Opinion
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Find Your Community: East End Arts
I grew up in India where playing an active role in your community was extremely important. The neighbours knew each other and celebrated festivals together. Whenever my mother ran out of an important ingredient while cooking, she would give me the sacred responsibility of asking my neighbour to lend us some. For me, community was something you could rely on. After moving to Toronto for further education in 2021, I experienced a serious culture shock. For the first time, I was without a community. I felt as if my own skin was missing from my body and the task of building a community from scratch seemed vital. I attended different…
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The Internet Ruined My Love Life
Nothing haunts me more than the idea of online dating. Aside from the fact that dating apps are anything but romantic, internet dating is just a nightmare for someone like me. I am a bibliophile and a romantic who completely loathes the idea of meeting my future husband online because—among other, very valid, reasons—it completely derails the fantasy I have meticulously created for my love life in my head. Despite my pathetic and misguided assumptions that people will eventually revert to dating without apps and websites, I’m afraid I must admit that internet dating is not going anywhere. This leaves me at an impasse, wondering where I can go from…
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What is Paint Nite?
“Locally hosted,” “one of a kind experiences,” “something to shout about,” these are just some of the buzzwords used on the Paint Nite website to describe their events. But what is exactly is Paint Nite? Paint Nite (recently rebranded as YayMaker) is an event company that hosts creative events like paint nights, candle-making and plant-design classes, held in local bars and restaurants, and run by “creative hosts” who walk you through how to complete a given work or craft. Events range from around $40-$55 per person and last approximately two hours. The experience is supposed to provide a fun night out, drinking and eating with friends, while also doing something…
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Are celebrity relationships learning experiences for the rest of us?
Celebrity gossip is always something to learn from. Whether it be Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky emerging with their new fitness app, Centr, or the dynamic duo, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith celebrating over 21 years of marriage and success, there are always couples in the public eye that we can learn from. Many of these iconic partners reap the rewards of their hard work to become inspirations and role models for us to follow. While others make mistakes and show the world that we learn more from our shortcomings than our triumphs. Like the recent divorce between Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. When it truly comes down to…
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Toronto Maple Leafs are Problematic Approaching the NHL Playoffs
When it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, you could say that March has gotten off to a difficult start. However, that would imply that February hadn’t been equally difficult in its own right. In fact, 2020 in general has proven to be a rather tumultuous year for the buds, with the team posting a mediocre 13-11-4 record since their first game of the calendar year on January 2nd. After winning 9 of their final 11 contests in 2019, a flurry of new injuries and underwhelming goaltending has kept the Leafs from securing a playoff berth with any degree of certainty. The honeymoon phase for new head Coach Sheldon Keefe…
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Bouldering at The Rock Oasis for the First Time
If you’re looking to stay active, the best advice I can give is to find an activity that you enjoy doing. There’s nothing more counterproductive, or more grueling, than waking up at 6 a.m. to go on a run that you’ll then decide to never do again. Exercise is not a one-size-fits-all formula. You’ve got to experiment to find what works for you.
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Film Review: ‘To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You’ Revisits ‘Happily Ever After’
The highly anticipated sequel to To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before delivers a refreshingly real take on first relationships and young love, while still keeping a rom-com spirit. Netflix released P.S. I Still Love You on February 12, two days before I settled down to watch it on Valentine’s Day. The decision to capitalize on the romantic holiday was clear––which is why I think it hit harder when Lara Jean and Peter’s first steps into their newfound relationship weren’t quite what I expected. Instead, what I got was something a little more complex than a feel-good rom-com.
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Frying Plantain: Growing up between the worlds
When does one come of age? Most of us tend to remember it through definable landmarks: working after school hours, graduation, a first kiss, and the sensation of that first sip of alcohol. But reading Zalika Reid-Benta’s debut novel Frying Plantain reminds us that the journey to adulthood is more subtle than that. It is in the moment when you unravel the meaning of adult conversations you have heard before. It is in the shock at reactions to unexpected events of daily life. Coming of age happens through a series of events in which a child’s awe at the unknown but defined world evolves into the acceptance of its unpredictability.…
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How to Catch a Cheater in the Digital Age
I was in the middle of a shift at work when I found out I was getting two-timed. It was over a private message from the other woman, via Facebook. This news hit me like a punch to the gut. Back then, I wasn’t the best at concealing my emotions. I’m the type of person that broadcasts every thought that crosses my mind through my facial expressions. My boss caught on quickly that something was up when I was serving tables with a scowl painted across my face. He pulled me into the kitchen and asked what was up. I told him that I just found out I was being…
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Bell Let’s Talk is Cheap
Bell Let’s Talk is an annual campaign wherein the telecommunications giant, Bell Canada, donates five cents for every text, wireless and long-distance call by customers, and any social media post that includes #BellLetsTalk. On surface level, the campaign is a success–having donated over $100 million to “mental health programs” in Canada over the last nine years. The campaign has also broadened its reach since it first began in 2011; going on to reserve funding specifically for child and youth programming, military family services, and Indigenous mental health initiatives nationally. However, as the campaign has gained esteem, impulsively becoming the pinnacle of a mental health movement in Canada, it has also…
