Why me?🧐

Ontario municipal politics is the weirdest team sport on Earth. I personally think municipal parties work best for big cities, but here we candidates are, running on ego and grit. 

Fortunately, I work incredibly well across differences of opinion. The benefit of having an entire policy corollary  is that there's probably a few things that will pique the interest each councillor regardless of geography or ideology. 

Before Toronto, I came of age in Ottawa. There's no better crucible to forge a young politician than studying in the Capital. I was heavily involved in the student union, marginally involved with the Green Party, and I worked in a handful of small local non-profits. I attended thousand board, council, or committee meetings. I know the parts you need to be attentive to if you want your agenda advanced. 

Before Ottawa, I grew up in Sussex, New Brunswick pop ~5000. I was streamed into leadership development programming since middle school. There's a curse being a talented child of the periphery: being told to leave in what is presumed to be healthy encouragement. For 17 years, my talent was met with "why would you live here?" Toronto helped me conquer a lifetime of placelessness.

My proudest accomplishment is that it only took me 3 weeks to get a blind kitten to love me. Second or third is going back to grad school after a massive depressive episode. I didn't burn out. I changed, and I burned through. My first crack at an MA was Brock University's MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies, but I ended graduating from Carleton for a second degree, this time in gender studies. 

The redux paper of my MA research that I posted on academia.edu went "academic viral". I won a Lambda Foundation Bursary to write it 🤓 I'm hopeful my concept of Universal Design as a public duty (UDPD) will catch on when Black Glitter gets published. 

Over the past 3 years, I wrote Black Glitter: Almost an Autobiography. It's 210 pages of testament. It's not about me; it's about what I figured out, but I can't tell you those details without some biographic context. I've got a  very convincing Grand Unifying Theory called the UUniverse theory, and it's going to make a splash. I might have a campaign lecture about it if there's interest :)

I'm not running for office with a comfortable life. I've struggled fantastically and made it to the present. I do not invoke hyperbole. I mean like couch surfed for a year, food insecurity, 2 months behind on rent struggled. Chronic musculoskeletal pain and hyper-sensory neurodivergence are a brutal combination, so my body is a carefully planned economy in response. In a lot of ways I'm the people politicians talk about helping, but I am innately familiar with budgeting and consequences because of it.

This election is my career plan, how I slay poverty once and for all, and I don't just want to slay poverty for me. The visible display of struggle in Toronto is a hideous stain, but the city doesn't have the powers it needs to fix this tragedy. I'm committed to compassion and impact. 

My personal life strategy is "throw rocks until you win", my default toast is "to the death of fear", and my demographics at City Hall will mean a lot to the next generation. 

On Election day, remember I'd be great at the actual job: legislating. I hope my campaign resonates with you :)

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