What We’re Talking About in Issue 0903 (March 2025)
The complete table of contents
as it appears in the March 2025 issue of Blank Spaces.
from the editor—A Case of You
shameless — In On The Clock by Arielle Friedman, a young woman in Toronto, influenced by Jordan Peterson’s ideas about success and meaning, grapples with her perceived failure to meet life’s milestones until a near-miss with egg donation forces her to confront the value of her own potential.
My Parents’ Restaurant by Selena Mercuri explores the bittersweet reality of a teenage girl caught between childhood responsibilities and independence, as she navigates life in her family’s restaurant basement while yearning for a normal adolescent experience.
Shadows of Tehran, an atmospheric true account by Dennis Stein, recounts an Iranian man’s harrowing escape from post-revolution Iran through a tense journey of forged passports, risky border crossings, and unwavering determination, ultimately finding sanctuary and building a new life in Canada in the 1980s.
flash fiction — Lilah Warren’s December 18th finds a lovesick narrator navigating city streets with a green coat, searching for someone amid the snow, the holiday crowds, and glowing streetlights.
David Halliday presents a darkly humorous tale of human pettiness and mortality in his story A Stranger in Paradise, where a drugstore blood pressure monitor becomes an unlikely battleground between two men wrestling with their own fragile mortality. The story’s wry tone cleverly masks deeper anxieties about aging, death, and the small ways we try to maintain control in an uncontrollable world.
red solo cup — Through a quartet of poems, Justin Pulice explores how cosmic bodies mirror human experiences of loss, wearing away at memories while simultaneously preserving them in light and shadow, in his poems Sun Faded, Vacancy, A Patient Breath, and That Scream.
Lori Lupul makes three offerings of poetry—The Hike,The Mountains Were Calling, and Au Revoir—tracing an emotional journey from a vibrant group hike to a mountain pilgrimage and finally a poignant farewell, weaving together themes of natural wonder and human connection with a tone that shifts from joyful observation to wistful reflection.
In Small Barns, My Car Identifies as She/Her, and Outhouse, Gerald Thibeault weaves together themes of desire, identity, and nostalgia, exploring how objects—particularly classic cars—become vessels for our longing, whether it’s for ownership, youth, or simpler times.
fiction — Dogs and Bones by Deborah Blenkhorn traces one woman’s poignant journey from self-imposed isolation to emotional liberation, as she realizes her attempts to control chaos—whether through her epileptic husband or her leashed dog—have only imprisoned her own spirit.
Shadi Rajabi offers a tense domestic drama in her story, Bonding, unfolding as an exhausted doctor returns home late to find her husband and friends sharing wine and intimate moments, revealing fractures in relationships and the weight of competing responsibilities through careful sensory details and unspoken tensions.
In Finding Banksy, a tender exploration of art, grief, and healing, by Ronald Zajac, two families separated by an ocean find unexpected connection through street art and shared trauma, as a father’s quest to humour his troubled son’s Banksy obsession leads to a transformative encounter with a young artist searching for meaning.
different strokes — Portrait of Innovation: The Unconventional Art of Cadence Edgcumbe Meet the 18-year-old artist who turned the limitations of boat life into artistic innovation, creating striking portraits using watercolours on lamination sheets. Her unique technique and fresh perspective are challenging traditional artistic boundaries and marking her as an emerging voice in Canadian art.
more than words — In her photo essay Respite, veteran journalist Susan Smith turns her seasoned editorial eye to nature photography. Through her lens, she weaves visual narratives that remind us of nature’s power to provide solace and inspiration in an increasingly developed world.
make art not war — Jamie Quinn Mader transforms their raw emotional response to political trauma from a single finger-painted work expressing collective pain and betrayal into six separate pieces that reframe anger as a catalyst for community care and radical hope in their collection Make Art; Raise Hell.
between the lines — Gail M. Murray brings us a review of The Unweaving by Canadian author, Cheryl Perisien.
write prompt challenge winner — TBD
final word — In An Old Man Dreams of His Youth, Ken Haigh asks if joy would be dimmed by the knowledge of future hardships, or whether that knowledge might make an experience even more precious.
