#michelle cyca

[l-ultimo-squalo]

What’s the Point of “Pretendian” Investigations? | The Walrus

The latest revelation, about Buffy Sainte-Marie, is convincing, damning, and strikingly incomplete

Really liked this article by Cree writer and journalist Michelle Cyca. It touches on some feelings I was having regarding the recent allegations about Buffy Sainte-Marie, specifically how the story was researched and how exploitative the reveal was (even if it is likely true that Buffy faked her origins). Give it a read!

Begs some important questions- who do these investigations serve, and how do they impact Indigenous communities? Is it entertainment for shock value, or is it justice? What does justice look like?

[walrusmagazine]

In Daughter, Claudia Dey Explores the Ugly Side of the Great Literary Male

The wry, furious novel gives the overlooked daughter of an egotistical writer a voice

Women have long played supporting roles to great literary men. Tolstoy’s wife, Sophia, edited his manuscripts; Milton had his daughters transcribe parts of Paradise Lost; Véra Nabokov did everything for Vladimir and also rescued Lolita from the trash more than once. Véra and Sophia set aside their own writerly ambitions to serve their husbands; Milton exploited and neglected his daughters. Tabitha King convinced Stephen to salvage Carrie, launching his career, later enduring his habit of playing “Mambo No. 5” around the clock. Many readers would likely argue the resulting works justify their sacrifices and suffering. But Daughter, Claudia Dey’s wry, furious new novel about a dysfunctional family in thrall to their fickle patriarch, tallies the costs borne by women to produce one great literary man.

Read more at thewalrus.ca.

[walrusmagazine]

“Parents’ Rights” Rhetoric Is Rooted in Radical Conspiracy Theories

Why are federal and provincial conservative leaders echoing the talking points of QAnon?

The unfortunate truth is that parents do not always have their child’s best interests at heart, and many children are not safe at home. The majority of Canadians who suffered physical abuse as children endured it at the hands of a parent or step-parent. For all the fear mongering about predatory teachers, children are fifteen times more likely to experience sexual abuse at the hands of family members. And transgender youth report far higher rates of both physical and sexual violence compared to cisgender peers. “All these policies do is empower parents who are transphobic parents,” says Ashley. “[They’re] prejudiced parents who are going to harm their children, and [it’s] granting them a legal authority to do so.”

Read more at thewalrus.ca.

[walrusmagazine]

Ann-Marie MacDonald on Exile, Imagination, and Her New Gothic Ghost Story

The writer insists that her books have happy endings—“insofar as there is someone left to tell the tale”

Like Shakespeare, one of MacDonald’s enduring influences, she understands that readers yearn for the emotional catharsis of an utterly devastating tale. “One of the aphorisms in the theatre is less is more,” she says. “But I often joke that, actually, more is more. That’s really my credo.” More sumptuous details, more lively dialogue, and more cruel twists of fate. Fayne, her fourth novel, opens at the twilight of the Victorian era and is as richly and minutely detailed as a dollhouse. Beneath the surface, it is also a subtle meditation on gender identity and environmental degradation that feels precisely attuned to the present.

Read more at thewalrus.ca.