There are few things left that I can still derive joy from, the night bus being one of them. Whenever I can’t sleep and feel terrible about the state of all things—which is often—I remember that I can just walk out of my apartment in the middle of the night and wait at the […] More »
AI art can be fun to generate, but that doesn’t mean it’s ethical
Sarah Samuel
A picture may not be worth a thousand words anymore. Generative AI art tools like DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, which rely on artists’ existing work to generate images through textual prompts, became available to the public last year. Since then, conversations about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will render creative jobs obsolete have gripped many […] More »
What fungi taught me about connection and healing in community
Katarina Sabados
Illustration by Ashley Wong As I open the bag of mycelium, a pleasant creamy smell wafts through the air. I break off a piece and feel the smooth pores between my fingers. It’s like grazing the soft hand of a long-lost grandparent. Around 1.1 billion years ago, the animal and fungi kingdoms split from plants […] More »
A dearth of good rom-coms coming out of Hollywood is fuelling an appetite for K-drama
Zeahaa Rehman
Illustration by Koko Lee A diehard romantic, I routinely scroll through Netflix’s “New & Popular” tab looking for the next rom-com to swoon over—and often keep scrolling. This year alone, I’ve scrolled past The Royal Treatment; Love in the Villa; A Perfect Pairing; Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between; and Persuasion. The only films I […] More »
How the Bannock Babes are creating a space for Indigenous drag
Jacqueline Salomé
Photo by Cherilyn Brazeau What is colonially called Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Treaty 1 territory, might not be known for its drag scene. But as home to The Bannock Babes, one of the fiercest drag collectives in the country—and one of very few Indigenous drag troupes on this side of the border—perhaps it should be. The […] More »
The Bob’s Burgers Movie takes the baton from Nancy Drew—and it gets emotional
Jennifer Whiteford
Illustration by Paterson Hodgson At nine years old I was an under-the-covers reader. Even on nights when my parents were distracted by their cassette tapes and homemade wine, I wouldn’t risk turning on my bedside lamp after 8:30 p.m. Maybe my parents knew I was deep into the world of Nancy Drew or Encyclopedia Brown […] More »
Abbott Elementary shows us what solidarity looks like
Makda Mulatu
I have always found myself in close proximity to teachers, first as a student then later in my personal and professional circles. As a figure skating coach, I felt a kinship with teachers, even if I didn’t always understand the weight of what was being asked of them. This past year, I began watching Abbott […] More »
What And Just Like That… gets wrong about women’s friendships
Danita Steinberg
Photo by INSTAR Images / Alamy Stock Photo When it first aired over two decades ago, Sex and the City’s fantasy lay in an idyllic New York City lifestyle of affordable rent, flowing cosmopolitans, closets full of expensive designer fashion, a revolving door of attractive men for one and all, and an endless string of […] More »
Photo by Dimitri Nasrallah Dimitri Nasrallah’s Hotline (Véhicule Press) transports readers to mid-eighties Montreal when weight-loss centres were a burgeoning industry, and “body image” and “health consciousness” were terms just entering the vocabulary of self-care. Muna Heddad, a French teacher by trade, takes a job as a hotline phone operator at meal delivery company Nutri-Fort […] More »
Photos courtesy Jennifer David & Waubgeshig Rice When Jennifer David decided to start Storykeepers, a podcast that spotlights Indigenous literature, she knew Waubgeshig Rice was her only choice for a co-host. He was an experienced journalist with CBC, a published author—most recently of the bestseller Moon of the Crusted Snow (ECW Press, 2018)—and they were […] More »