Shirin Delsooz

My Life Adventures and Thoughts

I got pubslished on the latest issue of Spacing Magazine!

Dear Readers,

Spacing magazine has launched their latest issue today and can be found on news stands at Book City or the University of Toronto Bookstore.

And guess what? My article on BookCrossing was published. So for all you folks who are interested in good ol’ me and issues concerning public space and culture, get your hands on a copy. This issue’s theme focuses on rules from jaywalking, panhandling, bike helmets, to smoking and other fuzzy areas. You’ll find other local peculiarities that Spacing doesn’t seem to run out of writing. Did you know that Toronto has a look out point? And who are those people who camp out at the Don River and call it home? That and a whole lot more- 78 pages of in depth articles for $8 can’t go wrong! Or better yet $29 for 6 issues!

Guess who I met today!

I was walking up Yonge street and who do I see? None other than Toronto Mayor David Miller! To be sure, I instinctively I yelped out, “Is that David Miller?”

“Yes it is!” He said in that distinctive voice of his.

I admit I was a bit star struck, even though I had my share of celebrity and other public figure encounters back in the days. But something about Miller really struck me.

Before he could walk further away I added, “You did a great job!”

“Thanks!”

If it had been former Mayor Lastman, well I don’t think he would walk so freely in downtown as David.

David doesn’t need to worry because he has worked too long and too hard. I can’t remember another mayor in recent history who has pushed so hard for expanding public transit, preserving our environment and getting guns off the streets and pushing for a whole lot of essential programs for at-risk neighborhoods. He goes as far as picking up garbage off the streets for the annual clean up day! During his off time he hangs out at neighborhood pubs to mingle with fellow folks alike.

This Harvard grad has a genuine interest and commitment in bringing good to this world and for that reason I couldn’t help but be a tad bit smitten!

I’m sad to see him go but I can at least appreciate that he set the bar high for the upcoming mayor!

“If you don’t like it, get a car!” – TTC driver

I must have had another heart attack yesterday when I learned that the TTC may consider fare increases to $3 and bus passes to $126. There must be something extremely inefficient in a partly subsidized transit system that’s services costs are becoming closer and closer to cab fare. And I’m further perturbed upon learning that New York’s metro pass is $70, and Montreal is $64! That’s half price!

The argument I hear back is that Toronto is a bigger city. Yes, true, but there are more people in that city, and more people mean more taxes and more ridership. It makes me really interested to hear a forensic accountants take on the TTC after reading their balance sheets. Something is definitely wrong here.

What’s also wrong is the attitude of a bus driver on the 68 warden today who was yelling at these women to pay the full bus fare. They paid the student fare but didn’t have a student card. “STUDENT CARD OR ADULT FARE!” She shouted. I didn’t think there was a need to embarrass these women with their wal-mart shopping bags. They paid the full fare at once, but the driver still was shouting at them with an almost psychotic tone. Maintaining their dignity, they yelled back at her, bitch this and shut up that. “Pff, the bus fare is already too much,” one of the women retorted.

“If you don’t like it, get a car!” She yelled so condescendingly as if that was an option people aspire to, as if being in poverty was a filthy and lowly crime.

Is this the option we are forced to consider from what was supposed to be the public’s transit, the proletariats chariot?

Hasn’t anyone understood by now that it makes no logistical sense for everyone to be driving a car? Do we need our streets to be clogged with anymore grid lock, or more lanes paved to add to our unaesthetic landscape? Do we need more smog clouding our air and into our lungs?

I’ve been to other cities, and I feel like Toronto is the only place where people take the bus only if they couldn’t afford a car. Countless times I’ve seen guys browsing through the listings of auto magazines in the bus. I hear of people foolishly slaving off for minimum wage to get their wagon. Many times I’ve received pity from people when I told them I don’t have a car. This childish materialistic attitude has got to change. I keep on trying to show people they have been misled in the empty promises and dreams of car culture!

The goal is to get from place to place fast. The only efficient way for people to be transported in a city is undoubtedly properly managed public transit.

Why can’t decision makers put the politics aside and realize this?

We need to increase service! We need to decrease the fare!

I always believed a two way fare of public transit should be less than half of an hourly minimum wage… that’s around $9, and the proposed 2 way bus fare is at $6, that’s 2/3rds of the way. It’s not fair. The system is bound to collapse!

If the driver had to ask me, I’d say, No, I don’t like it- but I won’t get a car- but I will ride my bike. The fight for cheaper bus far and the push for increased services seems like a losing battle.  I think my energy is best put towards the push for indoor bike lanes for winter. Once that’s built, we’ll have full mobility around the city and there won’t be a need to pay someone 80K+ a year for each lane.

A good deed for the day.

A foreign Asian lady sat in the bus, scrutinizing a paper she had handwritten of various English words with their Chinese translation. She bravely went as far as asking the lady in front of her to pronounce a word… she did, but very nonchalantly… a one word answer and then back to listening to her Ipod. Is this how we welcome our new and eager Canadians?

I could see from my seat just how many spelling errors there were, not to mention the letters in themselves were drawn out incorrectly!

My sense of moral and civic duty prompted me to get up from my seat and help the foreigner! I smiled and pointed at the paper with my pen handy.

She smiled back and nodded as I gently tugged the paper away and began to correct each word… slowlyy.. showing her each of the changes.

She then tried to pronounce the word. Barkcolkei. No! BBbbbbrrrroooooCCCCCoooollliiiii, I said, with a sincere smile. I helped her with each word until we reached the subway station. She said “Thank you”.

I’m glad I made myself useful as opposed to vegetating in a bus with my ipod on. Why didn’t that other lady have the same sense of duty? What was she doing that was so important? What songs were on her ipod that she hasn’t heard before?

The bus is the most boring place to be,I’d go as far as saying dehumanizing. There’s no stimulation for the mind! I could try reading, but I easily get car-sick, so I listen to some podcasts, but those are hard to hear with the blaring bus driving sounds.

Then I got an idea- teaching English in the bus… decently intelligent minds during their daily long commutes to downtown will be made useful by pairing up with an eager learner to impart their knowledge in basic English. And it will be the best way to integrate new people and involve our citizens in our community! Sounds simple- why not!?

Election Prediction From a Trusted Source

The news uses opinions and polls to forecast the winner, but I have a far better tool… it’s alexa.com!

This website fills you in on the traffic rankings of all websites in the world wide web, and gives the option to compare rankings with other websites in a neat little graph. Traffic rankings don’t exactly equate to voters, but its a precise indicator of popularity.

So how does Hillary and McCain fare on April 3, 2008? Well Obama is clearly more than twice as popular as Hillary and has three times more hits on his site than McCain.