How I Became the Fake Dean of a Fake UniversityI set my manuscript on the kitchen table and rested my hands over the title page. Still warm. The pages had preserved some copy machine radiation during the long drive back from the only printing shop still open in late March during early lockdown.… Jul 31 20July 31, 2020Article at Literary Hub
Homeland for the Holidays As a child I thought the Arabic term for Lebanon was “the Balaad.” That’s what my parents called it whenever they fondly remembered their life before Canada, before I was born. This other world, as they described it, was somehow a more difficult… Jul 29 17July 29, 2017Article at Eighteen Bridges
SchlocknadoWhat would you do if a loved one told you in a fit of terror that a stray cat literally spoke to them—opened its mouth and uttered words? Would you rush them to a hospital? If you are Susan, the oblivious mother played by Kristine DeBell in A Talking… May 25 16May 25, 2016Article at Hazlitt
Opiate for the Masses: How Fentanyl Nearly Killed My Best FriendThe first time I saw fentanyl was on a spoon, in my hand, as I stood over my friend screeching for air on my bedroom floor. Growing up together in Alberta, Tyson* and I experimented with the usual — hash, shrooms, weed — but he was always more… Apr 11 16April 11, 2016Article at Sharp Magazine
Why The NHL Has To Address Its Concussion CrisisFOLLOWING A 2012 MATCH in his hometown of Vancouver, Chicago Blackhawks defensemen Steve Montador was paid a locker-room visit by Charles Tator, a friend of his father and a leading voice in sports concussion safety who studies the brains of deceased… Nov 05 15November 05, 2015Article at Sharp Magazine
Deadmonton RisingIt was something I hadn’t seen in years: two middle-aged men standing outside an Edmonton sports bar in Oilers jerseys—smiling. It was mid-April. The team had already played its last regular-season game, which mattered little to anyone because they… Oct 14 15October 14, 2015Article at The Walrus
Ice CharadesOn one side of the street, a red swastika flag fills the window of a rundown apartment. On the other, the hulking skeleton of the Edmonton Oilers’ future home, Rogers Place. Down the block at the last remaining parking lot in sight, another red flag,… Jul 17 15July 17, 2015Article at The Walrus
Reloaded: The State of Canada's Gun CultureThe Calgary Gun Show is perhaps the only place in the country where the best answer to “do you have any firearms in the bag?” is “not yet.” Gunnies have made pilgrimage to this Easter weekend expo, the largest of its kind in Canada, for 53 years, and… Jun 23 15June 23, 2015Article at Sharp Magazine
#YEG: The Colour PurpleIf you stare at an intense yellow light long enough, the cone receptors in your eye get fatigued, lose sensitivity and temporarily leave you seeing the opposite wavelength colour – purple. This is called afterimage. It’s science. Except for when it… Jan 01 15January 01, 2015Article at Avenue Edmonton
A writer and his fiancée discover that a sexually transmitted disease has come between themMy fiancée, Janae, was splayed out on a crinkly examination table, knees high and spread, staring at fluorescent ceiling lights. I sat beside her as a nurse spun around in her chair, holding a thin hose attached to a dolly strapped with two steel… Nov 28 14November 28, 2014Article at Swerve Magazine
