Words for Word on the Street by guest blogger, cJ

It was nice to see Victoria Park (somewhat) bustling with activity for Word on the Street this past Sunday. I decided to spend a couple of hours checking it out, and came to learn that the "word on the street"

was apparently the word of god. Annoyingly, various religious (or in the case of the Freethinkers, non-religious) organizations, almost out-numbered the literary booths. And the various evangelists were far more outgoing and interactive than the publishers and authors. I have nothing against these organizations, but if I wanted to spend my Sunday being preached to, I would have stayed at home and watched "The Hour of Power".

I caught Whitney Lackenbauer talking about his new book, "Arctic Front", which was pretty cool. They also played a video of Margret Atwood reading. In retrospect I'm pretty surprised that there were as many local publishers and authors and bookstores, as there were on Sunday, but I really wish they did more than sit there and stare at the people passing by.

Only Kava Bean Commons, Matter of Taste, and a small juice stand were providing sustenance, so we left in search of food. I'll probably go again next year, but the experience overall was a bit underwhelming.

-cJ