In the first episode of McGill Explained, Multimedia Editor Alex Hinton dives into the reasons that cause people to make such large donations to universities, and highlights some of the stories behind the names of McGill buildings that have become part of everyday vocabulary.
Author: Alex Hinton
Super Marché Brito, the last dep on earth
In the summer before my third year of university, the nearest dépanneur to my apartment was Super Marché Brito. One summer’s day, my roommates and I approached the owner, Tim Maherpour, asking him if he was going to be open on Canada Day (in case we needed to get more[Read More…]
Detecting tiny cracks can reveal the potential of new technologies
The properties of materials, from the plastic in water bottles to the metal beams of skyscrapers, are determined by their microscopic structure. However, most substances are not perfectly uniform and rather contain a significant number of minuscule defects. These imperfections play a large role in determining the physical properties of[Read More…]
RSEQ cancels fall seasons, athletes and staff wait await news on winter sports
On Sept. 14. the RSEQ announced the cancellation of all university sports in Quebec, adding to the June 8 U SPORTS announcement of the cancellation of all national championships in the Fall 2020 season. No RSEQ-sanctioned competitions will take place until at least Dec. 31. The league was originally scheduled[Read More…]
Zoom University threatens to leave students behind
During the last two weeks, students were welcomed back to a McGill that no one had ever seen before. Across time zones throughout Canada and around the world, frantic searching for class locations was replaced with anxious scrambling for Zoom links as students and academic staff struggled to adapt to[Read More…]
Quebec’s businesses and linguistic minorities need protection during COVID-19
Since gaining a majority government in the 2018 election, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) has advanced a nationalistic agenda for the province, with one of their principal initiatives being the reinforcement of the primacy of the French language. Most recently, a report found that 40 per cent of Quebec businesses[Read More…]
The McGill Scientific Writing Initiative introduces students to science writing
There exists a common stereotype that people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) departments do not like to write. Even though students in STEM fields conduct groundbreaking research, many have no idea how to present their findings in a clear and concise manner, let alone an interesting one. The[Read More…]
MMFA’s post-impressionist exhibit leaves mixed impressions
From July 4 to Nov. 15, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is showcasing—in person—its most extensive exhibit on the post-impressionists yet, Paris in the Days of Post-Impressionism: Signac and the Indépendants. The exhibit boasts an impressive, sweeping collection of over 500 works from France’s leading post-impressionists, spanning Paris’[Read More…]
BIPOC voices will no longer be silenced
On Aug. 29, protestors toppled a statue of John A. Macdonald in Montreal. Besides serving as Canada’s first prime minister, Macdonald is infamously known as the creator of the residential school system and as someone who starved Indigenous groups to forcibly relocate them. Macdonald’s treatment of Indigenous Peoples was reconsitiuted[Read More…]
The Royalmount Drive-In offers a nostalgic escape during uncertain times
It’s a familiar scene in popular culture: Groups of teenagers and families packed in their cars, radio dials tuned to FM signals, billowing cigarette smoke forming clouds in the projector light. Such was the magic of the drive-in cinema, with its eclectic blend of innocence and rebellion, sociability and privacy.[Read More…]
