Illustration by Cheryl Voisine.

At around eleven o’clock this morning, the sharp ring of the phone pierced the quiet of my apartment. My father’s aggravated voice was on the other end of the line.

“You didn’t go and block the bridge this morning, did you?’’

“No, Dad...’’

This morning at dawn, students blocked the Champlain Bridge. Again.

The last time students blocked a bridge was February 23, at the onset of Quebec’s student strike, and it was carried out in exemplary peace. Still, watching the news that night, I hadn’t been able to contain my frustration with the thoughtless handful of students who’d managed to completely shift media coverage away from the main event with their misbehaviour. Their misconduct looped over and over the news that night, and did nothing to rally sympathy from the everyday commuters stuck in their cars at rush hour ...