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Summer 2024

Rebranding the ring

Pro-wrestling lays the smackdown on bigotry

Jamie Burke

Let’s start with acknowledging the obvious: pro-wrestling is “fake.” I know. The storylines are scripted. The costumes are as beautifully designed as any Broadway production’s. The match outcomes are predetermined. But that doesn’t make what happens any less real for the people who step into the ring. Some of that realness is compounded for wrestlers […] More »
Spring 2024

More than words

How Indigenous children are reclaiming their languages through immersion school

Caelan Beard

Robin had been ready to start school for a year. On the first day, she was prepared, wearing a blue dress with pink hearts and carrying a giant backpack that tugged at her mother’s heart. Robin’s parents both came to drop her off. As they left, they waved goodbye to their oldest child and called […] More »
Spring 2024

Healing journeys

Adeline Panamaroff

They’re slumped over on the seat, head almost touching the floor of the train car. The other passengers try to politely look away, avoiding sitting in their vicinity. Is the person asleep, unconscious? Possibly unhoused, with random personal items spilling out of a ripped backpack, they might need assistance. Yet no one moves to get […] More »
Spring 2024

Growing community

Neighbours are gathering across the country to seize their means of food production

Emesha Boyko

Kevin Sidlar’s garden has been a refuge for the past two decades, if not quite a major source of sustenance. For much of his adult life, he’s grown annual flowers, peas, and tomatoes in his backyard. In the early days of 2020, something shifted within Sidlar. He felt nervous about disease and the security of […] More »
Spring 2024

Battling burnout

The silent agony of a wildfire off-season

Dan Schertzer

In the middle of the 2023 fire season, A Critical Incident Stress Management counsellor came to our fire base. The season had been unprecedentedly busy, even with wildfires ramping up in recent years, and my crew in southern British Columbia had racked up more than 70 days on the fireline with no sign of it […] 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 »
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 »
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

Contingent freedom

Travel can be nearly impossible for Canadians who take methadone

Mikaela Toone

Charlotte Munro and her mom smiled for a selfie high above the frothy water of Niagara Falls. Amidst a difficult year where Munro endured both opioid withdrawal and a near-deadly infection, the weekend trip should have been a respite. But the getaway quickly turned sour because she was forced to forgo packing one essential item—her medication. […] More »
September-October 2023

Catching up to the crisis

In Montreal, harm reduction groups push for decriminalization

Madison McLauchlan

A pride flag flaps defiantly in the wind above a welcoming front porch. A basket of free naloxone kits hangs on the front door. On the wall upstairs, a poster reads “Activities to avoid dying sad/to make you happy” and lists acupuncture, bowling, and picnics. This is the home of Dopamine Montréal. Just like its […] More »
July/August 2023

Growing out of it

If others don't notice my stutter, can I really call myself a stutterer at all?

Isabel Armiento

I was walking home from the grocery store when a well-dressed man politely stopped me to ask for directions. “Could you tell me which way to Bloor and…” He struggled to get the next word out, a pained expression on his face, but I knew better than to try to finish his sentence for him. […] More »