Writing Against the Dark

Returning to Crumbs of Thoughts

Hello, my lovies!

I’ve been quiet here for months, unsure whether to return—mainly because I’ve been steadily writing my fourth book. A massive beast of prose (in English, no less), a genre-bending memoir that explores the genealogy of trauma. Something exciting and terrifying, both an excavation and an act of resistance.

In truth, I didn’t have the energy to return, so I didn’t.

But it's funny how writing works.

Crumbs of Thoughts has always been a place where I could overflow—first as a new mother speaking of perinatal advocacy and reproductive rights (2017-2022), then as a space to unravel and think through what it meant to survive (2022-2024).

It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that Crumbs has kept me alive at times when I didn’t think it was possible. That you kept me alive.

And now, this.

I wasn’t sure if my reflections mattered at a time like this. But silence, I’ve come to realize, is a luxury I cannot afford.

Literary resistance—naming what is happening, pushing back through language, thought, and shared understanding—has always been necessary, now more than ever.

As a Canadian, a Quebecer, and an American citizen, I move between histories, between languages, between ways of seeing.

And this space is where I return to make sense of it all—not alone, but in conversation: writing, listening, building, and holding space for what must not be erased.

The Structure

But first, I had to be honest with myself:

Do I have the bandwidth to write four hours a day, homeschool my daughters, and feel all that ought to be felt when one lives in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area while our government and its faithful servants are being torn apart next door?

For once, I let my body answer: Yes—resoundingly yes. But under certain conditions.

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For the next 13 weeks, I will write twice a week, following a structure that allows me to sustain this work:

👾 Fridays: Rites and Rest (Free)
A collection of curated links, readings, and photographs—pieces that nourish or remind us of what we’re fighting for.

👾 Weekly: A Survival Essay (Paywalled)
One deep-dive essay on survival, discourse, and the intersection of personal and political resilience—thinking through the moment and what it asks of us.

The Why

To honor this new structure—and for now—I’ve renamed this space:

Crumbs of Thoughts: Staying Whole in an Unraveling World—Critical Thinking, Literary Resistance, and Tools for Survival.

This title makes me happy. So this title is staying.

If you’re new here, hello and welcome! This space grew while I was away, and it’s always surprising, heartwarming, and a little squishy to return to new readers.

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Here’s what we explore together in Crumbs of Thoughts:

👾 Surviving and Overcoming Trauma – Engaging with trauma, grief, and resilience through personal experience and intellectual inquiry.

👾 Critical Thinking and Discourse Analysis – Examining power, systemic violence, and the rise of fascism through an analytical lens. (If you think “woke culture” is a plague, the door is right there.)

👾 Memory and Subjective Truth – Exploring how memory shapes identity and storytelling, blending reflection with philosophy and literature.

👾 Literature, Philosophy, and Intellectual Inquiry – Drawing from sociology, medicine, and poetry to examine the intersections of knowledge and lived experience.

👾 Feminism and Decolonial Perspectives – Advocating for marginalized voices, especially those dismissed for writing about madness, suffering, or transgression.

👾 Madness and Marginalization – Challenging how society perceives and pathologizes mental illness while centering the voices of those whose work has been erased.

👾 Writing as Resistance and Healing – Seeing writing as both personal and political—an act of transformation, justice, and responsibility.

👾 The Personal as Political – Weaving personal narratives with broader historical and social critiques, because the two are never separate.

👾 Ethical and Moral Living – Questioning dominant narratives of suffering, justice, and reparation, with a focus on abundance over scarcity.

👾 Nature and Environment – Reflecting on place, ecology, and our interconnectedness with the natural world.

If this resonates with you, welcome—you’re in the right place.

What’s Next

The first essay is already on its way—you should receive it shortly.

I’m excited to be back.

P.S. As always, I work on a sliding scale. If you cannot afford a subscription, email me, and I will add you to the list—no questions asked.

Love, always,
a. xx.

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