P1

www.thereckoner.ca

June 2014 VOL. 2 NO. 8

The 2014-2015 SAC ballots were tabu-lated Friday 6 June. The results are as follows:• President: Maria Kashif• Vice President: Arora Chen• Treasurer: Mustafa Bandukwala• Chairperson: Richard Wu• Clubs Convenor: Aurthy Amaranath• External Affairs Officer: Ashifa Hudani• Social Convenor: Lydia Gouveia• Spirit Convenor: Mara Gagiu• Athletic Convenor: Michelle Nyamekye• Equity Representative: Hamza Shahid• Social Justice Convenor: Jackie Ho• Special Events Convenor: Samrin Quader• Grad Convenor: Gloria Zhou• Communications Coordinator: Mahad Khokar

A total of 834 out of 1340 students in Grades 9, 10, and 11 voted in the elec-tion. ■

SAC 2014 Election Results

NEWS STAFFOn 5 June 2014, Marc Garneau’s Ath-letic Banquet kicked off at Thorncliffe Banquet Hall. All Cougar athletes from the year were invited for a night of awards, dinner, and dancing, and cele-brations that lasted from 6:30 to 10:15 pm. Non-athletes were invited to attend as well.

Entrance to the dance required a quick breathalyzer test and bag check by the vice-principals of the school. The MCs, Leslie Maiden and Emma Smith, then started off the evening with awards. The Most Valuable Player (MVP), Most Dedicated Player (MDP), and Most Improved Player (MIP) from each team were called to receive their respective trophies. After the awards for the twenty-four teams were covered, the Athletes of the Year were announced, as follows:• Junior girl Athlete of the Year: Jenna Wong• Junior boy Athlete of the Year: EJ Vidad• Senior girl Athlete of the Year: Leslie Maiden and Emma Smith• Senior boy Athlete of the Year: Abdul Rahman Houssein

The Chris Penny Award, given to a student who has shown dedicated in-volvement in community services, was given to Mustafa Mufti.

The awards were followed by a buf-fet styled dinner, and a slideshow of the teams compiled by the MCs. The rest of the event was spent on the dance floor, with three slow songs to end the night.

Raaba Ahmad, who received the MDP Award for Cross-Country, was im-pressed with the event. “It was really, really awesome,” he commented. “From the food, to the awards, to the dance— it was just crazy!”

Although the event ran smoothly, the planning that preceded it went through many challenges.

See ATHLETIC on P2

Cougars for Gold

by SHELA QIU

Year in ReviewS

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Running a school newspaper isn’t an easy job. Arranging meetings, encour-aging output, and managing staff can get tiring after a while. You have to find the balance between being critical and gentle. You need to reach out to and connect with a student body as diverse as Marc Garneau’s. You need to foster dedication and enthusiasm from writ-ers while being respectful of their other commitments. In the daily functioning of the paper, it’s easy to get lost in these difficulties. The reporting, editing, and recruiting gradually become habit, and you forget the motivations that first brought the paper into existence.

The Reckoner was created to bring the students of Garneau together. To give the students a unified, uncensored voice. And these goals have only begun to be realized as the third year of the paper’s existence comes to a close. They can’t be fulfilled without the support of you: the reader. Engage with us—read, write back, ask questions. Take owner-ship of your school, however that own-ership might manifest itself. Expect the very best from your administration, teachers, peers, student government, and from yourself.

The more we commit to the founding values of the newspaper, and the more we notice the gradual changes the pa-per has made, the less the daily difficul-ties matter. For some of us, it’s time to take on the paper’s mission with a fresh heart, while for others, it’s time to say goodbye and thank you. The Reckoner owes tremendous gratitude to school administration, Student Council, and staff advisor Ms. Speirs for their contin-ued support. I’d like to thank the Third Guard for their belief in my leadership, and our readers for your interest and encouragement. The paper will be back next year, better than ever. We’ll see you then. ■

Kasra KoushanEditor in Chief

From the Editor

ARTWORK

How to Win a SAC Election

EditorialP3

by YILIN ZHU on P4

Follow us onTwitter at

twitter.com/ReckonerOfMGCI

www.thereckoner.ca

June 2014P2 VOL. 2 NO. 8

NEWS

The Reckonerof Marc Garneau C.I.

EDITOR IN CHIEFKASRA KOUSHAN

NEWS MANAGER &DEPUTY EDITOR IN

CHIEFSABRINA BERTSCH

LIFE MANAGERVASILI MANIKAS

EDITORIAL MANAGERALIE TEACHMAN

DIRECTOR OF PRINT DEVELOPMENT

SUSIE LIU

BUSINESS MANAGERLILY SONG

MEDIA MANAGERJACKIE HO

DIRECTOR OF WEB DEVELOPMENT

QUINCY LAM

STAFF MEMBERSABIGAIL CHAU

ADELA LAMANANNA RAFABOBBY CHIANG

BOSHEN CUICATHY ZHANG

CHRISTINA CHENCINDY CUI

CINDY ZENGCLAIRE HAMILTON

CLARENCE LAMDAVID HAO

DAVID LIDAVID LU

DAVID TANGDEIFILIA TO

EVA LIUFRIEDA RONG

HENRY HEINDRANEEL SARKAR

JOY WANGKAARTHIC PULOGARA-

JAHKAISHENG HUANGKASHIFA AHMED

KEVIN JIANG

KHADIJA AZIZMARA GAGIU

MICHELLE YEUNGMORRIS CHEN

NICHOLAS VADIVELUNOOR MAH

PARNIKA GODKHINDIREBECCA WONG

RYAN LINSHELA QIU

SOPHIA SONGTAKHLIQ AMIR

TIANYI MATIANYU LUTOM WEI

UPAL RUSH-DEE-HAQUE

VAIBHAV SINGHVALIANT CHANWANRU ZHANG

YANING TANYILIN ZHU

On 28 May, Ms. Goldenberg announced the elected valedictorian for MGCI’s Class of 2014 – Zameer Bharwani.

Zameer Bharwani has been involved in MGCI’s extracurricular activities since Grade 9. One of his first accom-plishments was organizing funds and process for the Scope mural in the galle-ria through Art Council.

Earlier this year, he was recognized for raising extensive amounts of money for the charity Initiative for Neurosci-ence and Dementia (I.N.D), of which he was the founder and president of the MGCI branch for the past two years. He also volunteered at Sunnybrook Hospi-tal, where he helped war veterans who suffered from different forms of demen-tia. Last summer, he went to the Do-minican Republic to help build a school and develop a community in a pover-ty-stricken city.

Recently, he has won the TD Schol-arship for Community Leadership, Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 Award, the Community Service Impact Award, the Rotaract Club Gold Youth Civic Lead-ership Award, Kathleen Wynne Com-

munity Volunteer Services Award, and the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation National Scholarship and Citizenship Award.

Zameer feels that he best represents the senior student body because he has been “here and there” in the school so he has become friends with a “diverse group of people”.

For his fellow classmates, Zameer hopes that they “will take the steps, the risky ones especially, needed to pursue their dreams. [He] hopes they will be trailblazers regardless of whatever con-ventions they may break along the way.”

Summiya Asif, a grade 12 student, commented that “He is a very capable guy and it actually satisfies me that he will be saying the speech for my com-mencement.” She also added that it is Zameer’s strong character that makes her proud of him being voted.

Zameer Bharwani will be attending the University of Waterloo for Nano-technology Engineering this September. Commencement for MGCI’s class of 2014 is on 26 June. ■

Garneau Gets Doodlingby SHELA QIU

22 May, 2014 marked MGCI’s first ever Doodle Fest. A concept created by Vicky Xu, a grade 10 student and Ju-nior Executive of Art Council, the event made use of Garneau’s concrete track as a canvas for participants to draw on. Approximately one hundred students came out to doodle whatever they liked using chalk provided by the Art Council while enjoying the sunny spring weath-er. Event organizers hoped that by the end of the lunch period, the entire track would be covered in colourful drawings by students from all over the school.

“I think our inspiration was to hold an event where everyone could partic-ipate,” commented Vicky Xu. “There is no such thing as a ‘bad’ doodle, and more often than not, it’s the crazier doodles that are a lot more fun!”

Students spent the lunch period drawing on the track.

Noreen Alidina, Treasurer of Art Council, added, “[Doodle Fest] is in-tended to bring everyone together by

integrating our individual thoughts into one unified masterpiece.”

While participants let their creativity flow, members of Art Council distribut-ed freezies to students. Unfortunate-ly, the frozen treats ran out only a few minutes after the event started, so Art Council hopes to limit them to partic-ipants only for next time. Despite this setback, Doodle Fest seemed to have garnered overall positive feedback.

“I thought it was one of the most in-novative events I had ever attended at Marc Garneau! I had so much fun doo-dling- it brought me back to my child-hood,” commented Grade 9 participant Yilena Xu.

Although the event was originally planned to be held at lunch on 22 and 23 May, inclement weather postponed the second day of Doodle Fest to Mon-day 26 May, where students had anoth-er chance to contribute to a masterpiece on the school track. ■

by KHADIJA AZIZ

The most prominent issue was regard-ing the elevated ticket price of $32 for athletes, compared to around $10 from previous years. This was due to the can-cellation of the Athletic fee, where stu-dents pay a one-time fee of $20 when they first join a sports team. The low fee covered the cost of the athletic banquet. However due to the fact that the Athlet-ic fee was a new system implemented only two years before the Bill 115 strike, and that ensuring that everyone paid required a lot of work, coaches did not consider using the process this year. A total of only 112 tickets, compared to sell-outs in previous years, were sold as a result.

The Athletic Banquet also faced tem-

porary cancellation a few weeks before the event, due to a microphone going missing from the school cafeteria. Plans were in place to use the funds allocated for the Athletic Banquet to replace it, however the microphone was found the next day, before the cancellation was announced. Event planning resumed without issue after the incident.

“It was very, very difficult to organize this year,” commented Athletic Conve-ner Michelle Nyamekye. “I had a lot of help though, and it turned out pretty well.” Other individuals that were vital to the event included Social Convener Tracey Frimpong, Leslie Maiden, Emma Smith, Ms. Wiltenburg, Ms. Mah, and Ms. Libunao. ■

Students spent lunch periods drawing on the track. Photo: Valiant Chan

Athletic Banquet

Photo: Jackie Ho

CONTINUED from P1

The Reckoner knocked their competition flat onto their backs at the 18th Toronto Star High School Newspaper Awards on 22 May 2014. Out of the twenty-one cat-egories, members of The Reckoner staff earned either first place or runner-up in twelve different categories. The results are as follows:• Best Newspaper - Volunteer (1st

Place): The Reckoner Staff• Best Electronic Newspaper (1st Place):

The Reckoner Staff• Electronic Newspaper Layout & De-

sign, Special Feature Page (Run-ner-up): The Reckoner Staff

• Humour (Runner-up): Kasra Koushan• Photography: Feature (Runner-up):

Sabrina Bertsch

• Illustration (1st Place): Mara Gagiu• Editorial Cartoon (1st Place): Susie

Liu• Editorial Writing (1st Place): Susie Liu• Critical Writing (1st Place): MJ Chen• Feature Writing - Long (Runner-up):

Vasili Manikas• Reporting (Runner-up): Sabrina

Bertsch• Sports Writing - Reporting (1st Place):

Eric SuThis year was a competitive one, with

a total of seven hundred and sixty two entries.

The winners and their representa-tives were invited to a luncheon at the Toronto Star Vaughan Press Centre. There, they were treated to a guided tour of the factory, where they watched mas-sive one-tonne rolls of paper turn into fresh newspapers hot off the press.

Afterwards, the winners were treat-ed to lunch, followed shortly by some speakers to open the awards ceremony.

Alison Uncles, associate editor at the Toronto Star, gave the welcoming

speech. She spoke about the power of journalism, and joked about her delight at seeing high school students preferring writing newspaper articles over com-pleting homework.

“This dedication that you folks have isn’t something they teach in journal-ism school,” said Uncles. “The fact that you have this already is a great sign. You have it right down to your bones.”

Jayme Poisson was next to take the podium. Poisson is a writer renowned for her work in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, her article on Storm the gen-derless baby (possibly the most viewed article on the Toronto Star website), as well as her work on the Rob Ford crack scandal. Poisson addressed what it is like to be a journalist, what the rewards are, and how she goes about asking the hard questions.

“It is my duty to give voice to those who don’t have the power to speak out for themselves,” said Poisson.

One of the most prestigious awards is the Brad Henderson Award, given to

a student who shows “outstanding jour-nalistic potential and strength of char-acter.” Daniel Henderson, Brad Hender-son’s son, presented the award named in his late father’s honour. This year, the award went to Jolson Lim from River-dale Collegiate Institute.

The awards ceremony concluded with Alison Uncles quoting a line from the film Akeelah and the Bee:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fab-ulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

Following the awards, members of The Reckoner’s staff as well as co-found-er Mahan Nekoui and former staff advi-sor Ms. Helen Brown were interviewed by Nicholas Keung, a writer from the Toronto Star. ■

The Reckoner Wins Best Volunteer Newspaper AwardBy INDRANEEL SARKAR

The Reckoner staff accept the Best Volunteer Newspaper Award at the Toronto Star Press Centre. Photo: Mahan Nekoui

Mr Mirza and award recipients from the cricket team. Photo: Sophia Liu

Zameer BharwaniNamed Valedictorian of Class 2014

www.thereckoner.ca

EDITORIAL

June 2014 P3VOL. 2 NO. 8

Do you have a response to an article in this issue? Make your voice heard! Contact us at editor@thereckoner.ca.

ASK THE RECKONER

How can I be supportive of both my parents during a divorce without taking sides?- Splitter

Divorce is hard. It’s hard on the parents, but it’s also hard on you. We all know that divorces change things but divorce doesn’t have to change the rela-tionship you have with your parents. Support your parents that way you have before. Tell them you love them, ask them about their day, work hard in school. During a time like this, your parents are likely to be more distracted. Support your parents, but also remember to support yourself. Don’t let their deci-sions dictate your life.

It seems I have fallen in love with my best friend...but the thing is, we’re both girls. She’s straight and I am too. Well I have been considering myself straight with an exception because I like her but I don’t like any other girls. I don’t know what to do because this crush will only hurt me because she’ll never like me that way. We are together all the time and we do couple things like cuddling and holding hands. Should I stop that to get over her? I don’t know what to do!!!- GirlCrush

It’s really tough to say what you should do. You have to decide first whether the time you spend with your friend cuddling and holding hands makes your feelings for her stronger. If it does, and if you’re sure that there’s no chance that a relationship will devel-op, it might be a good idea to hold back for some time to get over her. You could also tell her about it and get her advice; she is your best friend after all, and would only want to help you. Other individuals who will want to help you can include a parent, a counsellor, a teacher or another friend. Whatever happens, be sure to give the situation a lot of time to work itself out. If you bring it up to her and things get awkward at first, know that over time they’ll become normal again. And finally, continue to be confident in yourself, regardless of who you develop feelings for.

I still haven’t kissed a guy and I’m 15. Is that bad?- Blue Lips

Before we answer your question, let us first con-sider the physiology of our dear friend, the ferret. An important animal model for human influenza, the ferret can perhaps be a helpful analog for exam-ining human romance as well. The female ferret, the jill ferret, is quite interest-ing in that if she does not mate, she will die. Once the jill ferret goes into heat, she will remain so until she mates with a male ferret. During estrus, the fe-male ferret has heightened levels of estrogen in her blood, which will cause aplastic anemia and eventu-ally death if left unchecked for too long. Luckily ferrets are not actually a good analog for human romance and this will probably not hap-pen to you. Everybody experiences life at a differ-ent pace, so do things when you’re ready. After all, you’ve had the good fortune not to be born as a jill ferret, so make full use of the freedom it gives you.

My best friend and I have been in different schools since Grade 6 now and I feel like it’s really hurting our relationship. We try to talk often, but “often” isn’t often when you’re talking like once in four months. We met up recently but it’s like there isn’t much to talk about, especially since we don’t go to the same school anymore. We used to be super close, like we shared secrets that we told nobody else and really helped each other out. I really miss her... but at the same time, I’m worried that I don’t exactly miss her, I just miss our relationship. After all, I haven’t had that close of a friendship with anyone else in, well... ever. And I don’t want to lose that friendship. What can I do to save our friendship?! I’m really desperate and I don’t want to lose her.- StrangersAgain

Growing apart is really difficult. As children, it’s so easy to get along with others, because we’re like stem cells, undifferentiated, just wiggling around, and we’re all the same. As we grow up, we change, and we grow farther apart, in terms of physical loca-tion as well as nature and function. Unlike the cells in our bodies though, we can pull ourselves closer again. If you really want to reconnect with your friend, find some common ground with her. Join a club out-side of school together. Follow a television series. Work out. It might be awkward regaining the close relationship you had, but that too will pass.

If you seek counsel from The Reckoner like the individuals above, send us a question at

www.thereckoner.ca/ask-thereckoner

SAC elections are wrapping up this year with an astounding 45 candi-dates having run for positions on the council. If you wanted to run this year, well, you’re a bit late. Luckily, I’ve got your back. I’ll help you plan your campaign for next year. In fact, we wrote a guide! Without further ado, here are the 3 steps to win an election:

1. Be the only candidate run-ning.

Of course, the easiest way to win

an election is to be the only one running. If you’re the only one running, everyone will have to vote for you.

2. Get as much attention as possible.

Make sure you are memorable on speech day. Go up there and break a leg - literally. Speech day is the most crucial day of cam-paign week. It is the day where you can judge how much com-petition you have (from all the cheering, of course). It is your biggest chance at getting people to remember who you are and vote for you, and make damn sure that they will remember you. Publicity stunts help too.

Think of it this way. Voters are the proverbial toast, and you are the peanut butter. You want to spread yourself all over that toast, and do it in any way you can.

3. Make up a nice and proper platform.

Vow to give the voters some-thing they want, like a transpar-

ent budget, or a grad trip, or a car-nival, or reform. Make yourself look like a saint, a savior, a hero. Make the public think of what they could get if you get elected. As for actually delivering, you’ll work that out when you get into the office. Worry about the details later, right?

As for sounding credible, that’s easy. What you need to do is stick a bunch of fancy sounding words into your platform. Here are some exam-ples to start you off: “fiscally respon-

sible”, “reliable policies”, “transpar-ent management”, “economically solid”.

Volume matters–write as much as possible in your platform. If you’re lucky, they’ll be so impressed that they wont bother to read it.

No government system is perfect, certainly not democ-racy. As much as I’d like to keep laughing and joking at all the holes in our election process, a faulty elec-tion process is a serious issue. In my time at Marc Garneau, I’ve noticed that the election is much more of a popularity and publicity contest than it should be. Our election pro-cess has become more about the per-son who is running rather than the values they stand for. It’s a race to get your posters up first and to get them in the best spot. It’s a contest to see who can get the most likes and the most shares on Facebook, or the loudest cheers on speech day.

It’s no surprise. This year, candi-dates were allotted a maximum of two hundred 8.5 x 11 size posters. Two hundred posters. Do we really need two hundred posters per can-didate? If every candidate made full use of this allotment, we would have a ratio of nine posters to every one student in the school. This practice is outrageously excessive and doesn’t forward the values of democracy.

This year, 834 out of 1340 eligible students voted. This is a 62% voter turnout rate. This means that 38% of our students don’t even care enough to take a minute out of their lives to vote. Personally, I find that rather

disappointing, even with the new online voting system. I’ve witnessed firsthand voters who scroll through the voting form, not bothering to read the bios or check the platforms. Uninformed voting and voter apathy is a huge issue. If the people who vote don’t even care, there can be no change, there can be no progress. What can we change?

To those who do end up being elected into SAC, think about revis-ing the election process, and shifting it to focus on what students should be voting for - the ideas in a plat-form, not the face on the poster.

To candidates who plan on run-ning next year, don’t exploit the flaws of the system. Don’t make campaign promises you know you can’t keep. Don’t make the process to be a popularity contest. Campaign honourably and campaign fairly. Let the candidate who wins be the one with the best ideas and plans, the one who is most suited for the job, not the candidate who has the most friends.

To students, inform yourself properly. Read all of the candidate’s platforms. Ask questions. Don’t vote for your friends just because they are your friends, vote for them if you be-lieve that they will be able to do the job properly, and deliver what they promise. Don’t be the person that doesn’t care, that doesn’t vote, be-cause despite what you think, your vote does matter. As a voter, you hold the greatest power - the power to choose your leaders. ■

by BOSHEN CUI

Illustration: Joy Wang

The summer sun is out and so are the bikes. Dig yours out from the garage: pump your tires, only to pop them, replace the tube, pump it again, pop it again, give up, go to a bike shop, and have it fixed there, only for it to pop again three minutes into your first ride. Give up, buy a new bike, and enjoy the weather.

Enjoy the weather as much as you can, because the ride will be far less enjoyable. The sad reality is that the casual biker has no place on the streets of Toronto. Unless you wear spandex and roll with your butt up on a road bike or you’re a toddler on a tricycle, there is no place for you to bike without criticism from some-one, whether you’re on the road or on the sidewalk.

Toronto bylaws dictate that cy-clists are to bike on the road. How-ever, for the casual biker, this is not always a good idea. Let’s face it, the average biker won’t be going fast enough all the time to be on the road. On the road, a biker is not only a major hindrance to drivers in forc-ing them to change lanes or swerve, but also increasing the risk of dan-ger of both themselves and those around them. Often, bikes are con-fined to the sides of the road covered with cracks and bumps more fit for a mountain bike than anything else. Tormented by angry drivers, who take it upon themselves to speed by with centimeters to spare, the road is no place to be for the casual biker.

We must consider the alterna-

tives. On the sidewalk, a biker goes from being hunted by cars to hunt-ing unsuspecting pedestrians. While there is no longer any danger of be-ing hit by a car, a new set of chal-lenges arises. Trying to get past a pedestrian on the sidewalk with his back turned is never a pleasant expe-rience. Instead, it’s a deranged game of “would you rather be startled as I obnoxiously ring my bell at you, or as I brush up against you while try-ing to squeeze by inconspicuously?”.

Every time I see a senior citizen stop walking and stand to the side while giving me the you-made-me-do-this look, or a mother pull her child off to the side and stare coldly at me as if I were trying to run them both over, or a lady jump to the side

in surprise, I feel a pang of shame. A voice inside my head cries, “Look what you’ve done. Look what you’ve made them do. Feel guilty you two-wheeled monster.” And I do.

Don’t get me wrong, I love biking. I bike to school, to work, to wherev-er I need to go, every chance I get. I love the feeling of wind rushing past my body, the sound my bike makes as I glide down smooth pavement, and the change in scenery as I bike past the city. No matter the belliger-ent drivers or hostile pedestrians, I will always love biking. But I confess. Sometimes, I do question why I put up with this sh*t. ■

by BOSHEN CUI

How to Win a SAC Election

Perils of the Casual Biker

How many doses of a vaccine can you take before you develop autism? 2 doses? 5 doses? Try digesting the fact that it doesn’t matter at all. Re-ceiving vaccinations and being diag-nosed with autism have been scien-tifically proven to be unrelated.

If autism is caused by vaccina-tions, then car accidents are caused by air traffic controllers. Despite the recent spike in claims that autism in children is directly linked to vac-cines, there has never has been any scientific proof to support the fan-tasy epidemic fabricated by media. The media is more interested in ex-citing stories than actual scientific evidence. Effective vaccines aren’t entertaining; autism-inducing vac-cines are exciting! In reality vac-cines immunize children and adults against potentially life-threatening

diseases, and while vaccines may include minor side effects, autism is not one of them.

In America model Jenny McCar-thy made one-sided claims that her son’s autism had been caused direct-ly by vaccines. The media quickly caught on, causing a national pan-ic based on the scientific claims of a model. Within 5 years the number of parents who refused or delayed vac-cinating their children grew by 18% to a precarious 40%. Unsurprisingly, the media-induced epidemic, so to speak, resulted in an increased num-ber of cases of measles, mumps, and whooping cough, all of which had not been reported of in decades.

Autism is a neurological disorder that presents itself during the early years of a child’s life, but is no way connected to vaccines that are taken

or not taken. This comes from expe-rienced doctors and scientists, not the less-informed, flashy marketing personalities on TV. Vaccines must undergo an extensive process before being deemed safe enough to be used for human consumption. After a dis-ease is identified to be vaccinated, in depth studies and experiments must be conducted to create a potential vaccine. The news reporting industry doesn’t especially care for scientific specifics when there are claims of autism to be reported, but clear, sen-sible thinking should prevail over the smoke and mirrors. In the final step of the process the vaccine must gain public confidence in order to be used by doctors and other professionals in the pharmaceutical industry. Be-cause of this, the spread of the ru-mour that vaccines can cause autism

can not only prevent rumour-believ-ers from getting vaccinated, but can even hamper everyone else from re-ceiving newer vaccines.

Concerned parents cannot be solely blamed for the breakdown of common vaccination practices; they are in the shadow of the overextend-ing media. The power of information rests more in the hands of the sto-ry-telling industry than the scientific community, as clearly demonstrat-ed by the preposterous idea of “au-tism-inducing vaccines”. There is no doubt media has a tremendous influ-ence on daily life but it is our inde-pendent responsibility to be critical of the truthfulness of the stories we are presented with. ■

by KAARTHIC PULOGARAJAH

Vaccinations and Misinformation

www.thereckoner.ca

June 2014VOL. 2 NO. 8P4

LIFEYellow Birch in Spring

by YILIN ZHU

The willow stands as it always had. Only this time the branches were closer to the ground. Bending beneath the weight of the rain

Like the student once bent in submission to her teacher.

The leaves gently kiss the earth, stroke the ground.

They trace the tears as they flow down the student’s face.

The roots of the willow calls to each tear, coaxing it, pulling it downwards.

Wait no that’s acceleration due to gravity. Exactly 9.80665 ms-2.

The tree provides little shelter for the children playing catch.

Smiles shining bright despite the ominous weather.

Short stubby legs running swiftly, only to be slowed down by raised roots.

Giggles and shouts of glee are distant

Children and their hidden source of endless energy.

The stitching in the ball creates the perfect imbalance of pressure. The student admires as the different velocities causes the ball to arc creating the ideal curveball.

The arm acting as a third class lever.

No – it doesn’t matter.

The test is over.

There at her feet, crumpled and soaked.

Red ink bleeding through.

A constant reminder of her shortcomings.

She won’t amount to much

Never accomplish her parent’s dreams.

So there she finds herself

Under the bridge

Her friends had built. ■

by JOCELYN GRABKE

What do you love to do?

Appalachiansby SUSIE LIU

Photos by Jackie Ho For more Humans of Garneau,

visit www.thereckoner.ca/category/hog/

“I liked playing rugby. Most of my friends now are from rugby. I played for the school team, and we all decided to join the Toronto Buccaneers.”“Do you still play?”“No, not anymore. I broke my collarbone in Grade 10 so I can’t play rugby.”

“I like to sing and play guitar. I had a friend back in Pakistan, about 2 years ago, who played guitar. He didn’t really sing, but we sang and played guitar together. This is my first year in Canada and we keep in touch with Skype.”

PRESENTING THE WINNER OF THEYEAR-END WRITING CONTEST

Beneath the Willow Tree

“I like to sing when I have the time, and write stories and poetry. When I find some inspiration I try to incorporate it into my writing.”“Is there anyone who inspires your writ-ing?”“I really like Shakespeare.”