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loving the ride

~ exploring the world (with a little vélo love)

loving the ride

Category Archives: words

so let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. and we’ll change the world. – jack layton, 1950-2011

19 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by lovingtheride in inspiration, photography, words

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Tags

hope is better than fear, jack layton quote, jack layton school playground mural, jack layton toronto mural, jack layton tribute toronto, jack layton's final words, jack layton's letter to canadians, keith haring art, keith haring mural toronto, keith haring toronto, love is better than anger, optimism is better than despair

Out bike riding the other day, I came upon this mural featuring the final words of the Honourable Jack Layton’s letter to Canadians, written just hours before the leader of the New Democratic Party and Official Opposition passed away of cancer last summer. The mural wraps around part of a Toronto playground tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood not far from the bustle of Queen Street West and Ossington Avenue.

The mural’s colourful figures – each tagged with the name of what is presumably a student at the grade school – are simple and playful. Recalling artist Keith Haring’s style of painting, the bold, active figures convey a sense of unity, embodying the loving, hopeful and optimistic spirit that Layton called for in his letter:

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

Jack Layton’s final words are words to live by and continue to inspire all Canadians today. When I saw this mural, I almost walked by without noticing the quote, but when I recognized it, I sat down and just paused, soaking in the vision of this community of children full of love, hope and optimism, working and playing together to create a better Canada and a better world.

And I wanted to cry.

Because I do believe that’s possible. And the act of filling a public playground with such an optimistic quote truly was inspiring.

grand slam

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by lovingtheride in words

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Tags

performance art, poetry, slams, spoken word, the drake, toronto, toronto poetry slam

Poetry slams rock. The Toronto Poetry Slam at the Drake Hotel Underground
is always packed to standing room only. It’s a monthly spoken word competition, where five judges score each poem based on content and performance. Anyone can sign up to slam. Poets must be prepared with three poems, as there are three rounds, with poets eliminated in each round, going from 12 poets to six to three. Poems must be original and under 3 minutes and 10 seconds; props, costumes and musical instruments aren’t allowed, but teams are. The judges, by the way, are people like you and me, plucked from the audience and of no relation to the poets. Judges can be solo or a team, and their interaction – the entire audience’s interaction, in fact – is all part of the fun.

As I said, poetry slams rock, and the slams at the Drake get rowdy, with booing (of low-scoring judges), cheering, laughing, swearing, sighs of recognition, and snaps of agreement or encouragement. The slam is a community. It’s poets getting up on stage to share their life, in a rhythmic, entertaining way that’s unlike what most people imagine poetry readings to be. Because it’s not just a reading – it’s a slam. And of course, there are lots of poems about breakups and heartache, but there are also political poems, comedic poems, even team poems and musical poems! To quote poet Kay’la Fraser at last night’s pre-slam open mic, the slam is “not a spectator sport. It’s a coliseum where word slayers and truth sayers become gladiators and battle it out with tongues as sharp as their intellectual resolve…[it’s] a beatniks’ revival, a revolution in the making…our art, our life.” Here she is performing This Poetry Game, her ode to the slam.


What: Toronto Poetry Slam
Where: Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W., Toronto, Ont.; 416-531-5042; 866-DRAKE-TO
When: Usually the last Saturday of the month
Time: The slam starts at 8 p.m., but there’s always a lineup before doors open at 7 p.m. (The line for the semifinals starts before 6 p.m.; the finals sells out in advance, so get your tickets early.) Slam and pre-slam open mic signup is at 7:30 p.m.
Cost: Regular slam, $5; finals, TBA

the joy of books

09 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by lovingtheride in art, film, inspiration, words

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Tags

animation, books, e-books, english patient, literature, stop-motion

This video makes me want to live at Type Books, or at least have a sleepover there! The owners of the independent Toronto bookstore are clearly celebrating the joy of books. Not e-books, not e-readers: books. Physical. Tactile. Pages you can curl up with, dog-ear, write on, smell. A bold, solid-colour hardcover or pretty paperback. I could never give up reading or buying paper books. I like having my own to read again and again – sometimes just a phrase or a scene (Michael Ondaatje‘s novel The English Patient), other times cover to cover (humourist A.J. Jacobs’ memoir The Know-It-All). Books elicit happiness, sadness, anger, dread, frustration, understanding. And in this whimsical stop-motion video, made by the lovely owners of Type, books truly bring us joy.

What: Type Books
Where: 883 Queen St. W., Toronto, Ont., 416-366-8973;
427 Spadina Rd., Toronto, Ont., 416-487-8973

Why: Did you watch the video???

jennifer krissilas

A girl, her bike, a wee bit o' wanderlust...a lust for life in general. And all things pretty. We can't forget the pretty.

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about

Oh, the outdoor adventuress. Exploring the world (with a little vélo love). Disguised as a freelance editor. Just a girl, her bike, a wee bit o' wanderlust...a lust for life in general. And all things pretty. We can't forget the pretty. Or the sweets. xoxo jen

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Recent Posts

  • happy new year to all, and to all a good (and safe) night!
  • christmas carollers bring festive cheer to toronto
  • remembrance day: lest we forget
  • TIFF in the park brings classic screwball comedies to toronto all summer long
  • toronto port authority’s sail-in cinema returns, august 16-18, 2012
  • comfy, custom-fit wolverine ics hiking shoes
  • alexi murdoch turns up the heat in toronto
  • it wouldn’t be canada if we didn’t have to stop for geese crossing the road
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  • toronto’s open roof film festival heralds the start of summer
  • world naked bike ride day: toronto cyclists bare all for the environment
  • luminato celebrates creativity in toronto and the world
  • i heart: “this bike is my car” bike bell
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  • camino albergues: where to stay between ponferrada and triacastela

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