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The Torontoist Week in Review: May 4-8
A lot happens in the course of a workweek. Here’s a look back at the top stories from the past five days that you might have missed, or might care to revisit.
Illustration by Lindsay O’Brien.
About a Boy: Lynn Crosbie on Her Kurt Cobain-Inspired “True Story” Where Did You Sleep Last Night
“This is a true story,” we’re told at the start of Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Toronto-based poet and critic Lynn Crosbie’s dizzying new book. It’s an equally buoyant and anguished high-concept love story that imagines Kurt Cobain reincarnated into the body of a young amnesiac named Celine Black.
Landlord Licensing: A Solution to Toronto’s Tenant Woes?
There’s a reason the civil service regulates the private sector: they’re supposed to keep the public from getting screwed over.
At least, that’s the idea. And, for better or worse, we need the help. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a legitimate and illegitimate trade professional, and that makes it easy to pay good money for a bad job. If we had to check everyone’s qualifications ourselves, we’d never have time to do anything, so we rely on government services and checks and balances to filter out the quacks and cons.
The Spadina Museum’s Too-Great Gatsby Party
On March 11, 2015, the Spadina Museum’s part-time social-media employee created a Facebook event for the building’s third annual Gatsby Garden Party. She didn’t do anything differently from previous years—in 2013, the event attracted around 200 Facebook RSVPs, while 2014 saw slightly fewer than 1,000. The museum staff were pleased with the growth, and hoped the numbers would continue to climb in 2015.
Which they did.
New Sex-Ed Curriculum is Potentially Lifesaving for Gender Non-Conforming Youth
Amidst mounting protests, some LGBTQ advocates hope that the curriculum’s introduction of gender non-conformity will give a voice to trans and genderqueer youth.
Vintage Toronto Ads: Stopless Topless
By the late 1970s, Yonge Street was synonymous with sin and sleaze. Despite growing calls to clean up its adult cinemas, arcades, and rub-and-tugs, especially in the wake of the murder of shoeshine boy Emanuel Jaques in 1977, businesses dealing in titillation continued to launch along the strip.