In the summer of 1998, Jen Kirkman came to Montreal’s Just For Laughs (JFL) comedy festival for the first time. Her standup career was only getting started, but her interest in comedy was longstanding. Using a press pass she received on behalf of a small Boston newspaper, Kirkman and her[Read More…]
Author: Audrey Carleton
Comedian Ryan Hamilton to push as few boundaries as possible at Just For Laughs festival
No one walks onto a stage with a bigger smile than seasoned New York-based comedian Ryan Hamilton. This year, audience members at Montreal’s 35th annual Just For Laughs (JFL) comedy festival will witness his kind yet self-deprecating sense of humour in a long lineup of shows from July 24 to[Read More…]
Q&A: YouTube’s Lilly Singh on confidence and life post-grad
A scroll through Lilly Singh’s YouTube channel, called "llSuperwomanll," includes shots of the star wearing wigs and colourful costumes, impersonating her parents, and collaborating with fellow YouTubers to produce outlandish sketch scenes—sometimes all within the same video. Her 12 million subscribers eat her eccentric humour right up, and on July[Read More…]
Instagram’s Mari Andrew on living her happiest life
It often takes trauma and heartbreak to push people into their most creative, inspired places. Such a narrative is common across artists and writers, and is similarly true for Mari Andrew, illustrator and founder of a daily illustration Instagram account, @bymariandrew, now with over half a million followers. Each of[Read More…]
On Melodrama, Lorde reveres being young and dumb
It’s easy to trivialize pop music, or dismiss it as something intrinsically lesser than “real music." It can seem banal, and focus on catchiness in lieu of explicit meaning. But those criticisms often miss the point of the genre. At its best, a pop song isn’t about a message, per[Read More…]
McConnell Hall to shift to mixed-gender floors in Fall 2017
McConnell Hall will house students of all genders on every floor starting Fall 2017, joining the other Upper Residences–Gardner Hall and Molson Hall–in featuring mixed-gender floors and washrooms. The shift means that with the exception of the all-women West Wing of Royal Victoria College, every common washroom in McGill residences[Read More…]
Comedian Yamaneika Saunders opens up at Just For Laughs 2017
It’s festival season in Montreal, and some of the greatest comedians from across the globe are pouring into the city for the annual Just for Laughs (JFL) festival. Among them is Yamaneika Saunders, a New York-based stand-up comic who has been pleasing crowds with her bold, dynamic nature for over[Read More…]
From skin cells to brain cells: McGill researchers generate a cell critical to Alzheimer’s research
Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (MNI) of McGill University have recently discovered a method for transforming patients’ skin cells into a type of brain cell critical for understanding and treating neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. According to the McGill Newsroom, the artificial cells are “virtually indistinguishable from[Read More…]
How invasive species change more than just ecosystems
An invasive species can be any kind of living organism—bacteria, fungi, plants, insects, fish, or even the organisms’ eggs—that has no evolutionary history in a particular region, but is able to establish a self-sustaining, reproducing population. Given that there are no natural mechanisms that control their influence over an ecosystem,[Read More…]
Memorial lecture celebrates legacy of Supreme Court Justice Charles D. Gonthier
In a society plagued with social intolerance, discussions around the role of law, justice, and governance are gaining rising urgency. On June 24 at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law’s second biennial Memorial Lecture for Charles D. Gonthier, speakers discussed these topics and more. Gonthier was a Puisne judge[Read More…]