“What’s your background?” As a biracial person, I hear this question at least once a month, or several times a day if I am new to the community.
Off the Board
Off the board: The false promise of data journalism
Journalism, at its heart, is about telling a story. Over the years, journalists have developed different tools to tell these stories.
Off the board: Changing the conversation on athletic hazing
Recent events surrounding the McGill Redmen football team have prompted a renewed conversation about the values, rules, and processes that govern athletics at this school.
Off the board: Good night, sweet Tim: a eulogy for our fallen basement brother
It is with heavy hearts and much lighter wallets that we are gathered here today to mourn a truly saddening loss.
To talk about race, one must listen
Recently I happened to find myself in conversation with a friend over the then-white-hot situation in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, where the killing of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown at the hands of local police erupted—thanks to a perfect storm of factors—to become an international flashpoint.
Such doge, much wow
I’ll admit it, I underestimated the Internet meme. Like most young adults of my generation, I’ve spent hours upon hours cheerfully observing the various online phenomena du jour. From Lolcats to the Harlem Shake and everything in between, I’ve watched meme culture—enabled by the rapid technological advancements of the last[Read More…]
Our fragmented campus
A term we often hear from time to time—sometimes in the pages of this newspaper—is the idea of the “McGill Community.” While this works best as a tidy phrase to lump together disparate stakeholders—students, faculty, employees, the administration, and alumni—in most instances, there is no such “McGill community,” so much[Read More…]
On tomatoes
The players are far from unknown. There’s the tomato: a round, plump fruit, often confused for a vegetable (although definitely a vegetable for taxation purposes, according to a 19th century U.S. Supreme Court ruling). Then there’s McGill University: a Canadian research institution with global renown and an annual late-August set of welcome exercises for new students.
Brendan bids goodbye
When I sat down to write my final column for the McGill Tribune, I didn’t really know the best way to wrap up my time here. I could review criticisms of my work or what I have learned. But neither of these options seemed to be the best way to[Read More…]
Health care gets personal
Most Canadians perceive general flaws in the country’s health care system, but report positive individual experiences. Until recently, I counted myself among those who held this idea: I knew there were gaps in the system, but had always received excellent care. I strongly believed that despite these gaps, Canada’s public[Read More…]
