Help Yourself

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.

Projects

One Million Neighbours

Co-creating a vision for an inclusive, resilient, and abundant future led by non-profits and community groups.

https://onemillionneighbours.ca/

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

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

Gaukel Block

In September 2019, Gaukel Street in downtown Kitchener was transformed into a fun pop-up park. Now, working with a group of downtown community members, neighbourhood associations, businesses, and city staff, we have achieved a long-term plan for redesigning Gaukel St. as a pedestrian-first urban park.

https://gaukel.ca

Posts

Moonbound Book Review

Robin Sloan
In a future 11,000 years from now, the most impressive technology doesn't come from silicon and software; rather, it comes from evolutionary leaps and a humanity that integrates itself with the natural world in weird and wonderful ways. On a technical level, one of the most impressive aspects of this novel is how Sloan presents two different characters who happen to share the same body — truly inventive. The *Sourdough* easter eggs are fun too.

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15 Jul 2025 Rating: 5/5

Object Lessons: The Art of the Short Story Book Review

The Paris Review
A buffet in the best way, this collection of short stories surprised, challenged and delighted me. I'm coming away from this book with an expanded view of what a story can be, even if all of them weren't quite my cup of tea.

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12 Jun 2025 Rating: 4/5

Pirate Enlightenment, or The Real Libertalia Book Review

David Graeber
A retelling of the "golden age" of pirates (think treasure chests and long-bearded captains) that brings a new perspective by criticially analyzing what source material remains from that time. Graeber argues that Enlightenment ideals were shaped in places far away from Europe, whether on pirate ships that had elements of democratic governance, mixed with a culture of sexual liberation and women's empowerment on the island of Madagascar. For much of the book, he painstakingly pieces together documents from less-than-reliable narrators to uncover how pirate culture influenced Malagasy society and vice-versa. The story gets lost in the weeds, but there's enough substance here to make it worthwhile.

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19 Apr 2025 Rating: 3/5

Utopia Book Review

Heidi Sopinka
A searing story of meaning-making and surviving in spite of unfair circumstances, *Utopia* follows feminist artists in 70s LA trying to break free from expectations and find purpose on their own terms. Interspersed with journal entries and flashbacks, this novel collapses the distance between past and present as a mystery slowly unravels. It's about the ways in which we can become closer with someone after they've left us. The language is vivid and arresting at a line level, with short chapters that keep changing focus.

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9 Feb 2025 Rating: 5/5

Recommended reading

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Bookmarks

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