Issue 1

Iranian-American poet and writer Kaveh Akbar’s novel Martyr! came out in January 2024 and upon its release, it almost immediately became a best seller, for good reasons. The book explores the main character’s struggles with addiction, with his multicultural identity as a second generation immigrant and with his grief after losing both of his parents. This novel, which also contains some of Akbar’s renowned poetry, is so appreciated mainly because of its emotional appeal. In this book, the character’s emotions arguably matter more than the storyline and it is a sort of psychological exploration of its characters. While the point…

What is NaNoWriMo?  If you're interested in writing, you may have heard someone mention this word in the last few weeks. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and has been an online writing competition since 2001. The goal of the challenge is to write 50 000 words, or a novel, in the month of November, or fail trying.  With the original non-profit that ran NaNoWriMo shutting down (nanowrimo.org) for warranted reasons, a new one has taken over (https://nanowrimo.ca/), and the writing challenge is still well and alive. In past years there would be rewards and sponsors for the event,…

How are you?  If I asked you this you’d probably answer “good”, “fine”, “okay”. Something positive or neutral—which we consider positive. And of course, why wouldn’t you be good?  You go to one of the best CEGEP in the world (because the world of CEGEP does in fact limit itself to Quebec). You are surrounded by many people who are all there just like you, and they all look so different and so unique, yet you don’t talk to them, and they don’t either. You’re not part of them. Then you go outside, you step on a can. You pick…

People who identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community often feel the need to “come out” to the people around them. Coming out (or “coming out of the closet”) refers to the action by a queer person to tell other people about their sexual or gender identity, which is then glorified as an overly important part of their life. As National Coming Out Day is coming soon, (October 11th, 2025) we wanted to write a guide to help you in the eventuality of a loved one’s coming out. The LGBTQ+ Club Most of the people of the LGBTQ+ club…

With Halloween just around the corner, the great majority of people (me included) will begin to watch horror movies. I will present here my favorite horror movie genre; found footage movies.  The most famous found footage movie is, of course, The Blair Witch Project. Released in 1999, it is the story of three film students recording a supposedly haunted forest. Without any spoilers, strange events start happening, and their trip takes a much scarier turn, and what started as a documentary quickly descends into madness.  An earlier trace of found footage can be found in another movie, however. The Blair…