I like organizing, hosting, and talking at small events and shows. Sometimes I write things.
Online hosting
For the last few years I’ve been organizing and hosting programs with Megaphonic.fm, a podcast network that branched out into livestreams during the pandemic. Most recently, there’s been Kitchen Party, a regular livestream in which my friend Jared Pechacek cooks an ambitious dish while several guests and I virtually hang out in his Seattle kitchen and chat while watching him work. We do this roughly once a month — you can watch past episodes on YouTube here, and check my Twitter feed for upcoming shows.
I started at Megaphonic in 2018 with The Opposite of Lonely, a podcast about social connection and how people find it. I had some wonderful conversations about co-housing, co-working, social awkwardness, holidays, motherhood, and much more. All 15 episodes are available here.
You can find all of Megaphonic’s fancy little shows about people and culture here.
(Opposite of Lonely logo by Chris Piuma.)
Walking
I discovered the joys of going on walks with groups of friends in 2005, when I joined the Toronto Psychogeography Society, an informal, loose-knit social group who would go on strolls every Thursday night. (I wrote about one of those walks for Spacing Magazine.) When that group became defunct in the 2010s, I missed it, so I started a new group: Toronto Flânerie. Here’s a longer description of these walks, from 2018. We’ve been much less active since the pandemic started, but you can still join the Facebook group.
(Photo: A walk along Inglewood Drive, December 2017)
In 2019, I gave a talk about these strolls, and walking in the city in general, at “Right to Walk TO: Justice, equity, and the Toronto walking experience,” a panel presentation and discussion presented by Walk Toronto. I talked about how walking is a form of active transportation, but it’s also civic engagement, a way of connecting socially, and a way of discovering the surprises and beautiful details of the city. In short, it connects to many things that we tend not to prioritize because they’re not seen as economically productive, but that are important to our well-being.
(Photos by Lance Gleich)
Having worked and volunteered with Jane’s Walk for years, I led a Jane’s Walk of my own for the first time in 2019! It was called “Ears on the Street: An Eavesdropping Walk,” and here’s the description:
Living in a city, walking through crowds of strangers every day, it can be easy to forget that each one of those people has a story of their own. On this walk, you’ll be invited to tune in to the voices all around you, picking up fragments of drama, comedy, and everyday life. We’ll spread out, walk through busy places, then reconvene at each stop to talk about what we heard. Bring your favourite “overheard in Toronto” moments — I’ll share a few of my own. We’ll talk about writers who work with found dialogue, issues of privacy in public space, and the art of listening.
(Photo of some of my walk participants by Katie Burbine)
Squiddity
From early 2005 through 2008, before social media really took off, I had a blog called Squiddity. You can still read it here.
Nadia Halim 