Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Linked Stories From Nassau.  People Just Don’t Understand By Stephen Weir Wow – the young-uns knew a long time ago what an incredible story-teller Bahamian Canadian author  Janice Lynn Mather is. And now it is the adults turn to discover this  Governor General's Literary Finalists with this week's release of her new book Uncertain Kin .   The Vancouver based writer first made a name for herself here in Canada with her first two books, Learning to Breathe and Facing the Sun. Not only did the Young Adult titles make a splash with junior high schoolers they won awards and were nominated for some biggies too. S he has just returned to the bookstore shelves with her first adult work of fiction.   Uncertain Kin   is a collection of linked   stories about the lives of women and girls living in The Bahamas and Canada. Eighteen strange haunting stories introduce us to women and girls searching for identity and belonging during moments of profound upheaval. “I...

  No Telling What Will Pop Up By Stephen Weir Photographs by Gilbert Medina   If today is Thursday and you are reading this before 9.30 pm you can totally get outfitted for the Grand Parade at a special registration Pop Up in Scarborough. Coming off a successful Costume Launch in Vaughan, the Carnival Nationz Mas Band has put together a temporary showroom in Scarborough where revelers can get up close and personal and with a roomful of very sexy costume and place orders before the Carnival frenzy begins.   Actually, at least according to Carnival Nationz’ Bryce Aguiton, the madness has already begun. “We had our Saturday night launch on the Easter weekend and the response has been amazing. The calls haven’t stopped. We thought that before we open our permanent Mas Camp we should hold a 3-Day Pop Up in Scarborough to take the pressure off the nonstop calls.”   It started Tuesday evening at the Cinnamon Ru Commercial Plaza on McNicoll Avenue. Running 6.30 to 9.30 all t...

 2022 Saldenah Carnival Costume Launch   By Stephen Weir / Photographs by Herman Silochan and Gilbert Medina. Louis Saldenah, Canada’s most winning Mas Man said it before last month's Saldenah Carnival’s Streets of Fire costume launch and he is saying it now for sure.   “ I told you so! The people of Toronto are hungry, hungry, hungry for carnival and 2022 is going to be that year, ” predicted Saldenah after his launch party attracted 2,000 people hungry to  look at the costumes that will be worn on the road in this year’s Toronto Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade. “ I have always said this is going to be the best Carnival ever,” he told the Caribbean Camera. “After two years being cooped up at home without Carnival, I think everyone is saying, “Damn it, let’s just get out there (and jump up).”     Photograph by Herman Silochan  Louis’s S aldenah Car nival (formally the Mas K Club) holds the record of twenty “Band of the Year” titles ...

Brampton Debut for the Freedom Mas Band of the Toronto Carnival By Stephen Weir. Pictures by Des Photography   This early bird didn’t get any worms, Johanna Grant, got something significantly tastier.  By holding her new Freedom Mas Band costume launch on Sunday she won bragging rights to having thrown the first Band launch of Carnival 2022. She is also the first to open the doors to their camp and begin the business of making masquerade outfits. She set a couple of other milestones this weekend. Her new band is the only group that is now based in the city of Brampton. They will be proudly waving the Black, Green and Gold along Lakeshore Blvd in Toronto’s Grand Parade on July 30 th .  “After a 16 years hiatus, the Jamaican Band is       back, fully equipped with costumes to give    revellers the full   carnival experience ,” said Johanna Grant shortly after her day long fete ended. “We are excited to bring back the Jamaican culture to th...

  Watering the Seeds for the Future of Bathurst St Community   IT was a press conference and update about A Different Booklist Cultural Centre (ADBCC)and its masterplan to get bigger, louder and wear a new name.  At a Friday presser held at the bookstore at Bathurst and Bloor in downtown Toronto, organizer and store owner Itah Sadu threatened to shout down the city with her good words of emancipation and neighbourhood   The Cultural Centre is a non-profit community group committed to studying and promoting the history of African and Caribbean Canadian ancestry. It will build a large multi-purpose permanent headquarters in the large construction site known as the Mirvish Village project recently demolished Honest Ed’s  department story. The construction sight is right across the street from the existing bookstore and cultural meeting hall.   At the noon-hour presser was Anthony Joseph, the publisher of th Caribbean Camera along with other members o...

The Slap Heard Around The World SWEIR talks to Canadian Comedians about it  You Tube got it right. Only hours after Sunday night’s Oscars Award Ceremony ended the short message and video issued about Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Brouhaha was tagged as The Slap Heard Around World and it had done just that. Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars after he had joked about Smith's wife, Jada-Pinkett Smith and her lack of hair. Four days have since passed and the story just hasn’t gone hasn’t away. Smith is getting applause mostly from Americans men for lightly slapping Fox for making fun of Jada’s hair loss issues with Alopecia. But more are praising Chris Rock for taking it like a man, because he made the wise crack as part of the jokes that the Oscar organizers had paid him to drop on the global audience taking in the Battle Royale. So how did Canadians react to the Slap Around the World? Drake was apparently in a Hollywood nightclub and one of his crew posted...

Brampton debut for the Freedom  Mas Band of the Toronto Carnival By Stephen Weir. Pictures by Des Photography This early bird didn’t get any worms, Johanna Grant, got something significantly better.  By holding her new Freedom Mas Band costume launch on Sunday she won bragging rights to being the first Band to hold a launch for Carnival 2022 and also the first band to open their Mas Camp doors and start making masquerade outfits. She set a couple of other milestones on the weekend. Her new band is the only group that will be based in the city of Brampton, and proudly waving the Black, Green and Gold down Lakeshore Blvd in Toronto's Grand Parade on Saturday July 30 th. “After a 16 years hiatus, the Jamaican Band is back, fully equipped with costumes to give revellers the full  carnival experience ,” said Johanna Grant shortly after the day long fete ended. “   We are excited to bring back the Jamaican culture to the Toronto Carnival formally known as Caribana!” “...

    MY CHEAP ATTIC OFFICE ROOM FRIGHTENS LOTS OF PEOPLE   By Stephen Weir OMG. No, Double OMG. If the city inspectors sees this, I’ll be tossed into a snowbank, while they weld my alley door shut for the safety of the city. What am I doing here? Stephen, the landlord had a list (72 pt bold) of the renting features of this attic bedroom cum office. “ Number One!  ” it yelled at me. “It is a Gawd Damn Cheap.  Number Two No Rats …  not on the third floor at least).  Number Three. No toilet  .  You use the landlord’s  downstairs …. and he promises to make sure it is kept clean … most of the time.  Number Four.  It is the cheapest rent you will get at Young and Egg.” Young and Egg?  What do I know? I thought I’d just moved into a third-floor office walkup at Yonge Street and Eglinton Ave. “Oh, what a unique space. Love It.” Truth was I didn’t bring a bed to my new city digs, and the space was too narrow anyway....

  TRAYVON MARTIN STORY ALIVE AFTER 10 YEARS Makambe K Simamba By Stephen Weir  When the 70-minute live play  “Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers”  ends we in the audience are invited to stick around and talk about the 2012 murder of  Trayvon Martin .  We think about staying and apologizing for the racist murder of a 17-year-old youth but opt to go to our and cry alone.    The Caribbean Canadian couple beside us want to get home quick and hug their children tight. Real tight.    The midtown Tarragon Theatre is finally back open after taking a couple year Covid break. Actress and playwright  Makambe K Simamba is first out of the blocks at the Casa Loma neighbourhood theatre. She is presenting her one-person show “Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers,”  runs until April 20 th .   In “ Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers” , Simamba plays Slimm (Trayvon Martin), who is murdered and sudden...

  Thousands of children making a Mas at the T&T Sheppard Avenue West consulate   Toronto photographer and filmmaker  Jenny Baboolal  has just finished installing a photography exhibition at  The Consulate General of Trinidad and Tobago in Toronto  that will put a little bit of Carnival warmth into this cold Canadian winter.    The  photographic exhibit called The Art of Mas”, opened yesterday at the Sheppard Ave W Consulate, and is available for viewing online. It is also in-person, on a limited basis, to those with appointments to access services in the building.   The photo show which runs until August 31st is all about Carnival in T&T, and specifically children’s participation in the annual event.    Baboolal has selected over 30 framed pieces   which  document thousands of children’s emotional engagement with the annua festival and documents the wide range of the junior costumes used in the ...