I spent my last meal at McGill’s Bishop Mountain Dining Hall trying to rationalize going home to New York. With COVID-19 cases mounting, all of the jokes I had made about U.S. backwardness ceased to be funny. Instead, the America that I had tried to wish away became all too[Read More…]
Off the Board
Infected with hate
During the first week of March, I got into a taxi on my way to meet some friends in LaSalle and started to chat with the driver. I found out that he was originally from Iran, and I asked how bad the COVID-19 outbreak would be in Canada. He told[Read More…]
The glory of the classical music comments sections
Given that the entire world is currently socially distancing at home, many people have suddenly found themselves spending all of their time on the internet—so much so that YouTube has recently set the default streaming quality for all videos globally to standard definition to prevent its servers from being overwhelmed.[Read More…]
Identifying as an artist
While I served drinks for a show opening at my sister’s gallery, a guest asked me if I, too, was an artist, as my sister and her partner are. Caught off guard by this question, I was unsure how to respond—I have never thought of myself as an artist nor[Read More…]
The top of the photo chain
With my hands trembling and heart pounding, I locked eyes with a large, female raccoon. My hands clutched my camera as I slowly worked up the courage to snap a picture. I was too close; the raccoon hissed at the sound of the shutter, and I ran into my house[Read More…]
Learning to dim my brightness
Little dots flicker in and out of my sight. Pixels form a half moon of undulating zigzags in the corner of my vision. My fingers start to feel thick and tingly. A light throb begins in the right side of my forehead. My senses are heightened. I know this feeling[Read More…]
Reflecting on my “Mamma Mia” Years
I grew up hearing that university would be the best years of my life, where I would figure everything out. I would come out the other end with a better understanding of myself and the world, and after graduating, my friends and I would look back on these years fondly.[Read More…]
Modern stories, modern media
It is a cold and wintery night as my dad and I dart into Saint-Laurent’s Mainline Theatre. We trudge up the narrow steps and slide into the foyer, just in time for the show. That night’s act was organized by the Confabulations, a Montreal-based storytelling collective. I always look forward[Read More…]
Where Tim McGraw meets Fairuz
I’ll admit it: I like country music. Call me what you want, but Josh Turner’s “Would You Go With Me” and Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile” will always make me feel some type of way. Though a lot of the newer music can be painful to listen to,[Read More…]
Finding solitude in a digital world
I am astonishingly bad at being alone. I mean this in every possible interpretation of that phrase. I struggle at being comfortably single as opposed to being in committed relationships. I experience anxiety if I go a large portion of the day without talking to or interacting with someone else.[Read More…]
