Funktion Gallery (1244 Bloor St. W) celebrated its one-year anniversary on January 2. The gallery is run by The FacelessFew a collective of graffiti artists. I used to live in the area, and often found myself walking by on my way to the laundromat. The first show Funktion put on, which I noticed on a laundry trip, “A Mysterious Date with Anser,” showcased the galleries graffiti roots. A piece on Funktion Gallery for my feature writing class, is in its preliminary stages.

The Toronto East Detention Centre in Scarborough, Ontario (Wikimedia Commons)

There is a pipeline from school suspension to prisons in Toronto, an analysis from the Toronto Star shows.

Using information collected from freedom of information requests, the Toronto newspaper compared data about high school suspension rates for 2007-08 with postal code data and sentence snapshots for inmate’s in Ontario’s provincial jails. The Star’s analysis showed schools with high suspension rates were most often in areas with high incarceration costs.

An interactive map on the “School, Interrupted” site shows Toronto schools with the high suspension rates in comparison to provincial jail costs by postal code, further supporting the Star’s analysis. Articles on the site discuss the root causes for behavioral problems and activities leading to student suspension.

“They’ve taken social workers out of high schools and put in police officers,” said Jim Rankin, a Star reporter, in a presentation to Ryerson journalism students.

Rankin, works on the Star’s “Crime & Punishment” website, a micro-site devoted to examining Canada’s “tough on crime” policies. He also worked on the “School, Interrupted” a followup site, which looks into student suspensions and expulsions from the Toronto school system.

Rankin talked about the cost/benefit analysis of social programs in areas with high incarceration rates. He said he believes spending more money on ensuring students in these areas have opportunities for success would save the government money as fewer people would be sitting in prison.

A study entitled, “Does Education Reduce Participation in Criminal Activity?”, presented by Professor Enrico Moretti of UC Berkley in 2005, found young males with higher educational achievements had a reduced probability of participating in criminal activity.

Summary: Toronto Star micro-sites show the relationship between suspension rates and incarceration costs per postal code.

The third stop on my cupcake quest, was Miss Cora’s Kitchen, “home to Toronto’s best cupcake?” according to their website. Below this quizzical disclaimer is an invitation to come and be the judge. I had high hopes for this place as not only do they have rave reviews online, but they are in Kensington market, one of my favourite areas in Toronto.

Flavour: Double Chocolate
Cake:3/5
Icing:3/5
Flavour:Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Cake:3/5
Icing:4/5
Presentation:3/5
Flavour Selection:1/5
Location:5/5
Total Points:15/25 and 16/25

Despite my high hopes for Miss Cora’s Kitchen I was disappointed from the moment I arrived at the shop.  I’ve never been a fan of mini cupcakes, as I figure you might as well go for the full thing, but I wasn’t excited enough about the cupcakes here to pick up a full size.  Instead I sampled two mini cupcakes, a chocolate one and a carrot cake with cream cheese icing with them.  There was really limited selection when I went, with three types of mini cupcakes but only one type of full size cupcake.

The chocolate cupcake was dry, despite being towered with a thick chocolate icing.  The large amount of icing felt like a compensation for the small amount of cake, but there was just too much on it – I REALLY like icing and all, but it was a thick glob that I did not enjoy.  The icing was also poorly distributed; I would have preferred it reached the sides and wasn’t piled as high.

I’m a huge fan of cupcakes with cream cheese icing; it’s usually a safe choice as cream cheese icing is pretty difficult to mess up.  In my experience I find cupcake places with poor buttercream icing often make up for it with their cream cheese icing.  The icing on this cupcake was fine, but it wasn’t phenomenal.  I was not a fan of the carrot cake at all.  I’ve been spoiled as my mom makes an amazing carrot cake, but I felt Miss Cora’s Kitchen just needs a better recipe.  The cake had an unpleasant texture – there was also coconut and raisins in the cake, two things I don’t believe belong in carrot cake, but that’s just my opinion.  As it was a small cupcake I found the extra ingredients took away from the cake, as there was too much texture in a small amount of cake.

Both cupcakes are okay in terms of presentation, but they do look quite amateur.  What Miss Cora’s Kitchen makes up for in lack of a good cupcake is in location.  I love Kensington Market – it’s walking distance from my apartment and there’s lots to do.  However, next time I’m in Kensington I’m passing by Miss Cora’s Kitchen for cupcakes, though someone ordered pizza while I was there and it smelled delicious.  All in all I would not recommend the cupcakes there and question who called them Toronto’s Best Cupcake – I don’t believe they’ve ever tasted a really good cupcake.

The 100 Games Cupcake Game is 100 different cupcakes decorated to represent various childhood games. They were part of a New Year’s Eve party, where guests had to guess which games they represented.  My favourite, pictured to the left, is Sonic.  What’s your favourite?

whoa, 21 and invincible
whoa, can’t wait to screw this up
21 and Invincible – Something Corporate

I’ve been listening to Andrew McMahon’s bands for many years; I continue to return to his music throughout the stages of my life. I don’t actually remember when I started listening to Something Corporate, but they instantly became one of my favourite bands.  Though they are playing a show together this year, the band has been suspended since 2004.  I’ve continued to follow Andrew McMahon, with his transition to Jack’s Mannequin, who I hope to go see in February.  Even though their newest album, The Resolution, is by far my favourite of his work, I’ve recently found myself returning to Something Corporate’s second album North. With my twenty-first birthday quickly approaching the song “21 and Invincible” seems quite appropriate – in 2009 I was feeling on top of the world, and I’m just hoping I can keep things going, as I don’t want to screw up and end up back tracking again.  This song reminds me that even when you’re feeling pretty invincible things can change, and while you could sit around waiting to screw up, you could just keep moving forward and stay in charge of your life.  Maybe not the message that Andrew McMahon was writing, but that’s my interpretation of the song.

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions
“The New Year” – Death Cab for Cutie

This year I have opted not to make new years resolutions as I know that the majority of them I will end up breaking.  I arrived back in Toronto yesterday, after spending two and a half weeks in Calgary.  Of course on my visit to Calgary I stopped into Crave Cupcakes.  In December, they were making both gingerbread and eggnog cupcakes as their “craving” of the month.  As I am not a fan of eggnog, I opted to try the gingerbread cupcake.  I did not manage to get a picture of it as it was too delicious!  I also enjoyed my favourite Crave-O-Licious and a Black Angel while I was home.

I am now back in Toronto and ready to start my Cupcake Quest once again.  It will take a few days for me to get re-settled into my apartment, but hopefully by the weekend I will have another review up!