The McGill news v.92 n2 fall-winter 2011

2011·57.6 MB·English

by  McGill University. Graduates' Society.

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ALUMNI MAGAZINE
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Moments that
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McGill Daily
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FALL/WINTER 2011
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Remembering Richter
Mordecai Richler was one of Canada's greatest novelists and 03 Editor's Notebook
McGill felt the sting of his satirical prose several times.
04 Letters
Now, a new program named in his honour is making it possible for
other top writers to share their insights with McGill students. 06 T1e Pri11cipal's Perspective
BY SALEEMA NAWAZ 07 News bites
11 Discovery: Research at McGill
15 Alu11ni Profile
No hell in this kitchen
36 Reviews
Think you've got a tough boss? As the head chef of the revamped 38 Maki11g History
version of one of Montreal's most beloved family restaurants,
40 Alumni Activ ties
Guillermo Russo, BA: OS, has the notoriously demanding
Gordon Ramsey looking over his shoulder. 44 Aturnni Profile
BY WENDY HELFENBAUM 45 Atumnotes
56 In Mer1oridm
The oldest rabble-rouser on campus 60 Online Offerings
Over the course of 100 years, the McGill Daily has launched the careers
of many of Canada's finest journalists. The combative student
newspaper might have irritated more than a few McGill administrators
along the way, but it's always been a force to be reckoned with.
BY ALLYSON ROWLEY, BA'77
How Montreal perfected hockey
2011 Massey Lecturer Adam Gopnik probes the origins of
Canada's favourite winter sport and uncovers a unique bit of alchemy
involving McGill, French Quebecers and Irish Montrealers that
could only have occurred in one city.
BY ADAM GO PN I K, BA'80
Moments that changed McGill
The University is celebrating its 190th anniversary this year.
Discover some of the turning points that transformed McGill
over the course of 19 decades.
BY DANIEL McCABE, BA'89
Judge Judy n'a qu'a bien se tenir
Bien qu'elle ait frequemment attire !'attention par son langage colore
ou ses emportements, Anne-France Goldwater (B.C.L.1980), nouvelle
vedette du petit ecran, n'en demeure pas mains une avocate redoutable
dont les succi~s ant transform€ le droit familial au Quebec.
PAR DAVID SAVOIE
Not such a violent world after all
As bullets fly in too many parts of the world, and as blood-soaked video
games sell in the millions, it's easy to think we live in the most violent
of times, but psychologist Steven Pinker, BA:76, DSc'99, says things are
actually getting better- and they used to be much, much worse.
BY DIANA GRIER AYTON
M GILL NEWS·FALL/WINTER 2011 1
THE CODEX
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Part art, part science, part anthropology, this ambitious
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THE CODEX volume's mature and insightful scholarship make this a captivat
CANADENSIS ing, rich, and profow1dly knowledgeable text." -Laurier Lacroix,
a
and the Writings of Louis Nicolas departement d'histoire de !'art, Univer ite du Quebec Montreal
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EW WORLD
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READING THE
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Reading the 21st Century Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Volume 2 ewfoundland Modern Georges and Pauline Vanier
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EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Tales from
times gone by
uch of this issue concerns (CaPS) and handed in my draft. A short time
itself with history and later, one of my editors, Melinda Wittstock,
that's no accident. As I BA'86, summoned me for a chat. She gently
strolled along Peel Street pointed out that my story was awfully similar
on my way to work this to one the paper had run the previous year,
morning, I walked past several street lamp including almost identical quotes from that
banners, heralding the University's 190th nice fellow from CaPS.
anniversary (the banners were designed, I was mortified. Ihadn'tplagiarized. I didn't
coincidentally, by the same talented fellow even know the previous story existed. But I
who helps put together this magazine did learn some irnportant lessons: always be
Steven McClenaghan). aware of what was written before about your
To mark this anniversary, I had the idea subject; make the extra effort to be original;
of polling about 30 McGillians- some of and do what you can to encourage intervie
them historians or history enthusiasts, wees to supply quotes that aren't the same
some of them current or former McGill stale, reheated comments they pass along to
administrators-and asking them to everyone else. That was probably one of the
choose a moment in the University's history more valuable learning experiences I had at
that had a profound and lasting impact on McGilland there are hundreds of Dailyalums
McGill. Often, when you canvass 30 inde who'll agree that their time at the newspaper
pendent-minded people for their opinion on provided an education in itself. Kudos to the .
something, you get 30 different responses. organizing committee that recently put
Not this time. More than half of the folks together the very successful DailylOOth
I contacted offered the same answer-the anniversary reunion-Harold Rosenberg,
arrival ofWilliam Dawson as McGill's fifth BSc'71, CraigToomey, BA'75, Will Vanderbilt,
and most transformative principal. BA&Sc'll, and John Dufort, BCom'67.
It makes you wonder about the role Our third history-tinged article comes
fate plays. Dawson might well be the most courtesy of the New Yorkeis Adam Gopnik,
single important figure in the University's BA'80, one of the best essayists currently
history, but he actually had his heart set on putting fingertips to keyboard. Gopnik recently
another job before coming here and McGill's delivered the prestigious Massey Lectures on
governors weren't wildly enthusiastic CBC Radio and the focus for his talks was
about hiring him in the first place (he was winter. He's a longtime hockey fan, old enough
only 35, for one thing). One wonders how to remember cheering for Guy Lafleur and the
McGill might have developed ifDawson dominant Canadiens teams of the seventies,
hadn't come. Would McGill be the McGill so one suspects that Gopnik might have chosen
we recognize today? his topic primarily as an excuse to delve into
Another story in this issue focuses on a hockey. In a recent interview with the Globe
McGill institution that is marking a pretty and Mail, Gopniklamented that his New
impressive anniversary of its own-the Yorkereditor, David Remnick, views hockey
McGill Daily. now a proudly cantankerous "as just a bunch of white guys banging each
centenarian. The Daily has long been a train other over the head with sticks." In the lectures
ing ground for some of the finest journalists (currently available in bookstores as Winter:
in the country, and while I know I'm not in Five Windows on the Season), Gopnik argues
that category, I did learn a thing or two as a the case for his favourite sport. In an excerpt
Dail.ycontributorin the mid-eighties. we're proud to include in this issue, he explor s
My very first Daily assignment dealt the origins of the game and its roots a a
with summer job prospects for students product of Montr al's unique demography.
that year. I dutifully interviewed the head
of the McGill Career Planning S rvic DANIEL MCCABE
A GILL IIEWS·FALL/W!NTE!R 2011
liliij;Jj
my fellow McGill NDPers Harold Koblin, Lorenzo in Shakespeare's The Merchant
Steve Yudin andAlan Conter. ofV enice says below, it can also put us
Hey guys: ready for another go in on our best behaviour:
2015? This time, we mean it! The man that hath no music in himsel£
DAVID WINCH, BA80 Nor is not mov'd with concord of
Geneva, Switzerland sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons,
stratagems, and spoils; The motions
I n the latest edition of the McGill News, ofh is spirit are dull as night ...
the article "Surfing the Orange Wave" Let no such man be trusted.
omitted the election of Joe Oliver, BA61, (Act V, Se. 1)
BC[64, new Conservative MP for RICHARD ORLANDO, MLS'79
Eglinton-Lawrence and the minister of Montreal, QC
Laurin Liu was one of Eve McGill natural resources in the federal cabinet.
students elected as NDP MPs in May. CHARLES SHAIKOVITZ, I would love to
BSc'62, DDS'66 draw attention
SOME SURFBOARDS SANK Haifa, Israel to the McGill
I read with great interest your article support that
on the ND P electoral surge in Quebec Mr. Oliver 5 election did slip past our surrounded me
("Surfing the Orange Wave," Spring notice at first. We hope to make up for on my recording
Summer 2011) and the five McGill thatbyindudinghimin this issues . Treelines
students who were, amazingly, elected Alumnotes section. (mentioned in
to Parliament. the McGill News
I know their astonishment must be Regarding "Surfing the Orange Wave," Spring-Summer
deep, as I preceded them on that then you might also point out that the NDP's 2011 Alumnotes ). This recording has
quixotic quest over 30 years ago; friends director of operations, responsible for, been getting outstanding international
are still surprised that I was allowed among other things, staffing the offices of recognition by the press, including a
on the federal ballot back in 1979 and all the ND P MPs, is also a McGill grad She is 41/2 -star review in the June issue of
1980. Our opponent: Liberal incumbent the remarkable Jess Tu rk-Browne, BA99. Downbeat. We also were honoured to
Pierre Trudeau. Regarding the Greatest McGillians, receive Quebec's Conseil Quebecois de la
In short, early in 1979, a group of I am surprised that the McGill News has Musique Prix OPUS for jazz recording of
student activists centred on the McGill paid so little attention to outstanding the year. None of this would have been
Daily. including myself, decided to take a McGillian Sir An drew Macphail and possible without the incredible guidance
run at the NDP nomination in Mount the recent comprehensive biography and support that I have received from
Royal riding. As the riding association about him by McGill grad Dr. Ian Ross staff, students and alumni within the
there consisted of a handful of aging Robertson. Schulich School of Music. Most of the
Jewish labour-organization veterans, it ALLAN Q SHIPLEY, BA67 musicians involved with Treelines are
was ours for the taking. I was selected as Toronto, ON graduates from the McGill jazz program
our flag-bearer. Away we went! and!o r hold teaching positions at the
We jerry-rigged a $125 campaign We certainly have no quarrel with Schulich School of Music.
(all figures reported to Elections Canada) Mr. Shipley over Dr. Macphails suitability CHRISTINE JENSEN,
and went through the motions of a "real" for being a Great McGillian. Well regarded BMus'94, MMus'06
campaign, including Saturdays spent in both the literary and medical commu Montreal, QC
earnestly passing out flyers in front of the nities, Macphail createdUniversity
Cote-des-Neiges shopping plaza. Magazine, a widely respected literary POOR CHOICE Of WORDS
Our reward for all this enthusiasm? quarterly for many years. He was also I was very disappointed to see the
A narrow defeat, ha, by 40,000 votes or so, the founding editor oft he Canadian use of the discriminatory term
both times we tried (in May 1979 and Medical Association Journal and McGills 'Neo-Quebecois" in your article about
February 1980). Hence my lament today: first professor oft he history ofm edicine, McGill graduates who are Quebec MNAs.
We were just nine elections too early! a position he held for 30 years. The article also asserts that Vanier College,
A decade later, during the Brian which I attended, was largely dominated
Mulroney era, I penned a wry recollection THE BARD AND THE BEAT by immigrants. The people the article
of this misadventure for the Montreal Not only can music make us feel good refers to may have been the children of
Gazette ("23-year-old's challenge to by releasing dopamine in the brain immigrants, but we cannot have been
Trudeau fell short by 40,000 votes"). ("Getting High on Music," Spring immigrants ourselves, having been born
That piece also salutes the collaboration of Summer 2011), but as the character here. The many McGill alumni who were
4 MCGILL NEWS·FALL / W JNTER 2011
born here of immigrant parents are no In the seventies, my daughter, then The other letter in the issue that
more or less Quebecois than anyone else around 10 (now a PhD and a professional in touched me was written by one of my
who calls Quebec their home. her own right), saw it on my desk and asked long-term heroes, Dr. Charl ie Scriver.
CHARLES C. GAMBINO, BA:80 what it was. I showed her the inscription I was doing graduate work at McGill at
Pierrefonds, QC proudly. "What's a debating champion?" the time and know of the contribution of
she asked. "Debating is a mind game, where Arnie Steinberg to the Vitamin D success
DEBATABLE TROPHY you have to think on your feet," I replied. story. I have told that amazing Vitamin D
As a member of the McGill Debating "Why is it a man?" she rightly asked. story in my talks to leaders over the years
Team (1955 to 1959), I loved "Because there were very few woman to inspire the understanding of what
your article on the Debating Union debaters then." "That's silly," she said. "They leadership is about and how science and
(Fall-Winter 2010) and I read with could see you're not a man." business can work together.
interest the letters from Ken Frankel, Since then, I'm sure many more McGill GERALDINE (OSTROFF)
Hon Col B.J. Finestone and John Hobbins debaters have been women, and I've SCHWARTZ, BA:59, MA:69, PhD'76
in the Spring-Summer 2011 edition. benefited my whole life from the gift of Principal and Senior Psychologist
In 1956, my partner Stuart Smith being able to think on my feet. The ability The Vancouver Learning Centre, BC
(the former head of the Liberal Party of to spontaneously engage in the thrust and
Ontario and the former chair of the parry of professional discussion and
Science Council of Canada) and I won the debate has stood me in good stead.
ASUS Novice Debating Championship. The thought of what that means was Something on your mind?
We received a big trophy on loan for a brought home full circle last month as I Write to us at:
McGi/1 News
year and a small hand-sized one to keep observed my granddaughter participate in
1555 Peel Street, Suite 900
of a bronze man in a suit standing on a her high school debating tournament
Montreal, Quebec H3A 3L8
podium gesturing. I was so proud of that (in French!) in Vancouver along with her
little thing that it survived on my desk or fellow young women classmates as if it Or send an email to:
bookshelf for more than five decades and was their birthright. No little men on the [email protected]
through many moves. trophies for these women!
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M ,ILL 1 EWS ·!•ALL/ WI NTE R 20 11
''''*l;''~'''i:•••l';ill'''''•
A time to take stock
Ma nymembersofthe
McGill community,
both on and off campus,
have been upset and
concerned by the events
of November 10. Some have expressed
the concern that McGill is moving
away from being an open, tolerant and
safe environment.
I am profoundly sorry that events
so at odds with the culture and values
of our University have happened here,
and that people are hurt and upset.
As Principal. I am ultimately responsible
for what occurs on our campuses. The
events of November 10 have served as a their presence on and around our turn our University upside down, but
wake-up call for me about problems campuses may be necessary. we must make our University more
we have with respect to how we commu I am encouraged by the many open, more inclusive and stronger.
nicate, plan and interact as a community. gestures of mutual support offered by For nearly 200 years, McGill has
I commit to work with the McGill our student groups. faculty and staff. stood strong by its core values of
community to find solutions. including peaceful gatherings like the academic freedom, freedom of speech,
Dean of Law Daniel Jutras's report, one that took place on November 14. openness, tolerance, hard work.
which will be presented to McGill's These events show that in spite of integrity, collegiality. democracy,
Senate and Board of Governors and different points of view, we all care justice and equity. I accepted the
made public without delay, will provide deeply about McGill. position as Principal of McGill, because
an opportunity for further discussion I also recognize how difficult the long I hold those values dear. Like so many
and learning. strike was for everyone in our commu members of this community, I believe
I expressed to Montreal Chief of nity-including those who walked the passionately in an open, tolerant,
Police Marc Parent the shock and dismay picket lines. The fact that the strike is respectful and safe environment for
that we, the McGill community, felt as over is great news. We are very pleased to discussion, debate and the peaceful
a result of the deployment of the riot have our colleagues back and to have the expression of dissent.
squad. Given that we rely on collabora opportunity to work together again. These values will continue to guide
tion with the police to foster a safe I have been meeting with students, me-as well as the rest of McGill's
and secure environment at McGill, faculty and staff to hear their experi administration -in the actions and
we agreed to work to improve our proce ences and recommendations to improve interactions we will undertake in the
dures for those rare instances where relations at McGill. We do not need to coming weeks and months. "-.
6 MCG I LL NEWS·FALL / W I N T E R 2011
Rememberin9
R·cliler
Mordecai and
Florence Richler
When Noah Richter, BA'83, was a child, his father shortlisted for all
Mordecai would sit him down on Saturday mornings with three major Canadian awards in 2010
a writing exercise. (the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction
"I would be given four words typewritten on a blank Prize, and the Governor General's Literary Award), as well
sheet of paper, or maybe a first or last sentence, and as for the 2011 Orange Prize in the U.K.
instructed to write an essay using them." Winter explains that students chosen to work with her
lt's no accident that all five of Mordecai Richter's children can look forward to individualized instruction. "I try to
have gone on to write books or to work as journalists. get rid of how students think they should write, and cut
The mischievous satirist, one of Canada's greatest novelists, to the part that really means something for them."
was deadly serious when it came to the subject of writing well. LOUIS HAMELIN, who will take up the post on the
Budding young writers at McGill now have access to French side, snagged a Governor General's Award with
some of the country's most accomplished authors, thanks his first novel in 1989 and is now the author of nine books,
to the new MORDECAI RICHLER WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE including the prize-winning La constellation du Lynx,
PROGRAM, an initiative kick-started by a $100,000 gift a novel about the October Crisis.
from Florence Richter, Mordecai's widow. Though both writers were chosen fully on the basis of
The bilingual program will support two writers a year literary merit by a committee comprising members of both
one each in the Department of English and the Departement departments, neither is indifferent to Mordecai Richter's
artistic legacy. Growing up as a British immigrant in
Newfoundland, Winter appreciated the tensions in Richter's
writing between old and new worlds, remembering,
"When I was younger it meant a lot to me that he wrote
unpretentious, vivid prose with a lot of concrete detail."
Noah Richter points out that Hamelin, who cites
Mordecai as an influence, "has had a fascinating
relationship with my father's work for a long time-critical,
both from a political and a literary point of view, but in the
best sense of the term, engaging with it on its own terms."
At an event celebrating the launch of the program
which is still seeking philanthropic support to reach its
fundraising goal of $2.5 million-Hamelin wondered aloud
what Mordecai would make of it all. Though Richter
accepted an honorary doctorate from the University shortly
before his death, McGill was a frequent target of his satire.
Richter also famously did not believe that creative writing
could be taught. But Noah Richter considers the program a
de langue et litterature frant;aises-to teach creative writing suitable honour for his father, whom he remembers as
and enrich the artistic life of the University with readings an "exceptionally generous" mentor.
and workshops. The initiative has the additional, ambitious "He is one of the few writers I know-and in my own
mandate of creating a new literary journal. work I have met many-who was always ready to promote
Two novelists have been selected as the inaugural writers, and give a leg up to younger writers in whom he
and their resumes leave no doubt as to the quality of talent saw talent-Guy Vanderhaeghe, Richard Wright and
the program hopes to attract. KATHLEEN WINTER is fresh Adam Gopnik to name a few."
off a whirlwind year with her novel Annabel, which was SALEEMA NAWAZ
M ,ILL /IEWS·PALL/WJNTER 2011 7
First the news was sensational. Then it was sad. Then it got
a little strange.
On Monday, October 3, the Nobel Prize Foundation
announced that Rockefeller University immunologist
RALPH STEINMAN, BSc'63, would be the seventh McGill
graduate to become a Nobellaureate. No sooner had the
celebrations begun before they were cut short by a
heartrending update-Steinman had passed away just a
few days earlier.
This posed a dilemma for the Nobel Foundation. Its
longstanding policy is to not award prizes posthumously, but system to potential threats. Though the scientific community
no one from the foundation had known about Steinman's was initially skeptical about the finding, Stein man's work is
death when he was selected as one of its three 2011 Nobel widely influential today. Existing and potential treatments
Laureates in Medicine. Would the award be rescinded? for cancer, HIV and transplant rejection all owe their origins
The foundation deliberated the matter and came to a quick to his research.
conclusion. Steinman's Nobel would stand. "The events that Before his death, Steinman was rumoured to be in the
have occurred are unique and, to the best of our knowledge, running for the Nobel. At a press conference, his daughter
are unprecedented in the history of the No bel Prize," the Alexis Stein man remembered joking with her father in the
foundation announced. days leading up to the prize announcement. "We said to him,
Stein man earned the Nobel for his eo-discovery of dendritic 'Hang on until Monday'" when the winners would be named.
cells in 1973. These cells play a unique role, serving as a first He wasn't able to, but earned his Nobel all the same.
line of defence against antigens, and alerting the immune DANIEL MCCABE, BA'89
A Savvy Auntie Indeed
...............................................................................................................................
Aunts don't always get A few years back, Notkin was struck by the notion that
the best press. They're there were plenty of these women playing a vital role in the
often portrayed as sweet, lives of children. After examining U.S. census data, Notkin
but dull (The Andy recognized a significant market trend. More than 47 percent
Griffith Show's Aunt Bee) of American women 44 or younger aren't moms-but a
or as eccentrics who sizeable chunk of those women do have nieces or nephews or
care little about kids godchildren. "I said, 'Here's a real market opportunity to
(Aunts Patty and Selma reach these women and, well, everybody is zigging towards
from The Simpsons). mom, why don't I zag toward the non-mom?"'
MELANIE NOTKIN, BA'92, is redefining what it means And zag she did. Her site, SavvyAuntie.com, garnered a
to be an aunt. In her view, aunts are hip, fun to be with, Webby Award nomination, her recent book, Savvy Auntie:
and committed to the kids they love, and the author The Ultimate Guide for Cool Aunts, Great-Aunts, Godmothers,
and entrepreneur-check that, auntrepreneur-is busy and All Women Who Love Kids, cracked the Wall Street
making converts. Journal best-sellers list, and her sizeable Facebook and
An aunt herself, the New York-based former Montrealer Twitter followings led Real Women magazine to describe her
firmly believes that aunts do a lot to enrich a youngster's as one of its "Social Media Female Superheroes."
life. "No child suffered from too much love." Notkin is "This is really just the beginning," vows Notkin. After all,
giving a voice to the women she calls PANKS ("Professional she says, every kid could use "an auntorage."
Aunts, No Kids"). VICKI SALEMI
8 MCGILL NEWS·FALL / WINTER 2011