Getting my driver’s license a few years ago was the highlight of my teenage years. I finally felt like I had the keys to freedom—able to go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted—and, most importantly, to venture downtown to hang out with friends. But driving in Montreal quickly humbled me.[Read More…]
Off the Board
I promise I’m not a first-year
Last week someone’s jaw dropped when they learned that I’m in third year. Suddenly they wanted to know everything about me: What I’m studying, where I’m from, and if I’m sure I’ve been at McGill for two full years already. What I find startling is that whenever people are floored[Read More…]
Protests are disruptive because they need to be
On Sept. 29, I had barely joined the cheers celebrating the passing of the Motion to Strike for Divestment from Genocide through the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assembly when SSMU Chair’s harsh voice cut through the crowd: “Decorum, decorum!” The call for order echoed a contradiction at[Read More…]
Do not let student jour-nihilism win
I was ecstatic when I earned the role of “party nun” in my elementary school’s production of The Sound of Music. Alongside 20 other fourth-graders, I acted as a lineless backdrop, twirling around the abbey during “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” before ripping off my habit to[Read More…]
Make libraries cool again
On Monday, as I was parting ways with a friend, she casually mentioned, “I’m going to the library to pick up a book for my research.” This phrase stuck with me—not because of what she said, but because of how rare it is to hear someone, especially a student, talk[Read More…]
Embracing the unaesthetic
I love seeping into an aesthetic. Going for walks in the park in a long skirt, colour-coding my notes, listening to an ‘indie morning’ playlist over gentle sips of coffee. Yet, watching my grandfather empty the guts from a fish, I realized that aesthetic lifestyles set unrealistic expectations of beauty[Read More…]
Sleep to dream: In defense of napping
If you know me, you are aware that I suffer from a serious problem—one that strains friendships, disrupts schedules, and even alters the very fabric of reality. I am too often caught with indented lines strewn across my cheek like battle scars, my hair a knotted mess, and drool crusted[Read More…]
Serious reflections
The worst insult I ever received was at a parent-teacher conference. My third-grade teacher joked that I was “very serious” about school. I would have preferred it if she failed me. Taking something seriously was, to me, horrifying. It was an insurmountably embarrassing hallmark of someone uncool, someone self-important who[Read More…]
It’s time for the United States to finally get its 51st state
For many of my Canadian peers, the phrase “51st state” earns an eye-roll, no doubt in response to U.S. President Trump’s ceaseless political and economic antagonism. Yet, growing up in Washington, DC, “51st state” was a rallying cry, a call for the enfranchisement of the city’s over 700,000 residents who[Read More…]
The final edit
As you rifle through The Tribune’s final issue, I implore you to consider a heavy, urgent, and tender word: Responsibility. For the past academic year, student revolutionaries took on the responsibility to spearhead movements for Indigenous sovereignty and Palestinian liberation, fought against increasing conservatism and fascism across North America, and[Read More…]
