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November-December 2019

A thank-you note to Gen Z D&D gamers

With appreciation for making gaming more inclusive

K. J. Aiello

Picture this: Kurt Cobain, 20-hole Doc Martens, plaid shirts, and Jurassic Park—the first one. Then there was me. I was the only girl in a 10-person Dungeons & Dragons campaign reeking of pimply closet-nerds. If this picture reminds you of something, it should. Those kids in Stranger Things are adorable, sure, but there’s something hauntingly […] More »

You harass me now, but I used to be one of you

A trans woman reflects on years in the trades and a changed relationship to the industry

Niko Stratis

[Content warning: language, violence, homophobia, transphobia] It is hard to describe the beauty of being awake early in the morning. Not lying-in-bed-hitting-snooze awake, but being out in the world. There’s something about a coffee before the world is alive, singing quietly to yourself so as not to wake anyone else. Taking the dog out for […] More »

“How do we love when all around us is hate?”

RM Vaughan interviews Natalee Caple

RM Vaughan

Natalee Caple’s gorgeous, very raw new book of poems asks a plain question for complicated times: how do we love when all around us is hate? Love in the Chthulucene (Cthulhucene)–the title refers to the world-destroying, ancient god of rage depicted in H.P. Lovecraft’s horror fiction, an apt monster to resurrect–unfolds like a confessional mixed […] More »
September-October 2019

10 things every voter should care about this election, 6-10

Mainstream media only shows us a handful of issues, but federal leaders should be held accountable to much more

Sarah Ratchford

6. Islamophobia The face of Zunera Ishaq, the niqab–wearing woman who resisted Stephen Harper’s attempted niqab ban during the citizenship oath ceremony, consumed front pages during the last federal election. A shameful amount of effort, media attention, and public resources were funnelled into this thinly veiled Islamophobia-forward campaign. Justin Trudeau condemned Harper’s agenda and promised […] More »

Why the scandal around Justin Trudeau’s racist costume hits close to home

Nedda Sarshar

In fourth grade, I brought ghormeh sabzi to school that my grandmother had cooked the night before. It wasn’t long before my white deskmate leaned over to stare at my food, and after a moment of staring, scrunched up her face and pulled away. “That looks like diarrhea,” she declared to the whole class, and […] More »
July-August 2019

Deciding Factors

The decision of whether or not to bring children into the world is always complex. Here, identity, ancestry, age, capitalism and climate change are all part of the considerations.

Thirza Cuthand

Being a Plains Cree non-binary lesbian with a non- functioning uterus makes baby-making hard. And the looming pressure of total environmental and climate collapse has made a lot of my friends choose not to have children at all. Is it selfish to bring a child into the world as it stands now? And can I […] More »
May-June 2019

A Thank-You Note to the Strangers Who Cared

Crowdfunders come together to support a church's inclusive messages

Alexa Gilmour

Dear Anonymous Crowdfunders, Until the sign vanished from our front lawn last May, I use to have “spiritual exercises of the week” there, which some of you saw on your daily commute—timely calls to action, such as: “Black History is our history. Take time to learn a new story”; or “Hold someone who grieves this […] More »
May-June 2019

Tinder is Messing With My Mental Health

This doesn't feel like romance at all

Rebecca Tucker

SUNDAY, 8:01 P.M. For five days, I revisited—with rapidly increasing frequency— the WhatsApp “last-seen” status of a man I’d met on an online-dating app. I had taken note of it at first because it was, as timestamps go, significant: Sunday, 8:01 p.m. was the exact time our most recent date had begun. At first, I […] More »

Pitch to our upcoming Election Issue!

Ideas about the upcoming election? Tell us what you've got.

Sarah Ratchford

We’re looking for pitches for our upcoming Election Issue, out this September/October. We’re looking for ideas that are unique, under-covered, and provide new perspectives. Regional representation will be considered. We’re looking for writers, both emerging and established, based anywhere in Canada. Think your idea about the upcoming election is This material? Send pitches to Tara-Michelle […] More »
March-April 2019

Surreal Life

Insta-learning, Nunavut-style

Allyson Aritcheta

Darth Vader sports blue shades and a red floral shirt as he poses in front of a coconut tree in the Instagram square. In the caption beside the Dark Lord are the words: “Qikaqtuq / He or she stays home, is off work, staying still or on holiday” Inuktitut Ilinniaqta is an online Inuktitut language-learning […] More »

State of the Art

Canadian art is about so much more than documenting our picturesque landscapes. Artists Lezli Rubin-Kunda, Sandra Rechico, and Susan Fiendel say home is where the mind is.

RM VaughanWebsite@rm_vaughan

One of the crumbliest of the many old chestnuts rotting away in Canadian art discourse is that all Canadian art is ultimately about the landscape that surrounds us. This is of course true (that’s how antique ideas last) and also very much not true, especially in an era when the digital presence of art and […] More »