It’s thought that Toronto may have the greatest number of labyrinths of anywhere in the world.. This might be in large part thanks to HiMY SYeD who started the Toronto City of labyrinths project in 2002 with the goal of putting a labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian.

In addition to Labyrinths and running for mayor HiMY is also a prolific youtuber, with recordings of a wide variety of Toronto events on offer.

In Toronto, we are fortunate to have many public labyrinths scattered throughout the city, due in large part to the Labyrinth Community Network and labyrinth enthusiast and creator HiMY SYeD. One of my favourites, the High Park Labyrinth, is shown here.

The best thing about this labyrinth is that it is kind of a secret.

By Whitney French, Writing in a Tree
As promised, here’s a recap of my first article I wrote for the Annex Gleaner. I had the pleasure to interview Himy Syed, founder of the Toronto City of Labyrinths Project. This initiative is to create enough labyrinths in the city so that every Torontoian is within walking distance of one. Syed also ran for mayor in 2010, the former Executive Director of Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association, is the Founding Editor of Torontopedia.ca, a city wiki emphasizing neighbourhoods AND a remarkble …

City of Labyrinths Project (Toronto, Ontario)

Toronto, where Jane lived during the latter half of her life, will be the setting for more walks than any other city during the weekend; still, several stand out. This walk on the 5th, organized by a group that aims “to place a semi-permanent labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian,” celebrates the city’s existing sidewalk mazes, and explores the history of labyrinth design.

By Joanna Lavoie, InsideToronto
For his latest “outstallation” project, a giant labyrinth in the form of a three-leaf clover, West Toronto resident Himy Syed uses the Beach as his canvas.
Syed’s Triskelion Labyrinth can be found on Woodbine Beach, just east of the Donald D. Summerville Outdoor Pool.
He started the project about a week ago and had hoped to finish it by St. Patrick’s Day, but life got a little busy and he’s now hoping to wrap up the project in the next few days.
Creating large-scale public art …

By TantienHime
This was taken in the Beaches in Toronto on a spring day. The path has been worn down by those who have tread the path of the labyrinth. Thanks Himy for drawing it out.

Labyrinth Community Network
Newsletter
Volume 4 . Issue 1
HiMY SYeD founded the project, Toronto City of Labyrinths, to create a labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian inside the city limits. To date he has created some 60 plus labyrinths. Watch for his book early in 2012, titled Toronto City of Labyrinths. You can reach him through his excellent website: http://www.labyrinths.ca
Hello Himy
I was so pleased with your contribution to our newsletter.
You really live your Sufi name.
We hope our paths cross soon.
JoAnn

By Derek Lang, BagelHot
Ended up walking down to the beach today. It was rainy and it’s been a while since I’ve been down there since moving to the other side of the city. Not surprisingly there was no one around. Torontoians are odd that way in that a bit of rain scares them off. Being a saturday they couldn’t even use the excuse that they were at work.
While walking toward the life guard station, in the distance I saw a figure …

By Katie Daubs, Toronto Star
Ken Wood can’t afford glitzy t-shirts. His campaign office is his basement apartment and his best asset is his colour printer.
“I’m the poor people’s candidate,” Wood told a group of would-be councillors, adding that he lives off a disability allowance.
Mayoral candidate HiMY SYeD, (who spells his name with lower-case vowels in homage to a former teacher) held a gathering for “unincumbent” candidates like Wood at the Dovercourt Baptist Church on Monday. Since nine councillors are retiring or running for mayor this year, …

From Toronto Media Co-op

Civil Liberties Now! downtown march on July 10th 2010 speaking with Himy Syed, candidate for Mayor of Toronto 2010, about his letters G20 INQUIRY… Full Interview with the Peoples Mayor as heard on Word of Mouth Wednesday 7-8pm on CKLN 88.1 FM radio mp3 here.
The Peoples’ Mayor Himy Syed and October25.ca
Full Interview with the Peoples Mayor as heard on Word of Mouth Wednesday 7-8 pm on CKLN 88.1 FM radio, Wednesday July 14th 2010.
http://www.radio4all.net/files/director@silsa.ca/3202-2-HimySyed-G20CivilLiberties.mp3

By Fabiola Carletti, Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Himy Syed examines a tattered subway map written entirely in phonetic Chinese characters.
Without understanding a word, he draws a translation for Queen’s Park station right on to the pavement in front of the Bickford Centre, a language school for adults.
“People come from all over the city, here, to learn English,” says Syed, 40. “This is my way of saying ‘Welcome,’ ” he says, adding that he wanted to do something for the school after a lockdown drill in May 2009 led the community …

By Miranda Newman, Going Places / Ryerson School of Journalism
At any given day or time, when sitting in Bellevue Square Park, in Kensington Market, visitors can find themselves listening to the strum of guitars rolling over the breeze, watching eclectic artists arrange colourful strings around trees and a girl with no hair dancing in the empty wading pool. Visitors come to enjoy the creative vibe this park holds and it clearly is a microcosm of the diversity and culture Toronto stands for.
Terrence “Bull” Manning visits Bellevue Square Park nearly every …

By Thom Hamilton, Last 100 Days Photo Project
Day 48
Lovers in a dangerous time.
August 14th 2003 45 million people on the eastern seaboard of North America had their lives go dark. Everyone has a slightly different way to remember that day, I tend to have very fond memories.
Never in my life have I seen community come together like it did that night, neighbors talking on the street, hundreds of people in parks simply laying down looking up at the stars, giving strangers rides home, checking …

By Ghazaleh Etezal, Big on Bloor Festival
share your media on this year’s Flickr pool Facebook group or #bigonbloor09 Twitter. Thank you Himy Syed for the BiG letters stopping to capture the festival!

A 2.5 km section of Bloor Street West, from Christie to Lansdowne, became a car-free space for a day of fun, games and art.

Grab the local Bloor News paper to get your full guide to the festival.
Saturday June 20, 2009 1:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Pedestrian Sundays Kensington Market
Earth! Global Harvest Traditions
Toronto Ontario Canada, Sunday September 28 2008
I love the Emma TeRa labyrinth at the intersection of Baldwin and Augusta. The square design and the beautiful straight lines makes me think of a traditional maze they used to build in Europe, with the high hedges.
The yellow and orange colours emphasize the design and make it look so pretty, The Egyptian-like hieroglyphics in the middle must have a mystical meaning, I think something to do with 2 different times coming together, as depicted by the egg …

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It’s our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve.
The other scramble intersection — HiMY SYeD
BY HYFEN

Blue  P E A C E  letters at 3:57 mark by HiMY SYeD
Peace NOW!
Anti-War Actions in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada
September 2002 – April 2003
The 25-minute video features a chronological series of over ten clips from peace demonstrations including Toronto’s contribution to the massive February 15th event, part of the largest coordinated international mobilization in history, and One Big No, the largest political arts event in Toronto in two decades.
The video includes exclusive footage of such prominent individuals as Canadian musician Sarah Harmer, MuchMusic …

Video by Alex Lisman, IntrinsicCanada

2,000 TOO MANY
Segment begins at 10:55 mark.

Artist and photoblogger HiMY SYeD likes to claim Woodbine Beach as his canvas. See him do so tonight as he creates a lantern work of art monument to spell out Nagasaki Hiroshima.
The Full Circle project is an offshoot of a series of events taking place worldwide.
SYeD has charted the progress of a group of Buddhist Monks who have walked for twenty-five days to raise awareness, and keep alive and ‘atomic flame’ that will finally be extinguished 60 years to the date.
“To co-incide to the minute in realtime in New Mexico …

. Failure .
This panoramic stitching of three photographs shows the original intended width of the Giant Peace Symbol I began, yet failed to complete, upon the Marin Headlands, just north and west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
All the conditions finally were in place, a full day’s worth of fog would keep the GGNRA Rangers from stopping me in mid-Outstallation, it was not raining though it had been, hence the earth was soft enough for the pegs which would hold the pieces of paper in place to stay in position, I …

By Jackson West, sfist
The above photo, from a series by Your Waitress, is of HiMY SYeD placing candles as part of his art piece and vigil to commemorate the one month point since the horriffic tsunami in the Indian Ocean. SFist also posted the personal story and photographs of Wyatt Gallery, who recently returned from the scene of the disaster in Sri Lanka. SFist Cares explores the rules relating to your 2004 tax return and your charitable giving.
In much, much more trivial news, the San Francisco Ballet held …

By Jackson West, sfist
We’d like to take a moment to remind you that tomorrow will be officially one month since the Tsunami disaster. Friend of SFist HiMY SYeD is asking that folks drop by the site and light a ‘virtual candle’ for the victims. This is pretty neat — just click on the picture of the sculpture at Yerba Buena Gardens, and you can leave a candle and a note expressing your thoughts and feelings. For every click, a real candle will be …

By Jackson West , SFist
On a chilly but still night on Ocean Beach, SFist and HiMY SYeD joined interested passerby in sending a message of hope to the victims of the Tsunami, assembling HiMY’s message in luminaria as the sun set to our west and rose to their east. San Francisco became one of many cities worldwide to host a small vigil as part of Global Vigil for a Global Village. HiMY’s purpose was to offer people who had been distracted by holiday reveries to remind themselves to take a …

By Jackson West, sfist
Two dear friends of SFist wrote in to let us know about local tsunami relief events. Your Waitress wants photobloggers and everyone else to know that HiMY SYeD , Toronto native and current Bay Area resident, is asking folks to organize neighborhood vigils on Sunday the 9th and Monday the 10th as part of the Global Vigil for the Global Village.
Vigils are already planned for Toronto, New York, Karachi, London and Vancouver, as well as in San Francisco and Berkeley.
The San Francisco vigils will be held …

Photo by Matt O’Sullivan, The Narrative