Here + Now
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Love Lives Here: A Review
“Exposure is important. If you haven’t experienced something personally and learned about it that way, the next best thing is to learn from someone who has.” When Amanda Jetté Knox decided to write about her family in her memoir, Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family, she did it because she knew there weren’t a lot of positive stories out there about trans families. “We know that that’s not everyone’s story and that’s why we had to tell ours,” she said to the audience at an event organized by Toronto PFlag and the Toronto Trans Coalition Project on Jan. 13. Love Lives Here is about Jetté…
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Let’s talk about trauma: Building strength and resilience through safe spaces
Trauma is an experience that differs from individual to individual, affecting lives in diverse ways. While some may be more open to discussing it, others may not wish to bring it up at all, as it can stem from the most upsetting, scarring, or challenging moments in our lives. Around one year ago, both the Danforth neighbourhood and the city of Toronto as a whole experienced trauma as a community—and, for many of us, the scars of these events remain. So, how can we practice the best self-care when we face trauma? How can we offer support to loved ones going through this trying experience? And what can we do,…
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Finding Meaning in the Mundane
Throughout my undergraduate studies I worked at a burger place. Situated across from a hospital, I served many customers, who were waiting out a turbulent moment in life and finding brief respite in a bite and a beer. Often until 3 a.m., I would serve patrons on the all-too-typical intoxicated quest for sustenance, saving them from their otherwise inevitable morning malady. Over the four years I worked there, their faces underwent the gradual shift from unknown to familiar. On occasion, walking down the street and observing those around me, I’d be panged with the querying nudge of almost-recognition–––the foggy notion that I knew that face––– and, suddenly, I’d remember them…
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That’s the Spirit
Psychic reader Sonya is a point of comfort at the edge of the Danforth, even for the “spiritually agnostic”
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Brenda Joslin: An Individual of the Danforth Community
My neighbour is a wise and respectful woman and has a fantastic sense of humour. During the interview, when offered tea and asked about sugar, she quickly replied, “I don’t need any sugar ‘cause I’m sweet enough.” Her name is Brenda Joslin, and she is the star of this article, as she is of her life. Originally born in Plessisville, Quebec, Joslin moved to Toronto when she was four- years-old and has been living on the same street since her arrival almost fifty years ago. She attended William Burgess Elementary School and is happy to see the tradition continue with her three kids and her little grandson. Brenda says that…
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On the Map: The Once-Sleepy Danforth Neighbourhood Finds its Place in the 6
“There are so many studies that say that once you get a Starbucks in a neighbourhood, you’re A Neighbourhood—with a capital A,” says long-time Danforth resident Jack Howard as we discuss the transformation of the once-sleepy locality into a vibrant and culturally diverse pocket of Toronto. Howard and his wife chose the Danforth area for their future family home back in 2006 because, at the time, it was one of the more affordable areas of Toronto. Since then, the once-tired, inner-city east side quarter has changed dramatically—for the better. “I can share with you that our excitement of getting a new shop [in our neighbourhood] ten years ago was very…
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Mountains into Molehills: A Fearless Guide for First-Time Rock Climbers
South of the Danforth, in an industrial building that houses art studios, fashion labels, and commercial bakeries, I cling to fake rocks a few metres off the ground. I inch my right foot around a plastic outcropping. Then my left foot slips and I slide down the artificial rock face, skinning a couple of calluses from my hands in the process. Back on the ground, I am unable to wipe the smile off my face. The Rock Oasis is an apt name for one of the best and biggest climbing gyms in Toronto. When you push open the door, The Rock Oasis appears like a mirage: a two-story expanse of…
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Fight Like a Girl
Gemma Sheehan is an ex-MMA champion. She teaches girls how to fight. Deep social conditioning might have led you to reread the first two sentences. I don’t blame you. When I told my sister I was going to interview a former MMA fighter she smiled and asked, “What’s his name?” As a society, we have long internalized a cultural narrative that does not associate girl with fighter— certainly not of the punches-and-kicks variety. The good news is that, according to Sheehan, this is changing. “It’s why I started Girls Who Fight,” she tells me, referring to the business she founded nearly two years ago. “I noticed that…
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Stronger Together: Youth Empowering Youth
Their names are Michelle Bain and Li Koo—but I think of them as Danforth heroes. Together, Bain and Koo founded Youth Empowering Youth (YEY), an organization with a mission as noble as it is challenging: to give agency to the children in Ontario’s child welfare system. Bain is a lawyer by trade, as well as YEY’s director. Koo is a professor in Communications at George Brown College, and a recent candidate for the Toronto-Danforth Council seat in Ontario’s provincial election. Both are talented and professionally successful women who have thrown themselves headfirst into addressing the needs of our community. The problem tackled by these women is, sadly,…
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It Actually Happened and It’s Not a Big Deal
Following the Cannabis Act, stigma around legal use prevails in the Danforth community.