Selling Kensington

Last week he was on Augusta, on the sidewalk between the fruit store and the egg wholesalers which had just closed down. He was selling T-shirts which he had spray painted with the words “Kensington Market”. He was lying underneath the clothing rack, trying unsuccessfully to shade himself from the blazing midday sun.
This week he had moved his merchandise across the street, into The Empire’s Tea and Curios. The store had formerly sold political zines espousing the luddite views of its owner, Michael Rosenberg. The store sign had been spray painted over in black, but was still mostly visible.
Rosenberg was renting him the space, but he preferred to think of it as a showcase for his work. He told me that there were still a lot of materials belonging to Who’s Emma?, an anarchist store that had operated on Nassau.
-It was named after the anarchist, Emma Goldberg.
I told him that her name was Emma Goldman, and that she used to give talks in Toronto.
-Yes, he said, and she died here.
-She lay in state at the Labour Lyceum, where the Bright Pearl Restaurant is today, at the corner of St. Andrew and Spadina.
-What was the Labour Lyceum?
-A centre for Jewish labour unions.
These days, it is the anarchists which are commodifying the Market, selling its image on hand lettered tourist T-shirts. But at least they know their history.

The Happiest Place in Toronto

It's official: Dufferin Grove Park is the happiest place in Toronto. Not only does it have ice skating and hot chocolate in the winter, and amazing plays and puppet shows in the summer in the winter, it also has a year round farmer's market and thrice weekly pizza baking in a giant outdoor pizza oven. Today the pizza oven was put to use for the 10th annual Dufferin Grove matzah bake. With a mashgiach at hand, participants made their own whole wheat matzahs, in eighteen minutes or less. Lots of kids, and colourful Jews, as well as some friendly Dufferin Grove volunteers. I ran into one of the students from Montrose, my first practicum school. I also had a great discussion with Louise, an 89 year old ex-Montrealer who lived beside the park.

Ethiopian Butter

At the Cheese Magic counter, there is a sign in Amharic. I asked the guy behind the counter what it said, and he said it referred to a sale on butter.
"Do many Ethiopian people buy butter here?"
"Oh yes", he said, "many. We sell hundreds of dollars worth of butter a week."
Just then, an Ethiopian man approached the counter.
"Ethiopian butter, please."

Day's Events

Yesterday, on my way to Spadina station, three girls around 6 or 7 and their two fathers passed me, on their way downtown. On my way back from my grandma, as I left Spadina station, they passed me again, this time on their way home. "Do you remember all the reptiles we saw?" one father asked his daughter.

Later that night, at University College, I saw a Russian man scavenging for books in the recycling dumpsters. The dumpsters were full of old castaways. I took about seven, among them a Hebrew translation of a book by James Fenimore Cooper, "Sex and the Family in the Jewish Tradition", a beautifully illustrated Haggadah, and a book on Portuguese communities in Canada.

Today, as I waited my turn at the ATM on Kensington Avenue, I watched a man standing to my left, a little ways away. He said hello to every girl that passed by, and asked them how they were doing. Some responded, without slowing down. Others stopped to chat for a minute and then moved on. I withdrew my money from the ATM, and went to the organic store to buy some recycled toilet paper. When I came back he was gone. Whether he met the girl of his dreams, or simply gave up, I'll never know.

The Day's Events

The day began with a four building fire at Queen and Bathurst, and ended with a fiery sunset, which I saw bearing down on Bloor Street, asserting its presence between the buildings. It capped itself off with a total lunar eclipse, at 10 pm.

The Last Twenty One Books I Have Read

1. Last Evenings on Earth, Roberto Bolano
2. De Niro's Game, Rawi Hage
3. Abyssinian Chronicles, Moses Isegawa
4. A Life Elsewhere, Segun Afolabi
5. The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, Peter Orner
6. For Bread Alone, Mohamed Choukri
7. Season of Migration to the North, Tayeb Salih
8. Dirty Havana Trilogy, Pedro Juan Gutierrez
9. Little Infamies, Panos Karnezis
10. Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson
11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Mark Haddon
12. The Day the Beast got Thirsty, Samir El-Youssef
13. Natasha and Other Stories, David Bezmozgis
14. The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
15. Pipelines, Etgar Keret
16. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, Bruno Schulz
17. The Street of the Crocodiles, Bruno Schulz
18. Dancing Arabs, Sayed Kashua
19. Too Loud a Solitude, Bohumil Hrabal
20. Arabesques, Anton Shammas
21. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer

Things People Say in Toronto

What are you saying? (How's it going?)
You're laughing! (Your success is assured)
Are you kidding me?! (What the hell?!)
Guy (as in "What are you saying, guy?")
Boss (see above)
Cottage (cabin)
Easy (as in "Take it easy")