Hey ya

2019 was busy with getting some things in order, didn’t have much time for writing or art of any kind, but there were plenty of changes.

April: Artscape had a call out for 80 units for low-income people who are artists living in Toronto. A long time friend from my days at CIUT, Marcus Ware, alerted me to the open house. I went and applied with my CV with little hope.They received over 8000 applications for these spaces. In late September, while I hadn’t heard anything, I received a call saying the kids and I were being offered one of these units. And so in October we did and it’s been a rush and an overwhelming blessing.If you’re an artist and have a low income and struggle to make ends meet, please sign up for the Artscape waiting lists. It’s honestly the most validating and helpful development for my family and myself.Mixed housing seems to be the development here in Toronto, but I’m hoping we can build more affordable housing in the downtown core as a result of the city’s rethinking of it’s overblown love of condos. Keep a look out for developments here:

November: I got the unique opportunity through Maureen Da Silva and inPrint Collective, to collaborate on an art chapbook with best friend and wonderful artist, Jennifer Chin. We called it, ON THE MENU. The project at inPrint was called the Poetry inPrint Community. https://poetryinprintcommunity.wordpress.com/Anyone who knows Jennifer and myself, knows we love food and endurance tests, thus a project was realized and birthed.

Not much else in other news, except for a couple of things coming down the pipeline in regards to CanLit stuff and publishing (actually a kind of big thing, but for now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and keeping quiet about it). I am shopping out a new manuscript, but these days with the new home, writing, CanLit activism, and art will be a constant.
To whoever still reads this, happy new year.