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Canadians in the Big City
It’s probably because of the recent Olympics but Torontoist can’t help but feel extremely proud of the amazing work that Canadians are doing all over the world and particularly in our world dominating neighbour to the south.
By now most of you know about the honour being bestowed on former Canadian turned American news anchor Peter Jennings in New York City. The ABC anchor, who passed away last year, is having a street renamed after him. The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia is also establishing a journalism institute in his honour. Jennings’ widow even mentioned that Peter carried a dog-eared copy of the constitution in his backpocket. What a guy.
We also want to point you to Malcolm Gladwell’s blog. Torontoist finally got around to reading it and enjoyed it immensely. Filled with excerpts from reader’s letters, follow-ups to pieces, links to supporting and research materials and more, the blog will undoubtedly provide us with a hit of Gladwell when we need it most.
One guy who we’re pretty sure must read the blog is the Globe’s New York Diarist Simon Houpt. His column today, unfortunately locked away behind the Globe’s subscriber wall, talks about how the 150-seat venue Joe’s Pub has become a beachead for Canadian musicians wanting to invade New York. He starts the column with a tip of the hat to the afro’ed New Yorker writer:
“This is one of those Malcom Gladwell stories, except for the fact that it’s not written by Malcolm Gladwell and it doesn’t have a tipping point, at least not yet.”
And goes on to talk about how a couple of Canadians, including an astute staffer at the consulate, connected Joe’s Pub booker Bill Bragin with the music scenes in Halifax and Toronto. This, ladies and gentleman, are your tax dollars hard at work.