welcome to the allan and laura new york city history reading club
The theme of this year’s TD Summer Reading Club — a national program (developed by Toronto Public Library) that more than 2,000 Canadian libraries participate in — is Feed Your…
history
A Community-Driven Map of Pre-Colonized Land
If you’ve ever wondered about the history of the land you’re on then this website (and app) is for you! The website Native-Land collects historical data from around the world…
How Trent University Preserves Canadian Architecture
Like other art forms styles come and go in architecture; and when styles go in architecture it can result in demolition of buildings (and thus history). In Canada university and…
what i’m reading: short reviews of fiction by margaret atwood, madeleine thien, frances itani, elizabeth kostova
I’ve gathered some thoughts about several novels I read but neglected to write about. I enjoyed them all to varying degrees; all are worth reading if you enjoy the type.…
I honestly thought Donald Trump would have…
In 1787, the American Constitutional Convention came to be. George Washington was elected to be its chairman and he sat in a very beautiful chair. On the back of the…
Queen Survived New Zealand Assasin
This is a wild tale of a misguided 17 year old kid who later killed himself after being in and out of jail.
2 Quotes, 1 Motto and a Photograph
I think that the act of reading poetry nowadays is already an archaic, cultural activity. When we read a poem, it is tantamount to going to pioneer village in order…
Charles Moore – Civil Rights Photographer
Charles Lee Moore (March 9, 1931 – March 11, 2010) was an American photographer most famous for his photographs documenting the Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps the most famous of his…
Nellie McClung and the challenge of history
Up until a few weeks ago, if I was asked my impression of Nellie McClung I probably would have said “oh, she was that suffragette, right? The one people say…
On Fildebrandt: I nominate Fildebrandt for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation 2018 Teddy Awards
For over two decades, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has described what their vision of good public policy should be. One of the best symbols, descriptors, of their view has been…
Policy over Partisanship
Two decades ago, I was involved with a student newspaper. It was called the Calumetro and it was published by the Calumet College Student Government. It was one of many…
Election Selfie
On November 5th Montreal elected its first woman mayor, Valerie Plante. I was volunteering that day and spent a couple of hours in the De l’Eglise Metro handing out voting…
Remembering those who served
It’s at this time of the year, as we approach Remembrance Day, that I think most about my family, especially those who have died. I wish I had known when…
ancient tv history: a gay cop on barney miller
Watching my comedy-before-bed daily dose of Barney Miller last night, I was surprised and pleased to see an episode about a gay cop. This remembered this post — turns out…
what i’m reading: the radium girls by kate moore
Readers of a certain age might remember clocks and watches with glowing green dials. The dials were painted with radium, the radioactive element discovered by Marie Curie. We had clocks…
That 9/11 Picture
People who worked at Open City at the time might recall Vladimir doing a lot of work with this image, yea, it was iconic, too real, way out there…because it…
Saving Knowledge From Going Extinct
Ultimology is a new field of thought which may help is in the future when we need it the most and don’t realize it. It’s the study of of extinct…
labour day 2017: demand more
CUPE Ontario’s striking new graphic urges us to be brave, to be bold, and to demand more. Those two words — demand more — deserve our attention. Every single law…
what i’m reading: the attention merchants by tim wu
Everywhere we look, every available space is filled with advertising. The Toronto skyline is a sea corporate logos. The due-date receipt from my library book features an ad on the…
Maxime Bernier should walk in other people’s shoes before he accuses anyone of racism
In the 1970s, Lincoln Alexander fought the caucus of the Progressive Conservative Party. Mr. Alexander fought them because as a Black man, he wanted to support anti-hate speech legislation. His…