Help Yourself is a gesture of hospitality. Or, Help Yourself means nobody else will do it for you. Somewhere between self-help, self-doubt, and helplessness, we realise we can't do it alone. But look out for opportunistic offers. How do we open up to one another while keeping our guards up and our cards close to our chests? Buy or stream Help Yourself, my latest album on Mirlo.

Bookmarks

Interesting links I haven't had a chance to check out yet.

Recommended reading

Stuff I enjoyed and that I think you'd like, too.

Posts

Democracy Book Review

Joan Didion
In the intertwined lives of politicians, socialites, and war profiteers, the drama of family shame and petty grievances look just as large as the Vietnam war. The characters in this novel are too insulated from consequences to have a sense of purpose, and that makes it hard as a reader to be invested in their stories. Their actions are motivated by a need to run away, to reject closeness, to turn away from inconvenient truths.

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28 October 2024 Rating: 3/5

There’s Always This Year Book Review

Hanif Abdurraqib
Hanif’s signature tenderness, the way he calls us “beloved” and trusts that we as readers will reciprocate, is what sets his writing apart. Inventive in form and style, this book espouses a love for a city that seems like it wants to spit you out. It’s not a book about basketball, it’s a book about how we can pin our hopes and dreams on a rising star only to smother its light.

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20 September 2024 Rating: 5/5

Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn Book Review

Brian Merchant & Claire Evans
This collection of speculative short stories is massive in its scope, with truly divergent approaches from all the contributors. More dystopian than optimistic, they may not paint an ideal future but they try to jolt us out of sleepwalking towards the worst of it.

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23 June 2024 Rating: 4/5

The Electrical Field Book Review

Kerri Sakamoto
A mystery unfolds in the periphery as we plumb the depths of Miss Saito's loneliness, regrets, desires, and need for control. A death in her small town makes visible the cracks that her and her neighbours would have preferred to keep glossing over. It also unravels her sense of routine and comfort as the ghosts of the past come rushing back. Set against the backdrop of generational trauma stemming from the Japanese internment camps, this book wrestles to pinpoint the spot where the pain began.

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29 April 2024 Rating: 4/5

Projects

Textile Literature: Digital Storytelling Workshop

I taught a group of writers to code with HTML and CSS, the building blocks of the web. They enhanced their published stories with colour, photos, and layout customisations to create a unique immersive experience for the web. Learning the basics of web design has equipped these participants to enhance their narrative in future articles online, no matter where they are published.

https://textilekw.ca/collections/digital-storytelling-workshop

Project Mushroom

Project Mushroom started in November 2022 as a community-led effort to build a safe place on the internet that centres joy and action. We want to build a better online experience — free from harassment, free from bigotry, and one that promotes connection, mutual aid, and transformative action at this critical moment in history. I act as an organizer and one of the moderators for our Mastodon communities.

https://newsletters.projectmushroom.xyz/

Tri-City Hip Hop

Explore the places in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge that have shaped local hip-hop culture. Featuring music videos and first-hand stories from the artists themselves.

https://tricityhiphop.com

Bylines

Subscribe to your favourite Canadian writers no matter which publication they appear in.

https://bylin.es