My video on the Great Canadian Appathon

I did a video for our magazine class about the Great Canadian Appathon. The story will be posted in a few days when we have our website launch, but here's the video:

Scarborough cookie factory sells treats at cheap prices

This is one of the sillier stories I've done; even got kicked out by security for it. I was sure to lace the article with puns.

These bags are on sale for $2 each.

Venture northwest of the Scarborough Town Centre and it is easy to start smelling something sweet in the air.

It starts with a whiff passing the chain restaurants along Progress Avenue, and it gets stronger as the inconspicuous industrial outlets west of Brimley Road get closer.

Nestled among the industrial grey is a sign with two red logos: Kraft and Dad’s Cookies.

The Dad’s Cookies Outlet Store sits adjacent to a cookie factory, which has been in operation since 1966. During normal business hours, the public can get Kraft cookies and crackers at kooky prices.

See my report in The Toronto Observer.

I was a (very small) part of a COPA!

The Toronto Star won a bundle of awards at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards this week, and I was a very small part of it.

The newsroom puts a lot of time into training and thinking digitally. It's quite a task, especially for the veteran reporters, to think outside a print medium. But our site has a good mix of interactive features, high-quality videos and bunch of other story-telling tools.

The Star took silver for best news coverage, based on three stories: the Eaton Centre shooting, the federal budget and the Union Station flooding that happened on a Friday at rush hour. I was involved in the latter, writing and updating an article at least 15 times and working the phones while multiple reporters sent me what they saw and heard on the scene. I'm thrilled to have been a small part of our award.

One of the best features the Star won a COPA for was Somalia, Where Famine is a Crime. The site combines videos, photo galleries and captivating writing by videographer Randy Risling and our national security reporter Michelle Shephard (who I'm a huge fan of). You should really take a look at it.

FoodShare's mobile food market brings relief to 'food deserts'

Video to be posted next week.

The parking lot at 90 Mornelle Ct. is nestled by high-rise apartment buildings. Fast food joints and convenience stores are steps away while the two nearest grocery stores are both located up steep hills.

But at this parking lot, on a wet and windy October morning, Marlon Neil and his son Israel have bought plantain, ginger, grapes, carrots and much more.

Every week, the Mobile Good Food Market sends a box truck full of nutritious food to Toronto’s food deserts — high-population areas where fresh food is far and expensive — to be sold at wholesale prices.


See my report in The Toronto Observer.

Don Jail flood sends sewage across 50-bed unit

After a number of overnight shifts due to a wonky course schedule, I was glad to write this story. It was a Star exclusive and my first print byline in weeks, but more importantly it's a story about a serious issue affecting numerous people.

Some of our callers were really distraught, and as a journalist you learn to distance yourself and get the details from people who are suffering. I also co-wrote a follow-up when it this happened again the next day.

Sophia Brown’s 23-year-old son, Tiaven, called her from his unit at the Don Jail.

“He calls me and says, ‘Mom, we’re dying,’ and I can hear the screaming and hollering.”

Three inmates also called the Star Wednesday after a 50-bed section of the jail was flooded with sewage.

See my report in the Toronto Star.

Voyeur websites under scrutiny by police and public

One photo shows a woman in a low-cut top picking up spilled change. Another shows a teenager’s thong rising up her backside.


Colleen Westendorf, a spokesperson for SlutWalk, views such photography on the Internet as harassment of women.

“Voyeurism affects women in the same ways all forms of violence, harassment and sexism affect women,” Westendorf said. “Women are denied ownership and agency of their own bodies.”

Cheap, portable cameras have made it easy to take photos of people without them knowing they’re being watched. But anonymous Internet forums have given voyeurism a means of showcasing thousands of photos of unassuming women exposed to anonymous gazes.


See my report in The Toronto Observer.