Category: Toronto

  • My problem with the suburbs

    I spent the first 18 years of my life in the suburbs of Richmond Hill, Ont. It is an aesthetically homogeneous place, which I think is the source of its two biggest flaws: transit and safety. My boyfriend still, after five years, cannot identify my parents’ house while driving because every home on the street…

  • Pride and (gay) prejudice

    In honour of Pride Week in Toronto, here is a little story about my family and their views on gay rights. This post is also part of The Ethnic Aisle blog collective, a super-awesome new thing I am part of that comments on the experience of visible minority Canadians. I think every person can pinpoint…

  • Flabbergasted

    The other day at the St. Lawrence farmer’s market, a strawberry farmer was handing out free samples of the fruit to bystanders, straight from the basket. A woman walked by, turned up her nose, and said, “Ugh! Ew, that’s dirty. You can’t eat that.” I’ve never seen a more thoroughly bewildered person in my life,…

  • A haiku for springtime

    The air warms; snow melts, revealing a winter’s worth of unclaimed dog shit.

  • Berry foraging, and Peach-Mulberry Boy Bait

    I love fruit. I also love fruit-picking, and I especially love it when both of these things are free. It’s my second year as a volunteer for Not Far From the Tree, a wonderful group that seeks to share the bounty of the many backyard fruit trees within downtown Toronto. My experience with them has…