Being a grown-up is really hard. Any young adult can attest that our first encounters with personal finances, heartbreak, and aging parents can be downright scary. The real world is indeed a frightful place, rife with political instability, wildfires, and unexpected ways to die. The idea of having a specific holiday with the purpose of… Keep Reading
Like many others at McGill, I come from a background of multiple languages. My father grew up in Wolfsburg, Germany—a relatively small country town, about an hour away from Berlin. After 20 years of living in a rainy climate, he decided to venture south in search of sun and a happier version of himself. He… Keep Reading
This past weekend, as I sunk into a puffy chair to nurse my protruding belly much too full of turkey, mashed potatoes, and other Thanksgiving delicacies, I closed my eyes and took a moment to fulfill the holiday’s second mandate—being thankful for what I have. My four years at McGill seem to have passed with… Keep Reading
To my knowledge, I’ve been on one formal date in my life—and I say “formal date” in the movie-and-dinner, Gilmore Girls sense of the word. It was July in Toronto, and I met him at a midtown pub. I was sweaty, because July in Toronto is sweaty, but he told me I looked pretty anyway. It… Keep Reading
In her Sept. 19 column for the Globe and Mail, Margaret Wente compared today’s university students to “fragile flowers,” arguing that increasing concern for mental health on campuses is conditioning young adults to be weak, not resilient. Wente needs to learn a thing or two about resilience. Wente’s staunch disapproval of mental health services on… Keep Reading
When I was 13, my mother told me that she would kick me out of the house if I got a tattoo, or if I married non-Jewish. Her first fear never came to fruition, and her second was something I supported—if not ideologically—at least pragmatically. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto,… Keep Reading
As an American student at McGill, many of the things I’ve heard some Canadians say about the United States—particularly its politics—have been false, absurd, and, on occasion, hypocritical. More concerning, however, is the apparent failure of many Canadians to understand American politics and learn from our mistakes. In my experience, Canadians distance themselves from the… Keep Reading
“Be sure to check any and all political correctness at the door!” read the press release for one two-week running show at Montreal’s 35th annual Just For Laughs comedy festival. As though the industry has developed a reflex against audience members they perceive to be overly sensitive, it’s not uncommon to hear phrases at the… Keep Reading
On Aug. 12, a peaceful protester named Heather Heyer lost her life and many others were injured by the senseless rage of a 20-year-old white male at a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Following the abhorrent scene, on Aug. 13, GoDaddy, the web hosting company of an American neo-nazi website called “The Daily Stormer”… Keep Reading
Remember your elementary school summers? When school was out and the living was easy? Goodbye, long division–hello ice cream sandwiches, sleepover camp, and Saturday morning swimming lessons. As an undergraduate student, summers are sort of like those swimming lessons. Except instead of learning to float on your back, someone just throws you into the deep… Keep Reading
