photoblog: cherry blossoms (and a magnolia)

Last weekend, we went to High Park to look at the cherry blossoms. We'd never actually been before. We think that it's one of those things that Torontonians never get around to unless goaded by a visitor — sort of like the CN Tower.




Anyway, the blossoms were open, but it was cold, and there were many, many people — much more than I expected. Apparently cherry blossoms are a "thing." (I think I much prefer the Japanese tradition of laying out a picnic underneath the cherry trees. Here, everyone sort of milled around with their eyes glued to the viewfinder — much less picturesque, and it seemed to miss the point a little, somehow.)




At any rate, it confirmed what I already knew before: cherry blossoms are very pretty, but magnolias are orders of magnitude better. Intrinsically.


(Pd still won't let me pull out the Saskatoon berry to plant a magnolia tree. Sad.)

this just about made my day

Do you see?


Here, I blew it up for you.


Hee.

(Photo credit to Pd, who actually took the photo.)

So. That happened.

I don't really want to talk about this.






The last picture is from outside the American Embassy on Monday. They had already taken down the barricades, but hadn't yet removed them. (There are two other stacks of fences, outside of the frame.)

I don't really want to talk about this, but feel like I should — it seemed cowardly not to, as though I could pretend it didn't happen if I ignored it. So: it happened. We were far away, not only because it seemed like the prudent thing to do, but because we really couldn't have gotten closer, even if we'd wanted to. They had closed down the subway. Friends who live very near the protest zone were, for all intents and purposes, trapped in their apartment because of the protesters and the road and subway shutdowns.

Everybody seems to be taking sides. I don't think either side is 100%, or even 80%, wrong. I think there are more than two sides. This is what I think:

I think that peaceful protest is a right enshrined in every democracy.

I think that there is absolutely no excuse, ever, for violent protest. (I understand why people would want to smash windows, or rip down signs; I have those urges, but I also know that it's wrong.)

I think that the police have every right to stop violent protesters — or violence, period. That's their job.

I think that the police have no right at all to assume that every protester in a given group will be violent, and to act accordingly.

I think setting cars on fire is pointless and idiotic. It also contributes to global warming.

I think, if someone lobs a canister of tear gas at you, it is perfectly fair to attempt to lob it back.

I think that peaceful protesters who thought that the protest wouldn't turn violent are naive. It's been over 10 years since Seattle. Every single mass protest since then — against the G8, WTO, whatever — has turned violent. Every single one. Why would Toronto be any different?

I think saying that the violent protesters ruined it for everyone is too simplistic. They were marred, maybe, but not ruined. But saying that the violence was justified by the rightness of the protest abdicates responsibility, and that's too simplistic also.

I think that "preventative detention" is just another phrase for "unlawful arrest."

I think that the only allowable instance for a police person to use his or her baton against another person is in self defence. Not preventative self-defence; active self-defence.

I think designating a protest zone, even if it was never officially "guaranteed", and then charging and emptying it using military tactics, is ethically appalling.

I think lying to an entire city population about the police's powers of arrest in order to "keep the criminals out" deprives the citizenry of their rights, including their right to protest. It is also morally wrong and ethically questionable.

I think that any police chief who does not understand the last four points is guilty of a massive and drastic oversight, and I think that that oversight is grounds enough for his resignation. In another century, it would have been trial by ordeal and banishment.

Toronto the Good

I love this city; I really do. I grew up here — that might be part of it. I moved around a lot, after my parents' divorce, but I went to school downtown, so that was my stability. We went trawling through Kensington for vintage clothes and cargo pants. We went through the Queen West goth shops before they left to make way for H&M. I had always assumed that I would go to the University of Toronto, so Ottawa was kind of a surprise, and moving back was pretty much inevitable.


View of downton Toronto from the John Street roundhouse
Anyway, every summer I hatch a plan to explore the city a little more. There are the obvious places — High Park, the Beach, the Toronto islands — but lots of small places, too. That little tiny park near OCAD. OCAD, period. Or, for example: did you know that, in the summer months, they run a vintage streetcar on the Lakeshore line?


Last weekend was Doors Open, of course, so that was the perfect place to start. We went to the John St Roundhouse, above; we'd been there before, but trains are always fun.

We tried to go to the new green roof on top of the Horse Palace, at Exhibition Place, but misjudged the time, so I settled for a sunlit shot of the arena:


Green roofs seem popular this year; another opened on top of City Hall (the new one). We went to the one at MEC last year. It's very cool, but here's a lesson I learned: do not wear a skirt. The access is via ladder (indoors to out), and there is a gusty wind.

...
All of this was actually triggered, not by Doors Open, but by the Bloor Street Viaduct. It's one of my favourite architectural structures in Toronto, but hard to photograph, especially with the Luminous Veil (which I still hate, by the way). Last week, though, I had to figure out how to get underneath it, as Pd is playing league soccer this summer in a field down there, basically next to the Bayview extension.

Looking up at the viaduct
You can go down into the valley quite easily, it turns out. There are stairs near the Castle Frank subway station, by the school. They're a little bit hard to find, but once you're there the entire thing is actually very straight forward. And the view of the viaduct soaring above you is worth it.