Included Below: Old and New / Mind the Gap / Walking in Place / Backwards in Time / Stories We Don’t Tell Podcast. Click HERE for further information about this newsletter. To those from before and those who are new-
I. WELCOME
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A few weeks ago, I had to take the subway for the first time in over a year. I’ve kept pretty close to home - either walking or biking everywhere. I am lucky, fortunate, and privileged enough that I can work from home and it just hasn’t been necessary for me to go anywhere that required a subway ride.
In fact, there are a lot of things I had to do for the first time again in the last few weeks. I’ve been trying to follow the rules, which for me meant that since the beginning of this whole situation, I’ve tried to remove myself from things as much as possible. From my understanding, if you could, just don’t move around and don’t be putting yourself in unnecessary places that could be deemed unsafe. A bit counter-intuitive because the impulse is to help, to take action in some kind of way. When actually, a person in my place should just do as little as possible.
So, I had carved out a pretty solid routine. Now, I’ve prided myself in both being able to commit to a routine, and also be adaptable. If thrown off my routine, I was malleable and could adjust. Circumstances over the last few weeks caused a total disruption in this routine, and for obvious reasons, I was not nearly as adaptable as before.
I had to have people come into my place and fix stuff. I wasn’t sure what to be more nervous about - that the stuff was going to get fixed, or that after a year, there was now people coming and going in the only space I new to be 100% safe. We did all we could - sliding glass door wide open, maintaining distance, and masked-up - but it still helped shred any illusion that anyplace was truly 100% safe.
In addition, I stepped into my elevator for the first time in over a year. I live on the third floor and so can easily enter and exit my building via stairs. Just being in these other spaces with other people was weird. There was no worry or fear, just a sense of it being strange.
All these things we used to do without thinking at all about them. All these places we used to inhabit. The conversations we used to have. What do we do with all this? I don’t think we can return to the way things were before, no matter how much we want to. It will be something new, it has to be. What will that look like?
Q - What is a new thing you’ve done recently?
II. TALES FROM THE DREAM ROOM
Each month welcomes an exclusive story from a parallel world.
The Dream Room is a place that where everything is interconnected. The sights and sounds and people that inhabit this world feel familiar. The tales pulled from the Dream Room are sometimes true and sometimes fiction, they may scare you or make you laugh. The Dream Room is a place not to be taken lightly and if you’re ready to enter, read the excerpt below and click on the link for the full story.
MIND THE GAP: As the subway approached the station, she watched the other people on the train. She looked for any reaction or connection with others. Some got off the train when the doors opened, some got on the train. The Voice rode the subway all the way to the end of the line. She completely forgot about where she was supposed to be going. She was engrossed in her own performance.
To her, behind the station names and general instructions, there was the weight of everything that didn’t work out in her life. The loneliness she often felt living in this city. The lack of friends as she got older and how even her theatre school friends gave up their dreams and moved to small towns to raise large families. The frustration of her love life, or lack of love life, and how men just bored her lately. She thought about how small and insignificant she often felt and that no one listened to her. But now, for years to come, thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people will listen to her, be guided by her, informed by her.
Read the whole story at this link.
Q - What is the neatest public transportation system you’ve been on?
III. PAUL’S PICKS.
A recommendation of something watched, read, done, or listened to.
This is merely a general suggestion rather than an actual person or piece of work. As I have made abundantly clear and gone on and on about - I like to walk. Something I enjoy is seeing how different parts of the city change over time and gaining insight into the history of a place. For example, I live across the street from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and have been all through the many plaques posted around the ground. There is now construction being done on the grounds, and it seems to always be changing. Those plaques posted around the grounds remind us of what happened.
I usually listen to podcasts during my walks, and recently came across a series called Walking in Place by Ashley McDonough. This show is self-guided audio walking tours of different neighbourhoods of Toronto. The podcast covers areas like Queen Street, St. Lawrence Market, and Corktown, and extensive historical information is included with each episode. You can subscribe to the podcast at this link. Going through these tours has helped me see details in places I have walked by tons of times.
If you’re not in Toronto, the Jane’s Walk Festival is coming up from May 7 - 9 and will be fully virtual this year. Jane’s Walk was founded in 2007 as a living, walking commemoration of Jane Jacobs and her legacy. It is a grassroots movement to city building that uses volunteer-led walking tours to make spaces for people to observe, reflect, share, question, and re-imagine the places in which they live, work and play. I’ve participated in the past - as both a walk leader and just a walker - and it’s very fun, different, and informative. The festival takes place all over the world and resources and information can be found on the website janeswalk.org.
Q - Do you have any favourite fun facts about a place or city?
IV. FROM THE ARCHIVES.
An old story brought to you in a new way.
BACKWARDS THROUGH TIME (October 27, 2019): When I pulled out my book - Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - and opened it up, the person facing me and sitting directly across pulled out the exact same book as me. We smiled at each other, she asked if I was enjoying it - Yes, very much so - and went to reading. Sure, this author has been a bestseller for a while, but this was her first book, and so a bit more of a deeper cut and a bit more of a coincidence.
This was comforting, allowing me to be in the same headspace as the person I was sharing the physical space with for the next four hours. We were silently seeing the same streets and listening in to the same conversations of the characters in the book.
As this nice and comforting thought lulled me into a warm state of enjoying Ng’s writing, I kept glancing out the window. It’s strange sitting on a train that is moving backwards, and I started imagining that I was in some kind of transportation device where I could travel backwards in time.
Read the whole story at this link.
Q - What is the strangest thing that has ever happened to you on a train?
V. WATCH, LISTEN, READ, OR DO.
Something to take with you.
Over on the Stories We Don’t Tell Podcast, we’ve got a pair of episodes with some great stories. We’re really working at getting more out there, but like everything, stuff seem to move a bit slower these days. Soon, we promise!
On episode 141: A change is as good as a rest, the SWDT crew talks about how a story can evolve over time. But before that, Vishal shares a story about wanting to add more joy, meaning, and satisfaction to his life. He was kind enough to share his experiences of feeling stuck and how he unstuck himself.
On episode 140: I don’t want to write about this, Brittany shares a deeply personal story about writing and dealing with depression. After her story, Brittany joins the SWDT crew to a wide-ranging and insightful conversation about her writing process. To learn more about Brittany, visit her website and follow her on Instagram @britcambooks.
Subscribe to the SWDT Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Q - If you’re into podcasts, what have you been listening to lately?
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve included a question at the end of each section. No, this isn’t required homework. However, if you are compelled to write to me with your thoughts, I would love to hear from you. Who knows, I might even share some of the answers in future newsletters (anonymously, of course). Email me here: jpd@pauldore.com.
April 2021 Edition: Multi-tasking / The Invisibles / Pretend it’s a City / Talking to People / I’m Leaving It.