Excerpt from Issue 307 (Spring 2026)
"Climate Change" by Christine Stewart-Nuñez
Content Warning: references sexual assault
A snowflake begins to form when an extremely cold water droplet freezes onto a pollen or dust particle in the sky. This creates an ice crystal. As the ice crystal falls to the ground, water vapor freezes onto the primary crystal, building new crystals — the six arms of the snowflake. . . . The ice crystals that make up snowflakes are symmetrical (or patterned) because they reflect the internal order of the crystal’s water molecules as they arrange themselves in predetermined spaces.
— “How do snowflakes form? Get the science behind snow,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, December 19, 2016, NOAA.gov/stories
When Jim’s car turned off a paved road and onto gravel, I woke up. My house was fifty miles away, and I’d fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder. Drowsy and confused, I speculated about this detour. The car didn’t need gas, and my parents expected me home by now. The car stopped. Then Jim’s hands were unzipping my jeans and inside. Before that night, it’d been country mouse sees city mouse in the suburban mall; popped collar and spiked bangs; senior crushes on sophomore; business-minded boy asks book-nerd girl to his prom. We’d chatted for hours on landlines. We’d introduced his 80s rock star–wannabe classmates to my skirthiking Catholic-school girlfriends. I said “yes” to the prom invitation. Before his car pulled off the highway, we had dined in his small town, danced at his consolidated high school, and played carnival games at the post-prom festivities. At some point, I had exchanged taffeta for denim.
*
Tarana Burke’s account of what inspired #MeToo made an impact on me, especially the way elements coalesced to prompt Burke to reveal her status as a survivor. When a girl told Burke about her sexual assault, she struggled with how to adequately support the child. Although Burke had witnessed the testimonies of many other survivors, something about that experience compelled deep reflection and fuelled Burke’s activism. Burke’s goal became spreading “empowerment through empathy.” A particular pressure, a particular quality of feeling. Burke found the courage, the energy, and the insight to start #MeToo.
*
I panicked as fear flooded my body. I had never crossed this boundary before, and I didn’t want to with Jim. We seemed to be in a parking lot surrounded by trees. In the middle of nowhere or nowhere I know, I thought. My fear intensified: could I get away if he didn’t stop, and where would I get away to? I don’t recall how I asked him to stop, only that he did. We drove in silence the rest of the way to my house. Jim seemed frustrated that I didn’t want sex — or that I resisted whatever he had in mind — and by the time I grabbed my dress from the trunk of his car, I was pissed off. What the fuck was he thinking? Did he think skipping a good make-out session and just going for what he wanted was the appropriate course of events? I refused to see him again.
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— Christine Stewart-Nuñez (she/her) is a permanent resident of Canada living on Treaty One. She has written six books, including Chrysopoeia: Essays of Language, Love, and Place (2022) and The Poet & The Architect (2021). Christine teaches courses at the intersections of feminism, disability, literature, and writing at the University of Manitoba.
You can read the rest of "Climate Change" in Issue 307 (Spring 2026). Order the issue now!
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