Worlds Apart

Note: This post was written Saturday night, before the protests on Sunday, the increased aggression from the police, and the demonstrations that took place through the days following the G20. 

The media says, the world has arrived in Toronto. The world's most powerful leaders have landed, representing around around 85% of the global economy and two thirds of our population. And they are gathered here for the biannual G20 summit.

But to me, there are four worlds in Toronto right now. In the centre of all the protests, security forces, and fences lies the Convention Centre. A place where leaders, delegates, and their country's envoys gather to take pictures, take part in gift exchanges, and hold discussions. It is a peaceful and quiet world, where, despite disagreement between countries, delegations can enjoy five-star accommodations, lounge among famous artwork and an artificial lake, watch some soccer, and enjoy iconic Canadian food.

At only a cost of fourteen million dollars an hour, Canada takes this opportunity to welcome our guests. We hope for a productive meeting, or at the very least, some agreement over issues regarding economic recovery and our bank systems. Life seems almost Utopian. Yes, they're still dealing with the economic crisis, but life at the downtown core seems to be relaxed, a paradise with countries staking out their own luxury hotels, and our leaders clinking their wine glasses.

But just outside the security perimeter, we run into a completely different world. Actually, two.
There are the protesters. They gathered this morning and early afternoon at Queen's Park, with a range of issues covering every topic one could imagine. Maternal health. Aboriginal rights. Foreign Aid. Environmental protection. Human rights in Southeast Asia. Careless spending. Tibet. The War on Terrorism. Protests attracted unions, students, Native Americans, international activists, and supporters of large organizations such as Greenpeace.

To the protesters, the summit has arrived with media attention, and this opportunity can be used for publicity. To let the world know that they care about the environment and that we should too; to put pressure on our leaders to act on human rights; to inspire economic reform or to influence a party's platform. With signs, banners, megaphones, and their best shouting voices, some park themselves in designed demonstration areas, while others march throughout the downtown core. Their action comes at a cost - transportation in the area has been shutdown, and there are minor scuffles with the police, but when it comes to demonstrations, this isn't anything new, almost routine. Show up. Stand up for your cause. And leave.

Among these peaceful protesters, however, we find some self described "anarchists" - people who disagree with centralized governance, instead promoting a stateless society. I agree with David Miller - these people are not to be labelled protesters, unfair to those described above. Our Mayor called them "thugs", and along with Bill Blair, our Chief of Police, I believe that these people who associate themselves with the"Black Blok" are criminals, and should be held responsible for their direct violation of laws and damage to local businesses and city property.

These "anarchists" view the protests in a different light, seeing the police presence as infringements of their rights, resulting in deliberate attacks on officers, their vehicles, and to the businesses in the downtown area. Especially at risk are banks and American companies/franchises - these represent corporate evil. This conflict is yet another world, separate from the other protesters and fenced away from the summit activities. I strongly commend the police force in their struggle to maintain control over the rioters and reduce the amount of damage to the area, while enduring attacks from the members of the "Black Blok". Freedom of speech is tolerated. Protests are allowed. Damaging property, attacking police, and causing riots is not, and it doesn't do anything to help their cause.

The fourth world is a shocked Toronto. Citizens, politicians, police officers, and journalists almost speechless with unprecedented events in the city. Some feel "Profound Disappointment". Some are worried - about their businesses, their city's reputation, their own security. Others are more confused, angered. We aren't sure what to do. We're not even sure who to condemn. Sure, it's easy to blame the rioters, but is that any good? Is that the root of the problem? Can we blame our government? Is any of this a fault of the protests? Does this justify the security costs? Are we responsible as well? Are there responsibilities that we've missed as citizens?

For us spectators, it can be hard to connect to the other worlds. Just like it's hard for them to connect to us. Some don't see any purpose in protesting, and can't understand the motivation of the "anarchists". Others can't see why many stand idly by as they see their cause, their world, fade away. The "Black Blok" and Politicians seem to be living in their own worlds at the moment. It can be a challenge for us to understand the politics of the G20, and it's hard to expect our leaders to be able to understand every single one of the issues we bring up, and even if they could, what are the chances that they'll be able to tend to each and every concern?

At this point, I'm not sure what else to say. The blame game won't get us far. Yes, I definitely believe that it was a bad decision to host the G20 in the downtown core, and the costs have been excessive. But for the time being, it's too late for that, and also it's besides the point. Our world is fragmented. How can we bring us all closer together?

Day in the Life.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

12:19 am - finished posting a lead-up to today's events. 

12:40 am - everything is packed for tomorrow. alarm is set at 6 am. a second one is set to ring five minutes later. aim to get to the bus pick-up area early.

5:ish am - thunder and heavy rain wake me up. not a good sign. return to sleep.

6:00 am - my alarm wakes me up. I turn it off and lay in bed for five minutes.

6:05 am - second alarm, placed on the other side of the room, goes off. I go to shut it off. Somehow fall back asleep.

6:30 am - mom wakes me up. 

6:45 am - downstairs, ready to go.

6:46 am - feed Bubble Tea

6:47 am - departure. knowing that I'm probably still a bit drowsy for driving, my mom suggests that she'll drive. I agree. 

6:59 am - arrival at Metro Square. a few people have already arrived. the bus is late, likely due to the heavy rain that's still continues to pour.

7:15 am - more people arrive. but not the bus.

7:20-ish - the bus is here. food is loaded onto the bus. then we get on. there are 41 of us in total. I am the youngest. my mom heads back home.

7:30-ish - we start heading out. announcements are made. objectives, thank yous, details, trip summary.

7:35 am - breakfast is handed out. yay sandwiches. Tuna, egg, and cucumber =).

7:54 am - I make a note that the rain has stopped and the clouds are clearing up, as we head eastwards towards Ottawa.

I don't recall anything else until around 10 am. I can safely assume I was listening to music and drifted off to sleep.

10:00-ish - I'm up. People are moving around.

10:01 am - we arrive at the first pit stop.

10:20-ish - we take group pictures with the school bus in the background. 

10:30 am - we're back on the road. sheets with lyrics are handed around. some demonstration songs are sung. I'm not great with the words, but their melodies are quite familiar. I hum along.

10:40-ish - I try reading Saramago's Seeing. the bumps on the bus make it difficult to concentrate, and if you've read his novels, you know you don't want to lose focus too often in the middle of those sentences. 

10:50-ish - After a chapter, Seeing is back in my bag. Earphones are back on.

11:29 am - I'm not hungry yet, but lunch is served. We sure can still manage to have a good meal on the bus!

12:24 pm - we left the 401 about an hour ago, and we are quickly approaching Ottawa. Lots of Canadian flags are placed out for next week's Canada Day celebrations. Our flags are being distributed on our bus.

12:30-ish - as we enter Ottawa, it seems like the weather has once again caught up to us. Oh the Westerlies. No lightning thankfully, but heavy rain.

12:45 pm - the bus stops on the west side of Parliament Hill. There is a pro-China rally on the east side of Parliament hill, while a demonstration by the Falun Dafa has been set up on the West side. 

12:46:00 - I step out of the bus.

12:46:15 - soaked. (well, quickly getting there)

12:48 pm - we are bringing the signs, banners, and flags to the centre of action. I see some other Taiwanese flags, belonging to the Taiwanese association in Ottawa.

12:50 pm - we join in. by this time, all of us are drenched. or wearing raincoats. 

1:00 pm - the anticipated arrival time of President Hu. as usual, the motorcade skips the protest zone.

waving flags in the rain. a few photos are taken, and a few media crews pass-by. the Falun Dafa has a larger presence in this demonstration. I lose track of time a bit, but waving the flag keeps me occupied. My phone (which is also my camera) is in my damp pocket - I dare not to bring it out in the rain.

the rallies continue. the east side of the Hill is filled with red flags with golden stars. it is separated from the west side of the hill by two metal fences, providing a walkway in between for the security to patrol and for the media to enter. Centennial flame lies in the middle of the walkway. on the west side, you see signs and green flags from the Taiwanese groups, and yellow banners by the Falun Dafa, with what seems like a few hundred people sitting crosslegged on the lawn. 

2:25 - the rain has lightened. finally, looking up more often, I note that the Peace tower has the time =P. Tibetan supporters begin to show up, they may be expecting the exiting motorcade.

3:00-ish - the clouds have cleared up and we actually have some sun. the raincoats are off as we try to dry up. time for some pictures.

3:30-ish - after a group meeting, we decide to pack up. there are several Tibetan protesters arriving, and quickly, the space is filled up again. 

4:10 pm - we have moved our protest gear back into the bus. Many of us are still trying to dry off.

5:00-ish - as we head back to Toronto, the Ottawa association provides us with a boxed dinner that we eat on the bus

I am more tired on the ride back. I try to read some more pages on my flag book, and fall in and out of sleep. I run through all the songs on my mp3. 

8:30 pm - we have another pit stop. back on the bus, we're greeted with dessert and blueberries. ahh so much food. it's going in my backpack. now, back to flags..

By 11, we are back at Metro Square, and courtesy of a ride from some family friends, I'm back at home at around 11:30.

11:40 pm - discover that Italy's out. haha.

11:55 pm - turn on the computer, and check email.

12:05 am - take a nice warm shower. feels good.

12:20 am - catch up on events of the day. 

1:00-ish am - start writing this post

1:56 am - finish.

soon - go to sleep.

Not a very formal post, but at least it gives me a record of what I did today once I get to writing one =).

All the world's a stage.

Heading to Ottawa one day late of the earthquake, I'll be across the street from the Chinese Embassy on Parliament Hill along with hundreds of others to once again say hi to the media and remind President Hu that he does indeed have opposition - as people can sometimes forget among the support rallies organized and paid for by their own governments and embassies.

"The Epoch Times has obtained a recording of a speech given Friday by Liu Shaohua, the first secretary of the education section at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, to a crowd of between 40 and 50 students receiving Chinese state-scholarships to study there. Those students, Liu said, must attend the welcome events for Hu. 

In the recording, Liu said the embassy is covering hotels, food, travel, and clothing for what he estimates will be 3,000 people who will welcome Hu Wednesday through Friday, coming from as far away as Waterloo, Ont. 

The expenses easily total in the hundreds of thousands, based on Liu’s comments. But Liu described it as “little money” in light of the “political struggle” the Chinese regime is waging, the goal being to overshadow human rights advocates who plan to protest during Hu’s visit. "

                                          - from the Epoch Times, June 23, 2010

Granted, the Epoch Times doesn't have a great reputation for unbiased reporting.

But either way, the facts (in this article and in the hundreds of articles detailing G8 and G20 spending) show that hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars are being spent every time our world leaders meet, setting up a show for us to watch. Plane tickets, new buildings, new lakes, rallies, security fences, cameras, gourmet food, you name it - for every G8 meeting, G20 summit, and other events like the hopelessly unproductive Copenhagen Convention on Climate Change.

To them, All the world's a stage, all of us merely in the audience. But this is no quality Shakespeare - instead we see nothing more than a sketchy circus act, filled with tricks, slips, and lackluster performance. 

Oh, the show's about to start. Make sure you get a good seat, 'cause once the show's over, we're not only cleaning up, but picking up the tab.

Seeing the World through Words

I visited the library a few days ago and checked out five books to help keep my summer mind occupied. The first was a book of flags in hopes of learning more about countries and cultures around the world. The second was a biochem textbook, but I've yet to find inspiration to prep for second year. I also picked up a collection of Peanuts comics ('61 - '62), and that definitely hasn't helped me to open the biochem textbook.

Another book is sitting beside the piano, featuring a hundred broadway hits - one a year from 1900 to 1999. There are a couple of nice pieces in there, and running through random pieces is good practice for sight reading. Plus, I tend to like broadway music =).

Unfortunately, I'm not much of an avid reader. Literature is far from my strongest areas of study (though I'm debating whether or not I should take it in third year) - Sporcle Literature is one of my least played categories and I'm very quiet when the topic appears on Jeopardy. Despite lots of reading in elementary school, my novel reading faded away when high school came along, and I haven't been able to rekindle that affinity with novels. But I still manage a novel once in a while, and the fifth book I picked up was Seeing, a stand alone novel based on the same city that was the setting of Blindness, a book I mentioned once or twice last year.

Blindness was one of the few non-school requirement books I read in my high school years. Granted, the main reason I read the book was to have a novel to write about for my Artsci supplementary application, but at least the book wasn't prescribed by a teacher. Dealing with themes about the darkest attributes of human nature and the struggle for a better society, while featuring the author's distinct writing style along with some dark imagery, Blindness tells the story of a city that is swept with an epidemic of sudden blindness, as panic, selfishness, and jealousy take a dominant role in one's decisions. Seeing takes place in the same city years after the pandemic (though it's not really a sequel) and focuses on the politics in the city during its elections. 

Last summer, I read All the Names, another book by the same author that focuses on themes around life and death. The author is well known for his controversial topics that usually highlight the darker sides of society, as even one of his books was blocked by his Portuguese government to become nominated for the European Literary Prize. Of course, censorship didn't keep his books from becoming published, and also didn't stop him from winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

Here are some of his quotes, which reflect his opinions on the world, and on the significance of language in our lives:

“Some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don't understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they're there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it's the other side that matters.”

"Society has to change, but the political powers we have at the moment are not enough to effect this change. The whole democratic system would have to be rethought."

“Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them so that each might express a tiny part of what it is.”

"We use words to understand each other and even, sometimes, to find each other."

The author is a man of powerful words, and through his novels, he has showed me the beauty of language, reminding us of the need to continually work harder to express ourselves and to never be afraid of what we need to express.

I was sad to find out that José Saramago had passed away last week, on the 18th, at the age of 87. But he has left behind a legacy of words and inspiration - to the people of Portugal, and to readers around the world.   Hopefully, with more people like him, though language, we can better understand humanity and work towards a brighter future. For now, let's just work on understanding each other. 

Words to think about:

"Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are." - José Saramago, in Blindness

In Memory of José Saramago.

Won't you come out to play?

Prudence.
Prudence.
Yes, Prudence.
Can I have the definition?
Prudence. Foresight in making appropriate decisions and judgement. Also a name popular in 17th century England.
May I have the language of origin?
Latin to French to English.
Prudence. Does the word come from the Latin root, "pruden", meaning "with care and consideration into the future?
Yes, that is correct.
Could you use it in a sentence?
We all must grow in wisdom and prudence.
Could you use it in a song?
Well, the Beatles did, with "Dear Prudence" released in 1968.
(Aren't you glad I didn't do another spelling bee centered post? =P)

The motto at my high school, Sir John A. Macdonald CI, was "Prudentia and Scientia", which translates to "vision and knowledge". The motto was the theme for the Valedictorian candidate speeches and was mentioned throughout our commencement ceremony.

I like the word prudentia. Vision. Good Judgement. Wisdom.
Prudence is also one of the seven Christian virtues.
But nowadays, prudence has a bit of a negative ring to it. While prudence still carries a notion of careful thought, the word is sometimes associated with "self-interest". Furthermore, prudence can be seen as too much of a good thing - one who is prudent is frugal, or too rational. These negative connotations are best seen in quotes:

"Prudence is an attitude that keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy."
                      - Samuel Johnson, 18th century British author

"The prudence of the best heads is often defeated by the tenderness of the best of hearts."
                      - Henry Fielder, 18th century British novelist

"Prudence and love are inconsistent; in proportion as the last increases, the other decreases."
                      - Francois XIII, French Duke (of La Rochefoucauld)

While prudence continues to remain a word linked with great wisdom and forethought, in a different context, one can be too cautious. In times of trouble or despair, we often want to hide from our fears, away from the troubles of the world. Though you're safe in hiding, caution may prevent you from taking some risks in life that will bring you to new opportunities that show you the beauty of the world.

The third quote reminds me of "Across the Universe", where prudence is illustrated through one of the characters, appropriately named Prudence, who struggles with the lack of attention from her love interests throughout the movie. And so, here are the clips, the Beatles original is on the left. On the right is Dear Prudence from "Across the Universe", definitely one of my favourite tracks from the movie. In my opinion, one of the best Beatles cheering up songs as well. Enjoy!

 

Lyrics to think about:
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?
Look around round round...

World Cup Thoughts

World flags are flying everywhere – the pair of Italian flags across the street reminds me that the World Cup is back on. The excitement that is 13 300 kilometres away is reflected here, with fans celebrating at local bars, watching games on their TVs, phones, and iPads (booo), and flooding Facebook and Twitter (haha fail whale) with cheers and what seems to be play-by-play commentary. All the excitement minus the vuvuzelas.

Now, let me say that I’m not a great soccer fan, so I’m not going to skim the Wikipedia page, run through a few news articles, and write an post about the World Cup pretending I know what I’m talking about. And no offence to fans, which I know include many/most of my friends. Football’s an amazing sport that has inspired nations, and its simplicity captivates audiences worldwide (understatement?). I suppose with a lack of a Canadian team, or even a Taiwanese team, to cheer for, I’ve simply been more quiet than usual when it comes to the World Cup.

But I do have some vivid memories of the previous two competitions. In 2002, the World Cup Final took place on the last day of the annual Taiwanese Canadian Association Conference, hosted by Montreal that year. My family decided to spend the night in Montreal to tour around the city and experience the night life. Night life that day turned out to be streets packed with fans parading with Brazilian flags. To be honest, that’s pretty much all I remember from that night (I was ten years old at the time.) Car horns honking and just a huge mass of football fans sporting green and gold, waving flags with the stars of the Southern Hemisphere.

2006 was not as eventful. I do remember watching parts of games here and there, and clips of Zidane’s headbutt looped almost endlessly on TV. Kinda like what the Conservatives did with that image of Dion.

hmmmm yep, these are the ones.

But with quite a few Italian fans in the neighbourhood, celebration did “break out” when Italy won the final through the penalty shootout. I do remember a half-naked guy running around the greenbelt behind our row of houses holding high the tricolour flag of red, white, and green, screaming at the top of his lungs. 

The top Google Images result for “half-naked guy running around holding the Italian flag screaming at the top of his lungs” wasn’t as descriptive as I had hoped. *(note, for comparison's sake, Bing didn't get any hits. I guess some things just aren't meant for the internet)

Well, the 2010 FIFA World Cup is now here, and I will be following the games as time permits. Though granted, with RMR, 22 Minutes, the Simpsons, Glee, and the Big Bang Theory all on summer break, all that's left for me to watch other than soccer is Jeopardy. Yay Jeopardy!

But the World Cup is more than a competition or a sport. It is a global event, and just like the World Expo, countries are trying to put out their best displays - for soccer, it's all about skill, speed, and endurance. What I love about these sporting events is that you get a glimpse of the whole world, and from the viewpoint of the country, the whole world gets a glimpse of you. Your players. Your team. Your colours. And your flag.

A country doesn't always have a host of symbols. Sure, in Canada we have the beaver, the Mounties, the Canada Goose, the loon, hockey - but to billions of people worldwide, when they think Canada, they picture our maple leaf. For us, especially with the countries that we almost never hear about, their flag is arguably our best visual association with the country.

Ghana's win against Serbia was the first African nation to win a game at the 2010 World Cup. Their team is also referred to as the "Black Stars". With just a little investigation, you'll learn that the black star represents the "lodestar", a bright reference star in the night sky that helps in navigation, which also symbolizes African freedom. Just a bit more research will give you more details to what each colour means, as well as the history of the flag.

The Flag of Ghana

Flags are a great way to learn more about a country - nations can represent their histories, governments, symbols, geography, resources - all on that piece of fabric. And so much goes into making up a flag (Canada's was no exception) - what dimensions? what colours? what shade of red? what symbols? too political? does it look good waving in the wind? 

Next time, when you're watching the World Cup, or any event, and you happen to see a country you're unfamiliar with, take a step beyond simply watching the game - look into the history behind the flag and find out why that awesome player is wearing those colours and symbols. Hopefully you'll learn something new. And you'll never know when such knowledge we'll come in handy. Well, that's what I'm betting on. 

Oh, and same goes with our flag too. I think that Flag Day in Canada should be a National Holiday. When is it? Well, that just proves my point.

confiserie

If I worked for Google [Canada], I would invest [more] in education. 

Not that they don't invest in education. The services that Google provides to students worldwide, often free of charge, have led today's generation through the information age, allowing people to access books (Google Books), scientific journals and peer-reviewed articles (Google Scholar), maps and geographic data (Google Earth, Google Maps), word processing and collaboration (Google Docs, Google Wave) and tools such as Blogger, Gmail, and Chrome. And, of course, Google acts as our gateway to the world wide web (search, images, news, youtube...).

Directly, Google also provides certain scholarships to students, mainly in the fields of computer engineering, in addition to the tens of millions of dollars given as grants to research and education initatives. Projects include HakiElimu in its aim to improve the quality of education in Tanzania and stimulate political debate and a 1.6 million dollar grant to [dead link] a study to identify and reduce learning gaps in the country's elementary school system.

Now, I know I do too much advertising for Google. I've already said Google ten times in this post, and I haven't even gotten to my main point. But the company and its services have had a signifcant impact on my education - in research, developing study aids, and finding solutions - as well providing me with efficient tools that help save time whenever I'm on the computer. Similarly, Google has an impact on the hundreds of millions of students worldwide, and plays an important role in the education of the next generation.

site: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2009/05/spelling-bee.html

file url: http://media.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/images/may09/spelb_sm/spelbee07.jpg

credits: Alex Wong, Getty Images

Meet Laura Newcombe. Meet nearly 300 other young students, mainly from the United States but with the participation of students worldwide, who qualify among millions to take part in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. All under the age of fifteen without a minimum age requirement. And all superb spellers. 

I mention Laura because she's Canadian, and this year (2010), the only Canadian in competition. At the age of 11, she has already been crowned champion at the Canwest Canspell National Spelling Bee. Twice. As the winner of Canspell, she was sent to the Washington DC and was tied for 17th last year (picture above was taken from '09). This year, starting with 272 other spellers in the preliminary rounds, she competed in the Scripps Spelling Bee finals, the youngest among nine other finalists**. Eventually, she tied for fifth place after spelling the word confiserie incorrectly, a word with French roots for "candy store".

I'm not a great speller myself. Spelling questions were far from my favourite topics in Reach for the Top (oh those assigned questions =/) - I would much rather spell words with chemical symbols and have a geography themed question set. To be honest, I have [unfortunately] become quite dependant on spell check - and with spell-checkers as powerful as these - who knows how doomed future generations will be with spelling and grammar. But of course, young spellers such as Laura Newcombe and this year's Scripps' champion Anamika Veeramani remind us of what we are capable of. And in a moment of inspiration, I disabled the in-browser spell check on Chrome, so if you've seen some obvious typos in this post (and in my emails, and future posts), well now you know why. 

But it's not really their great spelling ability that truly inspires me. I can't spell well, and they can: ultimately, everybody has their talents and strengths - it's that these young spellers are such eager learners that are determined to make their dreams come true. Watching the Bee Week clips from the past few days (these 273 spellers get to spent the week together - in competition, but also in celebration and fellowship), these kids are nearly always smiling, making friends, sharing experiences, and pushing forwards towards their goals. The competitors high-five each other as they make their way to their seats, and give encouraging nods while their opponents are up at the microphone. By the finals, each speller, when eliminated, is given a standing ovation by all the audience members, their fellow spellers, and their parents, who have joined their kids on stage to support and celebrate the high level of achievement of these young finalists. 

Anamika aspires to become a playwright and an author, while pursuing a career of a cardiovascular surgeon, with the intention of going to Harvard Medical School. Interestingly enough, her winning word was stromuhr, a device for measuring the speed of blood flowing through her artery. Laura, still young at 11, has an interest in the arts, a passion in swimming, and a natural love of reading, but for now, she'll work on training for next year as she will once again compete in the Canwest Canspell Spelling Bee.

And if she wins that competition, she'll also be competing the the Scripps Spelling Bee (again) for a chance for over $40 000 in cash and prizes, and of course, the Scripps Trophy. But she's not the only great speller in Canada - why do we (Canadians) only have one entry in the Scripps Spelling Bee?

If you've been watching the Scripps Spelling Bee over the past few years (don't worry, I haven't =/), Canada had twenty-two representatives; this year we only had one. And the main reason? Money. To enter into the Scripps Spelling Bee, you need to fulfill two objectives: a) win a regional spelling Bee, and b) have a sponsor. Most sponsors, as you can see in the picture above, are Newspapers. The problem is that newspapers are a dying species, and companies such as Canwest (which owns the National Post) aren't making as much money as they used to: Canwest filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. As a result, they cut their sponsored spellers from the twenty-two winners of smaller regional competitions to just one - the winner of the national competition.

Of course, I can't say whether or not Canwest will support more students this year now that the economic landscape looks better. And I can't say that some other newspaper or company won't step in to sponsor some of these students. But for these young students nationwide, it would be a comforting fact if companies were keen to support the next generation and inspire millions of kids to reach for the top.

As newspapers continue to suffer because of the growing use of the internet, I don't see why the internet can't be the solution. There was once a time when The Globe and Mail, the Webster Dictionary, and the Encyclopedia Briticanna were the ideal resources (and today, the latter two remain as major sponsors in the Scripps spelling bee). But now with online news sources, dictionary.com, Wikipedia, and Google Scholar just clicks away (note: I'm not saying these are necessarily better), the next generation is learning through the internet, supporting these students as they aim for their careers and dreams. As these sites, including Google, continue to grow as important learning tools, these companies have the potentital to also assist students directly to pursue opportunities like the National Spelling Bee and truly define the next generation as the information/Internet age. 

Thus, if I worked for Google Canada, I would invest more in student education - not only through services, but by directly supporting opportunities for students to learn and meet other students, while inspiring countless others to make dreams come true. (The Google Doodle challenges in the United States are a good example of this support; it would be nice to see this in Canada, and also through outside non-Google events as well). 

For more information, here are a couple websites I found interesting:

Spelling Bee Recap (ABC News)

Spelling Bee Recap (The Canadian press)

Canspell Spelling Bee

Also worth watching:

Akeelah and the Bee - a 2006 movie about a young girl, also 11 years old, in her journey to the Scripps National Spelling Bee

Words to think about:

rudimentary. suffraginis. thalassian. nematodiasis. scrannel. confiserie.

words that Laura needed to spell starting in round two. one wrong and you're done for the year. She played until round seven. Anamika won in round nine.

**finalists on TV, but not official finalists. Starting at the semifinals, all remaining contestants spell their given words - if they are incorrect, they are eliminated at that round. For prime time television, ABC paused the semifinals in the middle of a round so that there would be ten spellers remaining. With criticism, this format was ideal for prime-time TV, though these spellers were not necessary considered finalists in the official spelling bee rules. Instead, all spellers are ranked numerically (no finalists distinction), and tied with the other spellers that were eliminated in the same round.

"Had it been another day..."

Not one of the more commonly known Beatles' songs, this piece is one of my favourites.
"I've Just Seen a Face" jumped into my top twelve songs list after I watched "Across the Universe", which, in my opinion, really captured the joy of this song - and the moment of love at first sight.

The original recording with lyrics is on the left, and a clip from Across the Universe is on the right.




"I've Just Seen a Face" is quite a unique Beatles' song, featuring a fast-paced bluegrass/country rhythm and some interesting rhyming combinations if you listen carefully. Also, for some reason, the Beatles never performed the song live.

Perhaps because this piece was mostly a bluegrass experiment of Paul McCartney and the band didn't love it too much. Maybe it's because McCartney had played this song often at home and with relatives ("I've just seen a Face" was a favourite of his Aunt), and didn't want to share this special private family connection with the world. Or mayhaps, that special moment can only be captured once.

I'm not sure if I believe in love at first sight - that question will come up later in another Beatles song - but along with first impressions and the milestones in our lives, there are so many thoughts and emotions that go on in a short period of time, sometimes I wish the clock really should just pause - to give us a time to gather our thoughts or to experience each emotion one at a time.

But no, we don't live in a movie (... unless we live in the Matrix? =P) where time can speed up, freeze, or go in slow motion at will. Instead, we end up with a short, fast-paced dance number that leaves us with a blur of memories. But there's a certain beauty in this blur of emotions, and that's what makes these moments, and this song, so wonderful.


Words to think about:
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." - Beethoven

Bubble Tea!

Nope, not the drink.
Though such a post will be inevitable in a month and a half's time.

Meet Bubble Tea:

Name: Bubble Tea
Occupation: Pet turtle
Origin: booth at a Toronto Night Market Festival, summer of '09
Favourite activity: sunbathing, lounging underneath his Lego slide
Sex: most likely male, based on observations of tail shape and length. hmmm (note: if later observations prove Bubble Tea to be female, a name change to Tapioca is planned)
Philosophy/Religion: Stoicism
Favourite song: Theme from Pixar's Up


Bubble Tea is looking for a temporary caregiver for about two and a half weeks this summer.
For more information, contact me at ay.savethetigers@gmail.com, or give me a call.

Reward - I'll treat you to some bubble tea? A souvenir? =P
You will be compensated for your time and compassion =).