Columns

Woman of Interest—Pema Chodron

The principles of Buddhist philosophy (The Core Beliefs in Buddhism) in practice are: The Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and The Five Precepts. Unsatisfactoriness and suffering exist and are universally experienced.  Desire and attachment are the causes of unsatisfactoriness and suffering. Pema Chodron is a divorced mother of two children who became a Buddhist nun, a pioneering accomplishment for a… Read more »

The Study Dude—Stop Procrastination

Do you need a push to study, to workout, to diet, or to win at work?  Then you need tips on how to stop procrastinating.  When I apply for jobs, employers ask how I manage time.  I don’t impress anyone when I say I color code tasks based on priority.  I need to instead reveal… Read more »

Course Exam—ENGL 353

ENGL 353 (Intermediate Composition) is a three-credit intermediate English course that takes a practical approach to the art of essay writing by having students apply the major principles of composition in five essay assignments.  Students learn these principles in the abstract by studying online handbooks on composition and, in practice, by studying samples of good… Read more »

Dear Barb—Ex parte

Dear Barb: I need some advice.  I met this girl in a bar and we had a wild night of sex.  Three months later she came to me and said she was pregnant.   At the time I had some concerns about whether the child was really mine, but she assured me it was.  We got… Read more »

Fly on the Wall—Entitlement Through the Ages

‘Entitlement: Old as the Hills’ etc Nobody wants to be called entitled, even if it’s true.  As university students we’re at risk of becoming branded with this pejorative term regardless of our age; protesting our innocence may seem of no avail.  After all, only an entitled person would complain that the label was unfair!  And… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—Musing of an Idiosyncratic Romantic

I think it’s fair to say I have few needs and simple tastes.  Just kidding.  In reality, my needs are embarrassingly abundant, and can be convoluted to the point of byzantine.  They’re also hard to tell apart from my “wants.” The way I see it, it’s a tough and shitty old world sometimes, and we… Read more »

The Fit Student—An End to Obesity

I had a morbidly obese friend.  I was obese at that time too.  Once, when we ate lunch together, I gasped when I saw him eat a whole muffin in one swallow.  I asked, “Don’t you worry about choking?”  We then bonded over tales about our uncontrollable weight. After that day, I didn’t see my… Read more »

In Conversation—with Mangeur de Rêves

Alex Cégé: voice, acoustic guitar Jici LG: electric guitar, voice, acoustic guitar JPhil Major: bass, voice, acoustic guitar Raphaël Liberge-Simard: percussion Florent Schmitt: electric piano Mangeur de Rêves (“Dream Eater”) is a Montreal-based folk-rock band that formed in 2016. The band has just released their debut album, Histoires a l’envers (backwards stories), a masterpiece of… Read more »