Renovations

The amount of writing I get done seems in direct proportion with the amount it rains and in Toronto we’ve had a long dry spell. I broke mine after stumbling across Sachiko Murakami’s experimental collaborative website, Project Rebuild. Inspire by the Vancouver Specials that span East Van, these older, post-world war era houses have often been ridiculed for their boxy, unglamorous appearance, and yet in more recent times, celebrated. I lived in the area of Marpole, where many of these houses were torn down in favour of the monster houses favoured by many of the Hong Kong born residents who wanted a westside address. My parents went the other route, restoring the hardwood floors to the 1950’s bungalow we rented before moving out to a smaller apartment on Commercial Drive. My renovation can be found here. Poets Fred Wah, Rita Wong, Larissa Lai, Meredith Quartermain, Ray Hsu, Heather Jessup, Nancy Lee, Daniel Zomparelli and someone called “The Sidewalk” have take their turn.