Life & Love

Spoiler: You’ll recognize a lot of them There’s a joke doing the rounds on Twitter at the moment, something to the effect of: “As more and more photos of celebrities emerge looking chummy with Ghislaine Maxwell, I too begin to wonder: Did I also take a picture with her and just don’t remember it?” It’s

As if 2020 couldn’t get anymore bonkers. In a year that’s already given us a global pandemic, the routine killing of Black and Indigenous people by police and an overwhelming amount of Twitter content featuring realistic objects that are actually cake, we now have a conspiracy theory involving online furniture companies and child trafficking to contend with.

In the wake of several deaths of Black and Indigenous people at the hands of the police and RCMP, protests against police brutality have sparked conversations about systemic racism, both in Canada and the U.S. What these conversations have revealed, unfortunately, is an ignorance around systemic racism, with many public officials casting their doubts about its

The first time I cried during the pandemic, I was sitting on my future in-laws’ white couch in their Manhattan apartment. My fiancé and I were watching the movie about the guy who realizes the Beatles never happened, so he pretends to be the one who wrote their songs. It’s a great concept but a

This year, celebrate with an impact louder than fireworks. Step number one: learn about the *real* history of Canada Every year on July 1, our feeds are flooded with images of fireworks, patriotic messaging, barbecues and maple leaf-themed outfits. But as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep Canadians physically distanced, the usual hoopla leading up to

As the COVID-19 crisis continues and health care practitioners attempt to divert non-essential traffic to local hospitals and clinics, U.S. residents are finding themselves up against increased hardship when it comes to accessing medical care; and women are learning just how detrimental this can be to their health and wellbeing. Christie, a mother of two,

Content warning: police violence, death. Here’s a list of BIPOC people who have died during mental health-related interactions with Canadian police in the last three months: On June 20, Ejaz Ahmed Choudry, who was 62, was shot and killed by police in his apartment in Mississauga, Ont., after police were called to “check on [his] well-being.”

I was born in Indiana, in a village so remote our closest neighbors grew popcorn. After my birth, in a snowstorm that closed interstates, my father rented a monster truck and drove across the fields to retrieve my mother and me from the hospital. I grew up one state over, in Ohio. Our town was

For anyone who still thinks that racism “isn’t an issue” in Canada, politician Jagmeet Singh—and his latest encounter in the House of Commons—is here to prove you wrong. On June 17, the leader of the NDP party was removed from the House after refusing to apologize for calling Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament Alain Therrien

The Ontario Court has appealed its ruling after a petition that circulated on Thursday garnered nearly 50,000 signatures On June 3, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in the cases of R. v. Sullivan and R. v. Chan. If that news doesn’t ring a bell, you might be more familiar with the headlines

June 5 would have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday. Would have been. On March 13, the 26-year-old EMT was killed by Louisville, KY police in her home as she slept, after they broke down her door in an attempted drug sting. (According to CNN, police said an unidentified man was shipping drugs to Taylor’s apartment to

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m not even playing the lottery,” my father Jerry P. Jackson said to my startled ears. It was the beginning of social isolation in March and he was taking every precaution against Covid-19. He had stocked up on food and wasn’t leaving his house in the Lithonia suburbs of Atlanta. I

There are two sets of sirens. One siren, sharp and constant, is punctuated by the other, which is harsh and honking and sounds like goose calls. It’s an ambulance and a fire truck, probably police. It sounds like danger. I’m listening from a hotel window, looking down from the 17th floor onto the dark, cold,

FLARE asked Black writers to share what they feel is the most pressing issue facing Black women today. This is Toronto-based writer Sharine Taylor’s response I decided to gel down my typically unruly hair. On any other day, I would have worn it in a ponytail, perched high on my head like a crown, but

From Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and more—activists around the world showed up for Black lives this weekend in solidarity with American protesters While thousands of people protested all across the United States against police brutality after the death of George Floyd—an unarmed Black man who was killed by officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis on

A 29-year-old Black woman died while Toronto police were in her home. And people are understandably outraged—and asking questions Trigger warning: This article contains references to Black grief, death and police violence. In a week that has already been rife with death and police brutality, there’s yet another hashtag trending on Twitter. Overnight on May

In January, Jennifer Carroll Foy helped end nearly 50 years of inaction on the Equal Rights Amendment by leading a push to make Virginia the final state needed to ratify the landmark women’s rights legislation to the Constitution. Today, the 38 year old freshman state delegate and criminal defense attorney took on an entirely new,

We talked to one of Canada’s leading contraception experts about Nexplanon and what this means for Canadian birth control options People around the world have been raving about their birth control implants for years—and by this fall Canadians no longer need to miss out. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecolgosists of Canada tells FLARE that

When social distancing guidelines were first introduced in the Pacific Northwest, Phoebe’s family thought she would be fine. “I’m super introverted,” she said, “I am perfectly happy at home with my cat and a book.” But the 25 year old, who, like others interviewed, requested her last name not be used in order to protect

Climate change is going to be particularly hard on women. Thankfully, they’re leading discussions about how to mitigate its impacts Climate change is going to hurt women more than men. The reasons, as outlined by the United Nations, Oxfam and others, are stark, and plentiful—including that women are more likely to live in poverty just about everywhere on earth. Women

This story was produced in partnership with The Fuller Project. Terri first realized she was pregnant in late March. She was isolating at home with her boyfriend in rural upstate New York, where she runs a housecleaning business. At 46, she was sure she didn’t want to become a 60-year-old parent to a teenager. “I

The best relationships are easy. That’s been my advice to close friends who have come to me in the midst of fights with their significant others. It always infuriates them. Yes, relationships take time and energy and selflessness, etc. but at the end of the day, I always insist, there should be ease. Now, on

This Mother’s Day will look a lot different from what we’ve come to expect. For most people, there won’t be large gatherings of family or casual hugs exchanged. Right now, it seems, keeping each other safe is the best way to celebrate. It’s an understatement to say the pandemic has reshaped how we view every

They weren’t even going to take the cruise—they were too busy. But at the last minute, Katherine Codekas and her husband Matthew Smith decided since they had already bought the tickets, they’d make the time. So on January 13, they flew to Tokyo and boarded the Diamond Princess, a two-week cruise that embarked from Yokohama,