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November - December 2023

Breaking the silence

Canada is severely behind in providing support for female genital mutilation/cutting survivors

Kena Shah

“It was just something to do…like getting your hair braided,” says Kayowe Mune, describing the mindset held by many communities about female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Mune, now 42, is a content creator based in Toronto and was cut when she was six years old, as part of what’s known as vacation cutting, which often happens […] More »
November - December 2023

How TV podcasts helped me regain my memory after Long COVID

Nisa Malli

When my girlfriend of six years broke up with me by text, followed by a short call, I couldn’t comprehend it. It wasn’t grief, shock, or denial. My brain, damaged from 16 months of Long COVID, couldn’t read or write, splice voices from background noise, or parse words said fast enough to react. When our friends […] More »
November - December 2023

Drink tea, eat rice, go to sleep

Sophia Savva

I like working at the konbini because it convinces me I’m good and nice. Here, I’m a secondary character. I help people feed themselves and pay their bills and send mail. I don’t get into trouble. I never take off my uniform. I even wear it to bed. The armpits of the white blouse are […] More »
November - December 2023

Something done right

How DIY music is staying alive despite Ticketmaster dominance

Rosie Long Decter

In 2016, Felix Viton Ho showed up at La Vitrola on St. Laurent in Montreal, not sure what to expect. An undergraduate looking to feel involved in something, Ho had Googled “Montreal concerts” and come across the show listing. He climbed three flights of stairs and entered the dimly lit venue to find a crowd […] More »
September-October 2023

A long trip home

If I didn't experiment with psilocybin during therapy, I may not have seen my estranged mom again

Jacqueline Salomé

My mother’s house looks like my long-repressed childhood memories. The black floral wallpaper is veiled with dust, cloaking walls yellowed by years of chain- smoked cigarettes. Everything decorative is dangerous: swords hang in place of picture frames, flanked by ominous leather ropes of unknown origin. My mother’s house feels like a castle, but one where […] More »
November - December 2023

A sober thought

After I quit drinking, I set off to find a new community. I'm still looking

Conyer Clayton

The last time I drank I was surrounded by family. I’d just returned from a solo trip to Scotland where I drank heavily every day for several weeks. When I got home I put my foot down. Okay, only on special occasions now. Every alcoholic knows this little cha-cha. A few weeks later, my partner’s […] More »
November - December 2023

Searching for solutions

Rachel Cairns frankly addresses gaps in Canadian abortion care in her new play

Dominique Gené

“How do I get an abortion?” an anxious woman asks the doctor. He responds with his own questions about her relationship status, her income and her decision to not have a child. This interaction isn’t fictitious; it’s the opening scene of Rachel Cairns’s podcast “Aborsh” and her upcoming autobiographical play, Hypothetical Baby. Her unhelpful doctor’s appointment […] More »
September-October 2023

Policy prejudice

B.C. has decriminalized some drugs, but in private institutions, different rules may apply

Nathan Bawaan

Jenna Rizvi was spending a significant chunk of their time organizing naloxone training workshops and fentanyl testing strip distribution events. But this isn’t what they do for work; they were volunteering during their first year as a student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. In the 2021/22 school year, students at UBC […] More »
September-October 2023

Wife Material

Blessing O. Nwodo

The noisy blender whirred, its blades rotating rapidly, crushing the brown beans for the steamed moi moi that Jide, her boyfriend, liked. Ogechukwu placed her hand on top to prevent it from moving as it juddered on the kitchen counter, the vibrations taking her back to a time when such electronics were forbidden at home, mainly […] More »
September-October 2023

A soft space to land

How a peer mentorship collective is helping early-career BIPOC artists

Alexa DiFrancesco

Three years ago, Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Sanaa Humayun were both working as junior employees for art centres whose staff were predominately white. Callihoo Ligtvoet is Cree, Métis, Dutch and mixed European and Humayun is Pakistani; the two friends, who co-hosted a book club together, started to talk about the isolation they felt in their respective […] More »
September-October 2023

The Beautiful After

In the ’00s, taking gobs of diet pills didn't feel like a choice. In some ways, little has changed

Rachel Ganz

It was the first day of class. I was an eighteen-year-old Broadway geek entering Syracuse University’s (SU) acting program. I spent the morning seated on the floor of “movement” class with 29 other adolescents in front of our teacher, David, a loud and upbeat SU graduate, Broadway star and self-described “hotdog”—an actor who trained with […] More »