BY: TREVOR HEWITT It was an addiction over twenty years in the making. Every morning, Jason Holborn would pour at least half a cup of sugar into his cereal – usually Frosted Flakes or Cocoa Pebbles. After school, he’d mix a…
Telling sex stories in front of strangers made me braver (and sexier)
BY KATE SLOAN It starts with a Facebook post. My friend Sophie Delancey is looking for a guest judge for the sexy storytelling event she does every month. There are supposed to be three events, and she’s scrambling to fill…
Life on the road taught this jewelry maker that life’s purest pleasure is found in simplicity
BY: STEFANIE PHILLIPS Photos via One Heart Design One night while hitchhiking through the middle of Mexico, 15-year-old Walter Munoz was asked by his driver to get out and walk past the immigration officers blocking the road ahead. They would…
Cat Cafés are saving lives in the most adorable way possible
BY: REGAN MCNEILL The whole concept of a cat café was literally foreign to me until I passed a store window filled with frisky felines playing with one another. I thought that maybe I was looking at a pet shop,…
Photos from Toronto’s 1950’s design competition unveils the city’s alternate universe.
BY: ERIC ZDANCEWICZ Follow Eric on Instagram In 1956, the space now occupied by Nathan Phillips Square was a parking lot. The city was still in its infancy, having only reached a population of one million four years earlier. The…
I got high-school high at a “ganja yoga” class in Toronto
BY: REGAN MCNEILL Photos © Eric Zdancewicz / The Plaid Zebra Ganja yoga. You may have heard of it before or you may be wondering what the heck I am talking about. It’s pretty simple to understand, it is a…
An urban disabled community is fighting transit oppression in the most creative way possible
BY: REGAN MCNEILL For some of us, getting on the subway is a very simple and convenient process. Given the array of blue signs with white wheelchairs plastered on the subway walls, you probably think it would be the same…
I illegally climbed to the roof’s edge of Toronto’s tallest buildings with a prolific Urban Explorer
The late-evening sunset afterglow covers Toronto’s cityscape which in light of where I’m headed seems a lot more daunting than peaceful. My stomach drops as I look out the window as my train pulls into the station. The varying heights…
An Instagrammer transforms risking his life into an art form
BY: SHAY ANSARI They should rename this building @carrly_patrice A photo posted by roof topper (@roof_topper) on Apr 10, 2015 at 5:48am PDT Life should be lived on the edge. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself…
Most Anticipated Albums of 2015
Brought to you by: 2014 was a great year for music as you’ve probably seen on countless best-of lists by now. It’s time to live in the now, man. Let’s focus on all the amazing music that is coming our…
Toronto hosts naked book readings
BY: MICHAEL LYONS I’m stripped down to my underwear in front of a room full of friends and strangers. “I’m unfortunately not going to get completely naked,” I say. There’s a quizzical murmur; the event, after all, is titled “Naked…
Micro condos are the urban answer to the tiny house movement
BY: SINEAD MULHERN The micro condo seems to be Toronto’s answer to the tiny home movement that’s taking hold of rural-living spendthrifts. Construction of these mini units is accelerating. A full five percent of new condos coming into the market…
The life of a bucket drummer— the performers of Dundas Square
BY: NICOLE SCHMIDT Drumsticks in hand, 57-year-old Mike Gauvreau composes a series of staccato rhythms using nothing but an old bucket. A cowbell that produces a metallic clang when struck has been fastened to the handle with a zip tie.…
Drag Kings are becoming an endangered species
BY: EMILY CRAIG-EVANS Under pink light, in front of a red-checked curtain, a man about five-and-a-half feet tall is bobbing around to some version of “River of Jordan” inside a box made to look like a killer whale that hangs…
Collective Arts Craft Beer Will Get You Drunk On Art
BY: TED BARNABY Creativity and alcohol are a lot like peanut butter and jam. Matt is the owner and founder of Collective Arts Brewing, a craft brewery on a bold mission to bring creativity back into the conversation. Instead of…
Can Empathy be Taught Through Toys? This Toy Company Thinks So.
BY: LUC RINALDI How do you teach empathy? Is it, like other skills, disseminated in schools? Does it breed in ethics classes or religious environments? Or is the product of caring, considerate child rearing? Ilana Ben-Ari, for one, is putting…
My First Time In A Sensory Deprivation Tank
BY: DANIEL KORN I’m on the phone with Jesse Ratner-Decle, the owner of Float Toronto, a sensory-deprivation-tank centre on the west end of the city. Customers pay to go into an enclosed, pitch-black, completely soundproof tank and float on their…
The Life of a Street Magician – Performers of Dundas Square
BY: LILITH Matthew Stewart hasn’t been around as long as some of the other performers—he only started performing in Dundas Square in April. His act also isn’t as flashy or eye-catching at first, but the 20-year-old magician, who commutes in…
The life of a street drummer: The Performers Of Dundas Square
BY: LILITH It’s never really quiet in Dundas Square, and, amid the ocean of sound that is passing cars, music pouring out of restaurants, and snippets of blended conversations, a drum beat occasionally breaks through. There are a few percussionists…
The CNE in slow-motion— Bright lights scar the sky after sunset
BY LILITH I’ve always thought that urban scenes had more character at night. As the sun goes down, the gap widens between shadows and light, bringing out the faces of life hidden in the hours of daylight. Now 135 years…