“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
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America’s Most-Trusted Comedian
Last week, New York Magazine put Jon Stewart’s cherubic face on its cover, accompanied by a bold headline: “The Jon Stewart Decade.”
In the article, Chris Smith outlined a fairly familiar argument: that Jon Stewart is our generation’s Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America at a time when the issues facing the country seem tailor-made for mockery.
McGill once too many
I despise the “McGill Once, McGill Twice” cheer. The words are as follows:
McGill once, McGill twice, holy fucking Jesus Christ. Wham, bam, God damn, son of a bitch, shit! Three cheers for McGill: Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Three cheers for fucking: McGill! McGill! McGill!
Hiring tenure-track professors the way to go
The Tribune commends McGill’s commitment to increasing its number of tenure-track staff as part of its academic renewal program. It is a welcome shift from a North American trend of reducing tenure-track professors in favour of course lecturers hired on short-term contracts. Confusion in the campus press, stemming in part from the ambiguous and non-committal language of the McGill budget, had led many to believe that McGill was also reducing its tenure-track hires for the foreseeable future. However, so far as we can tell from the budget, and through clarification by campus administrators, this is not the case.
The Extremism Cycle
On his blog for the New Republic, the neo-liberal magazine he owns and edits, Marty Peretz recently wrote of American Muslims: “I wonder whether I need honour these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.” This shocking and seemingly racist line, which he later apologized for, is an example of how the always-difficult debate on the role of Islam in American culture has recently become even more difficult, and more uncomfortable.
Hurley – Weezer
Not content with the status quo of band photos and random artsy shots as album art, Weezer took a new route with their newly released album, Hurley (an ode to television’s Hugo “Hurley” Reyes, Lost’s resident “dude”).
Business Casual – Chromeo
Chromeo’s third album delivers the same blend of 80s synth-pop as previous efforts, replete with catchy hooks, tasty guitar riffs, and smoothly polished production. There’s nothing new about what P-Thugg and Dave 1 are doing, but there’s no denying that they are damn good at it.
Scrap the Quebec Tuition Model
Unlike some students at McGill, I have been largely satisfied with Heather Munroe-Blum as our Principal. Her administration has brought common sense and innovation to a university defined by bureaucracy and hierarchy. The recent creation of the Service Point, for example, is a welcome change.
Business Casual – Chromeo
Chromeo’s third album delivers the same blend of 80s synth-pop as previous efforts, replete with catchy hooks, tasty guitar riffs, and smoothly polished production. There’s nothing new about what P-Thugg and Dave 1 are doing, but there’s no denying that they are damn good at it.
Passion, Pain, & Pleasure – Trey Songz
Trey Songz continues his steady rise to the top of the R&B charts with Passion, Pain, & Pleasure, his fourth album in five years. R&B and hip-hop may be almost one and the same these days, but with only two songs featuring shared vocal time, Trey pulls his own weight from start to finish.