Connect with us

Community News

Toronto Creatives convene

Published

on

BY SELINA McCALLUM

Tons of creatives, emerging and established, from Toronto came together for two days to share their wealth of knowledge on several creative industries.

Almost all of Toronto’s most respected creatives were in one space on November 30th and December 1st for the Summit Conference presented by and hosted at Artscape Daniels Launchpad.

It was two days of talks, panels, workshops and networking opportunities for Toronto’s creative community. Attendees were able to listen to creative leaders on how to scale up, stand out and build a sustainable career in an accumulating digital world.

The speakers were incredibly diverse and from all types of industries from animation to fashion. The ones that stood out to me were the black female creatives that I was fortunate and honoured to hear speak. And of course, none other than the famous and talented Toronto director, Director X.

Heran is an artist enabler, design thinker, dot-connector and tech-culture enthusiast. While Afro-Fusion-music-makers are a core focus, she has spent the last year and a half building her brand presence by vlogging her explorations and experiments in facilitating the transcendence of African-art(ists) across physical borders through tech/digital realms.

Amoye Henry is the founder of AfroChic. Each year, Henry and her team plan the AfroChic Cultural Arts Festival, which is an annual multi-disciplinary arts festival based in Toronto. It started in 2010 as an event to bring awareness to many issues relating to African Canadian women including hair, health and politics.

The festival is considered one of Canada’s only events providing a safe platform for black Canadian performance and visual artists. Henry has worked with talent like Issa Rae, Erykah Badu, Wizkid, Jidenna, Wale and Teedra Moses.

Alexis Eke is a Toronto based illustrator and designer. Her work centers on illustrating black women in a contemporary light, combining styles and elements from traditional Japanese art and renaissance portrait paintings.

Eke spoke on how to keep your artistic integrity when working with clients and brands.

“If you are willing to change anything about your artwork in exchange for monetary value, it may hinder your development and success as an artist,” said Eke.

Eke’s work has been recognized by publications such as Afropunk, Massappeal and CBC. She has been hired by AGO, CBC, Nike Jordan, Palm Bay Spritz and Soulection. Her work was also featured this year for Nuit Blanche at Scarborough Town Centre.

The advice she has for young black girls pursuing art is to never give up.

“First, focus on perfecting your craft, and be consistent with your work. Doing these two things will definitely reap success and acknowledgement. Secondly, it’s easier said than done, but do not let the color of your skin discourage you from pursuing a creative career. Just take that leap, and let God handle the rest,” said Eke.

Samah Ali is the founder of Sisterhood Media, a production and distribution company platforming stories on community and identity, informed by intersectionality. She is also a producer and film programmer supporting organizations like Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Sharine Taylor is a Toronto-based writer, critic, editor, producer and director, as well as the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of BASHY Magazine.

Her experience has made her a credible source for pop culture commentary and criticism, and a trusted voice for the latest in Jamaican music and culture. Sharine’s bylines have appeared on The FADER, BuzzFeed, Pitchfork, and many other notable publications.

Julien Christian Lutz, better known as Director X gave the closing talk on Sunday to wrap up Summit. He spoke about his years as a teenager in Toronto, going from wanting to be a graphic designer to ending up as a director, and the hustle.

“I’m making logos and spending all this time on computers and learning all these skills,” said Director X.  At the time he was 17 years old and left home. He stayed with his friend in a basement apartment.

One night he went to a poetry reading where he read lyrics he had written for a rapper his friend was making beats for. Now, he was a graphic designer and a spoken word artist.

Director X is the type of man who will not take no for an answer. His determination, passion and zest for film, music and entertainment was clear in every word he said.

“I would go to all ages clubs and find the promoter. I’d ask him who made their flyer, then say, “He sucks, I’m better,”” said Director X.

The Toronto director emphasized the importance of hustling. He got out there, he spoke to people and he asked questions.

At the age of 17 he was interning at Much Music.

“I’m putting you on to some real Toronto history right now,” he said as he told the full house about his days working as an intern.

One thing I learned is that Director X takes every opportunity whether it presents itself or not, and I admire him for that. When one person from the audience asked him about his organization, Operation Prefrontal Cortex, he used a couple minutes of the Q and A to pull up his slides on the screen behind him which explained what the Prefrontal Cortex is, why it’s important and how meditating can help reduce violence in the city.

Although the Q and A was supposed to end, he asked us if we wanted to see his short film that he made, called 7 Mothers, which was eight minutes long. While sort of receiving permission from the organizers, he was already connecting his iPad to the big screen for us to watch it.

The creator of Pyer Moss, Kerby Jean-Raymond, teamed up with Director X to make a short film about the seven women who played an influential role in his life. The cinematography and sound were beautifully done. The film made me feel like I knew the women personally and could feel their passion, spirit and love for the young boy.

The summit was a space that allowed people who could not access creative professionals before, the opportunity to meet and speak to them. The workshops and talks were incredibly helpful and insightful. I would recommend anyone who is in music, fashion, technology, film and animation to attend the summit next year.

Selina is a recent Digital Journalism and Communication, Media and Film Graduate from the University of Windsor. While in university, she served as the Arts and Culture Writer for The Lance, as well as a writer, interviewing selected individuals for Street Voices Magazine. Her passions include: creative writing, film, and photography. Over the last four months, Selina has collaborated on a documentary exploring sex trafficking and the horrific elements that harbour the untold truths of human trafficking in Windsor/Detroit. She is a: hard working, responsible and caring individual who continues to seek new challenges.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Community News

Forgetting isn’t just something to be annoyed about, it’s a smart way to survive

Published

on

Photo credit - Press Foto

BY KHADIJA KARIM

Have you ever forgotten someone’s name, or where you left your phone and thought, “Why can’t I remember anything?” Forgetting might feel frustrating, but it turns out that forgetting things can actually be good for you. Experts believe forgetting might be an important part of human survival and could even have benefits.

You probably think that remembering everything would be better, right? If you remembered every tiny detail, like what you had for breakfast three weeks ago, or the colour of every car you saw today, you would be overwhelmed. Our brains are constantly receiving information, and if we didn’t forget some of it, we wouldn’t be able to focus on what really matters at that time.

Forgetting helps you clear out information you don’t need, and it helps your brain remember the most useful memories. Think about how hard it would be to focus on important things if your mind was filled with random thoughts. Forgetting helps you stay focused and keeps your mind from getting lost.

So, why would evolution make us forget things? Early humans had to deal with dangerous environments that changed quickly. They needed to remember things that helped them survive, like where to find food, or how to avoid predators. They didn’t need to remember every small detail, like what happened last week. Forgetting information, they didn’t need allowed them to make quick decisions based on what was most important at that moment in time.

For example, if you remember a recent storm, you might make sure to stay inside or find shelter. If you remembered every storm you’d ever seen, it would be harder to make decisions about the present. Forgetting irrelevant details helps you stay on your feet and helps you react faster to new situations. This ability to forget likely helped early humans survive and make better decisions in their everyday lives.

Next time you forget something, don’t be too hard on yourself! Forgetting is a natural part of how our brains work and can actually help you stay focused on the important things. It might seem annoying at times, but it’s helping you make better decisions. Forgetting isn’t just something to be annoyed about, it’s a smart way to survive in a world that’s always changing!

Continue Reading

Community News

Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms

Published

on

Photo Credit: AI Image

BY ADRIAN REECE

Representation in the workforce has been a topic of conversation for years, particularly in positions of influence, where people can shift laws and create fair policies for all races. Representation in the legal system is an even more talked about subject, with many Black men being subjected to racism in courts and not being given fair sentencing by judges.

The fear of Black men entering the system is something that plagues mothers and fathers as they watch their children grow up.

Blink Equity, a company led by Pako Tshiamala, has created an audit called the Blink Score. This audit targets law firms and seeks to identify specific practices reflecting racial diversity among them in Toronto. A score is given based on a few key performance indicators. These KPIs include hiring practices, retention of diverse talent, and racial representation at every level.

The Blink Score project aims to analyze law firms in Ontario with more than 50 lawyers. The Blink Score is a measurement tool that holds law firms accountable for their representation. Firms will be ranked, and the information will be made public for anyone to access.

This process is ambitious and seeks to give Canadian citizens a glimpse into how many people are represented across the legal field. While more and more people have access to higher education, there is still a gap between obtaining that higher education and working in a setting where change can be made. The corporate world, at its highest points, is almost always one race across the board, and very rarely do people of colour get into their ranks. They are made out to be an example of how anyone from a particular race can achieve success. However, this is the exception, not the rule. Nepotism plays a role in societal success; connections are a factor, and loyalty to race, even if people are acquainted.

People of colour comprise 16% of the total lawyers across the province. Positions at all levels range from 6% to 27%. These numbers display the racial disparity among law practitioners in positions of influence. Becoming a lawyer is undoubtedly a huge accomplishment. Still, when entering the workforce with other seasoned professionals, your academic accolades become second to your professional achievements and your position in the company.

What do these rankings ultimately mean? A potential for DEI-inclusive practices, perhaps? That isn’t something that someone would want in this kind of profession. This kind of audit also opens law firms up to intense criticism from people who put merit above all other aspects of professional advancement. On the other hand, there is a potential for firms to receive clientele based on their blink score, with higher ones having the chance to bring in more race-based clients who can help that law firm grow.

It is only the beginning, and changes will undoubtedly be made in the legal field as Blink Equity continues to dive deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in these law firms. This audit has the power to shift the power scale, and place people of colour in higher positions. There are hierarchies in any profession, and while every Lawyer is qualified to do what they are trained to do, it is no shock that some are considerably better than others at their jobs. The ones who know how to use this audit to their advantage will rise above the others and create a representative image for themselves among their population.

Continue Reading

Community News

“The Pfizer Papers!” Documentation of worldwide genocide

Published

on

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

We are living in a world where promises of health and safety came packaged in a tiny vial, one injection was promoted by powerful governments, supported by respected institutions, and championed by legacy media worldwide. Sadly, beneath the surface, a darker truth emerged.

Reports from around the globe began to tell a different story—one that was not covered in the news cycles or press conferences. Families torn apart by unexpected losses, communities impacted in ways that few could have foreseen, and millions questioning what they had been told to believe.

Those who dared to question were silenced or dismissed (the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper being one of those sources). “Trust the science,” we were told. “It’s for the greater good.” As time went on, the truth became impossible to ignore.

Now, I bring more news to light—information that demands your attention and scrutiny. The time to passively listen has passed; this is the moment to understand what’s really at stake.

I reviewed an interview with Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, which detailed the serious vaccine-related injuries that Pfizer and the FDA knew of by early 2021, but tried to hide from the public. I was introduced to “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity.” What I learned is that Pfizer knew about the inadequacies of its COVID-19 vaccine trials and the vaccine’s many serious adverse effects, and so did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA promoted the vaccines anyway — and later tried to hide the data from the public.

To produce “The Pfizer Papers,” Naomi, and Daily Clout Chief Operations Officer Amy Kelly convened thousands of volunteer scientists and doctors to analyze Pfizer data and supplementary data from other public reporting systems to capture the full scope of the vaccines’ effects. They obtained the data from the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of more than 30 medical professionals and scientists who sued the FDA in 2021 and forced the agency to release the data, after the FDA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.

It was then that the federal court ordered the agency to release 450,000 internal documents pertaining to the licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The data release was significantly and the documents so highly technical and scientific that according to Naomi, “No journalist could have the bandwidth to go through them all.”

The “Pfizer Papers” analysts found over 42,000 case reports detailing 158,893 adverse events reported to Pfizer in the first three months The centerpiece of “The Pfizer Papers” is the effect that the vaccine had on human reproduction. The papers reveal that Pfizer knew early on that the shots were causing menstrual issues. The company reported to the FDA that 72% of the recorded adverse events were in women. Of those, about 16% involved reproductive disorders and functions. In the clinical trials, thousands of women experienced: daily bleeding, hemorrhaging, and passing of tissue, and many other women reported that their menstrual cycle stopped completely.

Pfizer was aware that lipid nanoparticles from the shots accumulated in the ovaries and crossed the placental barrier, compromising the placenta and keeping nutrients from the baby in utero. According to the data, babies had to be delivered early, and women were hemorrhaging in childbirth.

Let us take us to another part of the world, where research has been done on other pharmaceutical companies. A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines (according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research).

The samples also contained 11 of the 15 rare earth elements (they are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing). These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals, but have been shown to be highly toxic. By the end of 2023, global researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.

Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers, or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert. Why is this important? Well, researchers argue it is because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.

In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.

The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.

“All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health,” the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.

I am not going to go any further with this; I think you get the picture. We have been sold wolf cookies, very dangerous ones. These pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable. I am proud of anyone who has gone after them for retribution, and have received it. Regardless, in many ways, there is no repayment for a healthy life.

REFERENCES:

https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/111

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/why-a-judge-ordered-fda-to-release-covid-19-vaccine-data-pronto

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/toxic-exposures/

Pfizer’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ — and Legacy Media’s Failure to Report on Them

55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines

 

Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency

FDA Should Need Only ‘12 Weeks’ to Release Pfizer Data, Not 75 Years, Plaintiff Calculates

Judge Gives FDA 8 Months, Not 75 Years, to Produce Pfizer Safety Data

Most Studies Show COVID Vaccine Affects Menstrual Cycles, BMJ Review Finds

Report 38: Women Have Two and a Half Times Higher Risk of Adverse Events Than Men. Risk to Female Reproductive Functions Is Higher Still.

 

Continue Reading

Trending