Hey Firecrackers,

It’s been a hot minute since my last blog! Before I start, I wanna give a shout out to Sedina Fiati and their blog from last month. Sedina is head of our Social Justice Department; they are an incredibly kind and talented powerhouse, and I’m happy to be on this journey of change with them.

Speaking of change, let’s talk about Canada Day. In the last few months, there have been horrendous discoveries of mass grave sites found on former Residential School locations across Canada. It has brought up the ugly truth that’s been fighting for years to stay hidden and forgotten- “a thing of the past.” It isn’t in the past, the Indigenous community is still facing injustices today. Instead of celebrating Canada Day, as a community let’s celebrate and shine a light on Inidgenous voices - this past July 1st and every day. On TikTok, I follow Sherry McKay, Santee Siouxx, Diamond Dog, Shina Nova, Michelle Chubb, Tia Wood and Slappy - all are Indigenous content creators. I’m linking them so you can check out their videos! They have content ranging from decolonized historical facts to cultural traditions; videos pointing out everyday biases and/or anti-indigenous/racist terminology people may use and the injustices their communities still face today. Some of the videos are light hearted, some show the beautifully diverse nature of different Indigenous cultures, but some may make you uncomfortable. That’s ok. As a society, we need to know these things. Ignorance is no longer tolerated. Be a good ally and uplift Indigenous voices; Listen to them and reflect, and do what you can to help achieve justice and reconciliation.

While Sedina was taking over the blog, I was around doing some other Firecracker stuff. What stuff you may ask? Well, the Spring Writing Challenge of course!

This was Firecracker Department’s FIRST community writing challenge, and I can honestly say that it went super well and super smoothly. The idea had been brewing for a bit - Nadine Brito (part of the Writing Department team) had been sitting with it and brainstorming for quite some time. One day the Writing Department got together for a meeting to talk about moving forward with it, then ta da! Here we are having completed it. There were so many great stories- it was quite impressive seeing how the writers creatively used either a license plate or potato in their stories- one of the requirements was to use either objects in their 500 word written pieces.

They were fun to go through, and it was very difficult coming up with a list of our top 5. We did pick our top 5, and were able to get in contact with our winner and finalists. You can be certain when I say that this ISN’T the Writing Department’s last Writing Challenge- we have a lot more coming your way, so stay tuned while we work on it! How can you stay tuned? You can subscribe to our newsletter, follow our socials, and join our private Facebook Members group.

Aside from the Spring Writing Challenge, I’ve been up to the usual weekly Writing Burst and Sunday Brunch. Our weekly Writing Burst is picking up some steam now that we have a larger roster of moderators. Our roster consists of myself, Nadine Brito, Jessica Nesis and Lara Margaret Marjerrison. Everyone is so lovely and amazing, it’s a blast working with them and writing from their prompts.

Brunch is also picking up steam with all of the new faces I’ve been seeing. Please remember: our events are for EVERYONE. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time attending, or your hundredth time- you can sit and observe or join in on the fun, either way you’re part of our community.

Community. This last year and a bit we’ve really come to understand just how important a community is, so if you can call Firecracker Department a community you’re happy and excited to be a part of, that must mean that we’re doing something right.

I think that’s a good note to end this entry on, so I will.

End of blog call to action:

Uplift and be a good ally to the Indigenous community
Tell those special people in your life that you love and appreciate them
Have a dance party at least ONCE this week to some of your favourite songs

It was nice catching up again!

Fran 💥

Let's talk about July