herizons

In A Room of One’s Own, almost 100 years ago, Virginia Woolf introduced the notion of “the habit of freedom,” which a woman must foster in order to live a creative life. The elixir for artistic success as a woman—the time to create, the money to have space, and the entitlement to ask for permission—continues to elude us today. In her debut memoir, Women Among Monuments, Kasia Van Schaik blends her own attempt to sustain a creative life with those of several notable women artists.

On entering Mahsa Merci's studio in an old industrial building in Etobicoke, Ont., I am struck by how layered the walls are with papers tacked across every surface. Drawings in charcoal and coloured pastels are arranged next to handwritten phrases. “There is no rule but freedom” stands out among the collection. Iranian-born, Toronto-based artist Mahsa Merci sits in her studio in Etobicoke, where she paints, draws, and layers the walls with inspiration.

From Pages to People Journalism must move beyond traditional, colonial frameworks to better serve marginalized communities and fill gaps in mainstream media. Through various journalists' perspectives and Kermalli's own teaching of a University of Toronto course, the article critically assesses how Black, Indigenous, and writers of colour navigate newsrooms and classrooms, positioning feminist storytelling as a mode for decolonizing journalism.

Compelled to read this book by the water, I carried Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead across an ocean to Brazil. Like Simpson, water has shaped my political consciousness since childhood: droughts, floods, and the politics of access have always been my teachers. Water for myself and others forms our earliest understanding of power. Simpson names what many of us feel intuitively: water is never just water. It is relation, pedagogy, memory, and kin.

Abortion is healthcare, and The A Word provides a detailed overview of its global history, highlighting both the necessity of and restrictions on providing reproductive justice and care. Told through an intersectional feminist lens,this well-researched “graphic essay” as per authors Elizabeth Casillas and Higinia Garay explores the myriad ways that cis women across the globe have sought and ensured access to safe, legal abortion, often by any means necessary.

My son shyly peers into my laptop screen at the smiling woman on the video call. Nearly a decade ago, she was the first person to lay hands on him, catching his 8-pound, 9-ounce body as he slipped into her hands from between my shaking legs. In that moment, I was grateful, but didn’t yet question the privileges that shaped my entry into motherhood: the clean blanket he was wrapped in. My healthy partner’s presence next to mine. The meal we picked up on our joyful, exhausted drive home.

Ottawa’s annual Take Back the Night protest focused on speaking out against the proposed federal cuts to WAGE (the department for women and gender equality), Sept. 18. (Photos: Lanark County Interval House/Facebook) An international movement of marches and protests that advocate for women and gender-diverse peoples’ public safety, TBTN was first organized in Vancouver by the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter. Now, TBTN typically happens on the third Friday of September.

Stellar comedian and fat icon Debra DiGiovanni recently said in a heartfelt TikTok: “I feel so scared that people are waiting for me to get thin,” in reference to the increase of fat celebrities’ bodies shrinking due to the popular use of GLP-1s (like Ozempic) for weight loss. All fat people notice how some of our icons in the media, beloved for their talents as well as their generous curves and soft rolls, are dropping pounds quickly.

Art Gallery of Burlington January 31 – May 17, 2026 Phuong Nguyen When you walk into Phuong Nguyen’s solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Burlington, there is already a conversation underway—one between the history of porcelain’s contact with European imperialism and the beings that still bear its insidious impacts. Near the entrance of the gallery, a display of eighteenth-century earthenware sits under a glass case.

"There’s a special role for aunties that can make you feel safe and give you information that maybe you’re a little bit more open to receive.” This is how Candace Neumann describes the influence of her family on her work now as a doula—a European term that many communities don’t use, opting instead for the familial term “auntie.” As a Red River Métis doula, beadworker, student, sundancer, cedar bath conductor, and community helper from Treaty 1 territory, Neumann’s understanding of herself...