The Word On The Street Rocks Pride!

I live on the corner of Mutual and Gerrard, in a very nice house with a close friend of mine who happens to be one of the stars of Degrassi the Next Generation. I pretty much live in the village, which means when Pride starts I get to party every night. My street gets noisy. There are people everywhere. And there is a real sense of joy and celebration and Toronto all of a sudden feels like the best place on earth (we know that most of the time it isn't).

My Pride experience last year was pretty great. I remember standing and watching the Pride Parade while eating an ice cream cone and thinking “this is quite fun, I think that I can handle this.” And then someone shot me in the eye with a water gun and I actually got kind of mad.

Perhaps I’ve grown a little square in my old age? I’m not even old. But I feel old. I’m 26. And that’s kind of old.

Yes. I’m old.

The Word On The Street is going to be at Pride. We’ll be there on Saturday, June 28th and Sunday, June 29th, starting at 3pm at James Canning Park. We are partnering with Pride to showcase our Proud Voices program and I encourage you to come and join us for an afternoon of readings from some of the best and boldest talents in the queer literary scene. Ivan E. Coyote, Shani Mootoo, Emma Donoghue, Neil Smith and Nalo Hopkinson are just some of the authors participating.

The staff of The Word On The Street will also be there. Please come and say hi. Oh, and please make a donation because we love that kind of grassroots support. We'll also be blogging during Pride Week, bringing you the highs, lows, and outstanding good times we’ll be having, celebrating one of the best and most dynamic events the city has to offer.

Check back here for more updates, for fun anecdotes, celebrity sightings and more. If I’m shot in the eye with a water gun, you’ll be the first to know!

For more info on PRIDE, please visit their website at www.pridetoronto.com

J