[URBAN NOTE] "How construction barriers are bringing downtown's gritty past to life"

Randy links to a tale of quieter heroes...

Originally posted by rfmcdpei at [URBAN NOTE] "How construction barriers are bringing downtown's gritty past to life"

CBC News' Lorenda Reddekopp looks at how archeologists are uncovering the history of Toronto's infamous Ward, a neighbourhood that was an early center for immigration.

Mavis Garland clearly remembers the sign stuck in the window of her stepdad's barbershop: "No Discrimination."

That was back in the early 1950s. Garland's mother, a white woman and British immigrant, made the sign. Her Chinese stepfather wanted clients of all races to know they were welcome.

Garland says it worked.

Her family's story is one of six depicted in an art project — called Picturing The Ward — on the wooden construction hoardings surrounding what will eventually be a new courthouse in downtown Toronto, at 11 Centre Ave., northwest of city hall.

The street art covers two blocks, recounting life stories from the gritty, impoverished area that used to be known as "The Ward." It was a first home for new immigrants to the city dating back to the 1800s.

New Species: Holding Onto the Sense of Wonder

163 newly-encountered species of life in our world. They've certainly all been here a long time, all are certainly endangered now in one way or another, but even so...this is more than we knew about our world the day before.

Truth still exists. Facts are still real. This "sense of wonder" moment is part of that.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/163-new-species-discovered-in-southeast-asia-wwf-1.3902997

Things That Disturb Me

The top five countries looking at my NCF home page as of this point of this month:

1. USA
2. Germany
3. China
4. Canada
5. Seychelles

Wondering why that is.

So I am concerned about voting in general

Having said an earlier, not-as-well-thought-out version of this elsewhere publicly:

People not voting just plain terrifies me now.

I've heard arguments why I'm supposed to think it's a good thing that not everyone who can vote does, and I do not buy into it anymore. If I ever did. We've been slowly and steadily getting our act together on this front in Canada - thanks to Harperism (however perversely) for more quietly showing us the consequences of not voting - over the last ten years, and if we manage to make it to 2019 without being either annexed or blitzkrieged or targeted for social mindset hacking by outside parties, I want to see that trend continue for the better. More participation, more informed participation. Not less. At every level of governance where voting is done.

Not just in Canada either. Worldwide, wherever democratic practices are undertaken in earnest.

I understand if you can't vote, due to illness or supression tactics or worse. But I want you to be able to make the choice. And willing to act on it, when your chance comes.