swept
Volume 1, Issue SWEPT3. June 20131
EDITOR’S
DESK
As we wrap up this last issue, we all sigh a breath of relief, but as we do, we breathe a deeper one as we prepare to ramp things up. Beginning in 2012 as just an idea and a domain name, Sweptmedia.ca has bloomed into what smells like a half-legit publication. We started with the motto “Sweeping up the news the mainstream leaves behind”, but have since moved to a much more open-minded attitude toward our coverage and content. Though our mantra has changed, our mission has always been to provide an independent voice, to encourage more debate and discussion on issues affecting our communities, and to generate interest in local culture.
sweptmedia.ca Masthead Nicholas Camilleri - Founding Editor and Art Director Alex Lambert - Managing Editor and Copy Chief Neil McKenzie-Sutter - Managing Editor of Local Lit Magda Wolak - Contact Resourcing and Contributor Ivan Kostynyk - Photography Contributor Glyn Bowerman - Downtown Reporter Jen Alvarez - Events and Arts Reporter Dona Boulos - Feature Reporter
special thanks Holly McKenzie-Sutter - Poetry Contributor Mike Ventola - Poetry Contributor Nishayel Williams - Poetry Contributor Lilly Murray - Illustrator Colton Gilson - Illustrator
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In addition to providing insightful, inquisitive coverage and thoughtful, poignant literature, we also provide a space for other creative individuals to get published. Though we do focus on the GTA, we are not by any means confining ourselves to local submissions or coverage, and are willing to accept both national and international contributions. So if this is the last beta e-zine, what’s next? At the end of August, we will release our first full-length e-zine from then on we will be producing 45 to 60 page e-zines on a monthly basis that will be available in a variety of different formats to support your device or setup. You can subscribe, but you won’t have to pay a dime. In addition to the work we do on the e-zine, we also spend a good amount of time on the website, which we’ve recently upgraded. The site is now much cleaner and will operate on your devices properly and quickly. This summer, the plan is to publish a number of mini-docs, some of which will be a series where we treat seniors from the Toronto area to lunch in exchange for getting some insight into what’s going on inside the heads of our elders. What worries them? What are their earliest memories? What do they wish for the future? And most importantly, what have they learned about life? This special will be called LUNCH, and we plan to have our first video out by the end of June. These beta e-zines really acted as a testament to what is possible when our team comes together to accomplish a goal. We produced these issues not just as a way of providing content creatively, but also to find our style and pace. As always, be swift and do it live.
features Winners and losers Toronto’s casino debate comes to an end By Glyn Bowerman . . . 5
Egypt: Post-Revolution A toronto girl’s trip back home By Dona Boulos . . . 8
local lit The Hazardous heart
By Holly McKenzie-Sutter . . . 4
I’m Your friend
By Nishayel Williams . . . 15
working as a stockboy at sobeys By Mike Ventola . . . 16
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The Hazardous Heart Holly McKenzie-Sutter
The status “object of his affection� is a colossal pile of hazard almost the size of his heart almost blown away by the quivering, swirling fury ten times the size of his lungs chopped up and stewed with swords, sabers and ninja stars or any weapon of the week eyes and ears and face clawed out in a rush of primal passion of an indefinite emotion heart cut up and stitched together when the roaring giant shrinks right down to size and into your open arms
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Winners and losers Toronto’s casino debate comes to an end Words and photos by Glyn Bowerman The idea of a casino in downtown Toronto was dead on arrival. However, the special meeting at city hall on May 21, which also saw council vote against any gambling expansion at the Woodbine Racetrack, left many shocked and dismayed.
“That kills Woodbine,” Ward 11 councillor Frances Nunziata gasped into the microphone, from her Speaker’s chair, after a motion opposing expansion at the racetrack won a tight 24-20 victory. So foregone was the conclusion concerning a downtown casino that some councillors stood to protest having a meeting at all. The meeting was cancelled by the mayor the week prior, and only happened after 24 councillors petitioned to have it out, as scheduled, and send a message to the provincial government: Toronto doesn’t want a casino. Not downtown, at least. As expected, council voted against a casino in any of the C1 study areas – areas identified by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation as possible casino sites, which included Exhibition Place, downtown, and the Port Lands – in a stunning 40-4 landslide. Councillors Norm Kelly, Vincent Crisanti, Giorgio Mammoliti, as well as Mayor Ford, were the only holdouts. Before the vote, the Mayor – who had, for the past year, been a vocal proponent of casinos – stood in council to say he would not support a C1 area casino, and placed the blame for the about-face on the newly designated Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Prior to a public consultation on the casino, which cost the city $222,000, the OLG had stated Toronto would get between $50 million to $100 million, annually, for hosting a casino. Casino supporters tended to latch onto the higher number. But, under the original hosting fee formula, $100 million, or even $50 million, would be a sweeter deal for Toronto than other municipalities would receive. When the premier stated Toronto would get no special deal, the OLG revised its hosting fee formula, which city staff estimate would amount to $39 million a year to host a downtown casino. That wasn’t good enough, even for many of the pro-casino councillors, the mayor included.
“I don’t know why the government has changed its mind,” the mayor said in council. “I don’t know why it will not support a fair share for Toronto – and not just for Toronto, Madam Speaker, every other host city in this great province. I don’t know why the premier doesn’t support 10,000 good paying, union jobs.” “What I do know, Madam Speaker, is that I will not support a casino if it’s not in the best interests of Toronto,” Ford said.
“Hosting a casino in Toronto that does little to address Toronto’s financial needs, and simply makes the provincial government richer is not in the best interests of Toronto.” Ford put forward a motion in council to tell the province that the city does not support a new casino in any of the C1 designated areas. However, included in the motion was a recommendation to the province to bring forth a detailed plan for the expansion of the C2 area – the existing Woodbine race track and slot machine venue – into a full-fledged casino. That motion was defeated.
City estimates state that the C2 expansion at Woodbine would have amounted to $22 million dollars a year, putting the city’s estimate for the total annual hosting fee of both C1 and C2 at $61 million.
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Ward 19 councillor Mike Layton, instead, tabled two motions. The first – the one with all but four council members’ support – recommended, in plain language, that “City Council oppose the establishment of any new gaming sites in the City of Toronto.”
The victory had Maureen Lynett, spokesperson and cofounder of the group No Casino Toronto, “speechless.” “I’m stunned, I guess, we didn’t expect it,” Lynett told Swept. “We thought it was closer.” No Casino Toronto had been campaigning for nearly a year against a downtown casino. Their petition, Lynett says, has more than 22,000 signatures. Layton’s second motion, recommended council reject the idea of expanding the C2 area at Woodbine. This, for some, carried its own surprise.
Kevin Attard, a trainer at Woodbine, was one of those who were surprised.
“The councillors talking, the majority of them, sounded like they were in favour of the expansion,” Attard said after the meeting.
Attard was among the nearly one-third of the meeting’s public observers who were wearing neon yellow shirts declaring support for Woodbine. Earlier in the meeting, Ward 2 councillor Doug Ford presented a petition with more than 10,500 signatures in favour of the racetrack’s expansion. Attard said the horse racing industry is dependant upon Woodbine’s success – adding that he’s seen a decline since the cancellation of Ontario’s Slots at Racetracks Program, last year.
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Expanding a casino at Woodbine only makes sense... The location, obviously, is ideal for kind of gridlock, transportation, I mean the airport’s located there. - Kevin attard
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“Everyone involved has taken a big hit,” said Attard. “Me, personally, as a trainer… I mean, I can feel it in my own end of it, right? I have less staff this year, less horses.”
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Attard said he’s hopeful the premier – who is also the minister of agriculture and food – will make the success of his industry a priority. But there are others who are less optimistic.
Bill O’Donnell, president of the Central Ontario Standardbred Association (COSA), says as the horse racing industry declines, the horse population in Ontario is dwindling.
In the standardbred industry, O’Donnell says, the number of mares bred has fallen from 4,000 in 2011, to 2,800 in 2012. “This year, 2013, they’ll be lucky to breed 1000 mares in the province,” O’Donnell said. COSA represents roughly 6,000 people employed, in various positions, by the standardbred (horses pulling jockeys by cart) horse racing industry in Ontario. Its members race horses at Woodbine, and Mohawk in Campbellville, Ontario – both of which are owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG).
As president, O’Donnell says his reaction the city council vote was “shock.”
O’Donnell says he is worried that if the OLG builds a privately owned casino in municipalities surrounding Toronto, the private company will convince the province to pull slot machines from the not-for-profit Woodbine, and possibly Mohawk.
“They’ll want all those slots for themselves. They don’t want to share that at all,” O’Donnell says. Without the money made from slots, he worries Woodbine, which employs 7,500 people, will not continue to exist.
Woodbine Entertainment Group echoed the concerns of Attard and O’Donnell in a May 21 press release, stating: “without the long-term, sustainable revenue offered by expansion of the existing gaming facility at Woodbine, its horse racing operations – and, by extension, the entire sector – would be at risk.” O’Donnell says horse racers currently have a two-year deal with WEG, which means $37 million, annually. This deal is essential, he says, in offsetting the cost of owning and maintaining the animals, which he says costs between $30,000 to $50,000 per horse, each year. O’Donnell added that beyond those two years, the future of the industry is unclear.
“Hopefully between now and then, you know, there’ll be something that’s viable and long term for us,” he said. “If not: there’ll be no racing, not in Ontario, in Canada.” O’Donnell said for horse racers in Canada, Woodbine is the goal. “This is the big leagues. This is it.”
Downtown, however, people opposed to a casino breathed a sigh of relief.
Jason Applebaum, a former problem gambling addict and current vocal No Casino Toronto supporter, was at the May 21 council meeting, and said he is happy to keep the status quo on gambling in Toronto.
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I feel that expanding gambling would lead to more addiction,” Applebaum said. “It’s cited in many studies that proximity influences addiction. And, in my case, when I moved close to a casino, that’s when my addiction really took off.
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Jason Applebaum
“I was half expecting city council to okay Woodbine, but, to my amazement, most of them stuck together and pretty much agree with what my vision of Toronto is,” said Applebaum.
Still, despite council voting against any Woodbine expansion, both Doug Ford and Norm Kelly say they’ll try to have the vote reopened.
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Egypt: POST-REVOLUTION A trip back home Words and photos by dona boulos
The hot air in Egypt smells and feels the same, but the despairing people breathing it have changed.
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he once wealthy Egyptians have become poorer and the poor are now nothing, working like dogs, and the country is showing little sign of progress. Evidently, the numbers of self-employed tissue box sellers on the streets, knocking on your car window, have increased dramatically in Cairo. The streets are drowning with floundering beggars of all shapes and sizes, all searching for a productive day of work.
Post-revolutionized Egypt has left many of its patriotic people feeling hopeless. Upon my arrival to Cairo International Airport, a police officer sitting behind a glass-secured desk said to me: “What brings you to Egypt now? Once you see it you won’t want to come back.” Only a few years ago, a police officer would have welcomed me warmly to the country, but life has changed dramatically since the bittersweet uprising of the Egyptian people. While driving from the airport through hectic traffic at 2 a.m., I no-
An army official in Cairo looks like he could be having more fun.
ticed something that was new to me: graffiti covered the walls and buildings of the messy Egyptian streets. One read: "Why bother?" Is this indicative of how Egyptians are reacting to their glorified uprising? Has it become a hopeless case? A dead end? a pointless revolution?
This was my first time visiting post-Mubarak Egypt. I arrived to find no stable or trustworthy government to aid Egypt’s tired, broken citizens, and the country’s economy brought to its knees. Everyday, the lights of a random neighbourhood in Cairo are cut for at least an hour, most likely two, and a noticeable deficiency of police on the streets means many criminals have much less to worry about. For many, the worry is that the situation in Egypt will deteriorate into further chaos, following in the footsteps of neighbouring nations such as Syria, Libya or Palestine.
Sitting on a smoky, shisha-laden patio at a restaurant in Cairo, a woman told me that during a blackout, she ended up having to sit in the dark at the doctor's office. After waiting for an hour, she finally made her way to the building’s darkened stairwell to leave, when she heard a man in the elevator, cursing at the top of his lungs about Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and their failure as leaders. He was stuck in between two floors, something that happens much too often in Egypt today.
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Many people even keep flashlights handy as a precaution for the daily surprise blackouts. This has become an ongoing problem for Egyptians, and many are finding it hard to adapt. "The people don't want Morsi," said an elderly bearded man, who did not want to be named for safety reasons.
Nasser, who sat in Morsi's chair within the presidential palace from 1956 to 1970, was deeply admired and respected by the people. Nasser was a president famous for his love for Egypt, his dedication to international and national issues, and for his genuine love of the Egyptian people.
In 1967, after losing the Six-Day War between Arab nations (including Egypt) and Israel, Nasser submitted his resignation, taking the loss against Israel, which struck a massive blow to Egypt's independence. In June of that year, not long after Nasser resigned from office, the Egyptian people took to the streets to demonstrate, ironically, in support of their president, which ultimately led to Nasser's continuation as Egypt's president. This was and continues to be a proud moment in Egyptian history.
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I don’t know what will help Egypt now. We need a fresh face, someone new, to unify the people. Someone like Gamal Abdel Nasser, who truly loved the country. But I don’t know where we could find someone like that again.
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- Elderly Egyptian Man Four decades later, Egyptians are taking to the streets again, but this time it’s to take down the man (or men) in charge, whether that be Mubarak or Morsi.
It’s obvious that the people don't want a dictator, they want a leader, and the revolution will not cease to exist until that leader is found. The consensus, at least on the streets, is that if it takes 50 years to find that leader, so be it. Everywhere you go, whether at a high-class restaurant, on Egypt’s cat-infested streets, during a family dinner, or at a cheap cafe, the hot topic is the Muslim Brotherhood. Will they stay or will they go? Are they good or are they bad? Will life get better or will it get worse?
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Sitting in front of the beach with a drink in hand, in the villa-occupied territory of Ain El Sokhna, near the Suez Canal, I listened in to a debate between two friends who looked to be in their twenties. "You think that after decades locked up by the Mubarak government, silenced and handcuffed, that the Brotherhood will just leave? No way, man." The other beside him smiled, and confidently said, "No, they will go." This is when I felt like asking the optimistic one “Why bother?”, but the debate was too heated to interrupt. "I have hope," he said.
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The son of my grandmother’s doorman. He can sometimes be found sweeping the property.
After the revolution, security in Egypt worsened. There were once officers stationed on almost every street, monitoring the roads and the people, but now the police presence has become practically non-existent. I heard one man say: "If I were a cop in Egypt today and I continued to work on the streets, I would deserve anything that happened to me, because it's suicide." Being an officer in Egypt has become more dangerous than ever; Egyptian cops have become even more hated and hunted down than maybe Mubarak himself. The job’s duties are now nearly impossible to fulfill, to the extent that the police that are on the streets fail to wear their uniforms, for fear of being attacked. Camouflage is their survival strategy.
Before my trip, I watched videos of protests in Egypt to familiarize myself with the happenings in the country, and get a sense of the emotions of the people. One image, seen in a video filmed during the early days of Egypt’s revolution, really stuck with me: cops running away from the people, and the people running towards the cops. The police are scared, not the protesters. The protesters are passionate and dedicated, whereas the police are exhausted and afraid. For many people, this scenario is something that’s seen scarcely, if ever.
Cairo’s Islamic District is over 1,000 years old. Here, we see the typical working class in Egypt: Men, women and children. Classic.
One effect of having little to no visible police presence is that sexual harassment of women in Egypt has proliferated, making public outings intolerable for many female Egyptians, including thick-skinned, tough journalist-types like me.
According to a survey by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights, published in 2008, 83 per cent of Egyptian women reported experiencing sexual harassment and nearly half of Egyptian women surveyed said they experience it daily. These numbers are reflected in what I saw in Egypt. During my trip, men would stare at me with the look of anger and lust in their eyes. The mix of rage and desire I saw as they ogled me was frightening. It's a peculiar and rattling mix of emotions. "The streets in Egypt were never safe to begin with, but now it's worse. There's no cops, no safety, we can't live like this," said a Muslim woman, wearing lime green fitted pants and an over-theshoulder top.
Men (some even younger than I am) made me feel guilty, slutty and paranoid. I found myself looking over my shoulder every few minutes.
Here is a list of clothing I learned a woman should never pack when planning on visiting Egypt: tank tops, fitted dresses, overthe-knee length skirts and/or shorts. As a matter of fact, anything that shows too much arm, leg, back, and/or cleavage. I used to believe it was to avoid problematic extremists, but this year I quickly learned that women cover up mainly to avoid getting raped. This is the sad reality of the lives of Egyptian women. Women in Egypt warily cover themselves to avoid being sexually harassed or raped, but in reality wearing a hijab, niqab, or any other type of clothing makes no difference, because it seems every
woman is a target. According to the ECWR, wearing a veil did not appear to lessen a woman’s chances of being harassed, contrary to many people’s beliefs.
The centre surveyed more than 2000 Egyptian men and women and 109 foreign women living or traveling in Egypt about their experience in Egypt regarding this too frequently committed crime - one that the ECWR calls a “cancer”. When it comes to foreigners and tourists, your chances of being sexually assaulted jump to the roof. Based on my experience, it’s because the vulnerable and the fresh-meat are seen as easy victims. The survey found that 98 per cent of foreign women reported experiencing sexual harassment while in Egypt, which means, going by this survey, practically every woman who visits Egypt today would end up feeling uncomfortable and scared by this kind of behaviour. The numbers on sexual harassment in the country are continuously rising. So much so, that at this point, it might be easier to count those women who have not been victims of sexual harassment, rather than the ones who have.
I had multiple men blow kisses at me, bite their lips while mouthing words I could not read, honk their car horns as if they've never seen a woman before, scream things from their windows, and even follow me. I became angry and felt imprisoned. At all times I needed my grandmother's doorman to walk me down the street, or my uncle to walk behind me, or my cousin to watch over me.
So, one day I decided to do a little experiment. I wore shorts and a tank top for a two-minute walk to my cousin's house (which stands only three buildings away). One young man immediately began to walk behind me, his friend following him, and a third young man running behind them. Luckily for me, the door of my cousin's building locks from the outside.
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Carrying things on your head is one thing, but carrying over fifty loafs of bread on your head while riding a bike... Boss.
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A Cairo court room which was burned during the early days of the revolution. Look closely and you will see there is no roof.
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The next day, at City Stars, Cairo’s palatial, six-level shopping mall, I spoke with a woman who took part in many protests during the downfall of the Mubarak regime. As we spoke about the revolution, I could see in her eyes that she still had hope for her country, faith in the revolution and that one day, Egypt will be a democracy and will have equal rights. "I looked around me and there were people of all classes. A beggar-woman stood next to me on one side, and a woman in a wheelchair on the other. All of us were shouting the same thoughts, it was amazing," she said, smiling. "I felt an overwhelming sense of passion overcome me. One minute I was silent, observing others, and the next I was shouting, piercing the ears of my husband standing next to me."
I asked many people the same question, hoping to get different opinions and thoughts, only to find myself recording the same answer over and over again. "What now?” I asked the woman from City Stars.
“What will happen to Egypt? What is the solution?" She answered with the same hypothetical solution as the elderly bearded man.
"We need someone new from the military, not an old man, a young one. The people need to be unified and stand beside him," she said.
Egypt’s revolution has been a bittersweet transformation. On one hand, Egyptians are fighting for democracy, freedom and equality, something that has and will continue to go down in the long books of Egyptian history. On the other hand, democracy, freedom and equality doesn't come for free. The country is suffering economically, Egypt has no money, the people are desperate and agitated, and the job market is basically non-existent.
I always say that evil attaches itself with two main things: politics and money - two things that are controlling, defining, and taking over the souls of the Egyptian people. A man was venting to me about business in the country, or the lack thereof. He said something so simple yet so powerful - something I will remember forever: "Money is number one, for everyone, and fuck anyone who is behind you. It's every man for himself and that's what Egypt has become."
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I’m your friend
My friend, you have known none As I – A shadow wherever thy stands Running from lectures, jobs To potential lovers, I’m present in your choice of friends, Yet never in clarity Dost thou know me? ? ? As a result of fighting and fussing Thou thinketh we exist on opposite polarities. Always seeking, yearning, spending-To fill this insatiable inner pit. You abuse me through the exploration Of foreign mental states; substance induced Trying to find the meaning of your reality Only in looking in would you understand! The elements: sexuality, creativity and love I need – Together we’d be at peace By Nishayel Williams
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Working as a stockboy at Sobeys I used to move stock from the back of the store to the front of it.
by Mike ventola
I would stock dry goods on shelves and perishable products in the coolers. It was an after school job on the street I live on and was easy as heck, even easier stoned. My fellow employees and I all enjoyed hating it together like kids in school, My managers were like grown up teenagers, And the customers’ teachers who asked us stupid questions and got really mad When none of us knew the answer, but usually at least one of us did. I met my boy Lewis there; we bonded over old rock music and formed a band together. One day while filling the orange juice cooler Some really old dude dressed like a young dude came up close to me and grabbed my arm and asked “Hey can I ask you something?” And I said “sure what can I help you with sir?” Kind of weirded out that he was grabbing my arm But figured he’s old, maybe he needs support or some other old person thing like that. “What deals are on today?” He asked and I replied “Milk, I think, I don’t really know what else. I can get a flyer from the front for you if you want.” And tried to move away but he clung to my arm And said “No, no, that’s okay. How long have you worked here for? I haven’t seen you here before.” And I could tell he just wanted to talk So I gave him quick offhand answers which were easy because all of his questions were about me. My age, my school, what I liked to do on weekends, totally normal and not awkward questions like that Until he said “You know I really like you kid.” And smiled like a hungry dog And stared without blinking into my eyes like they were his food. So I politely tried to defuse the weirdness of the situation by saying “Ya I like you too sir, But I like hanging out with my girlfriend on weekends.” Even though she had just dumped me. He slapped my shoulder and said “Ha! Good for you kid, keep having fun.” And walked away laughing all friendly like. I went over to the water section and told my boy Lewis while helping him stock the shelves And we laughed about it. I decided to just stay and help him, so I knelt down and stocked the lower bulk water packs. Wouldn’t you have it, that same really old dude came down the aisle with a cart this time and said “It’s a Sunday, why aren’t you boys at church?” And Lewis laughed and I said “I don’t believe in that stuff sir.” And he said “You don’t eh?” and muttered low under his breath “Keep on your knees boy.” I don’t know if he knew if we had heard him or not, but he walked down the rest of the aisle without stopping or saying anything.
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And Lewis laughed and to this day laughs when that little exchange is brought up.
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