Simon Lewsen

The Violent Life of a Tow Truck Driver: How an unremarkable profession turned Toronto into a war zone - Toronto Life The towing industry has been hijacked by criminals and kingpins who fleece customers, beat up dissenters and shoot their enemies. How an unremarkable...

For @torontolifemag.bsky.social, I wrote about the city’s vicious tow-truck wars—a world of violence, arson, shifting allegiances, and paranoia. torontolife.com/deep-dives/t...

I talked to Shaye Ganam, on QR in Calgary & 880 CHED in Edmonton, about how safety culture is making childhood less active and less exciting. Shaye and I were both amateur bomb makers as kids. We still remember the recipe for gunpowder. Listen here: pdst.fm/e/traffic.me...
@thewalrus.ca

Is It Dangerous to Let Kids Be Free? | The Walrus From bus rides to playgrounds, we are raising our children in a culture of fear

Here's my latest essay for @thewalrus.ca. As a parent, I understand the impulse to protect kids. Danger is real. And on the other side of danger? Unimaginable loss. But safety, I've come to believe, is inversely correlated with freedom—which, for kids, is sacrosanct. thewalrus.ca/is-it-danger...

Becoming El Jefe: The story of Ryan Wedding, Canada’s Olympic snowboarder turned ruthless drug lord - Toronto Life Before Ryan Wedding landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as a high-level associate of El Chapo, he was a bright-eyed kid from Thunder Bay. The inside story...

At 5 pm, I'll be on CBC's Here and Now talking with host Farrah Merali about Ryan Wedding, Canada's most famous (former) fugitive, who was arrested yesterday in Mexico City. For a primer on this crazy story, read my Toronto Life feature from last year: torontolife.com/deep-dives/b...

Should universities have opinions? | CBC Radio What are the risks of universities taking public positions on controversial political and social issues?

I spoke today with Jayme Poisson on CBC's Front Burner podcast, where I defended an old-fashion idea: institutional neutrality. Should universities have opinions? I vote no. Opinions are for students and professors and instructors, not administrators.

www.cbc.ca/radio/frontb...

Yeah, I take that point. I'd add that even an officially "neutral" university can still hire large cadres of professors dedicated to studying—and finding ways to reduce—gender-based violence. This scholarly work is probably more impactful than institutional statement making.

Thanks, Kathryn! And thanks for reading.

If you only read one piece on the life of Ryan Wedding, this should be it. Brilliantly done.

Wow. Brilliant writing, and impressive research! I feel like I just watched the film. Wow. I had no idea he was this infamous. Or evil.

Becoming El Jefe: The story of Ryan Wedding, Canada’s Olympic snowboarder turned ruthless drug lord - Toronto Life Before Ryan Wedding landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as a high-level associate of El Chapo, he was a bright-eyed kid from Thunder Bay. The inside story...

Ryan Wedding—the Olympic snowboarder turned drug kingpin turned celebrity fugitive—is back in the news today. If you want a primer on the darkest, wildest, most Vince Gilligan-y story in Canada right now, give my @torontolifemag.bsky.social feature on Wedding a read.
torontolife.com/deep-dives/b...

I take critiques of neutrality seriously. I'm unconvinced that there's some kind of perfect neutral state humans can attain. But I think neutrality is important as a guiding principle. If I were accused of a crime, I'd want to be tried in a court that strives, however imperfectly, for neutrality.

The Battle for the Soul of the University - Macleans.ca A group of University of British Columbia professors say their administration is taking too many political stances and should commit to institutional neutrality. They’re going to court to prove it.

I trained in the positivist tradition, in which, to the extent possible, one is to leave one's values at the door. Institutional neutrality reflects this paradigm.

However, it also comes with a lot of baggage about what objectivity looks like and who is capable of it.

macleans.ca/longforms/th...

"Institutional neutrality on campus isn’t about renouncing social progress; it’s about protecting the intellectual conditions that make such progress possible" —me. @macleans.bsky.social

The Battle for the Soul of the University - Macleans.ca A group of University of British Columbia professors say their administration is taking too many political stances and should commit to institutional neutrality. They’re going to court to prove it.

Should universities serve as engines of social justice or spaces of independent inquiry? Can they be both? https://macleans.ca/longforms/the-battle-for-the-soul-of-the-university/

The Battle for the Soul of the University - Macleans.ca A group of University of British Columbia professors say their administration is taking too many political stances and should commit to institutional neutrality. They’re going to court to prove it.

I wrote an essay for @macleans.bsky.social. It's a defence of institutional neutrality on campus. If university administrators value the work that students and professors do, they should get out of the way and let them do it. macleans.ca/longforms/th...

What Canada’s Largest Art Heist Reveals about the Art World’s Shady Side | The Walrus The stolen masterpieces have never turned up—and nobody’s really looking for them

An essay I wrote three years ago is, for the moment, the number one trending piece at @thewalrus.ca. The largest art heist in Canadian history happened in 1972. In a world obsessed with art crime, why did Canadians basically shrug the whole thing off? thewalrus.ca/canadas-bigg...

D’Angelo, Groundbreaking R&B Artist, Dies at 51 From his 1995 debut Brown Sugar to his 2014 comeback Black Messiah, he helped define the neo-soul movement

What a devastating loss. This man gave us three absolutely perfect records.
pitchfork.com/news/dangelo...

This piece is still the one I'm most proud of in my career. (And @chloeellingson.bsky.social's photos are gorgeous.)

In the Annex and Crescent Town, Two Sides to a Density Dilemma | The Local The Annex had fewer residents in 2021 than 1971. The towers of Crescent Town had far more. How the uneven, illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto.

From the #LocalArchives: The Annex is shrinking. The towers of Crescent Town are exploding. @simonlewsen.bsky.social on a tale of two cities, and how the uneven, illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto. thelocal.to/density-the-...

Simon Lewsen: Despite tough times, the humanities aren't dead yet And, in fact, in an era where everything is mechanized, including thought, they may be rebounding.

My piece on the death (and possible rebirth) of humanities education has been re-printed by @thelineca.bsky.social, one of the best places on the internet for lively writing and independent thought.
www.readtheline.ca/p/simon-lews...

These words from @cherilucasrowlands.com made me happy:
"After reading a series of articles lamenting the death of higher education and critical thinking in the age of ChatGPT, I tempered my despair with Simon Lewsen’s somewhat hopeful essay on the humanities"
longreads.com/2025/09/10/d...

The Humanities Aren't Dead Yet | The Local Enrollment in the liberal arts has been in freefall for years. But despite apocalyptic declarations about the end of the humanities, in my own classroom I see signs of life.

"I didn’t expect any of this, and I’m unsure what to make of it. But I wonder if the emerging threat of AI is restoring a sense of vitality to the humanistic mission."

@simonlewsen.bsky.social for @thelocal.to: thelocal.to/humanities-i...

Biidaasige Park Is a Triumph Biidaasige transforms the Don River’s flood-prone, industrial canal into a restored delta and vibrant new park for Toronto.

For my Designlines column, I visited Biidaasige—the new adventure playground at the foot of the Don River—and let my toddler guide me around. She was ecstatic. Children need risky play. Long live Biidaasige.

@waterfrontoronto.bsky.social

www.designlinesmagazine.com/biidaasige-p...

The Humanities Aren't Dead Yet | The Local Enrollment in the liberal arts has been in freefall for years. But despite apocalyptic declarations about the end of the humanities, in my own classroom I see signs of life.

The humanities have been in crisis for the entirety of @simonlewsen.bsky.social's career. But despite apocalyptic declarations about the death of the liberal arts, in his own classroom he sees signs of life. thelocal.to/humanities-i...

The Humanities Aren't Dead Yet | The Local Enrollment in the liberal arts has been in freefall for years. But despite apocalyptic declarations about the end of the humanities, in my own classroom I see signs of life.

So, @thelocal.to is rolling out its Higher Education issue today. I wrote an essay about the supposed death of the humanities. Are the humanities really dying, though? In my own classroom at the University of Toronto, I see surprising signs of life.
thelocal.to/humanities-i...

Toronto Fumbled on Sixplexes—Now It Could Lose $30 Million The Federal Government Might Refuse to Hand Over $30 Million in Housing Funds to the City of Toronto for its shortcoming on Siplexes.

The federal government is seeking to punish the City of Toronto for failing to legalize sixplexes. My hot take: When it comes to housing, the feds should throw their weight around even more. My latest column instalment for Designlines.
www.designlinesmagazine.com/sixplexes-in...

The Sunday Long Read: 500 Editions! The week's best journalism. Every Sunday.

I'm jazzed to be included in the Sunday Long Read's 500th weekly edition—an essential round-up of the best long-form journalism.

mailchi.mp/sundaylongre...

Becoming El Jefe: The story of Ryan Wedding, Canada’s Olympic snowboarder turned ruthless drug lord - Toronto Life Before Ryan Wedding landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as a high-level associate of El Chapo, he was a bright-eyed kid from Thunder Bay. The inside story...

In 2002, Ryan Wedding was a rising-star athlete. Today, he's an international drug lord running a billion-dollar enterprise. In @torontolifemag.bsky.social, I tell the story of how a cherubic kid from Thunder Bay, ON, became one of the world's most-wanted fugitives.
torontolife.com/deep-dives/b...

Meghan Daum became famous for her deeply revealing personal essays. Now, she sees self-censorship everywhere In her new book “The Catastrophe Zone,” she explores middle age, giving up dreams and losing everything in the LA fires

For @thestar.com‬, I interviewed Meghan Daum—personal essayist turned heterodox podcaster—about her new book, the LA fires, the fertility crisis, what JD Vance gets right and wrong about family policy, and whether we've passed peak wokeness.
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

My City Beat Column—on art, architecture, and urbanism—for Designlines magazine is a finalist for a Digital Publishing Awards (Best Column). And that's a nice little nod for a column in its first year.