Anthony Portulese is an emerging queer Italo-Québécois writer raised in the East End of Montreal. He first believed his future was destined for the health sciences, and studied pharmacology before taking a radical turn into art history, much to the shock of his family. Setting his ambitions for fiction aside, he pursued academia for a number of years.

See, I was on the waiting list for an adenoidectomy and a deviated septum correction. First, I must tell you, because I had no idea, but adenoids (spongy thingy like tonsils) go away in your tweens. Like, your body reabsorbed them. What the shit? We’re such wild creatures. But mine never did. Mine were huge, and angry, and blocking my airwaves.

For years, researchers have been talking about the Happiness Curve. The theory held that happiness drops off in your mid to late 20s, plummeting till 47, before climbing back to shiny, young standards. It explained the concept of the mid-life crisis, and explained why by the time we're grey, we’re enjoying ourselves again.

Thankfully, Forget The Box doesn’t follow suit. No, here at Forget The Box, you’ll get the nitty-gritty of arts journalism laid out for all to see. Instead of Santa, we’ve got Creative Director Andrew Jamieson, and playing the trope of Mrs. Claus is our very own Dawn McSweeney, Editor-at-Large.

Adrian (LCL GRL) is a Montreal-based musician originally from Brooklyn, NY, who launched their solo project in October 2024 with the release of their first EP. They bring serious vocal training to their work, having performed in the acclaimed Brooklyn Youth Chorus, which contributed to a Grammy-nominated album. After years of songwriting and developing their craft as a drummer, LCL GRL is now dedicated to producing new original pieces and establishing a presence in the local scene.

I don't think anyone ever really feels rich. Well, ok, if you own a yacht and a spacecraft, I'm pretty sure you feel pretty rich, but not so rich that they stop grasping for more, which makes me think it's more of an obsession, some sort of financial dysphoria. Short of that though, I've never met anyone who thought they were rich.

Jugaar is a word in Hindi and Urdu that describes something that all South Asians are undoubtedly familiar with: an unconventional fix, an innovative and makeshift solution that bends the rules of possibility with whatever is available on hand. It’s idiosyncratic to us desis, a way of solving problems by simply making do.

Everyone’s favourite Semi-Talented, Failed Actress, Prudence is like a rash that just doesn’t go away. Winner of the 2015 Cabaret Mado competition: Drag Moi, she soared to the heights of mediocrity, overlooked and underpaid. She can serve you Camp, Drama and an incredible Ham Sandwich if you ask nicely, and she won’t even charge you…much!

The summer I was 16, I read my first Tom Robbins book, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. It was my Plateau summer, the one where I discovered St. Louis Square, Eva B’s, and good coffee. I sat at the Jazz Fest writing, people watching, listening, taking the vibes in through my skin. St. Louis Square was better for reading. I finished Wuthering Heights there, not because of any prescribed reading list, but because I held “the classics” in high regard.

It’s an undisputed fact that the Harlem Renaissance had a profound impact on the world. This movement gave us great music, literature and painters. It also gave us playwrights like Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. However, these were American playwrights.