Posts with the Centennial College tag

Barris Beat

The Invisibles

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As “Air Person of the Year” at 8 Wing, CFB Trenton, Sgt. Ashleigh Tucesku admits her work is mostly invisible.

We rarely saw her. But we always saw her handiwork. She came to work at the college where I taught after we’d all left for the day. And when we arrived the next day to resume our tutorials, labs or classroom sessions with students, all those rooms were spick-and-span. Then, one evening when I happened to be working late, I met her – a member of Centennial College’s custodial staff – and I stopped to chat.

“Thanks for all the cleaning you do in our classrooms,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “Just part of the job.”

“But we never see you. It’s nice to acknowledge what you do.”

“Yes, well, we’re kind of invisible,” she said. (more…)

Barris Beat

Learning-by-doing minister Bill Davis

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Bill Davis may have helped more young Ontarians find their way in education than any other 20th century provincial leader. Globe and Mail.

Halfway through my career teaching journalism, around the year 2008, I received a note of thanks from a young man I’d taught reporting skills, news gathering, copy editing and feature writing, among other things. After graduating from Centennial College’s three-year journalism program, Dharm Makwana had left Toronto, moved to the West Coast and landed a job with the Vancouver Sun.

“Because of you, I feel ready to tackle the challenges of an everyday journalist,” he wrote in his thank-you card. “You contributed more to my professional development than any other teacher I’ve ever had.

“I thank you,” he said finally, “for the impact you’ve had on my life.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Where news comes from

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Lisa LaFlamme at the CTV News desk each night.

It’s the last thing my wife and I do each night and nearly the first thing each morning. It’s been that way for nearly 50 years. We turn off the light at night and wake up each morning in sync with broadcasters and their newscasts. At 11:30 p.m., Lisa LaFlamme says:

“That’s it for us at CTV News. Have a good night.”

Then, each morning at the top of the hour, we catch Nil Köksal introducing us to, “World Report…” on CBC Radio. (more…)

Barris Beat

Value of people in the know

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Bill Doig had a solution to most problems.

Everybody says it at one time or another. They grapple with a personal issue, a mechanical problem, an unsolved mystery and then they toss and turn instead of sleep all night long. Well, I said it to a writer friend I called on Tuesday morning.

“I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” I said to Phil Alves.

“What’s the problem?” he asked considerately.

“I’ve lost a big file.”

And he moaned a knowing moan, because he’s done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it. But in my case, I’d really done it. (more…)

Barris Beat

The crisis is real on campus

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Dr. Craig Stephenson, president of Centennial College since August 2019.

The president contacted me this week. No, not that president. He’s an administrator of a large Toronto-area college. He addressed me by my first name, which caught my attention. Then, he offered some reflections on the pandemic, its impact on teaching, on learning and most assuredly on budgets. I sensed it was a pitch letter. But he wasn’t pitching me about hisbudget. He spoke about students’ budgets, or lack of them.

“It’s the beginning of a new order,” Craig Stephenson, president of Centennial College, said in a note, “full of uncertainty for our students…” (more…)

Barris Beat

Don’t let COVID kill immigration

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One of thousands of boats that brought refugees out of south-east Asia and to our doorstep.

The note came out of the blue. After retiring from Centennial College where I taught journalism and broadcasting for 18 years, I’ve only periodically run into former students. They’re the ones busily working as newspaper or radio reporters, videographers, editors, etc. Most of the time, I hear from the successful ones. Not from those struggling. Then, I got a note from a young woman named Farheen.

“I have been looking for positions to help me build my portfolio,” she wrote in her email to me. “But due to my lack of experience, I always fall short.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Isolation defies nature

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Prescribed physical distancing at a bus stop. Vancouver Transit photo.

Monday was Day 10 of our physical distancing. As I’ve done most days of my wife’s and my voluntary isolation, I emerged from my house early enough to retrieve both the newspaper at the foot of my driveway and at my neighbour’s. Coincidentally, he came out his front door at the same time. Keeping our distance, I tossed him the paper.

“How’re you doing?” I asked.

“Bored!” was all he said.

He didn’t have to say another thing. We nodded, smiled. He went back inside. I went on my way. (more…)

Barris Beat

Armed service shaping youth

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Admired for his service in WWII, remembered by 151 Squadron in Oshawa, W/C Lloyd Chadburn lives on in modern cadets.

Not since the Second World War has this country required that young people complete service in the military. The Canadian Forces have relied solely on volunteers since 1945. Consequently, this week, while attending a student awards night at Centennial College, I was surprised to meet a young scholarship recipient who’d previously completed military service. His name was Yonghwan Seok.

“Before I came to Canada in 2018,” he told me, “I dropped out of (school) and went straight into two-year, mandatory military service.” (more…)

Barris Beat

An unwritten book

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Student Neil Powers during his placement at The National Post in early 2018.

He came to my office a bit tentatively. He didn’t want to impose. It was early in the semester – back about three years ago. At the time, teaching journalism at the college where he’d enrolled, I told him it was my job to listen and offer feedback. And frankly, I told him, I welcomed the interruption. His whole face broke into a genuine smile and he settled into a chair across from me for our first conversation. Not as teacher and student, but as fellow writers.

“I know you’re an author,” he started, “and I want to write a book too. But I don’t know where to start.”

I should have asked Neil Powers, the mature student across from me in my office at Centennial College, what he wanted to write about, but I never did. (more…)

Barris Beat

Making news unfake

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David Carr, photo Chester Higgins Jr., New York Times website.

When 911 happened, he was working at a magazine in New York. He called it a party magazine. Not particularly substantial. And he was a recognized media critic covering the arts. Suddenly, one morning in September, long-time newspaper reporter David Carr got a call from his editor just after 9 o’clock. The editor told him what had just happened at the World Trade Center and he was assigned to the story.

“Some of the staff are going uptown, some downtown,” the editor told him. “Carr, you go cover the firemen.” (more…)