When you’re clearing a dark house stoned out of your mind with scissors and knives back-to-back, you’re likely not a normal person. If that weren’t a strong enough reminder, high school, university, grad school, and corporate life never failed to constantly remind us that we weren’t welcome. Horrible bosses, bullshit jobs, and a groaningly empty life. Panic attacks were never far away; nor was the existential dread of waking up wasting our lives doing something we gave two fucks about.
Bad breaks always brought us back to the touchstone of the weird, the transgressive, the out-there, and the odd. Time and again, nothing relit our internal spark quite like meeting that guy who kicked his teenage coke habit while surfing Hawaii’s North Shore or the arms trafficker who had a heart of gold.
All the pieces INSPITE covers are inspired by the unbelievable true-life stories of the outsiders. The only thing we’re interested in covering are people who slam their foot on the gas, gun it and do something extreme and different with their lives. Whether it’s a story about drug dealers or entrepreneurs, NFT culture or street crime, escorts or anarchists, we want to hear and feature the remarkable stories of people who just said: "fuck it".
Made mistakes? We don’t care. Went to jail? Ditto. We live in the great age of conformity, where everything and everyone sounds and looks the same. The meaningless corporate-speak, the endless cancellations and the unfunniness that has come to dominate our everyday life has made things grotesquely boring and safe. The weirdos, oddballs, misfits, and fuckups have been pushed to the margins, told to shut up and follow the line - but we’re here to liberate them.
INSPITE is about the grittiness that has been painted out of existence by the perverted and unimaginative gatekeepers who try to strip the beautiful and stark contradictions from polite society. Inspite of such attempts, we’re here to showcase life in all its unvarnished beauty. It doesn't matter who you are or where you’re from: everyone has an incredible story.
Got an amazing story? I want to hear from you! Reach out to jared@inspite.ca.
