All posts by Alison

About Alison

Alison is a Youth Services Librarian but her knowledge and interests span a lot of age groups. She is a pop culture fanatic, reads and writes voraciously and is a lifelong geek/nerd/fangirl.  |  Meet the team

Pride Month in 2025

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“Person waving Pride Flag” by The White House Biden-Harris/ CC0 1.0

It’s June! That means a few things are coming up. Summer. Heat. Sun. Wrapping up school. Father’s Day. Good stuff.

But one of this librarian’s favorite favorite FAVORITE things about June is PRIDE MONTH!!!! *cue air horns*

What started as a riot in New York in 1969 has evolved into a whole month of celebrating and learning about people who do not fit in any one box. Anyone from any background, culture, race, age, religion, region, ability, size, shape, belief, life experience and everything else can also proudly wave a rainbow flag, be it who they fall in love with and how, who just catches their eye, how their gender does or doesn’t fit who they are and even just how they see themselves and how they relate to other people. Or even if none of the colours or flags suit you, you can still wave it as an ally, standing with your friends, family and your community.

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Cherry Blossoms in the GTA: Spring, Transience and International Relations

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Cole-Jonathon Neophytou via Shutterstock

We’re on Cherry Blossom Watch everyone!

What is that? Well, that’s when the City of Toronto and its surrounding areas wait with anticipation for the cherry blossom trees in High Park and elsewhere around the city to bloom.

Cherry blossoms (桜 Sakura in Japanese, 벚꽃 Beotkkok in Korean, 櫻花 Yīng Huā in Chinese, etc.) are small five-petal flowers that are often associated with the color pink, but they come in other colors as well, like white. They’re native to areas in east Asia but they’ve been planted all over the world. They’re the national flower of Japan and they bloom for a short period each spring. In our neck of the woods that usually means late April early May, depending on the weather. They can be seen most famously in High Park, but they can also be found in other places around the city, like Toronto Island and Exhibition Place.

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Let’s all Spring Forward

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Ah spring.

Or at least I think it’s spring?

It’s been a long, cold, white winter this year, hasn’t it?  I’m not complaining too much because we barely had a winter the year before and it was nice to actually get a full season of ice and snow.  But… let’s be real.  It’s been a lot the past few weeks.  Snow storms.  Ice.  Sub sub sub subzero temperatures.  Closures.  It was all a little much.

But… we’re starting to see the slightest signs that things are taking a turn for the better.  The clocks have sprung forward.  The sun has come out (a little).  We’ve had a few days where the temperature has hit the teens.  The spring equinox came and went yet again (March 20th at 5:01am).  St. Patrick’s Day was this month.  Subtle signs.

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