From the category archives:

TRENDS

A Day in the Life

Blue Met, Walrus, Infinithéâtre, Anarchism: making sense is overrated

by Marianne Ackerman
28.04.2013

Artistic genres may soon be a thing of the past, so quickly are the walls crumbling. Fusion, connection, hybridity are the order of the day. So it is with one’s own cultural programme. Hence I’ve elected to report one day’s events as a personal journal: Saturday, April 28, 2013. Yesterday once more.

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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Civilized Servant

Fighting the good fight over a cup of coffee

by Zeshaun Saleem
27.04.2013

Forest Gump’s legendary “life is like a box of chocolates” maxim can be applied to random meetings at cafés. You never never know what you’re gonna get. Paul Richard, for example. First impressions lie as he is not your typical wealthy and wise elderly man. His wealth isn’t from his scarce savings account, nor is his wisdom from the seven decades that he’s been around. But an impromptu chitchat at his frequented Second Cup café at du Parc and Milton reveals a particular earnestness underneath his jovial cover. “I like my coffee strong,” he says, sipping it black .

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POLITICS

How Many Muslims?

Start counting.... and don't stop

by Eman El Husseini
22.04.2013

No matter what religious affiliation you are, everyone knows Muslims do it the worst. Why is that? It’s math – we invented it. We’re a billion. I love being Muslim for so many reasons. I’m so proud on so many levels. But my favourite? We tan so well. What works against us at the airport is a blessing in the sun.

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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Montreal’s Godfather

Who says Montreal's not an international city?

by Zeshaun Saleem
15.04.2013

In a recent court testimony by a former Quebec construction entrepreneur, it was revealed that the Rizzuto clan enforced a bidding scheme that inflated prices of all construction contracts and, in turn, ensured that they received 2.5% of every civic construction contract in Montreal and Laval.

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POLITICS

Oh Syria My Syria

Interview with Montreal-based Syrian activist Afra Jalabi

by Zeshaun Saleem
05.04.2013

“I wish to enter paradise only once,” said the 7th century prophet Muhammad upon gazing at the Damascus mountainside. According to legend, he refused to step foot in the ancient city as it might undermine his one chance to enter heaven. At the crossroads of the Orient and Occident, Asia and Africa, Syria is home to some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

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TRENDS

I Don’t Just Like Loi 101, J’adore It!

Bonjour Hi! Not everyone has their petit culottes in a knot about language

by Eman El Husseini
30.03.2013

When my family and I immigrated to Quebec, my siblings and I were forced into French school and boy am I grateful. Without it, I wouldn’t be fluent in three languages (although with an accent making me sound foreign to all three). As a working comic, I travel often to the US and the Middle East. Because of Loi 101, people I meet are totally impressed with mon français. They assume I have some sort of high society education. They obviously a) have never heard the Quebecois accent, and b) don’t know I’m a college dropout – and to be honest I’m in no hurry to tell them.

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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Organic Cartography

Mapping the Mosaic in Montreal's anglophone communities

by Peter Mathewson
21.03.2013

Have you ever wanted to learn more about your neighbourhood, to share in the collective history and uncover the secrets that give the place you live character? If so, the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) has been working on something that is going to rock your socks. Just launched, Mapping the Mosaic is an online map through which QAHN is hoping Montrealers will share the stories that make this diverse city the dynamic place it is.

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DVD

Upward Dog

Montreal yoga studio launches DVD series

by Mélanie Grondin
13.03.2013

In 2010, Yasmin Fudakowska-Gow, Montreal yoga teacher and Ayurvedic practitioner, felt that she needed to go on a spiritual pilgrimage, but a trip to India — what most of her peers were doing — was out of the question.

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FASHION

Fashion Forward

Recap of the Montreal Fashion Week, 24th edition

by Oksana Cueva
08.03.2013

Although winter still reigns supreme, flip-flops and bikinis are coyly peeking through the shop fronts of local boutiques. Around the world, fashion marathons continue with freshly finished shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Closer to home, the 24th edition of the Montreal’s semi-annual major fashionistas-go-to event, Montréal Fashion Week, kicked-off strongly on February [...]

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POLITICS

One Billion Rising

Instead of a box of chocolates this Valentine's, how about a revolution for your lady love?

by Brenda Keesal
11.02.2013

There is a trauma that stabs my gut every time I wake up to hear the news of another inconceivable crime against women. The voices of my sisters, dead or alive, rise in my throat in a chorus of suffering, fear and rage. Mothers, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, wives. One in three women will be beaten or [...]

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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Artist Next Door

Patsy Van Roost invites you to be a Valentine

by Leila Marshy
06.02.2013

The postman might not always ring twice, but if you’re lucky she’ll pick your door and knock nicely. A few things have to be just right though. You have to live in a particular Montreal village and your factrice has to be Patsy Van Roost, probably the most inventive, determined and whimsical letter carrier you’ll ever meet.

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SPORT

Montreal’s Fight Club

Tristar Gym and Georges St Pierre are the ultimate

by Zeshaun Saleem
05.02.2013

“How much can you know about yourself, you’ve never been in a fight?” asks Fight Club’s Tyler Durden, viewed by many as a celebration of corrupted masculinity. For others who see a loss of a masculine identity in today’s postmodern consumer society, there’s something deeper, all-inclusive, whole – an awakening from the despotic machinery that had controlled its members lives.

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BOOKS

A Will Too Mean to be “Shakespeare”?

Shakespeare's will puts his authorship into question

by Lamberto Tassinari
18.01.2013

The great majority of Shakespeare’s readers have never read his will, a document easily found on the internet but regularly omitted in the editions of Shakespeare’s work and seldom found in the ever growing number of the Bard’s biographies. Why? Because it is an embarrassing, dissonant document within the Shakespeariana.

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TRAVEL

Old Ideas, New Delhi

11 countries, 11 cities, one long train ride: India

by Sujata Dey
10.01.2013

So my cellphone claims that I was actually in Pakistan. Let me explain: I bought a French SIM card in order to have a cheaper European number throughout my trip. But every time I cross a border, the cellphone knows and sends me a text with new pricing for calls, area codes and dialing instructions for each country. As I was flying over Iran and Pakistan, it suddenly texted a “welcome to Pakistan” message. This is not going to help my security file.

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POLITICS

All Hail the Chief

Visiting Chief Theresa Spence on day 26 of her hunger strike, Ottawa

by Leila Marshy
07.01.2013

The first thing you notice when you head down to Victoria Island from the bridge linking Ottawa and the Gatineau is the frontier-style village and a large sign that promises “Aboriginal Experiences.” Surely somebody is being ironic.

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