P1

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November 2012 VOL. 1 NO. 2

We’ve always been told that our school’s cafeteria food is Halal. This made sense, as the majority of Marc Gar-neau students are Muslim. Several weeks ago, this topic was being discussed in one of the cooking classes. While most of the students believed the food to be Halal, some disagreed. Since then, many students have been going to the two cafeteria workers to ask if the specials are Halal. When I asked the same question, a cafeteria worker

replied, “Of course it is! Everything is Halal; everything!” I decided to speak to their supervisor to find out where the meats come from. I set out to write this article to confirm to the students that the meat is 100% Halal. Unfortunately, I was wrong. When I asked the cafeteria supervisor if he could tell me where the Halal meat came from, he replied before I could even finish the question: ”Oh, it’s not Halal.” Shocked, I asked him to repeat himself.

If the supervisor could say the food isn’t Halal so confidently, why have we been always told otherwise by the cafeteria workers? The supervisor and I discussed the definition of Halal that is accepted by the majority of the students, and which of the food items would be Halal under this definition. Halal means “permitted” in Arabic. If something is Halal, it means that it is permitted or approved of under the guidelines of the Qur’an. Acts such as

consuming alcohol do not follow these guidelines. The term “Halal” is applied to more than just food. For example, be-havior, dress, speech, manners, and per-formance can all be “Halal”. For meat to be Halal, the animal must be slaughtered with a single cut to the jugular vein in the throat while a short prayer is recited. This is called Zabiha. It is intended to show respect for the ani-mal by minimizing its suffering. Only then, the said meat is considered to be

Halal. The meat we receive at our school is not Halal certified, but Halal “acceptable.” This means that it contains no pork, but it was not killed by the method of Zabiha. The definition of Halal was misunder-stood by the two cafeteria workers; that’s why we were told everything is Halal.

See CAFETERIA on P4 for more.

An MGCI student purchases lunch from the cafeteria.

by KHADIJA AZIZ

BULLYING: UNATTENDED, UNABATED

This is part one of a two-part series en-titled “Bullying: Unattended, Unabated.” Part two will discuss what teachers and guidance counselors can do when students talk to them about bullying and other emotional issues.

On Friday, 19 October, students were in-terrupted during their studies by a special announcement. In response to the death of British Columbian teenager Amanda Todd, students were asked to have a mo-ment of silence to honour the victims of bullying. Because of the extreme bullying

she faced, Todd took her own life.The memorial took an unexpected turn when Mr. Sharp, our vice-prin-cipal, concluded the announcement. Mr. Sharp emphatically told us that contrary to what we had just done, we should not remain silent in response to bullying. Instead, when faced with abuse or harassment we should speak up and tell a teacher, guidance counselor, parent, or friend. No one would disagree with Mr. Sharp’s statements. In a perfect world, suicide should not be an op-tion when dealing with bullying. It’s always better to talk to others when you have issues. That way, negativ-ity can be dealt with in a safe and healthy way. But is every student lucky enough to have a stable family? Does every student have a best friend to listen to all their problems? Does every stu-dent have a close relationship with their teachers or guidance counsel-ors?

See BULLYING on P3 for more.

by JOSHUA TSENG-THAM

Inadequate relationships and a sense of helplessness may prevent students from speaking up about their issues.

STUDENTS MISINFORMEDCafeteria Food Not All Halal

GARNEAU’S MASCOT REVIVED

Monday, 15 October saw an old, but not forgotten grinning face with a patch proudly announcing “Marc Garneau Athletics” in the cafeteria. The recently rediscovered furry caramel-coloured cat was touched up, and brought back to the public. After several years’ disappearance, the symbol of our school sprit has received a much-needed renewal.

by LILY SONG

TEACHERS TAKE

by ALIE TEACHMAN and KASRA KOUSHAN

As of today (7 November, 2012), pub-lic high school teachers across Ontario are implementing legal strike action in their continuing struggle with the On-tario government over collective bar-gaining rights. With the passing of Bill 115, also known as the Putting Students First Act, a set of restrictions are being imposed upon teachers to form collec-tive bargaining agreements with their individual school boards by December 31. The details of these restrictions have already been made clear; teachers will receive a pay freeze, reduced sick days, and the government is given the power to ban any job action the teachers take. Teachers have expressed a strong disap-proval of the bill and the government’s approach to collective bargaining. Now, all public high school teachers across the province will be withdrawing a series of activities that aren’t man-dated by their contracts. Teachers will no longer attend staff and departmen-tal meetings, distribute board commu-nications or materials to the students, administer the EQAO/OSSLT tests, or communicate with parents (through email or through interviews) outside of the regular school day. Teachers will continue to take attendance, but they must stop submitting attendance forms to the office. They must also stop distributing course selection materials

and collecting textbooks at the end of the school year or semester. However, teachers will continue to provide in-struction to students and may still pro-vide extra help. The Ontario Secondary School Teach-ers’ Federation (OSSTF) has stated that its intent with this strike action is not to harm the students, but rather to pres-sure the government. Students at Marc Garneau have already felt the implica-tions of this collective bargaining bat-tle, as many teachers have been cutting back on their voluntary obligations like coaching sports teams and supervising clubs. The effects of this specific action, however, likely won’t worsen the impli-cations for students. The sanctions that will take place are generally adminis-trative, and thus will not affect students directly. At the same time, the government holds the power to end this strike action at any time. Whether it does is still up in the air, but if the government takes that course of action, the OSSTF will com-pletely withdraw from all extra-curric-ular or voluntary activities. Thus, the developments in this dispute between teachers and the Ontario government can eventually lead to significant losses for students. At the moment however, the implications for students are min-imal.

LEGALSTRIKE ACTION

The cougar is in.

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P2 November 2012VOL. 1 NO. 2

LIFEHOW TO WRITE A PROPER

ESSAYby KASRA KOUSHAN

Essay writing is a substantial com-ponent of every student’s academic ca-reer. Students write essays in English, social science, foreign languages, and increasingly often in science classes. Quite simply, they’re an unavoidable aspect of a quintessential school expe-rience. And yet, students everywhere still struggle with writing structured essays. They often have trouble developing a convincing argument, or establishing flow in their essays. They ask, for ex-ample, “How do I develop a convincing argument?” or “How do I establish flow in my essay?” Daunting as they may be, solutions to these frequently encountered prob-lems do exist. Below is a straightfor-ward compilation of some insights I’ve gained from several years of experience with essay writing in hopes of proving some aid to students who struggle with the craft. Prior to beginning, though, I must make it clear that my advice is worth heeding – I have awed many teachers with my superb prose. “Please re-submit,” my teachers comment; they so enjoy my writing that they want two versions of it! And it doesn’t stop with two – my teachers sometimes in-satiably demand further and further re-visions of my brilliant work. In fact, my teachers often even ask me to explain my reasoning and thought process! “What the heck are you trying to con-vey?” they ask. They are so impressed with my argument that they want me to explain it to them in person! My essay writing is clearly much par; there is lit-tle need to doubt my expertise. You have to begin by planning out the general structure of your essay. Obvi-ously, this would depend on the type of essay that you’re writing – perhaps ex-pository or argumentative – and your topic. However, having worked on a va-riety of topics and styles in my experi-

ence with essay writing, I have devised a formatting technique that can be ap-plied to almost all essay assignments. Essentially, this format consists of a se-quence of paragraphs in sequential or-der. You begin with the first paragraph, and that is followed by the second paragraph, which precedes the third paragraph. Give yourself some time to take in this complicated procedure – it certainly took me a while before I was able to understand it. You also have to remember that this structure is flex-ible; you can always create additional paragraphs following a similar pattern. Following the third paragraph for ex-ample, you would add a fourth para-graph. Then, you would sometimes go with a fifth. You can continue to add paragraphs to this structure as needed. Once the general structure of the essay is planned out, you must struc-ture the individual paragraphs. Over the years, the system of paragraph structuring I’ve found most effective is that of writing the first sentence of the paragraph, and after that, writing the second sentence of the paragraph. Then, and only then, would you create the third sentence of the paragraph. Proceeding this sentence will be the fourth and the fifth sentences. Finally, you add the sixth sentence of your now-completed paragraph. However, the structure of paragraphs, similar to the structure of the essay, is very flex-ible. You may add a seventh sentence if necessary; just remember that if you have a seventh sentence, the total number of sentences in your paragraph should be seven, and if we were to as-sign each sentence in the paragraph a number, the seventh sentence would be number seven, and would follow the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sentences, which would consecu-tively be represented as sentence num-ber one, two, three, four, five, and six.

Again, this is relatively complicated procedure, so give yourself much time and practice to hone this method of paragraph formatting. Students often ask, “What if I want to add a sentence in the middle of my paragraph?” The procedure for such a sentence implant would be this – if, for example, you seek to insert a new sentence proceeding the third sen-tence of your six-sentence paragraph, you would have to reformat the fourth sentence of the paragraph into the fifth sentence, the fifth sentence into the sixth sentence, and so on. This refor-matting of the sentences takes a lot of tedious work; I would thus recom-mend that you only add sentences into the middle of your paragraphs when it’s absolutely necessary. In addition, reformatting the sentences can lead to emotional instability amongst the sentences themselves, as they begin to lose a sense of what exactly their role is within the paragraph and then the es-say as a whole. The structure for individual sen-tences follows a similar procedure – lean towards having the first word, followed by the second word, followed by the third word. However, words are rather different from sentences and paragraphs in that you generally end up with more words per sentence than sentences per paragraph or paragraphs per essay. Thus, sentence structure usually requires a further degree of creativity to avoid confusion and bore-dom among readers. What I personally recommend is, similar to paragraph structure, assigning each word in your sentence a number, and then taking a random number generator and creat-ing a sequence of random numbers be-tween 1 and the total number of words in your sentence. Then, write out the words in the order that the random se-quence is made; if there are duplicates,

go ahead and write the same word twice. This is an excellent technique for grabbing the reader’s attention and urging the reader to think critically. After you formulate your essay based on the specific procedures I outlined above, you have one final task: proof-reading the essay. Contrary to what you are likely told, you mustn’t have your essay proofread by a peer or a parent. You mustn’t have it proofread by a teacher either. In fact, don’t have your essays proofread by a human at all. Rather, ask for advice from a hamster, a dog, or a cat. Humans are far too often constricted with archaic and socially imposed standards for es-say evaluation. In contrast, cats, dogs, and hamsters are far more likely to be open-minded towards the structure and content of your essay and contain a primordial and instinctual wisdom that allows them to make far deeper insights into the quality of your essay than any human would. Once your essay is proofread, you will be ready to hand it in. Briefly look it over, omit words randomly, insert ad-ditional paragraphs by hand, and find other creative ways to keep the reader interested. As well, discuss this innova-tive new method for formulating essays with your teachers and peers; get their opinions on my advice (be careful, some won’t be very receptive of these advanced ideas) and consider how this method can be improved (it can’t). Then, you must practice, practice, and practice, until you slowly begin to hone this technique of essay writing and very, very gradually notice improve-ments. Eventually, you will submit your essays to your teachers with con-fidence – I guarantee you that they’ll notice the difference!

LE CORBEAUby SUSIE LIU

FIELDSOF GREY

I never knewso many shades of grey existed in the worldThe ground, the sky, all grey; the soldiers tooEither sideNowhere to hide it seemsFrom this dismal epidemic

The grass was once a greenish hueBefore the rain washed it awayThe sky was blueBut so many spirits flewTo go wherever they goIt must have mourned them too

My blood was redDeep redI saw it run one dayLike so many menIt ran off my armIt hit the groundAnd it too turned grey

I looked into a mirror the other dayFor the first time in a whileAnd a man I knew looked back at meBut slightly different did he seemI could have swornHis eyes were blueSometime before todayBut now those aching eyes that staredWere coloured shades of grey

by VASILI MANIKAS

EDITORIAL

LANCE ARMSTRONG:

by PETER WEN

A Livestrong bracelet with the “v” removed to make the bracelet read “Liestrong”

Everybody knows Lance’s story. He was a young cyclist whose career was halted by cancer. Testicular cancer had spread to his brain and lungs, but after months of intense chemotherapy, he was declared cancer-free. He came back to win seven consecutive Tour de France victories, an unfathomable achieve-ment for a former cancer patient. He inspired many people, not just cancer patients. On 22 October, the American hero was stripped of all career results and was banned from cycling com-petitions for life. The US Anti-doping Agency (US-ADA) found “overwhelming” evidence that Arm-strong was involved as a professional cyclist in “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program.” Armstrong’s sponsors have with-drawn support and insurance companies are suing him for millions of dollars in bonuses. Owners of the yellow Livestrong bracelets are scribbling out the “v” to make the bracelet read Liestrong. Ouch. But should we be so harsh to the shamed man? The liar who insisted he was drug free at a time when doping was rampant in professional cycling? The villain once idolized by countless young cy-clists? The cheat who bribed his way to fame? My answer is no. He may be a failure as an athlete, but not as a human being. Pretend Armstrong was never famous for his suc-cess in cycling. Before he stepped down as chair-man, he played an instrumental part in Livestrong Foundation, a non-profit cancer support organiza-tion that has raised several millions of dollars for the cause. His motivations should be respected. He recognized a need and dedicated himself to charita

-ble causes. Sure, a man who beat cancer and went on to win seven Tour titles is an appeal-ing icon, but a man who beat cancer and went on to race in the Tour would have been quite impres-sive too. The titles are icing on the cake. The lack thereof should not mitigate our respect for him. Cheating is cheating in any sport, but it is more ubiquitous in cycling. It has been said that if the 2005 yellow jersey had to be reas-signed to the next fastest finisher who was not linked to doping, it would be awarded to the 23rd place finisher. Even that rider may

have been involved in enhancement drugs, but was never caught. In a sport where every-one is in equally pristine physical shape, eats the same high-carb diet and rides similar ten thousand dollar bikes, it still takes someone special to stand out from the crowd. Surely, many riders—if not most—illegally doped to gain an edge, but it still takes an exceptional athlete to conquer the Tour’s podium for seven consecutive years. Sometimes, it’s worth recognizing a per-son’s achievements, however obscured by setbacks.

INSPIRATIONNO MORE?

www.thereckoner.ca

EDITORIALWHERE TO GO?

BULLYINGContinued from P1.

In short, they don’t. The harsh reality is that students don’t always have the options that we would like them to have. We can’t assume that every student is gifted with a loving family. Teenagers may not have a good relationship with their parents. If these victims are bullied to the extent of wanting to commit suicide, we can’t assume they have friends to support them either. Students may be reluctant to talk to teachers because of their desire to maintain a professional rather than personal relationship. At Marc Garneau, guidance counselors are the last adults kids would want to go to. They are distant and busy. Many students never talk to their counselors unless they want to change their courses. Hits Close to Home This is a reality shared by a significant pop-ulation in Garneau. As we spoke with various students around the school, we found a reoc-curring pattern: inadequate relationships and

a sense of helplessness. “I’m not really close to my parents. Now that I think about it, I’m not that close to anyone,” commented one grade 9 student.Her relationships with her teachers weren’t that much better. When asked if she would talk to teachers about being bullied, she replied, “I think a lot of my teachers this semester dislike me. My parents lectured me for three days af-ter the parent-teacher interviews.” When asked about speaking to guidance, another student commented “My guidance counselor is useless. There’s a feeling that you shouldn’t go to him the next time you have an issue. He asks questions that are weird and re-petitive.” Is Guidance the Problem? Indeed, the guidance office has often been held responsible for this issue. There is a gen-eral consensus that the guidance office isn’t doing enough to meet the needs of bullying

victims. Many students question the ability of guid-ance to deal with students facing bullying sit-uations. One such student explained: “If I feel like I can’t talk to my guidance counselor, it won’t change a thing.” More outreach needs to be done by guidance to tell students that coun-selors are available to speak with, and to clarify what guidance will do to help. At a more fundamental level, however, the idea that students have “enough” resources at their disposal should be questioned. If a stu-dent doesn’t feel they have anyone to talk to, they won’t seek out help and develop channels to deal with their emotions. We as a commu-nity need to make sure that all students have someone to talk to, that they know who these people are, and that they know what these peo-ple will do. “I probably wouldn’t talk to anyone. Every-one seems so busy.” one student shrugged.

November 2012 P3VOL. 1 NO. 2

NO WATER IN SCIENCE LABSby DAVID HAO and VICKY XU

In June, the Toronto District School Board issued a ban on bringing and con-suming drinking water in all science facilities in schools, including labs and classrooms. Food, as all Marc Garneau students know, has always been banned in science facilities at school because of the health risk posed by consuming food in an un-safe environment such as a lab. Water, on the other hand, was an exception to this rule. Students could bring their water bottles in and take a drink in a lab or sci-ence classroom whenever they wanted. However, this is no longer the case. What prompted the recent ban on water was a teacher accidentally consuming an unknown chemical after mistaking it for water. The substance was kept in a regu-lar water bottle, which begs the question of why it wasn’t labelled if it could be so potentially harmful. The teacher’s vocal cords were damaged, causing pain when she spoke for extended periods of time.

When news of the incident reached the TDSB, it was decided that students could not drink water in science rooms to avoid similar incidents. There have been incidents of mistaking harmful substances for water at Garneau. However, one accident didn’t happen in a science facility, instead occurring in a regular classroom during an account-ing class. Students in a chemistry class were supposed to bring in a liquid sam-ple to test. They had these samples with them during their other classes. Many of the liquids were brought in regular wa-ter bottles. One student saw a bottle of laundry detergent, and, mistaking it for Gatorade, decided to take a drink from it. The student was unharmed, and the consequences were minimal. This shows that even with the ban, ac-cidents can happen anywhere. Had the student in this occurence been seriously harmed, would the TDSB have banned water everywhere in the school? Ban-

ning something outright isn’t an effec-tive way of preventing further accidents. Instead of simply isolating and removing any objects or substances involved in the problem, the better approach is to bet-ter label potentially harmful chemicals. In this case, a superior response would be a rule for all potentially harmful sub-stances brought to school to be clearly marked and labelled. This rule would also apply to any harmful substances al-ready in the school, such as chemicals in a science lab. This would have prevented the teacher’s error of mistaking a chem-ical in a water bottle for water. It doesn’t make sense to ban something every time something bad happens. There are better ways to prevent accidents. Students and staff alike are no longer allowed to consume water in science labs and classrooms. Science teachers are af-fected even more than students, as they spend most of their day at school in sci-ence rooms. “You have to remember that

it inconveniences the teachers as well. It’s not a punishment for the students; the teachers as well are not allowed to [drink water] in class,” Ms. Woods ex-plained. She also added that “it may inconvenience [the students and staff] a tiny bit, but it’s an hour and fifteen minutes. If you really need to have some-thing to drink, you can just step outside. Most teachers are very understanding about that.” The ban has not been well-received. It doesn’t prevent the incidents it targets, as is demonstrated by the “Gatorade” case, and it inconveniences people more than it helps them. To be fair, the effects of the ban are not overbearing. Yang Chen, a grade 12 science student com-mented, “I get thirsty in class, and it’s a really unnecessary hassle.” However, he did agree that having to drink outside wasn’t that big of a deal, when you put it in perspective. “It isn’t honestly as bad as people in other countries having to walk

miles for water.” However, no matter how small the inconvenience of the ban is, if it doesn’t really help, it’s unnecessary. At the end of the day, the ban has very limited ef-fectiveness at preventing future acci-dents. They can still occur elsewhere. Then what? More bans? Will we not be able to eat or drink anything anywhere in school? Persistently banning things following an incident isn’t the correct course of action. Although we must not jeopardize our safety, we must also never forsake personal freedom in its name. As one student sarcastically commented, “I think the TDSB should also ban students from breathing air in science classrooms. After all, the air they breathe might be contaminated. Students should be asked to go outside of class if they want to take a breath.”

The Reckoner

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMAHAN NEKOUI

PRODUCTION MANAGERSOHEIL KOUSHAN

NEWS MANAGERTIANYI MA

LIFE MANAGERKASRA KOUSHAN

EDITORIAL MANAGERTHOMAS DONNELLY

BUSINESS MANAGERRIGERS RUKAJ

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHYSABRINA BERTSCH

DIRECTOR OF PRINT DEVELOPMENT

SUSIE LIU

DIRECTOR OF WEB DEVELOPMENT

ABDULLAH MEMON

DESIGN CONSULTANTYANCHENG LU

SAC CORRESPONDENTMICHELLE YEUNG

STAFF MEMBERSABIGAIL CHAU

ALIE TEACHMANANANNA RAFA

CHRISTINA CHENCINDY ZENG

CLAIRE HAMILTONCONNOR ADAIR

DAVID LIFELIPE GONZALEZ

GABRIEL WONGHENRY HEJACKIE HO

JOSHUA TSENG-THAMKHADIJA AZIZ

MARA GAGIU MIKE LI

MJ CHENNEERAJEN SRITHARAN

PETER WENQUINCY LAM

REMI HOSSAINRYAN MARKS

SHIRLEY MIAOTASLIMUL HOQUE

VALIANT CHANVASILI MANKIKAS

YUSRA JANGDA

APPRENTICESANANNA RAFABENSON WAN

DANIEL PEKARDAVID HAO

FRIEDA RONGHELEN FENGJAMIE KWAN

LILY SONGKAARTHIC PULOGARAJAH

SHELA QIUVICKY XU

of Marc Garneau C.I.SPIRIT WEEK:

Spirit week at Garneau comes and goes. And once again, few care and fewer participate. Sure, there were a handful of enthusiastic people who dressed up in bright colours, or feathers, or whatever else they were doing this year, but the vast majority just continued on with their lives. Not even student council members participated every single day. Such indifference was not for lack of trying. Okay, maybe a little – pyjamas and neons aren’t too likely in a school where a large fraction of people follow strict clothing guidelines. But at least this year they tried to include some activities

that actually brought people together, and it worked, sort of. Many people in the school really don’t care or take much pride in the school, and a week of dress-ing in funky clothes isn’t going to change that. Garneau is not the kind of school that people are all going “Damn right I go here”; it’s more like “Well you know, one time the SWAT team kicked down our doors.” Garneau students don’t really feel like this is a community, or a place that they are proud to be a part of. But why does it have to be this way? Spirit needs to become something more than just a little one-week stunt. It needs

to be something that becomes prevalent in all of Garneau. We could have pep ral-lies for sports games, let students watch them, maybe have actual cheerleaders, or bleachers… or a field. Give the kids something at least. Even if it doesn’t work, at least it’s better than “Dress like a penguin day” with six people registered as participating. Or we could have spirit spread out over a semester, rather than in just one concentrated one-week pe-riod, and give people real incentives to participate. Like more free samosas. Far too many students didn’t find out what the day’s theme was until the day

was already half over. Why does our mascot need to wait until day one of spirit week to resurface? Bring the cou-gar out a week or two in advance, give it a megaphone, and make sure every stu-dent knows that spirit week is coming and wants to make it something big. Stu-dent councilneeds more announcements advertising spirit week. Putting up post-ers that no one sees and a Facebook page that no one checks isn’t enough outreach. And yet, the pep rally on 19 October was the first example in years of something in spirit week being done well. Curious about the loud music emanating from

the cafeteria, students came and stayed for the food. But what’s most impor-tant about the pep rally is that it shows us that spirit can exist within Garneau. With proper preparation, students can have fun and really be connected with their school community. This spirit week might be over, but every year students have a chance to bring meaning to the phrase “Go cougars!”. For spirit events to succeed, students need to participate, but that will happen much easier with a little creativity from student council.

by THOMAS DONNELLY and YANCHENG LU

PART FAILURE,PART SUCCESS

The cougar poses with Vasili Manikas.

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P4November 2012 VOL. 1 NO. 2

MGCI CN TOWER CLIMBby DAVID LI

On Saturday 20 October at 6:30 a.m., students, teachers and parents of many schools and eth-nicities gathered at the CN tower. Their goal: to scale the 1776-step modern giant in hopes of rais-ing money for United Way. Garneau’s own team of approximately 50 students, the Grapplers, was there every step of the way. Climbing for human-ity, they contributed to the $2.1 million dollars Torontonians have raised. Our team, though smaller in comparison to the 80-student group from Earl Haig or the

200-strong from Northern, performed just as well. Many members reached the top in under 20 minutes, and our very own Peter Wen sprinted up the 144 landings in just 13 minutes and 3 seconds. Even our teacher representative, Mr. Hillman, reached the top in 18 minutes, where he and the other tired climbers were soon joined by the rest of the Grapplers. Luckily, not a single member needed the paramedics. Congratulations to the Grapplers, and kudos to their cause.

Garneau Student Elected into City Youth Council

When he first came to Garneau, Jerry Wu was an ordinary student struggling to get sleep between his schoolwork and extracurricular involvement. His interest in politics was sparked by an afternoon visit from Kathleen Wynne to his grade ten civics class, after which he volunteered for her election campaign. Today, he is the newly elected City Youth Councillor for Don Valley West, representing upwards of seven thousand youth who live, work, and play in the area.

by YUSRA JANGDA

The Grapplers pose for a group photo after a successful climb.

An Update From Flemingdon Neigh-bourhood Services

Students coming home from school often walk past a small building next to the gas station and the previous pit stop 7/11 without a second glance. Little do they know, the small space between the station and the next building holds plenty of op-portunities for them and the community of Flem-ingdon Park as a whole. Enter Flemingdon Neighbourhood Services (FNS). As a fairly new organization, FNS has yet to grow as large as Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office: the neighboring street’s neighborhood service. But with 1136 participants in 2011 for its youth programs, it is certainly no less popular.FNS aims to provide an outlet for youth in the community to come and find resources that would help them feel welcome in the neighbourhood. Its services include the settlement and housing pro-gram, women’s workers, outreach, and the Youth program. The Youth program implements programs of youth interest, providing recreational program-ming and even one-to-one counseling. Previously, FNS has generated plenty of programs for youth such as Art adventures, Girls nights, movie nights, and the soccer program. This year, FNS offers a Chess Club, hip hop programs, and self-defense classes. These classes offer youth a chance to develop their skills and learn something new to add to their résumé. There are also plenty of volunteer opportunities available such as a new graffiti pro-gram and “Tutor Me, Please”: a one-on-one tutor-ing program for students in grades 2-8. The graf-fiti program enables teenagers to paint and update the previous rainbow tunnel by the DVP while earning volunteer hours. Students interested in these programs should contact Aisha Mehboob at 416-424-2900. In short, the FNS is a valuable resource for the residents of Flemingdon Park, allowing them to explore their neighbourhood. It is also a place for students to build communication skills, make (le-gal) graffiti, make new friends, and simply enjoy what the community has to offer.

Feedback? Business inquiries? Letters to the editor? Contact us at info@thereckoner.ca

by YUSRA JANGDA

Marc Garneau’s 40th Anniversary

Reunion

Established as Overlea Secondary School in 1972, the school that students now call Marc Garneau CI turned the big four-zero this fall. Forty years of school means a lot of graduates out there—that’s where the Overlea Garneau Alumni Asso-ciation (OGAA) comes in. The organiza-tion reconnects grads with old classmates and the school they once called home. The OGAA hosted Garneau’s 40th Anniversary Reunion Gala last Satur-day. Over 300 alumni (one flew in from Hong Kong, and another from Yellow-knife) gathered at the event, along with principal Ricky Goldenberg and former OSS/MGCI teachers. Also in attendance

was school namesake and special guest Dr. Marc Garneau. Grads reconnected over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; a silent auction followed the evening’s reception, with proceeds supporting scholarships for Garneau students. After a sumptuous dinner, OGAA president Fareed Khan, Dr. Garneau, and Ms. Goldenberg all shared their thoughts on the school’s 40th anni-versary. The evening closed with desserts and live music on the dance floor. Unfor-tunately, The Reckoner failed to obtain photographic evidence of Ms. Goldenberg getting her groove on.

by MJ CHEN

THORNCLIFFE YOUTH’S FENCE RECLAMATION

by LILY SONG and MARA GAGIU

At 5 p.m. on 21 October, members of the Thorncliffe Youth Reclamation Project (TYRP) carefully placed the finishing touches onto their impres-sive urban art project along Thorn-cliffe Park: an initiative taken to transform the community into a more vibrant area. Beginning in January, some MGCI students decided to form a group to beautify public spaces. They came up with a proposal to impress ArtReach Toronto: a program that supports art initiatives. The students received a grant for the idea of decorating the fences that stand by the walkway to the East York Town Center building. The youth spent their after school hours to develop their idea. “We were working until 8 p.m., sometimes 8:30,” said a group member. They re-ceived help from the professional art-ists of STEPS Initiative: a group that promotes the idea of art for public

spaces. The volunteers successfully created their community art project. Made of brand new materials, the art em-ployed various designs and was cre-atively arranged in patterns and inter-esting shapes. It reflects and amplifies the light in the pathway. STEPS told us they intended to draw people from their homes to interact with the com-munity. Already the volunteers have re-ceived praise. The TYRP is planning to apply for another grant. Their ideas include mirrors and functional 3D art-work. The students enjoyed putting up the art, climbing fences, and most of all, seeing their hard work come to fruition. The STEPS initiative believes they have achieved their objective: “We want people to hear about it.

We want people to support us and take good care of this. We want smiles.”

Individual pieces of the project were made of laser-cut metal, painted wood, and colourful acrylic artwork designed by Thorncliffe youth.

NOT ALL HALALCAFETERIA

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Menu Items Description Halal?Pizza Cheese and veggie pizza delivered by Pizza

Pizza daily.Yes

Fries and pou-tine

The fries are baked, so there is no issue of oil. The poutine contains vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. They are com-pletely vegan.

Yes

Veggie and Tuna sandwiches

No meat except for the tuna, which is sea food and therefore does not have to be cut the way other animals must be cut.

Yes

Ham and other meat sandwiches

The meat is not Halal. No

Patties According to the manufacturer (Patty King), they “do not make any Halal pat-ties, not even for schools.”

No

Cinnamon Buns Baked goods such as these contain no animal byproducts such as gelatin.

Yes

Cookies The chocolate chip cookies are made with natural vanilla extract, which may con-tain a small amount of alcohol. Since any alcohol would be evaporated while baking, different students may have different beliefs concerning whether this violates Halal diet restrictions.

Subjec-tive

Muffins The ingredients list was unavailable at the time it was requested.

Uncon-firmed

Chips and drinks The chips and drinks are not made by our cafeteria workers. They are said to be Ha-lal, but check the ingredients if in doubt.

Yes

Salads Salads and Kraft’s Rancher’s Choice salad dressing is Halal.

Yes

The misconception that the cafeteria food is all Halal has been around for many years, however the cafeteria food has never been Halal. In the interests of the students, the table to the right is provided to help clear up any con-fusion for students following a Halal diet and wishing to eat at the school cafeteria. “My best advice is if you’re not sure, don’t have it,” the supervisor recom-mended. He said he would speak to the cafeteria workers to make sure they are aware that the food is not Ha-lal and not to tell the students who ask that otherwise. I asked the supervisor if the food served at Valley Park Middle School is not Halal either. He explained that their food is completely Halal, as it is supplied by the local halal grocery store, Iqbal Halal Foods. Unfortu-nately, Iqbal Halal Foods cannot pro-duce enough meat to supply Marc Garneau in addition to Valley Park. He said that there aren’t enough other local Halal meat suppliers from which we can buy. “The cafeteria wouldn’t be able to

afford serving Halal meat,” says Ms. Goldenberg. She also says that she had always known the cafeteria food wasn’t Halal: “I never thought that people would think it is, so I never said anything. If people are not sure about something being Halal, they just shouldn’t eat it.” Unfortunately, we were always told the food was Halal. Muslim students should make it their responsibility to find out what food is Halal or not in all areas of Marc Garneau CI, such as Food & Nutrition class. However, Ms. Paveling guaran-tees that the Grade 11 and 12 TFJ Hos-pitality/Culinary Arts classes are 100% Halal. They buy meat from Halal sup-pliers only and do not cater or serve pork or bacon. The demographics of our commu-nity are changing and the demand for Halal meat is high. More Halal meat suppliers may appear in the future, which could decrease the price of Ha-lal food enough for the cafeteria to consider purchasing from them. Until then, Muslims students in search of Halal meat for lunch must look else-where.

Garneau Alumni pose with special guest Dr. Garneau.