For Sam —

We need basic income, not welfare — Long before COVID got everyone from Thanksgiving uncles to politicians talking about universal basic income, activists and critics in Ontario have been sounding the alarm on the inadequacy of social assistance (also known as welfare) as it stands. The problems are almost as well-known as the programs themselves; the most…

Dispatches from the psychiatric ward — [Content warning: discussion of self-harm, suicide, substances, abuse, ableism, classism and transphobia] Ideation “I’m trying to figure out how to get a gun.” The Discord chat comes to life, my good friend and comrade typing their response. “I’ve seen suicidal people fade. I’ve been there myself. …

Sometimes, children teach their parents — words for… —

‘Insane’ and ‘crazy’ have got to go. — It’s 2020. A deadly pandemic is raging, causing millions to get sick and lose their employment. Families and communities are coming apart at the seams, while the police execute innocent Black people. Donald Trump may secure four more years. From Twitter to our dinner tables to anchors on the news…

An open letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford on behalf of families and educators. — Dear Ontario Premier Doug Ford, We’ve come a long way from this past spring, when you worked with the feds and Ontario factories to get production lines making PPE and wrangled Ontario’s order of N95 masks from 3M out of Trump’s kleptocratic hands. From March through the summer, Ontario families…

Ask yourself this question before hitting ‘Tweet’ — Welcome to Decentering Whiteness, a new Medium publication dedicated to critical analysis of Whiteness/White supremacy culture. Taking a seat before sending a Tweet Decentering Whiteness, a cornerstone concept in critical race theory, constitutes an essential tool in every White anti-racist activist’s toolbox. It’s not a nice-to-have, or even recommended.

Three simple actions you can take today to support the neurodiversity self-advocacy movement — Abled privilege, much like White privilege, is so pervasive as to be the norm. And instances of discrimination against neurodivergent folks and people with mental health diagnoses are often hard to detect and even harder to prove. Whether or not you or know (or don’t think you know) anyone diagnosed…

And we’re not going back to pre-pandemic poverty… Here’s how — This year, my birthday fell on the first weekend after Ontario declared a state of emergency in response to the accelerating coronavirus pandemic. My spouse and I went into our shared workplace, only for me to be let go and he furloughed. …