Today is the pride parade here in Toronto. To those celebrating and participating, I hope you had fun and that the thunderstorms we had didn’t put a damper on the day. Love is love is love. It doesn’t matter in what shape it arrives.

Today is also the second week that T.R.O.U. has been live and I’ve already made a couple minor changes to the submissions guidelines. I was talking with a friend about the magazine and how exciting it was to create a positive space for people and he asked me a couple of interesting questions. The first is if the magazine accepts writing by young writers. Yes! Of course we do! Love has no age limit.

The second question was why I thought it was so important  to have everything I published here have a happy ending. The main reason was because I wanted to create a positive space, a space that shows everyone can find happiness, just as you are. That we can fall in love, and experience a great relationship even if we haven’t reached (and may never reach) societal’s restrictive standards of who deserves happiness.

After thinking about our conversation for a few days I realized that perhaps this caveat was too restrictive and might limit the awesome writing you lovelies have waiting in your back pockets. So I have updated the submissions guidelines to be happy endings preferred. Ambiguous ending are cool, and perhaps things don’t end well, but it would be great if your piece can illustrate how it was a positive learning experience. The key is positivity. I believe we can change society, one love story at a time. Perhaps this seems syrupy and idealistic, but, I believe it’s true. We can choose to live life fully, despite what the haters might say. #AcceptanceThroughRepresentation

I’m looking forward to checking out all of your pieces! Send those love stories, poems, or essays my way!