Editorial Note, Issue 41

Resilience resonates differently with each of our contributors and their works; it will likely for you as well. We hope that you join us in diving into these pieces of pain and joy, anguish and aspiration, as we each reflect on our histories, our futures, and our resilience. Read more →

Editor’s Note: Issue 39

When I originally chose this issue’s “Anxiety” theme, I had been reading Matt Haig’s insightful book Notes on a Nervous Planet which does a wonderful job of linking anxiety with the state of the modern world. I had been thinking about how there had been growing collective anxiety surrounding climate change, racial and social injustice, and political division. I had wanted people to consider what anxiety meant to them. I felt the idea and the experience of anxiety was open enough to allow a blank canvas for writers and artists to project their creativity onto and I was eager to see what they would come up with.

That was pre-COVID-19. “These are strange times, friends.” Those were the words I started my editorial off with in our last issue of carte blanche back in March 2020. Six months later and we seem to be reliving an anxious Groundhog Day-esque loop where we wake up and gaze outside, only to be disappointed that we continue to be in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic.

Here in Quebec, while many schools, theatres, restaurants, and businesses have reopened, as of September 21st, according to the province’s public health director, Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec is entering a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us find ourselves working and learning remotely from home. Friends and families are missing each other’s touch and company. Many workers in our communities continue to go to work and provide essential services to keep us healthy and safe. So, with infection rates climbing, a lockdown seems imminent.

It goes without saying that we are currently facing much more anxiety and uncertainty about what comes next. I am grateful that writers and artists, like those featured in this Issue 39, have channeled this pervasive anxiety into art. Read more →

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“The Ghost” by Paterson Hodgson Read more →