It has been my great pleasure to attend your campus at Glendon for the past five years. Having graduated from the University of Toronto almost 50 years ago, I am now a lifelong continuing student of the LLIR (Living and Learning in Retirement) program at the YorkU Glendon campus.

Between the years of 2017 and 2018, I lived on the third floor of Hilliard residence and was subject to the mandatory meal plan. Not only were the options limited, but healthy options were even harder to come by. I spent the next eight months eating the same things for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everyone on my floor shared the same complaints. People with dietary restrictions often found themselves aching in pain because of cross-contamination. Others had to resort to commuting to Keele campus to eat something a little more palatable.

The Explore program is an excellent way to improve one’s competence in French or English. Applicants who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents are eligible to receive a bursary to help cover most of their expenses. It is also possible to earn transferable credits in another province in this intensive five-week program. For two consecutive academic years (2017 and 2018), I would enrol in the FSL 1000 course at Glendon College and then withdraw after a few months.

The Toronto Public Library is facing backlash following their refusal to cancel an event featuring prominent trans-exclusionary radical feminist, Meghan Murphy. Mayor John Tory has publicly condemned TPL and they also face a pride ban. Many authors scheduled to speak at the library have also pulled out. 

Although it may seem silly, at times I find the process of ordering at a restaurant to be stressful. This isn’t so much because I’m worried about whether I’ll like the plate I order — It’s the fact that I find decision making in general to be daunting, and the fact that I have a list of foods I have to avoid due to minor allergies. Often, I end up ordering what I recognize, rather than being adventurous and trying something new. Recently I have been going to more restaurants that favour a shared-plate style of eating rather than individual entrees. I prefer this style of restaurant eating for multiple reasons; not just because I don’t have to choose a single plate.

In the diverse city of Toronto, art is now the most accessible it has ever been, due to the ongoing Biennial of Art. The Toronto Biennial of Art is a new free visual arts movement that started on Sept. 21 and continues on until Dec. 1. It aims to address pressing issues while bridging city communities through a series of events, exhibits, talks and performances. 

This piece is inspired by an article published in the last issue of Pro Tem entitled The Lie of Rape Culture. In all frankness, I do not know what it is exactly that I am responding to. Half-baked ideas relying on the Latin origins of words to support misaligned rhetoric are difficult to palate.

There’s a lot of talk going on at York about “toxic masculinity”. I would like to propose an alternative: masculinity is intoxicating. To arrive at a place where the masculine can make our legs tremble and our mouths drool, we must first take a look at the feminine.

CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses themes of sexual assault and sexual violence. Pro Tem has elected to publish the article below in the interest of representing the values of the free press and freedom of expression. We would like to remind our readers that the views expressed in contributor articles are not necessarily a reflection of our own values. If you or anyone you know is repressing thoughts of committing violent and sexual crimes, Good2Talk offers a 24/7 confidential crisis line at 1-866-925-5454 or you can call ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 any time.

Ma mère s'appelle Erica. Elle est chinoise. Elle parle le cantonais hakka, c'est sa langue maternelle. Elle est née dans les Nouveaux Territoires de Hong Kong. Elle a terminé ses études primaires et secondaires dans une école de langue cantonaise. À l'âge de 13 ans, elle a déménagé au Canada pour fréquenter une école d'anglais langue seconde à Toronto. Ici, elle a appris l'anglais, mais a continué à parler le cantonais hakka avec sa famille.

As with the deaths of so many significant people, I learned of Derek Walcott’s passing on a social media news feed. This time, it was Twitter. Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and Nobel laureate, died in March of 2017 in his home at the age of 87. 

Bonjour, je m'appelle Kia Skeete, maintenant je sais parler trois langues; le français, l'anglais et l'espagnol. Vous vous demandez probablement comment je suis arrivée ici? Pourquoi suis-je en FSL1200? Eh bien, j'ai une passion inexplicable pour les langues. Comment suis-je arrivée à avoir cette passion? Peut-être que je ne le saurai jamais. Avec deux parents anglophones et une soeur semi-intéressée, comment créer un enthousiasme linguistique?

Most people have heard the saying “Instagram vs. Reality” but many of us do not realize the extent of what it means. In the age of social media, many people try to present the world with an idealized version of themselves that can only be achieved online. In particular, famous people on the internet present their followers with seemingly perfect, yet incredibly filtered versions of their lives that steer the minds of the public very far from reality. With this, young people especially, are being sold an image they cannot afford to buy.

Exercise is seen as completely positive in modern society: it is encouraged by health professionals, promoted in our education systems, and has been popularized across social media. But is exercise really always healthy? My personal relationship with exercise has grown, deformed and reshaped, taking on a slew of different characterizations over my twenty years.

Author’s Note: This essay contains explicit references to substance abuse and depression.

I first tasted vodka when I was 16 years old. Specifically, I was at a bar and asked, “could I get something with cranberry in it?” to which the person behind the counter responded, “what with cranberry in it?” I stared in befuddlement. The issue of whether I would even be able to get served was of such prior importance that I had neglected to consider step two: choosing the alcohol.

It is like a drink of cold water for your heart

It drowns you all at once

But when you come up for air all you see are stars

Stars that you cannot reach no matter how hard you try

And then there’s the bubble

It wraps around your mouth like a fish bowl

It sucks the air out of you

A dead man walks among us

Through the shadows of our youth

A dead man walks upon us

Through the shadows of the gloom

He neither stands nor sits

As he makes his daily rounds

And persists until

Someone at last falls down

How naive of us to think

That we can find relaxation through repeated action.

That a scheduled life is the epitome of comfort.

Whoever spoke those words has never felt

The claustrophobic paranoia of being trapped.

The soul-crushing sensation of doing the same,

Where tomorrow is just a repeat of today.