Francesco Zorzi

3 weeks ago | montecristomagazine.com | John Kurucz |Francesco Zorzi

At the Odd Fellows hall on West 8th Avenue at Granville Street, Sunday mornings see a volunteer-driven outreach program that provides the homeless and food insecure with a two-hour window of compassion and acceptance: a free breakfast, clothes and toothpaste, and myriad other items. The program is an extension of outreach efforts that began in 2020, when the hall provided shelter on roughly 30 particularly cold winter nights.

Nov 18, 2024 | montecristomagazine.com | Sam Wiebe |Francesco Zorzi

Call it research. I went down to the riot because I wanted to know what tear gas smelled like. A writer should know such things, I thought. Be familiar with humanity in extremes. They say write what you know, but who knows anything, really? In 2011, I was still at community college, part of a cohort of wannabe writers. I was failing screenwriting, despite the many Richard Price scripts I read and plagiarized.

Apr 22, 2024 | montecristomagazine.com | Sheri Radford |Francesco Zorzi

TJ Chen pours yogurt from a bulk bag into small to-go cups, carefully checking that each contains the same amount. Behind him, a trio of flat-screen TVs mounted high above the work area silently air different sports, while pop music plays quietly in the background. At the far end of the long counter, another employee takes orders for coffee and snacks. When a customer asks Chen where the nearest washroom is, he looks to his manager for help. She steps in and answers.