Category: Features

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you do, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She had a rough childhood as she lived in a segregated town where racism was omnipresent. Moreover, Angelou was the victim of sexual abuse, which led her to not speak for five years. Her childhood lacked the stability and safety that she desperately needed. However, this did not stop her from achieving great things in her…

2021 has been called by some “the year of sea shanties”. Somehow, during our pandemic isolation, shanties became a popular trend on Tik Tok, bringing back old stories of pirates, travellers, and the open sea. While sailor songs are at least as old as the 14th century, sea shanties as we know them did not originate on ships; they draw their roots from African American and Caribbean work songs. These were sung when boat-rowing, working on plantations or unloading docks. These songs often followed a call-and-answer format, with one person…

Montreal is filled with spectacular shows and festive events during the holidays. There are several events and sceneries for you to enjoy throughout the holidays in Montreal.  Jardins d’Hiver The Quartier des Spectacles Jardins d’Hiver has returned to Montreal, which you can visit any day during this month. It will be open from 11 am to 8 pm. It is free to visit. Not only has a giant Christmas tree all lit up, but Jardins d’Hiver sells local products such as maple syrup, toys, Christmas decor, clothes, food and drinks. …

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking across Jake’s and it was then I came across the nursing department hosting their November Wellness Challenge and their pop-in clinic.  We heard all those thanks from our communities to all the healthcare professionals who have been battling in our hospitals against COVID-19. Those words are becoming music to my ears until I’ve met the nursing students at Vanier. When these students took my blood pressure and calculated my BMI, I learned that many of them went out to help the healthcare…

Between the joy of receiving candy to the fear of scary teenagers roaming the streets, Halloween combines many traditions, ideas, and feelings. It may be hard to believe that Halloween is a Christian holiday despite the zombies, witches, demons, and inevitable Squid Game costumes. And yet! Halloween stems from religious beliefs, as it was called All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints Day Eve, an expression coined by the Church. However, it would be unfair to give them full credit for the holiday: similarly to a favourite of the season, Halloween…

Climate change has become a pressing issue of the 21st century regarding the survival of humanity. For some voters, it will determine which party they’ll be voting for in the upcoming federal election. Here is each party’s plan of action concerning climate change to guide you during this election.  The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, has many objectives to fight climate change. Mr. Trudeau plans on keeping his ongoing carbon tax. This carbon tax is a form of carbon pricing which involves a minimum cost added to any fossil…

May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day, a day that celebrates information as a public good. It is a day reserved to reminding oppressive governments all around the world to respect the freedom of press granted to us by the universal declaration of human rights. It is a day to recognize the brave journalists that risk everything in the name of truth.  The World Press Freedom Index is a Reporters without Borders initiative. In 2021, Canada was ranked 14th out of 180 countries. Our freedom of press is guaranteed by…

How do we define patriotism? According to Oxford Languages, it’s: “devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country.” Who is representative of the country? A government or its citizens? Is a patriot a civilian that conspires against his fellow citizens, spies on them to benefit their government, or one that is ready to put their lives on the line to protect them? All around the world, investigative journalists have endangered themselves in order to deliver the truth to the rest of us, only to be called traitors, shunned and exiled…

The mainstream conception of western cultural significance is often shaped by the number of customs and beliefs that we inherited from the Greeks, as well as the Romans.    We have been taught about a world where Roman Christianity and Greek Philosophy constructed the basis of our current society. However, this way of looking at what shapes our traditions, our folklore, and our general perception of ourselves as a culture has made us unaware of the idea that “western culture” has been shaped by many other traditions; these were either…

With the freezing temperatures and shorter days, radio stations have begun to play holiday music to put us all in the mood for a nice winter break. When one plays close attention to some of the older songs, one may be shocked to hear the word “gay” being used, though not in the way we are typically used to. This may lead some to wonder: how did the definition of word change so abruptly or what are the consequences of this change? Well, look no further as this raging queer…