What 'From Durham' is About

From Durham is a weekly, local-first newsletter for people who live in Durham Region and want to feel more connected to it — the events, the businesses, the people, and the politics that shape our day-to-day lives here. Not another feed to scroll. Something that lands in your inbox once a week and actually tells you what's going on, written by someone who lives here, too.

We cover all of Durham Region, including:

• The towns of Ajax and Whitby
• The cities of Oshawa and Pickering
• The municipality of Clarington
• The townships of Brock, Scugog, and Uxbridge

About the editor

Hey, hi, hello. I'm Arina. I'm a millennial who's basically lived online since the 1990s — dial-up, MSN Messenger, all of it—moving around with my family across the GTA. The thing that finally frustrated me enough to start a newsletter wasn't anything happening on a screen. It was not knowing what was happening five minutes from my own front door.

I moved to Durham Region in 2019 with my husband and son, away from the Toronto city life (and food) we loved. We're both immigrants (I'm from Russia, he's from the Dominican Republic) who grew up in Canada and, like a lot of people, ended up in the suburbs chasing more space and a slower pace. We now have two kids, work in tech, have a never-ending schedule, and a running list of reasons the suburbs are quietly one of the best places to raise a family.

Somewhere along the way (see: the spring of 2020 🥲) I noticed I'd gotten really good at knowing what was happening across the internet, and not so good at knowing what was happening across the street. So I started reorienting: paying more attention to what's actually next door, being more grateful for it, and trying to find reasons to be excited about my own region instead of somebody else's Instagram feed.

I don't read the paper. I'm not always on Instagram, scrolling for the one post that might mention a weekend market three towns over. But I do have a family that needs to get out of the house on a Saturday—even in the dark winter months—and I do want to know what's actually happening here. The excellent restaurant that just opened, the council decision that'll affect our taxes, the small business two blocks away that could use our support instead of another big-box order.

TLDR: From Durham is the resource I went looking for and couldn't find, so I decided to build it.

What you can expect from us

• Local-first, always. Toronto events are tempting, but why not find the beautiful places and moments that exist right next door?
• Depth over noise. I'm not going to share everything, because I'd rather dig into one great thing. Though we will collect a lot of links.
• A neighbourly tone. We're not a masthead — we're the family down the street who happens to be a little nosy... in a good way. (My labrador retriever-coded husband is ready for your friendship.)
• Genuine curiosity. About the businesses, the history, and the people who make this region what it is.
• Community over clicks. We're building this for the region, not the algorithm.

I'm not interested in chasing headlines. I am interested in building community, one Saturday-morning plan at a time.

If that sounds like your kind of neighbourhood, we'd love to have you.

Love and local,

Arina