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Full of Joy and Life today (as opposed to Depression and Death yesterday).
Singing Stars and the Moon by Robert Patrick Brown at the top of my lungs on my bike as I rode in to work.
I have deliberately put my cynicism on hold this week. The municipal elections on Tuesday night were inspiring and, along with a new planetary alignment at the provincial and federal levels spell a bit of hope for my beloved, beleaugered Toronto.
Toronto's municipal history is a pendulum that swings between eras of progressive, well-planned and people-oriented growth and eras of influence-peddling and backroom deals that lead to nightmares like wall of condos at the waterfront.
( details, details )
What was really exciting and moving on election night was Tutu's reaction to the whole process. He was born at the tail end of China's cultural revolution and has lived his life in a country where there was no chance to eject the leaders, and no chance to have a say in the massive social changes the country has gone through in the last ten years. He's been enjoying the cut and thrust of the municipal election and reading everything he could. Now that he's a landed immigrant, he's been wondering and worrying about his future. What kind of life could an immigrant expect? As we watched the returns on television, we noted that about 80% of council were not of anglo origin and many were themselves immigrants, shaping the course of the city with definable accents. I caught him grinning about this and we discussed that he saw in that diversity that he could have a place here, too.
That's why I'm refusing to be cynical for one week. This is a good city in a good country. Soon, the new mayor and the new Premier and the new Prime Minister will back-pedal on promises and infuriating compromises will be made to appease groups of vocal voters. But listening to Mayor Miller's acceptance speech, I thought, if he can pull out 30% of what he's saying from the political hat, we'll be on the right path.
David Miller, Mayor elect of Toronto: "The front doors of City Hall have been thrown open for the people. The doors to the backroom have been padlocked!"
Singing Stars and the Moon by Robert Patrick Brown at the top of my lungs on my bike as I rode in to work.
I have deliberately put my cynicism on hold this week. The municipal elections on Tuesday night were inspiring and, along with a new planetary alignment at the provincial and federal levels spell a bit of hope for my beloved, beleaugered Toronto.
Toronto's municipal history is a pendulum that swings between eras of progressive, well-planned and people-oriented growth and eras of influence-peddling and backroom deals that lead to nightmares like wall of condos at the waterfront.
( details, details )
What was really exciting and moving on election night was Tutu's reaction to the whole process. He was born at the tail end of China's cultural revolution and has lived his life in a country where there was no chance to eject the leaders, and no chance to have a say in the massive social changes the country has gone through in the last ten years. He's been enjoying the cut and thrust of the municipal election and reading everything he could. Now that he's a landed immigrant, he's been wondering and worrying about his future. What kind of life could an immigrant expect? As we watched the returns on television, we noted that about 80% of council were not of anglo origin and many were themselves immigrants, shaping the course of the city with definable accents. I caught him grinning about this and we discussed that he saw in that diversity that he could have a place here, too.
That's why I'm refusing to be cynical for one week. This is a good city in a good country. Soon, the new mayor and the new Premier and the new Prime Minister will back-pedal on promises and infuriating compromises will be made to appease groups of vocal voters. But listening to Mayor Miller's acceptance speech, I thought, if he can pull out 30% of what he's saying from the political hat, we'll be on the right path.
David Miller, Mayor elect of Toronto: "The front doors of City Hall have been thrown open for the people. The doors to the backroom have been padlocked!"
