For poets, misery is the muse. Joy is often dismissed as too boring to depict, and indeed courting contentment has produced far fewer good poems than heartbreak or death. It can also court far fewer readers. No true-crime fan will be surprised to learn that Dante’s Inferno gets substantially more attention than his Paradiso. We crave the slog through hell, not the ascent into heaven. That truth is one of poetry’s unexpected links to journalism.
In my line of work, bad news gets top billing. And the headlines have been especially dire. Last year, when the churn of current events threatened to leave me mentally and physically spent, I asked my colleagues to count up their moments of bliss: big or small, profound or ridiculous. I wanted to see what we were shutting out of the public report of our lives. In a way, I wanted a lifeline. And I got it. The results were so moving in their enumeration of domestic wins that I decided to bring the exercise back. So here, again, are some of the things that kept us sane in 2024: some hard-won, most unbidden. May it remind you that bliss doesn’t need to be wordless. From all of us, the very best for the season.—Carmine Starnino, editor-in-chief
Carine Abouseif – Features Editor
1. Every cortado I drank this year.
2. These fancy honey mustard chips.
3. Reading Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend on the recommendation of another editor.
4. Writing my first essay after a two-year hiatus.
5. Finally getting the courage to use the newly installed bike lanes in my Etobicoke neighbourhood (even though they might be removed soon).
Ally Baker – Head of Research
1. Venue-hopping in New York City during Winter Jazzfest, and seeing Shabaka Hutchings and Carlos Niño play together live. I was standing beside Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) in the crowd—and internally fangirling.
2. Last year, I travelled to Los Angeles to see Floating Points play the entirety of his Promises album as a tribute to Pharaoh Sanders. This year, I was able to see him play his latest album, Cascade, in Paris alongside live painting artist Akiko Nakayama.
3. Okay Kaya’s album Oh My God, That’s So Me. The song “Picture This” is particularly joy-inducing: a reimagining of the myth of Sisyphus (“a health nut geologist”) from the rock’s perspective? Very rock n’ roll (pun intended). (“One must imagine the rock happy / He wants to be like his daddy, a rolling stone / Gain some speed and lose control / It’s all uphill from here.”)
4. Eating fresh tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and salt flakes in Perugia, Italy; swimming in the freezing North Sea tidal pools in Scotland; dancing until the early morning hours in Berlin—all of which I experienced with some of my oldest, dearest friends, making it truly joy-full.
5. Bringing the Truth in Journalism Project into newsrooms and classrooms across Canada and in the United States alongside my colleague and friend Viviane Fairbank. Having the opportunity to speak about editorial fact-checking and journalism ethics with so many wonderful, thoughtful people—from Georgia all the way to British Columbia—has been a great source of joy this year.
Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory – Contributing Writer
1. Celebrating my mom’s seventieth birthday in minus fifty degrees in the Rocky Mountains.
2. Watching my son compete in cross country skiing at the Arctic Winter Games, his coach running alongside him, urging him up the last hill.
3. Watching my eldest daughter all sleek and beautiful, winning every single gold medal possible in short track speed skating at the Arctic Winter Games.
4. Watching my youngest daughter quickly pick up youth slang in Greenlandic, while we travelled in the motherland.
5. Being surrounded by brilliant, intrepid, daring women, all of us doing our thing, helping each other, bearing witness.
Sheima Benembarek – Contributing Writer
1. Napping with my corgi Brigitte.
2. Becoming an aunt to my first nephew, Camil! There has to be a biological phenomenon at play here, because I have never been this in love with a baby before.
3. Teaching a journalism class (interview techniques and source relationship-building within marginalized communities) at Western University. I’m surprised at how much the students moved me with their creative and innovative work.
4. Working on a regular basis with Samia as my Walrus editor, and receiving work emails that start with Habibti.
5. Becoming a full-time freelance journalist/writer (with the financial support of my partner, of course. Let’s be real).
Rachel Browne – Contributing Writer
1. Rediscovering my love (and disdain) for the violin by taking lessons for the first time in more than fifteen years!
2. Collaborating with colleagues, old and new, around the world on exciting and challenging projects.
3. This homemade cashew milk recipe (no straining and foams very well!).
4. The documentaries A Mother Apart and Nothing Like a Dame.
5. Staying in my lane.
Hailey Choi – Chawkers Fellow
1. Standing alongside other bridesmaids at the altar and seeing my best friend walk down the aisle.
2. Visiting family in Korea for the first time in years.
3. The whirlwind of TIFF—watching so many beautiful films (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Perfumed with Mint, They Will Be Dust, and more), meeting new people in the rush lines, and finding myself five feet away from the most heavenly being that is Tilda Swinton.
4. Eating the best bánh mi I’ve ever had—in Winnipeg (so unexpected!). I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
5. Listening to the podcast Normal Gossip. And on top of that, finding out Kelsey McKinney—the host of said podcast—will be stopping by Toronto next year on her book tour.
Claire Cooper – Managing Editor
1. Roller skating for the first time in decades. (Scooter’s Roller Palace in Mississauga is a real place out of time. No helmets, no waivers, just frequent reminders to keep your knees bent for better balance.)
2. The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler. I’m obsessed! I got it as a gift, and have since gifted it to others, who all text within a week to tell me how they’ve started saving cherry pits to make a syrup, keeping bags of veggie scraps in their freezer, and jars of feta brine in their fridge.
3. A cold beer on a sunny patio in the village at Blue Mountain. It was a balm to my bruised pride (and hip) after a series of falls down a not very steep ski hill.
4. Watching the Paris Olympics over the summer. I devoured the gymnastics competitions, but the real standout was breakdancing (which I had never paid attention to before). The commentators on CBC Gem made it so much fun.
5. Experiencing the total eclipse at a park in Burlington. Expectations had been tempered because of the clouds, but they cleared just in time. I was truly awestruck.
Michelle Cyca – Contributing Writer
1. The miracle of my daughter learning to read, write, and—inevitably, I guess—use my phone to type out colourful emoji sequences and heartfelt text messages to her dad.
2. Getting back into running after almost a decade, and establishing a perfect weekend habit of long runs through the forest and along the beach with my best friend.
3. Taking a family trip to Tokyo, where my kids explored the city’s surreal and wonderful old playgrounds featuring whales, octopus, dinosaurs, robots, and rainbow arrays of slides.
4. Every burger I ate this year—and there were a lot of them—but especially the ones from the Japanese burger truck in my neighbourhood, which is always there for me when I really need it.
5. Each year has so many firsts when you have little kids, but this summer, I took my daughter to Playland to ride her first roller coaster—a dream of mine from the moment she was born, and both of us had the time of our lives.
Rose Danen – Development Officer, Annual Giving
1. Meeting my partner’s extended family in Ireland for the first time. Some people can have a major impact on your life in a very short period of time.
2. “Die With A Smile” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. Dear Bruno, every few years you seem to come out of hiding to drop the craziest masterpiece the world has ever seen. And this time with the iconic Lady Gaga? Keep doing what you’re doing.
3. Doing a boudoir photo shoot for the first time. It was a practice of self love and realizing how beautiful I am, inside and out.
4. The Red Rising book saga by Pierce Brown, my partner’s all-time favourite book series. It has re-sparked my love of reading and brought me closer to the love of my life.
5. Revisiting Yellowknife, along with the nature, the friends, and the work I’d done as a reporter that brought me so much joy the first time I visited. Sometimes it’s good to revisit your past to remind yourself who you are.
Toula Drimonis – Contributing Writer
1. Hiking Ecuador’s stunning Quilotoa volcanic lake crater, despite a vicious case of altitude sickness and a persistently bum knee.
2. Cyclamens in an old Café du Monde chicory coffee container sitting by my laptop, brightening up my day. The flowers remind me of growing up in Greece, the container takes me back to New Orleans, a city I’ll forever be enthralled by.
3. Fage Greek yogurt. Only 10 percent fat. I’ll cross international borders for it. I’m not remotely joking. My friends know to bring it back for me if they ever find themselves in a Hannaford’s in Vermont or New Hampshire.
4. My daily summertime waterfront bike rides, where I get to fall in love with Montreal all over again. The lush greenery, the Lachine Rapids, that special spot where they surf, that other special spot where I watched the total eclipse with friends, watching people walk their dogs, read their books, share a bottle of wine, fall in love. Montreal, t’es belle et je t’aime.
5. My first book, We, the Others, finally being translated into French, and my second book, Seeking Asylum: Building a Shareable World, coming into the world.
Maya ElHawary – The Walrus Editorial Fellow
1. Graduating from UBC with a tribe of supportive family and friends by my side, and after defending an honours thesis I am very proud of. From COVID-19 in my first year to the horrors in Gaza in my last, it has been a long, tough, yet incredibly rewarding journey.
2. Going on an insane solo adventure to see the Grutas Tolantongo in Mexico, and meeting the most incredible people along the way.
3. The many sunsets I watched with my partner by the beach in Egypt this summer.
4. Spending my birthday hiking the Treetop Walk in Singapore before visiting nocturnal animals in a night safari on a wildlife reserve. Oh, I also had the best laksa of my life!
5. Landing my first big girl job, with The Walrus no less!
Ariella Garmaise – Associate Editor
1. Diet Coke: In case Robert F. Kennedy Jr. actually threatens to ban it in the United States, I am stockpiling in the event that this impedes Canadian distribution.
2. Blaketheman1000: A friend took me to see a concert of his in an apartment and I am now, unbeknownst to him and in an ad hoc capacity, working as his Canadian publicist.
3. The Walrus Fall Books: We had our second annual party to celebrate The Walrus books coverage with an incredible turnout and readings from Souvankham Thammavongsa, Tomas Hachard, and Jowita Bydlowska. It was especially nice considering all the literary goings on in Toronto—the reading series Pack Animal and Oral Method, and the launch of Knopf editor Ally Shap’s new literary journal Dive Bar (to which I contributed!). Things are happening!
4. Maya Gulin’s paintings: I don’t know if my friend Maya’s art evokes in me joy per se, sometimes it’s anxiety, overwhelm, or even a sense of dread, but I am nonetheless always amazed by her work.
5. Maggie: She is nearly three years old now and technically my boyfriend’s niece, not mine. But we are common law so I am stealing aunt valour. She is the best girl ever. I heard a rumour she had been talking about me but no one could remember exactly what she said. A week later, someone was able to recall that it had been “Ariella is Jewish.”
Arthur Dennyson Hamdani – Canadian Race Relations Fellow
1. Culinary Class Wars on Netflix.
2. In the summer, I initially planned to buy myself orchids as a birthday gift, but ended up rescuing two orchids from the street. And one of them is blooming again!
3. My neighbourhood Chinese BBQ joint: Wok & Roast.
4. Kayaking on the Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin Provincial Park during a camping trip with friends (big shout out to the two loons floating about in the distance).
5. Coincidentally meeting my journalism mentor at a park, which led me to play in CBC’s softball league; and hitting the game-tying home run at the Globe’s annual softball tournament semi-finals.
Emma Mackenzie Hillier – Senior Events Manager
1. Being asked to be a maid of honour for the first time.
2. Dropping my son off for his first day of junior kindergarten this September.
3. Joining the Toronto Comedy Softball League. The ground is terrible, I fell over multiple times, but what joy to don a glove and swing a bat again.
4. Trips to Quebec and Manitoba to visit family. We’ve been slow to return to travel post-COVID, and my son hasn’t met a lot of his family. He was delighted to discover he had so many cousins (especially as an only child).
5. Drinking a really good cuppa tea in the afternoon instead of reaching for coffee. I may be a snob about it, but if you can get your hands on Fortnum & Mason’s earl grey tea, your 4 p.m. doldrums will turn around with the first whiff.
Jennifer Hollett – Executive Director
1. A packed dance floor.
2. Open streets.
3. Doechii’s performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
4. Orthopedic sneakers (I’m walking on clouds now).
5. Reading my colleagues’ delights.
Siddhesh Inamdar – Features Editor
1. Returning home, being among friends.
2. Personal bests: learning to swim, getting the full G, highway driving, badminton every week.
3. Time with my daughter: that day under the Niagara Falls; sledding for the first time; seeing her learn to swim, create art, play the piano; school dropoff and pickup every day.
4. Getting a leg up at work.
5. The possibility of new friends.
Tajja Isen – Contributing Writer
1. Visiting the Freud Museum in London.
2. Getting comfortable with hiking alone and obsessed with doing specific trails over and over.
3. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy.
4. Deciding to reorient my life more purposefully around my creative work.
5. The writing that has resulted from doing so.
Dafna Izenberg – Features Editor
1. “Want to see my cat?” said Diego Giacometti to his sculptor brother, Alberto. And then he pulled out his phone and . . . No, of course he didn’t; Alberto made this sculpture, of Diego’s cat, in 1951. I saw it in an exhibit at Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris in October, photographed it and sent it to my own cat’s dad, who loves cats and Giacometti’s work in almost equal measure.
2. Also in Paris—Boulogne, really—the baguettes at Boulangerie Délices et Compagnie, 208 Boulevard Jean Jaurès, were warm and delicious and I bought (and yes, ate) about ten of them in as many days.
3. In Toronto, the extra-hot lattés—and the people who make them—at Manic Coffee, corner College and Bathurst, improved my life and my mood each time I walked in (often to the tune of “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang).
4. “Ernst in Civilian Clothes,” by Mavis Gallant, first published in The New Yorker in 1963. I read it over and over this past summer, twice in one sitting and again the next day.
5. I attended my first Wayzgoose, the annual party Coach House Books throws in its backyard-parking lot near the University of Toronto. It was a perfect late-summer evening, with books on sale, wine on the cheap, free chips and hot dogs, lots of authors, and I even met a cat who travels the city in a knapsack and never jumps out.
Ana Luisa Ortega Juarez – Designer
1. Reuniting with my family and dog in Mexico City at the start of the year—there’s nothing like being with them again after some time apart.
2. Stumbling upon an amazing spot called the Fox Theatre, right in the neighborhood. It’s got a nostalgic vibe. I’ve had some great nights there watching movies with friends and my partner.
3. Taking the Go Train to Niagara Falls and cycling our way through the stunning landscapes all weekend.
4. Baking pan de muerto (traditional bread made for the Day of the Dead celebrations) and sharing it with friends.
5. Completing my longest bike ride to date. I made it halfway to Hamilton!
Pat Kane – Contributing Writer
1. Spending time with dad.
2. Podcast: 60 Songs That Explain the ‘90’s.
3. Podcast: A Small Voice: Conversations With Photographers.
4. KariKari Garlic Chili Crisp spicy Chilli oil.
5. Fujifilm X-T5 camera.
Arno Kopecky – Contributing Writer
1. A solo week in Berlin.
2. Pillow talk with my nine-year-old daughter.
3. Joining this group.
4. Cold-water surf at the edge of the rainforest.
5. Anna Karenina.
Samia Madwar – Senior Editor
1. That time my toddler sang “Baby Shark” at a hotel bar karaoke night.
2. Splashing around with my family in the freezing-cold Mediterranean (in January) and the even-more-freezing-cold Atlantic (in August).
3. Surprise reunions with friends and cousins I haven’t seen in years.
4. My Love Is Blind, Habibi WhatsApp discussion group (#TeamKarma, obviously).
5. Calling my parents on the morning of December 8, after we learned the Assad regime had finally fallen in Syria.
Makda Mulatu – Digital Production Manager
1. Romance novels, even the awful ones.
2. Shawarma, with extra toum, from North Edmonton institution Sunbake Pita.
3. Inhaling the salt and silt of the Atlantic while swimming with my cousins on a summer trip to the Jersey Shore.
4. Listening to archival episodes of Las Culturistas, a pop culture podcast of my (fever) dreams.
5. The delighted giggles of the young figure skaters I coach whenever I introduce myself as “Coach Mak, like Big Mac or mac ’n’ cheese.”
Rhiannon Russell – Contributing Writer
1. My dog—a source of joy every day.
2. Finishing my first fifty mile trail-running race. It feels like a dream, but it really happened.
3. A Missoni scarf I bought at a flea market in Rome. (I’m pretty sure it’s authentic.)
4. Chappell Roan.
5. A spring road trip through Alaska with my dad.
Harley Rustad – Senior Editor
1. Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. Eating waffles at night in a coastal French town with my wife, like she did as a kid. Our three-year-old’s amazement that everybody spoke French in France.
2. Building a fish pond in my backyard, “for the kids,” as I explained to my wife. Her eyes when I said that koi can live up to forty years.
3. Running my longest trail run, in Algonquin Provincial Park; fall colours; friendship.
4. Winning Gold in the Editor Grand Prix category at the National Magazine Awards, shortly after passing ten years as an editor at the magazine. Made me think back to when I first walked through the office doors as a very nervous intern.
5. My toddler’s unrelenting obsession with birds. Not the colourful or the charismatic ones. Pigeons. Seagulls. A.k.a. crap birds. Somebody has to love them, and he does.
Sophie Siew – Digital Producer
1. Hiking in Costa Rica—a nature lover’s paradise—on a biodiversity trip, where I had the chance to see sloths and toucans up close. The experience inspired me to start learning Spanish seriously. I also had a huge cucaracha (cockroach) crawl up my arm and was surprisingly okay with that.
2. Going camping for the first time with one of my best friends and successfully starting a fire—after many failed attempts. The s’mores we made that night tasted like victory.
3. Scoring front-row barricade views at Cage The Elephant’s and Young the Giant’s indie rock show in Toronto—and even catching a sweaty t-shirt from their headliner, Bakar. That night motivated me to pick up electric guitar lessons.
4. Learning how to drive. It’s been a huge boost to my self-confidence, and I can’t wait to go on solo drives once I get my first car—so I can blast the same song on repeat without weird looks from my friends and family.
5. Graduating as the top student in arts and humanities at Western University and spending an unforgettable year learning and growing at The Walrus!
Carmine Starnino – Editor in Chief
1. Impulse-buying a Palomino Matte pencil at Papeterie Nota Bene in Montreal—and loving its creamy dark stroke—helped me rediscover the joy of graphite on paper. I bought a box.
2. My wife signed up for pottery lessons, and the glazed grey or green bowls and cups she brings home are beautiful additions to the available reality of our lives.
3. I revere the old time Neapolitan crooners (Claudio Villa, Roberto Muralo), but a Spotify recommendation opened my ears to the buoyant, synth-infused Italian pop of singers like Alfa, Lazza, and Angelina Mango. My walks now feel like I’ve scored a front row seat at Eurovision.
4. A stray dragged itself to our back steps on a bitterly cold day last winter. It looked rough. We nursed her back, and Tammi—as christened by my daughter—hung around. I set out her food early in the morning, and scratch her chin, and the purring sets me right.
5. A friend offered me her downtown St. John’s home whenever she’s not using it. Flying off to a parlour-stove oasis for week-long writing retreats has been an unbelievable gift.
Monika Warzecha – Digital Editor
1. Yeti Kitchen momos.
2. Colin from Colin From Accounts.
3. A good friend moving back to Toronto after [redacted] years away.
4. Picking a random year, looking up what movies came out, and then watching a bunch of them with my partner.
5. A record-breaking year for web traffic at The Walrus.
Stephanie Watterson – TD Fellow on Disability and Inclusion
1. Publishing my first children’s book. (Such a great way to implement my education!)
2. Presenting at the Editors Canada’s national conference. A friend said to me, “this will be the start of something incredible . . . ” as he introduced me to the audience. Even though I was extremely nervous, I showed myself and everyone I am capable of presenting.
3. Visiting Powell’s Books in Portland and holding first print editions of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, as well as Tillie and the Wall. Both of these were formative to my children’s book reflections in writing and both were loved as a child.
4. Learning to love the random nature experiences in my city: a gaggle of noisy geese crossing the road, peaceful deer nibbling our grass, and watching otters play in the harbour.
5. Finding new puns to share (or torture) friends and family with. No shortage of nerdy humour in all of my lives.
