Cult classics 2012: City

These stories and columns are among Cult MTL‘s city editors’ favourites from the past year.

Rock ‘em sock ‘em women? Top five roller derby myths
Roller derby has inspired fervent fandom in some circles in this city. But those unfamiliar with the sport may still call it confusing. Back in July, our own Tracey Lindeman asked Alyssa Kwasny, aka Georgia W. Tush, who just happens to have founded the Montreal Roller Derby League, to debunk some of the myths about the game. The resulting list answered at least one important question once and for all: are roller derby girls just a bunch of slutty lesbians?

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Five students you should protest 
Locally, no event of the last year was as divisive as the student protests. Should university tuition be raised? Are students in this province a bunch of spoiled brats who don’t know how good they’ve got it? But no matter where you stand, as Rhiannon Brock pointed out, you’ll likely agree that students like Mr. Masters, Instant Montrealer and the Theoretical Humanitarian merit our collective scorn.

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The intangible city
Sure, Montreal has a certain something that’s totally unique. But Michael McKenna travelled far, far away, to Pristina, Kosovo, and found a city that in many ways parallels ours. A fraught political history? Check. V-necked men blasting techno from blacked-out luxury sedans? Yup. A vast population of jobless café idlers? Of course. “In Pristina,” McKenna writes, “there is an Olimpico on every block. Like Montrealers, Kosovars are meticulous hangers of outs, class-A bullshitters, gadflies extraordinaire.”

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