I’m done!

My performance and thesis defense are done, and so my Master’s student days are over, and now if I wanted to be really pretentious I could technically add “M.A.” after my name on big deal emails and stuff. (Don’t fear – I won’t.)

I had the distinct pleasure of ending my Master’s in two unique venues – Montréal’s Palais de Justice for the performance, and then defending the thesis in a wine bar in Old Montréal. (I love the way my thesis director thinks – the wine bar was his suggestion.)

The Palais de Justice is a fascinating place. The architecture is very brutal, of course. It’s really easy to get lost in there, take a wrong turn and end up in the lounge where someone is microwaving their lunch. There are some touches of grandeur which are really nice – like on the 17th floor where there are rows and rows of oil paintings of the various Presidents of Québec’s Bar Association over the years, and judges swishing by in their robes (especially the female judges with their little frilly white collars poking out over the robes). I wouldn’t have been able to navigate the system at all without the assistance of Claudine Roy, a judge who guided me through the seemingly endless layers of personnel at the Palais that I had to negotiate with to make the arrangement for use of the courtroom. I think she was amused by my comments, as we strolled around the Palais figuring out which room I would use – “The law is so big!”, I said, in response to the several phone calls we had to make to secure the final room choice.

The defense went well, and I received some excellent feedback, particularly on my writing style, which I will incorporate into future papers. The defense went for about an hour, and then I was sent to the bar for a smoke and another glass of wine before being allowed back to the table to be told that I had passed.

Super big thanks are due to no small number of people, but particularly Claudine Roy (the very approachable judge with the chic purple purse); Nicolas Fleming (who rescues me from every predicament, large and small, in style); Daniel Cockburn (for his wonderful, improvised mash-up of the Goldberg Variations that was essential to the video component of my performance); Miriam Verburg (for her rearrangement of my setup in the courtroom that made all the difference, and gently quieting my sighs of frustration when they got too loud); Éric Raymond (my thesis director who consistently managed to rein me back in when I was off on another tangent); Gisèle Trudel and Kim Sawchuk (my other two jurors who provided excellent feedback, constructive criticism and words of encouragement); Slavica Ceperkovic (providing, as usual, an incisive and enlightening critique of my writing in progress); CIAM (for giving me a grant); and everyone who turned up for the show!

I think I hear the music coming up…. I guess we’re going to commercial…. but wait! I want to make a political statement about the upcoming election!… and I still have to thank God, my parents, and my dog… just 5 more seconds!…. [FADE TO BLACK]