Writing With a Broken Tusk
Writing With a Broken Tusk began in 2006 as a blog about overlapping geographies, personal and real-world, and writing books for children. Since March 2024, Jen Breach (writer, VCFA graduate, and former student) has helped me curate and manage guest posts and Process Talk pieces on this blog.
The blog name refers to the mythical pact between the poet Vyaasa and the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha who was his scribe during the composition of the epic narrative, the Mahabharata. It also refers to my second published book, edited by the generous and brilliant Diantha Thorpe of Linnet Books/The Shoe String Press, published in 1996, acquired and republished by August House, now part of Reading Is Fundamental, and still miraculously in print.
Posts on this site reflect personal opinion and commentary protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Youth vs. gov in 2023
Like fiction, the law is also created and upheld through narrative. Whose narratives of reality are in contest? Whose will prevail? Who’s making those judgments and why? The answers to these questions will determine the real-life futures of young people. That is why I’ve been so intrigued by the young plaintiffs taking governments to court wherever they can, using the laws that exist, all with a singular purpose—to force governments to take action to limit the damaging effects of fossil fuel emissions.