I share my brother’s tomb In our time apart, I hope for his arrival funeral With guns, green grass and loud hills We spend time along rocked, blued, edges Arms as balance Mine more, yours less Legs crossed like the skies we share Mine more  Yours less I present compost as an abolitionary imaginary. Where our collective is the recognition …

Humans are Omnivores. Anatomically, we can survive on both plant and animal products, which puts us on the third trophic level of the food chain. However, unlike other species that consume other organisms to move energy through the ecosystem and survive, humans have managed to intertwine food systems with cultural systems, self, and identity. How individuals eat and talk about …

Western jurisprudence conceives of individuals as atomistic actors that operate independently and are predominantly self-interested. In turn, a legal or juristic personality is understood as an entity other than a natural being that the law deems capable of upholding the rights, duties, and liabilities of a living person. This ideology, however, is problematic because it discounts the relationships that are …

As I write this my legs crossed on the chair   my fingers tap gently on a keyboard  my lips take alternative sips of orange juice and a berry smoothie  both reminding me that neither fruit was ripe or birthed from this soil I attempt to warm my hands in my partner’s comfy sweater it’s incredible how rubbing our hands together,  …

The freezing temperature of water is zero degrees Celsius. Mercury falls below this threshold; water molecules slow and coalesce into one solid structure. Ice will not form unless there is some sort of impurity in the water: specks of soil, bubbles of air. And so, in some cases water can remain in its liquid form at such low temperatures as …

White child runs through scenic fields collecting wildflowers and stones. White child swims in the lake by her family’s cottage. She slathers sunscreen on her arms so that she doesn’t get burnt.  Black child runs through concrete playgrounds and grips metal monkey bars. Black child spins under the water of her family’s water hose. Black child inhales exhaust from streetcars …

Amazi is Kinyrwandan for Water. Amanzi is IsiXhosa and IsiZulu for Water. Ama is Cherokee for Water. Madzi is Chichewa for Water. Omi is Yoruba for Water. Dlo is Haitian Creole for Water As I write this, I remember a question my professor posed to the class, “What is your gift to the Earth?”  This was after we discussed reciprocity …

Suburbia is no home for Black children, and neither are our cities. In the suburbs, they had us isolated, ridiculed and harassed. In the cities, they grouped us together, stole our neighbourhoods, and killed our communities. 

This is a review of Disney-Pixar’s new feature film. You’ve been forewarned so proceed with caution, a reflective approach and a critical eye.

DEAR GOD,  I wonder why we’re caught in this trap. The White man is not you, and you are not a White man. So why do we see White people as so high on a sociological scale even after being freed in body? I see why mental transformation in Romans 12:2 is so important. Not conforming to this world is …

The other night, I dreamt that my family was in Pakistan.My grandmother, brought back to life, was urging me to pray.She handed me a tasbeeh and told me to show it to my grandfather,transforming my acceptance of the beaded string into a promised prayer.After some time, I settled down and tried to pray, butI couldn’t remember the words I was …

I was 12 years old when I got beaten for the first time for the sake of God.  I remember standing on the prayer mat and refusing to pray. I was probably reading on my phone, waiting for the five minutes to pass so I can go back to doing the same thing but on my bed. My mother saw …

Some of us search for a deeper meaning in life while some simply abide by a religious path or a combination of both. We share a common trust that whether or not we meet God, even if we don’t believe in such an existence, that they will protect us and guide us through a righteous path. While some choose to …

Before tarot, before astrology, before therapy, music was the only medium I found solace in. Growing up as the oldest in a family of six, it quickly became clear that I had little space truly reserved for myself. When I needed to pour everything I was holding onto, I’d rely on my diaries. But those weren’t a comfort as much …

What is common sense if not the middle ground between two different views? And what happens when that middle ground is built on the thin ice of fear?  Flashback to September 11 2001, a day I wouldn’t remember but the world would never forget. The twin towers fell and so did the idea of a middle ground. Islamophobia is not …

That was a message I got on a dating site. Someone, let’s call him Mr. Hinge, brought up the fact that I filled out the section for a cause that I care about with Race and LGBTQ2S+ rights . He then threw Bible verses at me about how homosexuality is unnatural and a sin, how LGBT+ people are going to …

“Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven” (Luke 21: 10-12).  For many religious and non-religious people alike, the unprecedented times that we are currently facing may feel like the …

Scene 1: Men are like wolves, they enjoy the night and prey on the weak The moon begs them to stop howling at it, feels a false praise  As it tries to light the way home for people like me  For gentle people, who forget stars are dead Who live in the moment, and try to forget the ones that …

When someone asks me how I identify myself I may say Canadian.This will always lead them to ask, “But where are you really from?” If I go to the generation before me, I would once again say that my mother was also born and raised in Canada.  Deeper.  I would finally explain that my grandparents are from Jamaica.  Jamaica explains …

You hop off the hover-monorail and onto the misty platform with shoulders slumped and eyes downcast. The doors slide closed behind you and the hover-monorail starts up again, floating along its path and into the distance. You are alone. Your face finally meets the sunlight. Your silver earrings shimmer in one of autumn’s first sunrises and you breathe in the …

I was five years old when I visited Ghana for the first time. I don’t remember much, but the few memories I have are strong. The smell was the first thing I remember noticing when we came off the plane. It’s a warm, tropical, almost smoky smell that’s hard to describe, but it smells like home. I remember seeing myself …

Wáwòyí had been defeated. They say that Life is mysterious and that she chooses to bless and curse on a whim. For the entirety of Wáwòyí’s life, he had only experienced curses. From birth he had been unfortunate; to bring him into this world, his mother had sacrificed her life. If Life was kind, she would have made him a …

Dear Vabereke (Elders), I am certain that I do not have to introduce myself, but I feel some formalities may be in order. I am you, all together in one form, I am Zimbabwe, but I was known by other names in your time and the time before. I must acknowledge our family ancestors, tribal ancestors, and national ancestors of …

This grief is limitless. She sees it extending endlessly into her future, she recognises it in her past. There’s a sadness she used to find impossible to explain, but now she recognizes it as this very grief. It is out of her control, a force from within that has formed into a partner she finds herself in some sick marriage …

Enter any Muslim household regardless of nationality, and you are bound to come across some representation of Islamic art. Maybe Turkish biomorphic motifs inspired by flowers on a Turkish vase in a kitchen, Moorish tessellations on ceramics varied in geometric patterns and colors in a washroom, or South and Southeast Asian symmetrical wooden Jali carvings on furniture or window screens …

In the beginning, God made Adam, then from his rib Eve, and after a couple of sins, humanity arrived at the ineffable truth that 1+1 = 2, that there is such thing as “zero”, and we no longer needed God, for we had Math, the absolute authority on “fact” and correspondingly, our reality. To my mother’s great dismay, however, I …

In stacks of one-dirham notebooks with plastic covers, Haboba keeps track of things. Accompanied by a classic CASIO calculator, scrap paper from knitting print-outs and a pen, she documents anything that can be quantified. She has kept track of her life as our family expanded in numbers and scattered across countries. At some point, the calculator became redundant. She says …

For centuries, Africans have used patterns, discovering and manipulating geometric concepts to make them symbolic systems. So, mathematics wasn’t far from being a language. They transformed abstractions into knowledge. Ideas from their human minds were then communicated in a highly artistic manner. The significant geometric patterns are visible on decorations covering architectural styles: buildings, traditional monuments, and temples.

It’s 2016, and I’ve been swindled into a math competition. I’ve always been “good” at math. The monotony of it suited me; the rote memorization of formulae and obvious pattern recognition, while anxiety- inducing in others, came to me instantly. It also meant that, once I understood something, I also didn’t care to spend an hour and a half doing …

I wonder. What purpose would I serve if I had a different religion, and if I wasn’t forced to practice the one I do? Right about now, you’re wondering too: which religion is he talking about? Is it mine? Am I forced too?! Or maybe you’re not anxious, and you’re just going to keep on reading to find out. Go …

in the beginning: there is water; the world is without form, an empty void; a hen scatters sand poured from a snail’s shell as a god watches on; life is breathed into clay figurines; the sun emerges from a mound; order unravels from chaos; a great flood recedes from the land; matter coalesces from a big bang; there comes a …

1100 years ago, a mask was created to bind Earth and the underworld together. The humans of earth and the demons of the underworld formed an agreement that the mask would be kept safe by the Sato family. Generations later, the humans and demons are at war, and a new child of the Sato family must end the war. “Hey, …

“Woah—what are you doing?! Amara, this is insane!” Kenny yells. I shush him. There’s rustling behind one of the trees, but I can’t tell which one.  It’s been following us the whole time.  It shifts behind a shrub, as if it’s trying to get a better angle. I catch the sounds it makes as it hastens itself across from us. …

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”-Alphonse Karr ＊ ＊ ＊ Somewhere is where dreamers are destined to end up, no matter how hard they try, once everything crumbles around them and they lose every single bit of hope they had left. Those dreamers are like Shawn Hastings from my grade nine math …

September 29th, 1988 – En Route to New York City “Name, Miss?”  “Alice Carlisle.” It was a beautiful train, I had to journal every detail for Amare. My brother would be expecting a spectacular story. I glanced at the old couple across from me, and imagined she was a baker, running a fabulous patisserie in New York. He was her …

“Hey, James?” Kiyoko whispered.  “Ya?” He answered.  “There’s no holiday or anything happening today right?” Kiyoko asked with confusion.  “I don’t think so… Why?” He asked.  “All the places and parking lots I passed were empty,” Kiyoko said. James was even more confused than Kiyoko hence he just woke up. He threw on his shoes to see for himself. The …

Chapter 1 I was washing  up before morning prayer when I heard, “Thirza, your kha-ver is here!” I dashed down a sleek set of stairs to find Ethan holding the door open for Tabitha. Imma and Abba were out with our handmaid to help her with the groceries. Our parents told us that when they were kids, it was a …

Part 1 Kamau & Njoroge It’s the hottest day of the summer in the east African traveller’s town of Panaka and the recent high school teacher retirees Kamau and Amani are loafing outside Mugiri’s Convenience in the scorching sun with a withered red umbrella as their only protection from its piercing rays. After their retirement at the young age of …

Tug of War is a remarkable directorial return by Amil Shivji and the first Tanzanian feature to be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Based on the award-winning Swahili book by Shafi Adam Shafi, Tug of War follows a communist revolutionary, Denge (Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika), and a woman escaping a forced marriage, Yasmin (Ikhlas Gafur Vora), in 1950’s …

Plot: ‘The Gravedigger’s wife’ is a film that revolves around Guled, a man who has been earning money as a gravedigger in order to provide for his son, Mahad, and sick wife, Nasra. As Nasra’s health declines, Guled is seen to go through many difficulties to earn money and ensure his wife’s Kidney surgery and treatment.  Review:  In his debut …

“I think you’re trying to capture the audience. Not really trying to explain every bit of what’s going on in your mind, but to make them believe in that moment that you’re going through something. And that they went through that something with you, even without words or meaning. I think the purpose is to pass a message,” says Sheila, …

Plot Summary: Beba is a documentary autobiography that peels back the layers of filmmaker Rebeca Huntt’s life and exposes all, or most of its skeletons. Huntt’s debut film explores race, class, and her ancestry authentically. She dives deep into the story of how her family came to live in New York, the wounds and tensions between family members that span …

While some films have the potential to be unappealing, others have the power and capability to be influential. “Lingui: The Scared Bonds” is the latter, a film that sheds light on the experiences of resilient Chadian women and promotes social issues that women in many communities have been battling.  Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, the film revolves around Amina (Achouackh Abakar …

PLOT:The film is the latest from Spanish director Juanjo Gimenez, whose filmography includes documentaries and short films (the idea for this film began as a short story idea). “Out of Sync” stars Marta Nieto in the lead role of an unnamed sound designer, who has to leave work after her hearing becomes out of sync. The condition starts with simple …

Plot Summary: Kamila Andini’s latest film, Yuni, is a coming-of-age story that follows the life of a teenage Indonesian girl trying to figure out who and what she wants to be. Yuni is an intelligent high-school girl with a loving family, a group of close friends, a rebellious personality and an obsession for the colour purple. Her dream to go …

Growing up, I often felt lost, endlessly searching for unfathomable answers and some kind of purpose. The question of “who am I?” would ring loudly in my head and sometimes, it still does. In my attempts to understand my own being, I would find myself stuck in cycles of denial and hesitancy, struggling to come to terms with my seemingly …

What does living a meaningful life mean? As humans, we tend to seek experiences that help determine whether we are living full and meaningful lives or not. For some, meaning can be found through professional success; for others, meaning parallels hard to define concepts such as happiness. I am in a period of my life where I am unravelling my …

The academic racial quota was a routine proceeding during my fundamental years at my all-girls high school in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. When our teacher asked students of each ethnic group to raise their hands, we obliged without a second thought.  The majority of students in each class were Malays, followed by Chinese and Indians. According to public school protocol, Eurasians …

The pandemic exhausted me mentally, physically and emotionally. There were and, in many ways, continue to be no breaks from trauma on personal, societal and ecological levels. I’d never in my life looked for peace and comfort as much as I did and continue to. At a critical moment in life, when there was so much loss and unknown, all …