Popping culture: Jonah Mowry is a real person

Last Sunday, I posted this open letter to Jonah Mowry after watching his video. The video, which was posted in August, seemed to have garnered a lot of attention in the past few days. In my letter, I wrote:

I don’t know if you’re real. This is the internet after all. But for the sake of argument, let’s say you are. I hope you are.

And then today, I saw this:

So what does this mean? It means he is real. It means things may have gotten better for Mowry. It means that he’s still a kid in the eighth grade who chews gum when he makes videos. It means that he’s like a lot of youth at that age, developing and understanding himself and how he expresses that.

I still believe in what I said in my previous post. Jonah needs the support he’s receiving. Lots of kids do. My letter to him was open, because I believe everyone needs to hear words of support. Not just eighth graders with YouTube accounts and occasional uncanny connections to the cultural zeitgeist.

Everyone.

Journalist, writer, blogger, producer.

Keep Reading

A cartoon of two people standing close together; one is holding a puppy, the other is holding a book

How a Canadian kids’ book became the centre of a U.S. Supreme Court case

“Pride Puppy” was written to highlight the joy of Pride. It became a political flashpoint
A cartoon of people raising their fists with police officers facing them. There are flowers in the background

Queer censorship isn’t new in Canada, but we’ve won the fight before

Key figures from censorship fights in the 20th century reflect on what we can learn from them today
A cartoon of a nondescript personified animal riding a horse

Trans Albertans are strong. We aren’t going anywhere

Trans Albertans reflect on what makes their home province special, even in the wake of Premier Danielle Smith’s legislative attacks and book restrictions
A cartoon of two racoons looking at a laptop

Online censorship is crushing indie webcomics

From social media platforms to payment processors, new restrictions are making it harder for webcomic artists to exist
Advertisement