family | The Walrus

An illustration of three human silhouettes on a background of blue, orange, pink and peach. The large white silhouette sits behind two other silhouettes that are orange and blue.

Memoir

Finding My Voice as My Mother Lost Hers

March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 - by Minelle Mahtani

Not long after I started my job as a radio host, my mother told me she had tongue cancer

Illustration of a detached home on a quiet residential street. In the foreground, a painter applies a roller to obscure the neighbourhood in yellow paint.

January/February 2021 / Living Rooms

How to Save the Middle Class

December 2, 2020January 29, 2021 - by Max Fawcett

Our vision of the good life is stuck in the twentieth century. It’s time to reinvent it—starting with home ownership

Illustration of a woman lying in bed in a dark room, reaching out to touch the ghost of a man standing beside it and smiling down at her. His image is two translucent poses overlaid for a ghostly effect.

January/February 2021 / Society

Why Do We See Dead People?

October 27, 2020January 29, 2021 - by Patricia Pearson

Humans have always sensed the ghosts of loved ones. It’s only in the last century that we convinced ourselves this was a problem

Illustration of baseball cards, an open notebook, a baseball, and a tumbler of amber liquid with ice.

First Person / November/December 2020

Loving Sports at Any Age

October 16, 2020January 29, 2021 - by Anne O'Hagan

Even in his eighties, my father dared the rest of us to keep up

September/October 2020 / Visual Art

Sisters: A Complicated Love Story

September 9, 2020September 10, 2020 - by Jamila Noritz Reyes

Through my photography, I explore how my siblings and I have shaped one another

Illustration of a person sitting at a table, turning his head to watch a woman in the kitchen.

First Person / September/October 2020

My Other Mother

August 20, 2020August 26, 2020 - by William Pang

My nanny helped raise me. Now it’s time for me to get to know her children

Illustration of a robed wizard, with long grey hair and a pointed hat, facing away from the viewer and standing in front of a long, twisting path that is blocked by a fiery head of a monster.

Arts & Culture / September/October 2020

How The Lord of the Rings Made Me a Better Parent

August 19, 2020October 19, 2020 - by Thomas Homer-Dixon

Tolkien’s trilogy teaches us how to stay hopeful in the face of overwhelming odds

Illustration of a woman walking across a tightrope against a royal blue background. Swirling in the air around her are various objects showing the collision of work and parenting life––paperwork, children's alphabetical building blocks, a cup of coffee, a bottle, and envelopes.

COVID-19 / Society

My Son Peed Onscreen in a Zoom Call, and Other Tales of a Working Parent

July 7, 2020July 16, 2020 - by Mihira Lakshman

In a pandemic, our economy is sending a clear message: you can either work or parent

Photograph of a young black girl sleeping at her desk in a classroom.

First Person

Race Is a Story and No Single Narrative Defines Me

April 23, 2020 - by Tessa McWatt

In a Toronto classroom, I was forced to confront how language makes one person “other” to the next

A kaleidoscopic oil painting composed of green leaves and red flower petals.

First Person / Society

Taking Hallucinogens with My Mom

April 14, 2020April 16, 2020 - by Rachel Matlow

When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, she didn’t want chemo. Instead, she tried every other potion under the sun