Tag Archives: community

Music, podcast

Farley Flex

My next guest was an early manager of Canadian hip hop legend, Maestro Fresh Wes.

He also spent a dozen years convincing the CRTC to give him and his partners a licence for Canada’s first urban radio station, FLOW 93.5.

He spent 6 seasons as a judge with Canadian Idol alongside one of my favourite rock voices, Sass Jordan.

Today he spends a lot of his time executing intercultural conflict management workshops and seminars as well as programs focused on community capacity building as well as youth and community engagement.

Please welcome to the show, Farley Flex.

This is Episode #169 of the Welcome! podcast.

Listen here: 

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You can also subscribe to the podcast via RSS Feed if you so desire.

Toronto

Going back to the library

We finally went back to the library this weekend. It’s been a while to be honest. We used to go a lot when Kahzmir was much younger and when I still used to watch movies on my DVD player.

Toronto Public Library

I used to spend lots of time at the library. In middle school I would go early to JB Tyrell and hang in the library. In high school I used to go to Fairview Public Library on the weekends. Yes, it was a place to do my homework. But it was also a place to socialize with my friends. In university I would travel over an hour to go to York University on the weekend. Yes, to do homework. Which I could have done at home. But also to hang with my friends.

Libraries are more than just a place that collects books. It’s a community hub.

The timing was right to get back to visiting our local library. We’re reading less. Yet, we know how important reading is. Both as entertainment and for learning. And Toronto’s libraries offer some really cool programming for kids and adults.

This weekend we visited Cedarbrae Library in Scarborough. Every weekend we’re going to try and visit a different library in Toronto.

Cedarbrae Library
Source: Toronto Public Library

Here are the books I took out:

The Marriot Cell

Let The Games Begin

If you have a book you’d like to recommend to me, please let me know in the comments section.

podcast

Welcome #44: George Smitherman

Last episode I chatted with Scarborough area MP Salma Zahid. In that enlightening conversation one of the things we learned about Salma was that her political mentor is George Smitherman.

Today, we talk with the one-time Toronto mayoral candidate, former Liberal MPP and Ontario’s first openly gay MPP and Ontario cabinet minister, George Smitherman.

Here’s my conversation with George Smitherman.

Music by Aafraz Mulji.

Listen below:

Girth Radio
MixCloud 
iTunes
Google Play Music
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TuneIn
You can also subscribe to the podcast via RSS Feed if you’re so inclined.

Uncategorized

#FollowFriday: Bonnie and Ray of People & Code

Look up the word community and you should see a photo of Bonnie Lui and Ray Kao.

This dynamic duo have flown under the radar for much too long in Toronto. Bonnie and Ray are the husband and wife team behind brands such as Learn Toronto, Mobile Startups TO, People & Code and much more. I first met Ray at his co-working space in Scarborough called The Work Republic. Since closed, they can now be found in another common space of sorts just a few steps away from Much Music headquarters in downtown Toronto.

Ever since I have known them they have been generous with their time, expertise, knowledge and resources. They both also happen to be a very talented pair of business people. If you need a nimble team to build your website or app, you should give People & Code a serious look.

I am honoured to call both Bonnie and Ray friends.

Over a year ago I spoke with Ray about his projects and his thoughts:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD_OWFvN8Xs&w=560&h=315]

Who would you like to see featured in my weekly #FollowFriday? Let me know in the comments below. Or tweet me!