While it should go without saying, allow me to open this essay by clarifying that I am not a doctor. I do have a correspondence school diploma in Adult Psychology, an expensive piece of paper I was really proud to get, and Concordia says can get me out of Psych101.

It was a chilly evening when I braved the typical November cold. I left my cozy couch to walk to a wine bar I had not yet heard of in Beaubien. I was meeting my friend, Karina. We had met in a screenwriting class six months prior and usually gathered with our other screenwriting classmates every other Tuesday for a writing group of our own.

As the temperatures hesitantly begin to rise, the Montreal literary scene is flourishing. Starting April 24th, it’s time for the annual Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival!

I believe that it's now actually Spring. Sure, I could be wrong; stranger things happen regularly. It could yet snow record amounts, but I doubt it. Flowers are blooming, grass is greening, and the air smells like life and dirt. 

“It’s impossible to live here [Pointe-Saint-Charles] and not get sucked into the culture,” says Jules Rodschat, who moved to the neighbourhood nestled in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in Montreal in 2024.

Tina Cruz is a multidisciplinary artist, comedian, and writer known for her sharp, introspective humour that skillfully explores the intersections of cultural identity, family dynamics, and personal experiences.

We talk about everything these days. Through cursory conversations and social media posts, we learn about someone's politics, preferences, the cycles of their mental reality.

When my grandmother told me the family used to be bookmakers, I thought they were publishers. Turns out, that's not at all what she meant. When Jessica Bebnek talks about bookmaking, she couldn't be more literal.

Gabrielle Lacoste is a Chilean/Belgian visual artist. Born in Zimbabwe, they moved to Santiago, Chile at the age of 3 and stayed until 19 years old. They then moved to France to study art, where they lived 1 year in Paris and 3 in Nantes. They received their undergraduate degree from Nantes' School of Fine Arts, which included a semester exchange at Bergen's Academy of Art and Design in Norway.

The nature of creativity (and creatives) has been explored and debated since they began exploring and debating concepts like that. Is creativity a gift from God? Have these people made a deal with a fiddle playing Devil? Are they simply crazy? (statistically also, but never simply). Nature vs nurture, and can it be taught at all?