Who Are We?

Amber Hanson

1. What I saw...
   • Rainbows: everything was so bright and vibrant.
   • Middle aged men: the majority of the people we saw in the district were this.
   • Cleanliness: everything was so well put together, I don't think I even saw one piece of garbage on the ground.
   • Public displays of affection: there were alot of same sex couples just casually walking down the street holding hands or openly touching each other without fear of discrimination.
   • Exposed bodies: mostly young males without shirts on in posters and magazines but there were also she-males, which I wouldn't ordinarily see just walking down the street.
   
   
2. What I smelled...
   • Fresh air: everything smelled so clean, it didn't even feel like conventional Toronto.
   • Vietnamese food: I think I just remember it because it was the first real smell I noticed as we walked onto the street.
   
   
3. What I heard...
   • Disco: more disco then I have ever heard in my life playing in almost every store and resturant.
   • Laughter: everyone whose conversations I kind of evesdropped on were always laughing and everything has a sexual undertone to it.
   
   
4. What I tasted...
   • Deep-fried Mac and Cheese: I never thought I would see the day. The outside was crunchy and the inside gooey. It was actually pretty good.
   • Sun dried tomatoes on multi-colored corn chips: Tasted like nachos but more dry... and fun?
   • Some meatball thing: It was supposed to be chicken but I swear it was pork. The brown sauce tasted like Thai and it was spicy. It was so good I ate it with the lettuce garnish.
   
   
5. How I felt...
   • Awkward: When I first arrived I felt a little awkward because I had never been there before and everything was so over-the-top, it was hard to adjust to at first.
   • Guilty: I felt really guilty because people kept walking up to me and talking to me and I kind of just gave one word answers and would walk away. It felt like I just forgot how to communicate.
   • Free: As the day progressed I felt more and more at ease because everyone we talked to was so welcoming and nice. It seemed like they didn't care about anything other then what kind of person you are.

Arina Matveev

1. What I saw...
   • Every where i went there were rainbow flags and rainbows were drawen every where.
   • A doggy chewing on a penis shaped bone
   • Mostly men in there 30s
   • Everything is colourful and sparkaly
   • Pictures of men with out their sherts
   • Men who are not cross dressers wearing make up.
   
   
2. What I smelled...
   • The air there is very clean.
   • You can really smell the coffee and the thai food
   
   
3. What I tasted...
   • At Zelda's i had a cheese burger with fries, it was pretty good.
   • Orange juice
   
   
4. What I heard...
   • Every one is very nice to every one. So i herd a lot of sweetie and honey
   • Almost every where they play dance and disco music.
   
   
5. How I felt...
   • At the beginning i felt really akward and out of place.
   • I felt really uncofterable when i first got into the book store
   • After listening to a lot of dance and disco music, it really got my mood up.
   • I feel really uncomfortable around cross dressers. Even by the end of our trip.

Jessica Paquette

1. What I saw...
   • "Everywhere we went people went out of their way to be nice and chatty"
   • There was a dog... "that was always tearing at the carpet and chewing on a penis shaped dog bone"
   • "...overtly sexual content everywhere in the gay district"
   • "There were lots of sparkly decorations in the restaurant"
   
   
2. What I smelled...
   • "I didnt find there to be many distinct smells except maybe of coffee, beer and thai food"
   
   
3. What I tasted...
   • "The food was mostly traditional pubfare with nachos and shepards pie"
   
   
4. What I heard...
   • "...everywhere we went (except for the bookstore) they were playing disco"
   
   
5. How I felt...
   • "I found that we were opened up in our conversations and I felt more comfortable discussing sex than I usually do"
   • "It (the disco music) created a certain energy that made me kind of hyper"
   • "I felt very comfortable on Church St."
   • "I definately will go back to visit again and again in this district of Toronto"