EDITORIAL
Past, present, future
On February 29, 1956, the masthead of The Strand outlined their intent for the coming academic year as follows: “First of all, The Strand is written for the Vic student. It is the wish of myself and the staff to make this paper as interesting as possible. Our aim is ...
Finding comfort in discomfort
In the coming-of-age stories we read in high school, university was presented as a place in which we would finally be comfortable with ourselves. Suddenly, when thrown into a much larger group of peers, you would somehow find groups of people more like yourself. For many, this is not the ...
We’re taking our time
Reflections on rest
Looking back, moving forward
If you’re reading The Strand for the first time, we’d like to welcome you to our community, and we hope that you’ll have an amazing start to your time at UofT. To our returning readers, thank you for returning, and welcome back to school. It’s impossible to look forward to ...
Black Lives Matter
It should not take Black death to acknowledge Black life. Black Lives Matter is not a new movement: its official formation was pioneered by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in 2013 after the police-shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The global resurgence of the movement in the past week ...
Stories about change and action
It feels like everything in the news is making me upset these days. From COVID-19 to the violence that the Wet’suwet’en land protectors have experienced to the Democratic primaries in the States, trying to stay informed has been incredibly stressful. It’s easy to fall into a rabbit hole of bad ...
I love you, most ardently
The first time I said “I love you” to my current boyfriend was over Facebook messenger. It was the summer of 2017. We had been dating for about three months at that point. The details of that night, once so important and precious to me, are now secondary to this ...
The task of mental health
On January 15, 2020, the Final Report of the Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health was released on the Provost’s website, along with a response from the administration, announcing its agreement to comply to all recommendations mentioned in the report. I learned of this report just like ...
New year, same me
The Strand’s staff on New Year’s resolutions and personal growth Recently, I’ve picked up journaling as a way to sort through my thoughts, process my experiences and feelings, and vent without forcing my friends to do emotional labour for me. Honestly, I’m bad at it. I forget for weeks on end, only picking up ...
On the post-Reading Week, pre-finals time warp
It’s finals season. UofT needs to examine mental health infrastructure, now more than ever