FEATURES: Shh…trashy books no longer a dirty little secret

When the Beatles sang about “the dirty story of a dirty man,” who longs to be a “Paperback Writer,” they accurately depicted the stereotypes that still surround popular genre fiction. You know the type; you might even know it intimately. Trashy romance novels, fantastical sci-fi, horror stories, detective mysteries, even the more highly acclaimed chick lit and dick lit genres fit into this category.

CHATTERBOX: ‘I just enrolled Trump in a basketball league’

Lee Bienstock, runner-up on the hit reality series, The Apprentice, talks about New York, the corporate lifestyle and hanging out with Donald Trump. Speaking at the Hillel House, the recent college grad and high-profile business guru tells McGill students about his rise to the top of the Trump Towers.

Is your face worthy of Facebook?

Think you’re on Facebook to socialize? Think again. With over 20,000 new members registering daily for the infamous friendship network, Facebook is known, first and foremost, as an efficient tool for the communicating masses. While eager stalkers interact via notes, poking and wall writing, they are also tuning into something much larger and essentially much vainer: themselves.

FEATURE: Sainte-Catherine did…what?

During a drunken night out on the town, no one thinks to question the political affiliation of his or her favourite street. Enjoying the bars on St-Denis? You might be promoting a military regime. Walking along Stanley? You could be a potential colonizing bastard.

FEATURE: More than just a language barrier

The shiny brochures in the Welcome Centre may romanticize student life, but they cannot exaggerate this fact: McGill is a unique institution. As an internationally renowned, English university located in the centre of a French-speaking province, most McGill students come in contact with a tongue that they do not understand every day, whether it be French, Arabic or Japanese.

FEATURE: Just don’t mess with the fire equipment

A foremost concern among many first-year students in Rez is, besides getting used to the awkwardness of peeing in co-ed bathrooms, the safety of their living facility. Freshmen at McGill, many of whom are away from home for the first time in their lives, often need an extra hand at keeping threats to their safety at bay.

FEATURE: The anti-frosh guide

Don’t get me wrong- I love Frosh. What better way to start off the new academic year than to get magnificently intoxicated on lower field with thousands of your closest drinking buddies? Frosh is more than just a spectacle of drunken bliss; the organized drinking orgy certainly contains its moments of glory: sampling of a first years’ first beer (mmm.

FEATURE: A day in the life of a floor fellow

As hard-working McGill students endure an intense five-day long stretch of classes, assignments and meetings, the weekend eventually rolls around, offering sleep-deprived class-goers a break from the stress of everyday life. Unlike most McGillians, Jessica Margolis-Pineo’s work doesn’t end on the weekends.

FEATURE: Bang a TA-it’s the only sleep they will get

Engaging in a one-on-one meeting with a professor at the front of Leacock 132 for more than five minutes is a fantasy envisioned by many McGill undergraduates. Professors have their own agenda to attend to (think: “publish or perish”) and often cannot provide personal attention to each of the hundreds of students in their classes.

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