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Blackout Poetry – February 7, 2024

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Obiter Dicta held a “found poetry” event on February 7, 2024, where attendees created blackout poetry. This is a form of poetry where words are selected from existing text (in this case, old published Obiter articles) and the rest are blacked out to create a new poem. Here are some of the fun creations from the event:  Author:  Grace Lawrence Men and women who live in a society as just...

What’s Next For The Mediocre Blue Jays?

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To understand where the Toronto Blue Jays are heading, let’s first take a deep dive into how they got to this dire situation. The Major League Baseball season concluded just two weeks ago with a show of utter dominance by the Texas Rangers, who curb-stomped the Arizona Diamondbacks to win their first Word Series title in franchise history. While the majority of MLB fans were apathetic toward a...

Editor’s Note: Using our platform to discuss the Israel-Hamas war

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Editor’s Note: Using our platform to discuss the Israel-Hamas war  The Israel-Hamas war is a highly sensitive and important topic, given the recent hostilities and long-standing conflict within the region. Due to the sensitivity and complexity  of this matter, we have decided not to cover it in this issue given the personal impact of the violent conflict on many members of our community...

Fifty years of hip-hop at the Grammys

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Complicated feelings about an important celebration The 2023 Grammys were a mishmash of the heartfelt (Kim Petras giving the late, pioneering SOPHIE their flowers), the predictable (“Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” winning Rap Album of the Year), and the shocking (Bonnie Rait!). However, the singular moment that towers over the flashiest of Harry Styles’ fits was the celebration of hip-hop’s...

“Woman, life, freedom”

>tw: Violence and trauma connected to recent and ongoing conflict in Iran On 13 September 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a native of the Kurdish region in western Iran, was with her brother at a subway station in Tehran when she was stopped by the Iranian government’s morality police. She was accused of not complying with the state’s compulsory hijab laws. Amini’s brother was told she would be...

Rise of the digital space (and why you should care)

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—This article is part of a three-part series diving into the world of Cryptocurrency— Blockchain. Cryptocurrency. NFTs. What do the three of these have in common? Yes, that is right! They are things your distant uncle tried to passionately explain over a holiday dinner. They are buzzwords. Honestly, it can also be true that they may even make your eyes glaze over with how plastered around the...

BLSA Canada’s Conference is heading to Vancouver, BC

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Canada’s black law students gear up for a celebration out west By: Kerry-Ann Cornwall (National President) & Kendra Wilson (National Conference Chair) Founded in 1991, BLSA Canada is a national student-run, non-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting and enhancing the academic and professional opportunities for Black law students. In so doing, we welcome allies from all...

Looking Back on Our Law School Summers

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Ryan: Hi all — since many of our 1L and 2L staff members and readers are in the midst of planning their summers, I thought it would be good for us to reflect on our 1L and 2L summers and provide some perspective. I’ll start by asking about the differences between the summer after 1L and the summer after 2L. How did you approach the two? Did anyone do the 1L recruit? Laura: I certainly felt...

Everything Has Changed

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This year, more than any other year, Obiter Dicta is committed to ensuring the voices that need to be heard have a platform to call theirs. We are committed to doing everything within our power as a paper to publish pieces that are representative of the change that has occurred, and the change that is yet to come. Police brutality, structural racism, and systemic injustice have inspired the...

Chadwick Boseman left us something special: art intended to uplift us.

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On August 28th, the world got the shocking news that actor Chadwick Boseman had passed away at the age of 43 after a 4-year battle with colon cancer. We learned that day that Boseman chose to keep his illness a secret while working on the projects that brought him to fame. Needless to say, Hollywood and, more significantly, the Black community is in mourning over the loss of an actor that took...

Open Letter to Dean Mary Condon: Tuition Cuts

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Dean Condon,  Members of equity-seeking groups called on the Osgoode Hall Law School administration (“the Administration”) to advocate for tuition cuts in a motion advanced at Faculty Council, in light of students commencing the 2020-2021 academic year amid precarious times. Osgoode Hall’s Faculty Council passed the motion and, in doing so, made a commitment to support a tuition reduction...

Local Resident Complains About the Safety of Osgoode Chambers

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Osgoode Chambers "Entry Door under Maintenance" Sign

Obiter does not hold the views of any of its anonymous authors. In the future, Obiter intends to use pieces like this as a conversation-starter, and plans on engaging administration in a relevant way to help solve the problems that articles like this identify.  The first and most fundamental responsibility owed to Osgoode students by both Osgoode Hall Law School, and York University itself...

A Pen and Some Thoughts

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Copic Marker, a pen preferred by artists

On January 3rd, 2018, I went to visit a friend, Simon, at North York General Hospital. We met in high school at De La Salle College (‘Del’), where he was a year behind me.  Simon had beaten cancer once, before coming to Del. I spoke to him over the summer, when his osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, was back. This time, he said it was terminal.  I started law school in September. I...

Ten Ridiculous Questions and Letters to the Editor

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Post-Recruitment Reflections The Ten Most Ridiculous Questions We Heard From This Year’s Interviews Your candidacy is not credible. I don’t believe that you’ll be at this firm in 5 years. This is a business firm and you clearly care about human rights. Wow, you read someone’s CV and have an idea of what they’ll be like, and then they walk through the curtain and it’s a total surprise!Will...

Thank You

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This paper is a lot of things, but it would be none of them without the contributions that come from our community. We are a platform for your thoughts, opinions, beliefs and ideas: blank pages to be filled with your colours. Print is not dead, but some days it fights to live. You are the reason that fight has not come to Osgoode’s campus.  You engaged vibrantly with Obiter this term and we...

Five Thoughts For the Fifth Issue

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Reworked cover of a Dr. Seuss Book themed to the 2L recruit

And Something About the Recruit If nothing else, after this week, we will be able to talk about something else. When this issue hits shelves, many of our 2L colleagues will be halfway through a racking week of recruitment. And while this will mark the end of the formal 2L recruit, it will only be a punctuation mark for others, because only some students will receive job offers on Wednesday. Your...

Obiter Announces FOI into Student Choice Initiative

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Today Obiter Dicta has filed a request through York University’s Information, Privacy and Copyright Office. We are curious to learn about how administrators handled the Student Choice Initiative, and we are requesting copies of correspondence that will explain how the opt-out process (and related communications) were developed.  Stay tuned in January when we are likely to have a decision on...

Obits

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Say hello to the newest regular part of the satire section: Obits. A place for death notices for things we’re glad have died or wish were dead already. A bite-sized fuck-you-logy, if you will. If there’s something you’d like to see go, please send your recommendations to satire@obiter-dicta.ca. Angry Frenchman Dies Shooting Himself in the Foot On Monday October 21, 2019 at 11PM Maxime Bernier’s...

G. Paul Renwick, J.

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From the Osgoode Alumni Profile Series This year, Obiter will be sharing alumni profiles, courtesy of the Osgoode Alumni Office. You can access the full collection of these profiles through your MyCareer account  MyCareer > Resource Library > Alumni Advice/Virtual Career Panel: Osgoode Alumni Profiles combined…  Regularly, the Osgoode Alumni Association reaches out to graduates to...

Hashing Out the Numbers

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Data from Health Canada Health Canada collects data on cannabis under the Cannabis Tracking System Ministerial Order. The Order and the Cannabis Act came into force on October 17, 2018. The following information reflects recent highlights pulled from Health Canada’s public resources on cannabis. Total sales of dried cannabis increased from 21,616 kilograms between January and March 31, 2019 to...

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