Preville on Politics
Dr. Florida and me
Posted on January 16, 2008 by Philip Preville
Have a look at Richard Florida’s take on my Monday post. He provides some context that was sorely missing from Saturday’s Globe article. Note also the discord between his quote of my bio and the real version. If it’s not a typo but a shot from the hip, it’s a clever one. Zing.
Dr. Florida has mistakenly assessed my blog entry to be evidence of my “cynical and disturbing” negativity about my hometown, when it’s really nothing more than a lampooning of the Globe article. I admire the U of T campus a great deal, but that’s neither here nor there. My intent was to poke fun at him, admittedly with a sharpened prodder. When people like Dr. Florida and I choose to settle, purchase real estate, raise a family and pursue a career here in Toronto—complete with better “livingroom”—our choices are the best evidence of our underlying affections for the city. Which is why his enthusiasm struck me, and so many of those who’ve commented on both his blog and mine, as cloying.
But I suppose, on the whole, that it’s a good thing he’s here to generate happy headlines and feel-good weekend reading. The rest of the coverage is about the war zones that have become of Toronto streets and schools. It’s as if we need the former, because they make us feel okay about the latter. In other words, they feed complacency. Being a negative kind of guy, I’d rather focus on problems and prod people towards solutions.
Philip Preville
Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.
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Comments
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Mark Dowling January 16, 2008 at 1:38 p.m.
Hey - all this talk of bike lanes and garbage pickup is all fine and well but where's your solution to the Maple Leafs crisis? Get your priorities straight man!
YoCal March 31, 2008 at 3:27 p.m.
At least you learned you were negative after this. I am with Florida, look on the positive side. Coming from someone like me who is thinking of moving of out Toronto, he gives me a fresh perspective and appreciation of the city, that may make me stay after all.
notredamedegrace May 24, 2008 at 2:22 a.m.
leonard cohen
they have the beauty but we have the music...