As a St. George student, just exploring downtown Toronto is a grand task that has taken me 4 years of my undergraduate degree. That’s why the fact that the University of Toronto is made up for two more beautiful and…
candles at the Toronto vigil for Orlando victims
June is Pride Month and regardless of how each one of us identify, it is a month that we all should be proud of. A month where we can rally together and celebrate diversity, equality, inclusivity, and freedom from discrimination. This year is an especially important one. Just a week ago, the LGBTQ+ community was shaken to the core due to a mass shooting in Orlando at Pulse Night Club, which claimed the lives of 49 people and left 53 others injured. The scale of this hate crime is the largest of its kind and one that has sent ripples across the world and throughout the LGBTQ+ community. In response to such a tragedy, LGBTQ+ communities in solidarity have stood defiantly, reclaiming the original intent of Pride Month: to fearlessly push back against violent discrimination by loudly celebrating diversity and being more visible, because everyone has the right to love and be loved without being afraid.
Summer is fun; the sun is shining, birds are singing and people on bicycles are ruling the streets in all of their shiny-helmeted glory. I remember looking at the bicyclists of Toronto with envy, noting the wind in their hair, the flushness of their face and their wonderfully sculpted legs. Every time a car-driver cut off a bicyclist in front of me, I would scoff and shrug my shoulders, giving the bicyclist an understanding shake of the head in solidarity (as if I knew all the struggles).
I adored them and I wanted to be them!
Unfortunately, as you all well understand the struggle of being a broke student, I never ended up saving enough money to actually buy a bike. It just never happened. My dream of being one of the cool biker kids never came true.
Until recently. ENTER BIKECHAIN.
Hi all!
Sometimes, it can feel as if being a student is a barrier to living a healthy lifestyle. It's easy to get caught up in a mindset that eating instant ramen daily, experiencing irregular sleep patterns, and becoming caffeine-dependent are inevitable consequences of being a proper university student (sometimes I think these things myself). But, really, with all the resources we have at the St. George campus to better our health, is it possible that this mentality is simply an illusion? I have a sneaking suspicion that the student gig does not necessarily need to include attending random clubs’ AGMs for the free pizza.
In preparation for this week’s Design For Change conference, I decided to brainstorm a list of ways that UofT is a Healthy Campus in line with some of the themes of the roundtable discussions at the event. On Thursday, student and staff will get together at Hart House to discuss designing a shared vision for a healthier University at the first annual Design for Change conference, and we (students) are all invited! That sounds pretty super to me.
Last week I wrote about some personal strides I’ve been hoping to make academically. Another thing I want to do this semester, though, is to become more involved in the U of T community. Seeing as how it is still #TryItUofT month, I thought now would be a perfect time to change things up.
My Neighbour Totoro. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Char siu bao. Maple syrup pancakes.
Red pockets. Christmas trees.
As a child, I never questioned why my life was a mix of Canadian and Chinese culture. It had always seemed natural to participate in each culture’s respective traditions and indulge in its entertainment and food. I didn’t realize that this was partially due to the fact that I was a diasporic Asian.
Any self-proclaimed Totoro enthusiasts here? (Hand shoots up.)
Step aside, Ms. Trelawney. Disney is the new fortune teller of the future. Didn’t they create “It’s a Small World,” the infamous ride where dolls sing about how small the world is, years ago? Their prediction came true. Now I can talk to all my friends—from someone living a couple of doors down from me to someone in the Philippines—with the power of one device: my phone. However, with every blessing comes a curse, and I didn’t realize the curse of constantly using social media as a means to talk to people until I decided to try out the #unplugUofT trend—where students try to ‘unplug’ from their devices and social media accounts for a little while—and met up with some friends not through a social media platform, for once.
Where did I go? Well, I’m sure some of you know by now I have an intense obsession with tea. So of course I asked one of my friends to go to the Tea Social with me—a weekly event hosted at Hart House’s Reading Room every Tuesday.
As promised by the title, there was glorious tea. Two big teapots filled with black tea, plus some granola bars set up on a side table.
Tea - the ultimate form of temptation.
Brushes fly across the canvas, water spills, paint splatters. There's one more minute left in this round of the art battle, and each artist is trying their hardest to win.
I had the pleasure to attend an Art Battle organized by the VUSAQ equity commission this week. The battle supported Sprott House, Toronto's first transitional home for homeless LGBTQ2SA+ youth. Between the great art, awesome music, and super cool people, it was truly one of the best events I've been to this year.
This past month has undoubtedly been one of the more strenuous months of my life thus far, and that probably goes for a lot of my fellow freshmen. Midterms hit me hard and have left me feeling absolutely exhausted. Even though mental wellness month just ended, I still think it's important to make sure sure that I head into the second half of this fall semester with a healthy mindset.
Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow (follow, follow?) the yellow brick road, the munchkins of Oz sing. For Dorothy, the yellow brick road is the path she needs to take to get to her destination—the Emerald City. Without the road, her journey would have been a bit more difficult.
Imagine my disappointment when this yellow road didn’t lead to an emerald city, just a clearing filled with . . . dirt.
