Just a short distance from Yonge Street, one of Toronto’s most well-known streets, lies Ryerson’s main drag, Gould Street. Though it’s commonly used to shuttle between school buildings, Gould is more than just a thoroughfare — it’s a place where passersby pause.
Here are snippets of what people are thinking about this week:
Andrew Watts, First-year, master’s in film and photography preservation and collections management
“In my final year of my undergrad I was a research assistant for my professor, who was working on a database of amateur films and filmmakers. And that put me in contact with a lot of archives and sort of made me aware of the nature of archival work and the need for archivists to start digitally, or in other ways, preserving films … We also had a collection of 16mm films at the University of Calgary that I did a directed study on … There’s tons of stuff that’s been sitting in archives that hasn’t been put on a digital platform for people to view it … There are jobs out there, it’s not something that I’m concerned about really cause I feel like going to school solely for the prospect of getting a job after is just stupid and defeats the point of education. But I also have student loans to pay off, so obviously getting a job is something that would help … I definitely have ideas. Skateboarding, photography and filming have always, since skateboarding’s conception, been linked in some way, whether it’s documenting it for magazines or creating videos. There’s really not a lot academically written on skateboarding photography or videography so that’s definitely something that I’ve pondered in the past, like is there some way I can do something with this? But that’s like a distant dream sort of thing.”
Amrit Bhandal, Second-year, accounting and finance
“I feel like accounting and finance have more money in it … I wanted to go into fashion at first, I applied to Ryerson’s fashion program too. I got into their communications program, but I didn’t end up going through with it because my mom was like, ‘you’re not going to make any money blah blah blah blah blah’ — you know how parents are.”
Anonymous, Fourth-year, new media
“I was smoking, I didn’t want anyone to catch my second-hand smoke so this is the perfect spot … I suffer from anxiety and depression and it was pretty bad like two years ago. I’m actually doing fine now. People watching is my solution for that I guess, to get used to people … You can see tons of emotions in people’s faces, it’s kind of fun. I can sort of feel what they feel in that moment.”
Orman Forde, Campus custodian
“You get the rough days and you get the smooth days and you just take everything you get … I’ve been here for about 30 years … but don’t worry, I’m close to retirement. I’ll be back and forth between the island and here. I’m from Trinidad & Tobago … I know a lot of people around campus, I have a lot friends. I see the new sets of students come in, study, leave and new ones come in … Life is good, people are good … I don’t like to sit in one place, I like to move, so this is pretty good what I’m doing now all over the campus.”
Ricky Cheung, Alumni, computer sciences 2017
“I’m [on campus] to meet some old friends I recently graduated with … I knew them since first-year university … I miss their company… I would be the person [in our group] that’s level headed, tries to be the right-man. If everyone’s throwing around crazy ideas I’ll be like ‘guys, we kinda need to get this done, let’s not go over the top’… I like to fill the role that no one else is filling, so if we don’t really have a hype person I’ll fill that in … I just like to fill a niche that’s not been taken up or something that’s needed … In my family, I’m the youngest of the youngest … I like to keep quiet, keep my head down. If someone asks me a question, I answer. But I don’t really take the initiative to try and ask them things myself … I wouldn’t interact with my friends the same way I do in front of family because there’s the pressure for my [Chinese] heritage. If you’re the lowest in the family, you’re very polite to your elders, you don’t act up — you try to not embarrass them essentially. But, with friends, I don’t really have the pressure to act a certain image and I can be whatever I want or however I want according to the situation.”
Julia, Second-year, new media
“I think technology opens up a whole other world to explore. A lot of people say that there’s stuff you can’t make in real life but you can make it real online … Right now I’m thinking a lot about internet security and how much we’re actually showing online. You think you’re just going to a website, but really it’s tracking everything you do … You’ll see ads on the side for shit you already looked up … You’re sharing so much more than you think … People don’t care. Now they have that face scan thing on the new iPhone … What the hell are people going to do with that? I don’t think I’m as paranoid as I should be. Most people should be more concerned with what’s going on … It makes me wonder, too, why don’t I care about it more?”