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The fights, the tears, and the desperation in Toronto

WDanRoberts/Flickr

I’m standing in a shoebox -sized room with six other students, fighting over who gets to live in it.

The landlord stands back and watches. He is caught off guard by the number of people who turned up for the viewing and can’t decide who to give the keys to. So, he asks us to figure it out amongst ourselves.

Negotiations haven’t been going very smoothly.

“I’ll sign the contract,” says a female Brazilian exchange student.

“Ok,” the landlord answers.
“No,” screams another girl. “That’s not fair. I want to sign too.”
“I’m willing to pay more,” says Mike, a scraggly hipster I’ve seen at previous viewings.

Continue reading Students still can’t find rooms—in October

Struggling is what teaches you the habits of success

Western students (Jessica Darmanin)

As you cram for midterm exams and freak out about November’s essays, consider this story from the Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities. You’re not the only one who is struggling.

In the late summer of 1999, I drove with a friend from Calgary over the Rocky Mountains to Victoria, where I was to start university that fall. I was 18 years old. My hair was tipped blond and I had the collected works of James Joyce in my suitcase. I hadn’t read any Joyce at the time. But I wanted to be a writer. And I thought his collected works were the kind of thing a writer should have when he goes off to school.

Writing novels—being a novelist with a capital “N”—was what I had always wanted to do. Reading defined me as a kid. It was what I did better than anyone else. What I didn’t do back then, at least not outside essays, was write. No short stories. No plays. Nothing to indicate a budding creative talent. And once in university, my dream of becoming a writer lasted all of four weeks. After nurturing the vision through a decade’s suburban childhood, I gave it up after less than 30 days of actual work. What happened was this.

I was enrolled in the University of Victoria’s creative writing program. In first semester, that meant one creative writing class. One night, not long after starting, I sat on a landing in my residence building grinding through an assignment. What I had written was a mess. It was supposed to be an excerpt from a short play, but it had no characters and no plot. It was just awful dialogue about nothing. So I dropped it. Not just the assignment: the whole class—and program. My first piece was terrible and so, I figured, was I.

Continue reading Why it’s okay to be terrible in first year

Liberal leadership candidate to speak in Ontario tonight

ycanada_news/Flickr

The company behind a proposed pipeline to carry bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to the port of Kitimat, B.C., must develop a better plan if it wants the project to proceed, Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

The Liberal leadership hopeful made the comments about Enbridge Inc. to reporters following a speech to party faithful inside a packed hotel ballroom in Richmond, B.C.

While he didn’t address resource issues in his speech, Trudeau did discuss them earlier in the day in Calgary, \saying it was wrong in the past, wrong in the present and will be wrong in the future to use resources to divide Canadians.

The issue has split B.C. and Alberta’s leaders, with Premiers Christy Clark and Alison Redford acknowledging they exchanged some “frosty” words during a discussion earlier this week.

Continue reading Justin Trudeau says Enbridge pipeline plan isn’t a good idea

See what students are wearing this fall

Guelph doesn’t shy away from its agriculture and veterinary school roots, so it’s no surprise that leather boots and leather jackets are in style. Unlike at some schools, it seems Guelph guys can get away with hoodies and shades. These photos are from Jessica Darmanin’s campus tour where she’s keeping one eye out for campus style. Click each photo to make it bigger. Then, why not show us your style? Tweet your fall fashion photo to @maconcampus or post it on our Facebook wall.

Fall fashion photos from St. Francis Xavier

The girls are layering and the guys are preppy this fall at St. Francis Xavier. Antigonish, N.S. was photographer Jessica Darmanin’s latest stop on her tour of Atlantic Canada where she’s kept one eye out for campus fashion. Click on each photo to make it bigger. And then, why not show us your latest style? Tweet your fall fashion photo to @maconcampus or post it on our Facebook wall.

Our latest fall fashion photos

Summers are short in Newfoundland and the sun sets early—7:00 p.m already tonight! To escape the darkness, Memorial University students are brightening things up with neon pinks, passionate reds and Batman yellow. St. John’s was Jessica Darmanin’s latest stop as she tours Atlantic Canada with an eye on campus fashion. Click the photos to make them bigger. Then show us your campus style. Tweet your fall fashion photo to @maconcampus or post it on our Facebook wall.

A worker shortage means big perks for mining engineers

Sabrina Miguel (Roman Cho/Getty Images)

Kyle Buckoll finished his bachelor’s degree at the University of British Columbia in April. Unlike many 23-year-old university graduates, he didn’t settle at his parents’ house in Maple Ridge, B.C., to start hunting for internships or entry-level jobs. Instead, he went on an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey with 31 fellow class-of-2012 graduates from UBC’s mining engineering program. They marvelled at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, visited two of the seven ancient wonders of the world, and lounged on beach chairs in Bodrum to toast their graduation. They also toured six mines, because the flight, hotels and buses were all paid for by mining companies eager to show their largesse.

Continue reading The career that’s good as gold

A “white pride” club, Turkey Syndrome and dead dogs

Clip from YouTube

1. Fourteen lifeguards in El Monte, Calif. were fired for a spoof video featuring Korean pop singer PSY’s signature horse-riding dance moves. Their “Lifeguard Style” video was an homage to the viral hit “Gangnam Style.” Officials say they were fired for using city property improperly, but one of the fired lifeguards says she was told by the city that they found the video “disgusting.”

2. An American student at Towson University is planning a “white-pride organization.” Matthew Heimbach, a U.S. history major, sparked controversy last year when his Youth for Western Civilization group criticized Islam and same-sex marriage. Heimbach says whites are discriminated against. Out of respect for free speech, university officials say the group will be tolerated.

3. About 2,000 people at the University of Guelph set a world record on Saturday by packaging 315,000 emergency relief meals in a single hour. The food help fight famine in Mauritania.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (Sept. 10 edition)

A timeline of injuries, deaths, scandals and crackdowns

Graphic by Jessie Willms. Text by Josh Dehaas.

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From the Maclean’s Professional Schools Issue

Click on the image below to see the chart in a new window. Once there, click again to zoom in.