My true love
Here’s a weird one: I went to McGill to study film. By no means did it have a great film department, but it had one. And I wanted to go to McGill. It was the only school I applied to.
Towards the end of my first year, after subjecting myself to Eastern European History and other awful required classes, we were informed that the Film Department would close and students would be transfered to a newly formed Communications Department.
My heart sank. I was shy to make film studies my official plan of action, but it was what I secretly yearned for. I wanted to watch movies for a living, and make comments about them for money. Film critic, academic, maybe both – it was my unwritten career goal.
I studied art history instead. Badly. I took my frustrations out on my adopted department by buying rows of tickets to the Cinema de Paris (12 tickets for $10) and creating my own curriculum: Almodovar, Scorsese, Altman.
It was a selective education, and one which continues. Don’t worry, I won’t quit my day job.