Well, here we are. The end (according to the calendar, at least) of our second winter in quarantine. With this March marking one year of lockdown in Canada, we’ve all been more dependent than ever on our favourite art and pop culture to help us get through the last twelve months — and we wanted to tip our hats to our pandemic companions.
So we asked 12 Canadian writers and artists to reflect on the pop culture that has brought them comfort and coziness during the past year. The result is the personal essay series Warm Blanket: a collection of love letters to the art that has provided these writers with steadiness at a time when the world is anything but. From Bridgerton and Batman to Twitch and TikTok, you can read all their tributes below. We hope that they make for some suggestions for a few warm blankets you can call your own as we continue to barrel on through these endlessly unprecedented times.
For Téa Mutonji, the Netflix romance was a warm reminder of the healing power of representation. Read her essay here.
Curling up with an over-the-top tale of good vs. bad has brought Sarah MacDonald comfort since childhood. Read her essay here.
For Casey Plett, the legendary comedian’s singular humour has been the perfect company for the absurd tedium of pandemic life. Read her essay here.
At the end of the day, Brendan D’Souza is tired of having to be an adult — so they turn to cartoons. Read their essay here.
Streaming has offered Arielle Twist a way to document joy and share it with the world. Read her essay here.
A daily dose of true crime has kept Jessica Antony from spiralling into a Winnipeg winter’s frozen despair. Read her essay here.
Their bearded, red-flannelled glory helped Stacey McGunnigle find love in a most hopeless place. Read her essay here.
Selena Vyle watched literally hundreds of episodes of the reality show with her mom, and it was an education unlike any other. Read her essay here.
Missing his own family, Christopher DiRaddo looked for them in stories. Read his essay here.
The cartoon’s kaleidoscope of queerness nurtured writer Makram Ayache through his isolation. Read his essay here.
Laurence H. Collin found an inescapable joie de vivre in the addictive Netflix series. Read his essay here.
The endearingly absurd HBO docuseries helped Carly Maga find beauty in the mundane. Read her essay here.
