A Birthday Quest

She is not quite what they expected her to be, or to become.

The moulds are lain out, waiting for her to settle in. Like a cat, to fill their odd shapes with her very self, bit by bit. To grow softly into their boundaries, until the moulds themselves can slip away and leave her to retain their shapes, down to the tiniest details: a testament to their power and strength. 

But this one. She does not fit. She will not fit. She pushes back, bending the moulds with her resistance until some of them begin to crack, to break. 

 Not content to celebrate her victories in silence, she sets out on a quest to find the other mould breakers… 

Today, June 13th – or Friday the 13th, as it so happens – marks the first anniversary of my Breaking Moulds project. A year ago today I launched this blog and published this post “On Breaking Moulds” to kick it off. I did not know where it would go, or even if it would go anywhere at all. But in a year I have enjoyed exploring the theme of breaking moulds through creative non-fiction like this latest story on how I grew up in the ghetto, through exploratory essays like this Freshly Pressed one on playing with morality in video games, and even through random fun stuff like this Pi Day Primer. 

I’ve met some awesome people, too, like the writer-blogger community at Yeah Write and the loving tribe of Rarasaur. I’ve felt enlightened and inspired by many of the thoughts and ideas you’ve shared in the comments. I’ve been amused by some of the search terms that brought people here, like “What do Canadians do to look so beautiful?” and “Is the Queen of England evil?” and for some reason, at the very top of the list, “Maru the Cat.” (It appears if I want to up my readership I need to write more about the secret to Canadians’ looks, conspiracy theories about possibly evil political leaders, and cats in boxes. Good thing I’m moving back to Canada soon, to the political centre of Ottawa, where I will probably have to get my husband a cat.)

“Is the Queen of England evil?” – search query that brought someone here

I’ve also begun to discover a lot of other mould breakers out there who’ve inspired me to confidence that my resistance is not in vain, which is why I’m hoping to expand the horizons of this project as it moves into its second year. I will continue to share my own experiences and explorations into the theme of breaking moulds, but the next quest for this project is to highlight the stories and struggles of other mould breakers as well along the way. Stay tuned to see how that shapes up… and if you’d be interested in sharing your own story of mould breaking in this space, get in touch!

Another idea I’ve been toying with is starting a Breaking Moulds comic strip, to illustrate (in highly artistic stick-figure glory) the more amusing moments that mould breaking makes for. I might need a lot of encouragement, though, so if that’s something you’d like to see here, please do let me know! Or tell me it’s a terrible idea before I embarrass myself in front of the entirety of the interwebs!

Thank you for all your support over the past year: for taking the time to read, comment, like and share my posts. Here’s to Year Two of Breaking Moulds!