Tag Archives: culture

Hot town, summer in the city . . .

Beaches Jazz vignettes;

three guys wield corn-cobs in impromptu funky dance routine, ‘come buy’ . . .
salseros so tuned to each other that they almost dance as one . . .magic harp, now vividly blue, now pink – the coloured light cuts through the falling night . . . a watery halo behind darkly silhouetted trees as the moon clambers through the clouds . . . young couple dance close – in what the singer aptly describes as a ‘jazz love-in’ – but one hand rocks the stroller, connecting with their wide-eyed infant.

Continue reading Hot town, summer in the city . . .

Canada Day 2010 (1st July)

We celebrated our second Canada Day in Canada as landed immigrants yesterday! (Yes, I know we didn’t move here till October, but we were here this time last year on our prospecting visit and to go through the formal landing process). It definitely felt like a milestone.

Continue reading Canada Day 2010 (1st July)

Idea City 2010

IdeaCity is an awesome three day event, bringing together an assortment of thinkers and entertainers from the broadest spectrum of backgrounds imaginable.

I’m not sure I’ll every afford to be there as an attendee (door price was $4000 this year), but I grabbed the opportunity to volunteer this year. I was fortunate enough to be put on ‘usher’ duty on the afternoon/evening shift. This meant that I got myself in for the morning sessions each day (8:45) as a member of the audience. Then, from 1:30 until anywhere between 8 and 9pm, I was on duty but able to give at least part of my attention to the stage. Each night, there was then a party, which was open to volunteers as well as to attendees and speakers.

Why Canada? (A quote from ideaCity)

Canadian novelist and cultural commentator Douglas Coupland was at a restaurant on Queen Street East a few weeks ago. He was invited to answer the question “what is the sexiest thing about Canada?”

His response was

That we have a future!

Although Canadians often seem quite critical of themselves and their country, living in Toronto I genuinely do have a very strong sense of a country with a future!

The Danforth in Art

‘What is this place?’ This was the question posed by Art of the Danforth during the last week of April.

Organized by an independent group of locally based individuals, this new community art walk between Greenwood and Woodbine is rooted in a belief in the power of art to cut across divisions and draw people together.

East Danforth’s population includes an above average percentage of artists and Art of the Danforth certainly showcased some amazing talent. But it also provided a potent reminder that creativity and art belong to all of us.

(Excerpt from an article I have just written for Local Magazine)

We have both been very involved in Art of the Danforth as volunteers since November – it’s been fabulous to be part of something like this that really is conducive to neighbourhood regeneration through the arts. And we’ve met so many amazing people!

Here are my photos from the event that I uploaded to Flickr  – you can see more on the Art of the Danforth Group Flickr page or read about specific artists and installations on the Art of the Danforth website.

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