Autumn Stew
Bio
Words for the ones who survived the fire and stayed to name the ashes.
Where grief becomes ritual and language becomes light.
Survival is just the beginning.
Achievements (15)
Stories (62)
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The Ghost of the "Good Woman"
I was supposed to keep sweet. Sweet like the freshly canned peaches in the summer, sealed, sterile, and tender like the stewed beef sitting in the crock pot while we attended church. A girl who folded her ambitions like her hands in her lap during patriarchal testimony. I was meant to bloom in the soils of domesticity, fragrant and still, with a voice intended for prayers and lullabies.
By Autumn Stew7 months ago in Fiction
Stitch Count. Winner in You Were Never Really Here Challenge.
Lola could have easily worked in a munitions factory. "I love the repetition, it's so peaceful," Lola said while we took a break from rolling napkins and polishing silverware. She leaned against the cold brick, blowing smoke into the night sky, grinning like a child while she stared at the moon.
By Autumn Stew7 months ago in Fiction
I Don't Want My Children to be Trans. Runner-Up in Pride Under Pressure Challenge. Top Story - June 2025. Content Warning.
I don’t want my children to be trans. - Not because I wouldn’t love them. Not because I would reject them. Not because there’s anything wrong with being trans.
By Autumn Stew7 months ago in Pride
To the Part of Me That Was Ready to Let Go. Second Place in I Resign From… Challenge. Content Warning.
To Whom It May No Longer Concern, It is time to resign from the role I once occupied; the version of myself who desperately wanted to die. This isn't a request for sympathy, nor a theatrical farewell number. It is the hard-won declaration that I made it; the young girl who was desperate to never see 18, or even 25, has made it to 33. Effective immediately, I will no longer stand in the position of Self-Hater-in-Chief (SHIC), the maker of morbid fantasies, or the chronic self-saboteur. Consider this my two weeks notice, delivered two weeks late, because I'm already on the road to my new life.
By Autumn Stew8 months ago in Journal
The Canada Disability Benefit Is Failing the People Who Need It Most
We've been waiting for 2 years to see a poverty reduction program come to life for Canadians struggling with disabilities. The Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) was intended to be the historic step that would help to reduce and eventually end disability poverty from coast to coast. It's taken years of consultations, advocacy, and legislative debate; when the benefit finally passed into law in 2023, and was included in the 2024 federal budget, we thought we had finally seen a victory on the horizon.
By Autumn Stew8 months ago in The Swamp
Alberta’s Asbestos Laws Explained
When you’re a homeowner (especially a new homeowner like myself) there’s nothing more exciting than standing in the room of choice, and imagining the possibilities. Maybe smashing out the ugly tiles in the bathroom that must have been installed in 1963, or busting down the wall to turn your tiny closet into a walk-in closet. Before you let your excitement run away with you, there’s one question that could both protect your health and save you hefty amounts of money: is there asbestos in the home?
By Autumn Stew9 months ago in Journal
The Calgary General Hospital Implosion:
When I think of a demolition project, I think of new beginnings. After all, my work shows me all kinds of people in all kinds of situations: people who are developing their homes to welcome a new family member or care for an aging member of family, or empty nesters looking to refresh their home into what they’d always hoped for. Sometimes it’s demolishing one decrepit building in favor of building a space that can house several families.
By Autumn Stew9 months ago in History
