Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe: Nov. 26, 2012 CBC’s Radio Metro Morning item

CBC’s Metro Morning had an interesting item on Nov. 26, 2012 concerning the Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe books series.

Among the books from this group is one named Hand Made.

A book in this series is being prepared about Toronto.

Part of the discourse, according to a Nov. 26, 2012 interview on Metro Morning, is how we build projects outside of the downtown core, that don’t get much attention. The list of projects for such a book is unusual; the book is about individual-led projects. They include projects that lack a name.

Such projects, as the Metro Morning item indicated, use community assets, and build relationships among people.

The person interviewed today is a Toronto resident who arrived from Vancouver four or five years ago and decided to stay. She was inspired to stay in Toronto, as I understand, as the result of a local project in which a resident left poems in random places. There was a reference in the interview to ‘random acts of kindness.’ The project involved the sending out of thousands of letters, starting seven years ago or so. The project has no funding; it was conducted outside of the letter writer’s day job.

East Scarborough Storefront

The Metro Morning program spoke of the East Scarborough Storefront project. There was a reference, if I recall correctly, to the design of a 10,000 sq-ft space, with extensive input and involvement by residents, by an organization that doesn’t have a name.

Such projects, it was noted, are happening everywhere across Toronto — “in the cracks,” in the areas outside of the city core. The book about Toronto, from the Community Lover’s Guide to the Universe, will focus on such projects. The book series is part of a Social Spaces project.

The book will look at a range of projects. Are you involved in something at the local level to create connections in the community?  You can contact Metro Morning through its Facebook page for more information and to add your suggestions.

You can also contact Metro Morning through its Vox Box and by other means.