September 12, 1996

Déjà vu all over again

Another McGill year is under way, accompanied at first by that odd sense of the unfamiliar and a certain reluctance to adjust to the quickened pace. Who are all these panicky people streaming through doorways, clogging elevators, washrooms and metros? What happened to those blissful, air-cooled lunch hours spent browsing the Bookstore shelves?

As we here at the Reporter turned again to the gut clamp of a deadline that seemed to spring out of the bushes, we were seeking that sense of settling in, that feeling of "ah, yes, back on track." It seemed so elusive‹and then it happened.

On our busiest day of production, we sat waiting for prints from our set-your-watch-by-him photographer. No prints, no word, nothing. He finally responded to our increasingly squeaky messages with apologies, and the news that he was late because he had been out in the backyard burying his (recently deceased) cat.

Within hours, one of our computers crashed, sealing in critical files and the Computer Store's only available loaner was defective. With our deadline now in screaming distance, I sat, jaw clamped, in a gridlocked cab clutching the not very portable computer I had just collected from home. When it dawned on me. Ah, yes, now this was familiar.


Orientation, Frosh and Welcome weeks are over, and the next big McGill community event is the three-day 175th Anniversary Open House which officially opens on Friday, coinciding with Homecoming Weekend.

There's a special preview tour for the media on Thursday. Friday is "student day" when we'll be welcoming Montreal-area high school and CEGEP students to the campus along with Minister of Education Pauline Marois. Saturday is "community day" when Montreal's many cultural groups will participate in our celebrations, along with community leaders, Mayor Bourque, city councillors and MUC mayors. Finally, on Sunday, "family day" will cater especially to the parents of students, and the families of faculty and staff. Of course, everyone is welcome on any one of the three days.

Hundreds of volunteers, under the stewardship of the tireless Keith Gallop, Avi Friedman, the Open House '96 Committee and the McGill 175 team have worked for more than a year to put this monumental event together. Sure, it's a cliché--but there really will be something for everyone!


P.S. The Reporter published a special electronic issue this summer, and anyone who missed it might want to have a look at it, and in particular at the Senate report which covers discussion of the proposed on-campus Estates General. The idea for such a forum was first put forward in the Macdonald Report published last January. Find us at http://www.reporter-archive.mcgill.ca/Rep/r2818/x2818.htm.