Contributors’ Notes

tatum dooley

“Story Sellers,” p. 19

“The way we interact with one another has shifted because of social media, and we’re seeing influencers at the apex of a new type of marketing where we’re all advertising to our friends. I think the question is: Why do we fall for it? The psychological aspect of that baffles and interests me. At the same time, Iwanted to peel away the layer of mystique and talk about the business side of influencer marketing.”

Tatum Dooley is a freelance writer and curator. Her writing has appeared in Canadian Art, the Globe and Mail, Lapham’s Quarterly, Artforum, and British Vogue.

M. Travis lane

“Stick,” p. 59

“In this poem, the speaker is contemplating the vitality of water. Water does what it’s going to do. If it wants to go around something, it will; if it wants to knock down a house, it will. But it always has a place to go. It has strength. It’s all of what this speaker feels she has lost. I think this is one of the glummest poems I’ve ever written.”

M. Travis Lane has published over eighteen books. In 2016, she won the Lieutenant-governor’s Award for High Achievement in English-language Literary Arts. She lives in Fredericton.

Kevin Patterson

“Anatomy of a Pandemic,” p. 28

“A public health plan to contain a viral outbreak isn’t dramatic, and it isn’t sexy, but it works. It eventually worked in 2003 with sars in Toronto. I’d like to see a more clearly articulated public health plan for coronavirus. When do we close schools? When do we cancel hockey games? When do we shut down airports? If we can stop the epidemic from overwhelming health care systems, that would be huge. But just how long can this go on without dramatically disrupting supply chains and everything else about our lives? Maybe this is an opportunity to emphasize the necessity of global cooperation and intervention.”

Kevin Patterson is a writer and a physician specializing in internal medicine. He lives on Salt Spring Island, BC.

Yasuko Thanh

“Empty Nesters,” p. 66

“When we used to keep chickens, I would sometimes take them into the house and cuddle them. My daughter was just aghast — she’d say, ‘A chicken is not a house pet. Get it out of here!’ As I explain in this story, we don’t have chickens anymore. But my boyfriend knew how much I loved those chickens and that I missed the cuddliness of them. He bought me a lovebird for Christmas. Her name’s Momo, and she’s a much better pet.”

Yasuko Thanh is a novelist and short story writer based in BC. Her bestselling memoir, Mistakes to Run With, was published last year.

Cristian fowlie

Illustrations for “The Digital Afterlife,” p. 44

“To illustrate this story, I wanted to depict where the vast data trail we generate ends up after death. The deceased person’s family is separated from that data, either by law or distance, and there’s no easy way to access it. The author calls the process of dealing with internet companies a geopolitical chess game. The grid in both images shows the digital realm, but it also captures the idea of chess, the struggle of it.”

Cristian Fowlie is an illustrator based in Burlington, Ontario. His work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Reader’s Digest, the cbc, and Maisonneuve.