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In the fall, my friend and I bought tickets to go see Othello on Broadway, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. I had paid for a hotel room and everything.

Then Americans re-elected an unhinged serial rapist and con man to lead their country, one who had supported a violent failed coup against his country when he lost in 2020. Gone were the adults in the room of his first term to curtail his worst impulses.

He, empowered by a sycophantic Republican Party and media apparatus, slid the nation into the beginnings of authoritarianism. This new regime has now repeatedly threatened to annex Canada, is in the early stages of trying to annex Greenland, and is abducting people off the streets for writing critical op eds. Visiting Canadians have been detained in camps for weeks on end without explanation.

On top of all that is the treatment of trans people, a favourite punching bag of the right. The administration introduced edict after edict to purge trans people from society. Among them was a ban on issuing visas to trans foreigners. A Canadian musician had to cancel his US tour because of it. Trans Americans wishing to travel abroad for their part are also being targeted by the US government over their passports.

So, with everything going on, I have cancelled my vacation to the United States. I will spend those thousands of dollars in Canada instead. I’m not alone: 54% of Canadians no longer feel welcome in the United States, with 52% agreeing that it is no longer safe for all Canadians to visit the country.

I would love to go back one day, but it’s unlikely to be in the next four years.

I’m writing the first draft of my latest attempt at a novel on a typewriter.

I’m not alone in adopting old tech; as a millennial I watched the popularization of vinyl records and mechanical watches. Whether for nostalgia or as statement pieces, there’s always been people interested in the obsolete.

But I’ve also noticed an increasingly pertinent reason for resurging interest in these long-departed technologies and that’s to do with the declining value proposition of their later successors relative to their immediate replacements.

The last few weeks have been a tour of some of the gems Ottawa has to offer, and it makes me excited for the summer to come.

I hit up the chocolate factory in Almonte, checked out the flea market at Lansdowne before then attending a Pride-themed PWHL game, went to a sugar shack, and saw the Breakfast Club at the Bytowne. All were teeming with life.