[PHOTO] Tower seen from the train, Yonge and Church

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• blogTO praises the food court of Village by the Grange.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about the importance of self-care in times of stress.


• The Dragon's Gaze notes that KIC 8462852 does seem to have faded throughout the Kepler mission.


• The Dragon's Tales notes that Planet Nine may be especially faint in the infrared and looks at the challenges mapping polar regions on Titan.


• Imageo notes how melting of the ice cap continues in the Arctic Ocean.


• Language Hat reports on a new script for the Fulani language.


• Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that people who blame identity politics for the victory of Trump were not exactly non-supporters of the main.


• Marginal Revolution considers the consequences of bribing the American president.


• The NYRB Daily shares Charles Simic's deep concerns for the future of the United States.


• Jim Belshaw's Personal Reflections discusses Australia as a target for immigration and calls for honesty in discussions on migration.


• Peter Rukavina reports on the visit of then-Princess Elizabeth and her husband 65 years ago.


• Whatever's John Scalzi makes the fair point that he can hardly be expected to know what his Trump-era novels will be like.


• Window on Eurasia compares Russia's happiness with Trump's election to its elation over Obama's in 2008, and looks at how Russia is facing decline on a lot of fronts.

[URBAN NOTE] "Defunct Chinese church in Toronto has ties to African-American history"

John Lorinc's article in the Friday edition of The Globe and Mail reports on how Toronto's multicultural history can be intriguingly layered.

Growing up in the 1960s in Chinatown in a flat above her parents’ silk shop, Jennie Norman had no idea about the buried history beneath the Toronto Chinese United Church (TCUC), on Chestnut Street south of Dundas, where she and her friends spent their free time at youth groups and fundraising bazaars.

The TCUC congregation, which served older Cantonese-speaking immigrants as well as second- or third-generation Chinese Canadians such as Ms. Norman, operated out of the church between 1955 and 1988, when the building was sold and demolished to make way for a parking lot.

Last year, however, the TCUC’s well-preserved foundations resurfaced during a massive archeological dig on the site, which is slated to become a $500-million provincial courthouse developed by Infrastructure Ontario (IO).

As archeologists have since revealed, the church traces its origins to a tiny wood-frame chapel founded on the site in the 1840s by five African-American men, some refugees from slavery. Named the British Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856 and rebuilt twice, it became the leading place of worship for Toronto’s black community. When the BME’s membership dwindled in the 1950s, the property was sold to the United Church to establish the city’s first Chinese congregation.

The TCUC, recalls Ms. Norman, a 66-year-old retired IT consultant, “certainly was a very important cultural centre for the Chinese population.” But, she adds, “I doubt if anyone in the congregation knew enough about the history.”

[URBAN NOTE] "Fifty years in the lives of Toronto homes"

Kate Shermack's feature in Toronto Life, with photography by Derek Shapton, examines the extent to which real estate prices in Toronto have spiraled upwards over the past decades.

135 Walmer Road

Imre Gero, hospital worker
Purchase price: $31,000 in February 1966
Gero was an employee at the now-defunct Workmen’s Compensation Hospital in North York. He bought 135 Walmer with his wife, Ilona, and—like so many Annex homeowners of the time—operated the property as a rooming house.

Therafields, therapeutic commune
Purchase price: $76,000 in June 1974
Therafields was an experimental psychotherapeutic commune founded by Lea Hindley-Smith, a woman with no therapeutic training, whose philosophy attracted poets, professors, students and other seekers. The organization owned approximately 20 homes in the Annex, including 135 Walmer, which it used as a shared residence for therapy groups. At one point, there were roughly 900 members, some of whom paid rent to live in Therafields-owned homes and share meals with other members.

Donald Evans, Professor, and Frances smith, teacher
Purchase price: $135,000 in December 1980
By the early 1980s, depressed home prices had reduced the value of Therafields’ real estate portfolio, exacerbating the organization’s financial problems and forcing it to sell off its holdings, including 135 Walmer. Evans and Smith weren’t a married couple, and they didn’t live in the house. It’s likely that they bought the property as an investment. In January 1982, they listed it for $219,000, but they dropped their asking price to $165,000.

Issie Lyon, policy analyst, and Carole Yellin, school psychologist
Purchase price: $160,000 in January 1983
The Lyons bought the house just before the murder of nine-year-old Sharin’ Morningstar Keenan shocked the neighbourhood. Their friends thought the area was dangerous, but the Lyons were smitten. They loved the tight-knit community and the annual Walmer Road block parties. “People became friends who are still friends today,” Issie recalls. “There were a lot of young couples with kids who scraped together enough money to get onto the street. We moved in right before prices got crazy.” Once their sons, Joshua and Matthew, grew up, the couple decided to downsize. In 2006, Issie gave the house to the boys, who sold it two years later.

Ted Betts, Lawyer, and Nathalie Foy, writer
Purchase price: $1.25 million in January 2008
Betts and Foy were living in Cabbagetown, but they wanted a change for their children, Griffin, Rowan and Gavin—all of whom were under seven at the time. By 2008, the Annex was a popular choice for upper-middle-class families. “We thought the neighbourhood would be safer for our kids to wander around as they got older,” Betts says now. As soon as the couple saw 135 Walmer, they had to have it. It was listed at $990,000, and they beat eight other bids with an offer of $1.25 million. This year, Foy helped organize the 30th anniversary edition of the annual street party that the Lyon family always attended.
Approximate present-day price: $1.8 to $2 million

[URBAN NOTE] "Marie Curtis Park becomes centre point of debate about public space"

The Toronto Star's Raju Mudhar talks about the conflicting conceptions of public space at Marie Curtis Park, between long-time and more recent users of the park space.

If you had no idea of the recent news, the two gatherings at Marie Curtis Park in Etobicoke would have just looked like a bunch of people out to enjoy the green space.

There were actually diametrically opposed groups brought to the park by their feelings about ‘Project Marie,’ a recent police operation held in the park where over a three-week period, plain clothes officers cited 78 people with 89 charges, the majority of which were bylaw infractions including 71 lewd behaviour tickets, as well as one criminal charge.

On Saturday, area residents and community police officers from 22 Division were engaging residents as part of its Walk the Beat initiative, in an effort to step up community enforcement and build a better relationship.

About 30 feet away, members of the LGBTQ community held a counter protest called Queers Crash the Beat, expressing their disgust with what they feel was a large scale police investigation with homophobic undertones that they feel targeted a marginalized community.

“It’s not just men engaging in sex in the park, there have been a couple of sex offenders, there is drinking and there have been drugs, so we’re dealing with all of those issues,” said Const. Kevin Ward, of 22 Division’s Community Response Unit. “Part of the issue is that the LGBTQ community feels that we have lumped everybody in the same category as the sex offender, which is not at all the case ... Our main reason for saying these things was to highlight some of the issues in the park, because it is a multi-faceted issue.”

[URBAN NOTE] "Torontonians support Rail Deck Park: poll"

The Toronto Star's David Rider notes relatively strong support for the idea of the Rail Deck Park.

A Forum Research survey of 778 Torontonians conducted last week found that 51 per cent support the proposal championed by Mayor John Tory and now being studied by city staff at the direction of council.

The respondents were asked: “Do you approve or disapprove of Mayor Tory’s plan to build a 21-acre park above the railroad tracks downtown, to be called the Rail Deck Park? This park may cost about $1 billion.”

Some 38 per cent disapproved of the proposal, unveiled in August, while 10 per cent had no opinion.

However, when asked: “Do you agree or disagree public funds should be spent building this downtown park?” almost half — 46 per cent — disagreed, while 37 per cent support public funding and 17 per cent said they did not know.

The cost to build the park totals at least $1.05 billion if the city decks over the entire span from Bathurst St. to Blue Jays Way. That early estimate does not include the unknown cost of buying air rights over the rail lands.

[URBAN NOTE] "Kris Kringle and winter arrive hand-in-hand at Toronto Santa Claus parade"

The Toronto Star's Jesse Winter describes this year's iteration of the Toronto Santa Claus parade, held this Sunday past. You know, it's been a decade or so since I've gone, excluding times I've gotten caught in the parade's transit disruptions. Perhaps next time?

Winter, it seems, has arrived, but at least it brought Kris Kringle with it.

Thousands of Torontonians braved the cold and occasional mini-blizzards Sunday, lining the city’s streets to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus.

The 112th annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade saw 25 floats and 21 marching bands make their way from Christie Pits Park to the St. Lawrence Market.

George Akopolous and his daughter Georgia staked a spot along Bloor in a tent with sleeping bags to combat the cold.

Their puppy Spike joined them, sporting his own faux-fur-trimmed parka.

“We’ve been here for a couple hours, nice and warm,” Akopolous said as he hefted his camera to snap shots of the marching bands.

[URBAN NOTE] Torontoist on the life and career of journalist Kathleen Blake Coleman

This weekend, Torontoist reposted "Kit’s Kingdom", Jamie Bradburn's 2013 article describing the life of pioneering Edwardian journalist Kathleen Blake Coleman.

Regular readers of the “Woman’s Kingdom” page in the Saturday edition of the Mail noticed something new in the October 26, 1889, paper. Amid the usual excerpts from other publications, a new column appeared. Little did they know that the author of “Kit’s Gossip” would become a weekend staple for the next two decades, providing Toronto’s first strong female journalistic voice.

Portions of that debut column resemble a social media feed, especially the “Chit-Chat” section. Kit complains about women who think opera should be sung in English, block her view with their bonnets in churches and theatres, and speak stridently when unwelcome guests visit. She also transcribes a conversation overheard on the streetcar. Her feisty tone quickly won readers, and was soon employed for weightier matters than the fashion and toiletry tips she offered that day.

According to the fictional biography she employed during the early years of her column, Kit was the descendant of a deposed Irish king (she wasn’t) who shared her home with her trusted friend Theodocia (who existed only as a literary device). The reality for Kit’s creator, Kathleen Blake Coleman, was far more complicated. Sorting out Coleman’s background has challenged biographers. An intensely private person, she urged her readers to burn their diaries and letters to avoid post-mortem scrutiny. She left few papers apart from correspondence with Sir Wilfrid Laurier, some family letters, stories inspired by her childhood, and an unpublished novel. She fictionalized much of her background, claiming to be a relative of a prominent Galway family, and shaved eight years off her age upon arriving in Canada.

She was born Catherine Ferguson at Castleblakeney, Ireland, in 1856. Her major influence was her uncle Thomas Burke, a liberal priest who encouraged her tolerance of others. She changed her first name to Kathleen shortly before an arranged marriage to a man 40 years her senior. When he died, his family disinherited the young widow. Immigrating to Toronto in 1884, Kathleen soon married Edward J. Watkins. Beyond being a poor breadwinner, Watkins was an alcoholic philanderer who may have had another wife in England. After a period in Winnipeg, the couple split, leaving Kathleen a single mother with two children. Watkins left his mark in the doomed marriages, affairs, and alcoholics that appeared in his ex-wife’s fiction.

[URBAN NOTE] "TTC riders say 10-cent fare hike means paying more for less"

Everything that the CBC reports about the effects of the impending TTC fare increases is correct.

Toronto Transit Commission riders told the TTC board on Monday that a 10-cent fare increase would mean paying more for less service.

But the transit agency's board approved the fare hike, which is set to begin in 2017, anyway.

The increase affects the single adult ride fare, which will increase from $2.90 per token to $3. All other fare media, including Presto rides and weekly and monthly passes, will also be increased proportionately, with the exception of cash, which was raised from $3 to $3.25 in 2016.

Butterfly Gopaul, a Toronto resident, said the fare increase, combined with any cuts in service, would affect the working poor in marginalized communities.

"On the ground level, people don't know this is happening," she told CBC Toronto on Monday.

Gopaul, who was concerned in particular about cuts to the 35 Jane bus, spoke to the TTC board before it met to discuss its 2017 budget. The TTC faces a shortfall of $61 million if the 10-cent fare increase is approved by the board. The fare increase would raise an estimated $27 million. The TTC shortfall is partly due to a decline in TTC ridership and a growth in the number of people using Wheels-Trans.

[LINK] "Do not let Canada’s climate get Trumped"

University of Alberta professor Debra J. Davidson says what needs to be said about Canada and the environment. Trump's administration cannot be used as an excuse to slack off.

Interim Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose has called Canada’s plans to put a price on carbon “complete insanity.” We must follow the lead of our primary trading partner, she argues, and that partner has a climate-change denier headed for the Oval Office.

Opponents of carbon taxes have offered many arguments to support their case over the years, many of which are once again being dusted off – carbon taxes will fire a direct hit at our GDP, for instance. My favourite: Canada’s emissions are tiny, so why bother?

They are not in alignment with the more than 100 countries that have enacted the Paris Agreement and have vowed to support the climate agreement – regardless of what the United States does. And they are not in alignment with the 83 global corporations, many of them Fortune 500 companies, that have committed to go 100-per-cent renewable with the RE100 pledge.

There are many reasons to be very concerned about a Donald Trump presidency, including his proposed dismantling of federal policies supporting climate mitigation – and, for that matter, climate science.

But regardless of Mr. Trump’s grandiose promises, his anticipated impact needs to be put into perspective. In many ways, momentum is just not on his side. He claims he will reinvigorate the U.S. coal industry, for example, but he has little influence over the price of coal, the falling demand in China or the abundance of cheaper natural gas. Moreover, 29 U.S. states have renewable portfolio standards, and dozens of U.S. cities have earmarked their own mitigation targets. These jurisdictions are not simply going to roll back their own climate policies at Mr. Trump’s behest.

[LINK] "Newly unearthed letter shows how Trump’s grandfather begged to stay in Germany"

Via the National Post I found Ishaan Tharoor's Washington Post article documenting how Donald Trump's grandfather sought to escape deportation from his Rhineland homeland.

According to a bulletin by the Associated Press, the letter was penned in 1905 and was addressed to Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, a monarch who presided over a realm within the united German Empire. Trump beseeches the “well-loved, noble, wise and just” Bavarian royal not to deport him. Luitpold apparently decided to reject what Trump offered as a “most subservient request.” The document was recently identified by a local historian in a state archive.

Friedrich Trump reached the United States in 1885 when he was 16, after leaving his home town of Kallstadt, in what is now the southwestern German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Although his arrival in New York City was like that of myriad other European immigrants seeking greater opportunity, his departure from Bavaria was illegal — he skipped mandatory military service in the kingdom's armed forces and was formally stripped of Bavarian citizenship four years later.

Trump went on to make his fortune out west, including a stint running taverns and brothels amid the gold rush in Canada's Yukon territory. He “mined the miners,” as one chronicler put it, and his Arctic restaurant became one of the more infamous institutions of the territory.

“For single men the Arctic has the best restaurant,” wrote a moralizing 19th-century journalist in the Yukon Sun. “But I would not advise respectable women to go there to sleep as they are liable to hear that which would be repugnant to their feelings and uttered, too, by the depraved of their own sex.”

Trump later returned east and made trips back to his homeland in the early 1900s, including one visit during which he met his eventual wife. Her homesickness compelled Trump to attempt to return to Kallstadt with all of his life savings. But his status as a draft dodger and noncitizen prompted a deportation order.

(He failed to escape the deportation order.)

[ISL] "Buddhist nuns 'learning to fit in' on P.E.I."

CBC News' Shane Ross describes the substantial and growing population of Buddhist nuns on Prince Edward Island. Clearly, things have changed since I have lived there.

Prince Edward Island is becoming home to a growing number of Buddhist nuns, who say the Island is a comfortable place for them to practise their spirituality.

Four years ago, 13 Buddhist nuns moved to the Island from Taiwan. Today, there are 134 at their home on the Uigg Road in eastern P.E.I.

In the next couple of years, they hope to attract about 100 more and move to a new building that will be modelled after a traditional Chinese temple.

"Canada has a great acceptance of different cultures and religions," said Yvonne, one of the nuns at what is called the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute.

"It is a very good environment to practise and study here, that's why it will attract more nuns from other countries."

The majority are from Taiwan, but some are from Singapore, New Zealand, United States and Canada. The average age is 25.

[LINK] @elfsternberg: "There's no such thing as "without emotion.""

Elf Sternberg has written a smart essay about emotion, and what we are actually saying when we claim that we are unemotional, that we are beyond this and are purely rational.

When we say someone is "unemotional," what we're really saying is that they're engaged in the privileged feelings of masculinity: pride, reserve, contentment. Act like it, because your peers already terrify you if you don't.

Queer men like myself aren't "more emotional;" we're permitting ourselves a wider range of emotions than other men, because our status requires we either deal with the terror of stepping outside the box of performative masculinity, or surrender to the closet and its miseries. Black men aren't "more emotional;" they're acting outside of the emotional range white America would rather see from them (reserved and content with a lesser status), driven by a rage I can understand and with which I can empathize, if not feel as deeply as they do.

Consciousness is a quality we humans seem to possess in unique abundance. When we say, "I feel," we're expressing a conscious need at a conscious level, but we are feeling something all the time. Psychologists know this, advertisers know this. Politicians on the right know that making people fearful makes them want simple, authoritarian answers to their problems. It doesn't even have to be a *political* fear; asking people to walk over a frightening bridge makes them more likely to favor authoritarian policies in a questionnaire administered later the same day!

All consciousness is driven by emotion. All of it, without fail. Jesse Lee Patterson's man-shaped pack animals tearing into the weakling among them is pure, endocrinological emotion and nothing less. We are not thinking machines operating on pure rationality– and if we were, from where would our motives come? We are feeling machines that developed the capacity to think as our best tool, the one that put us at the top of the food chain, the one that keeps us there unless it leads to our crapping our own nest into an uninhabitable mess. Men who act "unemotional," who claim their decisions aren't driven by their feelings, are lying to you, and to themselves. What they're really doing is performing a pantomime of fearlessness because they're terrified of what would happen if they didn't.