{"id":28301,"date":"2012-04-14T13:50:44","date_gmt":"2012-04-14T17:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=28301"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:55:32","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:55:32","slug":"keep-toronto-reading-occupying-the-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/04\/14\/keep-toronto-reading-occupying-the-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Toronto Reading: Occupying the Page"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/04\/14\/keep-toronto-reading-occupying-the-page\/feature-one-book-toronto-5\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28303\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-28303\" title=\"feature-one-book-toronto\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2012\/04\/feature-one-book-toronto.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"72\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/04\/14\/keep-toronto-reading-occupying-the-page\/girls-fall-down-one-book-toronto-cover_medium\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28304\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-28304 alignright\" title=\"girls-fall-down-one-book-toronto-cover_medium\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2012\/04\/girls-fall-down-one-book-toronto-cover_medium.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"256\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In <em>Girls Fall Down<\/em>, \u201cbodies in space\u201d is one of the main character\u2019s frequent refrains. As a medical photographer, Alex is often charged with documenting horrific injuries. \u201cJust bodies in space,\u201d he reminds himself.<\/p>\n<p>What kinds of bodies are allowed in which spaces is a central theme of <em>Girls Fall Down.<\/em> Last Thursday, author Maggie Helwig was joined by Anglican Archbishop Colin Johnson to discuss the politics of bodies in the novel, and beyond, in a talk entitled \u201cOccupying the Page: Literature, Public Space, and Social Justice.\u201d The discussion, held at Toronto Public Library\u2019s Beaches branch, is part of the Keep Toronto Reading Festival.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When the novel opens, Alex has seen a girl collapse on the Yonge subway, vomiting, claiming she\u2019s been poisoned. While most of the passengers on the train look the other way, Alex steps forward, curious. The train empties out, the hazmat squad is called, suspicion and fear spread through the city. Soon other girls are falling down, claiming they have been poisoned, rashes on their faces. Subways are suddenly too public, a dangerous meeting place. Masks are worn, and no one will look each other in the eye.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In Thursday night\u2019s discussion, the panicked, cloistering divisiveness in\u00a0<em>Girls Fall Down<\/em> was contrasted with the Occupy movement\u2019s use of space. Helwig and Johnson both drew links between the characters&#8217; restless searching and the development of an alternative community outside St. James Cathedral last fall. Here was a space where some of the city\u2019s most vulnerable populations came together to model an alternative form of decisions making, a different mode of sharing space. Helwig and Johnson spoke of the promise of such modeling, and drew links between it and the hopeful imagination necessary in a writer: <em>Girls Fall Down <\/em>offers, as all novels should, a space to consider a different way of being.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When we meet Alex, he seems to be everywhere without actually occupying anywhere. As a hobbyist urban photographer, he slip effortlessly between public and private spaces, wandering through Parkdale as the sun sets, hanging out in the Path system after the shops have closed, \u00a0then heading home to his darkroom to develop far into the night. Alex strikes us, first and foremost, as an <em>observer<\/em> of bodies moving through space, although he is himself in constant motion.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As a diabetic, Alex requires regime. He is all too aware of what it means to feel the body\u2019s functions seize up, and must monitor his blood sugar carefully. This is something he finds almost impossible to do once Susie-Paul comes back into his life on the same day the first girl falls. The complicated relationship between Alex and Susie is, in a very literal sense, an exploration of the threats and possibilities of bodies in space together. The messy, paper covered floors, the vomit, a contaminated body, the fear of being violated: after Susie&#8217;s return this scene repeats for Alex, and to us, in a tent on a hillside under the Don Valley, in a space that has become too private.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>CBC&#8217;s Nil Koksal will moderate a panel entitled\u00a0&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/toronto\/community\/mt\/2012\/03\/one-book-panel-torontos-invisible-community.html\">One Book:\u00a0Toronto&#8217;s Invisible Community<\/a>&#8221; on April 19. Check out all One Book events, including a live chat with author Maggie Helwig, a graffii tour, a ravine walk, and lectures on\u00a0subterranean\u00a0Toronto\u00a0and post-9\/11 anxiety <a href=\"http:\/\/www.torontopubliclibrary.ca\/ktr\/one-book-events.jsp\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; In Girls Fall Down, \u201cbodies in space\u201d is one of the main character\u2019s frequent refrains. As a medical photographer, Alex is often charged with documenting horrific injuries. \u201cJust bodies in space,\u201d he reminds himself. What kinds of bodies are allowed in which spaces is a central theme of Girls Fall Down. Last Thursday, author<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/04\/14\/keep-toronto-reading-occupying-the-page\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Keep Toronto Reading: Occupying the Page&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4065,"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":[4,21763],"tags":[6296,379,19683,307,19682,19684,2186,19681,19680,87,19606,18672,3490,19679,19,454,1649],"class_list":["post-28301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-services","tag-alex","tag-author","tag-body","tag-cbc","tag-curious","tag-fear","tag-forward","tag-hobbyist-urban-photographer","tag-johnson","tag-libraries","tag-maggie-helwig","tag-occupy","tag-st-james-cathedral","tag-susie","tag-toronto","tag-writer","tag-yonge-subway"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Keep Toronto Reading: Occupying the Page - 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\/2012\/04\/14\/keep-toronto-reading-occupying-the-page\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keep Toronto Reading: Occupying the Page - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; In Girls Fall Down, \u201cbodies in space\u201d is one of the main character\u2019s frequent refrains. 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