Ontario’s Bill 23 and Upheaval in the Heritage Industry
Heritage gives texture to our shared sense of place, belonging, and local identity.
Monthly Archives: January 2025
Exeter Book Riddles – What’s Old is News
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2025_01_29_04_25_25_00cb424c-1fdf-4105-b6e5-4321fc3de1bc.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week I’m joined by Jennifer Neville, author of Truth is Trickiest: The Case for Ambiguity in the Exeter Book Riddles. We discuss the background of the riddles, who may have transcribed them and why, as well as the challenge of deciphering their meaning. We also talk about the literary tradition… Read more »
“Encouraging the Behaviour We Want to Encourage”: Faded Promises of Security in Toronto Public Housing
In what seemed to some MTHA workers a bizarre self-fulfilling prophecy of failure on the matter, MTHA also took it upon itself to modify the behaviour of all residents. Toward that end, it hired the criminologist and security “expert” Clifford D. Shearing to write a pilot study on how to solve MTHA security problems.
Non-Professional Theatre – What’s Old is News
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2025_01_22_04_59_42_1a8a866c-3afc-4959-906f-745b6be9b8e7.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week I’m joined by Robin C. Whittaker, author of Alumnae Theatre Company: Nonprofessionalizing Theatre in Canada. We discuss the establishment of the Alumnae Theatre Company and its place as Canada’s longest-running women-led theatre group, how the group survived its early years, and the place of non-professional theatre in 20th century… Read more »
Mass Confinement – What’s Old is News
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2025_01_15_05_02_53_ddfc9bae-6823-4983-8c1c-f9a436c0dd27.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week I talk with Aidan Forth, author of Camps: A Global History of Mass Confinement. We talk about the definition of camps, the commonalties among camps, and the ubiquity of mass confinement. We also talk about studying these sites across cultures, how echoes of past camps inform modern confinement, and… Read more »
A Perception of Learned Helplessness: The Jane-Finch Neighborhood Versus Pessimism and Conflict at Toronto Public Housing
In correspondence with North York Mayor Mel Lastman, Sheila Mascoll accused the mayor of the sort of neglect of and insensitivity toward Jane-Finch that had cast an unreasonable racist pall on a neighborhood where thousands lived, worked, and played.
Monuments & National Belonging – What’s Old is News
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2025_01_09_05_34_34_9214266a-8da2-4ebd-8271-32991e5ad510.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week, I’m joined by Tonya Davidson, author of Inside the Snow Globe: Ottawa Monuments and National Belonging. We discuss Tonya’s approach to monuments as a primary source, how publics respond to monuments, and how national monuments fit into local communities. We also talk about some of Ottawa’s less known monuments,… Read more »
A Complete Unknown
By James Cullingham The cinema in downtown Nogojiwanong – Peterborough, Ontario – was almost packed for a noon screening of A Complete Unknown on the second day of its general release. That Bob Dylan fellow still pulls. The film is the latest cinematic effort to unravel the enigmatic genius of Bob Dylan. It has been greeted by generally favourable critical… Read more »