By Michael Warren

Where are the studios in Scarborough? What venues does Mississauga have going for it? What's the scene like in Thornhill? Michael J. Warren speaks with Korry Deez, Junia-T and April Aliermo (of Hooded Fang, Phédre) about cultivating their art in and out of the downtown core.

You can find more episodes of The Sum Up Podcast at their PodOmatic page!

the east to west issue

Farewell to Flemingdon Park

A co-worker once said my neighbourhood was a place he could “get weed and a hooker in less than 10 minutes.” To me it was home.

Your Hakka Fix, The Ethnic Aisle Way!

These are our favourite Hakka Chinese restaurants in the GTA. (Why are we even telling you this?!)

Native son: Creating dancers in Scarborough

Paul “Kaze” Thurton has stayed suburban on purpose.

West to Downtown: the Islington 37

This trip, twice a day, five days a week, wears the nerves raw.

Chinatown Here, There and Everywhere

Does being in a certain neighbourhood render a store “ethnic retail”?

North York Redeemed. Maybe.

Toronto's new Aga Khan museum evades the staleness that often greets “purposeful” multiculturalism.

Thomson Park > Trinity Bellwoods

Like the Victorians of yore, the suburbanites enjoying Toronto's green spaces show the proper mix of exuberance and respect.

Black Lives Matter in Brampton, Too

On the death of Jermaine Carby, who was shot by the Peel police.

Corner Talk: Mississauga’s Five and Ten

The intersection of Hurontario and Dundas Streets is a study in supply and demand.

Main Artery: a trip across the 401

The 401 remains my urban lifeline: every exit tells a story.

Pacific Mall: You’re perfect, don’t change

Bootlegged goods, Badtz Maru and bubble tea.

Beats from the Burbs

Scarborough studios, Mississauga clubs and the Thornhill scene: GTA musicians on cultivating their art in and out of the downtown core.

Soko Negash

Remedy in Practice: A Still Life

For centuries, community-focused care and ancestral healing knowledge have existed as practices of resistance and freedom for folks of colour.

Joy Henderson

Wanted: Health Care That Works For Indigenous Women

I wish I could share a different story of my reproductive life, one filled with love and ancient wisdom. But like the stories of many Indigenous women, mine reflects Canada’s ongoing legacy of colonization.

Shazlin Rahman

Wellness Begins At Home, But Where Is That?

Our identities, no matter how malleable or elastic, are rooted in geographical locations. How do you get well when your wellness is connected to home, and home is thousands of miles away?

Janika Oza

Confessions Of A Brown Yoga Teacher

As an Indian yoga teacher in white spaces, I occupy a strange position: trying to honour the yogic tradition that I grew up with and simultaneously feeling unwelcome in the space.

Melissa Haughton

Cash Rules Everything Around Me—Especially My Health

Saving money for school, managing competing schedules and spending hours on public transit put immense pressure on me, and left no time to prioritize my health.

Michelle Kay

The Sipping Point: Lessons From Mom's Kitchen

Chinese food and certain aspects of Eastern medicine have entered the mainstream, but traditional Chinese medicine is often regarded with suspicion and sometimes labelled as pseudoscience.

The Ethnic Aisle Archives

Beats from the Burbs

The Ethnic Aisle

ethnicaisle@gmail.com I theethnicaisle.com