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.
Our fiction submission reflects on a complicated past relationship which resurfaces in the most unlikely of places, like a bus stop somewhere on Barry Road. One poetry submission reflects on romantic relationships that have concluded, yet still roam about in our minds.
Our two non-fiction submissions further reflect on the self with pieces that explore responsibility, expectation, and change.
Our second poetry submission reflects on the writing process. As writers, we give birth to words and feel equally the agony and ecstasy that comes with composition. The relationship is as volatile as the changing weather, yet there is joy found in friction.
We would like to thank our talented contributors—Matteo L. Cerilli (fiction), Yuwai Brian Wong (poetry), J Q Hoidn (non-fiction), and Sophie Corbiere (poetry)—for sharing their works with us. We hope you enjoy this issue.
—Written by Lyniesha Bulze
Edited by Lisa Grieve, AEiC
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.