The other day I was walking downtown near the French University on Saint Denis street. They’re having Frosh week, which means crowds of kids wearing sacks and funny hats, made to do humiliating things. One of those was to beg for change near where actual poor people do, on Ste. Catherine street.
I’m afraid I snapped at one of them. She vanished quickly, but I hated myself for losing my cool like that. She was probably just soliciting for charity, and I was misinterpreting.
Still, it made a subject for one of my rare comics. I’m happy with how it came out, in watercolour and all. Will try to do some more, on better paper, and with more planning. Still, I like this, and think it’s a new direction for my work.
Tags: comics, men, watercolour, women
Yeah, but if that was indeed a frosh initiation, that was just lame and that person needed a little telling… she would have told you otherwise if it was for charity. Anyhow, I get it though, it sucks to realise you lost your cool but sometimes its refreshing to read about.
Totally biased, and from my perspective, of course. Still, frosh week is so fricken weird. Weirder, I think, in this town than in other parts of Canada I know. But my Quebecois friends swear this isn’t so. Still, I’ve not visited enough cities to see if this is true. They certainly don’t do ceremonies like this in Calgary, Alberta!
I went to Bishop’s and the initiations from the 80s were known to be so bad that the school had to crack down on it and make it more voluntary in the 90s when I went there. But you sometimes hear some horror stories that are just unthinkable. Asking for change is embarrassing/insulting but at least not physically harmful.