Newsbites (Page 3)

Newsbites (Page 3) McGill University

| Skip to search Skip to navigation Skip to page content

User Tools (skip):

Sign in | Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Sister Sites: McGill website | myMcGill

McGill News
ALUMNI QUARTERLY - winter 2008
McGill News cover

| Help
Page Options (skip): Larger
Home > McGill News > 2008 > Spring/Summer 2008 > Newsbites > Newsbites (Page 3)

Newsbites (Page 3)

First he took Manhattan…

Caption follows

Leonard Cohen (right) with Irish singer Damien Rice
INF photo.com

Leonard Cohen, BA'55, DLitt'92, is many things. A wondrous wordsmith. A snappy dresser. An ordained Zen Buddhist monk.

But a rock and roller?

Yet there he was in Manhattan on March 10, officially being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Madonna, John Mellencamp, the Dave Clark Five and the Ventures.

Even Cohen himself wasn't sure what to make of it. "This is a very unlikely occasion for me," he said, before putting a fresh spin on Jon Landau's famous quote about Bruce Springsteen. "I have seen the future of rock and roll and it is not Leonard Cohen."

Already an accomplished poet, Cohen turned to music in the late sixties for decidedly practical reasons. "I found it was very difficult to pay my grocery bill," he confessed in an interview. "I'm very well thought of in the tiny circles that know me, but… I'm really starving."

The music industry didn't warm up to Cohen right away, but when Judy Collins started performing his songs, doors began to open. She wouldn't be the only singer drawn to his work. His songs have been performed by hundreds of other artists. His haunting "Hallelujah" alone has been covered by musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan, Allison Krauss, Bon Jovi, k.d. lang, Simple Plan, Rufus Wainwright and Willie Nelson.

One of music's greatest lyricists, Cohen's time at McGill helped him perfect his mastery of language. A onetime president of the McGill Debating Union, Cohen met an important mentor at the University, English professor Louis Dudek. "He gave a sort of dignity, an importance, to the whole enterprise of writing that inflamed young people," Cohen said of his teacher.

The best news for Cohen fans came a day after the induction ceremony, when the newly minted hall of famer announced he would soon embark on his first major concert tour in 15 years.

Just don't expect any guitar solos.

Not Your Grandmother's Library

News

Claudio Calligaris

In this digital age, libraries have to contend with an image problem—the notion that they're drab, dusty and dimly lit. The McGill Libraries' new Cyberthèque ought to puncture a few stereotypes.

Located on the ground floor of the Redpath Library Building, the Cyberthèque offers students a bright and cheerfully designed study space with plenty of technological amenities— including 125 computer workstations. "You can sit down at a computer for a while here without someone waiting over your shoulder," says second-year arts undergraduate Ben Foldy.

"Students spend longer in the library than they do in their classes and we must provide appropriate spaces and assistance in information access and use," says Janine Schmidt, Trenholme Director of Libraries. The Cyberthèque includes plenty of colourful lounge chairs for casual study, individual tables for silent study, glassed-in study pods for group work and an e-classroom for information skills classes.

Schmidt says student feedback has been a key factor in the upgrades made to several of McGill's libraries in recent years, including the Macdonald Campus Library, the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering and the Education Library and Curriculum Resources Centre. "We have responded to student complaints about the facilities and made significant improvements."

Fourth-year arts undergraduate Chesley Walsh likes what she sees in the Cyberthèque. "The lighting is perfect and it makes me want to study."

view sidebar content | back to top of page

Search