Toronto – There’s been a lot of negativity surrounding our city the past few days, and yes, most of it is justified. The over policing on Sunday was absurd, and the lack of police involvement on Saturday was head scratching. Windows were broken, cop cars were burned (seemed so much fun in Grand Theft Auto, not so much fun witnessing in real life) and overall, our city seemed like a war zone this weekend. However, it’s almost over now and lets start the healing process. Those windows will be fixed, the cop cars will be replaced and (maybe) questions will be answered as to what exactly the security protocols were for this weekend. While those answers will probably be unsatisfying, let us remember that we should feel at least somewhat blessed that we can actually question authority in our country and that is not a privilege that is shared among the global community.
However, I would like to step away from all this and let you know something that we all know, but sometimes forget:
Toronto is AWESOME
Hot Docs
Pitter Patter Music Festival
Doors Open
Worldwide Short Film Festival
Luminato
North By Northeast
Toronto Jazz Festival
These are all the events that have happened in the last two months. TWO MONTHS. How crazy is that? the people who live in GTA are incredibly blessed with a whole spectrum of activities to do each week, and frankly, it never gets boring. Having lived in Edmonton for 17 long years, I feel like time has moved faster in the almost 7 years I have lived here, but that’s just because there are so many things to see and experience in our city.
Furthermore, check out all the bands that have played our city the last two months:
Arcade Fire (x2)
The National (x2)
Broken Social Scene
Pavement
Iggy Pop
De La Soul
Massive Attack (x2)
LCD Soundsystem
And those are just the big bands, never mind the hundreds of little bands out there. If you like music, then aside from perhaps New York, there really is no other place to go in North America.
Don’t even get me started about the food here. We live in a city where the following argument can happen at 3:00 am in the morning
“want to go for shwarma?”
“nah im feeling soupy..what about pho?”
“man i’m craving poutine, lets go for that”
“I need something to soak up the alcohol..chinese food?”
“f that dude, mexican breakfast is the way to go!”
“what happened to the good ole greasy spoon?”
That’s all you need to know about the food here. There are endless options in the dead of the night, think about the options we have during the day. It’s amazing.
Sure, our public transportation sucks, our waterfront is worthless and there is a huge divide of opinions between those who live downtown and those who don’t but every large city has its problems and it’s just part of living in a metropolis. If we lived in a place where everyone was happy, and everything is ideal, then it would be pretty freaking boring. Also, that place doesn’t exist anywhere on Earth.
Endless events (good or bad), insane cultural diversity, great food, great music, close to the border, close to the cottages and the center of attention. These things make Toronto great.
If you want something else, something quieter, something more peaceful, then move to a little town somewhere and lay in your bed.
