Sugar rush plus pucker from the sour. I must coat it, must make it quaint and digestible. Pull out the tried and true that does not offend. Search out words that “keep the peace” between white and other. I trust the editorial process but would like to know how you manage cultural safety when reading submitted work? Is there space for dialogue? My eyes dart from Zoom chat to folks making comments. They’re winding down. I scroll back up to my question. Nothing. Goodbyes and thank yous drown out the words I need to assure me. There’s no safe space.
Mridula Morgan is a South Asian writer living on the unceded Indigenous land called Canada. She's currently a student in The Writers Studio at SFU.