top of page
ARTS & CULTURE
Documentary Review: International Students’ First 48 hours & Life After Graduation
As a Canadian student studying in the U.S., seeing a documentary following the experiences of international students in Canada—a place I’ve called home for many years—brings forth an array of feelings. It makes me wonder what it would have been like to stay in Vancouver and study at the University of British Columbia, which is so close to my home. What could I have gained, and what might I have lost?
Alaina Zhang
Jun 1
Theatre Review: Inter Alia
A live theatre play written by Suzie Miller, which premiered globally in 2025, Inter Alia follows the journey of maverick London Crown Court Judge Jessica Parks as her son is suspected of rape. Mother, wife, judge—her life is a series of transitions between these different roles, until the rape case brings reality crashing down. These identities suddenly find themselves forced to pick sides.
Alaina Zhang
Apr 7
Book Review: All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews (2014)
It’s been a really long time since I have had such a visceral reaction to a book. Around a month or so ago, a good friend of mine recommended Miriam Toews’ All My Puny Sorrows after realizing we shared the same love of books that hold the capacity to destroy their reader.
Abbigale Kernya
Feb 9
Book Reviews
Artist Spotlight
Artist Spotlight: Wing Lam Chan’s Borrowed Absurdity
“Where are you from?” A typical icebreaker question that everyone comes across. My only answer would be “Hong Kong,” since I was born and raised there. Period. However, my identity tends to be flattened in a sentence—“So you’re from China”—if the questioner is not familiar with Hong Kong’s historical dynamics or holds a political stance.
Wing Lam Chan
Jun 1
Artist Spotlight: Capsule Community
As a creative consultancy and agency, deeply passionate about and focused on climate and sustainability, we are storytellers, creatives, activists and artists who leverage our creative skills and talents to boost climate narratives, encourage sustainable systems and outcomes, and help foster stronger connections to nature and the planet.
Mikaela Brewer
Apr 7
Artist Spotlight: Feels Zine
[Q]ueer romances have far fewer representations in the media, and often the ones we do aren’t written by us, and are rooted in pain and trauma. This, for me, is a huge part of why I believe queer love stories are so important to share–because seeing ourselves represented gives those of us who don’t yet feel safe or seen a place to have their experiences reflected back and honoured.
Mikaela Brewer
Feb 9
Poet's Corner
Poet’s Corner: “The First Water Is the Body” by Natalie Diaz
When I read “The First Water Is the Body” in 2020, after Natalie Diaz’s book, Postcolonial Love Poem (in which the poem appears), won the Pulitzer Prize, my consciousness felt diverted like a river around a boulder. I struggled to grasp another poem as this one settled, alive, into my body. Perhaps it didn’t settle at all, like the settler I am in Canada. The poem helped me remember the river that I, too, already am.
Mikaela Brewer
Jun 1
Poet’s Corner: “In the chemo room, I wear mittens made of ice so I don’t lose my fingernails. But I took a risk today to write this down.” by Andrea Gibson
I’ve loved Andrea Gibson’s work for years, and was heartbroken when they passed away not long ago. I’ll always recommend spending time with my favourite poem of theirs, “What Love Is.” But today, honouring the ways the world is raising awareness about cancer throughout April and May, we’re looking at “In the chemo room, I wear mittens made of ice so I don’t lose my fingernails. But I took a risk today to write this down.”
Mikaela Brewer
Apr 7
Poet’s Corner: “Rosa Parks” by Nikki Giovanni
In 1971, Nikki Giovanni spoke with James Baldwin at length in A Dialogue (also released as a book). When I first read it, not long after she passed away in December 2024, the texture and resonance of her voice felt like double-sided sticky tape. It hasn’t left me, and sticks to what I read now. Her conviction is unparalleled not only in its power but in its grace; grace as in its dexterity of love. And for that reason alone, I struggled to choose just one poem for this essay.
Mikaela Brewer
Feb 9
Short Stories (Writers Room)
Writers Room | Pride Month for Seniors & Elders: Weeping Willow
The willow tree’s branches stroked the living room window, causing the setting sun to twinkle across Raven’s prom dress. Carefully propped on a hanger, it was hooked to the top ledge of the swinging door separating the kitchen and living room. For a moment, Grandpa Wood—as Raven always called him—blended the music of the gentle window tapping with the door’s inability to be still or closed. He was fiddling with the dress’s delicate corset back, stringing the tie through with
Mikaela Brewer
Jun 1
Writers Room | On the OSAP Cuts: Could We Have Stratified the Cold?
Dorrie sat down on the small stone bench by her plot in the community garden, running her palms over her expanded stomach. The garden was nestled into a small valley next to her old high school and city soccer field, and at 6:00 p.m., the sun set through the cool April mist that hovered above it. Dorrie closed her eyes to a cool gust of wind that swayed her long black braids across her back and shoulders.
Mikaela Brewer
Apr 7
Writers Room | ICE Murders: Lives in Slow Motion
They say that in the last seven minutes of brain activity, approaching death, a person re-experiences their whole life. Others say it’s just surges of memory and awareness. Me? I’m a writer. At least half of my life happens in my head with characters I’ve never met. But they’re the residue of not only people I’ve known, but people I’ve passed in life—on streets, at schools, in restaurants. Mothers, poets, fathers, cooks. So I say, why not?
Mikaela Brewer
Feb 9
bottom of page