Franziska Barczyk

Against a green backdrop with multi-coloured splotches of yellow, purple and orange, a curly white line connects the black-and-white, cropped photos of one man's eyes and nose to another's nose and mouth. There's a question mark on one man's face.

December 2024 / Memoir

How to Talk to People When You Live Alone

October 11, 2024October 11, 2024 - by Franziska Barczyk

“Once it became apparent how underused my voice was by noon, I couldn’t stop noticing”

An illustration of a woman looking at an outstretched hand holding a gold watch in the middle of rummaging through a drawer. In the background is a body lying on the floor beside a table with a bottle of champagne and a champagne flute on top of it.

Fiction / January/February 2024

The Last Vacation

January 5, 2024January 4, 2024 - by Franziska Barczyk

The face of the con was always someone who embodied the fashion of the time—a slob, a genius, or finally, a charismatic dum-dum

A collage of different facial features inside an outline of a house, with speech bubbles, eyes, lips and boots illustrated over it.

Arts & Culture / May 2023

I’m Not Here to Make Friends, Eh: Big Brother Canada Turned Backstabbing into Art

March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 - by Franziska Barczyk

Why the spinoff became a hit when so many other Canadian reality TV shows failed

A hand with its fingers crossed accompanied by text that reads, "Please make the playoffs or I snip a toe a fan."

Sports

The Team, the Fan, and the Severed Toes

June 23, 2021February 16, 2023 - by Franziska Barczyk

What’s a person to do when their team loses year after year? For one diehard fan, it meant chopping digits

Psychedelic-style illustration of a man wearing a white coat and large goggles to protect his eyes. In the goggles' reflection, we see two hands pouring brightly-coloured material from one into the other. His hair is a spectrum of brightly-coloured waves.

Health / May 2020

Why It’s So Hard to Legalize Recreational Drugs

April 28, 2020September 15, 2023 - by Franziska Barczyk

Scientists believe that newly invented psychoactive substances might have untapped health benefits. Too bad none of us will ever get to try them

A pair of hands holding a fragment of a face and a mask

Politics / September 2018

Even Radical Extremists Deserve a Second Chance

September 11, 2018March 31, 2020 - by Franziska Barczyk

How a Montreal group is working to defuse the rage that fuels extremism

Politics

Punching Nazis Won’t End Fascism

October 17, 2017April 3, 2020 - by Franziska Barczyk

Antifa argues that violence is necessary, but a rigorous democracy is a far stronger weapon

Environment

The Case against Eating Fish

March 31, 2017September 29, 2023 - by Franziska Barczyk

As a biologist, I know what can happen to seafood before it ends up on our plates. That’s why it’s not on mine

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The Team, the Fan, and the Severed Toes

Why It’s So Hard to Legalize Recreational Drugs

Even Radical Extremists Deserve a Second Chance

Punching Nazis Won’t End Fascism

The Case against Eating Fish

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Fund the journalism that helps you make informed decisions. Fund The Walrus.