Description 09 - Pillow Fight Flash Mob!

A little bit of everything as I lose my direction and regain it at the same time. Sort of. Chart Magazine's Grist 13 and Shitty 7, music from Memory Bank, and me in the middle of Dundas Square yelping in about 40 different ways as I learn how weak my arm muscles are.

This must be the place to subscribe.
This must be the place to download when patience just ain't your thang.

Associated links:
ChartAttack!
Don Lennon
The Fight Network
A John Waters Christmas
Memory Bank @ myspace
Memory Bank not at myspace
newmindspace (who came up with this pillow fight flash mob and other great stuff)
NOW Magazine on gun violence in Toronto
The Santa Claus Parade (actually, this site scares me a little)

Now in the glory of 44.1 kHz and 96kbps, because God knows you need the best audio quality possible to hear me go "AH!" "ACK!" "OW!" "YIPE!" for about 5 or 10 minutes in the middle of the title event.

The thing I was going to write for this episode that I didn't was about crime in Toronto, inspired by the anti-gun event in Dundas Square the day of the flash mob. Here's the thumbnail: We're now up to 50 gun-related deaths this year, which has been talked about quite a bit. Many people where I come from can look at that stat and shrug. Well, you know Toronto... "it's so safe, it's so clean..." Relatively, it still is. The clean part has started to go slack, and I enjoy blaming that on less federal money for cities or something. But back in university, I lived in Rexdale and had a boyfriend in Jane/Finch (not far from York U.), and before I moved to the Annex, I lived a few years between Moss Park and Regent Park, and you didn't just go traipsing around at all hours alone. You don't really do that anywhere, but I felt especially alert in those neighbourhoods. It wasn't because they were "those neighbourhoods," but because I lived there and I saw what was going on and it made me nervous. So I paid attention and acted a bit psycho when I felt anyone following me (I'm pretty good at that, as you might have figured...) Of course, that isn't fair - we should always be alert in every neighbourhood. My old lame-ass car got broken into 3 times in my old neighbourhood (looking for anything to hock for crack money), but in this neighbourhood, it's still been broken into once. This is a city - bad things happen. Everyone likes to blame someone, and I enjoy blaming the Tories' cuts on education back in the day. But "those neighbourhoods" had and have some great programs; I think communities have become alert to taking control of their futures, and momentum is changing.

I'm sure I would've put some funny and poetic stuff in there too, but again, I didn't have time or the proper focus of mind. People get rushed or lazy or desperate, and that's one reason bad things happen, I guess. But sometimes you find yourself able to deal with it, perhaps even by smacking kids 20 years younger than you with pillows that cost more than they've earned in a week. And one of them finds your purse and reminds you just what city you live in.