Items

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  2020-04-04

  Use. Full.

  This story, "Use. Full" speaks to my feelings of uselessness as lockdown set in and the irony that, because I had the time and not much else to do - because I knew people who knew people and was armed with a smart phone and limitless wifi - I was able to be of use in a remote, emergency situation. I am a professional actor, writer and singer, for whom all performance work was brought to an abrupt halt. I have family and friends who are clinicians and who, unlike me, (still) find themselves on the frontlines of the pandemic dealing with their own pandemic-wrought stress. There was something strangely comical about doing nothing, this enforced idleness, being touted as my patriotic duty. It is especially difficult to accept that proposition when usefulness and productivity have been so ingrained and associated with 'getting your hands dirty.' My smartphone and computer, devices often derided as barriers to 'real' human connection became the conduits for the only real connection we could have other than with the loved ones we were isolating with. The 'pings' of text notifications were welcome accompaniments to days spent reading, watching movies, amusing ourselves with the latest pandemic-inspired memes.
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  2020-04-28

  'It's a slap in the face': Toronto doctor says he was told he can't enter local TD branch

  A news article in which a doctor and professor at the University at Toronto relays his and his family's experiences of being turned away from their local TD Bank due to their potential exposure as health care workers.
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  2020-05-27

  'Front Line' Mural in Vanier

  Based on an initial sketch called 'Front Line' which was part of a fundraiser to provide brown-bag meals to health care workers, this mural by artist Dominic Laporte is positioned along the side of the busy Vanier Parkway across from a Loblaws grocery store.