Leslieville Lives; Stories from the ‘Ville: Jo-Anne McArthur

Meet Jo-Anne. I’d first heard of her about 18 months ago, when I made the decision to cut meat & dairy out of my diet. After watching many films on the subject, some gory, some educational/environmental, one in particular stood out: The Ghosts in Our Machine, a Canadian production helmed by another Leslievillian, Liz Marshall.  Jo-Anne was the featured ‘human’ in the film. It focused on her going undercover to expose animal abuse/exploitation around the world, taking photographs of her findings and publishing them. It was compelling, sad and intense.  I had joined a few animal advocate/vegan FB groups shortly after and noticed her name/videos/work popped up on several of them. Recently I shared one of her videos to my personal page and it was no surprise a few FB friends knew her. Jo-Anne is not only a force in the animal advocacy world, she’s also a well-known photographer.  I knew I wanted to know more about her, and when I heard she lived in the neighbourhood I looked her up online, and emailed her about doing this story. When she replied with a ‘yes’, as a huge fan I was happily stunned. I felt like a groupie!READ MORE

Leslieville Lives; Stories from the ‘Ville – Matthew Giffin

Meet Matthew. Artist, musician, designer, songwriter, creator, entrepreneur. I first heard of Matthew when a fellow ‘Villain who’d been following my photo project had messaged me that there was an artist who was a member the I Am A Leslievillian page that I should check out. And I did. I remember messaging Matthew and letting him know I was wowed by his artwork. We had a nice virtual chat and then became FB friends. We just met after nearly a year. Facebook is funny like that. I felt I kind of knew him.

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Leslieville Lives; Stories from the ‘Ville – Shelley Marshall

Meet Shelley. I first met her when a mutual friend asked me to go see a one-woman show back in 2012. I’m always game for new theatre so went along. The show was the first run of Hold Mommy’s Cigarette, celebrating its 4th birthday this week!  We spoke briefly after the show: more a ‘Hi, great show’ type thing and she chatted a bit with our mutual friend. It was only in 2015 that I noticed Shelley’s posts on the I Am A Leslievillian FB page and realized she was a ‘Villian. I remember loving the show and that it was a brave account of her struggle with the mental illness that ran in her family and all the trials and tribulations that go with it. And it was funny. How do you make mental illness humorous? Shelley Marshall can.READ MORE