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My favourite music of 2018

In no particular order, these are some of the artists who impressed me with new music in the past year. As I gear up to release some new work in 2019, I can say for sure that these artists have influenced my creative process. Logic Logic released two albums this year: his trap-heavy Bobby Tarantino …

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In opposing trans rights, free speech warriors recycle old talking points

In June 2017, the Canadian government passed Bill C-16. It's a law that expands the human rights code to include "gender identity and expression" as a prohibited ground of discrimination. This was a significant, if symbolic win for trans rights in Canada. But to hear a certain U of T psychology …

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The Sands of Mars Book Review

Arthur C. Clarke
This story was written in 1951, and it hasn't aged terribly well. There's the fascination with atomic science; the casting of Mars colonists as brave and intrepid pioneers; the rationality and cleverness of it all. When (spoiler alert) they discover Martians, the main character makes quick work of handing it over for scientific experimentation. They soon put the new species to work to benefit the colonial society. There's a naïve optimism running throughout this book that shares none of the darkness or doubt of Clarke's more famous work, *2001: A Space Odyssey*.

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The Disposessed Book Review

Ursula K. LeGuin
This story shines in its realistic, warts-and-all portrayal of a society founded on the principles of “mutual aid” — basically non-authoritarian communism. The stoic, socially outcast intellectual as protagonist felt a little two-dimensional. But Le Guin’s dramatic prose, the way she twists a common feeling into something sublime, makes you want to keep reading.

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