Tales from times gone by
Posted on Friday, December 9, 2011 at 12:03 pmMuch of this issue concerns itself with history and that’s no accident. As I strolled along Peel Street on my way to work this morning, I walked past several street lamp banners, heralding the University’s 190th anniversary (the banners were designed, coincidentally, by the same talented fellow who helps put together this magazine— Steven McClenaghan). [...]
Drawing comfort from art
Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 4:57 pmWhen I began my undergraduate studies at McGill in the mid-eighties, I wasn’t terribly confident about my ability to fit in. My parents hadn’t gone to university, nor had my grandparents. In my extended family, I knew of only a single cousin who had made the leap before me.
Saluting some colourful characters
Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 at 10:56 amI never did outgrow comic books—as anyone who has glimpsed the collectibles in my office knows full well (they’re not dolls, they’re action figures). I know I’m not the only one, either. Some of the most influential writers, filmmakers and TV producers around, people like The Fortress of Solitude author Jonathan Lethem, Buffy The Vampire [...]
A witness to history
Posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 10:22 amIn an era of around-the-clock news stations that often seem more inspired by the likes of Cops and Entertainment Tonight than by Edward R. Murrow, it’s easy to become jaded about what constitutes newsworthiness these days. Supermarket magazines have been dishing on Angelina, Brad and Jen for four years now. Is there really anything left [...]
Of pucks and politics
Posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 12:43 pmIt is the most iconic sports trophy in all of North America. It’s a prize that boys skating on neighbourhood rinks across Canada daydream about with starry-eyed wonder. It’s an award that can make even the most battle-hardened hockey veteran choke up once he has earned the right to hoist it above his head. It [...]
In Praise of Inventiveness
Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 1:13 pmAll right, bring it on. Call me a nincompoop. Tell me where we went wrong and what we left out.I can take it. In fact, I’d appreciate the input. In this issue, we shine a spotlight on 40 of the history-making inventions, discoveries and innovations that have been produced by McGill professors, students and graduates [...]
The Problem with Magic
Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 at 11:01 amAbout seven years ago, when I was working in McGill’s media relations office, Bernard Shapiro, McGill’s principal at the time, dropped by for an informal “state of the University” chat with the communications officers. McGill had recently embarked on an ambitious and unprecedented hiring exercise. The plan was to hire 1,000 new professors over a [...]
Making peace with flux
Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 1:18 pmBack in 1927, Harry Crane Perrin, McGill’s first dean of music, promised a crowd of new graduates that his faculty would never stoop to teaching jazz, a musical genre he derided for its “deleterious effect on public taste.”Guess which university currently operates one of the best-regarded jazz programs in North America? Sorry, Harry. Convocation addresses [...]
Editor’s Notebook
Posted on Friday, February 2, 2007 at 11:37 amWhen 35-year-old John William Dawson was named Principal of McGill in 1855, the position was no plum. The institution was in financial trouble and the campus was a shambles. The unfenced grounds were grazed by local farmers’ cattle, and the college’s only two buildings, the Arts Building and the East Wing (so-called, although it was [...]
The Festive Season
Posted on Monday, August 7, 2006 at 11:05 amThe arrival of warm weather sees Montreal move into full-on festival mode. Hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists take to the streets in celebration of everything from beer brewing to fireworks, gardening, Formula One, chamber music, comedy, fashion, aboriginal culture and, of course, jazz. Montreal’s 11-day Festival International de Jazz , which just wrapped [...]
