Gottlieb's Garage

Caledonia vs Ipperwash vs Oka -- 05-03-09

2009-05-03T20:20:19-05:00

We all know what happened in Oka, Quebec. We know of the cruelty that was bestowed on the Mohawk people by the Canadian government. More recently, in Ipperwash Provincial Park and in the small town of Caledonia, more problems occurred. These are two more examples of the Canadian government mistreating native peoples.

In Ipperwash Provincial Park near London, since the beginnings of Canada there was tension. The natives that occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park were having a peaceful, unarmed protest. The OPP was brought in, and a man named Dudley George was shot and killed in September of 1995. This conflict goes way back between the Natives and the Government. All of the disputes were about land. In 2007 this was brought to justice with Mike Harris (former premier of Ontario) and the government taking the blame.

Unlike Ipperwash, Caledonia was not a peaceful standoff. When the native peoples of Caledonia were not being heard, they felt they must take a stand like other natives from around the country. Unlike other colonies, they were violent in their ways of protesting. The Provincial government headed By McGuinty was too afraid to take action. Finally, once Caledonia was in ruins (financially and physically) the natives stopped they’re violent protests.

The Mohawks of Oka is a different story then Ipperwash and Caledonia. All of the land and rights reasons aside, the Mohawks of Oka didn’t resort to violence until absolutely necessary. After they’re land was being violated and the government wouldn’t listen, they resorted to violence. This strategy proved to be affective.

All of these incidents were far from pleasant and we must learn from all of them. Violence should only be used as a last resort. Negotiating with words is a better way of trying to get what you want.

"CBC News In Depth: Ipperwash." CBC.ca - Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV. 03 May 2009 .

"Jonathan Kay on the scandal of Caledonia - Full Comment." CS Redir. 03 May 2009 .

Oka in Perception -- 04-26-09

2009-04-26T18:40:52-05:00

When the Mohawks of Oka, Quebec were confronted with the town wanting to expand their golf course onto Mohawk land, they made a stand for their land and participated in a standoff. At first, the provincial police and the Mohawks were trying to make an agreement so both parties could be satisfied. This never happened. Soon after there was little success in negotiations, the police raided the Mohawks land, there was gunshots fired and a police officer was killed.

Mohawks outraged with the intrusion, they fought back. The Mohawk Warriors created a barricade using flipped over police cars. This barricade was always heavily guarded by armed Mohawk Warriors. The police began to feel frightened, so they felt they had to do something back. They taunted the Mohawks in many ways, when this didn’t break their spirit; they called in for more help.

The Canadian army got involved. Soon enough each party (Mohawks, Canadian army) were staring each other down. The standoff lasted for several weeks. By now, the news of the standoff had travelled all over the world. There were news reporters on the scene and the Canadian government faced harsh criticism from the rest of the world.

Finally, on September the 26th the Mohawks stood down and released themselves to the army. They were roughed up, and then sent to jails (not for long). Although this was a terrible thing that happened in Canada, I think this was necessary. The Mohawks of Oka were a great model for all First Nation peoples around the world. Standing up for themselves and their land. The Mohawks stood up for their rights. In the end, the golf course was not expanded. The golfers had to settle for only 9 holes!

Debeers and the worlds lust for diamonds -- 04-20-09

2009-04-20T18:30:35-05:00

-Debeers has manipulated diamond trade all over the world

-They were the first to make diamonds known as a symbol of love

-First to make diamonds extremely valuable

-Pre 1900’s diamonds were only worn by royalty

-Debeers changes that

-They mined so many diamonds that the prices dropped considerably

-Debeers solves this problem by making an illusion that diamonds are rare and scarce

-They do this by selling diamonds to stores to sell to the public

-The key is to sell the diamonds to the store very slowly so the prices will be higher

-Debeers advertising campaigns are to make people think diamonds are a symbol of; wealth, power, prestige, true love and status

-Debeers’ technique to create the perception of diamond scarcity only works if they have no competition

-They get rid of their competition simply by buying out the company, or if that doesn’t work they manipulate things around them so eventually the company will go out of business

-By doing this they have a complete monopoly over the cruel industry of blood diamonds

As I have said before there are many keys to the company “Debeers’) extreme success. One thing for sure is that they are a manipulating smart, company!

Compare and Contrast: Blood Diamond-Chanda's Secrets -- 04-13-09

2009-04-13T16:51:08-05:00

Today, I will be comparing and contrasting the movie Blood Diamond, to the book Chanda’s Secrets. Blood Diamond is a major Hollywood film. In the movie, a man finds a large diamond, which sets of a long chain of events emphasizing the cruelty of the diamond trade as well as life in Africa. The book Chanda’s Secrets is a book about a family (particularly) a girl’s tough life in Africa. The book includes the harsh reality of AIDS and death as well as other treacherous hardships.

There are lots of similarities in these two sad stories. Both illustrate the tough life that Africans must endure, they both include poverty as well as very poor people. Although AIDS isn’t the biggest problem in the movie Blood Diamond, like it is in Chanda’s Secrets, it is still touched upon. In both stories the characters want to get out of Africa to leave a better life. This is the case for many, many people living in Africa. In both, there were different degrees of people’s wealth. As an example; Ms. Tafa in Chanda’s Secrets and the South African’s in Blood Diamond.

There are many similarities between Blood Diamond and Chanda’s secrets, there are also differences. In Blood Diamond, there is a much heavier spot-light on war and the cruelty of the diamond trade, whereas in Chanda’s secrets AIDS was the main problem. Blood Diamond was more of a broader view of African life, while Chanda’s Secrets was more focused on 1 family’s problems. Overall, there was more wealth shown in Blood Diamond, there was more people with cars in (what seemed like) more developed places.

Both stories were revealing to the cruel African way of life. No matter which way one looks at Africa there are many problems than meets the eye. People must continue to try and help this continent, so the 68 million people there can have a chance.

Symbolism -- 03-29-09

2009-03-29T14:54:23-05:00

Symbolism is a very useful way to convey messages or bring out a point. But it is mostly used to simplify things and let the reader (or looker) put their own spin on it, to nake it something in their own mind.

Symbolism is used in the book Chanda's Secrets. An example of it in the book is the rich white businessmen that stay at the hotel. To Chanda and the rest of the African villagers, they represent the outside world. The represent the better life in continentss like; Australia, North America and Europe.

Symbolism is also used affectively in our western society. A commonly used example is the nike check mark. When you see a black check mark your mind shifts to nike. Whether it's the actual products or the commercials or whatever...you still are giving them your attention, which they hope will translate to your money.

Symbolism can be used for many ways. Whether it is one person representing a whole race, or a little mark representing a muliti-billion dollar corporation, symoblism is used.

Editorial on Federer vs. Nadal original by: Sam Beckerman -- 03-01-09

2009-03-01T11:02:08-05:00

Editorial: The King of Spin vs. The Master of Precision
As Sam mentioned, the rivalry of Federer and Nadal is a rivalry like no other in sports today. These two guys are so utterly dominant at tennis that when they face each other it is always a match for the ages. Recently, the younger, faster Nadal has been winning a good percent of all their matches. I don’t think that this is a coincidence.

Roger Federer had about a year and a half of brutal dominance. Until the young Spaniard Raphael Nadal came into the picture. One thing is for sure, if either Nadal or Federer didn’t exist, the other one would completely dominate the sport of tennis. However, this is not the case.

In my opinion Federer still has a very small step-up on Nadal. Obviously, Federer has a tough time facing Nadal but I think he is not quite done with being the best. But Nadal is younger and has an extremely bright future ahead of him. For now though, Federer (in my eyes) remains the king of the court.

Damion Cox -- 02-16-09

2009-02-16T16:52:45-05:00

Damion Cox is a highly acclaimed sports-columist in the Toronto Star. Recently he has been linked with TSN, being on air during their pre/post game coverage of the Leafs. He has never been afraid to voice his opinion loud and clear, some people really don't agree with what he writes about, but then, some do.
Cox is always very descriptive with his writing, using a lot of adjectives to bring out his point. Using synonys for 'bad' over and over again to describe the Leafs team is something common for him to do.
Like mostly all journalists, he uses the H5W's when writing an article and he has the indroductory paragraph, facts etc... But what really makes him stands out are his strong well-thought out opinions which (even live on TSN) he never ever alters his point of view.
Many people like him, many don't but one thing for sure, he's a good journalist.

Review: NBA live 2009 for the XBox 360 -- 02-01-09

2009-02-01T12:48:09-05:00

To start off by saying I do not have a x-box, or any system. So my review will be not biased because it is on the 360. I have played this game on the PS3, the Wii and the 360, and the XBox is the best for the game.

NBA live is by EA sports which is far less realistic than 2K9, but better. In this game you CAN do crazy dunks, you can hit outrageous three's (some of the time) and you can, to some extent, do it all with one player. But honestly, who would want a game were you're field goal percentage is something like 25%, that would just be so frustrating.

Usually the controls are the worst and most frustrating thing. These controls are not like that. With the exception of the "hot-spot" button being hard to press, the game is very easy and extremely fun.

The graphics are better than any other NBA live, but they get better every year so no surprise there. An interesting part of this game is it is very heavily sponsored by; Adidas, Sprite and ESPN. Which again is pretty obvious why they did that. I think a lot of people would mind that, but i think it's quite cool.

As you can probably understand by now i think this is a great game and i completely recommend it.

FHH select -- 01-25-09

2009-01-25T18:30:59-05:00

A major part of my life right now has been select hockey. This weekend i am in a tournament requiring me to play 7 games of hockey spread out of 2.5 days. That's a lot of hockey.

My team? Meh. We keep rising and falling and tieing and losing for years now. Frankly, I am sick of it. I know people would say that that is part of the game but i really feel that my team is really, really bad. The worst part is no one knows it.

Although we (simply put) suck, their are incredible guys on the team. Pretty decent coaches (discluding a bad manager) and reliable parents. But after a long time of being lower middle class, skillwise I am just a bit sick and tired of it all.

I hope 2 weeks from now in Detroit for a huge tournament we can turn things around. But realistically, I doubt it

Philadelphia Eagles - the fall -- 01-25-09

2009-01-25T18:24:37-05:00

As probably many of you know i love the Philadelphia Eagles. And as many of you may know they recently made it to the NFC champion ship game- and lost. I am sad. I think there is no other way to describe how i feel.

I am sad that we (the Eagles and I) didn't make it to the super-bowl. I am not dissapointed because i honestly think we were the worse team, Arizona Cardinals (John McCain's team as well as the team that beat us) deserved it. They went to one receiver, Lucas Fitzgerald, and he was good enough to win the game.

The Eagles had a great run and we have a great core of veterans (McNabb, Westbrook and Dawkins)
surrounded by good young players (Desean Jackson...and a lot more.) But what we have to take out of this experience is that we must spread out the ball to everyone and we have to adjust quicker on defense to their offence.

Newspaper summary's -- 01-20-09

2009-01-20T19:07:03-05:00

Article 1:
Newspaper: The Globe and Mail
Section: Front-section
Date: Monday January 19th
Name: Growing up in the fish bowl on Pennsylvania Ave.
Journalist: Kate Hammer

This article is about the Obama girls Malia and Sasha growing up being the daughters of well, the one and only Barack Obama. This article is especially important to me because when I was vacationing in Hawaii, they were on our beach and we I played with the girls on the beach (seriously, I did) and they were really nice. I was talking to them about some of the issues that this article discusses and they just thought it was a great life, but I wonder if tthey were being told to say that…

Now, I will discuss the article. Hammer talks about the girls growing up in the spotlight, and how they have always gotten everything they want, but they’re still very down to earth. This article isn’t just about the article, and then it is about all the white-house children. How there is so much pressure on tem to be polite and exceedingly mature for their age.

Article 2:
Newspaper: The New York Times
Section: Sports
Date: Monday January 19th
Name: Reid and Eagles arrive at familiar place, and vow to move on
Journalist: Dave Caldwell

The next article is also important to me because it’s actually an article,, and there haven’t been many, that is positive towards the Eagles. Even though they lost to the Arizona Cardinals they made it to the NFC Championship game which for those of you that don’t know is very good. The article discusses how the Eagles’ coach Andy Reid gets ridiculed constantly about being 1-4 in NFC Championship games. But going making the playoffs, the third round of the payoffs for 5 out of 8 years is absolutely unbelievable. The article discusses the free agents that might me moving in the off-season and informs us on the status of Andy Reid’s playoff beard.

Article 3:
Newspaper: Chicago Sun-Times
Section: Entertainment
Date: January 20th 2009
Name: “When are we now?” Castaways on ‘Lost’ bounce through times
Journalist: Thomas Conner

Lost, a great show, it’s a phenomenal show. It returns tomorrow night. Like in the other two articles this relates to me because, straight up, I love the show Lost. But unlike most Lost-watchers I am still only halfway through the second season. O when it is on for many Wednesdays to come I must be very careful not to watch it or it will ruin everything,

In the fifth season (from my understanding and reading this article) there’s 6 people called the Oceanic six which are 6 of the many main characters get rescued from the island. In the fifth season there will be a new component to the show; time travel. How this works? I am not entirely sure. But I can guess that the hearty castaways will travel with the very weird, abnormal island through time. It’s a great show that I highly recommend. As an experienced Lost-watcher a big tip I suggest you use is; start from the first episode of the first season, it is the only way!

High School choices for 9 -- 01-19-09

2009-01-19T08:39:41-05:00

Like many of you, Northern and North Toronto are the front-running schools for me to attend. As you have been told, they are both great schools and I know (or at least hope) I will do well at both. I would be happy with either. I am in commercial district for Northern, but I am not interested in commercial, and I am not at all in district for NT, but with the special DP advantage… I hope I will be able to get it.

From our visits I have determined a lot of things. But before I tell you…I would like to say that before the visits I was 75%-25% for NT.

At the first visit to NT I was thoroughly NOT impressed. I placed my hopes foolishly in thinking it a perfect school, but I guess I was wrong. The school looked so run-down. I know we are only going to be there for 1(ish) years but that’s a long year. I liked around 50% of the teachers I met and I didn’t love one of them.

Northern is big. I think it would be really hard to adapt to that size especially because, unlike NT, they have very little emphasis on adapting their grade 9’s. I really liked all of the teachers I met and the programs looked great.

At this point I was around 50-50. But after our class discussion (and the new NT school) making me think more about the schools. I decided that if I get in to NT, I will go there. If I don’t I still have an outstanding back-up school. As for the teachers, I think Northern might have been just putting their best teacher’s forward. And for academics NT is noticeably better.

New Years Resolution -- 01-11-09

2009-01-11T12:30:02-05:00

I think new years resolutions are a great way to set credible goals and work hard to reach them. I feel like they are almost like a birthday wish but instead of sitting around wishing for something to happen, you take action and make it happen.

I don’t have any main new years resolutions but here are some things I would like to improve on: Being more open to other people’s ideas, not leaving things to the last minute, being more organized, beating my fears more often than not, be more open to all sorts of people, be more independent, not caring to much of what other people think of me and eat breakfast.

These will all be hard things to do but that is why they are goals and that’s why they’re difficult to reach, but we CAN reach them.

Free writing # 1 -- 01-11-09

2009-01-11T12:22:42-05:00

In 20 years I will be…

20 years from now is a long time away. Even so, I will try to draw a picture of a day in the life of me as a 33 year old. For my profession I will be the assistant to a successful brain surgeon. I will have a girl-friend who I care very much for. Soon I will be making the humongous move across the country to Vancouver.

Today is Tuesday the 23rd of May 2059. This is what a normal day was for me 20 years ago. After sleeping from 11:00-7:00, I woke up in my modest two bedroom apartment on Bloor street. I kissed my girlfriend good morning then walked out to my favourite local café for my double Latte.

Work started at 9:00, so I had to hurry back home, grab a shower and have a quick bite. As I walked all the way to the Toronto General Hospital ( a.k.a. my office) I thought about my big move to Vancouver to go closer to my girl-friend’s family. There I would open my own surgery clinic but I would perform surgery fro a very low price everyone could afford. My best friend lived out in Vancouver and we were going to be practically neighbours!

I knew it would be hard to leave my family…but a man’s got to find his own way. My boss, and friend, Michael was waiting for me at the office. His usual calm face looked a little stressed. I asked him what was wrong and he said that there was a man in his 40’s with a big lving family that just died in the room next to his surgery room. I felt overwhelmingly sad, like I always did when someone died (after all we were in a hospital!), but I know that we did everything we possibly could and It was just part of the job.

Today was not an unusual day. Michael and I went through routine flawlessly, removing two blood clots and 1 tumour. I went out for a jog at lunch and then ate some sushi with the guys from the fracture clinic. That night I was meeting my girlfriend at her favourite Italian place for dinner. To her delight I took her to a famous Gelato ice cream parlour. Then at around 9:45 we headed home and called it a night.

Now as I look back at those fine days, I realize that I have had a very productive life, saving people and being good to myself. Now I am going to go down to the beach to play football with my 3 kids ( 2 boys, 1 girl).

Glogster book report -- 01-08-09

2009-01-08T17:58:00-05:00

New Era Coalition -- 12-02-08

2008-12-02T17:21:23-05:00

The current coalition attempts by the NDP, the Liberal Party and the Bloq Quebecois are stirring up lots of controversy in our nation. The new coalition government wants to bring down Stephen Harper and the Conservatives and become the new government with the “almighty” Liberal leader Stephen Dion leading the way.

(When I can vote) I will vote for the best candidate in my riding, other than the Conservative one. I hate everything about the Tories. But I think what the other parties are doing is just plain unfair. Even though I hate Harper and the Tories, they (sadly) won fair and square. Canada wants Harper as the power in charge. I think it is democratically unfair what the other parties are doing, just because they lost, that doesn’t give them the right to try to over-throw the Conservatives (as much as I want them to).

Recently Dion announced that he was going to step-down as the Liberal leader and resign. The front running candidates to be the Liberal leader are Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff. Despite being “the most concrete leader” Layton would not become the Prime Minister simply because of the NDP’s small amount of seats.

Michelle Jean, a person who normally has very little power, has the weight of Canada on her shoulders. Jean is a representative of the Queen of England, so mostly someone who is just around for tradition, she is the one that will either allow, or nix the Coalition idea.
She is expected to allow the coalition.

Harper wants to call an election when the coalition is formed because he will most likely win. Only three months after the Oct. 14th election people will most-likely vote the same way, or even pity Harper. We all know how the results will turn out. But if no election is called the coalition was passed because the NDP, Liberal and Bloq combined have enough seats to overthrow the Conservatives. “Harper is being his very arrogant self” said the Ottawa Sun. He is taking out full page adds in big papers. They were dissing the coalition and Dion, like they did during the days of campaigning. If Jean allows the coalition and she doesn’t call an election, despite the election three months ago the Conservatives won’t lead.

All in all I think the coalition is not democratic and unfair to the conservative party. As much as I want it to be allowed, it is not a good example of democracy. The conservatives won the election fair and square and until the next election, they should rightfully be in power.

Hawaii -- 11-23-08

2008-11-23T10:54:53-05:00

Over the winter break I am going to Hawaii. Hawaii? Isn't that just the same as EVERYWHERE else? someone asked. and i knew they had never been there. This paradise is the most wondrous place on our planet, it's not just the sun and sand, but the happiness that overwhelms you when you come into contact with it.

This is my second time going and i am even more excited than before. As Peter Gott said, " you want to spend every second you can there." The geographical aspects of Hawaii is incredible. If you look on Google earth you will see the islands are actually peeks of giant underwater mountains. Is that not awesome???

I am so stoked for the coolest place in the world, and can't wait to go (fortunately) again!

Animal Farm review -- 11-23-08

2008-11-23T10:53:53-05:00

Animal farm was a great book, and surprisingly a good movie. Yes, there are changes; then ending, Jessie and Mr. Pilkington but i think it was well done.

I really like the dog Jessie. I think it was crucial top have a narrator, and her amazing British accent and way of evenly making all of the other animals role less was great. I felt connected to her and it feels good knowing there is at least one animal that knows what's happening to the farm.

Mr. Pilkington...not as good as Jessie, but if I only saw the movie i don't know how they would have done the book without him as a main character. He was nasty, mean and unforgiving which made the animals' lives harder. Something i didn't like is you almost felt sorry for Mr. Jones which was not the case in the book.

The alternate ending was great, leaving hope and how the puppy came back. It was a really happy part and I know it trails off from the moral but, it was nice. The movie gets ******* out of 10.

Migration Blog -- 11-09-08

2008-11-09T13:22:14-05:00

If I could move to one place in the world it would be New Zealand. I went to New Zealand in grade 5 and everywhere I went I was in awe. The police don’t carry guns, the crime is very minimal and it is so beautiful. The majority of the land is good for farming, but with forests and mountains (volcanoes) it makes the perfect place.

Something that would make me not want to leave is being literally half way around the world from my loved ones. I know I would make new friends (everyone there is extraordinarily friendly) but the distance is incredibly inconvenient.

I have always wanted to go to someplace like Canada, but with less crime and dangers. New Zealand is that place. Everywhere you go you feel safe and accepted. The weather is very similar to Toronto’s, but a little warmer (which couldn’t hurt). There is volcanoes and molten springs like no other place in the world.

The coolest thing in my opinion is that all the food going into the island must be checked so thoroughly for diseases because it could contaminate everything. I got off the airplane with a clementine in my carry-on and I got flagged down and carefully checked, for a normal clementine, because it could change everything in their eco-system.

I love New-Zealand so much, I feel like I can barely fit the utter beauty and majestic sense of it. The government is solid and it seems that everything is just perfect. If I could move to one place in the world it would be New Zealand

My Society -- 11-09-08

2008-11-09T13:01:24-05:00

Capitalism (in my opinion) is the way to run a country. I believe that according to hard you work, it should reflect your income. I think that someone who slacks off and lets other
people do their work for them, should not be treated equivalent to someone who works for a living, and a valuable, contributing member of our society.

I believe that homeless people are on the street for a reason. Whether they abused drugs or alcohol, or they just plainly didn’t work hard enough, they’re there for a reason. They fell down the “ladder of society” and now are paying the consequences. Besides, if they desperately wanted to get off the street, they could use resources like shelters and take advantage of them by trying to start over and create a newer/better life.

(Other than inheritance) rich people are wealthy for a reason. They worked hard and persevered, and now they are rewarded. They climbed the “the ladder of society” and I don’t think there is anything wrong with succeeding.

All in all I think our society is run fairly well now, and we are doing the right thing by using capitalism to model our society.

Concerned Ctizen -- 11-02-08

2008-11-02T17:14:23-05:00

Hi, my name is Walter and I am a farmer in Toronto. The year is 1864 and the people from the newspaper think America is gonna take us over. You know what I say? I say that would be good. We could be a part of something bigger; we could become part of the Manifest Destiny.

I could trade my products to SO MANY PEOPLE! The market would be so much bigger. We wouldn’t have to defend ourselves from those downright nasty Fenians! I am tired of watching my own back; the government will watch it for me. We could have a railway all the way down to the south part of the world.

It is clear Britain hates us so let’s just get out of their hair. Britain won’t take care of the absentee landlords for my cousins’ farm in PEI.

I say we sit back and enjoy the ride. Let them take us over. Just let them do it, whatever

Kanye West Love Lockdown -- 11-02-08

2008-11-02T13:15:08-05:00

Kanye West’s new song ‘Love Lockdown’ shows a new Mr. West. In this song he is much more hipp-hoppy. There is no rap, just a very catchy beat and tune. I don’t know if this is a new beginning for Kanye, or simply just a way of mixing it up, which he loves to do.

The video shows Kanye in a white suit, in a white clean hotel room. But a bunch of (what seems to be) aboriginal peoples show up, banging on their drums (this creates the course), I am not sure if this has some sort of a deeper meaning, but if there is one I am not understanding it. Throughout the verses it shows Kanye West stressed out, it almost seems like he is deciding what to do with himself.

The song is great, the video is…weird. But all in all I like the brief (or maybe not so brief) change Kanye has made. He gets an A- for Love lockdown.

Why kids should have an equal amount of rights as adults -- 11-02-08

2008-11-02T12:55:34-05:00

Why kids should have the same amount of rights adults have

When adults say to us, enjoy the time where you are kid, because you will have so much more work when you are older. They have forgotten what it is like to be a kid. I see my parents work, and yes, they do work hard, but on a weekend where I had more than 10 hours of difficult homework I am working really hard too. If more than 10 hours of homework isn’t a big workload, I don’t know what is!

The pressure on children to perform well in school is tremendous. The pressure on kids to be “a contributing member of the family” is extensive. The pressure on us to keep exercising, to get involved with our community and to take part in extra curricular activities is just plainly unfair.
Adults have a choice. They should be putting food on the table, but if they can’t there is options, there is choices. For kids if we continuously don’t hand in homework and do badly on tests, we fail. Then we are told if we don’t shape up we will be unsuccessful in high school, then we won’t get into university, then we won’t have a good life. That’s a tremendous amount of pressure and stress that a 12 year old shouldn’t have do deal with. But since we do have to deal with it, then we should be treated as an equal member in society.
The hard work and pressure isn’t just in school. If you wanted to play on a house league hockey team to get the opportunity to have fun and exercise (or at least try to) that’s awesome. But if you have one bad play and you pass it up the middle of the ice and it is picked off by a good player, and they score. You feel bad, you feel sad, and you feel disappointed. But then you get an earful of scolding by your coach, and you don’t want to play anymore, what’s the point? You don’t think you should have to put up with this. But your parents make you stay in because “It’s a great opportunity.” Imagine if they remembered what it was like to be yelled at by the coach after being down on themselves and their parents (your grandparents) made them not quit. Our world would be a different, more equal place today.

Or at camp, you just want to enjoy time with your friends and goof around, and it’s time for swimming lessons. You don’t want to join in but you are forced to go in the water, if you don’t try hard, you get in trouble. This is not to say that camp is bad, most kids like camp because the people that tell us what to do (the councillors) are a little bit like kids. So they usually understand what we want to do. Camp is a place of ultimate freedom because our parents are 20 yr. old kids. This is what makes camp so special for most kids.

Voting. It is brutally unfair that kids can’t vote. After all, kids are the future. We should be knowledgeable of the Political system and were we stand in the world. If we are shielded by our parents and community who don’t think we should know what’s going on, then we will never know. I recently did a survey for math class asking: What issues do you think are the most important for the government to tackle. 9 out of 33 students answered don’t know/care. At Deer Park, a very well educated school if you asked ten people that question (roughly) four people wouldn’t know, and that question was a matter of opinion.

Why do we have so many issues to deal with when we are kids, to prepare us to become adults? But that contradicts the first statement I said: When old people say to us, enjoy the time where you are kid, because you will have so much more work when you are older. If when we are kids, we are becoming prepared to become an adult then when do we have time to be just children?!

Imagine a grown-up in a kid’s body. How would they feel with adults bossing them around, imagine if every adult suddenly remembered as clear as day what it was like to be our age. If that were to happen then we would be a much more valued member of society. We wouldn’t be bossed around, we wouldn’t be neglected in restaurants for the adult in line behind us, and we would be equal to everyone else! Which we should be already!

Like Martin Luther King Jr. and the blacks, I believe that the next revolution will be giving kids equal rights. Because after all we do close to the same amount of work as adults, we should be treated the very same as them. This is why I believe kids have an unfair amount of work and pressure.

Descriptive Writing -- 10-26-08

2008-10-26T19:06:41-05:00

‘The boat was trying to dock during the storm.’

The S.S. Charlie went out on the Gulf of Mexico on a calm, crisp day with a powerful crew and happy people. Captain Connor received a desperate warning from the Coast Guard warning a vicious storm heading north from the Caribbean. But the conditions where as smooth as a sheet of glass, he carelessly ignored it.

Several dreamy hours later the S.S. Charlie started to easily
cruised home when the weather took a turn for the worst. Rain fell from the sky and hit the boat like cannonballs, the air was heavy with moisture and the sky looked like hell on earth.
The boat was a long few kilometres off shore as the S.S. Charlie and its crew epically battled the furious waves as it desperately tried to dock during the grotesque storm. After several hours of being tossed around like ping-pong balls, the storm abruptly clamed.

They docked. Very shook up, but all in all ok.

Hockey has Begun -- 10-19-08

2008-10-19T17:50:33-05:00

Hockey has begun and with full force. I had my first practice today and with a coach that used to play on the Marlies, it was intense! We did skating drills for the entire two hours and I know it sounds like nothing… but if you have ever skated ten minutes of just hard skating, you know my pain.
Despite this new coach I have been asked to play on two single A teams who are in need of defence. But I said no to one and will say no to the other. I just moved down from single A because I wanted to play select. So just because they ask me to come back up I am not going to.
I hope this year goes as well as last year or hopefully better!

The Bikemitzvah- the real deal -- 10-19-08

2008-10-19T17:32:21-05:00

The Bikemitzvah was easy. Not to say that it wasn’t hard…but it wasn’t hard. I trained so hard and for so long that it was simple. It was fun and exciting, but luckily it was exactly according to the plan. Here is that layout from day 1 to day 3.
The first day (from Beaverton to Minden) there was an intense wind! So it was good and bad, but mostly a side wind. The first BandB we (we being my dad, trainer, friend and I) was very nice. The owners were a bit crazy but only in a way of making your stay ABSOLUTELY perfect. Day 1: 153 k in total, flat.
The next morning we woke up to a temperature of -1’c at 6 0’clock. But that day ended off being smooth as well, only getting lost a few times and a few dogs chasing us (a group of pit bulls for four whole minutes!) It went by fast. That night I stayed in a very cozy motel (best western) by myself (which was awesome!) and must have taken at least ten baths. By now I was tired. Day 2 : 128 k in total, rolling hills.
Last day, the shortet , hilliest most intense ride in Ontario (known as the hilly canyon amongst riders). I was doing the last day with 13 road bikers, other than the last 30 k I do all alone. It lived up to it’s expectations. This put me to the test, I had a cramp in my right gut so whenever I pedaled there was a sharp pain in my leg. But I made it in pain, but I made it. Day 3: 71 k in total, no flat, only hills.
The party was as great as possibly imagined, with nice speeches and exuberant people, it was perfect.

Eagles 4 life -- 10-07-08

2008-10-07T19:58:19-05:00

The Philadelphia Eagles have always been my favourite football team. When i was little i loved the Eagles, because of their green (my favourite colour) jersey's, and my favourite animal the Eagle. My next surge of liking them was Brian Westbrook. The most underated Runningback in the NHL he is also in the top 3 in talent. But now i love them for their superb defense great receivers and of course THE Brian Westbrook.
The NFC East includes; The Washington Redskins, The Dallas Cowboys, The Philadelphia Eagles and the defending (so far undefeated) super-bowl champs, The New York Giants. The NFC East is non-disputetly the best division in Football. Every team is great, Even though the Eagles are in the top 10 teams in the entire NFL, they may be the worst team in their division.
The Eagles and the Cowboys have always been rivals. My dad and brother love the Cowboys. Whenever one of our teams playy there are always insults thrown and fun to be had. The Cowboys are arguabaly the best team in the NFL ( says the anayists) which isn't to great for me. But it always creates great entertainment for my sister and mom in our house.
The Eagles are on a comeback from last season led by their phenomenal QB Donovan McNabb. But they have had a bit of a rough start shown by their record. But there play is as good as ever. You can never count the Eagles out.

A Giant Game -- 10-05-08

2008-10-05T13:32:15-05:00

Marty the Giant loved to play soccer. Ever since he was a 9 foot 561 lbs. baby he loved the game. But there was one problem, Him and his friends had no where to play. Until one day they found the perfect place, on the roof of a mysterious building.of a roof.

Even though Marty had ruined his mom's car, he would have never given back the memories that he had with his friends. On the roof of that mysterious building was the on place were he felt free to be who he was. A 19foot 3ton giant.

More media mania -- 10-01-08

2008-10-01T15:34:16-05:00

I was not planning on blogging more about my Bikemitzvah, but more newspaper articles keep on coming, and it is taking over my life, so it’s really the only thing I can talk about (other than fantasy hockey) :P. There have been many more articles on not-so-popular papers, but I really liked the one attached. I talked to the reporter, Heather, for about half an hour and she was really nice!

She made all of my quotes sound so good and made it look like I am an angel. I always read the Star or the Globe and I look for these kind of articles (about someone embarking on an adventure) and I always think to myself, that’s awesome! I could never do that!!! But the realization becomes more and more clear that I am becoming one of those outrageous people and I can’t help but wonder if anyone is actually reading these articles and what they think of the Bikemitzvah.

here is the link to the article

http://www.bancroftthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1228118

Media Madness! -- 09-27-08

2008-09-27T16:17:33-05:00

Just to add to the madness of the Bikemitzvah now I have media attention. Newspapers including the Toronto Star; Ottawa Sun; Barry’s Bay Today; Minden Times and the Halliburton Echo have expressed interest in the Bikemitzvah. TVO and CBC will be doing interviews with me as well.
The weirdest part is the fact that we didn’t ask for any of this! Not that it is a bad thing, but no one knows how they found out about it! For example if you search “Bikemitzvah” on Google one of the results would be for Ottawa Events and it has all of the information! The same type of things happens if you search Marcus Gottlieb.
The Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind are planting a tree in my honour! I sometimes think that it wasn’t to hard to get all of this attention, and why more people don’t get in the spotlight for doing even better things than I am doing. Although to say I am upset about this is not true. I think this is great attention for the Guide Dogs and the Bikemitzvah. But reporters in movie appear to be nice but then they tear you apart and look into your history and stuff like that. I hope that doesn’t happen to me!

BIKEMITZVAH! -- 09-27-08

2008-09-27T16:01:15-05:00

As most of you know during thanksgiving I am biking 300km In support of the charity Canadian Guide Dogs for Blind. I have been training since last September and increasingly the distance of each ride has gotten longer. On top of all of this training I constantly have hockey and football, so right now I am in the best shape of my life.
On the big ride which is less than two weeks away, I am starting in Beaverton Ontario, and then I am going 120k to Minden, where I am staying the night. On day 2 I am going 100km from Minden to Bancroft. In Bancroft I am sleeping at my friend’s cottage. For the last day I will be riding with all of my friends and family for the final 80(ish) km to my cottage a.k.a. Boundless Adventures http://www.boundlessadventures.org/ which is a camp run by my dad.
The Canadian Guide Dogs is a charity that trains dogs to become guide dogs. Then they are given away to blind people for free. I am thrilled to be supporting this charity; I visited them at their base last thanksgiving and loved it. For more information go to http://www.guidedogs.ca/ (you will find information on the Bike mitzvah).
I have my own blog called (very creatively called) Bikemitzvah blog. At http://bikemitzvah.blogspot.com/. For more information on everything I talked, about you can go to my website at bikemitzvah.com or ask me!

Blog Review: Darren Dreger's Blog -- 09-21-08

2008-09-21T18:17:49-05:00

Darren Dreger is a sports analyst for TSN and also blogs mainly about the Vancouver Canucks on TSN.ca. He loves making fun of the Leafs (don’t we all?). But most of his articles are negative, but interesting. He is a funny-man on Sportscenter but smart and insightful too.
His latest blog is on the Canucks’ new general manager Mike Gillis. “What do we know about Gillis? Well, we know that he's been a successful agent, representing stars such as current Canucks former captain Markus Naslund and former NHL superstar Pavel Bure”. Says Dreger. He talks about Gillis’ past accomplishments and how he is smart and resourceful.
Dreger incorporates other people’s quotes into his own sentences to support his ideas. According to Tampa Bay GM Jay Feaster who worked extensively with Gillis on contract negotiations with former Lightning forward Sheldon Keefe, Gillis has his strengths. ”He is a very bright guy, hard working and hard-nosed in negotiations,” Feaster said. Is an excerpt from Dreger’s article.
Although I mostly don’t agree with him I like Dreger’s harsh, but smart way of criticizing teams and players. His blog has fascinating articles, and when he has the floor to talk he takes it. At some points I think he says cliché phrases at times but he is a clever sports analyst with charm and brains who has made it big. Who happens to have my dream job.

Fantasy pools -- 09-21-08

2008-09-21T17:39:14-05:00

Fantasy pools are the new sensation sweeping the nation. I am in 11 of them, and it’s still very exciting. There are magazines devoted to guiding you through drafting players and projected rankings of every single category of hockey. What makes these “pools” so thrilling and why would people invest their own money in something that has no effect on the real world?
Drafting players makes you feel powerful. Having the entire league just waiting to be called up to your team is really mind-blowing experience. In my last blog NFL Fantasy Files: Real or Fake the NFL players are showing off their skills for you to pick them. I feel like a general manager with players wanting to join your team.
The money is a bonus. While you are choosing elite players and logging on everyday you forget about the money. If you choose well and keep up to date you get rewarded for having fun by getting money. The best part is no one really minds loosing because everyone got the great experience.
Sometimes (if you are crazy like me) you develop a connection with the player. My favourite player is Mike Green. I got him in the 15th round and he had an amazing season. Now he is my favourite player ever. I have a jersey and I pretend I am him when I am playing hockey.
That was my little crazy rant on hockey pools!

All About Me! -- 09-14-08

2008-09-14T15:54:39-05:00

My name is Marcus. I have 2 siblings and parents. Some people would call me a very determined person, others would call me shy. I think i am both of those, and so much more. I can be shy in new situations, and anxious too, i am goofy with my friends. I love to play almost every sport, but i play competitive hockey and roadbiking. My favourite food is sushi, my favourite animal is a deer and my favouritet colour i green. Now you know everything about me!

Marcus' Wordle -- 09-09-08

2008-09-09T15:40:28-05:00

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NFL Fantasy files...real or fake -- 09-07-08

2008-09-07T14:25:10-05:00

As a promotion for the NFL's fantasy football, they released these commercials with pros showing off their talents. The one I posted is one of 15 crazy stunts related to the NFL performed by the Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley. What i would like to know is if this is real or fake. First of all, a man punching through a wall, then catching a football, even for a NFL tight end) sounds a little far-fetched. But, you saw it with your own eyes, and it looked very real to me. Now you can make your own decision.