I had never met Matthieu prior to this interview. One of his photos had shown up while I was browsing the Sweets From The Earth (a North York-based vegan bakery) tag, @sftebakery, on Instagram. Other hashtags beneath the photo read #vegan and #YorkU. Both of those hashtags applied to me too. And my intrigue eventually led me here.
Q: What are you studying?
A: Philosophy, with a focus on ethics and human nature. āAnd how they donāt work together,ā he adds.
Q: Which year are you in?
A: Only counting the active years at York, fifth or sixth year.
Q: Based on your Instagram, you clearly have a passion for fitness. Have you always?
A: I love food and have a horrible sweet tooth and I was told by my doctor a few year ago that Iām at risk for early onset diabetes. And my dad has diabetes. If it wasnāt for my Jiu Jitsu classes in high school, I would have absolutely been overweight.ā He says that he used to eat a 4-serving box of KD for lunch. āIām finding that the older I get, the more into fitness Iām becoming.ā Matthieu has been working for York Security for 8 years. āI didnāt have an interest in policing until I did this job for a few yearsā¦ I always wanted to be that guy at the gym getting strong.ā
Q: How do you feel about York?
A: āFor me York has just been everything–itās my home, itās my school, itās my gym, itās my Second Cup, itās my pubs I go toā¦ but at the same time, it doesnāt feel like home. [Iāve] never been completely comfortable here.ā He says in terms of both work and as a student, he canāt help but feel unimportant. āAs a student, the moments of disrespect that I have felt have been the most intense at this institution.ā During his first year, Matthieuās cousin was assaulted, his girlfriend dumped him, and a severe allergic reaction landed him in the hospital. His grade point average dropped and he was put on academic probation. By explaining his situation and bringing in examples of work which he had excelled in, he tried to challenge it. āIād clearly demonstrated my qualificationsā¦ they said no, you canāt come back.ā He was told that he had to earn his way back. His internal reaction to the situation was, ātime is a resource and youāre wasting mine. York is just so cold with their relationship with their studentsā¦ [it] has felt that way for a long time.ā
Q: Do you have any advice for other people who are dealing with a poor university experience?
A: āFind one thing outside of here. If you have an interest in something, even if the availability is right here, I feel like York is a bit of a trapā¦ thereās so much out there beyond this huge school. Pick something [and] do it off campus.ā
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā His elementary and high school rings
Q: How do you spend your free time?
A: Working, working out, and studying. This is because he had time-management issues when he first got to York, so now heās trying to just focus as much as he can. āAfter having gotten out of an almost 4-year relationship, I tried dating for the last month and I think I hated it. I think itās terrible. Between being super busy and on a night schedule for two weeks out of the month and being vegan, I donāt think itās gonna work. I think itās pretty much impossible.ā
Q: What is your favourite place to hang out on campus?
A: āSecond cup hands down. [Itās] my favourite place for coffee and the only place I like to go regularly. I spend way too much time at Dynamacs. When I found out they had a sauna– a workout will happily take 3 hours on a day off.ā
Q: There are others gyms? I thought it was just Tate.
A: There are 4 gyms on campus: 1. Tate, which is packed; 2. The Track and Field Centre, which has the worst hours and constant track meets for an outside of York institution just renting our property; 3. Seneca, which is gorgeous and Matthieu loves it; 4. Dynamacs, which is cheap and unofficially open 24 hours.
Q: Do you feel like there are enough vegan food options on campus?
A: āGod noā¦ I pretty much cook for myself as much as I possibly can.ā
āSo after this [interview], Iām going to go to work, I just had 3 hours of lecture, had 5 hours of sleepā¦ Iāve had no time to cook today. So my breakfast was a smoothie, my lunch was another smoothie, coffee just to keep me going, and then after that Iāll probably end up going to like Z-Teca and getting a tofu burrito bowl. But thatāll be like my 3rd or 4th one this week because thereās nothing else.ā I confirm for him that Hero Burger is vegan.
Q: How long have you been vegan?
A: āIāve only been vegan for 2 years. [I realized] I canāt change the world, [but] Iām gonna change myself.ā He used to be the guy that would eat two steaks just because he could, and count bones on a plate as a measure of masculinity.
āThe day that I told my coworkers that I had decided to make this change, [one guy] asked how I would feel about the fact that, that weekend he had gone to a farm and killed his own goat.ā Matthieu asked how the co-worker killed the goat. āāWell I shot it in the face.ā Even if you donāt agree with me, you know that what youāre doing is inherently cruel. How does that then become this acceptable thing?… [a] Jewish fiction-writer wrote a book about eating animals [and] one point he makes is that if someone claims to love animals and eats meat, give them this recipe for dog soup.ā Itās essentially telling someone to make their soup with their pet dog because itās basically the same as them cooking another animal. āYou start to realize barriers that we put up arbitrarily [and that] distinction isnāt just there other than because we decided so.ā
He adds that āthe hardest thing about being vegan isnāt food, itās the peopleādealing with that constant never-ending critique.ā
Q: Is there a particular way you want to be portrayed in the article?
A: āI donāt know, as the humble philosopher warrior? I donāt know.ā