It's 4 in the afternoon, the sun is shining, and the music in the air is a lazy blues tune. at least that is the odd feeling permeating today - and it's a monday! how peculiar. pip is washing his paw, in between meowing bouts. the city is foggy and clear, and blue and grey. when i look outside there is a white building with terraces and gardens on the terraces, that looks like it plopped itself down from greece. if i stare at the building and block everything else out except for the water and the sky, i can pretend i'm in greece. the music would be sharper and clearer then, and the air would be clean.

what is this city? why would you try to give it a referent, a name, a cohesive character? somehow i believe these things grow into themselves. but this city has decided to kick-start itself, and create an identity for itself to grow into. somehow it's an odd way of doing things, but i guess new york did it, so perhaps it will work for toronto too. but when i think of london, and of paris - they are older, more sustained, and their character is defined by their people and - somehow most importantly - their language - the way they use their language. french is romantic, british english is proper. both can be vulgar. both can be beatific. but they are strong characters, these two languages. canadian english is bland. how can you build a city's image, character, essence, on a bland language?

i wonder why we characterize things. and is it right, or reasonable, to characterize things in order to sell them? that is what we do in this marketplace. that is how we sell things - through emotional and personal connections that really don't exist. we can make them exist, but they aren't deep - they aren't real connections; real connections exist between humans, who know each other well, who love and hate each other, full to overflowing with knowledge of that other, the other, human, who is being with you.

Labels: transitions