Northern Exposure: Three Weeks in Toronto
By Alexander Brown
It’s three weeks ago, mid-May in Toronto. The temperature is pleasant. Still sweater-weather for some, but I’m in shorts and a t-shirt. I’m in the midst of being cycled off Escitalopram and Bubropion, and an unexpected side effect has caused my body temperature to rise 10 degrees. Any additional layers and I’d have looked like I’d spent the morning sweating it out at a methadone clinic.
My new, mid-tier Nikon DSLR is draped across my good eye, when my bad eye, the one that required an eye-patch when I was young, spots the shape of what appears to be a middle-aged woman moving towards me with purpose.
“Do you have permission to take that?”
My normal, overly polite Canadian courtesies failed me. The preceding 24 hours had been tough. A real Bad Day.
“Didn’t know I needed it.”
“Well you do, people are here to study and you’re making them uncomfortable.”
I looked around the reference library’s atrium and couldn’t match eyes with a single solitary soul.
“Are you sure about that?” Again, a Bad Day had happened.
“You need permission!” She was getting angrier, probably understandably so. “What are these photos even for?”
She liked it even less when I told her I didn’t know.
On the way out the door I stopped at security and asked for permission. They made me fill out a form. Once it was complete a sleepy security guard stamped his permission in dull blank ink and told me to keep it on me as long as I was taking photos. I handed it right back to him and told him I already had.
“So why did you fill it out?” He asked.
“I don’t know.”
***
A week passes and I’m getting a bit better. My body temperature has slid back into an acceptable range and all I have to contend with is the odd electric shock in my head. The honest-to-goodness accepted medical term for this phenomenon is known as “brain zaps.” They only happen about twice a day. I’m still weary from the Bad Day, but there’s a growing distance to the proceedings.
I’m taking even more photos. I circumnavigate Toronto and parts of Southern Ontario like Magellan himself. I don’t always get the aperture settings right. I’m learning, though. Getting a bit better. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.
***
Two weeks pass and I’m in the country. The lightning strikes are gone. I take photos of plants, trees, and the sky. There’s very little to do, but no permission forms required.
On cloudless nights I can see the Bad Day has drifted even farther away, its lights only occasionally visible on the horizon.
***
It’s three weeks later and I’m here, and again I’m thinking about that woman. She had told me I needed permission. She wanted to know what these photos were for. Why I was taking them.
I couldn’t tell her she was right, that I did need permission, or how I was there because the Bad Day had been my fault; that the camera in my hand had arrived knowing that day would come and that I needed it more than she could ever know.
And maybe she would have understood: she of the inclination to make a beeline across a crowded atrium just because she cared enough to do so. She’d had Bad Days. Probably even Worse Days.
I could have told her everything, but I wasn’t ready.
I took these photos instead.
And as it turns out, I think some of them are pretty good.
The Writer's Bone Essays Archive
Cappuccinos and Castles: 6 Photos That Will Jolt Your Wanderlust
By Cristina Cianci
Trains, planes, and automobiles!
I live for going to new places or familiar ones that hold a special place in my heart. One thing you can bet on, come 5 p.m. Friday you can find me on one of the just mentioned means of transport.
A few of my recent favorites places are:
Lake Como, Italy
Alps, aqua-colored lakes, castles, and of course, all the cappuccinos your heart desires.
Wildwood Crest, N.J.
This beach town, especially at night, looks like you're living in “The Jetsons.”
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
New York City
For all the obvious reasons.
Miami Beach, Fla.
A tropical European-esque escape where a passport isn't needed. A tan and relaxation is always on the agenda.
“We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfilment.”
Verona, Italy
More cappuccinos, a trip to Juliette's balcony and the arena, but the most fun, strolling the cobblestone streets aimlessly at night.
Big Sur, Calif.
Sunsets on the ocean and mountains in the ocean. Heaven is a place on Earth.
The Writer's Bone Essays Archive
Urban Escape: 7 Photos New York City Slickers Will Love
By Cristina Cianci
Since moving to New York City for the first time this past summer—post-college shenanigans, of course—I've learned a few new things about the city, while others were like a trip down memory lane from yesteryear.
1. Nothing compares to that feeling of pride in downtown Manhattan, especially in September.
2. It’s still one of my life goals to jump down from a fire escape. This one was my grandpa’s in Little Italy.
3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side never disappoints for inspiration. I can get lost for days, which I did on this day and wound up on the roof.
4. My morning view ensures I never take this life for granted or too seriously. I pinch myself daily.
5. Brunch, brunch, and more brunch. Three times a day if needed, and, most certainly, per weekend. I found this is a gem of an alley in the Lower East Side after eating at Freemans.
6. Always carry an umbrella, or run to the nearest Duane Reade to invest in one, or else you will Mary Poppins down Third Avenue. I learned this lesson the hard way during a typhoon this past June.
7. Tar Beach should be your new favorite beach in the summer. Become familiar. No more Jersey Shore. Rooftop barbeques, beer, new friends, and kiddie pools are to the Atlantic Ocean as bottle caps are to sea shells.
For more essays, check out our full archive.
Water Works: 10 Photos To Cool You Off This Summer
Haven't spent enough time at the beach, lake, or any other preferred body of water this summer? Don't worry, Writer's Bone photo essayist Cristina Cianci's latest post is the perfect cure-all for the summertime blues. Feel free to share your own water photos by tweeting us @WritersBone.
By Cristina Cianci
I grew up 20 minutes from the ocean. You can find me on the beach winter, spring, summer, and fall (in the appropriate seasonal wear of course). Nothing beats a quiet beach interrupted by the dulcet sound of waves spilling over the sand. I even have an alarm clock that makes that noise.
I have to get back to my beach towel and brightly colored cocktail, but enjoy my favorite water photos (seagulls and soothing waves not included):
1. A lagoon in my friend's backyard in Florida.
2. The Atlantic Ocean. This was taken during my first trip to the state of New Hampshire! It's also the farthest north I've been in the U.S. Check those off the list!
3. The Hudson River from my new neighborhood in New York City.
4. My pool at my family's home in New Jersey on a sunny day.
5. Lago di Caldaro in Italian Alps.
6. Magical September sun beams on the Venetian canals.
7. Post winter waves in New Jersey.
8. My cousin fully enjoying herself in Lago di Resia, Italy.
9. Post Friday night cocktail with views of lower Manhattan.
10. My favorite home away from home, our summer escape in Wildwood Crest, N.J. It has held many memories and secrets for the past 25 years, and will hold many more during the next 25.
For more essays, check out our full archive.