The Antisocial Socialist

It's time for my favourite thing: The festival of light and fire, thinly veiled political allegories as mummers plays, and giant puppets. This year was very sedate—they once again didn't do the burn, and there wasn't really much a parade on account of it was cold AF, but we still defied the darkness. And despite the fact that I couldn't see and my camera doesn't do well in the cold, I got some decent pictures out of it, the best of which are below the cut.



( cut for picspam )

I've posted about this before, but my favourite thing about Toronto is the Kensington Festival of Lights. In 2020, it was virtual; in 2021 it was cancelled because of Omicron, so this is the first year that it's been back and people are allowed to attend.

It's a massive Solstice celebration run by a group called Clay and Paper Theatre, but there's a ton of community involvement from all sorts of individuals and organizations. There's a parade, with giant puppets, musicians, and dancers, and it culminates in a big burn in the park. Unlike everything else in this rapidly gentrifying city, it resists commodification and corporate sponsorship. It has been grassroots and anticapitalist for 33 years.

Tonight it felt like the sun had returned. Like my city is not completely doomed.

( bad pics that don't do the beauty of this event justice )

( bonus content: some nice goblin-type stuff )

It's hard to get to the subway station in the morning with my foot hurting (especially right after I wake up) and the snow. So I hobble, and what's typically a five minute walk seems to take forever and is excruciatingly painful. Today, I ran into a blind guy, also on his way to the subway. He asked where we were and I offered to help him. We must have looked like a sight -- him with his sunglasses and white cane, me with my pronounced hobble. But I got him to the subway, and semi-leaning on someone else, it was much easier and less painful for me to walk.

Mutual aid, y'know?

Anyway, it's time for your annual bombardment of bad photos from the Festival of Lights.



( more under here, plus a special bonus )