Features

<p>The strangest thing about it all is that, Dad, at heart, is a racist. That’s not easy for me to say out loud, because I do love him beyond belief. But it’s true, and it’s always been so. I don’t mean your stereotypical southern, Klu Klux Klan, white supremacist, ranting racist. No, he’s the kind [&hellip;]</p>

<p>I spent one of the best Christmases of my life in the hospital. My mother had cancer when I was growing up. She was diagnosed when I was five, and would spend weeks in and out of the hospital. When it would be time for one of her stays there, I’d be sent to live [&hellip;]</p>

<p>As we grow up, we add all sorts of new traditions to our respective repertoires. I should probably say &#8220;as we age&#8221;, as I don’t know anyone who would venture to say that I have actually &#8220;grown up&#8221; much, particularly throughout the month of December. Most of my traditions revolve around food in some way [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Shopping for gifts is one of my favorite things to do. When I was little and awaiting Christmas, I would put a lot of thought into what I was going to get for my mom, dad and brother. My whole family would go to the mall together and take turns shopping with each other for [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Justin Aubin sat in his first year St. Thomas University religious studies class, voiced his religious beliefs and was yelled at by his professor for “hating gays.” He maintains that he simply believes what’s in the Bible and believes that homosexuality is wrong. Aubin, the son of a pastor, says he doesn’t hate gays or [&hellip;]</p>

<p>One minute. 60 seconds. That’s how long a petit mal seizure lasts for me. Even though it is only a minute long, it feels like an eternity. I always feel them coming. My head starts turning to the left and I lose control of my body. My eyes roll up into my head like they [&hellip;]</p>

<p>On Dec 6, 1989, Marc Lepine walked into a classroom at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and ordered the women to separate themselves from the men. Then he let the men out of the room, shouted, “I hate feminists,” and shot every woman in the classroom. Francine Pelletier was a columnist for La Presse at the [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Last winter, Aly MacIsaac and her boyfriend, Matt Estey, jokingly told friends about a glittering promise ring that they were about to pick up.. With mock wide-eyed excitement MacIsaac gushed about taking her relationship to the next level. Their friends believed the tall tale and responded with uncomfortable ‘oh reallys?’ and ‘how nice’. The couple [&hellip;]</p>

<p>It’s not all in your head. Or at least, not only in your head. Last year, during a particularly stressful time in the semester, I began getting headaches. I didn’t know why I was getting them or how to get rid of them. When they got so bad I began to skip classes and social [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Think back to your very first password for your very first online account. It was probably a Hotmail email account, or an MSN messenger login. Chances are it was simple as the times we lived in. The paint was still drying on the Internet and we were all naïve enough to think that “password” was [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Duncun Noble lived 49 years of his life in colour. For the past decade, he’s had to cope with darkness, and it changed everything. When a tumour was found on his brain, Noble underwent three surgeries. The surgeries got rid of the tumour, but the sickness took his sight and hearing in one ear. The [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Meghan Harper had been a Chatham Hall resident for almost two years when she decided she wanted to run for its house committee. Then the rumours began. Someone was using a smear campaign against Harper and that person, as she would later learn, was the friend who’d told her to run in the election. It [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In high school, I was a typical big guy. I took a lot of shit from people. I got teased and laughed at. Girls wouldn’t talk to me. I could never eat enough, and I never felt good about myself. There was one thing did make me happy, though, and that was hockey. I loved [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Nancy Savoie’s body is covered in tattoos. Some represent different struggles, and others showcase her triumphs. Some of her tattoos she got simply because she found them visually beautiful. “I like to have my story on me,” she said. Savoie got this tattoo of Winnie the Pooh after she split up with her last boyfriend. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>It’s that time of year again. People are starting to have parties, get-togethers, dinners and glittering evenings of fun. If you’re like me, you’ll be navigating to the nearest soirée through heaps of homework and rivers of reading. But don’t fret! You can make it through the end of the semester (and fit in an [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Braids. When I was little, my hair was always in braids. Two thick black braids with big pink bobbles at the end. I absolutely hated it. All the other girls could let their hair down, or use those thin, clear elastics – the same ones Barbie dolls use. When my mother wasn’t around, I would [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Elizabeth Strange is in a long-distance relationship with a British soldier she met at CFB Suffield in Alberta. He will be there for the next two years. The third-year St Thomas University student and Private Andrew Thomson met over the summer while she was working as a base clerk in transport and maintenance. Strange struggles [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Perhaps it was written in the stars. I first found out about the assignment that would change my way of thinking forever through an email sent to me by one of my fellow editors. In the letter, which also included a link to the event that was taking place, Bridget mapped out what she was [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Sometimes being Catholic involves asking and answering questions about beliefs and practices the world finds a little strange. Near the top of the list would be saints and their ability to intercede in the world. I was asked to try to write this column with humour, but as anyone who has ever told a joke [&hellip;]</p>

<p>That time of year is upon us again &#8211; the time where men of all sizes grow out their moustaches to promote funding for prostate cancer. It’s always epic, and we can all share a laugh at the crazy things we see and the greasy look of the male gender. But some of us aren’t [&hellip;]</p>