A post-modern Toronto moment

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My girlfriend and I had a post-modern Toronto moment today on the subway. We were on our way home from the Downsview Park Merchant’s Market. We went there solely for the really amazing international food court they have there–you should check out the Salvadorean and Afghani stalls. 

When we boarded the eastbound Keele car, we saw a white woman wearing a wide-brimmed black and gold sombrero. She was quite a sight amongst the parkas and touques. I turned to exchange a glance my girlfriend when I caught sight of a pair of Latino men also looking at the sombrero lady. They were smiling, and one of them snapped a photo of her with his cell phone. This whole scene made me laugh–the Latino men gazing and taking a photo of the sombrero. An upside-down and backwards take on who usually are the ones gazing and taking photos and the ones being observed. Kinda funny, right?

Our quiet laughter caught the attention of a white woman sitting near us. She frowned a little and politely asked if we were laughing at the woman in the big hat. We admitted we were. She respectfully told us that she thought it was great that the sombrero lady was being different, and perhaps was infusing some lightness on the TTC. I think that were being given a bit of a light scolding about not laughing at people who are different.  And I sort of agreed with her, and feeling a tad guilty, stopped laughing.

It was all just a little ironic, though. But this is what being a Torontian feel like to me. A nice white bystanding woman educating the brown tittering gals (with bellies full of kebabs and papusas) who were noticing the smirking (and clicking) Latino men watching the white woman in the big sombrero.   

Sounds like the start of a good story. Maybe.

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