"Think we'll turn back? YOU DON'T KNOW JACK."

[commodorified]

City Hall was good. No pre-organisation to speak of, no speeches; just a big quiet hugfest.

Someone read Jack's letter, and at one point there was a piper; I don't think anyone appointed him, as such, he just showed up and played. Later, a woman up on the ramp began to sing O Canada, beautifully; everyone joined in.

I saw/talked to/hugged/ended up at the pub with/check as many as apply zingerella, chickenfeet, lemur_catta, northbard, tormenta, trouble and several more friends, plus there were some I expected to see but who were out of town or couldn't get there or we just missed each other.

And this happened:

I wanted to take ... I don't know, something. Flowers didn't seem right. So I bought a couple of boxes of chalk.

And, as both benet and fairestcat texted me to say, I accidentally ended up on the CBC website.



When I was done I left the chalk on the ground by the ramp, and ... things got sort of splendidly out-of-hand.






I tried at one point to count the languages on the wall, but gave up. Mostly English, but French, Spanish, Greek, and I think Mandarin, as well as Vietnamese and I know not what all else.

Other sizes and the rest of Blackbird_012's great pictures of today are here.

ETA: and zingerella made the Globe and Mail.



And Blog T.O. has some great photos, including this one:

Comments

[auriaephiala]

Oh My God.... You are an inspired and inspiring woman!

That was a good response.

[commodorified]

I got lucky ... usually I think of these things on the way home.

[xinef]

Andrew mentioned the chalk tributes - I guess he heard about it on the radio and saw someone's posted photos on FB. So I gave him a link to this blog entry, and told him that you'd started it. He was suitably impressed! (not exactly surprised)

[commodorified]

HI ANDREW HI HI HI!

[toft]

Oh, that's so lovely!

[timberwolfoz]

How lovely. And how fortunate you were to have a politician who inspired such an outpouring of grief and love.

I can only think of a couple of pollies here who would elicit anything near the response for your Jack Layton, and I'm well aware that one is largely disregarded and the other is loathed by a large section of the population for his politics. Which is sad.

[meieresque]

Damn, woman that is quite a memorial you set in motion. I am so proud to have you in my family. You go....

[ironed_orchid]

That is a beautiful way to remember someone.

[wordweaverlynn]

How wonderful.

[ironphoenix]

Oh, very well done!

[prairiedaun.livejournal.com]

Amazing. Thank you.

[trouble]

Oh my gosh, it got a lot bigger after we left. I'm happy.

Are you still in Toronto? I think I heard you say you were leaving ridiculously early this morning, but if you are still in the city I'd love to see you again before you leave. <3!

[kyriacarlisle]

I feel like "things got sort of splendidly out-of-hand" is the best possible summation.

[j_v_lynch]

Thank you for posting this.
May I share it?

[commodorified]

Yes, absolutely.

[merrily]

Aha, it was YOU who brought the chalk! Excellently done!

[brownbetty]

We're lucky you use your powers for good.

[ursamajor]

From what I've been reading, Jack Layton sounds like he was a mensch, and Canada was lucky to have someone like him.

I was in Toronto last October; we stayed right by Toronto City Hall, and walked through the plaza every morning. It was fairly quiet then, but I'm glad I have that experience of the space to reflect on when looking at these pictures, the swell of hundreds, thousands of people paying tribute. Amazing.

(Also, the person writing legibly upside-down? I am impressed; I have a hard enough time doing that on a piece of paper!)

[sara]

That's just beautiful. *beams*

[baggyeyes]

That's beautiful.

[kareila]

I'd never heard of Jack Layton before yesterday, but this moved me to tears. Thank you.

[giglet]

That's wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

[amorettea]

When you life runs its course, you can look back and say, honestly, I once did something utterly brilliant and good for the world.

Thank you

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for using my photos! As a correction, my Flickr account is Blackbird_012 (you have an extra '2'). Check back later tonight, I'll be going back since it's grown. You can find me on twitter: @Blackbird_2

[julian]

That there was a good thing you did.

The bagpipist made me smile.

And I mean this in the best possible way, but Jack Layton appears to have been a bit of a nerd when he was younger.

[scrollgirl]

Have you seen this?

[julian]

...I actually had, but I filed it in my head as "A politician," and forgot it was him.

Heeeee.

[deakat]

I adore that photo. Was wondering where I might track down a copy, and here it is. Thank you!

[scrollgirl]

You're welcome! FYI, according to Toronto Star, the photographer is Scott Rogers.

[valancy]

this is just incredible! what a wonderful idea.

[scrollgirl]

Thank you so much for the wonderful idea of leaving messages.

I voted NDP in a federal election for the first time this year (I live in a Liberal stronghold that went Conservative), and it was because of Jack Layton. This is so sad.

[blueswan]

What a wonderful tribute to Jack Layton and all because of your boxes of chalk. That's really something.

[amadi]

I mourn with my Canadian friends who have lost an inspiring leader. What a beautiful tribute you started for him.

[merrily]

And things continue to get even more splendidly out of hand!

[rydra_wong]

Via james_davis_nicoll:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6065/6076393292_1b87fd7d39_o.jpg

Holy crap.

You started something amazing.

I admit I hadn't heard of Jack Layton before this, but he must have been truly special to have earned this kind of tribute.

[kiki_eng]

That is amazing. Thank you.

[emceeaich]

I am lucky to know such epic folk as you.

Well done.

[deakat]

You are awesome. Thank you for starting a beautiful thing.

[kore]

Oh wow, that's beautiful.

Made me sob in front of my monitor, no lie.

[hypatia]

i just saw this now, and also started ;_;