A water-logged note for you!
You know how you feel about the world by how your friends reflect yourself back to you. Last year my friend Jess remarked to me that she always remembers me saying I have to touch the water when I go for a run. I know this to be true, but I’d internalized it so much that I’d just about forgotten it. But true it is. And it has ever been thus, I run to the water. In high school cross country our favorite loop involved running to the beach. We’d stow our sneakers under a catamaran and run our extra tiring barefoot clicks. Or miles, as I used to call them. A run needs water like a heart needs music.
I can run routes in any direction from my home in Toronto, but I always run to the water. It’s beautiful, even on the coldest days of the year. A huge part of that beauty is Ontario Place. It’s a weird blob of 70s future-kitsch and gorgeous nature all rolled into one. When I go early, I have it almost all to myself, this lake so big it looks like an ocean. And when I sleep in and go for a later run, this place is full of all kinds of people: dog walkers, yoga doers, peaceful perambulators, affable weirdos. Which is why, as someone who has run Ontario place two times a week for the past ten years, I can say that the government’s assertion that no one uses Ontario place is complete and utter (sorry not sorry) bullshit.
A few weeks ago, we went to the ontarioplaceforall.com rally and heard the inspiring words of some of my favorites, ausmamalik.ca, and former trustee votenorm.ca. My piano teacher and coldwater swimming guru Monique also represented, alongside legendary professor Steve Mann and his hydraulophone (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H…)! It was a beautiful day and we had a picnic, but I was beach bummed about the bombardment of our public spaces.
But it’s not a done deal. WE CAN CHANGE THIS. We can stop this privatization yet. And as our third spaces disappear, we absolutely must. Parks are for people. Ontario Place is for everyone. And loose, free, collective community usage of space must exist in a city for it to be a place for all, especially as our housing costs swell to untenable heights.
Friends who grew up here tell the most incredible stories about Ontario Place. It was free. You could roam. Your parents could have a drink on the beach while you got lost in an adventure playground and had dodgy but delightful experiences. We need more of this. Where the water meets the land.
Can you write a letter?
Have a gorgeous day!
