Sonya's Patates Braavos: Edition #13 💌🥔

TLDR: Eurovision, pre-vacation prep & ultimate packing

welcome note 👋 

Hello, brave patates! 🥔 Hope you are having a nice Mother’s day, and sending you love if it’s a hard day for you ❤️ 

Just one last “normal” edition before the vacay newsletters. Maybe I should tell you where we’re going 😂 It’s Spain! 🇪🇸 The birthplace of Patates Bravas!!! We’re starting off in Madrid. Tune in next Sunday (and on insta) to see what we get up to.

Anyway, what was your #BravePatate moment of the week?

random cool things corner

• See: My mom and I walked to Old Town, Toronto, and made it to the Distillery District, which is all decorated with Mardi Gras colours and masks except it’s not Mardi Gras season so idk? BUT we got two free fat chocolates from Aero for some reason and that was nice. Love me some free stuff.

• Eat: For our one-year anniversary, David made steak on his cast iron pan and it was delicious and so fast! Something about the cast irons…

• Watch: I’m watching a perfectly stupid dramedy “White Gold” on Netflix. You get Ed Westwick (yes, Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl), dry British humour, and unhinged shenanigans.

• Read: my interview with Ceasar Rosa of U-Rock Cafe (Ottawa).

• Pack: after getting my Canadian passport in 2022 (traveling with a Russian passport is bad times), I’ve done a good bit of traveling and finally perfected my packing. I ONLY bring a carry-on even if I’m going for three weeks (because it’s easier, faster, and Europe has an ungodly amount of stairs). Therefore, a capsule wardrobe is key. This time, I managed to pack the following:

• Wool pants, cotton pants, wool cardigan, white dress shirt, black linen shirt, two shorts, two dresses, romper, tank tops, t-shirts, bathing suits, beach cover-up, flip flops, sandals, ballet flats. Then I have my backpack too, with two umbrellas for me and David, medicine pouch, book, snacks, waterbottle carrier, backup t-shirts, hat, laptop, planner, power bank, toiletries. The key is for the clothes to mix and match (and to roll). Between everything I have about 20 outfit options, including layering. Oh, and I’m wearing jeans, running shoes, a sweater, and a fur vest on the plane 😂

business updates

• I’ll be doing the big Telfer Awards project for the third year in a row! I interview prominent alumni receiving awards and write their stories. That’s how I met Roger Greenberg (who introduced me to AVI and hired me himself).

• Waiting to hear back from other opportunities in the pipeline. On vacation, I will still be doing a bit of work here and there. I’m not really at that stage of my self-employment that I can fully unplug lol. Sure it’d be nice but also if I stop working so does my business. A bit of maintenance will give me peace of mind.

⭐️ subscriber feature ⭐️

I was privileged to attend McGill in the 1980s – a time in history when it was perfectly safe and acceptable to be Jewish there.

You see, from the 1920s through to the late 1960s, McGill had a limit or "quota" on the number of Jews that could attend. For decades, McGill also set higher grade requirements for Jews to enter the university than for non-Jews as a way to discourage their attendance.

It's 2024 and, once again, the McGill campus is not a safe and welcoming space for Jews. This breaks my heart.
—Leah Geller, B.Sc, McGill, 1985

Relevant video from Anthony Housefather interviewing students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl0RUpziwms

Speaking of Jews, even though Eden Golan’s performance was booed (at a music contest called “united for music”), even though this 20-year-old girl had a mob of 20,000 people screaming outside her hotel and would 100% kill her, and needed a convoy of 100 armed vehicles to protect her, even though the Irish witch (whom the Irish started a petition against representing them in Eurovision) refused to room next to her… She came in 5th. Even though no countries voted for her in the professional jury. She got one of the highest public votes in the history of Eurovision, including a good amount of European countries. And finished just one position above Ireland. Heh.