From our education system to our literary community, why is CanLit so white? Nashwa Khan challenges the default narrative JUNOT DÍAZ UNLEASHED A BOMBSHELL on the writing world when he published his essay “MFA vs. PoC” in the New Yorker last spring. The Dominican American author is a creative writing professor, a fiction editor for […] More »

While most horror movies have problematic elements, the ones below are the worst. Unlike others, there’s simply no merit in them to overpower the awful parts of the film. 1. Hostel (2005): The Hostel franchise is problematic for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it’s part of the torture porn or “gorno” subgenre and […] More »

In late September, the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus, hosted a one-day event called “Uncaring Canada?” Its purpose, as the name suggests, was to examine Canada’s foreign policy, and how perceptions of Canada as a caring, compassionate, and peace-loving nation are, in many ways, wrong—especially as Canada arguably shifts to militarization and neoliberalism. With […] More »

Horror is an endlessly fascinating genre. The idea alone is weirdly sadomasochistic—it’s a genre that profits off watching fictional characters get scared, attacked, murdered, while simultaneously scaring the viewers themselves. But taken at a deeper level, horror explores the disturbing side of human nature, our own twisted, often unspeakable, fantasies coming to life on the […] More »

This past Saturday, an important clip was made public on TMZ. The audio captured Los Angeles Clipper’s owner Donald Sterling telling his sweetheart, V. Stiviano, that he does not want her “broadcasting” her associations with minorities, specifically black people. For context, Stiviano is of black and Mexican decent.  I’ll let that fester. Sterling’s reaction was […] More »

On November 16 the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (Social, Humanitarian & Cultural) debated a resolution demanding an end to summary and arbitrary executions. Included in the text was a non-exhaustive list that highlighted many of the groups that are currently subject to inordinate levels of state persecution: ethnic groups, linguistic minorities, street […] More »

1. Mental health, depression, and suicide are rampant We all know that prisons are too often warehouses for those amongst us suffering addictions or mental health problems. The actual numbers, however, are harrowing.  In federal penitentiaries 11% of prisoners have some sort of mental health diagnosis and 21.3% take prescription anti-psychotics on admission.  Almost 15% […] More »

Watch out! The terrorists are coming! They’re human smugglers too, all of them. They’re smuggling themselves. And there are many more boats on the horizon, watching and waiting to take advantage of our natural generosity. Xenophobic? Not us. We value immigration. In fact, there are thousands of good immigrants out there waiting patiently to get […] More »

You may have already heard something of Pride Toronto’s new sign-vetting policy,  its banning of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) from the parade, and its outlawing of the term “Israeli apartheid” from all Pride-related events.  Or about how, after weeks of public outrage, including the humiliation of having several Pride honourees return their awards, Pride […] More »

Quebec is going ahead with its ludicrous ban on religious head-coverings like the niqab and the burka on provincial government property. It’s an astonishing piece of legislation that manages the improbable feat of being baselessly arbitrary and obviously xenophobic. The whole law is crafted to be targeted at a single identifiable—and extremely tiny—minority, but Premier […] More »

The madness of March is upon us. And in the sporting world that means all college basketball, all the time. The Final Four tournament opened last week, where 64 teams (well, technically, 65—there’s a one-game playoff between the two worst sides to enter the actual tourney) do battle in one of the most exciting two-plus […] More »