Posts

link of the day: the toronto giants

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  San Francisco Examiner, January 10, 1976. Why are these men smiling? Because, for a brief moment, they had settled a deal to buy the San Francisco Giants and were going to move the team to Toronto . But, as we know, that didn't quite pan out. It's the back door secret origin of the Blue Jays, with guest appearances by Harold Ballard and Danny Kaye!

link of the day: opposing the bloor-danforth subway

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  The Telegram, August 21, 1958. This month's Spacing repost takes a look at the debates surrounding approval of the Bloor-Danforth subway line (today's Line 2), which faced opposition from suburban politicians convinced it would be too much of a tax burden for their constituents, a burden that they would never use. You'll also discover some politicians who may have had consultations with Lyle Lanley (had to drop a classic Simpsons reference in there...). 

link of the day: how toronto's kit coleman blazed a trail for female war correspondents

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  Publicity photo of Kit Coleman, c. 1894. Library and Archives Canada. This time around, for International Women's Day, I look at Kit Coleman, Canada's first officially-accredited war correspondent, and her coverage of the Spanish-American War in Cuba for the Mail and Empire in 1898 . 

link of the day: why canadians rebelled against mulroney's gst

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  Kitchener-Waterloo Record, January 2, 1991. To mark the passing of Brian Mulroney, my latest piece for TVO looks at one of his administration's legacies, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) . With only just over two weeks between its final passage and public implementation, there was plenty of scrambling - let's just say it was a golden age to be a technician specializing in either cash registers or taxi meters. And there's an amusing headline about a revision to the tax that will make every inner 12-year-old smile. 

link of the day: how this 1989 ROM exhibit on africa became a cautionary tale for museums

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  Winding down my Black History Month coverage for TVO for this year with the tale of one of the most controversial exhibits the Royal Ontario Museum ever mounted ...and how it became a textbook example of how not to mount such an exhibit.

link of the day: how we can make toronto more pleasant, 1971-style

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  Toronto Star, January 2, 1971. For Spacing , I revisit a piece focusing on a January 1971 Toronto Star feature where local politicians and dignitaries were asked for their visions on how to make Toronto a more pleasant place to live . 

link of the day: no interracial dancing on dance party

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  Toronto Star, May 25, 1959. Kicking off my Black History Month coverage with a look at what happened when an interracial group of teens from Toronto travelled to Buffalo to appear on a TV dance show and ran into prejudice provoked by a few angry viewers .  EXTRA! How bad was the coverage of the incident in Buffalo's two major dailies? The Buffalo Evening News ran a wire report buried on page 17!