{"id":14493,"date":"2010-10-05T08:40:08","date_gmt":"2010-10-05T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=14493"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:52:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:52:06","slug":"notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto — quicksand included"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Quicksand!\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The following is an account by Nadia Halim of a recent psychogeographic<\/a> wander-through-Toronto. It was a short walk of about two hours but as you’ll see, a lot can be packed into a Toronto walk (see route here<\/a>). It’s also not complicated. You can do this by yourself or get a friend or two or eight and go for a walk with no destination. Above photo by Jamie Bradburn<\/a> who, coincidentally, is up for a Heritage Toronto Award tonight<\/a> for his Historicist<\/a> pieces over on the Torontoist (see his other photos from the walk here<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We met at Bloor and St. George. Though we used to walk most Thursdays, I hadn’t walked in ages, and it was good to see some of the old crowd again. It was a clear, mild early-autumn night, and with TIFF<\/a> on and university students flooding back into town, the city seemed wide awake and lively. Where would we go? What would we see? A police car flipped its siren on and raced along Bloor towards Yorkville, as we watched. So we decided that was a good direction in which to set out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Walking through Yorkville, we stopped to look at a banner draped in front of a flashy bistro. It announced a launch party for a new album by a guy named Paris Black<\/a>, who looked like what Fabio might have looked like if he\u2019d fronted Whitesnake. Then we looked through the window of the bistro, and there was Paris Black, who had just breezed in, looking exactly like the picture on his banner. Some of us kept walking, which was a mistake, because a block or so on, we turned around and realized that Mr. Black had come out of the bistro and was having his photo taken with our friends on the sidewalk. He had crimped platinum-blond hair that fell to his waist.\u00a0 He chatted with our group for a bit, then opened his leather duster coat \u2013 revealing washboard abs and a pair of buttless chaps \u2013 reached into a pocket and produced copies of his business card, which he handed round. It had a lot of photos of him displaying the hair and the abs, and it said, \u201cPARIS BLACK \u2013 SINGER.\u201d<\/p>\n

We walked on into the Annex, and Shawn pointed out Margaret Atwood\u2019s house. Trees and hedges grew densely around it, and the windows were dark. We stood across the street, looking at her house and trying not to be obnoxious about it, whispering about her books and the Long Pen.<\/p>\n

We found the unexpectedly spectacular High Level Pumping Station<\/a>, built in 1906, and tried to look through the high windows at the turbines.<\/p>\n

There was a colossal mansion we saw in Forest Hill, just impossibly huge, with massive wrought-iron gates and a long drive. We gazed up at it through the gates. \u201cWho lives<\/em> here?\u201d wondered Simon. \u201cVeronica Lodge?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s got to be Scientologists,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

We walked to the St Clair reservoir, and climbed the steps to the top. We could hear a rowdy party going on somewhere nearby – so many teenage voices shrieking and laughing, it sounded like the cormorant colony on Leslie Spit.<\/p>\n

From the edge of the reservoir, we looked down into the ravine. The noise was coming from under the Spadina bridge. It was very dark there, but we could see small fires burning.<\/p>\n

As we watched, a couple of figures emerged from the shadows, then a couple more. They were all wearing long black robes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOoo! Maybe it\u2019s the Episkopons!\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard of them!\u201d said Jason. \u201cWho?\u201d said Jamie. \u201cHow do you spell that?\u201d said Shawn, trying to Google it on his iPhone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re this U of T secret society, like the one George W. Bush was in at Yale. I think mostly they just throw parties in churches at night and burn a lot of black candles.\u201d<\/p>\n

We started down the steps towards the party. \u201cOf course,\u201d someone said, \u201cprobably it\u2019s just a Harry Potter party.\u201d \u201cYeah, or a vampire theme party,\u201d I said. The others groaned.<\/p>\n

We could see now that there were maybe a hundred people under the bridge, all young women, all wearing long black robes. Three of them came out as we approached, and stood with arms folded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lesbian Wiccan poetry reading,\u201d one of them explained. \u201cYou can\u2019t come in unless you can prove that you\u2019re a lesbian.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a Wiccan,\u201d added her friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we are<\/em> interested in poetry,\u201d said Simon.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, there\u2019s still the lesbian Wiccan thing,\u201d deadpanned the second girl.<\/p>\n

The robed girls behind her appeared uniformly very femme and upper-middle-class. We, a group of thirtysomething academic\/writer\/urban-issues nerds, looked at each other in complete befuddlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re making a lot of noise,\u201d Shawn said earnestly to the third girl, a WASPy-looking blonde. \u201cYou can hear it all the way up the ravine, where the houses are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate your concern,\u201d said the girl, primly, in a perfect Betty Draper sort of voice. Someone in the crowd behind her bellowed, \u201cWhere\u2019s the fucking wine? I\u2019m still sober!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

We wandered back onto the path and stood about looking at each other. \u201cDid\u2026 Did that just happen?\u201d It took an embarrassingly long time for the penny to drop, but finally someone said, \u201cOh \u2013 right – SORORITY PARTY.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we walked on down the path, still giggling, we could hear them chanting unintelligible slogans in the dark behind us.<\/p>\n

(Later, after the walk, Shawn found this article about Episkopon<\/a>, which notes that it has male and female divisions, holds “readings,” and since the ’80s has become “more frat-like and alcohol-fuelled” than it used to be. It may have been an Episkopon “ritual” that we stumbled upon, after all!)<\/p>\n

Onward to the Wychwood Art Barns. On a quiet street below St. Clair, we passed a house and Shawn began to hold forth about how it was a fine example of clapboard from between the wars, or something. Two guys were standing out on the sidewalk, and one of them said, \u201cAre you talking about our <\/em>house?\u201d and then, bewildered, as he realized how many of us there were (about nine at that point), \u201cWhat? It\u2019s like, a gang<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn appreciation gang!\u201d said Shawn.<\/p>\n

In Wychwood Park, the enclave that used to be a Victorian artists\u2019 colony, we saw the brackish water that is the only remaining above-ground bit of Taddle Creek, and there was a sign warning, \u201cDANGER \u2013 DEEP WATER \u2013 QUICKSAND.\u201d Quicksand<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Nadia Halim is currently a Ph.D candidate in Philosophy at York. She likes to walk around the city, pondering her dissertation, and occasionally taking photos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is an account by Nadia Halim of a recent psychogeographic wander-through-Toronto. It was a short walk of about two hours but as you’ll see, a lot can be packed into a Toronto walk (see route here). It’s also not complicated. You can do this by yourself or get a friend or two orContinue reading “Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto — quicksand included”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4090,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[16133,851,3482,1109,16138,16139,125,13245,15172,8963,5826,16136,4755,41,16135,16134,2681,16137,16141,3869,19,16140,454,13645,496,397],"class_list":["post-14493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-urban-design","tag-betty-draper","tag-forest-hill","tag-george-w-bush","tag-google","tag-harry-potter-party","tag-high-level-pumping-station","tag-iphone","tag-jamie-bradburn","tag-jason","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-nadia-halim","tag-paris-black","tag-police-car","tag-psychogeography","tag-shawn","tag-simon","tag-singer","tag-sorority-party","tag-spadina-bridge","tag-taddle-creek","tag-toronto","tag-veronica-lodge","tag-writer","tag-yale","tag-york","tag-yorkville"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNotes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto - quicksand included - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto - quicksand included - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following is an account by Nadia Halim of a recent psychogeographic wander-through-Toronto. It was a short walk of about two hours but as you’ll see, a lot can be packed into a Toronto walk (see route here). It’s also not complicated. You can do this by yourself or get a friend or two orContinue reading "Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto — quicksand included"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-05T12:40:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T19:52:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nadia Halim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nadia Halim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/\",\"name\":\"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto - quicksand included - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-05T12:40:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T19:52:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/d2fa2a879a9723cdd98bd54cb5af40b1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto — quicksand included\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/d2fa2a879a9723cdd98bd54cb5af40b1\",\"name\":\"Nadia Halim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73a84dcd0669187bd9a0e9bda7e1a47c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73a84dcd0669187bd9a0e9bda7e1a47c?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nadia Halim\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/nadia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto - quicksand included - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto - quicksand included - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"The following is an account by Nadia Halim of a recent psychogeographic wander-through-Toronto. It was a short walk of about two hours but as you’ll see, a lot can be packed into a Toronto walk (see route here). It’s also not complicated. You can do this by yourself or get a friend or two orContinue reading \"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto — quicksand included\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2010-10-05T12:40:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T19:52:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Nadia Halim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nadia Halim","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/","name":"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto - quicksand included - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg","datePublished":"2010-10-05T12:40:08+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T19:52:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/d2fa2a879a9723cdd98bd54cb5af40b1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4108\/5013534378_baea35f28b_z.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/10\/05\/notes-from-a-psychogeographical-thursday-night-in-toronto-quicksand-included\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Notes from a psychogeographical Thursday night in Toronto — quicksand included"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/d2fa2a879a9723cdd98bd54cb5af40b1","name":"Nadia Halim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73a84dcd0669187bd9a0e9bda7e1a47c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73a84dcd0669187bd9a0e9bda7e1a47c?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Nadia Halim"},"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/nadia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14493"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39115,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14493\/revisions\/39115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}