Ryan Collins-Swartz

An interview with Ryan Collins-Swartz for the Lillian H. Smith Story Project.

Collins-Swartz, Ryan

Wong, Christina

MP3

August 12, 2015

Downtown (Toronto, Ont.)

Kensington-Chinatown (Toronto, Ont.)

Wong, Christina

Wong, Christina

Collins-Swartz, Ryan

Lillian H. Smith Branch

00:00 Speaker 1: I was born at Women's College Hospital and I grew up right at Spadina & Dupont. I don't know if you've ever seen it but they're like these white townhouses that are just south of Casa Loma. They're sort of like in a purgatory of like a neighbourhood because it's not quite in the annex but it's not like above the hill and it's by the train tracks. There wasn't a lot around there, so my parents were always looking for places that we could go. And I think both of my parents were self-employed. My mom's a social worker. My dad's a mortgage broker. And it was also both of their second marriages. They wanted to make this marriage be very good and it was my mom's first time having kids but it was my dad's second time having kids. So it was beautiful because every day after school my dad would come home and he would be like so eager to play with us and take us places. Yeah. And my mom would like take us to work with her or just like we always had people around us and reading was always a huge thing in my family from a young age. From my dad reading me Richard Scarry books, Curious George...

01:10 Speaker 2: Those are the best!

01:10 S1: Yeah. The Richard Scarry. My favourite picture's of my dad holding me in his lap reading Richard Scarry...

01:18 S2: Oh, that's amazing.

01:20 S1: So, just like reading was always a big part of the family and we weren't like religious, at all, but for the High Holidays, because like our whatever culture's Jewish, we wouldn't go to a Shul, a temple, but we would go to a service that was held at the Cecil Street Community Center, which is just like...

01:42 S2: Right here.

01:43 S1: Right here. So I just remember my dad getting dressed up in a suit and it's the only time he ever wore a suit. And my mom getting dressed up in a black dress and it was the only time, also, we ever took a taxi. So I remember getting into the smelly cab with the red seats, like red velvet material seats and getting in and going to the service. It was run by... First of all, the service was run in a Chinese Community Center and it's also run by a woman, like a female Rabbi, which is very rare. And it was also run by a lesbian female Rabbi, which is very cool and progressive. But still, I hated it. I just didn't identify with anything that was happening and my mom was very independent. She moved out of home when she was 18 so she was like, "If you don't like service, just go somewhere." And I was like six years old so I would just leave. And I remember walking around the neighbourhood and I just came to the library.

02:48 S2: When you were six?

02:49 S1: Yeah.

02:49 S2: Oh, my goodness.

02:50 S1: And I just came to the library and it was great because every year, when we went to the service, and my memory of Lillian H. Smith is being in high holidays, standing up for what seemed to be so long, getting a slice of sponge cake, and just leaving. And sometimes my dad would just come with me to check in but I would just come to the library every year until I was probably 10, 11 years old.

03:15 S2: Oh, my goodness.

03:16 S1: I would come to the library during high holidays and it became my regular branch after that. And when I was 12 we moved north so my branch became northern district and that was a really cool place but Lillian H. Smith to me is always...

03:30 S2: Like childhood.

03:31 S1: Just like that childhood place where I first experienced independence.

03:36 S2: That's cool. At six years old. That's amazing.

03:40 S1: And just leaving and being in the city on my own and coming to the library. And just that mystery about not knowing about any... When you're six you don't know what sociology is, you don't know who Lyndon Johnson is, you don't know about the history of the Arabic world, so you walk in the library and every book is something new.

04:07 S2: Yeah. So you'd wanna just explore the whole branch itself? You were just...

04:12 S1: I'd probably go to different sections each time and I take out a biography or take out a kid's book.

04:18 S2: And you'd just sit here and read for the few hours, I guess?

04:20 S1: Yeah. Or I would take...

04:22 S2: Or just take them with you?

04:24 S1: Eventually I would just take a book out to go to the end of the service.

04:27 S2: Right. [chuckle]

04:27 S1: And they'd have our book with all the songs in it, like the prayer book or whatever, but then I would put the book inside of it. And then eventually I would just read. I remember reading a Hardy Boys book, like House On The Cliff, inside and then finishing the book, and then just getting up, and going to the library, getting another book, coming back. And to me, at that age, I always thought this library was so, so old. Because it just seemed this old building and this library and in movies libraries are there forever. So I was born in '92, so I probably started coming here in '97.

05:10 S2: Do you remember what your first book was when you came here? Maybe not, 'cause that's like six years old...

05:15 S1: No, but I remember my dad saying something once about, so random, about Davy Crockett and I still don't know much about Davy Crockett, to this day, but myself seeing about Davy Crockett...

05:31 S2: Right. Just brings you back.

05:33 S1: And taking the book out. And then eventually one day getting a hat like Davy Crockett, with the...

[laughter]

05:43 S2: Oh with the tail.

05:44 S1: And it wasn't real fur.

05:45 S2: Right.

05:46 S1: But that's one of the first books that I remember taking out.

05:50 S2: Did you ever go to Spadina Road? Since you were growing up in that area, like that library.

05:55 S1: At Spadina and Bloor?

05:56 S2: Yeah. Did you ever go to that library?

05:57 S1: A little, it was always, little bit small, but I went to preschool right at the JCC, and we had a lot of books there, and yeah, I would go to that library, perhaps when I was younger, around the time that I was going to preschool, but I don't have any fond memories of it. I have better memories of the Palmerston branch.

06:22 S2: Oh, right, right, right. I grew up with Palmerston branch, so that has a bit of memories for me. Do you still live in this area now? Cause you said you moved to...

06:31 S1: Yeah, we... So I just finished... I'm still living with my parents, so I moved away for school and then moved back in September to start a job which was right at the MaRS building at the college and university.

06:45 S2: Oh no way. So this is like coming full circle for you.

06:46 S1: Yeah. And then I was walking with people and I was showing them the neighbourhood, because with the Strubb [06:51] ____, a lot of people came from all over Ontario and I was one of the few people who've been born and raised in Toronto, and I was talking one day about the history of the library, and someone said, "You know that branch is only 20 years old" or not... And I said "No way", that's... No, it's actually one of the newer libraries, but you wouldn't expect it, and that was something that caught me off guard.

07:17 S2: Right. Is there anything else you wanted to add? Or...

07:20 S1: Just like I love this project and this whole year coming back home, I've been so fascinated by the stories and places and libraries, as places that bring people together. So both with the library aspect and the stories, when I saw this really excited me.

07:37 S2: Yeah. Thank you.

07:37 S1: Yeah.