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20 years since its release, David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada endures as one of the greatest chick flicks of all time. The film follows Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a Northwestern University graduate with dreams of working as a serious journalist for an outlet like The New Yorker. She is perfectly unsuited to work as an assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the formidable and elusive editor-in-chief of Runway, the world’s most distinguished fashion magazine, which is precisely the job she gets hired for. At first, Andy sanctimoniously scoffs at Runway’s high-stakes environment, but over the course of the film, we see her work (and her boss) envelop every aspect of her life. The Devil Wears Prada is adapted from Lauren Weisberger’s roman-à-clef of the same name, which documents her year working as an assistant to Anna Wintour at Vogue—erm, I mean assistant to Miranda Priestly at Runway. While Weisberger’s book self-righteously flattens Priestley and the fashion world into caricatures of frivolity, Aline Brosh McKenna’s screenplay presents a funny, nuanced, and thrilling narrative that refuses to denigrate its characters or subject matter. 

The film insists that audiences understand why characters like Miranda (played by Streep with icy restraint and precision), Emily (the obsessive and brusque first assistant to Miranda, played by Emily Blunt), and Nigel (the devoted creative director of Runway played by Stanley Tucci) sacrifice any stability or semblance of personal lives in order to work in fashion, and more specifically at Runway. When Nigel asks Andy, “Don’t you know that you are working at the place that published some of the greatest artists of the century?” he is asking us that same question; when Nigel explains to Andy that Runway was a “shining beacon of hope” for young boys like himself, he is explaining that to us as well. Sure, The Devil Wears Prada has elements of satire, but the film ensures audiences realize that for many people, the stakes are that serious.

The film’s reverence for fashion is additionally evident in its impeccable costuming. Designer Patricia Field has spoken in interviews about how difficult sourcing clothes for the film was, since designers were terrified of Anna Wintour’s wrath. Her persistent efforts paid off, as the wardrobe she created enhances each character’s identity: Emily’s outfits accentuate her blunt edginess, while Miranda’s outfits convey her domineering impenetrability. The Rick Owens pieces worn in the film are permanently etched in my mind’s eye. 

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is set for release in just under a month, and I must admit that based on its trailers, I am feeling rather cynical about this sequel. Jokes about Miranda Priestly attempting to navigate political correctness don’t seem all that exciting, and the costumes look plain tacky, which is a major deficiency for a film about the fashion industry.  Regardless, one thing I have learned is that if you enter sequels with dubious expectations, you either get pleasantly surprised or you get to gloat about being correct in your assumptions—both enjoyable outcomes, if you ask me. So come May 1, I will be seated no matter what. 

Scattered around Montreal, there are inconspicuous plots of land, which serve as the planting grounds for community, connection with nature, and everything in between. 

Community gardens are designated spaces where members are responsible for cultivating, maintaining, and harvesting their own plots. These gardens are spread throughout the city, but their locations reveal an uneven distribution across boroughs, reflecting the specific needs and priorities of residents within each community. 

Mapping these gardens allows for a broader understanding of how invested each borough is in community gardens and the demographic factors that may influence these patterns.

According to data from the City of Montreal, there are 108 registered community gardens on the island. Boroughs like Ville-Marie and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve contain the most, with 14 gardens each, while some boroughs have fewer than 5 gardens.

Helena Arroyo has been the coordinator of the community garden program for the Mercier-Hochlaga-Maisonneuve area for three summers. Having started university in biology, finishing in geography, Arroyo says she has always had “a passion for all things nature, plants, animals, and environment.”

According to Arroyo, community gardens are not only an opportunity for residents to have at least one activity related to nature in a city, but are also a source of locally grown fresh food. 

“You can have food, which is a big point now that everything is getting so expensive,” says Arroyo. 

However, being part of a community garden requires a significant time commitment. Gardeners may need to visit their plots several times a day, which is not always easy to manage alongside other priorities. Arroyo explains that, as a result, many community gardeners are retired.

In addition to being time-consuming, obtaining a community garden plot can be difficult. Many gardens have waiting lists, and depending on the location, it can take years to be assigned a plot. Gardens are usually managed by an elected committee, which collects funds for various collective projects. This means that holding a garden plot involves not only individual effort and expenses but also a shared investment in the community.

There are also what Arroyo calls the “biological problems;” all types of insects, disease, problems with the soil, and climate variations. 

“You have to learn about each plant, what they need, and what's happening,” says Arroyo. 

Community gardens across the island are shaped by both the people who use them and the spaces available in each borough. While the total number of gardens in a neighbourhood can suggest how accessible they are, the narrative changes when population size is taken into account.

Although Anjou has only seven community gardens, its smaller population of about 44,800 residents gives residents greater access to gardens per capita than many larger boroughs, with 15.6 gardens per 100,000 residents. By comparison, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the city’s second most populated borough, has just 9.1 gardens per 100,000 residents, despite having the most gardens in total.

Jonathan De Luca, a gardener at the Villeray community garden and a Montreal podcaster, suggests that boroughs with fewer community gardens often reflect a population that has greater access to private green spaces, such as personal yards.

“In LaSalle and in Dorval, people have more access to their own green space, like their own lawns,” says De Luca.
However, the uneven distribution of gardens may not reflect demand alone. It can also be shaped by where land is available. According to De Luca, the city is generally not inclined to purchase land specifically to create community gardens, but will often convert underused spaces when the land becomes available.

“They will gladly convert some sub- optimal land into a community garden because it's not necessarily a cost for them” he says.

De Luca co-hosts the “Plant Sluts” podcast with a friend from high school, a project that began as a “lighthearted kind of garden and plant-centric podcast.” 

Wanting to become more involved at the community level, joining a community garden only made sense.

“There's people from different socioeconomic areas and cultures, and there's older people that I interact with that I wouldn't otherwise interact with outside of that context,” says De Luca. 

The gardens are not only a space to connect with individuals that share similar interests but also a space to learn, make comments and ask questions about each other's vegetables and methods of gardening. 

“I might ask someone, you know, like, what did they do to their carrots that they're so great,” says De Luca. 

Still, De Luca says the experience has been “a bit mixed.” Community gardens are typically run by elected councils that oversee rules and collective decisions,  and, according to De Luca, they have been around for a long time. After attending several meetings, he says some younger members have expressed frustration with how decisions are made.
“It’s run a little bit old school,” says De Luca.

“I can see that people are trying to push for more innovative ways of managing [the gardens], but those ideas are not always welcomed.”

Community gardens in Montreal are very important to hundreds of people. Serving as grounds for community and growth, the involved members in each borough remain appreciative and proactive when it comes to improving and expanding each garden's impact. 

I hold a belief that a good concert can solve any bad day, and Maryland-based rapper Redveil once again proved it. Because even after fumbling an engineering test, I still had a fantastic night. 

I’ve known about Redveil since he started making waves with his album Learn 2 Swim. I would get the chance to see him live when JPEGMAFIA brought him during Osheaga 2023 for their song “Kingdom Hearts Key”. He was only 19 at the time, and even in that modest appearance, I could see his passion. So I was definitely thrilled to see him perform a full gig almost 3 years later.   

I tend to go to concerts alone, but I always end up leaving with new friends. I find it really easy to bond with others over shared music tastes, which translates quite nicely into other shared interests. That night, I met a fellow Concordia student who told me that he was attending the concert as part of a course. It turns out one of the fine arts electives at Concordia is a course called “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop”, taught by Iraqi-Canadian rapper Yassin Alsalman, also known as Narcy. Their assignment was to write an analysis of tonight’s show, how lucky! My jealousy only grew when I heard they had an interview with Redveil just the day prior. 

As time passed, more and more students began to arrive, forming an important part of the crowd. But make no mistake, many diehard fans were there, holding signs of encouragement and later singing every lyric word-for-word.

The stage was set up to resemble a cozy living room, with a vinyl stand at the center and an alarm clock on the right. The alarm buzzing signalled the immediate segue into the first track of the show, “Time (a dream deferred)” which also serves as the intro song for Redveil's newest album, Sankofa. And what an energetic way to start! He was jumping around, kicking the air, all while maintaining his breath. And that fire did not stop at the first track. 

While Redveil is often labelled a conscious rapper, I felt that his performance didn’t carry that same mellowness that a lot of artists of the genre have. Despite playing slower and more reflective songs from his catalogue, he wasn’t afraid to perform more bouncy songs such as “Drown” and “Mars”. Throughout the course of the show, Redveil would keep that energy up. I find he has an ability to control the crowd whilst still being down-to-earth. At times, I did feel his energy was not totally reciprocated by us. Fortunately, he knew how to get the crowd going and made us mosh to one of his favourite songs, “black enuff”.  

Now, if you know Redveil, you also know he is very politically vocal. It’s best exemplified by how he ended his Camp Flog Gnaw 2023 set by displaying the names of hundreds of Palestinians who were killed before reaching the age of four. He would do the same that night, urging us to scream “Free Palestine” in unison. Under the echoes of our chants, a special guest rushed out of the back, the Concordia rapper-professor himself, Narcy. To my surprise, and the surprise of many of his students in the crowd, he still had rap in him. He and Redveil began exchanging bars about oppression and martyrdom, with Narcy even letting out a “Shoutout my class!”.
To conclude the show, Redveil decided to finally take a break from all the action and sit down to play the piano. Although I do feel singing isn’t his strong suit, the final song, “glimpse of you” is a touching piece about the pain of being close to someone with mental issues.

But of course, the crowd wanted more, and before we could all scream: “One more song!”, Redveil promptly jumped back to perform his politically engaged freestyle: “Stupid prizes” in which he expresses his raw frustrations at the state of the world and those in power. After the show, he stayed at the merch stand, interacting with fans and taking pictures. As I rode the metro home with my picture of Redveil and me, I knew that Narcy’s students would have a lot to write about.

For the 4th consecutive year, Mama Khan, a Pakistani restaurant situated in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, is giving out free iftar boxes for the month of Ramadan, alongside grocery baskets for the vulnerable. However, the month of Ramadan is not the only time during which they provide free meals. Since their opening, they have created and partaken in a myriad of initiatives fighting against food insecurity. To this day, they are working on making the neighborhood affordable and helping the community during times of crisis.