VR) scene is likely not what comes to mind. Despite this, it may be surprising to discover that Montreal has some of the most established VR experiences in all of Canada, and a slew of unique activities for those who seek them out. 

Join The Concordian in trying out three VR activities spread out around the downtown area.

  1. Réalité Virtuelle Zero Latency Montréal

Zero Latency Montreal is definitely a top contender for being one of the most innovative, advanced and unique VR experiences in Montreal. 

With experienced game masters guiding you through every portion of the game and a multitude of different free-roam experiences to choose from (a facet of VR in which you are given an entire room, with friends, to fully immerse yourself in the VR world with the aid of a VR headset and, at times, VR weaponry), it is no surprise that Forbes’ review of the place included the following quote: “This surreal multiplayer experience is the world’s most advanced free-roam virtual reality game.”

The Concordian was able to try their Singularity free-roam game and the complete immersiveness of the experience was mind-blowing; it’s definitely one of the most advanced VR experiences out there.

To try it yourself, head to their website and book a slot for one of the free-roam games ($44.99/ player for a half an hour session).

  1. MontVR 

MontVR offers a lot of versatility with their VR experiences. While each location includes a different array of experiences, combined there are over six unique activities to choose from. 

With everything from free-roam, to VR escape rooms, VR gaming stations, minigolf, axe throwing and even a mock flight simulator at their DIX30 location.

The VR gaming stations and the flight simulator (Birdly) in particular are both high-quality experiences. 

The staff are also extremely kind and accommodating, and with so much to choose from, there was not a single boring moment. 

Book your own experience here. 

  1. PHI Centre 

With a variety of ever-rotating interdisciplinary experiences to choose from year-round, PHI Centre acts almost as a futuristic version of what we would currently call an art museum. 

With both free and paid installations to choose from, ranging from tableaus to live music performances and conferences, the PHI Centre seems to have it all. One of their most captivating installations is Horizons. 

A VR experience that transcends the genre, Horizons is a collection of four award-winning works put together to form an intense and immersive journey. 
If you’d like to experience Horizons firsthand before it closes on Oct. 24, book here.

Categories
Hear me out Opinions

Hear Me Out: Thrifting

JAMES FAY/The Concordian @jamesfaydraws

Thrifting was once like a safari mission constantly searching for the best grail, now it has unfortunately morphed into trophy hunting.

Back in 2013 I was 15 years old, a young lad still in high school trying to find my identity. Now, I’m not going to dive into the trials and tribulations of a high schooler since we’ve all been there, but to take my mind off things I vividly remember going thrifting after school at places like Village des Valeurs and Renaissance, hoping to discover hidden gems waiting to be found.

Draped in between multiple random jerseys and sweaters from someone’s past, I knew that if I pursued the chase and looked deep enough through every aisle I’d be on the prowl, eventually gaining my stride, and scour every inch of the store in hopes to find clothing items that I not only desired, but that I knew in my heart would hold their value.

Walking out of these places my eyes would pierce down into my cheaply priced bag of goodies and as I looked at my freshly acquired loot, with a grin on my face I’d say to myself “what a successful hunt,” discovering a plethora of sports memorabilia, baseball caps, and t-shirts all for the love of the game. A broke high school kid just trying to find nice clothing at a reasonable price.

Now in 2022 I’m 24 years old, an older lad still in university trying to find my identity. That last part of the previous sentence I only mentioned for anaphoric purposes. Yes, I found my identity, and yes, I know who I am, though one hobby of mine I once greatly appreciated has vastly changed in the nine years since I first discovered it.

Thrifting was once formed out of a passion for many to go out on a weekend with friends, look through piles of clothing to stumble on, and find one or maybe two pieces of clothing you can call your own. It has now morphed into some sort of commercialized mainstream cash cow, where curators discover pieces on their own time, sell them or have them set up in a storefront somewhere, and price them for a ridiculous markup. 

Thrifting has unfortunately lost the prowl, seek, and scour mindset, and has now evolved into trophy hunting of sorts. All the desired items are sold under one roof at ridiculously high prices.

Maybe I’m just not in the same mindset as the new generation. Maybe they’d rather have everything under one roof because they don’t want to bother looking through multiple places. Personally, it saddens me when I’m walking in the Plateau and notice long lines at multiple curated thrift stores because I know that these kids now don’t understand what it is to actually go out and discover what you can find on your own. The smell of mothballs and old clothing has been lost in obscurity.

But eh! I get that we all got to get our bag one way or another. We live in a capitalist society so why not take a trend, burn it to the ground, make your cash, and then hop onto the next. I know at this point I’m bickering but damn what happened? All I know is that I won’t be enclosed in one place, I’ll be on the prowl looking for my next “successful hunt.”

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News

Did international students want to strike?

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

A week after the end of the strike, international students reflect on its effects

With the reading week strike now passed, Concordia students can look back on its organization and results. International students are uniquely situated in their opinions on the strike.

From immigration requirements, to living far from their families, these students have many boxes to check in order to study at Concordia. Many international students had to take all this into consideration as the reading week strike approached. 

The Concordian spoke with a first-year Armenian-Lebanese psychology student who wished to stay anonymous. She recalled first learning about the strike while on Instagram the weekend before it was supposed to happen. 

“I was basically thinking, why?” she said. “Even though they had their reasons listed out, I wasn’t really relating, I didn’t understand.” 

Having to pay 12 thousand dollars per semester, she wanted to get as much out of her time in university as possible. “I was worried that the teachers would actually cancel their classes; I didn’t want to miss anything,” she said. 

The picketing, however, did not worry her. “When it’s a soft picket, they don’t actually get in the way if you go into class, and the class I was going to was like that, so I thought, ‘I can go.’” She decided to keep showing up to class that week. None of her classes were cancelled, although she did notice they were emptier than usual. “The two days I had to attend class, there was really nothing going on,” she said.

Looking back on the strike, she said: “Overall, I get it […] They should find different ways to get [mental health] services, because that’s really important.” On the other hand, she added: “I don’t agree with the way they’re doing it. It all seems a bit immature.” 

The Concordian also spoke with Adanna, a Nigerian third-year communications studies major who did not wish for her full name to be disclosed. She expressed mixed feelings about the strike: “Personally, I felt a bit of relief, in the sense that students are speaking out about mental health,” she said. She had hoped that a fall reading week would be implemented this year but was disappointed to see only a reading day on the school calendar. 

That being said, Adanna still went to most of her classes during the strike. Both finances and academic performance were on her mind: “Missing out on that class might just impact my grades and my understanding of what the class is about. Every single day, every single class is important.”

However, Adanna was impressed by the effectiveness of the strike. All the classes for her minor, women’s studies, were either cancelled or held online. In one of her in-person classes, only six out of 25 students showed up.

Carla Jamet-Lange, the mobilization coordinator for the Women’s and Sexuality Studies Student Association (WSSSA), has been involved in planning for the strike since this summer.

Jamet-Lange, a French-German international student, organized most of the strike for her association and is very happy with the results. “It went well,” said Jamet-Lange. “We did a hard picket, and all the classes were cancelled [for the week].”

Despite her support for the strike, Jamet-Lange understands the apprehension many international students might have for legal and monetary reasons. She knows that many international students want to go to class and get their money’s worth, which was made possible by most student associations using soft picketing.

Jamet-Lange says that the question of legality was also considered in preparation for the strike. “Every international student thinks about legal implications when doing something legally grey,” she said. Jamet-Lange accused the University of wanting to sow fear of legal consequences by advising students to call campus security if protesters physically blocked the access to classes, which she says kept some international students from mobilizing. 

“That is just what the University wants,” she said, “[to make] people afraid and not participate in the strike.”

Jamet-Lange made sure to stress the point that “students cannot get into trouble for striking, because striking is a legal right.” She found the University’s response to the strike disappointing. 

“They were just pitting students against each other.”

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Community

Montreal vegan festival 2022 review

CATHERINE REYNOLDS/The Concordian

Hundreds of Montrealers got their veg on at the festival.

After two years, the Montreal vegan festival returned to the Palais des congrès on Oct. 8 and 9.

At this year’s edition of the festival, self-taught cook Loounie (a.k.a. Caroline Huard), the creator of “magic tofu,” was the spokesperson for the event. 

Loounie, along with other creators during the weekend, were giving cooking demonstrations. There were also many different vendors on-site, including kiosks that were promoting the vegan Babybel, Cookie Conscious Bakery, PB & Me, and Montreal’s own Aux Vivres restaurant.

The Concordian had the opportunity to speak to the spokesperson herself and find out more about what exactly her creation is. 

“My magic tofu is a recipe that I developed like four years ago. I developed it because I was never a big fan of tofu myself. I always thought that it was really high maintenance, you need to press it, marinate it and think about it a few days in advance. So this recipe makes tofu bites that taste like chicken. You can use this tofu in recipes like curries and sandwiches. You can also eat it cold or hot,” Loounie said.

Loounie explained that she sold her “magic tofu” in grocery stores and due to its popularity, as of last year it is no longer available in Metro grocery stores around the province. 

If you are interested in trying “magic tofu,” Loounie explained that you can buy it ready-made and ready to eat.

Loounie told The Concordian that she hasn’t been a vegan all her life, and that she doesn’t even come from a vegetarian household. 

“I changed my diet 11 years ago because I was a runner back then. I really wanted to eat, I would say a cleaner diet,” Loonie explained, emphasizing “cleaner diet” with air quotes. “The term clean diet is not a term that I relate to anymore. I am very aware of diet culture.”

As Loounie became a plant-based eater, she started to do more research on animal ethics. She was shocked at the results of her findings and wanted to do her part in protecting animals.

Being knowledgeable and doing your homework about veganism and a plant-based lifestyle was a common thread at the festival.

The festival also debunked a lot of myths about the vegan diet itself, one of those myths being that the vegan diet is restrictive.

Walking through the various kiosks, there was a huge selection of different food that attendees could taste. 

One kiosk in particular put vegan smoked salmon on display. The smoked salmon was made out of carrots. 

The star of the show was the vegan Babybel kiosk. The Concordian spoke with Tess Bouvain, the employee working the kiosk during the weekend, to find out what the Babybel is actually made out of. 

“Vegan Babybel is made out of coconut, and then we also have a 100 per cent recyclable packaging,” Bouvain explained.

Alongside the different food items one could try at the festival was the wide array of healthy beverages. 

The Concordian was able to speak with Pierrich Picard, the co-founder of Gutsy Kombucha, about the health benefits of kombucha. 

“Kombucha is fermented tea, we take tea and mix it with sugar and then we add SCOBY leaves [symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast]. There’s this good bacteria in these leaves and it creates this drink that is fizzy. The taste is a bit vinegary and we add some flavours to it, ” Picard explained. 

Picard also made a point in addressing that kombucha is a way healthier alternative than the regular energy drink that most students would reach for. 

“You are putting a lot of good bacterias in your gut. It’s like sending some soldiers to war to fight against the bad bacterias. It’s full of organic enzymes. You get more out of your food,” Picard said.

The festival as a whole was just a great resource for learning more about plant-based diets and getting to know more about health in general.

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