Hollywood Of The North

If you asked someone where “Hollywood of the North” is located, they might guess New York City, Vancouver, or any other major North American city above the Mason-Dixon line. They’d be wrong. While no longer operating in the same capacity as it once was, “Hollywood of the North” was actually a moniker given to a …

Of Love And Death In Toronto

It was a cool summer night in Annapolis Royal, NS. A group of people 50-strong walked down the street in twos and threes, each carrying a lantern. The procession wound their way through a moonlit park, stopping in front of a weathered tombstone. The year was 2019, and these people were about to learn the …

Slides

(Grandpa Slim reading me a story, circa 2009-2010) I don’t remember much about my great-grandfather, Grandpa Slim. What I do is random and unspecific: the old-fashioned wooden calendar that hung in his apartment, the balcony there that I loved but he never used, and he, my mom and I watching a tv show about a …

9:04 A.M

At 9:04 a.m AST(Atlantic Standard Time) today, you, like me, were probably asleep. Ah, the blessing of a weekend sleep-in! For a moment, though, I want you to imagine that today had been a weekday instead. 9:04 a.m AST, which is 8:04 EST for my fellow Eastern Ontarians, is when I would normally be getting …

June 6th, 2020

Today is a day like any other. Summer temperatures are setting in, so people are taking full advantage of the beautiful weather to ride their bikes, have socially distant visits with friends, and go for walks. Everywhere you look, children are playing, and the sky above is a bright blue, dotted with puffy white clouds. …

How To Turn That History Frown Upside-Down

You know the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”? Well, today I’m going to make some quality figurative lemonade. Before March Break, one of the projects I was working on at school was a presentation on a topic of my choice. But since it looks like I won’t be heading back to school …

I Read Canadian Day

I live in Canada. While we do have lots of books, tv shows, bands, etc that are recognized globally, majority of the media content that we come across on a daily basis is from our neighbours to the south. Because of this, many of our great entertainers, inventions, and stories are often overshadowed by things …

The Christmas Truce

A Canadian soldier in the trenches of World War One takes part in a historic Christmas event.

The Forest of Reading: Red Maple

One of the best programs run by the Ontario Library Association is the Forest of Reading. Every year, the OLA selects 10 books written by Canadian authors for each school division(e.g Primary, Junior, Intermediate) to read. Then, once students have read all or most of the ten, they can vote for their favourite. When all …

The Halifax Explosion

December 6th is a somber day for my family. As well as it being the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, it also marks the anniversary of a disaster that aligned the stars so we could be born- the Halifax Explosion. During the First World War, Halifax, Nova Scotia, became a …