“On the one hand I think it’s a really fantastic image and I really have a lot of respect for Lea T…on the other hand, it’s French Vogue. It’s part and parcel with the beauty industry, which fetishizes images that might seem shocking,” explained Cultural Studies professor Alanna Thain to The Daily. When the August 2010 issue of French Vogue was released, the picture of Lea T created a lot of buzz in the fashion industry, and shone the spotlight on the difficulties transsexual and transgender people face every day.

“I agreed to pose in the name of all my transsexual friends,” Lea has been quoted as saying. In posing for this photo, Lea has become a sort of spokesperson for transsexual and transgender people who are comfortable with their identity, yet do not necessarily want to submit to full surgery.

While the nude photo and Lea’s subsequent success in the fashion industry is a step toward opening up more widespread discussion of gender issues in society, Thain warns against its potential tokenism. “[There is] always the problem when there is one model who is going to stand in for a certain kind of difference,” she said.

Furthermore, in every other aspect besides having a penis, Lea T has the body of a model. Tall, slim, and with a face too interesting to be merely pretty, Lea T simultaneously conforms to the fashion industry’s typical body type, and challenges it by having a penis. “[The] strength and interest of this image is a beautiful sexy woman with a penis,” Thain states. However, she did not find the image particularly shocking. “I’m not sure if it is being received as shocking in the same way it would have been 10, 15, 20 years ago.”

The fashion industry has long been known for championing unrealistic body types. “Feminist theory has spent a lot of time deconstructing the ways that your typical model doesn’t represent the typical average woman anyways,” explained Thain. “So if [Lea T] can be a way to provoke debate and to provoke questions of fantasy [and] expand our sense of what counts as beautiful and sexy and fashionable and desirable, great.” However, if Lea T’s image merely reinforces the rigid ideals that the fashion industry upholds, she may represent nothing more than another thin, beautiful model with a unique characteristic that the industry is exploiting.

The fashion industry is famous for picking up on uniqueness, and exploiting it to achieve a particular look, or push a specific fashion. Take the upsurge of gap-tooth models that occurred a few years ago. Dutch model Lara Stone, a typical model in every way except for the prominent gap between her two front teeth, took the fashion industry by storm. Suddenly, gap-tooth models were everywhere.

Today, gender-bending seems to be the latest “trend” in fashion. Lea T first appeared in Givenchy’s autumn/winter 2010-2011 show for long-time friend Riccardo Tisci and has since walked the runway for Alexandra Herchcovitch in her native Brazil. Nineteen-year-old Andrej Pejic, an Australian (via Serbia) male model who made his debut on the Gaultier menswear autumn/winter 2011-12 catwalk, has modeled both male and female clothing. While he still appears to identify as a male in the media, he walked Gaultier’s couture catwalk as “the bride,” and stars in Marc Jacobs’ latest campaign in gender-neutral clothing. Catwalks for autumn/winter 2011-2012 were full of gender-bending tricks. Vivienne Westwood put lipstick on her male models, and Gaultier had male models walk the runway in short-shorts with heavy beards. The February issue of LOVE magazine was the “androgyny issue,” featuring Lea T dressed as a woman and Kate Moss dressed as a man, kissing. But none of these examples indicate any real acceptance of transgendered issues by the industry.

Although the fashion industry appears to be pushing the boundaries of gender, it is still doing this in a way that completely conforms to our society’s typical definition of beauty and desire. Thain questions whether gender-bending in fashion is an example of creating more openness within pre-existing gender definitions, or whether the industry is actually reinforcing norms through this apparent gender-bending.

“[The gender-bending] is fluid and it’s not fluid – it plays off of a kind of dynamic tension,” Thain says. “[The fashion industry] tends to reify those two worlds [of male and female]; only a privileged few who can move back and forth between the two.”

Pejic was quoted backstage at the Gaultier show as saying he would consider a sex change if Victoria’s Secret offered him a contract. “You’d have to wouldn’t you? I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way,” Pejic said. This admission is a clear commitment to traditional gender definitions; despite modeling both female and male clothing, models that cross-dress are still expected to fulfill the typical stereotypes of the gender they are representing.

As Thain expresses, the potential strength of the nude image of Lea T or the cross-dressing of Pejic is how they highlight the norms those who are different must conform to in order to be accepted by society. “What fashion really calls into focus is the way that transsexual and transgender people are pressured to present a very normative model of sexual or gender identity in order to gain access to all these sorts of privileges.”

The post Fashion in transition appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Though the Catholic Church did not approve the application, ranking members of the Church do have personal Facebook accounts, and the Vatican has a YouTube channel and a slew of Twitter accounts. There is even a Facebook application that allows people to send virtual postcards featuring the Pope. While it may seem counterintuitive for a primeval institution such as the Catholic Church to embrace these seemingly frivolous forms of new communication, mass media is actually an effective tool in the modern history of Catholicism.

In 1931, the Vatican established a radio channel and in the 1980s the phenomenon of televangelism – televised sermons – gained immense popularity. Televangelists brought the visual spectacle of preaching to the homes of millions, further increasing the ability to experience religion in seclusion. These technological advancements are accepted as inherently good and useful – after all, the Catholic experience can now be shared worldwide – but the question remains: is more always better?

The Daily asked Torrance Kirby, director of the Centre for Research on Religion, to comment on the relationship between religion and technology. Kirby said that  it is nothing new.

“If you take a very traditional Catholic view of religion, a lot of it has to do with spectacle… Baroque decoration is all about…the tricks of sculpture and painting to bring people to some kind of condition of awe and wonder at the divine splendour.  [Therefore,] is there anything different [between] what Bernini is doing in his design of ecclesiastical spaces and what modern technology does?”

However, Kirby does acknowledge that today’s technology allows for greater individualization and seclusion, which is contradictory to the traditional message of Catholicism and worship.

“There is something qualitatively different when, [compared to Bernini’s Baroque decoration], you think that with YouTube you can project some religious event or service or action around the world which anyone can pick up in their comfort of their own bed.  [This] is problematic to say the least.  There’s some way in which traditional notions of worship are challenged,” explained Kirby.

Kirby was ultimately interested not in the future of the relationship between religion and technology, but the prospect of technology as religion. Citing Martin Heidegger’s essay “The Question Concerning Technology” throughout, Kirby posits the existence of a religion of technology.

“It seems to me arguable that a certain kind of commitment to technology, an unquestioning commitment that technological advancement is progressive and beneficial to humanity, is a kind of religious commitment itself,” Kirby stated.

Most people view technology as means to an end: tools that we control in order to better serve our lives on Earth.  However, what if technology actually controlled us? What if  the way in which we used technology determined our actions, and the technological progress we made was pre-determined by the technology we already possess?

Kirby explained that society tends to assume that technology is ethically neutral. It is merely an instrument of progress that we as human beings control. He told The Daily that Heidegger calls this common assumption into question. “Technology is a way that we as human beings have a relation to truth,” quoted Kirby.

It is therefore possible that this relationship that we have with truth through technology is similar to our traditional understanding of religion. Catholicism is a way in which certain people have a relation to truth. However, there is a fundamental difference between the relationship to truth that religion provides and the interconnection experienced through technology. While technology is a necessary element of modern society, and a valid method of communication for the Catholic Church to pursue, society’s commitment to technology risks overshadowing its commitment to faith.

What is the future of religion and technology?  February 12, 2011 was the 80th anniversary of the Vatican radio.

In his message for the 45th World Day for Social Communications on January 24, Pope Benedict XVI said, “The new technologies are not only changing the way we communicate, but communication itself, so much so that it could be said that we are living through a period of vast cultural transformation. This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship.”

This acceptance of technology further emphasizes the implicit trust society as a whole puts in the virtue of technological advancement.  Every day, people are inundated with an incomprehensible amount of information.  In a matter of seconds, a Google search garners countless Catholic websites, blogs, and podcasts – both official and unofficial – for personal perusal. Our increased unquestioning dependence on technology allows for the flow of more information than ever before and, in the case of the Catholic Church, more people are able to access the Church and experience Catholicism.

While most may argue that this new communication technology is a fact of life that institutions must adapt to in order to survive, some believe that the true meaning of religious worship is lost when using Facebook or Twitter to connect with the Church, and that by using an iPhone app to express spirituality, we are in danger of losing ourselves within technology itself, and missing the true aim of religion.

The post The Father, the Son, and cyberspace appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Despite the convenient option on Chatroulette to “next” someone, repeatedly seeing various strangers’ genitals is not the cup of tea of many users, nor is it the purpose of the website, which is open to all ages. This is where new work by Computer Science researchers at McGill and the University of Colorado at Boulder comes into play.

These researchers have come up with software that is able to detect inappropriate skin exposure on video camera images.

“The software uses an array of image detection algorithms to detect various characteristics, such as the presence of face, skin, eyes, etc,” explained Richard Han, professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado, in an email to The Daily. “We then fuse these individual algorithms to make a stronger collective inference about whether the person in the picture is misbehaving.”

The researchers hope that this new combination of image detection algorithms, known as the Dempster-Shafer theory, will go a long way in being able to detect and prevent inappropriate exposure via video.

“In the past ten years commercial software [has been] developed that detects nudity online,”  said Xue Liu, a professor from McGill’s Computer Science department. “However, because of this new videochatting environment and the use of web cams, past research does not work very well [because] it [was designed] to detect nudity in high resolution still pictures.”

As a result, sites such as Chatroulette have had to deal with the major issue of users inappropriately exposing themselves to the camera. The website has employees who watch for users who are continuously “nexted,” and then investigate them to see if they are exposing themselves, but this is a cumbersome and expensive process.

The newly developed software is a much cheaper and faster alternative, and according to the researchers, the software has been successful.

“We have seen a substantial rise in the proportion of female users on Chatroulette now that we’ve helped clean up the system,” Han stated. “We hope to extend this software to help clean up other online video chat systems.”

The new software goes a long way in making Chatroulette a safe space for everyone, particularly minors.

“At any given time, there may be up to 10,000 minors on Chatroulette, especially on the weekends,” Han explained.  “Our research helps to protect those minors from being exposed to flashers.”

Of course the software is not perfect; sometimes it detects someone who is not a “flasher,” Liu says, and sometimes it misses someone who is. Chatroulette accommodates for this shortcoming by continuing to employ people who physically check out the site’s users for any suspect behaviour. Known as “the crowd,” these employees are essential for guaranteeing the accuracy of the software.

“By outsourcing to the crowd – the people who [Chatroulette employs to] watch images – we are able to increase the accuracy of the software,” Liu explained. He also noted that the research team is considering introducing a new algorithm that would detect specific behavioural traits into the software as a way to improve accuracy.

With the success the software has had for Chatroulette, Han is hopeful that it will change the atmosphere of such video chat sites in the long term.

“Our hope is that our software will make it possible for online video chat systems to achieve their full potential. Many users who were previously dissuaded from using such systems will be able to come back to a safer cleaner environment,” stated Han.

While the question remains as to whether anonymous video chatting with strangers is appealing, especially with the visitors – regardless of indecent exposure – that Chatroulette attracts, at least users will be less likely to stumble across a stranger’s dick as they click from one conversation to another.

The post Chatroulette: dick-tating content appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Today, Reisler is President of the DLP colony at McGill, currently in a probationary period before it can become a full chapter of the national fraternity. The colony is holding its third official recruitment this week, beginning Monday, January 17 and ending Sunday, January 23.

“[This colony] came out of the frustration of trying to meet, on campus, other people who identified as gay or bisexual who are not necessarily as politically oriented as others,” explained Reisler.

“That was one of the major issues with Queer McGill (QM) at the time – [it] is very political. QM is a great resource, but very limiting in the sense of who it appeals to,” added Reisler.

In contrast, DLP aims to be a more social and less political space for gay, bi, or questioning men to meet and interact.

The first chapter of the DLP was founded by Vernon L. Strickland III in Washington, D.C. in 1987, with the support of a trust established to create a social fraternity that would not discriminate based on sexual orientation. Since that time, the fraternity has burgeoned into an extensive fraternity with thirty chapters and colonies across the United States.  Currently, the colony Reisler founded is the only DLP presence in Canada.

Traditionally, fraternities and sororities are associated with very conservative, heteronormative stereotypes; however, Reisler hopes that the DLP will help to change this perception.

“We need to shake off that image that fraternities are what you see in the movies…because they’re not,” said Reisler. “What it’s about is brotherhood or sisterhood and developing lifelong relationships.”

SSMU Equity Commissioner Emily Clare agreed. “[A gay fraternity] changes our understanding of frats, their place on campus, and role as a social place,” she said.

According to Reisler, the Greek community at McGill was very open to the fraternity when he applied to join the Inter-Greek Letter Council, a body that governs fraternities and sororities at McGill. DLP is now an official member of the council.

“[IGLC] has actually been very supportive of us,” stated Reisler.  He went on to explain that the IGLC even sped up their application process by a few months because they were impressed by DLP’s commitment to its purpose, as well as its growth in the Greek community.

This semester, DLP is in contact with two sororities to plan future events; however, Reisler did note that fraternities have demonstrated more resistance.

“Generally frats are a more conservative structure,” explained Reisler.

Nevertheless, former Sigma Chi president Jesse Pratt, U3 Agricultural Economics, agreed that the demand for a gay fraternity on campus should be met.

“I think most people [in the Greek system] understand where [DLP is] coming from. This is a group that has traditionally been excluded from fraternities, and I hope some of that is changing,” Pratt stated.

“There are gay members in [other] fraternities, [and] here at McGill [Sigma Chi] is not going to exclude anyone like that. But everyone associates with who they feel comfortable with, each house is different and not right for everyone,” continued Pratt.

Reisler acknowledged these differences, though he insisted on the need for a chapter that offers a space specifically directed toward those who identify as male, and that may, but do not have to be, gay,  bisexual, or questioning.

“Yes, [other fraternities] are open to all sexual orientations, but when have [they] ever had a mixer at a gay club?” questioned Reisler.

DLP also upholds a strict policy regarding relationships between members. Unofficially deemed the “hands off policy,” the Brother-Pledge Relations Policy strictly prohibits relationships between new recruits and frat members. However, relationships between members are permitted, and Reisler explained that relationships can, and have, worked extremely well within the fraternity. Nevertheless, all members are required to behave professionally and to refrain from demonstrating physical affection during official frat meetings or events.

In terms of fitting into the queer community, DLP has received some criticism for subscribing to the traditional gender binary of male and female.

Officially, Queer McGill has no relationship with DLP because the frat subscribes to the gender binary, as well as a hierarchical structure inherent in Greek society that contradicts QM’s mandate.  However, Ryan Thom and Parker Villalpando, co-administrators of QM, both agreed that the fraternity was a positive addition to McGill, and the queer community as a whole.

“QM has always been supportive of bolstering the queer community on campus, [and the frat] definitely contributes a lot to the queer community,” said Villalpando, also a member of DLP.

Thom added, “A lot of people who are part of both [QM and DLP] gain a sense of community and mutual collaboration from the frat which I think is really important.”

While subscribing to the traditional male-female binary, DLP remains trans-friendly, and the frat hopes to help deconstruct the accepted heteronormativity of the Greek system.

The post Fraternity for gay students to recruit new members appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Paul Whitehead, a professor of sociology at the University of Western Ontario, helped write “Explaining Unsafe Sexual Behaviour: Cultural Definitions and Health in the Military,” a 1999 study on sexual identity and health in the Canadian military. The study concluded that condom use in the military was very consistent when engaging in sexual relations with a sex worker, but inconsistent with people not seen as sex workers.

“Condoms are, among the military people I spoke with, associated with sex with a prostitute and so whenever they had sex with a prostitute they always used condoms,” explained Whitehead in a phone interview with The Daily. “It was when they had sex with people they didn’t consider to be prostitutes, when there was affect in the relationship, that condom use was inconsistent.”

Whitehead noted in his study that educational programs have sought to increase awareness of the danger of AIDS and the need for safe sex. However, these programs primarily focus on making personnel aware of the high rates of HIV infection among sex workers in certain countries and ports as well as encouraging condom use as a protection against STI infection.

Free condoms, risky choices
The military also emphasizes the need for sexual health education. “Safer sex should be discussed and promoted during basic recruit training; pre-deployment health briefings; health briefings for leisure travel…discussion with a member believed to be at a higher risk of STI; and any other collective general health briefings,” wrote a Canadian Forces (CF) Health Services spokesperson in an email.

She added that, “condoms are to be readily available, without needing to ask a health care professional,” and that, “the CF Health Services is one of the few health jurisdictions that provides, at public expense, the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) to its female members of applicable age (up to 26 years).” Yet despite the publicized risks and resources offered, military personnel were found to still engage in unsafe sexual behaviour.

Even though condoms are available to members of the Canadian military, Whitehead posited that service members often consciously chose not to use them when engaging in sexual relations with someone who they did not see as a sex worker, for example a partner with whom they have an emotional relationship.

“Condoms make it possible to have casual sexual relationships – then the condoms disappear when [affection] comes in [to the relationship],” Whitehead explained. “But the point is that it happens without people getting tested. [They] don’t get tested unless they think they’ve contracted something.”

New generation, new risks
Although the army has an anecdotal history of being a sexually permissive environment, attitudes have changed gradually through the generations.

“I spoke with older military personnel, not those that I interviewed, and they told me about the practice of buying one’s way out of a condom, i.e. offering more money [to a sex worker] for sex without a condom,” said Whitehead. “When I mentioned this to the young guys [I was interviewing] they couldn’t believe that anyone would think of doing that.” In this instance it is obvious that there has been a generational shift in how men in the army view sex with sex workers. However, practicing safe sex with long-term sexual partners is still something Whitehead believes needs to be encouraged.

The CF Health Services did not care to speculate on the issue of whether the army is a sexually permissive environment. “We are not aware of any particular scientific evidence that members of the Canadian Forces are more or less likely to engage in and/or accept sexually risky behaviour than a comparison civilian group with similar characteristics, e.g. age, sex, education, income,” the spokesperson continued. “To us the more important issue is to try, through the available modalities, to reduce the risk for transmission of STIs among CF members and their sexual partners.”

Looking outwards
In other countries, military attitudes toward safe sex differ significantly from those in Canada. In the Caribbean armies sociologist Michael Anastario studies, many soldiers want to practice safer sex, but are limited by material shortages. “There is huge interest in the field for having condoms, [but developing Caribbean countries] might be experiencing a shortage [of condoms] and that affects the military,” Anastario explained. “There is a lack of resource and personnel, which are problems in any developing country.”

Anastario is the Director of Research and Evaluation at Cicatelli Associates, a non-profit American educational organization. His studies of Caribbean armies specifically focus on a correlation between sexually risky behaviour and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While this correlation is still being developed statistically, Anastario strongly believes there is a distinct connection. “In [my study ‘Correlates of Sexual Risk Behavior in Sexually Active Male Military Personnel Stationed Along Border-Crossing Zones in the Dominican Republic,’ published April 2010] PTSD was prevalent, and related statistically to sexual risk behaviour,” Anastario stated in a phone interview with The Daily.

“[We are] starting to find associations where people with PTSD have a different relationship with risk perception [than normal]. The more they perceive themselves at risk, the more likely they are to engage in sexually risky behaviour,” he said. This inverse reaction to risk perception may be the result of PTSD. According to Anastario, “soldiers develop PTSD and don’t see HIV as a risk anymore, [because they] could die from something else tomorrow.”

While Anastario focused solely on men in his study, he did discuss women in the military briefly, and conceded that they too engage in sexual-risk behaviour, but the mechanisms through which they engage are markedly different. “[There is] a lack of communication especially in regard to protection of reproductive rights,” explained Anastario. “Women are not confident enough to address their partner [about safe sex]. [It is] a male decision to stop using condoms, without consulting the female partner.”

Though the problems facing both these contexts are systemic, research both new and old promises to illuminate potential solutions and suggests positive changes to attitudes toward sex – whatever the situation, sexual risk must continue to take into account the realities of permissive behavior.

The post Sex, risk, and the soldier appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The term “outer space law” brings to mind the X-Files and UFOs, or maybe legal treaties between satellite carriers and distributors.  However, the practice of space law is an established legal field.  The United Nations has an Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and McGill has had an Institute for Air and Space Law for over fifty years. McGill is also home to the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association, and the Canadian Space Agency, making McGill one of the leading institutions for the study of space law.

The Institute for Air and Space Law at McGill was started in 1951 and originally focused just on air law – but the launch of Sputnik in the late 1950s revolutionized the institute. Since then, the program has grown immensely: the institute has over 900 graduates.

The space law program at McGill is a graduate program, dominated by three courses taught by professor Ram Jakhu.  “[We] offer the most comprehensive program in the world,” said Paul Dempsey, the institute’s director, who added that the program’s graduates who now live in 120 different countries.

Although the field of space law came into existence relatively late in the game – the UN established the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in the 1950s – it is continually developing.  The University of Sunderland, in the U.K., introduced a space law module into their standard undergraduate law degree earlier this year to keep up with the changing legal field.

“An increasing number of national and international law firms were introducing Space Law as an area of practice,” explained professor Christopher Newman, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Sunderland and one of the professors teaching the new Space Law module, in an email to The Daily. 
“The Space Law module only has a small number of students, around twenty,” explained Newman, “[but] anecdotal feedback from the students is extremely positive.”  The module covers everything from an introduction to the history of space travel and why regulation in outer space is necessary, to environmental issues and extraterrestrial property rights. 
“I think the thing that has excited [the students] the most in this area is that, because there isn’t a great deal of judicial or legislative activity (certainly in the U.K.), they can project their own legal solutions and indeed impose their own structure,” Newman wrote.

The first outer space treaty – the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies – was negotiated in 1967.  Four more treaties followed in the late 1960s and through to the early 1980s, which provide the backbone for international space law. 
The legal principles in these five treaties support the non-appropriation of outer space by any one country, the freedom of exploration, the safety of spacecraft and astronauts, the prevention of damage to the environment, and the settlement of disputes.  As stated on the UNOOSA website, “Each of the treaties lays great stress on the notion that the domain of outer space…should be devoted to enhancing the well-being of all countries and humankind.”

So what is in the cards for the future of space law? 
 “[The field of Space Law] is set to enjoy very significant growth,” Dempsey said. “Richard Branson intends to provide regular commercial suborbital flights [and] Boeing also wants to have a re-usable vehicle [for commercial space travel].”  
“If the first generation of space travellers were (by and large) military test pilots and the second generation were scientists then the third generation of space travellers – starting with Dennis Tito – are going to be tourists, travelling to space as a leisure activity,” wrote Newman. 
As commercial enterprises become more developed in the field of space travel, ideas of hotels in space and quick day trips around the Earth, previously associated more with cartoons like The Jetsons than with reality, are no longer only in the realm of the imagination.

“There are proposals to put some sort of hotel in space so tourists would have some place to spend a few days,” added Dempsey.  He also suggested that commercial space travel could be used for point-to-point transportation on earth.  “One could travel from New York to Tokyo in only a few hours.”

The introduction of tourists to space travel will significantly complicate the legal matters of space.  “Regulation of [tourist travel] is going to be far more complicated, but far more necessary than previous legal frameworks,” Newman explained.  “I think the next twenty years will see space law coming into the legal mainstream.”

The post Red tape in outer space appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Geoffrey Phillips, Sport Programs Manager, wrote in an email to The Daily, “The McGill sport model is reviewed every five years in order to ensure that all teams still meet their competitive mandate and that all resources (physical, financial, and human) are utilized effectively. Through this exercise we determined that the demands from our 49 varsity teams and competitive clubs exceeded our ability to adequately manage the program in its current structure.”

Phillips went on to explain that Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and the Quebec Student Sports Federation (QSSF), provincial sporting organizations, re-evaluated what programs they offer and have set out a new operational path for the future. “The OUA has removed league play in several sports which leaves our squash, tennis, figure skating, and women’s lacrosse with no comparable university league within which to compete,” wrote Phillips. “These teams, with [the] help of Campus Recreation, are currently reassessing their competitive options to decide how to operate within the new structure.”

Despite Phillips’s insistence that head coaches and club executives received advance warning that restructuring of the varsity program was pending, many teams say that they were blindsided by the decision to be cut from the varsity program.

Wayne Mah, a research assistant in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the former coach of the McGill wrestling team, expressed dismay at not being given any warning prior to the loss of varsity status. The Intercollegiate Office cited lack of competitors as a reason for revoking varsity status. “If I had known our lack of competitors was a problem,” wrote Mah in an email to The Daily. “I could have urged them to compete to ensure the survival of the team.”

In the case of the wrestling team, the loss of varsity status means more than just the loss of access to the varsity weight room, access to the Windsor Clinic available to varsity athletes for medical issues, or having students on the student-athlete honour roll. Without varsity status, the wrestling team has had to fold due to lack of funding, equipment, and practice time. Yet, McGill only provided the team with the practice space and time; the team received their funding and equipment from Wrestling Canada.

“When the McGill Wrestling team was a varsity team…the athletes were not funded and I was not funded by McGill as the coach,” wrote Mah. “The only funding we received was at the end of the season to compete at the CIS [Canadian Interuniversity Sports] Championships. McGill would pay for those who qualified to attend this tournament.” Wrestling Canada provided the team with a wrestling mat essential to their survival, and an annual coaching grant, of which Mah used only a portion for his salary, saving the rest for the operation of the team. However, after the team’s varsity status was revoked, Mah was no longer eligible for the coaching grant, as it is only given to teams that compete in the CIS. Wrestling Canada also took back the wrestling mat it had lent the team. Without funding, equipment, and practice time, the team no longer exists.

While the case of the wrestling team is one of the more extreme examples of the consequences of losing varsity status, every team The Daily spoke with has been negatively affected by the decision.

“It’s kind of like a slap in the face all of the sudden,” said Marilyn Fontaine, a U2 Anatomy and Cell Biology student and assistant coach for the McGill Cheerleading team. “I understand that not everyone can be the elite, but we don’t get funding from the school, [the decision] doesn’t change how much money [McGill Athletics] put into us.”

The McGill Men’s Volleyball team was another team drastically affected by the loss of varsity status. As a Tier 2 varsity team, they had received a $70,000 budget last year, according to Ryan Brant, a U4 Economics student and former player and assistant coach for the team last year. However, Brant said that the administration made it difficult to look at the budget to see exactly where money was being spent.

Justin Cruanes, a U3 Economics student and treasurer of the McGill sailing team, expressed frustration with the system as well. “We’ve been making progress in every domain, everything is going perfectly well for us, and now we’re being punished for it.”

“The big blow was when it was suggested [at a meeting on September 1] that we leave and become a SSMU club,” stated Alex Fyfe, a U3 Economics student and president of the McGill Sailing team.

While he said the team had heard the rumours of reorganization, Fyfe explained that at first, losing varsity status did not sound so bad. “[We were] told [at a meeting in May] that we would have the same funding, that there would be opportunity for more funding…and told that travel regulations would probably be relaxed,” he said. The reality this fall is very different. Instead of receiving their regular $400 funding from McGill Athletics, the team must instead pay a fee of $100 to belong to the competitive club league and retain the McGill name, and travel regulations are even stricter. Teams relegated to the newly-created competitive club league are struggling with whether it is beneficial to remain associated with McGill Athletics. “There is no way to play our sport in the venues that exist in this part of the world with the [travel] restrictions we face right now,” stated Danji Buck-Moore, a U2 Music and Political Science student and former president of the McGill Ultimate Frisbee team.

Despite the McGill Athletics mandate encouraging the involvement of students in athletics, the cut to varsity teams and the new regulations put in place seem to do anything but that. While budgetary issues came up last year and cuts inevitably had to be made to the varsity program, the manner in which the administration went about these cuts highlights major issues of communication between teams and the administration, and calls into question whether the administration has the athletic teams’ best interests at heart.

The post Down for the count appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Nightlight is a parody of Stephenie Meyer’s immensely popular Twilight, the first instalment in her series of four books about a romance between a vampire and a young human teenage girl. Written by the Harvard Lampoon, the book delivers a hilarious, biting (the pun is just too easy) satire of Meyer’s debut novel and the phenomenon it has become.

Nightlight’s main character is Belle Goose, a self-involved, vampire-obsessed loser whose constant questions and self-reflections parody those of Isabella Swan, the protagonist of the Twilight series.  Isabella is perhaps the most annoying protagonist in literary history, and Belle takes Isabella’s infuriating vanity and obliviousness to an extreme, producing a much more obnoxious and satisfyingly stupid caricature. In the same way, Nightlight meticulously takes every aspect of Twilight into account and blows it up: instead of a truck, Belle’s father buys her a U-Haul; instead of annoyingly caring emails from Isabella’s mother, Belle receives 44 paranoid messages in a matter of hours.   
What Twilight fans might find most insulting about Nightlight is the Harvard Lampoon’s portrayal of Edward Cullen, the vampire every teenage girl seems to be head over heels in love with.  Edwart Mullen, Belle’s “vampire” love interest in Nightlight, is weak, unintelligent, flighty, and nervous. In a move that ridicules Edward’s domineering behaviour, Nightlight’s Edwart is painfully timid, and it is Belle who, in her delusion of falling in love with a vampire, forces herself upon him and attempts to extract some sort of controlling urge out of Edwart.   
Nightlight is a work of comedic brilliance for those who appreciate sarcasm, satire, and the belittlement of unrealistic and unhealthy love affairs with vampires. To find out how the parody’s twist aims to completely dismantle young girls’ obsessions with Edward Cullen, you’ll have to actually pick up a copy of Nightlight and read it yourself.  Don’t worry though: it is only 154 pages, unlike Twilight, which was 512 pages of mind-numbing questions, theories, and actions from the lovely Isabella Swan, and moody, stupid, and confusing answers from the brooding Edward Cullen.  To top off the inspired parody, the cover of Nightlight shows a hand holding an apple core. I guess that forbidden fruit wasn’t so forbidden after all, eh?

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The reading came about due to an assignment for Lewsen’s creative writing course, which Luhning is supervising; one of the course requirements was to participate in a public reading of original work. Lewsen was looking for a venue to read at when he and Luhning just decided to organize an event themselves.

Both Luhning and Lewsen are big believers in the public reading of creative writing. “There’s performative potential in every type of literature,” explains Lewsen. “[There are] things you’re missing if a piece is not read out loud.”

Luhning agrees; she sees readings as a great opportunity to connect with the audience in a social and dynamic way that is just not possible to achieve through written work.

“[Readings are] especially important for mediums like poetry. [They] are a great way to celebrate literature and the authors’ audiences,” notes Luhning. She will be reading some unpublished poems and a small excerpt from her forthcoming novel, Quiver.

The event is taking place at McGill despite the fact that the University does not have a creative writing program, perhaps due to a hesitancy to combine critical and creative approaches to literature.

“It is remarkable how few graduate students admit to being creative writers,” says Lewsen. “There is a discomfort with creative writing [in academia] and this public reading will signal that [creative writing] is here [at McGill].”

Luhning did not wholly agree with this point of view, stating that her creative work is hugely informed by the work she does in the critical field of English literature.

“There are lots of examples where there is a crossover, people writing both [creative and critical work],” says Luhning. But she did agree that she hopes the event will encourage students and academics to at least try creative writing or attend readings.

“[The reading] will make students aware of another way of writing and thinking critically,” Luhning explains. “Having exposure to the largest number of ways of thinking and expressing oneself is a good thing.”

The public reading is an opportunity for students and faculty alike to come together and share in a night of literature and music. It is a rare opportunity to hear members of the McGill community read their work at an event on campus, and students should take advantage of this night.

Lewsen will be reading some short stories that he has been working on. Even though he organized the event, he has some misgivings about actually reading his work in public.

“I write with an audience in mind, but I’m not comfortable with the idea of [the audience] actually reading [my work],” Lewsen explains ruefully. The public reading will be an opportunity for Lewsen to face his fear, and perhaps inspire some closeted writers to do the same.

The reading will take place in the Thompson House (3650 McTavish) basement on November 26 at 8 p.m. The event is free of charge, and all are welcome.

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With PCP, you can hear a serious classical piece, a cover of “Toxic,” by Britney Spears, and a collaboration with indie rocker Thao Nguyen, all on one album.  As Jenkins described, “[PCP] just kind of evolved into this group that plays funny covers and collaborations with other musicians and with a little bit of classical music thrown in.”  
As a genre, classical music is often seen as inaccessible and highbrow. But PCP defies that notion; their unique combination of musical forms ensures that one of their albums or live shows has a little something for everyone.

“If there’s a goal…it’s to bridge the two [musical] communities, to make classical music more accessible to people who wouldn’t normally listen to it, and make indie rock music more accessible to people who listen to classical music,” said Jenkins. “Our audiences are very diverse – [it’s] a nice feeling to have this room full of completely different people listening to classical music and something like the Dandy Warhols.” 
If you listen to PCP at all, you will notice that they’re big fans of collaborations. To begin with, the band was formed by throwing together 11 different musicians, who then worked together to produce different arrangements for their first show. 
“I think that [collaborations] are kind of the future of the music world,” Jenkins explained. “[You] can’t go wrong with a community, as opposed to a world that is very competitive.”  PCP encourages a sense of community in the music world, even when they go on tour.  “Whenever we’re in a town, we try to bring on extra cellists with us from that town,” Jenkins said. 
PCP is currently on tour with Nguyen with The Get Down Stay Down. They’re making their way from Oregon to Montreal and back to California.  PCP loves to be unique, and for every Portland performance they prepare entirely new arrangements.  Because their current tour is two months long and consists of 26 shows, it was impossible for them to write new material for each show, said Jenkins.  Instead, they learned about two hours of music that they can change up depending on the audience and venue.  As a result, a live PCP performance is very different from the CDs they produce. 
“We record most of our live shows, [and] online you can subscribe and you can get recordings from the live shows, because we’ll play a song once and we may never play it again,” Jenkins explained.  This originality encourages people to come out to hear the band live, because they know that they will be guaranteed something new and exciting.   
PCP’s approach to music is rare. Jenkins, however, believes that their collaborative style, if nothing else, will stick and expand into other aspects of the music world.   
“[PCP] is something that at its base [is] admittedly [a] gimmick, but it’s something that we’ve given real life to,” Jenkins stated.   If cellists, indie rockers, and pop covers sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to check them out; this group won’t stay a West Coast secret for long.

The Portland Cello Project plays Il Motore (179 rue Jean-Talon O.) on November 2.

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Before attending this panel, I had honestly never really thought about the incredible difficulties that queer and trans people face in the prison system. The five panellists shed light on the ongoing abuse queer and trans people suffer both from police and fellow prisoners.

Farah Abdill, a local community organizer and previous trans sex worker, gave an emotional account of her personal experience in prison, describing the ridicule and humiliation she suffered as prisoners forced her to take off her wig, bra, and high heels. Prison guards refused to respond to her complaints; the only solution the prison system has come up with to “protect” queer and trans prisoners is to isolate them. Speakers also raised the issue of HIV/Hep C transmission and the difficulty of having safe sex in prison.

The aim of the panel was to highlight the work already being done inside prisons to protect and help gay, lesbian, and trans people, outline the concrete conditions of people living in prison today and develop broader connections with outside groups and projects.

To emphasize the fact that there are activists both inside and outside the prison system, two panellists were not physically present, because they are both still in prison. Peter Collins is incarcerated in the Bath Institution in Ontario, and Amazon Contreraz is a prisoner at Corcoran, California. Collins contributed a taped interview, and Contreraz wrote letters because the project was unable to get an audio interview, due to a month-long prison lockdown. This also served to demonstrate the difficulties the Prisoner Correspondence Project comes up against in terms of generating discussion with prisoners on the inside; mail censorship and lockdowns are a constant reality.

Liam Michaud and Kristin Li, two of the organizers for the panel from the Prisoner Correspondence Project, explained why such a project and talks such as the one on Saturday, are important. “The collective core of the project is comprised of people that identify as queer or trans. Since gay and trans folks are affected disproportionately by criminalization and the prison system, we as a community must seriously challenge these structures in the same ways that gay communities came together at the outset of the AIDS crises,” wrote Michaud and Li in an email.

Gisele Dias of the Prisoner HIV/AIDS Support Action Network from Toronto and Sadie Ryanne from the DC Trans Coalition (DCTC) in Washington, D.C. were both speakers at the panel, and both supported this collaborative and collective idea of activism.

Many of the speakers hold the belief that activists need to broaden their discussion around prison abolition strategies to include stopping people from going into prison in the first place. This means addressing homelessness, criminalization of drugs and sex work, immigration issues, et cetera.

As Dias said, many groups are solely focused on harm-reduction strategies for when people are already incarcerated, but she wanted to look past this and “stretch the way people think about reforming prisons.”

Dias also advocated creating relationships with prisoners; she believes activists need to know whom they are fighting for, and prisoners need to know that they have a support group on the outside. “Prisoners need our support. [We] can’t ask them for help and then not support them if repercussions of [our] advocacy work affects them,” explained Dias.

Dias is working right now on updating a document regarding HIV in prison, written first in 1992. She works collaboratively with Peter Collins on the update, and has found that the transmission of HIV is 10 times more likely in prison, and the transmission of Hep C is 40 times more likely. Health is one of the main issues that the Prisoner Correspondence Project focuses on, along with the issue of isolation, both structural and emotional, which directly results from incarceration.

“We understand isolation and health as urgent because they are at the core of the daily struggle to survive, as experienced by the 200+ inside pen pals and participants in the project,” wrote Michaud and Li. They are currently working to expand their pen pal program that helps prisoners to deal with isolation. They are also working on a resource series, Fucking Without Fear, which is built from information, tips, strategies, and experiences shared by their contacts inside prisons.

Sadie Ryanne from DCTC brought up the issue of hormone access for trans people, which was something the DCTC fought for and won the right to in 2007. Despite the gains the DCTC has made in gaining rights for trans people in D.C. jails, Ryanne echoed the sentiment that the bigger issue is fighting to prevent trans people from being arrested.

As Michaud and Li expressed, “If we’re serious about defending our communities and we’re serious about trans/queer safety, then we need to start working toward movements that don’t just ask for bigger cages and longer chains, but work to destroy the source of that harm and violence itself.”

The Prisoner Correspondence Project will be co-presenting a film, Criminal Queers, at the H-110 Cinema at Concordia on November 13. If you are interested in getting involved with the project or have further questions, you can email them at info@prisonercorrespondenceproject.com.

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Robert Armatta, the gallery’s owner, is very excited about Power’s expo: “I saw him in a group of 14 [artists], and I selected his work to be shown as the gallery’s fourth show,” explained Armatta. “[Power’s] work is very interesting; it’s nice to have a cohesive theme in a collection.”

The gallery is a new addition to the Montreal art scene, having hosted its first show in April 2009. Armatta wants to make this gallery a space for young artists, his goal being to help showcase the work of college students. It is quite a small space, but very organic; through the light wood floors, the lone brick wall, and the soft spotlights that illuminate each photograph, a calm atmosphere is created for viewers to appreciate the artwork.

The seven photographs line the far wall of the gallery, and each one highlights a magnificent piece of infrastructure left abandoned to decay. The photographs themselves are aesthetically pleasing; completely devoid of any living being, besides some dying grass or a drooping palm tree, these photos focus completely on the structure. My favourite one was of a single crane, on a naval shipyard on Mare Island, California. The crane stands alone in a sea of concrete, reminiscent of a dinosaur on the brink of extinction, with nothing left in the area but itself.

Power said that his goal with this expo was to “make people think about some of the challenging social and economic consequences that come with [the economic shift], like negative trade balances and the rise of a culture that values image over utility and superficial comfort.” The photographs invite viewers to imagine these structures in their heyday, when these shipyards and warehouses were alive with activity. Power’s photographs are not-so-subtle reminders of the drastic effects that the recession has had on our society, raising questions about these “structures of power”, such as why they were built and then abandoned.

Although I’m not sure I see the themes of reversing trade balances and rampant consumerism in these photographs, I definitely grasped the theme of deindustrialization and decay. Focusing on the fleeting nature of success and economic strength, Power’s work reveals how such large structures can fall into disuse and ruin at a wrong turn in the economy.

Structures of Power is reminiscient of a photo essay published in the New York Times last July titled “Ruins of the Second Gilded Age.” Although there was controversy surrounding the validity of the photos, which turned out to be edited, the themes they represented still hold true. Edgar Martins travelled across the United States photographing housing complexes and hotels abandoned after developers went bankrupt. This essay addressed many of the same themes Power incorporates into his exhibition. The economy can be a powerful influence on our lives, and it can provide artistic inspiration. Armatta said he has been seeing a lot of new work recently with similar themes, and he wouldn’t be surprised to see more in the future. As for Power, however, he has succeeded in putting together a beautiful and haunting first exhibition, asking vital questions about our society and the economy that we often ignore in our day to day lives.

Structures of Power runs through October 30 at Galerie Armatta (5283A Parc).

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Jin started her doctorate to work toward the goal of teaching music at a university. At the doctorate level, a student delves deeper into all aspects of music; literature, history, technique, performance, etc. and the doctorate program allows the student the time and opportunity to learn and perform.

Because piano lessons are primarily one-on-one throughout the doctorate program, the relationship between a student and teacher is very important.

“You need someone you’re happy to work with, because music is a passion, not just technique,” Jin said.

Professor Richard Raymond, Jin’s teacher, echoed these sentiments. “[A good relationship] is a question of personality and also what you need to teach and give [them] and what they need [to learn]. When the match is good and the personalities click, then it’s great.”

“[The solo recitals] are the most demanding aspect of the degree in terms of performing,” Raymond added.

In preparing for last Friday’s recital, Jin put a lot of thought into the pieces she wanted to play.

“You have to think about the audience and teacher; you want to play something really interesting for the public, but also want to choose music that you like…. [It is] very important to have an emotional attachment to the pieces you play,” Jin said. She also explained that one of the challenges of musical performance is thoughtfully interpreting composers’ works. “If you don’t understand something, you can’t just email the composer and ask [them to explain it], you have to know their style, and learn what is programmed within the music to gain the very deep meaning of it.” At the same time, according to Jin, adherence to the composer’s intentions must be balanced with the performer’s own personality and style.

Jin’s deep emotional connection with and understanding of the three pieces she performed truly came through Friday night. As this was my first time attending a doctoral recital, I was unsure what to expect from the evening. Just after 8 p.m., the lights in Pollack Hall dimmed, and the audience fell silent. Jin entered, took a slight bow, and began to play her first piece, “Douze Études, vol. 2” by Claude Debussy. There was a quiet calm about her as she began to play, and the keys seemed to come alive under her fingers.

“Metamorphoses on Themes of Johann Strauss II, No. 3,” by Leopold Godowsky, came next on the program. There was a playfulness to it with which I could really connect. Jin played with such force that she physically lifted off her seat at certain points during the piece, further emphasizing the emotional intensity felt through the music.

Following this piece there was a short intermission. Jin then came back on stage to play her final piece, “Sonata in B minor, S. 178,” by Franz Liszt. The sonata was intense, featuring an interesting juxtaposition of violence and gentleness that Jin captured beautifully. She played with a strong sense of purpose throughout the entire recital. I was thoroughly impressed – and not surprised – that she received a partial standing ovation from the small but dedicated audience.

Speaking with Jin a few days after the performance, she seemed quite happy to have completed her second, and final, doctoral recital.

Having finished the recital requirements of her degree, Jin still has her comprehensive exams and an oral defence of her dissertation ahead. Although the doctorate program is technically a two-year residency, students normally take four years to complete it because of the demands.

Despite the Schulich School of Music’s talented students, its concerts are often under-attended. Lack of advertisement on campus could account for this, as well as a general apathy toward university events. However, when asked about what could be done to remedy this, Raymond said that he wasn’t sure.

“I’ve always been puzzled that [music] students love to play, but don’t go to recitals as much as [we, as teachers,] would hope,” explained Professor Raymond, expressing the desire for students within the music faculty to lead the way in generating more excitement around Schulich’s events.

Because students spend all year preparing, many student recitals are held at the end of the winter semester, but there are sporadic recitals held throughout the year. Go see them – the Schulich student you see on stage may turn out to be one of the country’s next musical sensations.

The post The big show appeared first on The McGill Daily.

March 27 marked the First Scientific Day of the Chair on Sex, Gender and Mental Health at Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital in Montreal. The event, which aims to become an annual symposium, was devoted to a discussion of gender differentials in mental health.

Dr. Meir Steiner, a professor of psychiatry & behavioural neurosciences and obstetrics & gynaecology at McMaster University, delivered a lecture about female-specific mood disorders on Friday.

“It’s not news that men and women are different,” Steiner said in an interview, “[but in] the last ten to 15 years there has been a huge push to have representation from both sexes and genders [in research].”

The Scientific Day of the Chair on Sex, Gender and Mental Health provided professionals and researchers from different backgrounds in mental health a chance to come together to discuss and compare the influences of gender differences and similarities.

Dr. Aline Drapeau, an epidemiologist and researcher at the Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital, presented research focused on social influences on gender difference in the use of mental health services, while Dr. Adrianna Mendrek, another speaker, presented on brain imaging in schizophrenic men and women in a lecture entitled, “Schizophrenia: Trapped in the brain of the wrong sex?”

Drapeau believes it is important to examine mental health in accordance with sex and gender, because men and women tend to express stressors in different ways.

“Women are more likely to perceive [mental illness] as a source of potential danger, whereas men view it as a loss of status. Behaviour towards the illness and services are different because the social and cultural expectations that we have for women and men are different,” said Drapeau in an interview with The Daily, “If you don’t take gender into account when performing a study and apply the findings to the whole population, [the findings] won’t relate to everyone.”

According to Drapeau’s recent study, the Influence of Social Anchorage on the Gender Difference in the Use of Mental Health Services, the cultural norms associated with gender play a huge role in a person’s decision to seek help for mental illness. Taboos surrounding mental health issues have developed largely over the past century as mental health has become an established part of the medical mainstream. The stigma surrounding mental illness is much greater for men than it is for women, which is why men are less likely to seek help.

“[Mental illness] is frightening,” Drapeau said. “When someone has a mental health problem, it is very disturbing personally…. Admitting you have a mental problem is admitting that you are now outside of the ‘norm.’ It is also frightening because the services are not readily available, [so] a person with mental illness feels like nothing.”

The move toward examining mental health in terms of sex and gender follows the push to make mental health services more readily accessible and acceptable in society. Using gender as a variable in this research provides researchers with more accurate findings and doctors with the ability to treat a patient as an individual.

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As one FDG executive, Alysa Batzios, explains, “there has long been a need for a venue to display the creative efforts of McGill’s students, especially in the absence of a fine arts faculty.”

“We hope to encourage and inspire students to continue to be creative,” she adds, “and help McGill shed its reputation of being a school that ignores the value of the fine arts.”

 As I examined the works of the 13 participating artists, I was shocked at their artistic ability. It’s not that I thought the artists wouldn’t be talented; it’s just that at McGill, it seems we tend to favour honing our essay-writing and exam-taking skills over our creativity. However, the vernissage opened my eyes to the immense artistic talent of McGill students who find time to create art on their own, despite academic pressures.

“The fact that most of the talents are untouched by art school influences makes the variation even better. The expressions of the artist [can] ultimately [be] more raw and genuine that way,” explains first-year student and Daily staffer Aquil Virani, participating in his second FDG exhibition.    

The Fridge Door Gallery strives to be open and inclusive. As a result, they don’t decide the theme for the vernissage until after they have received all the submissions. That way, no one feels as though they can’t submit to the gallery because they can’t think of a piece that fits with the theme.

The 13 artists participating come from very diverse backgrounds academically, and it’s encouraging to see that art history, international development, biology, and English students can all produce such amazing works of art.   

I was particularly impressed by Lila Jiang Chen and Gillian Chang’s Urban Grass, a piece originally designed as an architecture project. The “grass” is made of brushed aluminium tubes, steel rods, and a concrete base. I love the idea of the natural world being represented by something made of concrete and metal, the very antithesis of nature itself. In the piece’s description, the artists note that the “device acknowledges the presence of people as a fundamental factor in shaping the environment around us.” When viewers gently touched the piece, it would sway in a whimsical fashion, creating a musical sound similar to wind chimes.

Another favourite piece of mine was William Robinson’s Molasses photo series, in which a performance artist pours the viscous fluid over himself.

This was the FDG’s fifth expo, and the organizers’ experience was clear in the way the evening was successfully executed. However, it was also the last for most of the original creators of the gallery, hence the appropriate theme: Art Shift. “Art Shift is a reference primarily to our passing the torch…. The gallery is shifting into a new era, into new hands. The shift theme also refers to the organic and metamorphic feel that many of our pieces have,” says Batzios.   

The reaction to the gallery has been positive, and each year more and more students submit their art and attend the expos. Even as the executives graduate, they are hopeful for the future. “We’re passing the torch to a new generation of art history students, and we hope that they not only keep the Fridge Door Gallery alive, but take the gallery to new heights,” adds Batzios. 

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