Photos and writing by guest contributor Arieh Singer.

Last weekend I went with my friend Hamutal to pick fresh organic strawberries at Applewood Farm Winery in Stouffville. Each 8-litre bucket was $15, and we each purchased three of them.

After we came home, it was time to learn how to make jam, and Hummy taught me all there was to know. The entire process took a few hours, but was filled with all kinds of interesting ways to use strawberries. Presently I have jam, frozen berries, strawberry-infused vodka, strawberry puree popsicles, and other goodies. It was a whole day of strawberry yumminess!

Photo taken and question posed by guest contributor Steven de Sousa.

Sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words, and sometimes a photo very poignantly asks a very direct question. What are your thoughts on the commonly observed yet rarely addressed problem of recycling sorting (not just on the TTC)? Is it a problem of illiteracy, apathy, or ignorance?

Writing and photo by guest contributor Louis Papa.

I used to go the Uptown Theatre a lot when I was young. I loved it. It was a big, old-style theatre, and just a short walk outside to one busy intersection. To me, there was nothing better than coming out of a good movie and walking up to Yonge & Bloor and feeling like I was part of a big city. Of course, that was me, when I was just 12 years old. Now, most Torontonians, including myself, would laugh at the thought of Yonge & Bloor representing them and this city.

But that's about to change for quite a few people.

Already under construction on Balmuto, just behind Yonge St. and south of Bloor, are both the Uptown Residences Condominium and the Crystal Blu. Both are huge, with plenty of units, and are very expensive. Also, just down the street on Charles, two more Condos are going up: Casa and the Bloor Street Neighbourhood. But all of that is just a warm-up and a sideshow for what will eventually hit the famed intersection of Yonge & Bloor - 1 Bloor East.

Photos and writing by guest contributor ~EvidencE~.

Don Valley Brickworks ~ My Industrial Playground

Two years before joining Flickr, I came across the work of a photographer named "sigma." and his photos of the Don Valley Brickworks. So amazed by the stunning light rays, I was inspired by his work and I craved to go there.

My first visit to the Brickworks came on a Sunday morning back in 2005. Walking in for the first time and adjusting my eyes to the darkness, the sounds of silence and the musty, industrial scent were memorable. I stood in awe watching the light rays stream through the holes in the roof. Seeing them and being there for the first time was truly magical, and knowing that so much important Toronto history was sitting there abandoned really affected me.

Writing and photo by guest contributor Robert Near.

Smart!Centres has been trying to build a big box development on Eastern Avenue for years, and community organizers have been opposing them just as long. Finally, things come to a head on May 20th, 2008: the date of the first Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing, where the controversial, often-hated board decides if the residents of Leslieville will get a giant strip mall of their own. 1900 parking spaces, 18 acres, a destination commercial centre.

"We see [the area] as a gateway to our community," says Kelly Carmichael, an organizer for the East Toronto Community Coalition. "It's time the community gets something a bit different. It feels like everything gets dumped here."

Contributed by Jessica McGann

Like many an alternative news weekly reader across Canada, I got a jolt and a giggle this morning when I flipped through Now Magazine and came across a full-page ad for Lululemon's new men's workout outfit called The Mansy.

An aptly named onesy for men, the red leotard rides high up on the hips and leaves only a thin strip of undercarriage fabric to hammock the banana in. The model - Derrick Belcham - Men's Naked Yoga Guru - is striking a blissfully suggestive Warrior 1 on Vancouver's Kitsilano Beach, while presumably mooning swimmers in the water behind him in this only mildly more respectable version of Borat's famous bathing suit.

Not once did it occur to me that this might be a joke. I scoffed at the Mansy's impractical fit - the abundance of material covering the torso, combined with the not-so-inconspicuous budgie-smuggling going on down below - and reflected on how the unrelenting market demand for lifestyle clothing, with its attendant statements about the wearer's beliefs and social class, had truly reached an absurb fever pitch.