Happiness eludes pursuit

By Ahmed-Zaki Hagar

A study from the University of Toronto found that a person pursuing happiness can also feel unhappy. Sam Maglio, assistant professor at the Rotman School of Management, says that he wanted to understand “the head of somebody who wanted to be happier”.

“Previous research has found that when you walk around trying to make yourself happier, you get the ironic effect where people end up feeling less happy,” he says. “We wanted to understand why that might be.”

Maglio and co-author Aekyoung Kim from Rutgers University had conducted a series of studies on how a person’s perspective on pursuing happiness can impact their happiness.

Maglio says that the reasons why pursuing happiness leaves people feeling unhappy is because they feel like they do not have enough free time. He says that viewing it as a long-term goal can negatively impact happiness.

“What our research adds is that even things that do make you feel happy, once you see them as in service of pursuing a goal, even the stuff that makes you feel happy makes you feel unhappy,” he says.

Maglio compared the pursuit of happiness to pursuing a specific goal.

“With happiness, you are never done being happy. Everyone wants to be happy all the time,” he says. “When we get in this frame of mind that says happiness is a goal we have to work towards, it reminds us that if I want to stay this happy forever, I have to keep doing the things that keep me happy forever.”

Maglio also says that social media negatively impacts happiness because people compare their current situation to the curated feed of friends who showcase the most interesting parts of their lives.

He believes that social media can have a counterproductive effect on someone’s happiness because of how people perceive fulfillment.

“Exposure to these environmental cues, be it social media or offline, would be detrimental to happiness,” he says.

Maglio found that having a gratitude journal to write down the things that make you happy can help with maintaining happiness, because it helps people focus on the present and appreciate the experience that does bring happiness.

“Focus on that one experience. Do not think about all the future time that you would need to keep doing the same stuff to maintain happiness. Focus on the one, and enjoy the one and it should bring people more lasting happiness.”

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir will open its 40th season in the Annex with a fall social on Sept. 15 in Jeanne Lamon Hall at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre that will feature a concert followed by refreshments in the garden.

Tafelmusik is a type of German music that was played at feasts and banquets in the mid-sixteenth century, and the orchestra and choir specializes in baroque, classical era music, and reinventions of classics from that era.

“It is exciting to be doing this,” said Sarah Baumann, the organization’s marketing director. “We have not done a concert like this at the beginning of the season before; some of the members of the orchestra live in the area, so it will be a good opportunity for us to give back to the community. We hope that the community will enjoy it as well.”

Then there’s Tafelmusik’s Mozart 40 at Koerner Hall from September 20 to 23. Music director Elisa Citterio will take centre stage as the soloist when the orchestra launches a new cycle of Mozart concerts with its first ever performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto in D Major. Mozart’s arresting 40th symphony is the centrepiece of the program, though, and will take listeners on a journey of great beauty, urgency, and passion. This music, which pushed the boundaries of the classical style, still feels bold and extraordinary today.

This is at the heart of Tafelmusik’s mission. While the orchestra plays on period instruments and according to the style of the time, it still aims to perform in a way that’s fresh and modern.

“Tafelmusik is different from a large symphony orchestra. It is a chamber-sized orchestra; for baroque music you’ll usually see 15 to 20 musicians on stage. For baroque orchestral programs, we are usually directed by a violinist. For programs with our choir, and for later classical/romantic programs, we work with a conductor,” explained Baumann.

Tafelmusik has a global reach thanks to its television broadcasts and recordings, but still performs over 80 concerts a year in and around Toronto, with half performed at Trinity-St. Paul’s.

The fall social begins at 4 p.m. and tickets are at heavily discounted prices of $5. For further information on Tafelmusik or any of its performances, please visit www.tafelmusik.org.

—Temi Dada and Laura Philips/Gleaner News

If it’s the first Sunday after Labour Day, it must be time for fun at the fair. On September 9 from noon to 6 p.m., residents of Harbord Village will be out in full force for music, socializing, and a silent auction at its annual fall fair in Margaret Fairley Park. Refreshments like burgers, soft drinks, and wine will be available for 50 cents to $5, depending on the item.

Now in its 26th year, the fair was first held in 1992 by the Sussex Ulster Residents’ Association, a precursor to the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA), which now organizes the event. It’s only had to be cancelled twice for rain since then.

“The real gift is to see our neighbours greeting, meeting each other, and chatting, getting along. There are no arguments or discussion about politics, there are kids running around with more freedom than they are allowed to at home,” said Rory Gus Sinclair, former HVRA president and the association’s fall fair co-chair. He added that organizing the event is very much a team effort, with volunteers handling even the smallest of tasks before, during, and after the event.

—Temi Dada/Gleaner News

Discover some of the area’s architectural treasures in the third annual tour of houses and cultural groups organized by the Annex Residents’ Association (ARA). The guided tours will run from noon to 4:30 p.m. on September 23, and explore streets bounded by Bedford and Avenue roads, and Prince Arthur and Bernard avenues.

This year’s tours feature inside access to the Women’s Art Association of Canada, founded in 1887, and two outstanding buildings associated with the neighbourhood’s diverse religious organizations: First Church of Christ, Scientist, the Friends House, and the Women’s Art Association of Canada. There will also be tours of private residences, including a stunning Georgian built in 1875 for a Yonge Street hardware merchant that is now an artist home and studio.

Registration, check-in, and a café with light snacks and beverages will be located at the Women’s Art Association (23 Prince Arthur Ave.). Tickets are $25 for one person or $40 for two people, and early bird discounts are available until September 10. Please visit the ARA’s website at www.theara.org for further information or to reserve a ticket.

—Brian Burchell and Laura Philips/Gleaner News

Brunswick Avenue boutique hotel set to open

It’s taken a lot of renovation to refurbish 296 Brunswick Ave. into a 24-room boutique hotel. TEMI DADA/GLEANER NEWS

By Temi Dada

Since its original incarnation as a horse stable in 1902 it’s been home to a live theatre, bar, and arcade. But starting next month, 296 Brunswick Ave. will have a new face: boutique hotel.

Located just south of Bloor Street West, the hotel is called The Annex, in a bid to embody the neighbourhood, according to general manager Michael Shea.

“I moved to Toronto in 2011 but I was always on the road. I didn’t have the opportunity to live in the city and experience it,” said Shea, who always wanted to be part of the city and contribute something of value. He has worked in the hotel business since 2001, and has wanted to open a hotel for a long time.

“The big focus is to be a part of the neighbourhood. Toronto has so many great neighbourhoods, but our part of the Annex — which is further down, close to Koreatown — is where the tourists don’t typically see but is unique,” Shea said.

The location of the hotel will give guests a complete Annex experience, because it is close to cafes, restaurants, and local landmarks like Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The hotel will have 24 rooms over two floors, and rates will range from $200 to $300 per night, depending on size.

The hotel has partnered with Annex businesses like DMV books to add a local flair to each of the rooms. Each room will have a collection of books from the bookstore, and the food commons will feature food from Big Trouble Pizza and Seven Lives Tacos from Kensington Market.

“We hope that the hotel does great in the Annex,” said Mike Murray, manager of BMV Books. “Could be pretty cool to have some people travelling and staying in our neighbourhood. There are lots of great places and businesses in the Annex.”

Brian Burchell, chair of the Bloor Annex BIA (and publisher of this newspaper), agreed.

“The style of the hotel speaks volumes about the character of this neighbourhood. The hotels are not built like fortresses; they are very communal and open, they encourage their guests to experience everything about the community. It is a confirmation that the Annex is a destination and a completely livable community.”

Shea said that it’s where he’d want to stay if he were from out of town.

“It is informal and relaxed but at the same time there is a great deal of attention into the decor. It is modern without forsaking any kind of comfort or luxurious elements just for the sake of being modern. You won’t find another place in the city like this.”

It took some time to finish all the work on the site. The hotel, which is almost 120 years old, was supposed to open in May.

“We are looking forward to having a positive impact on our neighbourhoods and hopefully inspiring other people, neighbours, and businesses. We want to build something special for the people of this city. Toronto is becoming a destination for independent travellers,” Shea said. “We want to make sure that we are going to be the option they decide to stay.”

The hotel’s owners hope to open other branches in Toronto, other parts of Canada, and the United States using the same model: finding an old building that needs a bit of care, and bringing it back to life.

We believe that lost causes are the ones worth fighting for. A case in point is the City of Toronto’s battle against the premier’s Better Local Government Act, which cut Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 seats.

It was a move that reinforced the provincial government’s wide-ranging powers over the city, powers that are set out in the Canadian Constitution. It was also a move that Doug Ford never mentioned during the election campaign, and one that seems to have caught his staff and caucus off-guard. His rationale was that it would save taxpayer money and make city council more efficient, and that of the thousands of people he spoke to during the campaign, not one wanted more politicians.

He seems to have inferred from this that they want fewer. We note — not without irony — that the Ontario Legislature just grew from 107 to 124 members as a result of the election. He remains silent on this, and appears to have no plans to reduce the size of the legislature.

At an emergency meeting on August 20, council voted to take the province to court over the act. While the province may have the authority to regulate municipalities, it also has a duty to the city’s residents, who expect and deserve the respect of getting consulted with due notice. This is enshrined in The City of Toronto Act, which requires that the city and province conduct their relationship with “mutual respect, consultation, and cooperation”.

As North America’s fourth largest city, Toronto’s municipal government is larger than many provincial governments. Announcing this act in the middle of the municipal election is hardly respectful of the city, its residents, or to the principles of a well-run democracy. It’s clearly a rash act.

We can’t help but think that Ford’s actions were aimed singularly at Toronto. As a failed mayoral candidate, his thin argument “to get Toronto moving again” reads like a vengeful tantrum.

Are Ontario’s other 443 municipalities well-oiled machines not in need of provincial fixing? City councillors provide essential services in making the city accountable to its taxpayers. Under the Ford legislation each of the 25 Toronto city councillors, in a city of 2.8 million, will need to serve, on average, 112,000 constituents each. In all probability, not everyone will get their calls returned. By contrast, the City of Kitchener with a population of 204,000 and 20 city councillors has one representative for every 10,200 residents. If the issue is excessive expense on political representation, it strikes us that Kitchener could do with some trimming. But that’s not really the issue is it?

In a preliminary written submission before the hearing on August 31, lawyers for the province wrote, “This court should be particularly cautious about intervening in an ongoing electoral process.” This sounds eerily like what the province just did.

Those same lawyers for the province, in a scramble to make up good reasons for the act and its urgency, have made voter parity the central thrust (not something Mr. Ford thought to mention or appears to give a damn about), which means that all votes should have equal weight and all wards be equally balanced in population size.

However, that concept was central to the nearly four-year review conducted by independent consultants hired by the city, who recommended the 47-ward option approved by council in 2016. The city has already been deeply engaged in the principles expected by the Supreme Court about effective representation.

As for the savings, the city estimates that the savings brought to taxpayers by reducing council size and having to hire more staff to help councillors to do their jobs, are a paltry $2.04 per resident.

Two dollars versus an immeasurable cost to local democracy. This is a battle worth fighting, even though it’s a long shot.

READ MORE EDITORIALS: 

EDITORIAL: Reclaiming our city (Summer 2018)

EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)

EDITORIAL: The market has no moral compass (Election Special 2018)

EDITORIAL: Lessons to be learned from Excessive Force (Spring 2018)

EDITORIAL: A social contract is a precious thing (March 2018)

EDITORIAL: Intolerance leading to Quebec’s decline (Dec. 2017)

EDITORIAL (Nov. 2017): Student safety suffers as trustees cave

EDITORIAL: Pandering to religious intolerance (October 2017)

EDITORIAL: Bike lanes, good for business (Fall 2017)

EDITORIAL: Don’t sacrifice safety for political gain (August 2017)

EDITORIAL: Thank you Mr. Asti (July 2017)

EDITORIAL: A watershed moment (June 2017)

EDITORIAL: Revoke U of T’s unchecked “licence to build” (May 2017)

EDITORIAL: Westbank’s positive precedent (April 2017)

EDITORIAL: Foreign buyers tax a necessary cliff jump (March 2017)

More how nice!

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Summer 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (July 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Election Special 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (May 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Spring 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Mar. 2018)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: How Nice (Dec. 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON How nice! (August 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON How nice! (July 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: how nice! by blamb (June 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: TCHC (May 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: The Grand Tory (April 2017)

FORUM: Celebrating 20 years of cartoonist Brett Lamb (April 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: A second chance! by Brett Lamb 2037 (February 2017)

EDITORIAL CARTOON: Not really! It’s actually nice! by Stumpy the Subway (January 2017)

Our elected officials matter now more than ever

By Jessica Bell

Doug Ford has been Ontario’s premier for just six weeks, and he’s dragging Ontario backwards fast.

First, Doug Ford is harming our schools. The Conservatives cut $100 million from the school maintenance budget at a time when our public schools are in chronic disrepair. A local advocacy group, Fix our Schools, used government data to calculate that schools in University-Rosedale need $271 million in repairs, and all the public schools in Ontario need $15.9 billion. We need more funding, not cuts.

As a parent, I can see how our school repair backlog hurts kids.

[pullquote]Now is a time for action to stand up for the Toronto we believe in, a Toronto that is thriving, green, and has a place for everyone.[/pullquote]

In June, I spoke at Queen’s Park about Jed Sears, a student at King Edward Junior Public School. Jed said that without adequate cooling, his classroom temperature regularly exceeds 30 degrees in May, June, and September, something that affects his ability to learn. He said many kids in his school didn’t come to class when it was hot.  That’s unacceptable.

The Conservatives have also cancelled the updated 2015 sex education curriculum, which teaches students about consent, LGBTQ rights, cyber-bullying, and healthy relationships. I attended a teachers’ rally at Queen’s Park on August 14 where I heard student Rayne Fisher-Quann talk about how the 2015 curriculum is for the 275,000 students who were cyber-bullied in Ontario in 2015, the 284 boys she blocked on Instagram because they didn’t know the word “no”, and her sister who was bullied for two years.The 2015 sex education curriculum is about our kids’ safety and it must stay.

The Conservatives made the anti-democratic move of slashing the number of Toronto city wards from 47 to 25, and halving the number of school board trustees just 100 days before the election. University-Rosedale will now have just one councillor, and our riding will share a school board trustee with Toronto Centre.

Fewer elected officials means that we will have less access to City Hall. It will take longer to secure the help of our councillor and school board trustee when our child needs help at school, when we want to report a pothole, when we are applying for a committee of adjustment approval or speed-bumps, or when we want to have a say over a new development.

Why did the Conservatives gerrymander Toronto’s wards? They did it because they want to maintain Conservative control over City Hall, and they don’t want new progressive downtown elected officials in the newly-created seats opposing their plans to privatize public services.

Third, Doug Ford has gone backwards on tackling catastrophic climate change. This summer, the world has been plagued with extreme weather events from fires across Europe, the United States, and Ontario, to killer heat waves in Quebec and Japan.

The Conservatives’ response to climate change is to cancel over 700 green energy contracts, and introduce a bill to cancel Ontario’s cap and trade program and replace it with no climate plan at all. The bill to cancel cap and trade will be debated once the house resumes on September 24.

Some of you might be feeling hopeless by the Conservatives’ draconian behaviour.  Don’t. Now is a time for action to stand up for the Toronto we believe in, a Toronto that is thriving, green, and has a place for everyone.

I invite you to take action to stand up for a progressive Toronto. Here’s two strategic ways to get involved.

Join me and give to and volunteer for candidates that share your values in the upcoming Toronto elections. The advocacy organization, Progress Toronto, can help you identify and support progressive candidates.

Join our riding association and volunteer with us. Our outreach committee meets regularly to organize on key issues that affect University-Rosedale residents, from improving our schools, to defending our elections, to standing up for affordable housing, to making sure Ontario does its part to tackle climate change.

Jessica Bell is the new Member of Provincial Parliament for the riding of University-Rosedale.

Giving the suburbs a leg up at the expense of progress

Premier Ford wants to do Toronto a favour by slashing the size of council, and only Toronto seems to be targeted. Our ward of University-Rosedale, population 98,600, is now represented by a single councillor. To put this into perspective, Grey County, population 93,000, has 19 representatives to make decisions about roads, sewers, zoning, and all the other services that are vital to day-to-day living.

[pullquote]This wasn’t about cost savings. This move was about gerrymandering. Councillor Mammolitti admitted as much when he gleefully declared the move would produce fewer left-leaning councillors.[/pullquote]

The population of the Annex alone is similar to Haliburton, with its eight municipal representatives. If this was about slashing costs, surely there are better ways to do it than decrease representation for the most densely populated city in the province. Substantial costs are unlikely to be saved since representing 100,000 people will be no easy feat. The reality is that more staff will need to be hired to take on the added workload.

This wasn’t about cost savings. This move was about gerrymandering.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) admitted as much when he gleefully declared the move would produce fewer left-leaning councillors. The 47-ward system will briefly bias the urban centre as the condos fill in and, by the next election, the over-representation is projected to balance out. This is obviously a threat to car lovers, so we are now back to the core being woefully under-represented and the suburbs of Toronto having the greater voter influence.

Take for example Spadina-Fort York, our neighbours to the south, which has a population of 115,000 and is projected to grow substantially. By comparison, Scarborough Rouge Park has a population of 103,000, and a much lower population growth trajectory. Under-representation of the urban core was the agenda, not cost savings.

For the foreseeable future, the urban core — which tends not to drive, taking public transit and bikes everywhere — will have less of a voice on council. The threat wasn’t the waste of funds by having too many city councillors. The threat was that councillors might actually vote for bike lanes and get them.

Ford has been vocal about his disregard for climate change. Though he admitted during a debate it was likely a man-made phenomenon, every policy position he has taken since assuming office has been on the side of climate change denialism: green energy initiatives have been cancelled and he earmarked $30 million to fight the federal carbon tax (a legal fight no legal minds think he can win). Slashing council to give the right-leaning suburban councillors the edge is absolutely in line with this.

When he was city councillor, his brother the mayor killed the 5 cent plastic bag fee, and went as far as removing bike lanes that were already in place.

The ideology knows no bounds and has no cost limits.

Thanks to this premier, we can expect much of the same from city council in the future. Projects that get people moving, like the King Street Pilot, will not see the light of day. New bike lanes? Not likely.

Increased tree-planting budgets? Don’t hold your breath…they want your lungs black from the car exhaust.

Perhaps we will see a twist of fate and Ford will grant Toronto a “strong mayor” system in time for it to backfire if we elect a progressive mayor who will fight for a greener Toronto.

Toronto has to fight back. The health of our city depends on it.

Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy and distinguish environmental truths from myths.

READ MORE BY TERRI CHU:

GREENINGS: Nurture the neighbourhood by cultivating green canopy (Summer 2018)

GREENINGS: Results beg for electoral reform (July 2018)

GREENINGS: Choosing the lesser evil (Election Special 2018)

GREENINGS: Reduce, reuse, and then recycle (May 2018)

GREENINGS: Car-free parenting is not rare (Spring 2018)

GREENINGS: The science of board games (Mar. 2018)

GREENINGS: Driving fuelled by unseen subsidies (Jan. 2018)

GREENINGS: No solutions for nobody’s problem (Dec. 2017)

GREENINGS: Celebrate science not milestones (Nov. 2017)

GREENINGS: Down to the data (Oct. 2017)

GREENINGS: Reducing paper waste (Fall 2017)

GREENINGS: Taking tolls to the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway (July 2017)

GREENINGS: Lessons from Madrid (June 2017)

GREENINGS: Thoughts on hitting the 400 benchmark (May 2017)

GREENINGS: Solving the food waste problem (April 2017)

GREENINGS: Kellie Leitch was right (March 2017)

Anniversaries for Koerner Hall, U of T Faculty of Music

By Laura Philipps

September is a time to celebrate new beginnings on the Bloor St. Culture Corridor, when we bring together all partner destinations for two fabulous free events.

Open Streets Toronto on September 20 animates Bloor Street with family-friendly programming where you can play music, dance, and do yoga. The Bloor St. Culture Corridor HUB of Culture Days events September 28-30 includes free concerts at Koerner Hall and talks at the Toronto Reference Library.

Join us this September for outdoor activities and inside access to explore Toronto’s most diverse arts and culture district.

The new cultural season begins at Alliance Française Toronto with the screening of Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!, a movie by Guillaume Gallienne, on September 6 as part of the Movie Thursday series. The series continues with Amour by Michael Haneke on September 13, Le Salaire de la Peur by Henri-Georges Clouzot on September 20, and Le Matou by Jean Beaudin on September 27.

Learn the art of Indigenous beading in a three part earring-making workshop with Anishinaabekwe beading artist Stephanie Pangowish at the Bata Shoe Museum on September 8, 15, and 22.

Canadian fashion debuts their Spring/Summer 2019 collections in Bloor-Yorkville during Toronto Fashion Week, September 4-6. Shop in the RE\SET designer showroom (987 Yorkville Ave.), an engaging, consumer-facing retail experience where the public will have the opportunity to meet designers and shop current collections in addition to pre-ordering SS’19.

Spark your imagination with the next slate of Curious Minds courses at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Explore Canadian literature, nineteenth century Paris, Joni Mitchell’s music, and Art Nouveau. Music lovers won’t want to miss a new season of Music on Film, kicking off with Cathedrals of Culture, presented in partnership with the Royal Conservatory of Music.

September is packed with events and programs for the pottery lover at the Gardiner Museum. Opening September 7, Japan Now: Female Masters, the museum’s final Year of Japan lobby display, showcases the brilliant work of some of the most celebrated contemporary female ceramists of Japan. Then there’s A Passion for Porcelain from September 21-22, an international symposium that attracts ceramics experts from all over in celebration of Meredith Chilton, who was the chief curator of the museum.

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura launches the Vesuvius Ensemble 2018-2019 concert series on September 11 at 6:30 p.m. And on September 19 it will complement its photo exhibition Melodramatic Realism with a lecture on the relationship between Visconti and literature by Carlo Coen.

And So We March: Defending women’s rights in the Trump age  opens on September 1 in the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre gallery. It features Irene Borins Ash’s photos of the signs and messages of the Toronto Women’s Marches in January 2017 and 2018. And The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats on at the Al Green Theatre Saturdays and Sundays until September 30. September also marks the beginning of the Music Gallery’s 43rd season, which presents the first of four Listening Choir events on September 15 and releases Clips, an album by the Brodie West Quintet on September 21.

Koerner Hall opens its tenth anniversary season with a festival from September 28 to October 5 featuring the Royal Conservatory Orchestra on September 28, Free for All on September 29, and a performance by Fern Lindzon on Sunday. Music lessons begin September 8, and you can try out an instrument during the Conservatory’s free band day on September 9.

Not to be outdone, the University of Toronto Faculty of Music is celebrating its 100th anniversary this 2018-19 season. Sound Knowledge, a new six-part lecture series featuring leading U of T Music professors, kicks off September 12 in Walter Hall. There will be performances from the Bedford Trio, bandoneón artist Amijai Shalev, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra cello section, and soprano Karina Gauvin. On September 15, the faculty will participate in an annual cross-Canada event in honour of World Suicide Prevention Day with Mysterious Barricades, a concert featuring Marie Bérard, Russell Braun, Norine Burgess, John Greer, Judy Loman, Carolyn Maule, Nathalie Paulin, Steven Philcox, Monica Whicher, and Turkwaz.

918 Bathurst is also getting back into gear after a relaxing summer. The Annex Chess Club kicks it off with their annual Labour Day Chess Tournament, and then Vegan Social Events will host a vendor marketplace featuring sustainable, local vegan fare and goods on September 6. And on Saturday, September 22, The Hand Eye Society will transform the space for their fancy-dress video game party.

Laura Philipps is with the Bloor St. Culture Corridor. This column focuses on arts and culture events from the district. More information about events and locations can be found at www.BloorStCultureCorridor.com.

Maple Leafs advance to semifinals after historic no-hitter

With his youthful energy, rookie Garrett Takamatsu became a fan favourite at Christie Pits this summer. R.S. KONJEK/GLEANER NEWS

By R.S. Konjek

It has been a memorable summer for Garrett Takamatsu.

Having completed his freshman year at Central Alabama Community College, the North York native signed up to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Intercounty Baseball League.

A new face at Christie Pits, Takamatsu burst onto the scene with his youthful energy and aggressive approach at the plate. His athleticism allowed him to play first base, catcher, outfielder or designated hitter, depending on the day’s lineup. His thickset build and the flamboyant flow of dark hair that tumbles out from behind his cap made him an unmistakeable presence on the diamond. He quickly became a fan favourite.

In turn, he has become a fan of Toronto’s legendary sunken ballpark.

“Christie Pits, you’ll never play in another park like that,” he says. “People told me stories and they’re sure living up to it. It’s a really competitive league with a lot of older guys, so they all know what they’re talking about.”

For the first two months of the season, Takamatsu led the Leafs in batting and his performance earned him a surprise fan club. A group of regulars who come to every game began chanting his name before each of his at bats:

“Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak-Tak-Takamatsu!”

It caught on in no time. By season’s end, the entire ballpark was greeting his every appearance at the plate in full voice.

“There’s awesome fan interaction. It’s great having a group like that around,” he says with appreciation.

Takamatsu was one of several new additions that changed the character of the club. The Leafs bonded as a team and got off to one of their best starts in years, riding high in the standings through May and June. Their momentum came to a sudden halt in July, however, as a 10-game losing streak threatened to derail everything.

The good news is that the Leafs pulled it together and won their final two games of the regular season to finish fourth in the league standings. They entered the post-season with a modest head of steam. Their first-round playoff matchup was against the Guelph Royals, in a best-of-five series.

The Leafs jumped out to a 1-0 series lead with a victory at Christie Pits on August 9.

Takamatsu hit a game-winning home run to the delight of the home crowd.

The Royals won the next two games, meaning that the Leafs faced elimination and an early departure from the playoffs for the second year in a row.

The fourth game of the series was played in Guelph, and the Leafs seized the wheel, winning a 6-5 nailbiter in 10 innings. That set the stage for a fifth and final game at Christie Pits on August 15.

Years from now, thousands of people will say they were there, because history was made.

The series was closely fought without any blowouts for either team. Game five continued the pattern. It was a low-scoring affair, tied 2-2 until the bottom of the sixth inning. A scriptwriter could not have outlined what happened next.

Garrett Takamatsu happened. He stepped up to the plate and crushed a home run into the trees. It was another game-winning home run. The Pits went collectively insane, or at least boisterously batty.

The Royals were unable to respond, at which point fans began to notice that the Royals had not even recorded a hit all night. Their two runs were the product of a wild inning filled with errors, walks, and a hit batsman — but not one hit.

The delirium over Takamatsu’s big fly shifted to the mound, where Zach Sloan had just finished pitching six innings for Toronto. He was replaced in the seventh by Marek Deska, who needed to shut down the Royals for three more innings.

Deska is a longtime Leaf and seasoned veteran. He got through the seventh with ease, the eighth with barely a worry, and it was on to the ninth and a chance at history — a no-hitter.

No-hitters are rare in baseball and especially in the heavy-hitting Intercounty Baseball League. The league’s last 9-inning no-hitter was pitched in 1977 by Jesse Orosco (of New York Mets World Series fame).

What Deska was now attempting to complete was rarest of all. In the league’s entire 100-year history, no one had pitched a post-season no-hitter.

The first Guelph batter grounded out. The second one struck out swinging.

Destiny knocked on the door.

Deska reared back and struck out the final batter of the game.

A no-hitter!

Game over, and a series win for the Leafs. Sloan and Deska combined to achieve something no one had ever done before.

It will go down as one of the most historic nights of baseball at Christie Pits. Best of all, the Leafs now advance to the semifinals and the season rolls on. They will take on the Kitchener Panthers, hoping for a shot at the championship series.

No matter what happens next, Takamatsu says that this season has been something special.

“I’m going to miss this year for sure. The guys — this is an awesome group we had. I learned a lot here.”

Will he keep the hair when the season comes to an end?

“I’m going to have to cut it a little, I can’t leave it this long for school.”

Find the Toronto Maple Leafs’ complete postseason schedule at http://www.pointstreaksites.com/view/mapleleafs/home-page-720.

READ MORE:

SPORTS: Slumping Leafs hope to change (Summer 2018)

SPORTS: Many hats, one goal for Topolie (July 2018)

SPORTS: Maple Leafs back at the Pits (Election Special 2018)

NEWS: Celebrating a legendary Leaf (Jan. 2018)

ON OUR COVER: Cycling the Pits (Fall 2017)

SPORTS: Leafs fall early this summer (AUGUST 2017)

A bike undergoes a safety check-up at a pop up pit stop on Bloor Street West last month. The Bloor Annex BIA (whose chair publishes this newspaper) sponsored the safety checks, which were performed free of charge by Cycle Toronto staffers. Free check-ups will be offered again on August 14 on Bloor Street West at Howland Avenue by the bee mural. TEMI?DADA/GLEANER?NEWS