TORONTO sign lights up the square
The revitalization of Nathan Phillips Square is fantastic (NOW, September 29-October 5). And so is the TORONTO sign. I don’t think anyone anticipated such an enthusiastic embrace of this icon. For the square’s designers and architects to equate it to an inflatable emoji smacks of sour grapes. Why not work toward building a more permanent version, with changeable elements to reflect whatever current event is going on in the city, be it Nuit Blanche, Luminato or New Year’s Eve?
Duncan McLean, From nowtoronto.com
City Hall is no Eiffel Tower
The TORONTO sign matters. It is a lesson in social marketing 101. Sure, people have been taking pictures at that spot in Nathan Phillips Square for decades, but now that the location is spelled out in giant letters, every tweet and Facebook picture exclaims exactly where they are and visually brands the location.
As nice as the “incredible spaceship that’s landed from the future” image of Toronto City Hall is, it isn’t the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben. So the global response to images of it is “cool pic” but without the intrinsic understanding of where exactly in the world it is.
The giant TORONTO sign has no such ambiguity.
Mark J. Richardson, From nowtoronto.com
Iris Turcott challenged young writers
Re In Memoriam: Iris Turcott, 1954-2016 (NOW, September 29-October 5). I met Iris at Canadian Stage in the early 90s. I brought my students to a workshop. There was no pussy-footing around or cuddly every-answer-is-a-right-answer with her. She challenged the young men and women, excited them, made them laugh, sneer and curse. She pushed them, roughed them up a bit emotionally, because she cared to rouse their judgment. Mostly she made them think. She didn’t have time for wasting time.
Laurence Siegel, From nowtoronto.com
Turcott was real people
I’ve had the privilege of knowing Iris Turcott for the last five or six years. Rather than on the professional level, I met Turcott as Honeybee’s mom at the daily Cabbagetown dog party. I immediately liked her swear-like-a-trooper, tell-it-like-it-is-whether-you-like-it-or-not attitude.
We always knew when she was coming: all our dogs would leave whatever they were doing and go to greet Iris, who arrived with a bag of fresh-cooked goodies. She even carried special treats for the pickier pups.
Iris was one of those real people you meet only occasionally, feel blessed for knowing and look forward to seeing again. All of us from the dog party have lost a friend.
You will be missed, Iris, but I know you’ll be kicking ass wherever you are. R.I.P.
Bonny Belfry, From nowtoronto.com
Penny for thoughts on bottled water
Re The Water Takers (NOW, September 22-28). If the Ontario government charged just one penny for every litre taken by bottled water companies, we could rebuild the water systems of First Nations communities. Furthermore, each and every beverage container should have a deposit-return system in place.
Glenn Kitchen, From nowtoronto.com
Police body-cams may save lives
Alok Mukherjee questions on what basis police officers should be equipped with body-worn cameras (NOW, September 22-28). Instead of hiring more so-called experts to advise us that officers are lukewarm on the idea (thanks, Captain Obvious), perhaps we should use some common sense and answer this question: would video footage have been beneficial in the Andrew Loku tragedy?
Toby Glanville, Toronto
Sexism in comedy is no laughing matter
Absolute Comedy has outdone itself. Of its 42 Just For Laughs shows, an incredible opportunity for comics to further their careers, Absolute Comedy booked exactly one female set. This is particularly unfortunate given Toronto’s booming feminist comedy scene. In a recent interview, Absolute’s owner, Jason Laurans, explained, “Right now, my better comics are male heavy.” We must question whether Absolute’s male-heavy roster is a product of the club’s sensibility. Without public awareness of this systemic problem, women will continue to lose opportunities.
Name withheld by request, Toronto
Jerry Agar is acting like a troll again
Re The Trouble With Twitter (NOW, September 8-14). I’d like to bring to your attention another comment Jerry Agar made on CFRB this week on the robbery of Kim Kardashian.
Agar asked listeners, “Do you think Kim Kardashian was galled that all they wanted was her jewellery?” In other words, did a wealthy celebrity sex symbol feel annoyed that she was robbed at gunpoint but wasn’t raped?
Celebrity sex symbol or not, how is this in any way acceptable?
When callers phoned in to voice their outrage, instead of apologizing, Agar doubled down, saying she might be making up the whole story.
Andrew Hunter, Toronto
