My roommate looked up at me from across our dining room table. “I’m so ready for everything to go back to normal,” he said. Since March 13—the day McGill shut down for two weeks—I have thought about this idea every single day. After the two weeks had concluded, I thought[Read More…]
Articles by Lucas Bird
Putting pen to paper
The New York Times headline glared out on my screen. The words reflected a phenomenon all too common on many progressive, university communities across North America. “News or ‘Trauma Porn’?,” it began. “Student Journalists Face Blowback on Campus.” The Nov. 14, 2019 article by Julie Bosman, Mitch Smith, and Kate Taylor[Read More…]
SSMU General Assembly receives lacklustre attendance
The Student’s Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) General Assembly (GA) took place on Feb. 24 and failed to reach quorum. The assembly missed its 350 member quorum by a margin of roughly 300, though the assembly room began to fill as the meeting neared its end in anticipation of the[Read More…]
Tame Impala time travels in ‘The Slow Rush’
If Tame Impala’s third album, Currents, is the outset of an interstellar psychedelic sugar-pop trip, then their fourth full-length release, The Slow Rush, released on Feb. 14, is that trip’s arrival. In his most recent offering, Kevin Parker, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist behind the band’s music, has delivered another[Read More…]
Finding solitude in a digital world
I am astonishingly bad at being alone. I mean this in every possible interpretation of that phrase. I struggle at being comfortably single as opposed to being in committed relationships. I experience anxiety if I go a large portion of the day without talking to or interacting with someone else.[Read More…]
MAPS Canada charts the way for psychedelic therapy
When McGill students hear about psychedelics, their minds might wander to that friend who tried magic mushrooms once, or maybe MK Ultra’s acid-based electrotherapy experiments. What might not immediately register is the novel and promising potential for these drugs today in the form of psychedelic therapy. The perception of psychedelics[Read More…]
How to quit smoking like an existentialist
“I’m just going to use it to get through finals, but during Christmas break I’m going to quit.” This is how I explained my foolproof plan to abandon my Juul to my housemate at the end of last year. I do this with almost all the promises I make to[Read More…]
Grassroots, lawsuits, and the future of climate activism
A group of Quebec youth are stoking a freshly-lit fire in the fight against global climate change. Montreal climate justice organization ENvironment JEUnesse (ENJEU) is pursuing a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for climate negligence on behalf of all Quebec youth under the age of 35. They argue that[Read More…]
McGill community mourns in wake of synagogue shooting
A crowd of over one hundred McGill community members gathered at the Y-intersection on Oct. 30 to hold a vigil in memoriam of the victims of a recent shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shooting, in which 11 members of the Tree of Life Synagogue were killed, took place on Oct.[Read More…]
Bhalla vs. Bird: Are ghosts real?
It’s time to rehash a classic Halloween controversy: Are ghosts real? Contributors Sanchi Bhalla and Lucas Bird duke it out. The case for ghosts – Sanchi Bhalla History is littered with tales of ghosts, spirits, and spooky happenings. McGill itself is home to one of the most haunted streets in[Read More…]
The CAQ’s anti-immigration policy at McGill
On Oct. 1, the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) lead by François Legault defeated the incumbent Liberal Party of the Quebec government. This result is a significant and historic win for the CAQ, disrupting nearly two decades of Liberal political dominance in Quebec on a controversial campaign platform. One of the[Read More…]
Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination makes healthcare less accessible
This past summer, I decided to stay in Montreal instead of returning home to the States. In June, I walked around the McGill Ghetto and the Plateau, delivering my CV and asking for interviews. Working in the service industry means that you work with people, so, without fail, each time[Read More…]
Campus Conversation: First year residence—a house or a home?
Editor’s note: For many McGill students, the first campus community that they encounter is in residence. The McGill Tribune Opinion section asked contributors to draw on their personal experiences living in residence (or not), to answer the question, “Do McGill residences facilitate community-building, and if so, how?” Bryan Buraga | Lucas Bird | Kyle[Read More…]
SSMU building closure disrupts campus clubs
Student clubs and services previously housed within the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) building encountered logistical burdens in their search for alternative work spaces after the building closed on March 17. The closure was the the first step in a long-term schedule of renovations and repairs which are planned[Read More…]
New class on cannabis to be taught by Ontario hash lord Doug Ford
Recreational marijuana is set to be legalized in Canada this summer, and not only are more people rolling fatties, but schools throughout Canada, such as Durham College and Niagara College, are offering classes focused on cannabis. As a result, McGill Principal Suzie Porpier recently announced that in the Fall 2018[Read More…]
Young people incite progressive change—why don’t Boomers see it?
On Oct. 31, 2017, Business Insider ran a piece listing the industries and businesses which millennials had supposedly “killed,” or were in the process of killing, in the most recent decade. This article is part of a trend of baby boomer-penned thought pieces demonizing younger generations for their habits and lifestyles,[Read More…]
Man shot in broad daylight two blocks from McGill campus
On March 14, Tony Elian, the owner of the high-end clothing store Giorgio Gruppo Roma on Peel Street, was shot by an unidentified man in his own boutique. After suffering gunshot wounds to his lower back, Elian was rushed to the hospital. The Service de Police de la Ville de[Read More…]
Flying Lotus soars into third dimension with new live show
Flying Lotus burst through Montreal on Nov. 9 in living and breathing color. Stephen Ellison, the DJ and MC colloquially known as FlyLo, has developed a cult following over the last ten years by refining his organic and complexly-layered sound. Critics heavily praised his fifth studio album, You’re Dead following its[Read More…]