#Yearof50. Entry 6: The power of a pen

My love of writing and the free press started back in high school as part of the team that produced the Philemon Wright H.S. “PW Flash” (yours truly is front right in the black and white photo, circa 1987) alongside some wonderful peers like Stephanie Turner, Andrew Low, Kariann Picard, Lars Roberts and others. I have vivid memories of the smell of the mimeograph.

When I went to Cegep Heritage College , I and my brilliant classmates Andrew Low, Tracy Hutton, Heather Bilkes, David Clark, and many more contributed to “The Mushroom Magazine (this cover from the November 1988 issue).

Upon arriving at Queen’s, I continued to write, providing op-eds for Queen’s Journal and Queen’s Gazette, and publishing essays in the peer-reviewed Queen’s Anti-Racism Review and Queen’s Undergraduate Review.

After I graduated, I was on the board of Kingston’s Progressive Independent Community Press, where I met the awesome Damian T. Lloyd, Gord Campbell, and Renée Stephen.

I later won a short story contest care of the Kingston Arts Council, co-authored a book about Mount Everest, and published an essay in the Canadian Journal of New Scholars in Education.

My recent writing work has been an ongoing collaboration with my beloved Mark Julien, which has been enormously fulfilling and exciting. The creative journey continues.