July 27: Bloomin' Irises

I pay $40 to experience of one of the few public health sanctioned diversions this summer: the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. Any outlet for a bit of enjoyment is welcome.  

I spent the past 1½ decades living a couple blocks from Toronto Star’s iconic address at 1 Yonge Street, yet I enter its doors for the first time.  Outside, embedded into the pavement is a marker for Yonge Street’s KM 0, once proclaimed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest street in the world, meandering 1896 km through most of Ontario into the next time zone to Rainy River. The street has now been redefined and is only a mere 56 km long.

Inside the cavernous room that once housed the paper’s printing presses, Van Gogh’s tableaux are brought to life.  I wander around from circle to circle, marked to ensure appropriate distance from other participants, as I immerse myself in the 35 minute multimedia show.  Supersized irises bloom and stars twinkle over Arles. 

I leave the exhibit to step inside the reception area of the Toronto Star. Investigative journalism is a strong part of its mandate. Among its many great writers was a young Ernest Hemingway.  Robin Doolittle, one of its talented investigative reporters, revealed Rob Ford’s crack cocaine use. I do my part to help the paper’s survival, getting a literal paper copy delivered to me every weekend.  My colleague remarks,”How old school is that!”