Holiday Observations

Posted on January 13, 2011 by admin

Happy New Year and welcome to the second decade of the 21st Century. The lengthy and restful holiday period has provided inspiration for this entry and, as we prepare for the year ahead, I have three observations to share.

First, the Christmas and Hanukah season is a period of great celebration including the luxury of quality time with family and friends. But it’s also a season of excess: too much food, drink, sweets, and late nights. By the time we awake on January 1st, most of us are begging for a couple of quiet days and nights – a chance for our feet to come down to earth and really relax after exams, weeks of preparations and seasonal parties.

This was not the case for 43 year-old Donna Simpson from New Jersey who currently weighs about 600 lbs. – and has a goal of becoming the world’s heftiest woman, hoping to eventually reach 1,000 lbs! She has a website where people pay to watch her eat, consuming over 12,000 calories per day. She’s a poster girl for North American excess! All by herself, here’s what Mrs. Simpson ate on Christmas Day – an unbelievable 30,000 calorie gluttonous holiday feast:

• two 25 lb turkeys
• two maple-glazed hams
• 15 lbs. potatoes
• 5 loves bread
• 5 lbs turkey stuffing
• 4 pints gravy
• 4 pints cranberry sauce
• 20 lbs. vegetables

Unbelievable – one person. Mrs. Simpson definitely wins the gold star for excess in this age of excess.

A second observation over the holiday relates to all the end-of- year lists that are so popular during the week between Christmas and January 1st. You know what I mean: the year’s top songs, news events and so forth. Did you know that at the end of the year researchers told us that Canadians spend more time online than people in any other nation? We’re particularly fond of YouTube. According to a new international study, the average Canadian spends 42 hours online every month, including the viewing of 147 short videos/month. This is 50% more than any other country. So, as a nation we’re probably pleased that Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2010 was Mark Zuckerberg, the 20-something multi-billionaire creator of Facebook – an idea/tool that seems to have had more impact on Canadians than any other nationality in the world.

My third and final observation came on a short 5-day visit to Cuba. Cuba remains a communist country with very different standards for foreign tourists and locals. Beyond the hotels, beaches and comfort reserved for foreign visitors is the dilapidated Cuban infrastructure and a broken economy. I found out that virtually all basic foodstuffs are rationed and, for the past several weeks, milk has not been available to Cubans. However, as a foreigner I could by milk at a very inflated price – 25 times what Cubans pay. So the day that I visited Old Havana and hoped to buy a piece of Cuban art work, things turned out differently. While walking in the old city, I met a young father and several mothers who were desperate to find milk for their babies. I offered to buy some milk, but that still required two hours of walking and searching in Old Havana, as there was no milk to be found in the first 10 stores we visited. Finally we found the milk and thankfully, five families were happy. I didn’t find the Cuban painting I hoped to buy, but I did manage to do something in keeping with the spirit of giving that underpins the season, and I do feel better for it.

Excess, Canadians on the Internet, and alleviating some of the suffering of neighbours in one of the world’s last communist states. I learned a lot while on my break. I hope you did too.–Christopher Shannon, Headmaster

December: A Time to Focus on Peace

Posted on December 16, 2010 by admin

It’s important to recognize key dates in history as major events in the past frame and define who we are as a people today. A difficult yet important event and anniversary in our December calendar and in our collective Canadian memory was December 6th – the Montreal Massacre at École Polytechnique, the engineering school at the University of Montreal. This year marked the 21st anniversary of the tragic event.

A deranged, lone gunman did the shooting. Fourteen women, mostly young engineering students, died in this attack. It shocked our nation and the world, but it actually led to greater national awareness and consciousness about violence against women and the need to eliminate gender-based violence across Canada. To mark it, December 6th is now the national Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against women, with the national “White Ribbon Campaign” to combat violence against women in homes, schools and workplaces.

Another notable outcome of the shooting was the achievement of Mrs. Suzanne Edwards, a Montrealer and mother of Anne-Marie Edwards, one of the engineering students killed in the attack. Mrs. Edwards’ relentless effort in her daughter’s memory was instrumental in leading toward the creation of a National Gun Registry and application of stricter rules for the ownership of guns (especially automatic weapons) by Canadian citizens.

The Montreal Massacre at the École Polytheqnique will be forever etched in our national memory – part of our collective experience as Canadians. Let’s all learn from it.
The White Ribbon Campaign is a national initiative underscoring peaceful resolution to problems and the reduction of gender-based conflict. In our 16th year as a coed school, I want to openly affirm and support LCC’s commitment to gender equality and the reduction of violence against women.

As we enter the holiday season, remember this is indeed the season of peace, friendship and the warmth of family gatherings. May your holiday be restful. During some of your quiet time, please reflect on how you are, and can be, a peace-maker. Happy holidays and best wishes for 2011. —Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Teeming with Potential

Posted on November 25, 2010 by admin

I had a special day last Tuesday. At the outset of the morning, sixteen bright-eyed members of Kindergarten visited me in my office. At this early stage in their development, every trip beyond the confines of “la Maison Maternelle” is a learning experience and journey of discovery. They asked what I actually do at LCC, and after some discussion, it still remained a mystery. The only “doers” in their eyes are their gifted teachers who teach, encourage, guide and support them everyday in their classroom. The children were satisfied with more pedestrian questions: what is my favorite shape (round) and colour (blue)? Why are all the “big kids” allowed to walk around without their teachers? Is the shovel in my office that was used to turn the sod on our new arena construction project in 2007 made out of real gold? What a fabulous group of children, teeming with potential and yearning to learn at all times.

Later that morning we had a visit from Walter Dean Myers, author of Monster, this year’s LCC Reads selection—our community summer reading/literacy initiative. Started six years ago by English Department Head Brian Moore and Head Librarian Maria Varvarikos, the program has been widely embraced by students and staff. Mr. Myers is the fifth author from the LCC Reads program to have followed our collective summer reading experience with a visit to 4090 Royal to address our Middle and Senior School student body. Mr. Myers was wonderful in explaining how he plies his craft: up every morning at 5 am for three to four hours of writing, always producing five pages of his novel—never six or four, always five pages. It is this kind of commitment and measured certainty that has allowed him to publish more than one hundred novels, mostly aimed at adolescent readers.

For many, the description of his early life was most interesting. Mr. Myers lost his mother at an early age and was placed in foster care. He suffered from a speech impediment that made him the brunt of many jokes among peers. Frustrated, he spent much of his youth in Harlem fighting, but not just with other boys, also girls, his teachers, and on one occasion, the mailman. Along the way he found comfort in books and became an avid reader. He claimed it was that skill that allowed him to mature and emerge. He slowly gained confidence in his own capacity to share stories with others as a writer. Mr. Myers openly encouraged all of our students to read as much as possible. Like our Kindergarten students, even our high school students need to remember that they too are teeming with potential. I am pleased that an accomplished writer was able to remind them that continuing to develop reading skills is essential to their success—and success they will experience because of LCC Reads! —Chris Shannon, Headmaster

LCC and Our Global Classroom Initiative

Posted on November 23, 2010 by admin

I have been fortunate to have visited India three times in my life, including visits to the bustling cities of Mumbai and New Delhi as well as a journey to the top of the world—to the Himalayan mountain state of Kashmir.

I am pleased that through the Round Square LCC will send two students on exchange to India for the first time later this year. It will surely be an exceptional and eye-opening opportunity for them. When they return we all look forward to hearing about India through students’ eyes.

During each of my visits to that country I have been dazzled by the colour and diversity of Indian culture. It is an ancient society currently progressing at an incredible pace. The city of Bangalore—India’s Silicon Valley—is a leading centre of high tech creativity and a symbol of India’s commitment to innovation.

With a population of well over one billion people—about thirty times greater than Canada’s on a landmass about one-third size of Canada’s—India is a country challenged by its need for resources and the provision of education and health care to its huge population.

In recent years, LCC has partnered with Health Inc., a small non-profit organization committed to bringing literacy, health care and community-building activities to India’s most remote villages—on the top of the world in the northern state of Ladakh in the Himalayan mountains.

Our newest venture is The Global Classroom Initiative; a special partnership between LCC and Health Inc. We are currently hosting Health Inc.’s founder Cynthia Hunt and three young Ladakhi leaders-in-training on a special educational exchange that will continue until mid-December.

In addition to following some of our daily routines in classes and on the hockey rink, this group is focusing on learning IT skills so they can be proficient at making videos. They will then be able to teach other Ladakhi students to tell video stories to us and to the world.

We intend to send LCC staff to Ladakh to help set up a satellite supported classroom so that we can use dependable technology to bring us closer together. We have already sent some young LCC alumni to Ladakh and some day we hope to send students. If you are interested in our Global Classroom project, check out this video and feel free to contact us directly if you want further information. —Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Getting to Know Ourselves Through Others

Posted on November 18, 2010 by admin

On November 8, 9 and 10, seven students from Lower Canada College were given the privilege of travelling to Camp Massawippi with six severely disabled children from the Mackay Centre. It turned out to be an unforgettable experience for everyone concerned.

We had previously spent two mornings at the Mackay Centre getting to know the children who would be coming with us on the trip. However, as we boarded the bus bright and early on the morning of our departure for the camp, we were excited, but also not too sure of what to expect. One thing we certainly had not expected was that the bus would break down about an hour outside of Montreal! Unfortunately, we found ourselves stranded at Tim Horton’s for an hour as we waited for a replacement bus. One hundred and twenty (120) Timbits and 20 chicken nuggets later, we were once again on the road to Camp Massawippi.

Because the weather did not lend itself to outdoor activities on the first day, we had fun painting pumpkins with the kids, and playing a game of Monsters Inc. After a great spaghetti dinner we had open mic night. By the end of the evening, everyone was feeling much more comfortable in the new surroundings, and we headed off to our bunks for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast, then went out for a hike in the woods. The rain made it hard to push the wheelchairs up the hills, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We managed to come back to the camp with a Christmas tree for the classroom back at the Mackay Centre. We had lunch and then started an arts activity, which consisted of painting a mural to be hung up back in the Mackay classroom. We used leaves gathered on the hike to decorate the painting. We had an amazing roast beef dinner, followed by a talent show during which we sang a song that we had composed the night before about each of the Mackay students we were with. Once the song was finished we gathered at the campfire on the shore where we enjoyed smores, chocolate-filled bananas and attempted to sing campfire songs.

On the last morning, we made a huge brunch for everyone. It was comprised of 40 pieces of bacon (which wasn’t enough), 35 eggs and home-fried potatoes. We had a face-painting session and then before we knew it, we had to leave.

This was truly an amazing experience, and one that we will never forget. Each of us learned so much, not only about what it means to have a disability, but about ourselves and the importance of appreciating everything we have.

Noah Schouela ’11
Thalia Nghiem ’11
Isabelle Thibeault ’11
Jennifer Motter ’11
Alix Faraggi ’12
Sam Ergina ’12
Kevin Fraser ’12