Life is a series of choices falling into and out of our grasp—a powerful collection of possibilities. The pieces in this issue grapple with the choices that define our lives and remind us that the ability to choose is a privilege that may not extend to death and beyond.
What does it mean to be human? Is it defined by our imminent mortality? Our ability to feel deeply and think curiously? Or is it rooted in the connections we form (and sever) with the world, people, and things around us? Our submissions shed light on these complicated questions. Hello Dunja!
What is memory? It is found through our intimacy with the everyday objects we come to know and hold dear. Memories are found through the actions we take to re-create and forbid them. We find memories within the people, places, and things that are no longer there. Our submissions remind us of finding the meaning in the minutiae.
Love is a universal feeling commonly associated with happiness, bliss, and overwhelming optimism; however, in reality it is far more complex. This issue of Inventio explores the darker sides of love and seeks to challenge our preconceived notions by daring to ask, is love always a positive emotion?
It seems fitting that this issue of Inventio shares similar themes of reflection with the PWSA’s symposium topic of Metanoia, which encourages seizing the potential for transformation within experiences of regret. There is much to reflect on in this issue: oneself, one’s relationship with others, and—because we are professional writing students—one’s relationship with words.
We would like to begin by acknowledging the Indigenous Peoples of all the lands that we are on today. While we meet today on a virtual platform, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge the importance of the lands, on which we each call home. We do this to reaffirm our commitment and responsibility in improving relationships between nations and to improve our own understanding of local Indigenous peoples and their cultures.
York University’s land acknowledgement may not represent the territory that you are currently on, and we would ask that if this is the case, you take responsibility to acknowledge the traditional territory that you are on and its current treaty holders.
York University acknowledges its presence on the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations. The area known as Tkaronto has been care taken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Huron-Wendat. It is now home to many First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities.
We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region.
From coast to coast to coast, we acknowledge the ancestral and unceded territory of all the Inuit, Métis, and First Nations people that call this land home. Please join us in a moment of reflection to acknowledge the effect of residential schools and colonialism on Indigenous families and communities and to consider how it is our collective responsibility to recognize colonial and arrivant histories and present-day implications in order to honour, protect, and sustain this land.
In recognizing that these spaces occupy colonized First Nations territories and out of respect for the rights of the Indigenous people, please look for, in your own way, to engage in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.