Whenever I worry I’m giving my boys a little too much screen time, I remember growing up on a generous diet of cartoons, comic books and video games—and I think everything turned out fine. It Feels Like a Lifetime Ago…. You see, way back when, I was the archetype of what […]
Staying on my me ████, but hated on by both sides I’m just a kid who blowing up with my father’s name And every black “you’re not black enough” Is a white “you’re all the same” — Childish Gambino, “That Power”, Camp (2011) I’m not the brother you want, […]
“You think we all Jamaican, when nuff man are Trinis Bajans, Grenadians and a hole heap of Haitians Guyanese and all of the West Indies combined To make the T dot O dot, one of a kind” — Kardinal Offishall, “BaKardi Slang”, Firestarter, Vol. 1: Quest for Fire (2000) […]
We don’t talk a lot about Black Canadian history, and that’s probably because so much of it was so horrible. We had segregation. Just look at Viola Desmond, convicted after refusing to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre in 1946. And though we shake our finger at […]
“Am I Black enough?” Blackness — More than just Melanin Those who’ve followed my podcast Chatting with Casey from its very first episode know that this isn’t the first time I’ve asked this question. If you considered the archetypal Black man you know from popular media—rocking an oversized hoodie; listening […]
Black culture is unique—one of the few cultures thrust upon a people and not developed by them. A Jamaican is not a Gambian is not an Australian Aborigine. We’ve got tribes within tribes and languages within languages but somehow lumped together by the colour of our skin. And we’ve made […]
I think it’s possible to have fun with just about anything we do. Govfest — Because We Do More Than Just Sit Behind Our Desks. Back in 2009, after jumping from the Ontario Public Service’s internship program to a contract opportunity that didn’t end so well, I started working […]
A Toronto does not a Canada make. Toronto’s Cool, But What About the REST of Canada? Ask most Torontonians what Canada means to them, and they’ll give you a perfect view that sounds very… Toronto. Busy and abundant with life. Representation from every corner of the world. It’s everything […]
Welcome to For the Love of Camping, the three-part series journeying from my family’s stance against camping to my desire to get everyone camping, so they can enjoy it as much as we do. In Part One of the series, I explained how camping didn’t fit growing up Black and suburban […]
We’re halfway through January, and before you know it February will be up close and personal and with it, all the stories of Black history we’ve waited a year to share. Black History Month is Back Again! That’s not entirely true—Black people are sharing their stories all the time, but […]