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Last episode, I mentioned that in London, Ontario, in 2019 a 9-year-old named Lyla Wheeler had launched a petition to rename her street, currently called Plantation Road. This episode, Lyla, now aged nearly thirteen, and her mom Kristin Daley recount the reasons why Lyla campaigned for this name change, how the neighbours reacted, what happened when the wider world heard about it, and why the street's name is still Plantation Road.
I hope you will not be deterred from campaigning for different, better words.
This is an instalment of the Telling Other Stories series, about renaming.
Content note: the episode contains references to enslavement of Black people and a brief description of the Canadian residential school system.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
One of the best books I’ve read in recent years is The Address Book by Deirdre Mask. It’s about the history of addresses, and is absolutely fascinating.
Lyla’s petition, currently closed because it’s going through council proceedings.
About Josiah Henson…
…and the renaming of the museum that now bears his name.
The renaming of Old North school.
Toronto Metropolitan University talks about their name change.
Toronto’s very long Dundas St will be getting renamed; the report is due sometime this year.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses about every episode, fortnightly livestreams, and the Allusioverse Discord community. Over the next few weeks, we're watching Great Pottery Throwdown together.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
zonda, noun: a hot dusty north wind in Argentina.
CREDITS:
Lyla Wheeler and her mom Kristin Daley live in London, Ontario on what is currently called Plantation Road but perhaps won’t always be.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Thanks to Dan Engler for coming up with the title of this episode.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
Back in two weeks with a new episode - HZ.
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