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May-June 2019

Death of the Rom-Com

Has messy love on screen killed the rom-com? We sure hope so.

Lisa Whittington-Hill

I blame John Hughes for my great sleepover shutout of 1984. It was a Betamax copy of his teen romantic comedy Sixteen Candles that was my downfall. While my friends clapped their hands and cheered at the final scene that brings together Samantha Baker and Jake Ryan, I was silent. I just couldn’t buy it. […]

Turn Me On

Polyamorous Podcasters on Living Without Fear

Jillian Morgan

An average day for married couple Jeremie Saunders and Bryde MacLean might include dates with their respective partners, an interview with a camgirl, or conversations about orgasm scavenger hunts. Nothing’s off the table for the Halifax-based co-hosts of the Turn Me On podcast, a series on sex, in all its fun and messy forms. In […]

My Mother Gave My Boyfriend a Handwriting Test

Handwriting never lies, but sometimes boyfriends do

Julie Matlin

His hand slid underneath my sweater, then rested on my bare waist. We locked eyes and my breath caught. I was leaning up against the wall in the narrow hallway of my one-bedroom apartment. He was so close, with his other hand against the wall beside my head. Both my palms were pressed firmly against […]

Get Naked and Spell

Strip Spelling Bees Make the Cerebral Sexy

Sherwin Tija

“Do earrings count as clothing?” asked a brunette contestant, decked out in multiple sweaters. “They’re not on the list.” It was the very first Strip Spelling Bee I’d organized and we were already running into problems. “And,” she continued coyly, “if so, do they count as two items?” She tapped the dangling emerald drops, and the […]

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 […]

Black Daddies Club

How barbershop meet-ups and hikes are helping Black men reclaim fatherhood

Angelyn Francis

I can’t count how many of my childhood Saturdays included a trip to the barbershop, so my brother could get a haircut. Each trip included a long wait and a whole lot of people locked in Patois-filled debate. So I get why Brandon Hay chose barbershops early on as a venue for the organization he […]

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 […]