Few things bother Misha Glouberman more than when Torontonians claim their city is better than it actually is.
The lively speaker and long-time lecture host of Trampoline Hall believes Toronto — which is always grasping at the “world class city” straw — is currently in the midst of a corresponding identity crisis.
In a recent post to his Substack, Glouberman castigated what he sees as a trend of residents and local organizations unjustifiably claiming Toronto’s importance over other global hubs, like New York City and Los Angeles.
By way of example, Glouberman pointed to a rap video his friend released that claimed ambitious tech people should stay in Toronto and avoid moving to San Francisco — the undisputed tech capital of North America.
Disagreeing with the message, Glouberman’s real disappointment surfaced when the comments section on the rap video largely supported the artist’s Toronto-first claim.
“There have been times where I’ve really loved living in this city, but this is not one of those times,” he told TorontoToday.
“I spent a lot of time in San Francisco, and I’ve seen the differences between that place and this place. When I saw that rap, it had the opposite of the intended effect on me. It made me want to leave this city immediately.”
Glouberman senses there are examples like this everywhere.
Whether it’s a local organization falsely describing itself as “The Largest Urban Innovation Hub in North America” — or technically true statistics that have been aggrandized, like Toronto being the “fourth largest city” in the continent — it all just feels out of touch for him.
So, how can Toronto get out of this apparent rut?
For starters, Glouberman believes locals aren’t connecting enough. He recognized that issue in 2001 when he founded Trampoline Hall — a monthly lecture and Q&A series where people give short talks on a range of serious, funny and emotional topics.
“There are cities where people talk to each other in public, and there are cities where they don’t — Toronto is a city where they don’t,” he said. “People will say, ‘Well, that’s because it’s a big city.’ But that’s not true. People talk on the street in New York City much more. London, too.”
More recently, Glouberman and some friends came up with Toronto Event Generator, which invites residents to stay caught up on unique events happening in the city.
He said the goal of the generator is to create a “scene” in Toronto.
Once the pandemic began to cool off in 2022, Glouberman doubled down on promoting social interaction and created a Trampoline Hall spin-off series called “This is Not The Show.”
Hosted at The Garrison, participants of all demographics collectively build a list of topics they want to discuss that night. People divide themselves up in the room, and by the end of the evening, total strangers are chatting about subjects they’re mutually interested in.
TorontoToday attended on Monday and witnessed all kinds of conversations — from conventional ones about “travel” and “dreams” to more eccentric subjects like “should we bring back the guillotine for billionaires?”
One group even managed to talk about pickles for 25 minutes.
“It’s like a regular party, but we make it more efficient,” Glouberman explained. “There aren’t as many spaces in Toronto as there could be where people can talk to each other, so forming that sort of connection is good.”
“These are like four parties in one,” he added. “You can stay home for the rest of the month and still be ahead of your friends.”
The event has a capacity of roughly 80 attendees and has consistently sold out since its inception.
While he’s grateful for the connections his participants form with one another, Glouberman admitted he almost wished an event like this didn’t have to exist in Toronto.
“It’d be nice if this were a city where there wasn’t this kind of stuff,” he said. “But at the same time, I also wish there were more events like this. ‘This is Not The Show’ makes it easy for people to talk to each other, but I also like events that make it harder.”
Among Glouberman’s greatest hopes is for Toronto to become more ambitious and impactful. He believes events like Trampoline Hall can facilitate realistic discussions that help the city chase its true and unique potential.
He’s been impressed by other like-minded events that have taken shape around the city, including a coffee social that a Liberty Village resident hosts weekly in her one-bedroom apartment.
Whatever it takes for Torontonians to get out and interact with one another — Glouberman is fully on board.
“What people are doing here is different; what’s possible here is different,” he said. “I wanted to name that. Different cities have different cultures, and we shouldn’t try to be New York or anywhere else. We can be what we are.”
