Please, No Frozen Graveyard For Me
By Rose Willow Photos: Anthony Hutchins As another autumn approached and the otters splashed in the little cove in front of our house, and the sky turned crimson at dusk, Tony refilled our glasses with homemade blackberry wine, and brought up the subject of aging. He began by mentioning those who had left Lasqueti Island […]
Rising from the Ashes: My Journey to Quit Smoking
By Sarah Torgerson Nestled in the heart of Vancouver Island University’s Nanaimo campus is one of about a dozen designated smoking areas, where you are likely to come across a handful of generally unhappy-looking smokers wreathed in plumes of grey. I’m often among them. This mecca for the stressed-out and nicotine-addicted is where I take my […]
Is Toque a Real Word?
By Chelsea Mark “Where are you headed, and how long?” “Pullman, Washington, a week.” “Pullman?” The customs agent looked at me confused. “Yes, Pullman, it’s right on the border of Idaho—“ “I know where it is. Why?” Anyone who knew anything about Pullman had reacted in the same way when I told them my travel plans. Apparently […]
Powerful, and Stigmatized, Breeds
By Sheena Gnos Imagine walking in a park on a beautiful day. The sun is shining and you’re basking in the summer heat, minding your own business. Suddenly, from around a corner, comes a Rottweiler. He’s bounding across the grass in great leaping strides, ears back, mouth gaping wide. What do you do? Is your […]
What the hell was I thinking?
Editor’s note: This powerful account of an alcoholic binge contains graphic images and language that may be disturbing to some readers. For some, it may also provide inspiration to change. The author’s name is a pseudonym. By Jack Craig Believing even a little that I’m just like those fun people I‘ve seen drinking in television […]
The Youngest Ventriloquist in the World
By Alexandria Stuart The air in England’s West Midlands in 1907 was thick with the dust of coal fires. Once-white bedclothes, hung to dry, took on a shadowy tinge of grey. In a Birminghan home, in a spartan bedroom, the figure seated in a straight-back wooden chair towered over Ivy Johnson. The little girl stretched […]
Private Function
By Mary Fraughton I walk around the main hall, keeping carefully to the edges. When I trod on someone’s toes, I turn to apologize and nearly collide with an elderly man who is wearing nothing but a red g-string. Several feet in front of me is a massage table with another naked man lying on it. […]
Gutenberg 2.0
By Mike Calvert Ten years ago, the aspiring writer’s dream was simple. Spend two years of your life in hibernation writing a 300-hundred page novel, scrounge up a few dollars from the few friends who still knew you existed, print and mail copies of your manuscript to publishers across North America, and then pray. Pray that out […]
Hockey Night *is* Canada
By Meagan Dyer “Hockey captures the essence of Canadian experience in the New World. In a land so inescapably and inhospitably cold, hockey is the chance of life, and an affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive.” — Stephen Leacock The National Hockey League entered its third work stoppage in just […]
Hockey Night *is* Canada (Part Two)
Hockey and geopolitics meshed differently but with just as much emotion nearly three decades later, during the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. Canada had not won a tournament in 20 years, mostly because the rules prohibited NHL players from taking part. That left our energetic but definitely B-list national team to battle Soviet […]