I learned that there were, in fact, many women playing shinny in Toronto. A heavily regulated schedule at most rinks stipulates playing times for different age groups, and many times when rinks are reserved for women to play. Toronto’s shinny programming is regulated to ensure that everyone gets a time to play. It is also far- reaching: in Toronto there are 53 artificially cooled public outdoor hockey rinks—the most in the world. In Montreal, there are 275 public rinks. However, the vast majority of these rinks are composed of natural ice, so they are sensitive to the air temperature and can easily freeze or melt. The boroughs in which the rinks are found are in charge of building them and maintaining them. Maintenance includes putting up boards, watering the ice, clearing it of snow, and recovering the surface after a warm spell. The more laissez-faire approach to rink building in Montreal is also present in its shinny programming.  Surveillants are rarely on site, meaning that regulations are only loosely enforced. The player-driven, self-regulated nature of shinny is healthy in Montreal. The games are fast-paced and high-level, despite the lack of referees or a scoreboard.

Unfortunately, this can also mean that not every hockey player finds the same joy in playing shinny. Ella Hough, a first year student at McGill said: “I’ve never actually played shinny mostly because I’m intimidated about different skill levels.” The nature of shinny does sometimes lend itself to an intimidating atmosphere. In open shinny, as in hockey, a game is often prone to becoming dominated by men, leading many women to feel unwelcome at the rink. In my two years of playing shinny in Montreal, I’ve only rarely played with women. For young people too, joining in a game can be intimidating. “When there a lot of older people there, sometimes the game is too intense,” says David, a thirteen year-old hockey player from Montreal. The free attitude towards shinny means that there are few times reserved for different groups. The lack of surveillants, too, means that even if there were times reserved for different groups, the reservations would be difficult to enforce. Perhaps the structures that were in place to make women feel welcome in organised hockey are what is missing from Montreal’s shinny scene.

However, more regulation is not always better. The games in Montreal are generally more fun. Less regulation means not having to wear a helmet, playing whenever one wants, and generally feeling that worry-free sensation that is crucial to shinny. On the other hand, Toronto’s regulation-heavy shinny system means that more people feel encouraged to play, and safety takes precedence. Specified times for women, young people, and programs for at-risk youth mean that all levels of players can join in. As a game, shinny remains the best way to play for me, and many others. It is free, enjoyable, and outdoors. I’ve met many former teammates from my organised hockey days here in Montreal. Whether we’re playing at Jeanne-Mance after school, or back home in Toronto during the holidays, shinny is a way for us to reconnect.

Shinny, then, is an interesting game: one that is essentially rule-less, relying instead on an understanding between players that the ultimate goal is to have fun. Often, though, talented players are discouraged from joining in due to that fragile understanding. A lack of regulations means that women and newer players can feel unwelcome. The lack of rules is both essential and detrimental to the game of shinny. It is important to find that balance, whether in a single night’s game or in the entire layout of a city’s rink programs. For now, shinny in Montreal remains crucially free of regulation, but it is also important to notice how that lack of regulation can hinder some players’ eagerness or ability to join in.

The post Freedom and regulations in shinny appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Its players being 93 per cent white, the NHL is an outlier in North American sports. In contrast, Major League Soccer (MLS) is 48 per cent white, the National Football League (NFL) 28 per cent white, while the National Basketball Association (NBA) is only 25 per cent white. Of the big four professional sports leagues in North America, the NHL is worryingly white. Perhaps the league has gotten away with its racist attitudes in the past due to an overwhelmingly white make-up and audience. It was, as Rick Ross pointed out in a 2015 interview with Pitchfork, “the game they set up for the savage white boys.” However, as the league grows and more non-white players arrive, the NHL must address its problem with race.

Coverage in the media

A January 13 post on a New York Islanders website concerning Josh Ho Sang, a right-winger playing for the New York Islanders junior team, was titled “Josh Ho Sang Don’t Be The Mario Balotelli of Hockey.” Mario Balotelli is an Italian soccer player who currently plays for Nice in France’s Ligue 1. Like Balotelli, Josh Ho Sang has been branded “immature,” “flashy,” and as having have too large an attitude. For both Black athletes, the criticism focuses more on their lifestyles than their contributions to their sports. Balotelli’s critics have often made outright racist statements, such as when former Italian president Silvio Berlusconi said in February 2016 that Balotelli “has taken too much sun.” While criticism toward hockey player Ho Sang is more veiled behind terms like “upstart,” “overconfident,” and “cocky,” the racial undertones remain. Furthermore, articles like the Balotelli comparison prove that Black NHLers face racism everywhere in hockey reporting. The comparison between Balotelli and Ho Sang may accidentally prove itself true, as it subjects both players to thinly veiled racist criticism of their “immaturity,” “uncoachability,” and “attitude.”

The gifted but undisciplined athlete is a famous trope in all sports, but in hockey it seems to be reserved for players of colour. Take Patrick Kane, a white player for Chicago, who, like Evander Kane, has been accused of sexual assault. Patrick Kane is now being praised for ‘turning his career around,’ as a 2016 article in Crain’s Chicago Business magazine noted: “Gone are the headlines about the 28-year-old’s off-the-ice conduct, replaced by thrilling goal highlights and commercial appearances.” While Evander Kane’s case is rightly still being talked about, Patrick Kane’s misconduct has all but disappeared from hockey reporting.

The contrast between the media’s treatment of the two Kanes is striking. One is praised for ‘turning his career around’ after dodging a sexual assault allegation. The other is being criticized for posting photos of his shoes. TSN and other news outlets’ racial double standard when it comes to the players’ off-ice actions is painfully evident.

The most famous Black player in the league, PK Subban, has been frequentlyt criticized for his goal celebrations. Don Cherry of Hockey Night in Canada described his problem with Subban: “when he broke in, he acted like the hot dog, and he had a lot of people upset.” Forgetting the long history of elaborate celebrations by white hockey players, Cherry decided that Subban’s (rather reserved) jump into the glass was too flashy. It seems, as with Evander Kane and Josh Ho Sang, the largely white hockey media is uncomfortable seeing Black players succeed (and celebrate themselves) in hockey.

The Black history of hockey

In addition to negative press for off-ice faux pas, Black and other minority players in the NHL often find that their accomplishments go unnoticed. The sport itself was developed by Black players in Nova Scotia’s Coloured Hockey League in the 1910s, which contributed a long list of the game’s standard elements. The goalie was first permitted to make a save from his knees in that league, and the slapshot was also invented there. In the NHL, Black players like Grant Fuhr and Jarome Iginla were some of the first to achieve widespread recognition for their exceptional performance while other Black players, like Canada’s Angela James, go unnoticed and uncelebrated except by teammates, who call her “the best ever.” Val James, the first US-born Black player in the NHL, wrote that for ten years after retiring he found it hard to watch the game due to the racial abuse he suffered while playing. Even today, it is important to note the NHL struggles with blatant racism. In 2012 a fan threw a banana at Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers. He was fined only $200 by the league after claiming that he was “oblivious to the racial connotations of throwing a banana when he lobbed the fruit.” In fact, a banana is not a common snack at hockey games. Nor is throwing food at players a common practice. While moments like this are hard to ignore, white people who work in hockey still maintain that the NHL is an inclusive league.

The NHL’s 2017 Statement of Principles states that “all hockey programs should provide a safe, positive and inclusive environment for players and families regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and socio-economic status. Simply put, hockey is for everyone.” A quick look at the demographics of the NHL proves this to be false. Black hockey players are subjected to blatantly racist abuse, lack of recognition, as well as thinly veiled racialized criticism by a white media that does not want to see them succeed or celebrate in the game.

Tarasai Karega, a former college player who has worked all her life in hockey, recently said that “it’s tangible that people stare at you like a U.F.O. just landed on Earth,” when discussing entering an arena as a Black woman.

The hockey media, in writing the history of the sport, and in its current coverage of Black and minority-group players, has contributed to hockey’s racism. Some first steps toward solving this problem would be recognizing hockey’s Black history and judging current Black players based on their on-ice actions, rather than using thinly veiled racialized language to criticize their off-ice decisions.

The post Media coverage of Black players reveals hockey’s race problem appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Unfortunately for Crosby, and the younger Connor McDavid, there absolutely are politics involved. To hear from the two brightest stars of hockey that it is not merely permissible,  but right and respectful, to show support for Trump, or that dressing up as him for Halloween is just a bit of fun, is incredibly damaging to both fans and the game. Hockey has historically lagged behind other sports in terms of its political activism and awareness, but in the year that more than 200 football players took a knee in protest, the NHL’s pride in remaining ‘apolitical’ is insulting. It is not okay to show support for the bigoted, racist, homophobic, and transphobic president in any way. To pass this support off as one’s ‘duty’ as a hockey player, as Crosby and Subban have done, is short-sighted and frankly appalling. Being a hockey player does not have to mean being politically inactive or ignorant. Players such as Ken Dryden and Georges Laraque have gone on to progressive political careers. When Crosby, Subban, and McDavid refuse to acknowledge their responsibility as leaders, they deny the power that their actions hold.

The Penguin’s trip to the White House was clearly political, as other champions like the Golden State Warriors refused their invites. While it is Subban’s choice to kneel, and one should not criticize him for standing, the issue is that Subban used Trump’s language of disrespect in his statement. McDavid’s halloween costume is an insult to all people directly harmed by Trump’s presidency. To brush Trump off as a joke is a privilege that very few people have. McDavid, a multi-millionaire white athlete from Richmond Hill, Toronto, is one of these few people. Flaunting the fact that Trump’s presidency can be funny for him demonstrates how far removed McDavid is from the everyday reality of those harmed by the current American Administration, many of whom may be fans of his.

It is time for hockey players like Crosby, Subban, and McDavid to acknowledge their influence and privilege. Perhaps for them, a Trump presidency can be a joke, or a non-issue, but for millions of people around the world it is dangerous and at times life-threatening. It is not their duty to remain apolitical under the Trump Administration. It is their duty to support their fans, many of whom are made vulnerable by Trump’s presidency.

The post McDavid’s Trump costume is an insult appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Many of us have memories of playing sport as children. Whether it was little league baseball, peewee hockey, or house league soccer, childhood sports can be an important aspect of growing up.

While they often provide a sense of community, sports can be a force for exclusion or trauma as much as they can give a sense of inclusion. We asked our readers to send in photos and memories of their playing days, and we received a variety memories both traumatic and comfortable.

The post Childhood games appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Intramurals

Intramurals are offered to all full-time students in a wide range of sports: badminton, ball hockey, basketball, dodgeball, flag football, ice hockey, innertube waterpolo, soccer (outdoor and indoor), spikeball, ultimate disc, and volleyball. Students can sign up individually and be assigned a team, or register as a team. When registering, one can pick a preferred skill level (beginner, intermediate, or competitive) to find others ranked similarly. Participants do have to pay an occasionally expensive registration fee that varies based on the sport; luckily this can be split up amongst team members.

Recreation

For those who are not willing to commit themselves to a team, playing recreational sports is a great option. They are usually organized by the specific venue for each sport and must be inquired about on a sport-by-sport basis. A rec card is required, sometimes along with a Sports Complex Membership, which permits access to the gym, arena, or field. A rec card can be purchased from the Redbird Sport Shop or the Client Services Office at the Currie Gymnasium.

Recreational sports offered this fall are badminton, basketball, diving, jogging, shinny (hockey), skating, soccer, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, and waterpolo. Classes are also offered in most of these sports. To find out more, inquire at the Currie Gymnasium or check out their websites.

Outside McGill

Playing sports at McGill almost always costs you money, but you can always find free options off-campus. Jeanne Mance park, just up Parc, has many sports fields, such as a turf football/soccer field that is lit up at night, a baseball diamond nearby, and several tennis courts currently under renovation. Towards the the beginning of December (weather permitting) the hockey rink will also become available. As with most outdoor rinks in Montreal, it is natural ice only frozen by the outside temperature. If the ice is slightly slushy playing is not encouraged, as it can cause lasting damage to the surface. At the southern end of Jeanne Mance Park across Duluth street, there are Beach Volleyball courts that are sometimes open to the public. You can also find many other Tennis courts, Soccer fields, Baseball diamonds, and Hockey rinks at other parks across Montreal. Bring some friends and start your own game, or ask to join one that has already begun.

Varsity sports are not your only option! There are plenty of other people out there who just want to have a good time playing with friends. Decide what’s best for you and get out there to play.

The post Making competition fun appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Sports can be a way to perform politics or diplomacy, as was seen with the 1972 Summit Series played between Canada and the Soviet Union, or the 1984 L.A. Olympics boycott. In both cases, sport created a platform for nations to make peaceful political statements. Sports can be vehicle for social issues. Last year, the US Women’s National Soccer Team went on strike to demand pay equality. Their strike was widely publicized and added to the national discussion over this important issue. In Brazil in the 1950s, the inclusion of Black men on the national soccer team gradually led to greater understanding between the country’s ethnic communities, and a sense of shared patriotism.

Sports, then, is far from the apolitical zone that many claim. Its position is much more complex, and warrants deeper analysis than it is regularly afforded. Sports are more than scores, injuries, transfers, and trades. They are often a microcosm of the world at large, serving as an analogy of what is going on outside the stadium. They are as full of problems and issues as the real world.

As previously reported in The Daily, there is plenty of racism, sexism, transphobia, and inaccessibility in the world of sports. This is the side of sport that the Sports Section will capture: their political, social, and cultural implications of sport. Here at McGill, and in the world at large, the Sports Section will fight for a fairer and more equal world, according to The Daily’s Statement of Principles.

The post Welcome to the McGill Daily Sports section appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Because testosterone is often artificially injected to improve athletic performance, questions were raised as to whether Semenya was taking artificial testosterone. The use of testosterone testing to determine sex has since been used on other athletes. While it is known that artificially injecting testosterone improves athletic performance, there was no conclusive proof that athletes with naturally higher levels of testosterone were at a great advantage over those with naturally lower levels. The Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote that: “it is not self-evident that a female athlete with a level of testosterone above 10 nmol/L would enjoy the competitive advantage of a male athlete,” in a 2015 ruling concerning the case of Indian sprinter Dutee Chand.

This year, a study commissioned by the IAAF, and published by the British Journal of Sport Medicine, claims to offer that conclusive proof. After studying athlete performances at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships, the study found that those athletes with higher testosterone levels enjoyed advantages of up to 4.5% (in the hammer throw), and an advantage of 1.8% in Semenya’s discipline, the 800m race. The IAAF will head to court in at the end of July to challenge a 2015 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that stated they could not restrict the permitted levels of testosterone in female athletes.

While nothing will change before World Championships in London this August, the new study is expected to be used by the IAAF to strengthen their argument for restricting the permitted levels of testosterone. If they win the ruling against the CAS, athletes like Semenya, or sprinter Dutee Chand of India, would be forced to take hormone therapy to lower their testosterone levels- or stop competing at IAAF events, including the Olympics.

In a year when Usain Bolt – one of the world’s biggest athletic stars – is retiring, McDonald’s has pulled its 41-year sponsorship from the Olympics, and political controversy has overshadowed South Korea’s preparations for 2018’s Winter Olympics, the playing field of athletics is shifting. Semeya’s possible expulsion (or forced hormone therapy) would only harm the sporting world, and more importantly, the athletes. By allowing Semenya, Chand, and other hyperandrogenic athletes to compete as the genders they identify with, the IAAF could resume its role as a pioneering force in the world of sports. With the next Olympics in Tokyo, athletics has the opportunity to grow its base enormously. A little bit of progress and a little bit less of the Orwellian sex classification, hormonal therapy, and expulsion would serve the sport well.

The post Caster Semenya, forced hormone therapy, and the IAAF go full Orwellian appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Many Canadian soccer fans are hoping the win for the young Canadian star will bring more awareness to the women’s game back home. In recent years, Canada’s women’s team has been far more successful than the men’s, yet women’s soccer is still often overlooked. McGill goalkeeper Hannah Boshari told The Daily that she’s “not too sure how many people in Canada are actually aware that there is the UEFA competition for women’s club teams.” The men’s Champions League Final is one of the most watched annual sporting events in the world, while (as Boshari points out) many are unaware that the women’s version exists. Now, however, the women’s final may grow in popularity as more and more Canadian women are shunning the American women’s league to play in Europe – and finding success there.

“You mostly just hear about the American [Soccer] League and especially the fact that women’s soccer players can’t make a living from playing soccer, so hopefully with this win it will start inspiring more young Canadian girls that there are other opportunities than just the American League for them to go pro and have a go at professional soccer,” says Boshari.

Buchanan’s victory in Europe is proof that the Canadian women’s game continues to grow outside of North America, and into Europe – which is traditionally seen as the world’s main soccer market. Success in Europe for any Canadian is bound to inspire and encourage young Canadian players back home, and certainly improve our national team’s ability.

“Since the famous bronze medal at the Olympics, a lot more people are tuning in to watch the women’s team, so hopefully with more club success of individuals, our national team will keep gaining more supporters,” concludes Boshari.

The post Kadeisha Buchanan’s European victory inspires at home appeared first on The McGill Daily.

A collection of essays edited and selected by Hoodfar, the book was initially released in the U.K. in December 2015, but the April 2016 launch in Canada was postponed due to Hoodfar’s incarceration in Iran. In early 2016, Hoodfar was held for 112 days in Tehran’s Evin prison on reported charges of “dabbling in feminism.” Thanks to international mobilization, she was released and returned to Montreal in September 2016.

At the launch, Hoodfar discussed the participation and inclusion of Muslim women in sports by giving the example of the prevalence of hijab restrictions in many sport federations, such as the IOC or FIFA. The act of playing sports then, either veiled or not, becomes a quietly political act for Muslim women. “Quiet politics” are something that Hoodfar expressed deeper appreciation for now, citing her experience of incarceration as proof that “the cost of actively being politicized is quite high.” Moreover, Hoodfar said that Muslim women are using sports to demand recognition from the society and the state. She gave an example: after the 2016 Olympics, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, was obligated to congratulate Kimia Alizadeh, female Taekwondo medalist, alongside her male colleagues.

At the launch, Hoodfar spoke for 30 minutes before taking questions from a small but fascinated crowd in Concordia’s J.W. McConnell Library Building.

The book is available for free as on online e-book here.

The post Homa Hoodfar launches new book appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The opening ceremony on July 16 will set the tone for the eight day long gathering in which cultural, culinary, and artistic events will take place alongside athletic competitions.  According to the Toronto 2017 organizers, the NAIG is expected to be the largest continental gathering of Indigenous peoples participating in sporting and cultural events.

The NAIG is expected to be the largest continental gathering of Indigenous peoples participating in sporting and cultural events.

Since its inauguration in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1990, the NAIG has been held eight times across the continent, with teams representing their province, territory, state, or region. The 2014 NAIG, the last time the Games were held, took place in Regina, Saskatchewan. Incidentally, Team Saskatchewan boasts the most successful NAIG team with six overall team titles under its belt. This year, teams are expected from all ten provinces and three territories, and 13 teams from the U.S. will also be in attendance. The Games will use the venues that hosted the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto, as well as others located in Hamilton and Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, the largest Indigenous reserve in Canada.

More than a series of games

According to previous organizers, the NAIG aims to “promote the holistic concepts of physical, mental, cultural, and spiritual growth of individuals” and “demonstrates unity among Indigenous Peoples.”  In an interview with The Daily, Allan Downey, Assistant Professor at McGill’s History Department, added that gatherings such as the NAIG are especially important in terms of opening up dialogue between youths from different Indigenous nations.

“With these mass [sporting] events you’re bringing Indigenous youths from all over the place – most likely there’ll be a few teams from my community in central B.C.,” Downey said. ìAnd those youths will be able to come to Southern Ontario and see Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe [the traditional territories on which Southern Ontario is located] culture, ceremonies, traditions, their regalia.”

Resurgence, as a grassroots movement, seeks to reconnect Indigenous people with their land, culture and communities.

“[These events] expose [Indigenous youths] to various Indigenous nations that they’re not generally exposed to, which creates an international dialogue,” he continued. By “international dialogue,” Downey referred to dialogue between Indigenous nations.

Downey also added that sporting events for Indigenous youths can “engage youths with Indigenous resurgence.” Resurgence, as a grassroots movement, seeks to reconnect Indigenous people with their land, culture and communities. According to Downey, resurgence for Indigenous youth can involve “re-empowering [Indigenous youth’s] culture, ceremonies, traditions, governance structures, […] languages through sports.”

“[Mass sporting events] expose [Indigenous youths] to various Indigenous nations that they’re not generally exposed to.”

As an important avenue of athletic development for Indigenous youths, the NAIG has been a cornerstone of an Indigenous sport movement. Arising from literature and activism on sports-focused development this movement aims to teach leadership, community-building, initiative-taking, and other life skills to Indigenous youths through sports, according to Downey. Apart from national and provincial organizations devoted to Indigenous athletics, certain NGOs have also been involved in promoting sports in Indigenous communities.

While Downey believes in the numerous health, social, and cultural benefits of these sporting events and gatherings, he warns that a critical eye must be cast on sports and these development initiatives, particularly those administered by NGOs.

“We don’t think [critically] of the values that are ingrained and taught through sports. [These values] are actually very Eurocentric ideas of sportsmanship, gender, governance structure, even language […],” Downey told The Daily, adding that Indigenous communities have their own values associated, taught, and celebrated through sports. “[These Indigenous values] are very well-established and have been under attack for a really long time through various colonial policies. Are [sports for development programs] just adding to the problem?”

NAIG after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The 2017 NAIG will be the first edition of the Games since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) published its findings two years ago about the nature and impact of the residential school system. Along with its full report, the TRC features 94 calls to action to “redress the legacy of residential schools” and “advance Canadian reconciliation.” Article 88 in particular demands governmental support for hosting the NAIG. To make the Games more accessible (particularly to lower income and rural youths), this support specifically includes the allocation of funds for “provincial and territorial team preparation and travel.” The aim of the call is, in the words of the TRC, to “ensure long term Indigenous athlete development and growth.”

As a tribute to TRC, a central component of the 2017 Games is a campaign called #Team88, aiming to raise awareness about and access to sports for Indigenous youths through community tours, museum exhibits and more. One aspect of #Team88, for example, is to highlight the stories and accomplishments of 88 NAIG athletes.

Following the calls from the TRC, both the Governments of Ontario and Canada have pledged to help fund the Games, providing $3.5 million each. Moreover, the CBC has also committed to producing a minimum of a hundred hours of live and on-demand coverage, content on cultural events at the NAIG, as well as documentaries to highlight the accomplishments of the participants. Regarding this coverage, Downey expressed his heartfeltness for Indigenous families who will be able to watch their youths compete.

The 2017 NAIG will be the first edition of the Games since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published its findings […].

“I’m not here to go against that, because this is their experience and that’s valid. I can imagine it’s exciting. I can imagine myself in that situation when I was younger – it would’ve been an exciting moment,” he told The Daily.

Downey added, however, that this optimism does not prevent him from being concerned about the discourse surrounding reconciliation.

“Definitely there are positive things that are coming out of the TRC and [the process of] reconciliation,” Downey told The Daily. Still, he said, one ought to be critical about the implications of reconciliation. “I would say I’m cautiously optimistic but still a realist.”

Currently, the NAIG Council, the body governing the NAIG competitions, is in the process of organizing bids for the 2020 Games. Non-Indigenous people are encouraged to attend the Games and associated events as spectators, volunteers, or even sponsors.

To find out more, you can visit www.naig2017.to.

The post On sports-based reconciliation appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Yogurt tubes, playground basketball, and crushes are all central to the play, which draws most of its laughs from nostalgic references to awkward middle-school moments. Set transitions are accompanied by mid-2000s hits like Beautiful Soul, Kiss Me Thru The Phone, and Low. The play’s exploitation of nostalgia may evoke more than funny and relatable moments for those who grew up in the mid-to-late 2000s. This tactic of creating an odd, asynchronous aesthetic made the play’s cheesy moments, old-school slang, and almost-forgotten references into something familiar yet out-of-place.

This tactic of creating an odd […] aesthetic made the play’s cheesy moments, old-school slang, and almost-forgotten references into something familiar yet out of place.

Although fantastical, Be Tween is an endearing play. The relationships between the characters, exaggerated archetypes of middle-school teens, are simplified to saccharine best-friendships and misinformed rivalries that are easily overcome. The dreamy manner in which the characters walk through their troubles is unrealistic. However, with the play’s skillful acting and effective plot development, somehow it all works – as the audience becomes emotionally attached to the characters, their actions become charming and welcome.

Queer relationships are formed as the play concludes, ending it off on an optimistic note. Though normative ideas about sexuality have been and are still pervasive in most middle-school environments, the play sought to subtly dismantle these norms. None of the characters differentiated between heterosexual and queer relationships, creating a sense of unquestioned acceptance. Heteronormative attitudes are absent from not only the play, but the characters themselves.

Fregoli’s script is strong, but the play benefits most from her directing. Middle-schoolers are often professional daydreamers, and the characters in Be Tween are of no exception. Their fantasies – a first kiss, for example – take the form of monologues and are acted out on stage. Bedtime rituals allow for further insight into the characters as they all go to bed on the stage next to each other, but in their own worlds. These are only a few of the moments where Fregoli’s creative directing stood out.

Be Tween is a feat – a play that manages to cover important social issues, provide a happy escape, and bring out a shared history that many of McGill’s current students will remember.

The post Reliving the awkward phase appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Bad Nudes 1.1 is currently available online at badnudes.com. However, Molander says the magazine is hoping to publish further issues in print. “The real problem is cost, but we’re hoping to get some grants,” Molander said.

Molander, who comes from British Columbia, and Parker, from Toronto, are both creative writing students at Concordia University. Bad Nudes is a project they came up with together several months ago when they were reading their friends’ writing, and realized the need for a new platform to showcase the talent they saw. When asked about where they got the idea for the name, they said they had originally come up with it as a band name, but instead, decided to use it for their magazine.

What’s different, I think, is that we really don’t have anyone to look up to in a literary sense.

Bad Nudes 1.1 features mostly fellow Concordia students, plus a few writers based in Toronto, the U.S., and British Columbia. Most of the authors are well established writers, with publications in their portfolios ranging from The Globe and Mail to Metatron.

Brad Casey, founder of Toronto-based literary journal, The 4 Poets, came all the way from Toronto to perform at the launch. Casey expressed his appreciation for Bad Nudes, saying that they’re filling a niche in terms of quality online literature. “[Molander and Parker have] got it pretty figured out […] There’s not many websites out there publishing this kind of work,” Casey said. “I’m happy that Bad Nudes is around now.”

Everyone involved in Bad Nudes is extremely enthusiastic about the magazine, and excited to see where it will go in the future. Those who attended the launch party were treated with interesting performances ranging from traditional form poetry, to experimental poetry, to short stories that had the entire audience laughing.

The Daily spoke to Brad Casey and Fawn Parker via email about their involvement with Bad Nudes.

The Mcgill Daily (MD): You’re a contributor to the first issue of Bad Nudes. How did you hear about the magazine?
Brad Casey (BC): Fawn Parker is a label mate, of sorts […] We’ve both been published by Metatron, so we’ve met and follow each other online. She posted on Facebook asking for submissions […] Fawn Parker is a wonderful writer who I admire and so I trusted that whatever she created would be something I’d want to be involved in.

MD: As the founder of another literary magazine, do you see any differences in the approach that Bad Nudes is taking?
BC: Both publications are seeking out new, exciting writers in the Canadian landscape who may not necessarily be published elsewhere. And it’s a healthy environment right now. Everyone is supportive and open to sharing. It’s like all ships rise with the high tide.

MD: What makes Bad Nudes different than other literary magazines, here in Montreal and elsewhere?
BC: There’s a great literary scene being fostered in Canada right now which includes young writers frustrated with the state of publishing. Many literary magazines are highly academic and don’t recognize less formal writing from young, talented writers full of potential because it wouldn’t work with their audience, [who are] used to a cerebral, emotionally flat form of writing. There are also so few literary presses publishing new writers. The major presses like Harper Collins, in Canada, no longer actively seek out new work unless it’s from authors already established. Bad Nudes is one of the few magazines stepping in to foster those great, highly undervalued writers.

MD: Bad Nudes is exclusively online at the moment. Do you see this as an advantage or disadvantage for the magazine?
BC: Print and online have their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Online can be a jumping off point to be published in print. But [you can also] work with many writers, quickly, from all over the world and develop a much larger audience.

MD: Your own poetry features a diversity of forms and content. Do you think this reflects Bad Nudes as a magazine? In your opinion, what does Bad Nudes offer the reader?
BC: I didn’t write those pieces exclusively for Bad Nudes so I don’t know how it might reflect on them. It was only what I had to offer. As far as what they have to offer the reader, I think, [they can offer] a good look into some talented writers who will be our generation’s next great voices.

The Daily also interviewed Fawn Parker about founding the magazine.

MD: What makes Bad Nudes different than other literary magazines, here in Montreal and elsewhere?
Fawn Parker (FP): What’s different, I think, is that we really don’t have anyone to look up to in a literary sense. Like I think partly this thing was birthed out of a frustration with the literary community. It’s so rare that I will pick up (or go online and look at) a lit mag and feel […] excited about what I’m reading […] What [this current state of publishing] does for us, in my opinion, is it forces us to really scrap all of our ideas about how a magazine should be and build something new. We just publish what we think is good, and we make it [look] cool and that’s about it. So I think that we’re really just pushing out good work and we have no other agenda. If we never make a dollar, at least we have this space where all of this good stuff is collected.

MD: What made you want to create an arts magazine?
FP: I think it’s just one of those natural points in a certain series of events. You know, you get a degree in literature, you’re not really good enough to get a book out there but you’re starting to get into all of these magazines. I’ve been working for journals for about 4 years now and I guess I just started to feel [confident]. Plus Thomas [Molander] is so on my wavelength creatively — we really just get shit done when we work together, and I think it’s mutually […] inspiring. Sandy [our designer], too. When we asked him to join the team it was a good idea.

MD: What are the advantages and disadvantages of your magazine being only online?
FP: The advantages are that it’s incredibly accessible. Sandy introduced us to the “web brutalism” movement, and I’m going to get this wrong if I say too much but one sweet thing about it is that you can load it on […] any connection speed, probably. It’s just this really simple page with a bunch of text. On the other hand, going to print is kind of like making it. That takes money, which is a pretty obvious signifier of success. And you know, I would of course just like to be able to have our stuff on my shelf.

MD: Does Bad Nudes have an overarching philosophy behind it?
FP: I’m not sure. We talked about this a lot at the beginning and then kind of dropped it. When you’re applying for grants, it kind of forces you to think about that kind of thing. But really we just want good work to be pushed out there. Politically, we are careful, of course. We won’t publish anything that we feel is bordering on […] sexism, racism, transphobia, homophobia, that kind of thing. I feel a certain responsibility as a woman working with 2 men to really make sure we’re representing female-identified voices. I won’t organize a reading if less than half of the readers are women and/or queer people, and if I’m soliciting I reach out to them first.

MD: Is there a specific type of art that Bad Nudes hopes to exhibit?
FP: What we really want, I think, is stuff that just has an awareness to it, and a certain amount of restraint. I like funny stuff, but obviously it can’t all be funny. Emotional [writing] is good too. Anything [goes] as long as the timing and delivery are good. We just want people who have something to say and have an idea of how to say it in an interesting way.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post Not your typical nudes appeared first on The McGill Daily.