Rocket’s Space Invaders

December 20th, 2007 Andrew Cash

Rocket’s space invaders
Time for stroller-pushers and people with disabilities to take on TTC
By Andrew Cash

I’ve taken up the challenge of riding the subway with my young kids as if it were training for an urban iron man competition where strength, endurance and speed are tested in a gruelling and hostile environment.

I’m not, of course, the only sort of person experiencing the TTC as a formidable opponent. Physically disabled people are getting so pissed off that some of them have taken to direct action. On Friday, December 7, 40 members of the Disability Action Movement Now (DAMN) blocked all four entrances to the St. Patrick station at King and University for a few minutes during rush hour to make their point.

It’s one I get, even though transporting tots gives me but a mere taste of the transit rigours faced by the DAMN folks.

For example, it’s rush hour and I’m waiting for the eastbound subway at Bloor and Yonge with one kid in a stroller. Not one of those SUV models, mind you, but the sleekest of aluminum-framed umbrella strollers.

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Posted in All Blog Posts, Now Magazine, Transit | 1 Comment »

Build It, They Will Come

December 12th, 2007 Andrew Cash

Build it, they will come
That the board now has to ponder Africentric school is an indictment of its complacency
By ANDREW CASH

If faith-based funding is the third rail of Ontario politics, then this isn’t a good time for anyone to be planning a publicly funded separate school.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that the Toronto District School Board’s ruminations on creating an Africentric alternative school are kicking up so much dust.

But here we are. Between 40 and 50 per cent of Caribbean-born students (most of them males) are in danger of not finishing school or have already dropped out.

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Posted in All Blog Posts, Education, Now Magazine, Politics, Race Relations, Toronto, Youth Issues | No Comments »