When Nova Scotian poet Chad Norman (Masstown, Learning to Settle Down) was a teenager, he and all his friends wanted to be rock stars. "I bought a Fender bass, and a MusicMaster, a beginning Fender, and a small little amp, and wanted to be a bassist,” Norman said. But the band[Read More…]
Books
“The Violet Hour” provides marginalized voices with a spooky platform
The Violet Hour, founded by Christopher DiRaddio, is a bi-monthly reading series that showcases both established and emerging LGBTQ writers and performers. The reading series gives a platform to otherwise marginalized voices. Hosted in the Montreal Gay Village’s Stock Bar, attendees were also given the option to participate in a[Read More…]
‘How to Murder Your Life’ paints unapologetic portrait of addiction
One can only imagine the relief felt at the Simon and Schuster offices the day Cat Marnell announced she had finished her book. Conspicuously titled How To Murder Your Life, the work in question had cost the company three years and a $500,000 advance—most of which Marnell had reportedly spent[Read More…]
Metatron brings emerging writers together
Literature can be much more intimate and private than visual or performance art. But for Concordia graduate Ashley Opheim, literature is the focal point of community. Her community is self-built: An independent publishing company called Metatron, established in 2013. When Opheim was studying creative writing at Concordia in 2012,[Read More…]
“Queers Were Here:” Canada’s LGBTQ+ community
In Robin Ganev and RJ Gilmour’s collection of thirteen essays Queers Were Here, Canada’s queer community is put at the forefront. The essays explore the stories of the figures who shaped gay culture and identity across the country. The book ultimately demonstrates that queer people have always existed in Canada[Read More…]
Book Review: “3 or 4 Years an Indian”
The introductory blurb on the back of 3 or 4 Years an Indian describes author Cindy Styles as being “a new author born by obligation.” Of all Styles’ titles—musician, healer, McGill alumna—the only one that she has ever been denied was the one she is owed: Membership to the Qalipu Mi’kmaq[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Harry Potter and the burden of diversity
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been in the news regularly for her steadfast refusal to let her series fade from public consciousness. These efforts range from small pieces uploaded to the website, pottermore.com, to the addition of an entirely new instalment in the form of a play script. In the[Read More…]
From the Viewpoint: Diction: Readings by Gay Men
I entered Stock Bar, one of the premier male strip clubs in the Gay Village, just after 7 p.m. to see Diction: Readings by Gay Men Jazz music played throughout the bar, which was lit by soft red-and-pink lights. The centerpiece of the establishment was the stage about three feet[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Jughead’s coming out marks the new era of Archie 2.0
After 75 years, the Archie universe is undergoing a much-needed update. In July of last year, for the first time in the comic’s history, Archie, along with its multiple spin-off series centered around specific characters, was relaunched with an aesthetic that reflected a modernized Riverdale universe with ‘edgier’ characters and[Read More…]
Port Symphonies pays tribute to the “Queen of Crime”
Pointe-à-Callière Museum’s 22nd edition of Port Symphonies, featuring composer and trombonist Scott Thomson, honoured the achievements of Agatha Christie, the famed murder-mystery novelist. The concert was held in Old Montréal at Place-Royale Square, next to the Pointe-à-Callière Museum, where a current exhibition, Investigating Agatha Christie brings to light Christie’s many interests,[Read More…]
