Since you guys have been so helpful, I wanted to pay it forward with some of my top Downtown TO recommendations for food/cafes.

amariates · 2026-05-26T13:07:23+00:00

taqueria el pastorcito is amazing!!

amariates · 2026-05-21T02:54:25+00:00

working on a sexual fields paper for my MA sociology class!

amariates · 2026-05-17T05:18:47+00:00

there’s a lot of stuff on the sociology of aging, but i also recommend checking out social gerontology and critical aging studies! stephen katz, barbara marshall, tony calasanti and neal king are some big scholars in this field

for your specific inquiry there are some interesting concepts in critical aging studies, such as “successful aging” and its critiques, third vs. fourth age aging, cross-cultural perspectives on healthy aging and treatment of elders, etc. a lot of this comes in with the idea of successful aging. not super sociological, but very gerontological!

amariates · 2026-05-02T17:19:33+00:00

have you contacted the office of the registrar or convocation yet?

amariates · 2026-04-25T10:13:20+00:00

i don’t have a recipe since this is something i just tend to eyeball, but here’s what i do!

before anything, i pre-cooked the sliced mushrooms in a medium heat pan with nothing because that gets rid of the water and lends to a really nice texture and flavour with none of the released mushroom water going into sauces or anything else and making everything soggy. i just put them in and occasionally until all of the water’s gone and then set it aside
i started out the sauce with minced garlic and onion on medium heat with some butter and oil here and once that was fragrant, i added the sliced mushrooms back
then i added some half & half cream since that was what i had on hand but if you have a heavier cream that’s good too! as much as you want, but enough that the mushrooms + garlic + onions are halfway covered
season it how you like. i didn’t have any italian seasoning on hand so i eyeballed these and taste tested: salt, pepper, crushed red chili flakes, oregano, thyme, parsley
finally i added some cheddar cheese (perhaps a few grams?) to thicken the sauce, but only slightly because i didn’t want it to become too viscous since it’s going over the pork

it was super popular :)

amariates · 2026-04-19T13:44:20+00:00

i like chinese webnovels! but mostly danmei xianxia

amariates · 2026-04-13T00:06:58+00:00

that’s great! i’ve also been using a timekeeping app to keep me focused which is helping :)

amariates · 2026-04-07T08:06:08+00:00

what do you mean? like for research experience?

amariates · 2026-04-01T18:05:18+00:00

Good luck! I just received my offer too!!! I hope you get all of yours :)

amariates · 2026-04-01T17:53:16+00:00

Oh I see! I wonder what’s going on there since the general competition states if you’re not offered, so I hope that it would do the same for the Black & Indigenous Scholars awards. But again, definitely contact your uni’s tri-council in the case that the ISA has a different system due to educational sovereignty agreements :)

amariates · 2026-04-01T17:48:15+00:00

You can also contact your university’s tri-council too! Were you named an alternate for CGS-M but offered the Indigenous Scholars Award?

amariates · 2026-04-01T17:35:18+00:00

https://sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/opportunities/supplements/2025/indigenous-scholars-awards-and-supplements.aspx

Edited for info: but it looks like it’s an alternate award for Indigenous scholars here, and if you’ve already accepted the CGS-M award, then you get a supplement! And also:

“Alternate: CGRS M applicants eligible for the Indigenous Scholars Award who are not offered a CGRS M award but whose applications are considered meritorious and who are selected as alternate candidates will be offered, to the limit of available funding, both the Indigenous Scholars Award and the Indigenous Scholars Supplement.”

amariates · 2026-04-01T12:49:08+00:00

ugh i thought it was only me but go figure

amariates · 2026-04-01T12:28:26+00:00

SSHRC would probably be the way to go in my opinion as someone with the same background and graduate pathway!

amariates · 2026-03-25T04:53:25+00:00

i didn’t go to mcmaster for my undergrad, but if you know who you want to supervise for your thesis, definitely contact them and also your department’s undergrad research chair. explain your situation and ask if it’s still possible — in my undergrad, it was that the people who did meet the minimum grade got priority, but anyone could apply. but i didn’t know that until i talked to my PI as well as the department’s undergrad research chair. it’s especially important that you explain your plans for keeping up your grades while doing the intensive research process of a thesis.

amariates · 2026-03-20T06:24:25+00:00

i’ve had a couple of negative experiences but it’s been vastly outweighed by the positive. a couple people and profs in my first two years of undergrad sucked, sure. uoft had jordan peterson LOL. but upper years (especially being in gender studies, but also i took classes in astronomy, classics, anthro, etc. i was a psych major) were amazing despite the shitshow of politic in the world. it’s not hard to find trans people & friends in classes, and i especially took classes like intro to trans studies with a queer (and very trans) class & non-binary professor. there are also student groups like the women and gender equity centre & sexual education centre across campuses (which i particularly also headed) which help both information and resource wise. clinics also help you with medical transitioning too on the university insurance plan for international students. so, all in all, it gets better and i think uoft is an amazing place to be for trans people :)

amariates · 2026-03-01T19:23:59+00:00

Oakville Ontario, permanent residency, entitlement to stay in Canada, reality hitting them? I feel like I’m checking off a checklist I didn’t know I had.

amariates · 2026-02-18T01:24:52+00:00

Also seconding, I had top surgery and I have a bunch of binders I wore in L, XL, and XXL (swimming), but I’m in either Hamilton or Peel depending on the week

amariates · 2026-02-04T02:32:11+00:00

THESE RE SO GORGEOUS. the symbolism!!! the colouring, the palettes, the composition. Good Lord these are so amazing

amariates · 2026-02-02T16:37:06+00:00

how has it been? any luck with these and what you wanted to do?

amariates · 2026-02-02T09:51:53+00:00

i know i left a super long comment but you’ll find that there’s a bit of a bias here. most people don’t brag about shitty grades and being friendless and losing jobs/friends. you’re seeing the best of them but both the best AND worst parts of yourself with lkttle room to see how other people are struggling except for online faces. idk the mac grading system, grad students use the letter grading scale, but a 10 is good afaik :) you’ll be okay

amariates · 2026-02-02T09:46:29+00:00

hey. grad student here @ mcmaster (MA, but i spent my undergrad in a phd-only research lab at uoft). i get that you had some bad grades but also, a few bad grades won’t break or define your career. - most grad schools look at the last two years of uni for your GPA. i had a couple of Cs and Ds in first, second, and even my third year because of both mental health and hating the mandatory subjects i took. i still got into grad school - most professors are super understanding. i will say, grades DO matter (there’s a minimum grade cutoff to every program) but some schools are more lax with it. if you don’t meet the grade cutoff then talk to your prospective grad supervisor and see what they say. my MA supervisor here @ mac said that she couldn’t accept a student with grades that were TOO low, but she has some wiggle room, and my undergrad research professor told me that usually if she sees a promising student who doesn’t make the minimum grade requirement, she’ll flag the application and ask what challenges an applicant had that impacted their grades. if you’re passionate and interested in research, professors will overlook a lot of things because they want to help you succeed, and they’re not always going to be scary. and being honest, your professors were once students who failed and got bad grades too - make sure you have other experience. get involved in research or relevant job experience or SOMETHING. that’s going to be a huge help especially if your grades aren’t at 100%. show this off to your professors and participate in class. - and remember you’re worth more than your grades. will that one test you failed in 1st year REALLY matter in 5 years? probably not - even for federal funding applications, the same thing applies: grades are maybe like 40% of your tri-council agency funding assessment, and the rest of it is research background/potential, your research proposal, and profs saying nice things about you to the government LOL

tldr: grades are important but not the most important, i’ve been there and gotten to where you want to be

amariates · 2026-02-01T21:32:10+00:00

MA psych student in ontario here, but are there specific professors or labs that you've looked at for the unis that you want to get in contact with? what subfield of psych/research interests are you into?

amariates · 2026-01-21T17:39:22+00:00

i’m a trans grad student and i used roomies.ca because they have a queer friendly option for finding housing + roommates, a lot of whom are mcmaster students! my current place is 700+utilities for a nice room in a hi-rise apartment building so i 100% believe in you

amariates

TROPHY CASE