Tag Archives: adult non-fiction

In Defence of Fall

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The cover of Fall Baking by Brooke Bell

While my colleague Maya1 is a very vocal Summer person, I’m of the mind that our nearly non-existent transitional seasons, Spring and Fall, are the best time of year here in the GTA. Summer is just too hot, and unlike in Winter, where we can bundle up against the cold, there’s only so much a person can do to beat the heat without electrical assistance. Winter has its charms, including the potential to be the most beautiful season, but with rising temperatures and less snowfall, it’s mostly just a slushy mess with dormant and dead plants everywhere. Spring and summer hit the sweet spot between the extremes, with Spring bringing the promise of more sunlight and warming temperatures. In contrast, Fall brings relief to people like me, who find the summer heat unbearable and heralds an explosion of colour in the forests, even if it is only for a short time.2 I’m not going to turn this into an argument on the internet; disagree if you wish, but I will go through a few reasons why I think Fall is the best.

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Avast Ye Landlubbers! Talk Like a Pirate Day be Approachin’! 

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The cover of Pirates by Charles Johnson

In case you’re worried after reading that title, no, I won’t be typing this entire blog post in Pirate. If you want to read that, various sites have you covered, so have fun with that silliness. But this is me we’re talking about, so of course, there’s still going to be some silliness even before it gets piratified, even if I’m only doing a round-up of various pirate-themed (or pirate-adjacent) books and other media we’ve got on our shelves. But before I launch into that, let’s talk about Talk Like a Pirate Day.

First off, we’re probably not talking like pirates. We’re talking like a specific group of pirates: those that came from southwest England. So that’s at least better than talking like completely fictionalized Hollywood pirates; when you’re letting out your loudest ‘Arrrr!’ rest safe in the knowledge that it’s somewhat authentic. Secondly, in case you didn’t follow the link to Wikipedia, it’s been held on September 19th since its inception in 1995. And before you go looking, that date has nothing to do with pirates; it was simply easy to remember for one of the holiday’s founders as it lined up with an ex’s birthday. Thirdly, if you’ve got a Vaughan Public Libraries card, you can talk like a pirate all you want without needing to be one, thanks to our extensive collections. Our Fast Track items help you get hold of the latest trendy book or movie without waiting on a holds list if you can be in the right branch at the right time to find it, that is. So, what are you waiting for? Dive into our pirate collection and let the adventure begin!

Enough delayin’, on wit’ the pirate media!

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A Brief History of the Olympics

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marble-relief-fragment-depicting-athletic-prizes
Marble relief fragment depicting athletic prizes (via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Is this post a bit late, considering the (summer) Olympics will be over by the time this goes live? Perhaps. But to my mind, it’s actually fitting, because we’re going to be talking about the Olympics’ past, not present.

So, when did the Olympics first start, and where, and why?

It all began in Ancient Greece, in a town called Olympia, where contestants competed in various games of strength, skill, and athletics in honour of the god Zeus. This religious event eventually spread all over Greece and would always be marked by a truce, allowing athletes and pilgrims to travel without fear of danger. According to myth, the first Games were played by the gods. “Zeus wrestled his father, Kronos, for the throne; Apollo outran Hermes and beat Ares at boxing; and Herakles, often credited with founding the Olympic games, won victories in wrestling and the pankration, a no-holds-barred combat sport.”1 (Link added by me). Many of the ancient sports are actually still played in our modern Olympics, including foot races, discus and javelin throwing, wrestling, and boxing.

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