Welcome to Afreen’s Confetti!

Why now?

Because “someday” is a procrastinator’s favourite word—and I’ve spent three years saying, “I’ll start writing someday.” Today, someday becomes now.

What’s inside?

A messy, colourful mix of:

• Half-baked thoughts that haunt my walks home.
• Poems that may or may not rhyme (judge lightly).
• Books I’m reading (and why they’re cracking my brain open).
• Tiny joys and loud rants—like why garbage cans are suddenly everywhere.

How often?

Twice a month (or whenever my overthinking loses to my enthusiasm).

Current Obsession: The Tyranny of Trash Cans

Garbage bins didn’t always litter sidewalks like urban mushrooms. Their invasion feels tied to our single-use everything era: takeout containers, plastic forks, wads of napkins we never reuse. Convenience is king, but the planet’s paying the rent.

What if we slowed down? Drank coffee in the café instead of racing away with it? Lingered with friends or rehearsed three-year-old comebacks with a hot cup of mocha? (Just me?)

Reading: Africa Is Not a Country

This book is rewiring my brain—one stubborn stereotype at a time. For example:

• Media reduces Africa to a monolith of famine and war—but it’s 54 countries, countless cultures, and vibrancy that rarely makes headlines.
• The Berlin Conference (1884) was Europe’s grotesque “let’s carve up a continent like cake” party. Colonialism’s scars run deep.

More revelations to come—I’m only halfway through.

Recent Joy

1. A rare day unruled by the clock—no tasks, no Metro-induced panic. (City dwellers, you get it.)
2. A pink unicorn bubble machine. Because adulthood is overrated.

What I Want to Share With You

I stumbled on Show Up Toronto—a website that lists mutual aid events across the city.

What’s mutual aid? It’s the radical idea that we can show up for each other—planting gardens for neighbors, sharing groceries, or covering rent—without waiting for institutions to fix what they helped break. No bureaucracy, just people.

This week, I finally took the plunge: I dropped off a stash of my million reusable grocery bags at a community market. It took five minutes, cost nothing, and left me wondering—why don’t we do this more often?

Why am I telling you? Because solidarity is contagious. Check it out—or reply with how you practice mutual aid where you live.

Your thoughts, rants, or tiny joys are always welcome here. If you'd like more of these scattered sparks in your life, I'd be honoured to land in your inbox.