And a lack of motivation to pursue any of them
As we sat down to write this editorial, we were at a loss. There’s been a lot of buzz around campus with in-person classes commencing, clubs to join, events to attend, new people to meet, and friends to make. But one thing has been seriously lacking (at least for us): the motivation to engage in any of those ooportunities.
Want to grab a lavender London fog from Caffiends after class? Too far from Northrop Frye Hall. What if we studied together at E.J. Pratt? Would rather be in bed binging TIFF* movie trailers. Can we meet up at Robarts? The whole peacock-turkey dilemma is too much for my brain to wrap around right now. Seriously, it’s like all we can do is wake up, put on our Strand sweaters, fill our Old Vic tote bags with overpriced textbooks and three-day-old granola bars that we are convinced we will eat today, and that’s about it.
The two of us started UofT in the middle of the pandemic, and where we could go, what we could do, and who we could meet was limited to our dorms, homes, and the cashier at the grocery store. But now, as UofT is just a few weeks into the largest return to campus ever, we’re feeling a little overwhelmed here at The Strand, and it’s okay if you are too.
This issue is all about Excess. We’re talking all things maximalism, extravagance, (false) opulence, capitalism, and more. We wanted to go big! To go bold! In the face of feeling small in such a big pond, it surely doesn’t help that every time we go online, we’re bombarded with an excess of content about other people’s lives, how great they are, and how much fun they’re having. Seeing all that, it’s hard to find the motivation to go out and figure out where and who we want to be this year.
So, our advice to you is to take it one step at a time. Although we would love for you to be holed up in a room full of Strand content to immerse yourself in 24/7, we encourage you to take the leap outside of your Strand addiction and explore what this campus and this city have to offer.
To get you thinking more broadly, we curated this issue for you with a healthy (but not overwhelming) selection of topics to read from. In Science, Victoria Allder talks about how safety measures can sometimes result in dangerous behaviors. In Opinions, Adriana Goraieb offers a strong perspective about our excessive social media consumption. The hot News in this issue is Jevan Konyar’s report on how a quarter of work-study positions go unfilled. And, as always, you can find The Strand’s TIFF review in Arts and Culture.
We hope this excess of content doesn’t leave you feeling excess-tential, but if it does, keep a curious eye out for our next issue. ;)
*TIFF: Toronto International Film Festival
