For the last 4 years, I have been lucky enough to live abroad and see a small speckle of the world. Although I have been able to travel to more than 30 countries, I always tell people that I still have 170 to go. Through my travels, I've had the opportunity to live a wide variety of experiences and ways of life. And the one connecting specimen that has always brought it all together, no matter which country you visit has been culture.
Although culture is nothing you put your finger on, it is something you can see and feel. It's the smell of the air as you walk in the streets of Calcutta. It's the pizza shop with with 3 broken stools in the middle of Rome. It's the dirt on the streets as you try to make your way to your hostel in Kathmandu. All of this is culture, and it helps define the country that you are in. The great thing about culture is that it can be good or bad. Culture is what it is. And it's through this culture that people travel thousands of miles every single day to explore.
There are thousands of cities around the world, that once you name, all five senses are aroused. The streets of Prague, the rain in England, the pubs of Ireland.
But when it comes to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, my mind is a blank.
You can blame it on Rob Ford, like everything else, but the one thing that is digressing in Toronto as a city is culture. In the last years alone, 3 iconic establishments have closed with little more than a hashtag on Twitter. #RIPHonestEds
Honest Eds, The World's Biggest BookStore, and Global Village are just 3 recent examples of iconic buildings that are just months away from being demolished with little fanfare. It's sad to see Canada, which is known to have very little culture, destroy what little of what we have left of our past. As a nomadian expat, it's the number one complaint that the world has about Canada, along with Justin Bieber.
So what's the big deal? Well, just imagine you visited Dubai, and there was no Jumeriah Mosque or Burj Al Arab, would you care? For some, it would just mean one less stop on the Big Bus Tour, but for most of us, these iconic monuments are cultural icons that help define a city. It may not be to the same extent, but Honest Ed's is the same.
So how is Toronto replacing the last remnants of its cultural history? Condos. The same, gray, concrete rectangles that house the living souls who have no need or care for culture in the city. How ironic.
Before I continue, let's play a game.
Quick, describe to me, what Yonge Street looks like now that Sam The Record Man is gone. Can you do it? Do you have any idea what it looks like? I don't.
Toronto will always be a haven for cultural because of its multiculturalism - that is a fact. But like you and me - identity is multi-faceted. It's hard to explain but easy to understand.
But when it comes Toronto, there is very precious little left. Toronto's identity is now defined by its events rather than places. Events such as Caribana, Gay Pride Festival, and TIFF give Toronto a positive identity. But what if they cancelled these events, or you couldn't make it, why would anybody visit the city?
In the grand scheme of things, replacing the World's Biggest Book Store was never going to draw protests. It's no Louvre - I get it. But every city needs to be defined. People who go to New York because it's New York. People know what to expect in Vegas. Even Chicago has a giant metallic Bean.
What kind of city would you rather live in? A Kensington Market or a Walmart?
Although culture is nothing you put your finger on, it is something you can see and feel. It's the smell of the air as you walk in the streets of Calcutta. It's the pizza shop with with 3 broken stools in the middle of Rome. It's the dirt on the streets as you try to make your way to your hostel in Kathmandu. All of this is culture, and it helps define the country that you are in. The great thing about culture is that it can be good or bad. Culture is what it is. And it's through this culture that people travel thousands of miles every single day to explore.
There are thousands of cities around the world, that once you name, all five senses are aroused. The streets of Prague, the rain in England, the pubs of Ireland.
But when it comes to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, my mind is a blank.
You can blame it on Rob Ford, like everything else, but the one thing that is digressing in Toronto as a city is culture. In the last years alone, 3 iconic establishments have closed with little more than a hashtag on Twitter. #RIPHonestEds
Honest Eds, The World's Biggest BookStore, and Global Village are just 3 recent examples of iconic buildings that are just months away from being demolished with little fanfare. It's sad to see Canada, which is known to have very little culture, destroy what little of what we have left of our past. As a nomadian expat, it's the number one complaint that the world has about Canada, along with Justin Bieber.
So what's the big deal? Well, just imagine you visited Dubai, and there was no Jumeriah Mosque or Burj Al Arab, would you care? For some, it would just mean one less stop on the Big Bus Tour, but for most of us, these iconic monuments are cultural icons that help define a city. It may not be to the same extent, but Honest Ed's is the same.
So how is Toronto replacing the last remnants of its cultural history? Condos. The same, gray, concrete rectangles that house the living souls who have no need or care for culture in the city. How ironic.
Before I continue, let's play a game.
Quick, describe to me, what Yonge Street looks like now that Sam The Record Man is gone. Can you do it? Do you have any idea what it looks like? I don't.
Toronto will always be a haven for cultural because of its multiculturalism - that is a fact. But like you and me - identity is multi-faceted. It's hard to explain but easy to understand.
But when it comes Toronto, there is very precious little left. Toronto's identity is now defined by its events rather than places. Events such as Caribana, Gay Pride Festival, and TIFF give Toronto a positive identity. But what if they cancelled these events, or you couldn't make it, why would anybody visit the city?
In the grand scheme of things, replacing the World's Biggest Book Store was never going to draw protests. It's no Louvre - I get it. But every city needs to be defined. People who go to New York because it's New York. People know what to expect in Vegas. Even Chicago has a giant metallic Bean.
What kind of city would you rather live in? A Kensington Market or a Walmart?
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