The Dreams Project in the Summer Issue of Spacing

For some reason, I've always thought it would be cool to get drunk at the Legion on the lake shore, but I assumed the opportunity would never present itself. Now it has! The new summer issue of Spacing is on the way and the launch party is being held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 344. It's just a little east of the Palais Royale. The party kicks off this Wednesday at 7pm (the first hour will be dedicated to the presentation of this year's Jane Jacobs Awards and then the regular festivities get started at 8).

And — as if getting the chance to pretend you're in that really weird episode of Mad Men wasn't reason enough to attend — this edition of the magazine features one of my own articles. It's one you might already be familiar with if you read the blog: it's all about the Canada Water neighbourhood in London and the connection between our history and that small patch of English soil near the Thames.

You'll find all the details about the party on Facebook.

The Dreams Project in the New Issue of Spacing

Spring is finally here, which means the new issue of Spacing magazine is too. And since thisissue includes one of my own pieces, I thought I'd write a quick note to let you know about it. The theme of the cover section this month is the sky. Which made it a perfect fit for a version of my post about the day in the fall of 1950 when the sun went weird in the skies above Toronto:

"The sun was most ominous of all. For most of the day, it was hidden behind those dark, swirling, purple clouds. But in the few brief moments when it did shine out from between them, it was shining the wrong colour: a frightening blue-mauve. It cast no shadows. And it shone with no rays."

The launch party for the issue is happening on Tuesday night, April 28th from 7pm to midnight at the Jam Factory on the east bank of the Don River, which is supposed to have a spectacular view of the skyline. It's $10 — which includes a copy of the magazine and $5 for FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program), which helps to save birds from flying into windows.

You'll find all the details on Facebook, here.

The Dreams Project & Spacing Magazine's Blog

The magazine whose blog I'm now cross-posting to

Oh hey, so if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter (which you should! and on Instagram too!) you probably already know this, but I should mention it here for those who don't: some of the best posts from The Toronto Dreams Project Historical Ephemera Blog are now getting posted to Spacing Magazine's blog too. (If you're not already reading their blog, you should be: they post all sorts of Toronto-related urban and public space awesomeness.) A few of my posts have been published over there already — the stories of drunk William Faulkner in a bi-plane and Toronto's first cat and the 11,000 year-old footprints on the bottom of Lake Ontario among others. You can check them out here. And I've got a new one going up every couple of weeks or so.

They've also just had the launch party for the brand new issue of their print publication. You can get subscriptions and stuff over here.