This water timer on my shower wall was given to me by a friendly young volunteer at the Waterloo Region tent at my local farmer’s market this past summer. It’s a simple blue octagon bisected with a small hourglass; the top reads STOP IN TIME in white block letters, and the bottom features the Region’s brand image. It came with a rubber suction cup so I could stick it to the wall of my shower, able to view it easily when showering. It is my nemesis.
Category: Life
Surviving the Wilds of the Panhandle: an expression of queer futurity in (spite of) the present world
Earlier this summer, the curator of The Art Gallery at University of West Florida commissioned a text from me to accompany the ceramic art exhibit of Justin Quaid Grubb. Here’s the catalogue with my essay, in all its glory.
The new hawtness
Listening to the latest “What on Earth?” podcast episode from CBC and, among other things, they are discussing the heat dome that killed upwards of 600 people in British Columbia in summer 2021. The heat dome also extended east over Alberta, and amiskwaciwâskahikan (where I was living at the time) was in its grips for…
dread is a luxury emotion
and i am privileged af to feel it, but i don’t know that i’ve felt its sharp edge since before the accident. yes, with the pandemic came a certain generalized existential anxiety that the whole world shared in, and certainly the rise of crypto-fascism coupled with accelerating climate breakdown has been an ever-present fear these…
Deaths
This weekend I’m going to visit with family, and visit my Beppe’s grave for the first time since she passed away in March 2021.
Dark night of the soul
It’s Good Friday, so I feel this is an appropriate theme for the day. From the category description: “In religious circles, the phrase “dark night of the soul” indicates a stretch of time (not necessarily a single night; it can be much longer) when one is undergoing a crisis of faith and feeling utterly abandoned….
On consuming (animal products) ethically
But the reasons are inconsequential and frankly nobody’s business. It is a process, and a long one, dependent on so many factors. However, I am a firm advocate for the power of the small actions of the many: too often we are seduced by the myth of the Perfect Individual, the zero-waste, vegan hero who lives a completely sustainable and unproblematic life in harmony with the world around them. This person is a fairy-tale, but I’m such a sucker for stories; I, like Mulder, Want To Believe.
sometimes i want a dictator – personal reflections on toxic love of authority
The fact is, I like authority when it is presented nicely, neatly, wrapped up in the language of theory, of kindness, of neoliberal promises of rest. I automatically critique and reject information that is presented to me too abruptly; I harbour resentment of bald facts presented baldly, mostly because they are presented to me as: here, do the work of understanding this thing. Tax your already tired brain more.
What to do with waste?
tl;dr is that it really depends on where you live as to what zero waste products are available and what end-of-life recycling and disposable programs there are for the region. I’m not unaware of the problems of plastic. I’m also not unaware of the fact that the problem is generated by multibillion dollar companies and…
Some thoughts on grief
I think it can make people angry. I think sometimes, I might also have anger that comes from grief, bubbling under the surface. Despair seems to lead very easily towards frustration and anger at the situation. I think if anger is galvanizing and directed in the right ways, it can be very healthy. I do…