Today is Thursday, August 1, 2019; I am your host Stone and this is The Whitby Report!
Weather
As always we start with the weather, it’s a very lovely 25°C with NO HUMIDITY! Wow! We’re expecting to stay at this temperature for the rest of the day. Again, get your kids outdoors. Water, sunscreen, ball caps, whatever; get ’em out there to play.
Local News
Today we discuss an op-ed from Mayor Don Mitchell, posted this morning at the wee hours of 4am. Source: https://www.durhamregion.com/opinion-story/9520006-whitby-developing-a-culture-plan/. The initial question posed is ‘What does culture in Whitby mean to you?’
Stone’s Take
My culture is that of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Victoria Day, and Canada Day. Overall, I think I would view the culture in Whitby as very inclusive for ‘minority cultures’; my neighbours celebrate different things and sometimes they bring me sweet-treats and I badly mispronounce the name of what they are celebrating. They see me trying and don’t expect me to understand it right away. Vice versa.
It used to bother me when people used the term ‘Happy Holidays’ but it doesn’t anymore. I still wish people Merry Christmas and when folks say Happy Hannukah, I smile and say ‘Thanks’ because I know their intent. They’re celebrating stuff too and that’s cool by me.
Unfortunately I don’t get to spend a lot of time at any local theatre or art galleries. I’ve heard of Courthouse Theatre and would love to go one day. Having events like the Whitby Festival, bringing local businesses together and such, is a key part of why I love Whitby. I like events like this where we all just want to eat, laugh, and listen to music together.
Culture in Whitby is the inclusiveness; where we don’t necessarily care about our differences, but we bond over this amazing town. In all, having more events will let me hang out with good people who want to make Whitby that much better.