Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Kim Nelson – taking names, firing old White men and walking over Indigenous students Review by Stephen Weir   Kim Nelson For white men of a certain age, 2020 is a scary time when teaching an old man new tricks means putting him out to pasture.  In Tarragon Theatre’s new play, This Was the World, Kim Nelson is the young quiet woman who manages to take names, fire a an aging legal superstar and stomp over an indigenous students private affairs. Nelson a relative newcomer to the Toronto theatre scene is the quiet force in this small play about gossip war between Boomer white privilege and her generation’s seething millennial rage. “This play is about how its characters deal with change and loss of status or privilege (or what is sometimes called white fragility),” explains playwright Ellie Moon.  “I believe that it is worth exploring the ordinariness and the consequences of  White fragility.”   This Was the World, Kim Nelson &  Dakota Ray Hebert  The one-act, on

THE MOSQUITO DETERMINED OUR HISTORY Review by Herman Silochan - Toronto Caribbean Independent Newspaper The Mosquito - A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator, by Timothy Winegard In the past four decades, history has been forced to be dramatically rewritten, over and over, from ancient times to the here and now. The further opening up of archives in the great libraries, monasteries, museums and government records offices of the world is but one avenue for revision. Significantly though, subjecting specimens, species, animal and plant, even relics, to DNA classification and testing has forced re-interpretation on its head. Forensic anthropology and archeology have come into their own. Those of us who recall our high school history, and later at university, do have a good sense of the sequence of events. But what about the scenes behind the scenes, so to speak? All of us know that Alexander the Great invaded western India through the Indus Valley, and it was drummed i

Opening Saturday at North Toronto’s Meridian Arts Centre Eddie Grant photo of PM Manley Way back in the 70s and 80s a quintet of Caribbean Canadian photojournalists were literarily the Ears, Eyes and Voice of Toronto’s many hard-hitting community newspapers!  Press photographs taken by Jules Elder, Eddie Grant, Diane Liverpool, Al Peabody and Jim Russell are on display beginning Saturday at the Meridian Arts Centre in North Toronto as part of Black History Month celebrations in the city. This free exhibition, presented by TO Live, brings together important historic works by the five “shooters”. Their combined collection of photographs is a rare pictorial record of newspaper stories that covered the evolving history of the community. Ears, Eyes, Voice bring back both good and bad memories from the streets of Toronto. There are pictures of reggae star Peter Tosh at the O’Keefe Centre; Caribana as a giant Blocko on University Avenue, and a large Africa Liberation Day march

SugaCayne Can And They Will Candice and Dwayne Dixon have launched a new competitive Mas Band that is using 21st century cutting edge technology to put a new Wow factor into the costumes their dancers will be wearing down the road. Their name is SugaCayne, and the mas band already has chosen a costume launch location and date, five section leaders and a theme name – Liquid Courage – that comes with a double meaning. “ Liquid Courage brings to mind something you need to give you the courage to do something you might never ever do (like putting on a mas costume and dancing down Lakeshore Blvd in the annual Toronto parade),” explains SugaCayne co-founder Dwayne Dixon. “Taking it a lot deeper, our costumes will, in part, be constructed using 3-D technology making spectacular costumes that you can’t make with just wire and glue. These 3-D created parts start off in a liquid state, and that takes some courage.” SugaCayne Designs has made a name for itself by designing and building

Sophomore band plans to paint Caribana Green in 2020 Last year photographer and long-time filmmaker Jenny Baboolal was a little green behind the ears when it came to starting a new Mas Band. Now almost a year later, not only is she going green again but also plans to be bigger and better than in she was in 2019. “My belief is that Going Green is a win-win proposition for everyone” Baboolal told the Caribbean Camera. “Everyone is aware of the climate change crisis and we all want to make a difference.” In 2019, Baboolal, and Calypsonian Roger Gibbs led a mini-parade of 20 masqueraders wearing green costumes, around Nathan Phillips Square during the City Hall Launch of the annual carnival. “This year I’d love to have enough people in green to encircle the Square.” The Going Green group has a message to the world. “ We must reduce our carbon footprint!” To that end the masqueraders will be at the launch and the parade having fun and spreading the world about their environme

Investing in Cultural Infrastructure in Hamilton  The Government of Canada supports the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the creation of a civic museum! HAMILTON, Ontario, February 11, 2020 The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the creation and renovation of cultural spaces to allow better access to the arts and heritage for everyone.  The Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour, and Member of Parliament (Hamilton West–Ancaster– Dundas), announced $112,875 in funding for the Art Gallery of Hamilton today. She made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage. The Honourable Filomena Tassi   This support, provided through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, will help fund a comprehensive feasibility study for a significant renovation of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. The study will explore improvements to the art gallery’s storage, displays and interpretation of its permanent collectio

Go Fund Dr. Kim. He Wants You To Join The Damn Pan Family Trinidad and Tobago’s 2020 Carnival is roaring down the track and Dr. Kim Johnson author and film maker has turned to social media to get his book about Pan on board!  Last week on Facebook postings began appearing about his IndieGoGo crowd funding campaign to reprint his seminal, Illustrated Story of Pan. The book will not be available for Carnival, but, the author is hopefully that by the time people start taking to the streets of Port of Spain, he will know whether or not there will be second printing of Pan history will be available to order. Dr. Johnson is a Director at the Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago. He works at the University of Trinidad and Tobago and manages PAN We Are The World. His short films about Pan and the Carnival Arts are shown at festivals around the world including Toronto’s Caribbean Tales Film Festival. The original book was published in Trinidad and Tobago in 2011.  The initial print