By JK, on April 9th, 2012 A confession: I’m a big supporter of community building in theory, but when I have to get involved, I get a little gun shy.
I was raised in a family of mostly introverts in the suburbs, where comfortable lawn buffers insulate us from our neighbours. In university I had a roommate from small-town Nova Scotia, and I discovered the inherent intrusiveness of small town living from her, listening in on phone conversations or gossip with her family as they sussed out the 5Ws of every town happening with the dedication of the most hard-nosed journalist (and a lot more delight). A couple years later I ended up in Toronto, where people may mind their own business, but sheer density and proximity force us into one another’s orbits.
Gardening is often praised as a community builder — which, as I said, I’m all in favour of in principle, or for others, but I’m wary of myself — it’s “Stranger Danger” all over. Sometimes I don’t want to impose on people, and generally I’m reluctant to go through those halting steps and stumbles that often come with new conversations and unfamiliar terrain. I usually choose the awkwardness of mutually ignoring someone over the awkwardness [...]
By JK, on April 3rd, 2012
You’ve seen it. You’ve felt it. Spring is here. Crocuses and daffodils have been poking through the soil and unfolding in the sunlight. People are unfolding too, as winter coats (and sometimes coats altogether) have been shed with relief. Stepping outside, you’re greeted by the scent of wet earth. There have never been more dedicated cyclists or runners or dog walkers or stroller pushes. People are smiling more.
So what better way to spend the month of April than returning to the land, focusing on books on gardening, farming, and food (GFF, for short). Regular readers may have noticed I’ve become fairly obsessed with these things, and I’ve decided to dedicate this month to writing about the things I’m really excited to share, that I think need to be shared. We’ll kick things off with a post on Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but along with review-type pieces you’ll also find an annotated list of my essential GFF, interviews, an appropriately themed Books in 140 Seconds video, and maybe even a garden song or two.
If that appeals, or you think it just might, stick around, it’ll be grand. If not, not to worry — come back in May, where we’ll be [...]
By JK, on January 16th, 2012 I am, I think, a rather typical middle-class urban dweller. I live not far from the buzzing downtown core, in the leafy, historic Annex, perched like a sparrow on top of the coursing powerline of the Bloor-Danforth subway. I cross the city each day on the TTC. I take advantage of the eclectic smorgasbord of food the city has to offer. I go to the museums and the literary events and the street festivals, take advantage (if not for granted) the wonderful variety of shops. But I think what makes me urban is not so much those things, but a mentality. A sort of frenetic activity, physically and mentally. Perhaps it’s the number of options, perhaps it’s the lights and noise of a city that never sleeps, but I think more likely it’s just my own overachieving nature mixed up with the realities of being a driven twenty-something building a career and taking on more than is advisable. And while I love my life, find it full and engaging and challenging, there is a part of me that worries that in taking on so much I’m missing out. That in engaging with everything I’m actually processing nothing. That in the [...]
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