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Storytelling is our love language

We believe that words have the power to uplift and transform

February 6, 2025

“A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.”

This famous quote from William Shakespeare’s romantic play Romeo and Juliet has a timeless meaning that still rings true today. That is, names and labels are just that: a way of distinguishing one thing or person from another. They don’t speak to, or detract from, one’s true nature.

Here at Megaphone, we’re big on getting to the heart of things. We don’t particularly like labels, because they too often come bundled with burdensome stigma and harmful stereotypes. 

Words such as junkie, drunk, cripple and many others that won’t be written here only serve to reduce the beautiful complexity of human beings to one-dimensional — usually hurtful — dismissals.

This isn’t just semantics. Words matter. 

When stigma isn’t challenged and becomes normalized, this causes people to internalize shame and negative messages about themselves. It also influences the collective, in both social situations and within larger structures — entrenching negative stereotypes in larger policies and systems. 

In fact, Megaphone believes so strongly in the power of words, we’ve built an entire organization around them.

The people who courageously share their stories through Megaphone magazine, the Hope in Shadows calendar, Voices of the Street literary anthology, The Shift newsroom and special public speaking events do so with the aim of educating, enlightening and empowering. Our vendors, writers, photographers and peers come from all corners of the globe and all walks of life. They bring unique perspectives and experiences with poverty, homelessness, substance use, physical disabilities, mental illness, incarceration, racism and immigration to the table, as well their Indigenous, racialized and 2SLGBTQI+ backgrounds.

What many in the mainstream have been conditioned to see as weakness, we celebrate as strengths. Their stories contain an authenticity that can uplift and transform, both the folks who are sharing and those who choose to hear. At the very least, they can serve as a launch pad for deeper dialogue. 

Take this issue of Megaphone, for example. It’s the month of love, and the cover story, by our sister street paper in Montreal, L’Itineraire, tackles the taboo topic of sexuality in the context of homelessness, asking the question: Is intimacy a luxury for the marginalized?

Speaking of basic needs, Eva Takakenew exposes the hoops low-income renters must jump through in an attempt to land a place to live. She writes about how her experience with a Downtown Eastside housing development left her deeply disappointed and, truth be told, a little heartbroken.

Priscillia Mays Tait chronicles her heartfelt gratitude for a much-loved Commercial Drive cafe, which offered a welcome respite for her and her son when she was a young single mother. And Gilles Cyrenne recalls how the collective caring from a rural community may just have saved his life when he was seven years old so many years ago.

Remember the movie Thelma & Louise? Megaphone has its own feisty duo — Executive Director Lisa Curry and vendor/writer Louise Boilevin, who went on an epic speed-dating adventure ahead of Valentine’s Day. Spoiler alert: Hey, online dating, we’re just not that into you.

But even a downer of a date can’t sink Louise. In a fantastic column, she gives us the skinny on how she’s cultivated a body-positive attitude that helps her navigate a city obsessed with appearances. Lance Lim takes it one step further, delving into another complexity of coupling — dating with a disability, which he wisely notes serves to deepen the relationship one has with oneself. 

Check out the homage to old school Valentine’s cards, where our Shift newsroom exchanges “secret admirer” messages in a throwback to a classroom ritual so many of us recall. 

Rounding out a great issue is an introduction to vendor Howard (who clearly has a love affair with travelling), and a focus on a Hope in Shadows runner-up photo: Two Hearts and a Harley.

And on Feb. 14th, please stand alongside those who mourn stolen sisters in the annual Women’s Memorial March, which honours missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Sometimes bearing witness is among the most powerful acts of love one can do.

Thanks for supporting our vendors by buying the February edition of Megaphone. We know you’re going to love it.