Monday 6 April 2020

Highlights from Scrolling Through the Darkness

I had run out of metaphorical spoons even before COVID-19 shooed us all inside, so the first few weeks were not what I'd envisioned for A vs an Apocalypse. Instead, I, like many, spent a lot of my time on the couch or in bed, occasionally managing to function enough to answer a phone call or make a meal.

One thing that has helped me restart, and that keeps many of us engaged, or at least a bit connected still to the world, is the arts, in all its forms. I haven't made much of it in this time, but friends and family have shared their favourites, and I've watched and read and and listened, to the fluff and to the serious, and everything in between. In case it helps you, I've made some lists of writing, sites, news outlets, and access to financial supports for Canadian artists, below. As Amanda Parris says in her CBC essay:

"Artists are constantly forced to prove their value and worth to governments and voters. This lockdown should be a wake-up call to all of us who are leaning on these creatives now: arts and culture needs to be an unwavering national priority."

Stay safe and be well. Even apart, we need to be in this together.

Arts & Entertainment

I recently prattled on in a column for Write Magazine, the quarterly publication for members of The Writers' Union of Canada, about mental health in the writing community and how many of the expectations, above and beyond good writing, are magnified and intersect with other barriers to create daunting obstacles for many writers. My essay from this past winter, in Hamilton Arts & Letters' disability poetics issue, Imaginary Safe House, on bisexuality, isolation and mental illness, also feels more relevant than ever, now that we are all isolated.

If you're the kind of person who follows this blog, you probably don't lack for reading materials at home right now, but if you don't have yourself a copy of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers' Poetry yet (ed. Amber Dawn, Justin Ducharme), please read my review for Arc Poetry Magazine explaining why you should.

If you feel like you could use an evening (or afternoon, or morning, or 2 a.m.) at a poetry reading, micropublishing powerhouse rob mclennan has launched an online virtual reading series as part of his new Periodicities journal of poetry and poetics, and the amazing Tara Skurtu, from her poetry outpost in Romania, has launched the International Poetry Circle, which you can also follow on Twitter.

I was ridiculously honoured this spring to be included in the International Day of Pink's first colouring book, Colouring with Pride: 12 trans and queer Canadians you should know (PDF). Print it; colour it; read about amazing community organizers, leaders and artists like Arielle Twist, Libby Davies and Danny Ramadan; and check out each entry's "Keep learning" section.

News & Information

It's been hard to find news coverage that could be considered remotely unbiased during the pandemic, much as it was beforehand, but so far I have been impressed by coverage from the independent British newspaper The Guardian and by the English arm of Al Jazeera. Please remember to support independent media.

If you aren't tuned into the magazine's awesomeness yet, I also recommend subscribing to if you can, or at least visiting the website for, This Magazine. The bimonthly, Canadian socialist news and arts magazine has a broad range of unique, inclusive and highly relevant news, features, art coverage and opinion pieces.

I am also, in fits and starts, watching this webinar, organized by the World Bank, on Universal Basic Income as an approach to the coronavirus crisis and beyond.

Money & Help

Canadian emergency funding does exist for some Canadians, if you can get to it behind the curtain of red tape, through the Employment Insurance program and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

Writers falling between the cracks in those systems can apply to the Canadian Writers' Emergency Relief Fund, organized by the Writers' Trust of Canada, while performing artists whose tours and shows have been canceled due to the pandemic can apply to the National Arts Centre's #CanadaPerforms. If you're a creator for stage or screen, you may be able to access the CBC Creative Relief Fund.

LGBTQ2IA+ and local communities have also been coordinating funding for those not served, either yet or likely at all, by more institutional systems, particularly freelance and contract workers, artists of all kinds, sex workers, and other precariously employed workers. If you can help, or if you need money, go to:

Glad Day Lit Emergency Survival Fund

Kindspace Ottawa's Community Care emergency fund to meet short-term needs for $100 or less was at capacity at the time of this posting, but please contact them if you are able to donate so they can continue helping LGBTQ2IA+ Ottawans in need.

Also in the world of money, though admittedly less and longer-term, Access Copyright's Payback is open for this year. If you are a Canadian writer or visual artist, register your print publications from 2018 or earlier before May 31, 2020. Payments are usually distributed in November.

Crazy / Mad: my first poetry book, out spring 2024!

The start of a new year feels like the perfect time to announce my forthcoming poetry book, Crazy / Mad, will be available in spring 2024 fr...