Month: April 2013

  • Thumbing a ride–online

    Thumbing a ride–online

    It’s a night clear enough to see the stars as over 200 strangers light a bonfire and settle in for a good old-fashioned campout. But when they lie on their backs and stare up above them, it’s not the stars they see — it’s the thousands of glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.…

  • Old churches and new realities

    Old churches and new realities

    On the corner of Hyatt Avenue and Hamilton Road sits the 108-year-old Hyatt Avenue United Church. But the fading front sign and black metal fence erected across the entrance signal that the church has closed. It is a church only in form, not in function. Two blocks west of Hyatt Avenue, at Adelaide and Little…

  • Writing gives voice to homelessness

    Writing gives voice to homelessness

    Harry Kuhn has a voice that sings even when it’s not singing – a low, rumbling baritone that cuts the air like a scalpel and echoes through it like a diesel engine. He uses this voice sparingly, edging into group discussions with jabs and jokes and one-liners, but no Hamlet-like soliloquies. But when Harry cuts…

  • Vinyl records keep on spinning

    Vinyl records keep on spinning

    It’s Easter weekend, the weather is finally warming up and downtown London is buzzing as people enjoy the warmest weather in weeks. On Clarence Street, spring sun shines through the windows of Grooves Record Store. Reggae music plays over the store’s speakers as people leisurely flip through vinyl records. Andy Grimster stands near the front…