8: Down with Dullness
Plus: an award nomination, TVO on strike, and baseball players who wear glasses.
One of my current projects is revamping my business website (also known as my “eternal work in progress”). There was a point where I intended to include a blog on matters related to my professional work, but all that resulted was an introduction and the following post on “the delusion of dullness.” Figured that since it’s not going to be part of the new site, it’d make a good lead story here.
Buffalo Commercial, December 15, 1924.
Your mileage may vary on the last sentence of this nearly century-old column I recently stumbled upon, but Mr. Adams makes an important point: if you take even a few seconds to look around and soak up the details, life is not dull. It’s a way of being that has shaped my life and work.
In my final “Historicist” column for Torontoist, I discussed those who declared that Toronto’s history was boring. From trolls who popped out of their basement hideouts to provide their expert opinion that nothing interesting ever happened in this city to professional blowhards like Conrad Black who believe Toronto “lacks history, drama, and flair,” they echoed a belief that grand, earth-shaking events have to occur before a place is worthy of anyone’s interest.
B(obscenity deleted)t.
This view of history, especially local history, ignores the fascinating stories that make up our day-to-day lives. Gaining perspectives on how people lived, how their environment shaped their actions, the societal forces which motivated their thoughts, the little things that linger into the present or leave mysteries waiting to be solved and people to be rediscovered. Discovering how issues that currently affect us evolved, and how often we settle into smugness or resign ourselves to accept a particular situation. Rekindling memories of places and people you’d forgotten about, or have long missed.
Scratch the surface, and that sense of boredom fades away. There will always be exceptions, such as my recent experiences browsing longwinded 19th century speeches and sermons, where the fascination lies in what motivated the speaker to drone on for so long.
“The typical product of strolling is knowledge that merely cannot be acquired merely by studying maps, guidebooks and statistics. Rather, it is a matter of the body, knowing the city by pacing off its streets and neighbourhoods, recovering the deep, enduring traces of our inhabitation by encountering directly the fabric of buildings and the legends we have built here during our last two centuries.”—John Bentley Mays, foreword to Stroll by Shawn Micallef (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2010)
Walking in cities, whether familiar or new, is good for appreciating the world around us past and present. Joining a group of psychogeographical strollers opened my eyes to facets of Toronto I had never known or appreciated. These experiences, and knowing how to appreciate them, has helped while pitching stories or working on assignments.
As for dullness existing, in Adams’s words, as “an agency of destruction and death,” we see evidence of that all around us, culminating in the ultimate expression of not appreciating differences, the systemic prejudice and racism provoking the current wave of global protests.
When you take your next walk, take a good look around. Make mental notes about what you see. Note how others view you, for better or worse. Take home ideas that inspire your next project, or allow you to make a difference in your community. Start digging into the stories behind what you spotted.
I guarantee you won’t be bored.
What’s New
Chorley Park, residence of Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, 1923. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1231, Item 79.
Not a lot, to be honest. Or at least not a lot that’s ready for prime time. I’m settling back into a habit of posting weekend reads on Tales of Toronto, including recent posts about eye/The Grid and Chorley Park. After a hectic summer, a few weeks of recharging and relaxing has felt good, letting my brain ease into new ideas for the fall.
Oh, and I’m up for a Heritage Toronto Award for a piece I wrote for TVO about the nastiness of the 1980 Toronto municipal election. Winners will be announced on October 30.
Speaking of TVO…
As you may be aware, TVO employees belonging to the Canadian Media Guild have been on strike for several weeks. For me, this means my freelance contributions to their website have ground to a halt until the dispute is over.
Had these been normal times, I’d probably be including links to stories I would have pitched to them recently. I’m 100% certain I would have written something related to the Greenbelt scandal by now.
But these are not normal times.
As I wrote on LinkedIn, “please support the editors, producers, and other members of the Canadian Media Guild who are currently on the picket lines. As a freelance contributor, I value the work they do behind the scenes to produce high quality content, and turn my rough drafts (and those of other freelancers) into polished pieces. Demand better funding for one of the province's most valuable resources, especially as students begin a new school year and the public tries to figure out what the heck the government has been up to.”
Curio Collection
On a recent browse through the Internet Archive, I found a collection of Street and Smith baseball yearbooks stretching from the mid-1970s through the 1990s, or roughly the period my father bought them. During my formative years, I periodically pulled out the musty-smelling copies from our crawl space (though storing them the shed when we moved helped the smell). This two-page article from the 1973 edition is an example of the oddball pieces that would be dropped in amid the feature stories and season previews - in this case, spotlighting players wearing glasses.
Hire Me
Seeking a writer/researcher/editor for your latest project? I am always taking on new work. Beyond my historical niche, which often leads in surprising directions, I want to expand my horizons and explore new ways of utilizing my skills. I am interested in working on general projects in the corporate, educational, and non-profit sectors where clear communication and presenting solid facts is a must. Privately message me at jamiebradburnwriting[AT]gmail.com if I can assist you.
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That’s it for this edition. See you next time!