Hooping story page 1
3
A whole lot of hoopla going on Weekend Living M S O N 1 SECTION L SATURDAY JUNE 5, 201 0 thestar.com A fter eight years of living on Yonge St. I had grown to hate it. At 21, the movie theatres and all-night groceries were magnetic. At 29, the Uptown theatre had been demolished and I no longer bought milk at 3 a.m. Endless waves of yokels, rubbernecking their way up and down Canada’s longest street, or at least my patch of it, between Bloor and Wellesley, were a constant annoyance. The first paragraph of Shawn Micallef’s book, Stroll , refreshes that perspective, describing it through the eyes of a small-town teenager. He reminds us that, to many, Yonge is an event, a carnival, a sea of people stirred with bright lights and stores open past six. Stroll is a collection of essays detailing Micallef’s Toronto am- bles. Block by block, we learn about how, why and when much of this city came to be, our architectural success and failures, sculptures we’ve passed a hundred times without noticing. Waiting for Micallef at one of Toronto’s least-inviting corners, Yonge and Wellesley, I watch two men hawk cigarettes. “Three dol- lars!” they shout, while big man on campus Scott Thompson tries to shoot a walk-and-talk with a small video crew. It’s a warm afternoon, but I’m glad I’ve worn a tie. I would have felt like a bum next to Micallef, who is pulling off a short-sleeved shirt with tie, Louis Vuitton bag and no socks look. We walk north. Over two and a half hours we trek to York Mills, taking sandwich breaks along the way. Like time-lapse photography, the street segues from the high density micro-metropo lises at Bloor Street, St. Clair Avenue and Eglin- ton Avenue, to the verdant (if man- FED Yonge St. stroll a ramble through time COREY MINTZ THE REAL DIRT Prickly roses are hard to love, and grow, L3 I found feminism in the toilet the other day . Not actually in the toilet, but in a bathroom stall in the women’s washroom at the Butler’s Pantry, a res- taurant in the Annex. The message was scrawled in black pen by someone who, whether she knows it or not, is a feminist: “You are perfect, sexy and awesome exactly as you are.” She obviously thought that some women needed to hear that. Thanks, kind feminist stranger, with your gesture both empower- ing and benign. It oddly sums up femi- nism today, an ambigu- ous and apolitical thing that is everywhere, but with less of the crusad- ing spirit of feminism. After all, it isn’t exactly cool to be a capital-F Feminist in 2010, when many people find the term antiquated and the battle for equality over. Young Canadian wom- en don’t remember a time before we had the vote, the pill, access to safe abortion and the right to slap on a suit and join the line of worker bees snaking along the highways. We were raised to believe that pink and blue were different sides of the same coin and that we could be, and do, anything men can do. Equal- ity was assumed. Which makes it difficult to see, sometimes, the sys- temic inequalities that persist and the new ones that have cropped up, some even as a result of gains made by the women’s movement. feminism up close and personal Inequality between the sexes remains, but this 26-year-old small-f feminist often feels like a bad sister neglecting someone she loves NICOLE BAUTE LIVING REPORTER FEMINISM continued on L10 ESSAY THE SECRET LIFE OF GIRLS PART OF A YEAR LONG SERIES Is the f-word dead? Go to thestar.com for a video where T orontonians weigh in on the state of feminism today. Kate-Christine Miller is worried about the "hysteria" surrounding girls. COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR Jessica Yee is an indigenous feminist reproductive justice freedom fighter. RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR Ronak Ghorbani likes tweeting feminist s but wants to "fight fat phobia." COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR DAD JEANS Males can morph from frumpy to fabulous, L5
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Transcript of Hooping story page 1
8/6/2019 Hooping story page 1
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hooping-story-page-1 1/1
Sadie Yancey, hoop dance instruc-
tor, performer and entrepreneur,explains the Band-Aid around herfinger with a laugh.
“This was my first trip to the hospi-tal for hoop-related injuries,” says the28-year-old queen of Toronto’s hoopcommunity as she details how shepower-drilled into her finger whilemaking a connector for a hoop.
Building hula hoops out of irriga-tion tubing and colourful tape isone of three aspects of Yancey’s
company, Hoop Toronto. The Vir-ginia native with a master’s degreein biomedical physics also teacheshoop classes and performs at a vari-ety of events. Many of these perfor-mances involve Yancey spinning afire hoop, a hoop with several Kev-lar wicks attached to it that aresoaked in fuel and lit.
Hoop dancing has experienced arebirth in the last two or threeyears, after dipping considerably
following the mass production andsale of Hula Hoops by a company called Wham-O in 1957.
“They sold a ridiculous amount of hoops,” says Yancey. “Pretty mucheveryone in the U.S. bought a HulaHoop.
Sadie Yancey leads a hula hoop jam session as part ofPedestrian Sunday in KensingtonMarket.
STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR
ALEXANDRA POSADZKITORONTO STAR
A whole lot of hoopla going on
Weekend Living
M S O N 1
M S O N 1
SECTION LSATURDAYJUNE 5, 2010thestar.com
A fter eight years of living onYonge St. I had grown to hateit.
At 21, the movie theatres andall-night groceries were magnetic. At 29, the Uptown theatre hadbeen demolished and I no longerbought milk at 3 a.m. Endlesswaves of yokels, rubberneckingtheir way up and down Canada’slongest street, or at least my patchof it, between Bloor and Wellesley,were a constant annoyance.
The first paragraph of ShawnMicallef’s book, Stroll , refreshesthat perspective, describing itthrough the eyes of a small-townteenager.
He reminds us that, to many,Yonge is an event, a carnival, a seaof people stirred with bright lightsand stores open past six. Stroll is a collection of essays
detailing Micallef’s Toronto am-bles. Block by block, we learn abouthow, why and when much of thiscity came to be, our architecturalsuccess and failures, sculptureswe’ve passed a hundred timeswithout noticing. Waiting for Micallef at one of
Toronto’s least-inviting corners,Yonge and Wellesley, I watch twomen hawk cigarettes. “Three dol-lars!” they shout, while big man oncampus Scott Thompson tries toshoot a walk-and-talk with a small video crew.
It’s a warm afternoon, but I’m
glad I’ve worn a tie. I would havefelt like a bum next to Micallef,who is pulling off a short-sleevedshirt with tie, Louis Vuitton bagand no socks look. We walk north. Over two and a
half hours we trek to York Mills,taking sandwich breaks along theway.
Like time-lapse photography, thestreet segues from the high density micro-metropolises at BloorStreet, St. Clair Avenue and Eglin-ton Avenue, to the verdant (if man-made) arboretums of Mount Pleas-ant cemetery and Lawrence Park.The in-between strips of two sto-rey structures seem like prairies,destined to sprout vertically. When
the road dips, Micallef points outwhere long since buried water —Castle Frank Brook, Yellow Creek— once crossed the street.
The architecture shifts from turnof the century, to post-war, to con-crete ’70s futurism.
FED
Yonge St.
strolla ramblethrough time
COREY MINTZ
MINTZ continued on L8
THE REAL DIRTPrickly roses are hardto love, and grow, L3
I found feminism in the toilet the other day.Not actually in the toilet, but in a bathroom stall in
the women’s washroom at the Butler’s Pantry, a res-taurant in the Annex.
The message was scrawled in black pen by someonewho, whether she knows it or not, is a feminist: “Youare perfect, sexy and awesome exactly as you are.”
She obviously thought that some women needed tohear that. Thanks, kind feminist stranger, with your
gesture both empower-ing and benign.
It oddly sums up femi-nism today, an ambigu-ous and apolitical thingthat is everywhere, butwith less of the crusad-ing spirit of feminism. After all, it isn’t exactly
cool to be a capital-FFeminist in 2010, whenmany people find theterm antiquated and thebattle for equality over.
Young Canadian wom-en don’t remember atime before we had the
vote, the pill, access to safe abortion and the right toslap on a suit and join the line of worker bees snakingalong the highways. We were raised to believe thatpink and blue were different sides of the same coin andthat we could be, and do, anything men can do. Equal-ity was assumed. Which makes it difficult to see, sometimes, the sys-
temic inequalities that persist and the new ones thathave cropped up, some even as a result of gains madeby the women’s movement.
feminismup close and personalInequality between the sexesremains, but this 26-year-old small-f feminist often feels like a bad sisterneglecting someone she lovesNICOLE BAUTE
LIVING REPORTER
FEMINISM continued on L10
ESSAY
THESECRET
LIFE OFGIRLSPART OF A YEAR LONG SERIES
Is the f-word dead? Go to thestar.com for a video whereTorontonians weigh in on the state of feminism today.
Kate-Christine Miller is worried about the "hysteria" surrounding girls.COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR
Jessica Yee is an indigenous feminist reproductive justice freedom fighter.RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR
Ronak Ghorbani likes tweeting feminists but wants to "fight fat phobia."COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR
HOOP continued on L9
DAD JEANSMales can morphfrom frumpy tofabulous, L5
TORONTO
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