OPINIONS
What are you laughing at?
Be mindful about jokes made by comedians of colour
New Year’s Resolution: Don’t be fooled by Trudeau’s “real change” promise this year, too
I realize that there are a lot of good reasons to want to leave last year’s politics behind us. But, history will judge 2017 on how well we untangle the mess that we, willingly or not, got ourselves into this past year. So it’s important we revisit it. In ...
Did I make a major mistake?
Around this time three years ago, I was applying to universities across Ontario and Canada. My friends were almost always discussing their top three choices and which residence buildings they wanted to live in. Some students in my graduating class worried about their low grades and the possibility of ...
Abstinence-only sex education is harmful to students
I was on YouTube one Sunday evening when I came across a video on my recommended feed. It was titled “Sex Education: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).” As a huge fan of John Oliver’s program Last Week Tonight, I decided to give the video a watch. It provoked ...
The first step to fixing something is acknowledging it
Why I only spend time at Vic if I’m in a good mood Hi. It’s me, an average Vic student. I have a great group of friends, love my classes, and do most of my readings (sometimes). I don’t sleep during exam season, I procrastinate on papers, and I’m ...
What you should have known going into first year
Upon entering my first year at UofT, I believed in myself. You made it. A clean slate. An overwhelming yet endless amount of opportunities. The world is in the palm of your hands. Take what is yours, and enjoy the ride. I thought that I would accomplish many things, be ...
Marriage & Millenials: The reality of starting the rest of your life young
It started as an anomaly. Maybe Sarah, that girl you never spoke to in high school, is getting hitched next month in a lovely ceremony at Niagara-on-the-Lake that was probably paid for by her parents. You saw her engagement photos on Instagram, read her excited posts on Facebook, and talked about ...
Bras, insecurity, and overcoming
For the majority of my teen years, my worth and value relied heavily on the size of my breasts. Perhaps it was a result of the culture I was brought up in, where beauty was found in a woman’s cup size. Perhaps it was the criticism that I was forced to endure on a daily ...
O Canada: The time for timidity has passed
I first heard of the Leap Manifesto in an issue of Maclean’s titled, “How to Kill the NDP.” That was April 2016, almost a year after a coalition of environmental, Indigenous rights, labour, social justice, and other activist movements began discussion on what was too quickly becoming an object of ridicule for much of the mainstream media. The conference was ...
Why I’m learning to stop letting my grades determine my happiness
As I enter my second year, I’m learning to accept that it is impossible to be the best at everything, and that it’s completely unreasonable for me to put that expectation on myself. Sure, school is stressful and difficult, but it should also be exciting and rewarding.