I've been a canoe instructor, camp counselor, volunteer worker, house painter, inept waitress, receptionist, freelance writer, writing instructor, ESL instructor, drama mentor, director of plays, elementary school teacher, mother, and a social justice and environmental activist.

I suppose I'm still all of those things.

My first breakthrough came when I won the grade 8 Writing Award for grade 8. The English teacher must have been amazed by my six-page poem dedicated to Bobby Orr. (Mr. Orr never replied.)

Later, I wrote articles for parenting magazines as I muddled through a few happy, hazy years with three children. ("Today's Parent" and "Canadian Living".)

Recently, my short stories have been published in the Imagine 2200: Climate FIction for Future Ancestors (Grist/Fix Magazine. "Benni and Shiya..."), Alluvian Journal, Flyway Journal, Alium Journal, The New Quarterly, The Yale Review Online, The Penmen Review, Feminine Collective, The Dalhousie Review, The Antigonish Review, Room, Toasted Cheese, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Everyday Fiction and others. Lately, my sci fi stories have appeared in Tesseracts 21 (Edge Publishing) and inGlass, Gardens & Solarpunk Summers and “Glass and Garden, Solarpunk Winters” (World Weaver Press) , as well as “Solarpunk: Dalla disperazione alla strategia” (Future Fiction), all available for order from the publishers or online. Another is forthcoming in "Solarpunk Creatures."

I think that a well-written story should move you, and perhaps, wake you up a morsel.

I'm also the proud Director of "Youth Imagine the Future--a Festival of Writing & Art", held across a large chunk of Eastern Ontario, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee territory. The art and stories that the youth, grades 7-12, created were dazzling last year. Excited to see this year's batch! Please check the website: Youthimaginethefuture.com

Why not run a similar sort of festival in your region, or at your college or university? Climate Anxiety and Climate Depression are growing among young people. A festival like this helps to turn folx toward positive, realistic solutions. We know the problems caused by the Climate Crisis. We don't need any more dystopias. We need to see how different solutions might help us to have a better future.