Public (E-Journal, York University)

Marchessault, Janine

English

Film Scenes: Paris, New York, Toronto

Sloan, Johanne

Biennialism in Montréal

Straw, Will

Preface to Cities I Scenes 
This issue of Public is devoted to the study of 'scenes,' treating these as 
phenomenal elements in the cultural life of cities. Both memorable and 
ephemeral, scenes conjugate a history of urban places by enacting a dra- 
matic visibility. They are a measure of the decline, vitality and distinctness 
of a city. A century or more of theorizing has subdivided city cultures into 
communities, subcultures, networks and innumerable other unities. 
'Scenes' are both the haziest of such unities and some of the most produc- 
tive. Amidst an explosion of writing on all aspects of urban culture, our 
focus on scenes has served to constrain and inspire the studies contained 
in this issue. 
Our aim in organizing this issue of Public was to create a framework 
that encompasses the material specificities of local urban cultures as well 
as more general theorizations of global place building and urban experi- 
ence. All of the essays collected here, originate from "The Culture of 
Cities Project," a new interdisciplinary research endeavour committed to 
carrying out urban research on four cities-Berlin, Montrtal, Dublin and 
Toronto. Over a five-year period, the project will produce a series of com- 
parative studies on a wide range of topics. These include the building and 
rebuilding of city structures, the circulation of objects and artefacts, rep- 
resentations of locality, the status of the arts, and the character of urban 
citizenship. These themes are themselves approached through the lenses of 
different conceptual frameworks. We are concerned with the character of 
individual cities and the status of claims made about such character. 
Researchers are investigating the rhythms and intensities of city life as 
these resonate through all levels of cultural, social and economic activity. 
The project is concerned with the dissemination of collective purpose 
throughout urban cultural life, and the place of the local and global 
within a sense of urban belonging. 
Janine Marchessault and Will Straw 


Preface

Poole, Brian

Adiaphora: The New Culture of Russians and Eastern Jews in Berlin

Burnam, Jenny

At the Scene of the Crossroads, "Somewhere in this Silvered City:" Diasporic Public Spheres in Toronto

Benzaquén, Adriana S.

On Childhood, Wildness, and Freedom

Grenzer, Elke

Setting the Stage for a New Germany: Architecture and the Scene of Berlin

Ritchie, Christina

introduction: Childhood

FTr.T.
LaLga Llpson
Interview by Christina Ritchie
At the time of this interuieu, December 1999, Taiga Lipson, granddaugbter
of Toronto art dealer olga Korper, uas eleuen-years-ord and attending
Leo Baeck Day School, in the sixth grade.
Christina Ritchie: Is there anything special about your school?
Taiga Lipson: \7ell, it's a Hebrew school so it does Hebrew and it gives a
good period of time for that, and it does French, but there's not much
special about it.
CR: Do you have a favourite subject?
TL: I'd say drama. It's the first year that we got it and I really like it a lot.
CR: IThat do you like about it?
TL: \7ell, it's fun and it's creative and we can do skits or ,.ensembles," as
my teacher says. It lets us relax. Instead of, "oh my god I have to study
for this, this and this," it's just like, "oh yeah, I can have fun in this class."
CR: Do you get ro make up the plays or the skits, or do you work from
scripts ?
TL: They give us plays. They give us plays from the Torah and we acr them
out and we do all these exercises that loosen our muscles and it's really fun.
CR: Do you make costumes and stuff like that too?
TL: No we haven't yet.
cR: Is discipline an issue; is that something you have to think about very
much?
TL: Yeah, like we can't go too insane. our teachers rike us to have fun,
they don't like us to be petrified and sheepishly hiding in the corner, but
they like us to relax and be able to feel comfortable with them.
o.)
CR: So your drama class is a good way of doing that?
TL: Yeah. The school really helps you build confidence and show you
what's right, what's wrong, even though your parents do a lot of that. It
really helps you move along in terms of being mature or knowing when to
iust relax.
CR: Skits from the Torah are a religious and moral education too, right?
TL: Yeah, but we don't take it that seriously. It's just kind of fun. They're
short, so it's the easiest in terms of exercises.
CR: Does it change the way that you deal with your classmates?
TL: No, because in our school there's not too many classes of each grade.
In my grade there's only one class since SK [senior kindergarten] so I've
been with the same people since the beginning of school.
CR: Really?
TL: Yeah. The same people. And it's really great 'cause we treat each
other like brothers and sisters. It's a lot better. The sad thing is that next
year, since our school doesn't go up to seven, our whole class will split up.
And we'll just have to take a chance of never seeing each other again.
CR: Then you'll have to try to keep in touch with them. Do you think
you'll do that?
TL: Yeah.
CR: 
'What kind of things do you do after school?
TL: Uhm, I don't really do that much stuff. I used to but it's really hard
since we get a lot of homework. My brother takes karate and sometimes
he does soccer, or softball, or baseball, or any of the little league things
that the school happens to pick up, and in our school there's alot of after
school activities, And there's "Mad Science" whete all these teachers come
in and you can make little rockets that, if you put some batteries in, they'll
work. There's also arts and crafts, they do better things.
CR: So do you do that stuff or just your brother?
TL: I used to, but my brother does it mostly now. I'm just like too heavily
set with all the homework.
CR: \7hat about in your free time when you don't have homework, what
do you like to do?
TL: I like to read a lot so I read a lot of books.
CR: Do you have a favourite writer or a favourite book?
TL: At the moment, J.K. Rowling, who wrote Harry Potter, is one of my
favourites. \7e had a field trip yesterday to go and see an author and she
asked "who..."-there's forty kids-"...who has read all of the Harry
Potter books?" and I was the only one who raised my hand and it was
like kind of embarrassins.
CR: Had some of the other kids read some of them?
TL: Yeah, like one or two but not three!
CR: Did you find out about the Harry Potter books through school?
TL: Iffell, we have this "Scholastic" thing where we can order books and
there was one Harry Potter in it. I read it with my mom, cause we like to
read, and it was reall5 really, really, good. My mom bought the second
book for my birthday and I read that and that was good too. Then I bor-
rowed the third book from a grade five girl and it was one of the best. It's
kind of weird because we can't read so often, we only get half an hour
done every night, so I had finished the second book and the third book
before we finished the first. It was really srrange like that thing happened
in the third book, the other thing happened in the first book. Because we
were reading them at the same time it was kind of confusing, but they're
some of the best books.
CR: Do you think about the environment?
TL: Yes. We had a field trip last year that went to a recycling plant for
styrofoam. \7e thought that it was really unfair that the styrofoam was
getting thrown out when it could get recycled but the government would-
n't allow it to be put in the recycling bin. I've heard lately about a new
recycling agenda that there would be a certain amount of recycling bins,
like a purple bin or something, so you could separate the styrofoam and it
65
would be a lot easier and better for the environment. I was pretty happy
about that.
CR: lVhat is your biggest worry about the quality of the environment?
TL: If we trash our air and we trash our water we're not going to live that
long.
CR: Do you do anything about it?
TL: I like to not waste, use as little water as possible, so that it's relatively
clean and, with the air, I can't do much about that. I really don't know
what I can do.
CR: Do you think that as a child people listen to your views and respect
them?
TL: Sometimes the adults don't listen, especially one teacher that we had,
though I don't like to be taking sides or anything 'cause that's kind of
rude. But, uhm, sometimes they just don't hear us out. They say, "ok, ok,
ok," but they never listen. But kids listen to kids, kids hear kids, kids under-
stand kids, sometimes adults just don't understand kids. And vice versa.
CR: I feel in some ways as an adult that it's hard for me to remember
what it was like to be a kid and this is kind of about reminding me of
what it was like. I don't know if people really paid roo much artention to
what kids said. Is that a problem for you?
TL: I don't find it a problem.
CR: Do you get respect from your family?
TL: Yeah. My brothers listen to me, my friends listen to me, I listen to my
friends, and they don't not understand me too much. Except for when I'm
babbling on and on. Sometimes just "I want, I want, I want," is the one
they ignore most.
CR: If people are listening ro you does that mean you have a responsibil-
ity to them?
TL: It's a bit hard to explain. I might have ro think about that. I suppose
it's kind of like a leadership thing. If you're with someone younger and
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you express an opinion to them, like: "don't do drugs,', I suppose you
have to really give them a reason to see that. Back in the fifties or what-
ever it was like: "oh, ok, sure, fine, whatever," and they go and smoke,
'cause they really didn't understand rhe reason, with all of this stuff in the
air and things like that. The way they've been analyzing it, it,s sickening
what they put into cigarettes and how it works out with your body, in the
end making you a complete idiot, or giving you mental damage, or mak-
ing you disabled, or something like that.
CR: \X/here do you find out about that stuff ?
TL: \7ell, you hear it.You hear it on commercials, on the radio, you hear
it in school, you hear it from your parents, and you see it too. I have seen
in my family some people smoking. And I see what it does to them, like
they start coughing because it's bad for their lungs. I saw on TV a movie
how this guy was doing some kind of drug, the one where you sniff, I for-
get what it's called -
CR: Cocaine?
TL: Yeah. It was making him a complete idiot. He was jusr like mental
damage galore.
CR: !7hen you see adults doing that kind of stuff how does it make you
feel?
TL: Well uhm, I rcalize that there's not much that I can do about it be-
cause it's their opinion of what they want to do with their lives. I know
that I'm not going to smoke because I know that it's bad for me and if
somehow, though quite doubtedlS I end up srarting to smoke, I will do
my best to try and stop myself immediately. But trying to convince people
how it's bad and they just say: "yes, I know but I'm doing it anyway,, -
there's really not much you can do about their opinion.
CR: You just had a new baby sister. How's that?
TL: \Well it's not much different from the fact that I had two brothers,
one's six and one's three. Except the sister's quite a bit calmer than the
boys who were screaming at the age of one and climbing cabinets and
looking through glass cupboards and playing with these cups. Oh my
god, it was so much of a relief to have a sister because after two brothers
it's so hard with them around. It's a very big change.
67
CR: So you like it?
TL: Yeah.
CR: Do you help your mom to look after her?
TL: I carry her around and I play with her when mom is like working, or
in the shower, or just can't really take hold of her. And I made her laugh
for the very first time.
CR: \7hat's the downside of having a new baby?
TL: I don't get... I'm not like....
CR: The centre of attention?
TL: Yeah. Since I was born I've always been the centre of attention and
when my parents split up and my brother Jack was born, and then David,
it was kind of easy and quite relaxing to be the centre of attention at one
house and still have siblings at the other 'cause it's fun having siblings.
But you don't get that much attention. So that means at my mom's house
I was getting stuff done for me instead of doing it myself, my mom was
reading to me, but now I'm reading to her most of the time 'cause she's
feeding the baby or changing the baby or trying to calm the baby down
when it starts to scream. But I do spend a lot of time at my father's house
during the day on weekends or holidays. 'We go on skiing trips up to the
cottage and I really love those times because I get skiing lessons and then
we ski together. It's so much fun racing my dad, my dad racing my brother
and watching who will win, seeing my brother going down the hill. So it's
good to have the balance with siblings. But now it's like whoa, it's kind of
wonky 'cause suddenly I'm not the centre of attention anymore.
CR: Does that make you feel more grown up?
TL: In some ways. In some ways it does. It's a lot of fun taking care of
myself. It makes my parents think that I'm more mature and therefore I
can get a raise in my allowance, or they can trust me with staying home
alone for a bit while they go out shopping. They don't really do that, but
I wish they did because I really hate when they drag me out to see antique
shops while I'm trying to watch TV.
CR: What do you watch on TV?
68
TL: Cartoons, things that give my parents the opinion of, ,,Oh, that's
really really stupid. How about watching golf?,, I really really don't like
when my dad does that but we have two TV's so I iust rush down to the
basement and then it's like "haha, I'm free."
CR: Do you think about becoming a grown-up?
TL: Yeah.
CR: And how does that make you feel?
TL: r7ell, I guess not much different. I dunno. I feel that the way parents
sometimes forget about how they were when they were a kid, that I,m
going to promise myself that I'm not, so that I won,t give my kids that
kind of, "oh what a stupid show" when I remember how my parents tord
me what stupid shows I watched, even though I think they're cool.
CR: So when you grow up you expect to have kids.
TL: Oh yeah.
CR: \7hat else? Will you have a job?
TL: Yes. I may work at home, like how my mom does on the computer,
talking and doing this really cool stuff-but other than that, I do want to
work, I don't want to be like one of those, ,,oh I'm not going to work
because my husband works so he can take of the whole family." you knoq
in some ways I find that kind of weird, that he earns the money and then
you take some money from him to spend on your own things when you
can quite easily be earning rhat money in a job you like and buy your
own things instead of being stuck at home all day.
CR: What kind of job do you think you would do?
TL: I think I might work here, in the gallery, because this is what I've
known all my life and I really like it here. It gives me a peaceful attitude
toward life because I really love the aft and I really love seeing all the
people coming in and our and my grandmother pointing at things and
explaining, all the new clients and people who come in here. And I love
going through all my grandmother's junk upstairs to see what cool toys I
can find, but that's irrelevant.
69
CR: \fhat do you think is the most important thing in your life right now?
TL: My family and my friends. I could not function without them because
they're the biggest part. And I'm sure I'm speaking for a lot of other kids
too.
CR: Is there anything that you're afraid of?
TL: My house setting fire and whether I could get out and save all my
pets or not. I have two rats and I'm very very fond of them and they're
very, very, very sweet, not sewer rats! Sorry, its just I tell everyone that
and they're like, "oh my god, how disgusting." But they're really, really
nice and they don't scratch and they don't bite, and they're like pet ani-
mals. I have two cats too, so every night I'm ananging if my house sets
on fire, mom can take Kiran, my sister, I'll take my rats, and Gregory
(he's my stepfather) can grab the cats.
CR: So you've got it all sorted out.
TL: Yeah cause I just don't want. . . I have this horrible fear of seeing ani-
mals trapped in a building that's on fire. It's horrible.
CR: Do you like to travel?
TL: Yes.
CR: And what's the favourite place that you've been?
TL: I went to the Bahamas with my mom one time but that was when I
was really young so I don't remember it that much. Every year I go to
Florida, me and my dad, and my two brothers, and my stepmom. \7e love
it there, we stay for two or three weeks, my grandparents are there. There's
the beach and my aunt comes up, my aunt Jennifer from Victoria. She's
my favourite aunt in the whole world. 'We can go on walks for a mile
down the beach and talk and talk or go swim out far into the ocean. She's
an artist and a teacher and she is so much fun.
CR: \Vhat do you think it means to be a child?
TL: \fell, being a child is just part of growing up so there's really not
much you can say about that.
70
CR: But do you think children have any special aptitude?
TL: children like being children while they're children. r7hen you see
someone and they sag "oh grow up," it is probably the most horrifying
sentence.
CR: So you're in no rush to do that, huh?
TL: No. You like being a kid, you like having people pamper you and
doing your shopping for you. It's like, oh, paying raxes and owning your
own house and having to look after your own things, oh my God! We like
playing, we like getting dirty. We like doing what,s fun when it's fun. And
we have to grow up, I suppose it's just a very boring part of life.
CR: \fell, maybe there are different things you,ll learn to enjoy. I like
being a grown up.
TL: We[ I'm sure it will be fun, but for the old and sad people who grow
up and they get all crabby, and they don't remember what their chirdhood
was like, and how they had fun once, and how now they snap at people
every time they see you skip rope or playing with chalk, or drawing or
being creative in any way, and they get all uptighr and snappy and stuff.
It's... I find it horrible.
CR: Do you think this is a good time to be born?
TL: Yeah. The sixties, now I wish I could have lived in the sixties.
CR: Oh yeah?
TL: They were a fun time, as my parents and grandparents tell me. But
they didn't really know much about like birth control and drugs and stuff
like that, and even though they were against war and we still are today.
they were-I hate to say it-lunatics.
CR: If you could change anything in the world, what would you change?
TL: Homelessness. Poverty. If everyone could be as lucky as me and as
lucky as my friends, just be able to go school and learn, and have enough
food, and have enough water and have a home. That would be one of my
greatest achievemenrs if I could make that happen. That would be the
Sreatest thing.
/t


Taiga Lipson

Olson, Daniel

Famous Disappearing Act

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