IT'S OKAY TO TAKE UP SPACE AT THE SKATE PARK

Once a stronghold for straight dudes, the skateboarding scene is finally opening up to queer riders. Four skaters talk about how they made inroads and found a loving community along the way.

paperNiko StratisJune 24, 2022toronto, queer, sports

RUBBLE WITH A CAUSE

Tommy Thompson Park, also known as the Leslie Spit, is a boon for birders and naturalists built on a heap of construction waste. Here in the West End, a group is mobilizing to ask, Why can’t we have one of our own?

paperAndrew ReevesJune 21, 2022toronto, environment

BALLADS OF A YOUNG TROUBADOUR: JUSTICE LEAGUE, VOL. 5

Growing up we didn’t have a lot of superheroes that looked like we did. All the mainstream ones on TV and in comic books were white and most of them were men. So my cousins and I turned to sports for inspiration and to find people like us to look up to.

paperJulian TaylorJune 10, 2022toronto, music, comic, ballads

BALLADS OF A YOUNG TROUBADOUR: MUSIC UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN, VOL. 4

One of my most memorable trips was playing indigenous day live in Whitehorse. I’d never been to Whitehorse before. I left a few days before the band to do a solo performance at the opening ceremonies.

paperJulian TaylorJune 9, 2022toronto, music, comic, ballads

BALLADS OF A YOUNG TROUBADOUR: STEPPING STONES, VOL. 3

I loved collecting stones as a child. I was mesmerized by the smooth light-green ones. I didn’t know they were just shards of glass that had been eroded. Back then, when I was just a boy, it was like finding pirate treasure.

paperJulian TaylorJune 8, 2022toronto, music, comic, ballads

BALLADS OF A YOUNG TROUBADOUR: KINDRED SPIRIT, VOL. 2

It was the summer I turned 15, and music already had its grip on me. I was visiting my grandfather on the West Coast and listening to a lot of his old blues records and 8-tracks.

paperJulian TaylorJune 7, 2022toronto, music, comic, ballads

BALLADS OF A YOUNG TROUBADOUR: MISSION APOLLO, VOL. 1

Vortex Records was a little shop near the high school I went to, on Yonge Street above the Second Cup. It was the mid-'90s. Jerry Garcia had just died. I was going into grade 9 at North Toronto Collegiate and having a tough time trying to find my way.

paperJulian TaylorJune 6, 2022toronto, music, comic, ballads

THE SNACKDOWN: BANH MI'S BEST

Has there ever been a greater grab-and-go snack than the glorious Banh Mi? The bright pickled tangle – carrots, cilantro, tofu, pâté – tucked into a killer baguette is well-stuffed and built for strolling. There are many delicious Toronto iterations of the Saigon street food, but WEP readers have voted. Here, your favourites don their crusty, mayo-smeared crowns.

paperWest End PhoenixMay 25, 2022toronto, food

TRYING TO GET SOMEWHERE. ANYWHERE

On daily strolls through Parkdale with my dog, gentrification’s tremors are all around me – nowhere more noticeable than in the accelerating speed of life on the sidewalk.

paperMirusha YogarajahMay 13, 2022toronto, parkdale, housing, affordable housing, gentrification

SHOPKEEPER: MASTER CLASS

For Josie Candito, who runs a beloved automotive shop at Howard Park and Dundas, the road to success is about caring for more than just cars.

paperKunal ChaudharyApril 23, 2022toronto, small business

JOY RIDE

Nine WEP writers wax about their best-ever set of wheels and why they loved them. With stories from Nobu Adilman, Michael Winter, Bianca Spence, Perry King, Larry Koch, Aurora Browne, Kevin Barry, Allana Harkin, and Liara Weiler.

paperVarious AuthorsApril 22, 2022toronto, cycling

THE YEAR I QUIT BASEBALL

It was 1995. A sheep was born in a petri dish. A bright comet was streaking through the sky. And, in pre-internet Toronto, something even more remarkable was happening: The High Park Little League team was headed to the World Series. Poet David James Brock remembers what the world felt like in that moment.

paperDavid James BrockApril 11, 2022toronto, sports, baseball

WHEN ONTARIO LINE CONSTRUCTION RIPS THROUGH VENUE-HEAVY QUEEN WEST EXPECT THE MUSIC TO STOP FOR GOOD

There was a time when Queen Street was the northern limits of Toronto. It’s about to become the last line of defence for live music.

paperAdam VaughanMarch 28, 2022toronto, music, construction

MUSIC AT WORK

A feel-good, nostalgic genre of Japanese dance tunes called City Pop has become the kitchen soundtrack for a community of Toronto chefs – one that sets the tone for a kinder, brighter kitchen culture.

paperNancy MatsumotoMarch 25, 2022toronto, music, food, restaurant, culture

SAVING MUSIC CITY

Over the past five years, little more than a quarter of Toronto’s rehearsal spaces have survived, chipped away by an inflated real estate market and then the death knell of shutdowns. Now, a group of artists is banding together to defend what little space remains for making music.

paperLuc RinaldiMarch 15, 2022toronto, music

THE UNDEFINABLE ZAKI IBRAHIM

Travelling between hip-hop, pop, electronic music and neo-soul – and her homes in Cape Town, Toronto and B.C. – Zaki Ibrahim is hard to label. And that’s kind of the point.

paperAmani Bin ShikhanMarch 2, 2022toronto, diversity, music

FAMILY AFFAIR

Everything they do, every step they take, is for each other. That’s the de facto motto at FreedomSchool Toronto, a grassroots community organization that aims to inform, equip and engage local Black children regarding Black pride, Black histories of resistance and community organizing.

paperPerry KingFebruary 18, 2022toronto, diversity, social justice

A FORMER BLACK ARTS CENTRE OFFERS LESSONS FOR THE PRESENT

Legends like Isaac Hayes, Bob Marley, BB King and more came to the Harriet Tubman Centre at St. Clair and Oakwood in the ’70s – a thriving hub for Black Torontonians. Its founder, Ken Jeffers, recalls its impact and finds in its undoing a familiar story.

paperLuke OttenhofFebruary 18, 2022toronto, diversity

“DIVERSITY IS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT”

Toronto’s schools are steeped in colonial attitudes, and Black students are paying the price. But educators and advocacy groups are working to change the ways schools work to better serve racialized students.

paperSadaf AhsanFebruary 18, 2022toronto, education, diversity, equality

FARM TEAM

Three urban farming projects are working toward making Toronto a food-sovereign city – and showing how almost every bit of space can be made to flourish.

paperSamantha EdwardsJanuary 7, 2022toronto, food, community