Dec 24
This is an interesting conversation on AJE about the growing militarization of the police. Of interest to people in Toronto because the G20 is part of the conversation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has granted $34 billion over the last 10 years to state and local police departments to combat terrorist threats and drug trafficking. But critics …
Oct 02
I never turn down an opportunity to travel to the suburbs. While quite a few of my urban cohorts view the regions outside Toronto with disdain, I see them as exotic foreign climes. Perhaps because, unlike a lot of people in Toronto, I’ve never been native to one. I grew up in a village and moved to …
Aug 19
Rob Ford squints at the world through little swine eyes while wearing novelty ties. In a panicked, squealing falsetto, he says things like: ”I can’t support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end of the day.” He …
Jul 02
As I take people like Oscar Wilde, Cicero and Friedrich Reck-Malleczenwen as my models of political dissent, I think it’s important to remember that even in horrible times, especially then, beauty, dignity and basic human decency are of paramount importance. Although they are the first things to become improbable, you must never allow your better parts to …
Jul 01
It’s Canada Day and I usually like to mark the occasion with some flag vandalism, a rant against the nation state in general and this one in particular, and then spend the next six months sifting through a selection of insults, threats and various other comments. I’m not in the mood this year. Usually, my …
Jun 28
On the twitter, I’ve recently heard many people declare that “Toronto has become a police state.” If you’ve said something along those lines, you need to take a deep breath. You are only experiencing clarity. It will pass. Canada has been a police state for years. Over the weekend, we just saw how a police …
Jun 28
Peaceful G20 protest at Queen & Spadina from Meghann Millard on Vimeo. Peaceful protesters sing Canada’s national anthem, riot police respond with force.
Although Ryan Oakley began his career as a simple rake (drunk) he has since become Toronto’s most renowned flaneur (no car) and notorious dandy (overdresses). A misanthropic composer of psycho-geographical fictions (sci-fi), he is also a server of food, a tender of bar and a washer of dishes. While performing all these functions with efficiency and elegance (disdain and malice), he somehow finds the time to publicly criticize friends, strangers and cultural crap.
