Joseph Rosen

Joseph Rosen, writer

Joseph Rosen is a writer, teacher, and dad based in Montreal’s bagel district. His writings have appeared in The Walrus, Maisonneuve, n+1 magazine, The Montreal Gazette, Shtetl Montreal & elsewhere. He has written how men crying at the World Cup challenges our definitions of masculinity. “The Enemy Next Door” describes a year spent talking to Canadian Trump supporters. “Among the Hasidim” explores the multicultural dilemmas of living on a street with orthodox Hasidic Jews. “The Third Solitude” re-assesses myths of anti-Semitism in Quebec, and was nominated for Best Essay by the National Magazine Awards 2016.

“The Israel Taboo” addresses why it is so difficult to talk about Israel in Canada, and was nominated for Best Essay by the National Magazine Awards 2015. Rosen teaches at Dawson College in Montreal, and is an affiliated researcher at Concordia University’s Curating and Public Scholarship Lab. He has a PhD in how messed up the world is, but he hasn’t given up hope yet.

Boxed Boys Boxing — Volume 3, Issue 2

Boxed Boys Boxing showcases a powerful collection of paintings by Canadian artist Ann-Marie Brown where she explores gender-limiting stereotypes, hoping to perpetuate the conversation about envisioning and accepting a wide identity spectrum. The accompanying essay by Joseph Rosen unpacks these ideas in such a way as to challenge tradition, asking us to take the boys out of the rigid box society still tries to put them in.