Latest news with #GabrielleDrolet
Winnipeg Free Press
28-06-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Chronicle of chronic pain not merely doom and gloom
Imagine making your living through writing and cartooning but enduring severe pain in your hands and arms every time you hit a letter on your keyboard or pick up a pencil. This is the personal dilemma faced by Gabrielle Drolet and described in her memoir, Look Ma, No Hands. A journalist, essayist and cartoonist based in Montreal, Drolet's written work has appeared in the New York Times, Globe and Mail, the Walrus, Vice and Teen Vogue. She also contributes cartoons to the Globe and Mail, among other publications. Drolet has won awards for her essays on disability, and holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Guelph. An account of debilitating pain impacting someone else's life might sound like a depressing read, but much to her credit as a writer, Drolet manages to include a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour along with cute, engaging cartoons to lighten the tone of her memoir. Even when bravely sharing her darkest moments, when thoughts of suicide were looming, her honesty and strong spirit shine through. Look Ma No Hands Drolet's chronic pain began in 2021, when at age 23 she was living in Wolfville, N.S. with her girlfriend. The COVID pandemic dictated that Drolet work from home, and she admits she often sat in bed or on the couch hunched over her laptop. Her first symptom began with pain in her fingers when typing, then progressed to pain in her wrist after picking up a pencil. Then came an aching feeling in her neck and hands, sudden jolts in her elbows and a constant soreness in her forearms. Soon the pain was keeping her up at night, leaving her exhausted and in increasing discomfort. She believed physiotherapy might help; the first two she saw diagnosed her with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. Told to do a series of exercises and stretches and wear splints when sleeping, Drolet found no relief. After breaking up with her girlfriend and moving to Toronto, Drolet received a new diagnosis, thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) — a compression of the nerves in your chest. She blamed her prolonged sedentary lifestyle and bad ergonomics for triggering this condition. Having a name for her condition didn't help her daily pain management. Drolet started using voice-to-text technology to keep her freelance writing career afloat, but was frustrated by the lengthy process required to weed out mistakes, and how the tone of her writing seemed to change. However, she gradually became used to the writing tool. Her personal relationships suffered as well. When telling others about her chronic pain, she discovered they generally reacted in one of three ways: being overly sympathetic; doling out advice; or praising her for enduring her disability. Never sure of how to respond, Drolet found herself expressing her thanks and trying to downplay her situation. Settling into a new life in Montreal while balancing her freelance and university studies, Drolet describes how she had to reconfigure her personal outlook. She forced herself to leave her apartment and meet new people. This change helped her mentally and emotionally, and surprisingly eased her physical symptoms to some extent. She continued seeing a physiotherapist regularly to help with TOS, but a referral to a doctor and results of an MRI gave her a new diagnosis — a herniated cervical disc. When the specialist told her that he wouldn't recommend surgery for her condition, Drolet was able to accept this knowing she now has the skills she needs to live a satisfying life. Drolet's journey as told in Look Ma, No Hands is intensely personal, but resonates with anyone who has faced their own challenges — whether physical, mental or emotional. Andrea Geary is a freelance writer in Selkirk.
CBC
15-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
Gabrielle Drolet is finding new ways to create with chronic pain
Only a month after publishing her first cartoon in The New Yorker, Gabrielle Drolet's chronic hand pain began. She was told it was just carpal tunnel syndrome, but the doctor was wrong — it quickly progressed into a debilitating disability that prevented her from drawing at all. "Suddenly, every little task that you use your hands for without thinking about — sending a text, or chopping onions, or opening a can of beer — all of these things were really difficult on top of the career stuff," Drolet says in an interview with Q 's Tom Power. "It was really crushing that suddenly I couldn't really draw," Drolet explains. "I tried to ignore the pain and just push myself, which made my symptoms much, much worse. I was just ignoring my limits, and I suffered the consequences of that for sure." With her poignant grief and quirky sense of humour, Gabrielle Drolet processed her life-changing experience into a memoir. Her new book Look Ma, No Hands captures the overwhelming shock of when her chronic pain began, and balances it with comedic anecdotes about trying to navigate her new reality. " Someone I knew had mentioned she was writing erotica for an app, and asked if I would be interested," Drolet says with a laugh. "And so I was doing it, but it just felt so silly because it was with voice-to-text. And it was summer, so it was so hot. But I felt as though I couldn't open my windows, because my neighbours would hear. Because we have shared balconies. So I'm steaming, I'm stewing in my office! And I'm reading these scenes just out loud to my computer. And that felt like a real low point for me, Tom." Voice-to-text has been a crucial tool for making writing easier for Drolet. She wishes there was an accessible alternative for drawing as well, but there isn't. She's recovered as much as she could, but she still has to draw less often than she used to. "My career generally — and especially my relationship with drawing — is different than it would be if I could draw all day without pain," says Drolet. "I would do it a lot more. But I have a very ergonomic setup. I take breaks, I stretch.… But yeah, it's still different." Like many people with a long-term disability, Gabrielle Drolet has gotten a lot of unsolicited and uninformed advice about how to fix her condition. She says that although these people have good intentions, they don't realize that they're trying to force a simple solution for a complex issue. " With a young person, because it's not as common, people immediately think that there's a quick solution that I just haven't tried yet," says Drolet. "Immediately people jump to, 'Oh, take B-12', or 'Stretch!', or 'I have a great chiropractor.' "And there was a while where I did take all of that advice. Because I was like, 'OK, the next thing I try is gonna be the thing that heals me.' And that's just not how it works for a lot of people, unfortunately," the author explains. Although it's been an intense journey, Gabrielle Drolet no longer spends time wishing that her condition would go away. She still takes moments to acknowledge her loss, but ultimately, she realized she had to make peace with the new path her life has taken. "There's no point in continuing to dwell on it.… I gotta keep it moving," says Drolet. "There will always still be moments of wondering where my life would have been if that hadn't happened. But also there's been so much good that's come from it. You know, I moved to Montreal. I adopted a pigeon."
Globe and Mail
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
Look Ma, No Hands is a celebration of writing and a sensitive exploration of chronic pain
The first editorial cartoon that ever made me cackle felt like a personal attack. The graphic showed two black lines dressed in cowboy boots and 10-gallon hats, facing each other as if poised to draw pistols. A piece of paper – in my mind, a work in progress of some sort, perhaps an essay or newspaper column – rested beneath them. The italicized caption was perfect: 'This paragraph ain't big enough for this many em dashes.' Any editor of mine will confirm: I have an em-dash problem. As such, I've never hit 'purchase' on a product so quickly – a framed print of that cartoon sits proudly on my writing desk at home. Journalist and cartoonist Gabrielle Drolet, whose drawings for The Globe and Mail, The New Yorker and beyond often poke fun at the writing process, drew that genius em-dash portrait. Perhaps we share an affinity for over-using that particular piece of punctuation. But you wouldn't know Drolet had any trouble writing at all from her memoir, Look Ma, No Hands, which, through comics, stories and a heavy handful of aloof humour, details her experience of coming of age alongside her chronic pain. For the last decade or so, Drolet has bounced between Canadian cities, building her career as a writer and artist while jousting a herniated disc in her spine. While manageable with physical therapy and lifestyle changes, the condition – initially misdiagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome – has for years caused Drolet extreme discomfort in her hands and arms. Not ideal for a journalist, or for a 20-something tasked with building IKEA furniture in third-floor walk-up apartments in Montreal. In Look Ma, No Hands, Drolet recounts her situationship with pain, and carefully describes how for most of her adulthood, her upper neck and back have interfered with her ability to thrive. It's an impressive debut in the vein of Emma Healey's Best Young Woman Job Book, but softer, less barbed. If Healey's memoir feels like sharing a night's worth of red wine with that author, Look Ma, No Hands feels like a warm mug of cocoa with Drolet. It's vulnerable and open as she recalls some of the most pivotal moments of her early twenties. As a freelance writer, Drolet's had some, uh, interesting gigs, the most memorable being her stint as a horse journalist, collating information about competitive horse racing into a daily newsletter. Throughout her memoir, she playfully captures the Groundhog Day-esque tumult of wielding words for a living – the simultaneous boredom and dread that accompanies being your own boss. (Even when the work at hand is horses.) Another highlight is the care with which she unpacks her queerness – the ways in which her chronic pain has shaped her capacity to be intimate with partners across the spectrum of gender. While Drolet's experiences are unique to her, one gets the sense she's not alone at the intersection between what her heart and mind long for, and what her body can tolerate. These chapters, in which Drolet turns inward (without once over-sharing), are perhaps Look Ma, No Hands's strongest stuff: They offer a side of her not easily captured in a cartoon or shorter essay. I'll be the first to admit I'm this book's target audience: a bisexual journalist in Canada who's closer to the beginning of my writing career than the middle of it. But Drolet's writerly voice is funny, punchy and dry, and makes no assumptions about the reader holding the memoir in their hands. Suffering from chronic pain? UofT researcher has some ideas to help you cope While established fans of Drolet's cartoons might chuckle at a few familiar turns of phrase, the memoir expands those snapshots of wit into something more concrete, less ephemeral. A time capsule for the zillennials in this country who lost crucial chunks of growing up to the pandemic. If you're unsure this book is for you, I recommend reading Drolet's viral garlic essay – about her love affair with jarred garlic catalyzed by the pain in her hands, published by The Walrus – or this excerpt from her memoir, about the forgotten thrill of calling your friends in a society propped up by e-mails and texts. If you like those stories, you'll love Look Ma, No Hands – and you'll join me in setting up social media alerts for when Drolet sells prints of her artwork. (I'm in the process of having her Severance-inspired animal portraits framed as we speak.) For years, Drolet has captured the quirks of this world through zesty drawings and trendy think-pieces. Now, with Look Ma, No Hands, she's proven she can make long-form writing work for her, with the help of dictation software and impish, hand-drawn characters, creatures who gaze at the words around them with cocked eyebrows and clever captions. No em dashes needed.
CTV News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Gabrielle Drolet offers chronic pain memoir with ‘Look Ma, No Hands'
Freelance journalist and cartoonist Gabrielle Drolet is sharing her ordeal with chronic pain in 'Look Ma, No Hands'.
CBC
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Famous in Canada: hit songs that only we will remember
Social Sharing Written by journalist, essayist and cartoonist Gabrielle Drolet, and Mac Cameron, producer and co-host of the Big in Canada podcast. If you grew up in Canada with friends outside of the country, there's an uncanny experience you've likely lived through: that of mentioning a famous song or musician, only to realize no one knows what you're talking about. It could be a song that feels like a cultural touchstone, something that played on the radio constantly during your teenage years and was blasted over supermarket speakers. But while it felt like a hit, it was only famous in Canada. It turns out there's a lot of music that's Canada Famous, mainly because of content regulations put into place in 1971, a.k.a. Cancon, which required radio and music TV stations to play at least 30 per cent Canadian content. More than 50 years later, today's Cancon regulations still shape what we hear on the radio. But while Cancon requirements can be successful in elevating Canadian artists at home, a song's success on national airwaves doesn't mean it'll reach widespread listenership outside of the country. Here are 15 songs that climbed the Canadian charts to become national hits, but never broke through to international audiences in the same way. 'Crabbuckit,' k-os Released in 2004 by rapper and singer k-os, "Crabbuckit" is quintessentially Canadian. Its lyrics, which are about the desire to impede others' success in order to propel yourself forward, feature references to Toronto's Yonge Street and the Tragically Hip. Nelly Furtado even has a cameo in the music video. This Canadianness — plus the fact that "Crabbuckit" is very catchy — likely contributed to the song's national success: it peaked at No. 23 on the Canadian Singles chart, and No. 3 on the Canada Contemporary Hit Radio chart. The video also hit No. 1 on the MuchMusic countdown for two weeks. It turns out the song only found an audience in one other country, though: it reached No. 90 on the German Singles chart, but was otherwise a uniquely Canadian success. — Gabrielle Drolet 'California,' Wave For many Canadians, California can seem like the promised land — far from the frigid winters and relative anonymity of life farther north. This may explain why Canadians are the best at writing songs about the Golden State: On " California," Joni Mitchell dreams of returning; on " California," Grimes leaves feeling sad and bad; on " Drinking in L.A.," Bran Van 3000 wonders what the hell are they doing there. And on "California," Niagara Falls duo Wave dreams of sipping on tequila night after night. Had the boys in Wave ever been to California when they wrote the 18th most-played song on Canadian radio in 2001? It doesn't really matter, because the song didn't make it on any American charts. — Mac Cameron 'When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down),' Great Big Sea "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)" is originally a 1993 song by an English folk group called Oysterband — but it wasn't made famous until 1997, when Newfoundland and Labrador's Great Big Sea released a cover of it as the lead single to its third studio album. Despite the song's international origins, it's now recognized as an East Coast classic: the folky, upbeat tune peaked at No. 6 on the Canadian RPM Singles chart, making it Great Big Sea's best-charting single. The song never charted outside of the country. — GD 'Sucks to Be You,' Prozzäk Wielding a fake British accent and cartoon avatars, Prozzäk was kind of a joke. The project began as a way for Philosopher Kings bandmates Jay Levine and James McCollum to learn to work together after a fight. There was no intention of performing live, or any expectation of mainstream success. But then, " Sucks to Be You" climbed to No. 1 on the Much Countdown, the duo was nominated for multiple Junos in 2000, booked a cross-country arena tour, and Hot Show, Prozzäk's debut album, went multi-platinum, selling more than 600,000 copies — making it the 59th best-selling Canadian album ever. Cancon can sometimes be accused of trend chasing, but in this case, Prozzäk might have been setting the trend: noted cartoon band Gorillaz released its debut single "Clint Eastwood" — featuring a real British accent — in 2001, years after Prozzäk had not one, but two hit albums under its belt, even though neither really found success outside of Canada. — MC 'Fallout,' Marianas Trench Pop-punk band Marianas Trench has found an audience outside Canada over recent years, but has been a household name in its home country for more than a decade — which is especially clear when looking at the success of the band's early singles. Released in 2011 ahead of Marianas Trench's third studio album, "Fallout" was a massive hit in Canada: its music video received five MuchMusic Award nominations, and climbed multiple national charts, beating out hits including Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and Rihanna's "Diamonds" on Billboard's Canadian Hot 100 for 2012. Though it didn't chart in any other countries, "Fallout" is certified triple platinum in Canada. — GD 'What I Wouldn't Do,' Serena Ryder This 2012 single was one of singer-songwriter Serena Ryder's first forays out of the folk music she'd built her brand on and into pop — it's the kind of catchy song that easily gets stuck in your head, and was made for radio play. "What I Wouldn't Do" found moderate success in the United States, peaking at No. 24 on the US Adult Alternative charts, but it was ubiquitous on Canadian radio stations and reached No. 8 on the Canada Hot 100, and No. 5 on the Canada Adult Contemporary charts. — GD 'A Criminal Mind,' Gowan To the wider world, Scottish-born Canadian Lawrence Gowan is now the lead singer of American rock band Styx. But when Styx plays in Canada — which it does fairly often — there is a song in the setlist that doesn't get played for American audiences: "A Criminal Mind," which is certified platinum in Canada but didn't chart at all elsewhere. It's one of several big hits from Gowan's 1985 album, Strange Animal, and peaked at No. 5 on the Canadian RPM chart, buoyed by its bizarre, semi-animated and " ground-breaking" Juno Award-winning music video. Gowan has better tunes, but having our very own "Thriller" or "Sledgehammer" video was enough to cement "A Criminal Mind" as a Canadian classic rock staple. — MC 'Whoa Is Me,' Down With Webster "Whoa Is Me" is a single from Down With Webster's second independent release, the band's 2009 EP, Time to Win, Vol. I., which is what first found them commercial success. "Whoa Is Me" is certified double platinum in Canada, and the song peaked at No. 13 on the Canada Hot 100. Though the single didn't chart internationally, its home success landed it on the national year-end Billboard chart for 2010, where it beat out tracks including "Naturally" by Selena Gomez and "Can't Be Tamed" by Miley Cyrus. — GD 'Hell,' Tegan and Sara "Hell" is the lead single from Sainthood, the sixth studio album by pop duo Tegan and Sara. The two sisters had been making music since the late '90s, but firmly established themselves as Canadian musicians to watch with the success of their 2007 album, The Con. Riding on that success, "Hell" was an indie-rock hit: it was Tegan and Sara's first song to chart on the Canada Hot 100, where it reached No. 56, and it made it to No. 20 on the Billboard Canadian Rock chart. Despite that mark of success at home, it didn't chart anywhere else. — GD 'Save Your Scissors,' City and Colour "Save Your Scissors" is the first single from City and Colour's 2005 debut record, Sometimes, and saw City and Colour — the pen name for St. Catharines-based singer-songwriter Dallas Green — reach solo success almost immediately. "Save Your Scissors" peaked at No. 18 on the Canada Adult Contemporary Billboard charts, and No. 9 on the Canada Rock Top 30, but never charted elsewhere. The quiet acoustic song, on which Green sings and plays guitar without accompaniment, was a strong start to what's become a successful solo career. — GD 'Fuel Injected,' Swollen Members Before Drake, Canada's most famous rapper internationally was probably either Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies or Snow, depending on your definition of rap. But in the early 2000s, one independent Vancouver rap group managed to break into Canada's mainstream, despite being named after — well, nevermind. "Fuel Injected" mixed West Coast underground flavour, a repurposed Giorgio Moroder sample, hardcore esthetics and an undeniable Moka Only hook, making Swollen Members the best-selling Canadian hip-hop artists ever (at least for a while). The video for "Fuel Injected" won four MuchMusic Video Awards in 2002 — tied for the most wins in one night ever — and it helped Swollen Members win three Junos in a row for rap recording of the year. — MC 'I Believe,' Nikki Yanofsky When Canada hosted the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the country pulled out all the stops — including the release of an official promotional song. Co-written by Grammy-nominated composer Stephan Moccio (who's worked with the likes of Céline Dion and Miley Cyrus) and performed by Montreal-based jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky, the song spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart, and was Canada's No. 33 single of the year overall. It never charted elsewhere. — GD 'Patio Lanterns,' Kim Mitchell Kim Mitchell's "Patio Lanterns" is not exclusively a Canadian success — the 1986 song performed well on the US Billboard Top Rock charts, peaking at No. 36 — but it was never a classic anywhere but here. The song peaked at No. 12 on the Canadian Singles chart and was one of the top 100 singles of the year in Canada, beating out tracks including "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi. It's a staple for hot summer nights and has become such a cultural mainstay that, in 2021, Mitchell joked with the CBC that he sometimes gets sick of it himself. — GD 'Barrett's Privateers,' Stan Rogers Sea shanties as we know them — traditional folk songs that sailors sang on ships — date back to the 16th century, but Canadian musician Stan Rogers was enamored with them throughout his career in the 1970s. Rogers' music often told stories of sailors in the Maritimes, with "Barrett's Privateers" being his most famous example. Though it was never a radio hit, the 1976 modern sea shanty has become a staple throughout the country and especially in the Maritimes, where it's a classic drinking song and an unofficial anthem. So while this might not be a Cancon radio hit, it feels wrong to discuss music famous in Canada without mentioning Stan Rogers. — GD 'When the Night Feels My Song,' Bedouin Soundclash The opening acoustic guitar chords of "When the Night Feels My Song" have a similar effect on Canadians as the opening chords of "Back in Black" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit." In those first few smacks you can already hear the entire song, and you can see years of your life flash before your eyes. "When the Night Feels My Song" hit No. 1 on the Much Countdown, was the CBC Kids' Canada theme song for years and is the ninth most-played song on Canadian radio ever. When it was released in 2004, Bedouin Soundclash had punk credibility at the height of Canadian punk's popularity — but the reggae-ska sound from Jay Malinowski and Eon Sinclair also fit nicely alongside Jack Johnson and all the other acoustic guitar guys of the era. While "When the Night Feels My Song" did find minor success across the pond when it had a U.K. release in 2005, nothing compared to its juggernaut status in Canada. — MC
