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July-August 2018

REVIEW: New plays explore female empowerment, growth, and sexuality

Inside Catherine Hernandez's The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me

Kashi Syal

The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me Catherine Hernandez Playwrights Canada Press, $18.95 Catherine Hernandez is an award-winning author and activist who has dedicated her career to promoting, capturing, and performing the stories of women of colour. The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to The Stars That Made […]

REVIEW: New novel explores time travel and the vitality of love

Inside Thea Lim's timely debut novel, An Ocean of Minutes

Chimedum Ohaegbu

An Ocean of Minutes By Thea Lim Viking, $24.95 In Thea Lim’s An Ocean of Minutes, Polly Nader time-travels to the future to work off medical debts for her boyfriend, Frank, who needs a life-saving treatment. She plans to reunite with him after her work as a bonded labourer is done. However, Polly is rerouted […]

What the #MeToo movement hasn’t said about mental health and sexual assault

The movement has largely focused on male entitlement and toxic masculinity. But failing to discuss, support, and connect the patriarchy-endorsed violence against women with its long-term mental health effects is problematic

Lori Fox

When Krista Dale was 11 years old, she awoke from a sleepwalking episode to find her stepfather on the couch next to her. “He was trying to have sex with me,” she remembers, 18 years after the incident. “I freaked out.” She ran to the bathroom, locked herself in, and began yelling for her mother, […]

REVIEW: New novel takes an auto-fictional dive into the life of a Toronto millennial

Inside Sludge Utopia by Catherine Fatima

Maria Siassina

Sludge Utopia By Catherine Fatima Book*hug, $20.00 In Sludge Utopia, Catherine Fatima captivates readers with an auto-fictional take of a woman’s journey discovering her place within the world’s definition of love and desire. Protagonist Catherine’s life seems typical of millennial Torontonians—studying, pursuing romances, and trying to keep grounded while maintaining friendships and social networks. However, […]

New Ottawa exhibit offers a peek into Canadian children’s pasts

Inside A Little History, at the Canadian Museum of History

Allyson Aritcheta

A freestanding wall decorated with blue motifs frames a glass case. Inside the case sits a brooch inscribed with a person’s name and dates of birth and death. On the other side of the wall, the front of the brooch is exposed: a portrait of a little girl, Alice Walker, the daughter of Canadian artist […]

This art series is a post-capitalist fantasy

Artist Dana Prieto seeks to hold Canadian mining executives accountable for extractivism in Argentina

Jillian Morgan

Glazed in black, the beauty of Dana Prieto’s hand-crafted ceramic vessels forces the viewer’s attention—but what they wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance is that the artwork may contain traces of arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. Prieto, an Argentine visual artist based in Toronto, describes the vessels as an “inhospitable gift,” made with soil from […]

Now Your Son is Mine

New short fiction by Madhur Anand

Madhur Anand

You still didn’t feel comfortable drinking in front of your parents. You texted “bless you” to Vikas, as he received your drink from Sumeet Uncle at the open but not self-serve bar. You then said the same words out loud when the cold glass met your sweaty palms. Vikas was your best friend and a […]

REVIEW: New novel showcases strong, ambitious female characters in the entertainment industry

Inside Kim Moritsugu's seventh novel, The Showrunner

Stephanie Milliken

The Showrunner By Kim Moritsugu Dundurn Press, $17.99 In Kim Moritsugu’s seventh novel, she introduces us to three fearless, ambitious women who will do just about anything to stay relevant in a capricious industry. The dialogue between the characters is quick, playful, and biting, and Moritsugu has a knack for making a story feel like […]

Kreuzberg

New poetry by Jake Byrne

Jake Byrne

The blond Australian’s jaw is clenched in ecstasy. His jaw is clenched as if to say I’m having so much fun you can see it in my face. With a kshink! I pass my retractable claws right through his thorax. He hugs me and his staleness is battery acid. Cultural capital is the only capital. […]

Tracking Canada’s investments in mental health initiatives over the past year

A look at care, from coast to coast to coast

Sohini Bhattacharya

For the first time in the history of Canadian mental health, in 2017, the federal government announced an investment of $5 billion to improve access to nationwide services. The lump sum, which is part of the government’s Health Accord with the provinces and territories, is slated to roll out over the next 10 years. Mental […]

EXCERPT: Remembering the Sixties Scoop

Inside Ohpikiihaakan-ohpimeh (Raised Somewhere Else) by Colleen Cardinal

Colleen Cardinal

In this excerpt, Colleen Cardinal tells her story of being a child of the Sixties Scoop when she and 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their homes to be placed in foster care or were adopted. There was a huge disparity between how us girls and our adoptive brother were treated. As a […]