{"id":22060,"date":"2014-10-24T09:03:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T13:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=22060"},"modified":"2014-10-24T09:03:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T13:03:36","slug":"a-story-about-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2014\/10\/24\/a-story-about-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"A Story About Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"You know what I need? A story.<\/em> When I\u2019m working hard, my mind soothes itself by wandering into stories. It could be a movie, book, movie about a book, <\/em>or even adventure tales from childhood days. It\u2019s easy to get lost in thought especially when you have access to YouTube or Netflix. I even get lost wandering in the wilderness on Google Maps from time to time. Ok, a lot.<\/em>\r\n\r\n
\"Sitting<\/a>
Back in first year, ploughing through this 700 page biography of Joseph Stalin for my TrinOne IR class (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nI need new stories during the busy academic year and real stories best fill this need. Nourishing your relationship with places and peoples through these stories connects you to countless generations and the vast world that shaped them. By doing so, you are also shaped. Better yet, with such mindfulness, you can live<\/em> these stories.\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
More stories for TrinOne. My holiday homework and my old buddy Mr. Putin (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nTake for instance the names of the places we live in. People romantically think Toronto<\/em> means place of meetings<\/em>. But different histories show that Toronto <\/em>comes from the Mohawk word tkaronto<\/em> which means where there are trees standing in the water.<\/em> This name refers to weirs used by Indigenous fishers in the area. What a drastically different story to be surrounded by. Are you intrigued yet?\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
End of summer 2013: my new view in my apartment was great, though I knew I'd be watching the story of that tower's construction unfold right before my eyes... (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"In<\/a>
By the Fall of 2013, this living city had already evolved into a new world; and the building across the street added like 12 floors and was already beginning to take away my view! (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"The<\/a>
The first snowfall of the 2013 winter: the tower grew ever so slightly, but never stopped completely during even the coldest times (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"An<\/a>
Once the winter had faded, Toronto emerged from it's snowy slumber into the bright spring dawn. And like any good character in a story, the building across the street fought against all the odds and persevered...to block my view even more (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
So one year since I moved here, and there is now an obnoxiously tall condo across the street trying to intimidate me all day (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nSpadina <\/em>comes from an Ojibwe word\u2014Ishpadinaa--referring to high hill <\/em>which the present-day avenue ascends. High Park was a savannah used by various Indigenous communities for farming. Philosopher\u2019s Walk followed what used to be Taddle Creek, which was a vital waterway and gathering place for local Indigenous peoples who originally called it the Ziibiing.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/watercanada.net\/2013\/part-one-the-death-and-life-of-a-hidden-stream\/<\/a>\r\n\r\n
\"From<\/a>
Though there's no creek here now, I try to feel the stories of Philosopher's Walk when I'm passing through (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nEver wondered why Davenport Road doesn\u2019t follow Toronto\u2019s grid? That\u2019s because it follows an ancient Indigenous trail. And have you heard of the Franklin Expedition? Long story short, they sunk<\/em>. But Inuit peoples who\u2019ve lived near the ships\u2019 resting place kept the Expedition\u2019s story alive through oral tradition for many centuries. Epic, right?\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/north\/franklin-find-proves-inuit-oral-history-is-strong-louie-kamookak-1.2761362<\/a>\r\n\r\nAn ancient river called Old Man River<\/em> flows in Southern Alberta near where I grew up. The amazing stories of this river have shaped worldviews and histories of many peoples including the Peigan of the Blackfoot Confederacy. How has the land shaped your life and history?\r\n\r\nIn my Alberta hometown of Cochrane there is a historic ranch. Can you guess the name? Yes, it\u2019s called Cochrane Ranche. Better question: can you guess what the town is named after??? Yup, the Ranche. I\u2019m more fascinated by tales I\u2019ve heard about the rocky ridge overlooking the site. I\u2019ve heard this ridge was a buffalo jump long ago. It\u2019s good to see home in a different light.\r\n\r\n
\"In<\/a>
This is a view from Cochrane, looking west towards the Ranche. Just to give you an idea of the aura of the place (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Still<\/a>
And now here's Cochrane in a different light! (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nNow that you\u2019ve read my story about stories, I want you to tell a story. Tell your friends or family a story about the world they live in. Go and find a story to listen to, if you need. I\u2019m going to the ImagineNATIVE film fest from October 22-26 for this exact reason. First Nations House might have some free tickets if you\u2019re interested. Maybe I\u2019ll tell you a story about it sometime.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.imaginenative.org\/home\/<\/a>\r\n\r\nOnce you\u2019ve told some stories, ask yourself what stories are right there under your feet or in the air around you. What story are you living right now?<\/em>\r\n\r\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Even the Tower can tell you a story (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Looking<\/a>
No matter what time of year, the Tower plays along and changes with the seasons. The tower can even show it's festive side during the holiday season! (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Another<\/a>
Here's one from last St. Patrick's Day, when the Tower had some real shamrock luck on (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Another<\/a>
The Tower can even hold memories as part of your story, like this shot I remember from a particularly rainy night after Derek Jeeter played his final game ever against the Jays in Rogers Centre (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n
\nYou know what I need? A story. When I\u2019m working hard, my mind soothes itself by wandering into stories. It could be a movie, book, movie about a book, or even adventure tales from childhood days. It\u2019s easy to get…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “A Story About Stories”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “A Story About Stories”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22060"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22076,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22060\/revisions\/22076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}