Silly and serious thoughts at year-end

ERIC MCMILLAN, Editor-in-Chief

There wasn’t exactly a rush to the barricades — or to the tents — after our stirring call for an Occupy Vaughan movement last month. Then again, I suppose it wasn’t quite stirring. Some would say it was tongue-in-cheek. I think our publisher called it “whimsical” in her message in this space.

We were using the risings and beddings elsewhere as an excuse to look at Vaughan-style activism — of which we have some very serious practitioners.

In this issue, writer-broadcaster Sandie Benitah, at her  own instigation, has included Occupy Vaughan on her Christmas wish list. She has both heavier and lighter items on her list, as she too is using a lively tone to make more serious points.

However, at the risk of diluting her efforts, I would like to add one more wish to her list. Vaughan used call itself the “City Above Toronto,” which, after the first round of titters, everyone agreed was a terrible slogan. Recently it has been supplanted by “The Place to Be.” (I’m not clear how official this is.)

This new slogan is not only ridiculously vague but it’s shared with several other North American municipalities. Are they all the places to be? More to the point is the question: the place to be what?

Santa, can you bring us a better, more stirring slogan?