The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - B1

TERRACE STANDARD

_ INSIDE. SECTION B

{
} COMMUNITY
EVENTS B2

JUST A THOUGHT
EV BISHOP

Discipline?

S A PARENT, trying to do the
best I can at the job of raising

It’s a good thing
kids who I desire to be respons-

 fble, purposeful and filled with

hope for the future, I often turn to books on
child rearing, Most have to do with parenting
directly but every once in awhile I read one
that’s more general about child psychology or

my children’s most important teachers.

- that makes me want to scream in disbelief.
One especially irritating book had a blurb

task, you need to ask yourself, what really. is
the task?” Just two short paragraphs later,
“When forcing a child to memorize the right

to ask yourself what you are teaching their
creative intellectualism.”
Gee I don’t know... Maybe not to mix am-
’ monia and bleach? Or maybe the “personal
_ choice” of not running into traffic? Sometimes
someone else's right answer IS the right an-
swer. a
The book’s pages swarmed with cozy
sounding comfort phrases dealing with the idea
that if we just ereate the ideal environment,
__ kids will learn by osmosis... They'd be turned

just right and there was no pressure. It talked

4 about how damaging it was to coerce children,
either with rewards ar by consequences, into
acting in certain ways or doing things in a
specific manner. The concepts of right and
wrong answers, competition on any level, the
role of an adult being an authority... even the
concept of teaching children to be polite were
condemned as oppressive.

After I slammed the book shut in disagree-
ment, I mulled over his ideas and was blown
away that someone could honestly believe that
children (or adults for that matter) would

“thrive in an environment where there were no

boundaries, no guidelines, and no
“expectations. That he could speak of discipline
as something negative and to be avoided at all
costs astonished me. Then I realized that his
notions are commoaly held views in our socie-
ty today,

We do belicve that teaching people truth
and facts or a moral right and wrong is some-
how stifling and abusive. Everybody wants
truth to be subjective, something that can bé
manipulated, embraced or rejected at whim.

We are obsessed with the notion of personal
happiness and in that regard, the author might

or learning could perhaps make kids unhappy
for a time...

their butts and iearn something that they think
is boring or hard? Absolutely not. But I think
that the ability to persevere, to accomplish, to

hard, is critical to having a happy, productive
life in the long run,
Self-contral, patience, and the ability to be
kind to others are necessary life skills that
don’t come naturally to peaple. They need to
be taught, learned, They aren’t easy. They
‘don’t always feel good. Nonetheless, they are
necessary. ;
Olympic medal winning athletes don’t
_ enjoy every aspect of the rigorous training and
strict diets that they endure but they know that
‘it's a necessary part of achieving their goal.

to put long hours into practicing and learning
techniques; the amount of labor often deter-
mines how wonderful their creation is. Anyone
who raises a family and puts food on the,table

‘bring the most satisfaction are often what de-
. mand the most work and sacrifice.

Like itor hate it, life is about. discipline.
tell them the rules to & game because without
lines.4a0,
do boil down to personal choice but there are
and while. There are hard and fast rules of pro-

~ per conduct and we do need to teach them, try
‘ta-learn them and try to live them.

is geared to educators, After all, 1 am one of.

Most books are very helpful or, at least, |
somewhal helpful but occasionally I read one’

on the back cover that sounded sa impossibly -
ridiculous; I thought the author had to be,
joking. “If the children in your class seem off

answers according to someone else, you have.

‘onto learning if the Olof in thé rodm Were ~

be correct, enforcing a set system for behavior .

Is it fun for kids or adulls to have to plant *

learn even when it’s hard, especially when it’s *

Musicians, artists, writers and craftsmen have -

has to exercise discipline and the difficult task
_of putting others first.The things.in life that °

We would be cheating our kids if we didn’t’
them they couldn’t really play. Life has guide-_
Some things are subjective and some things |

also some things that are simply right, some,
that are wrong, Amidst the gray exists black -

Command performances

The Pacific Northwest Music Festival kicks off Monday. For two full weeks,
competitors from across the region strive for excellence in their discipline.

By JENNIFER LANG
HUNDREDS of young musicians,
dancers, performers and singers
converge on Terrace for the next

two weeks,

The Pacific Northwest Music
Festival, now in its 36th year, is
one of the largest multidiscipli-

nary festivals in the

March 26 to April 7, offers two
solid weeks of performances at
the R.E.M. Lee Theatre, the Evan-
gelical Free Church, and the Ter-
race Pentecostal Assembly. Com-
petitions begin at 9 a.m. and con-
tinue as late as 9 p.m.

“A lot of people come cut to

province, says presi-
dent Kim Beaupre,
Each year, the
number of competi-
iors seems to grow,
Beaupre — esti-
mates the scape of
the festival has
doubled over the
past decade.
“It just seems to |
be huge these days.”
There are more
than 1,200 entrants
this year, a number &
that includes solo- {

ists and group per- a

formers of all ages,
from age five to 25,
and adult bands and.
choirs.

Last year, the festival hired 10
adjudicators to handle all the en-

tries.

“The goal.of the festival is to
_ provide the students with an op-
portunity to perform,” she says.
They perform for their peers
and the public, all while being
judged by an adjudicator who de-
termines how well they meet es-
tablished performance criteria ‘for

each discipline.

“The standard in Terrace is
very high,” Beaupre notes.
““We've got some yery excellent

teachers.”

_ She says it’s also a chance for
the community to see the wealth
of talent here. The event, running

ii events.
m gala is more show-

the evening perfor-
mances,” Beaupre
says.

Sitting in is free,
but you must pur-
chase tickets for the
scholarship night
competition and the
Gala event that
wraps up the festival.
Adjudicators choose
which performers
will take the stage at
both concluding
While the

biz, the scholarship
competition empha-
sizes excellence

Kim Beaupre

line,

“If you're looking for top qual-
ity, top calibre performances, go
to scholarship night," advises

Beaupre.

within each discip-

Scholarship performers have
achieved top marks during the
festival and have competed in at
least three solo events.

They compete in three categor-
ies: junior (12 years of age and
under), intermediate (13 to 145)
and senior (16 to 25).

That same night, the adjudica-
tars choose three scholarship win-
ners.. The junior scholarship is
$250, the intermediate is ‘$500
and the senior is $1,000.

Eleven competitors go on to
the B.C. Festival of the Arts in
Fort St. John May 29 to June I,

VIOLIN COMPETITOR Dylan Powell,10, pitches his bow.

A CLOSE-UP of 13-year-old pianist Nadia Quellet’s hands.

Volunteer bureau readies
for upcoming web launch

By JENNIFER LANG
‘IT’S ONLY fitting that the
Terrace Volunteer Bureau
has a volunteer to thank
for its upcoming debut on
the digital stage.

For the past few weeks,
a 20-year-old Duncan,
B.C., singer-songwriter
named Julian Ruszel has
been hard at work at a
computer terminal located
on the bureau's front desk.

There, he’s been build-
ing an ambitious web site
that will put people in
touch with the bureau's
programs and services - as
well as dozens of local
and national agencies — at
the click of a mouse.

The site’s not ready to
launch just yet, but the
fledgiing web designer es-
timates he’s completed
about 60 per cent of the
work,

Still, he can see where
the ‘possibilities of having
a web presence, complete
with links to the sites of
other agencies in town and
across Canada, could lead.

“Hopefully, this will
encourage some of the
other agencies to get a

web site and then we'd be
linked,” he says.

“That would be
awesome,”

User-friendly software
Means you ‘don’t have to
be an expert to design a
basic Internet site any-
more.

But you still need
someone to do slog away
on the’ computer to do the
work,

The volunteer bureau
approached the youth ser-
vice corps, Katimavik,. to
-see if any of the partici-
pants currently. based in

|. Terrace would be able to.

JULIAN RUSZEL says he’s no computer whiz. But he does like computers. He

has helped design and compile the volunteer bureau’s imminent web site.

design a web site.

“It’s the thing you have
to do now,” bureau direc-
tor Sonja Slana says.

“To get information out
to the community, you
have to have a web site.”

To Slana and the bur-
eau’s referral coordinalor

to be pretty easy,” he says.
“Pm not a genius or
anything.”

His main challenge has
been contacting other
community agencies in
Terrace in order to track
down: the information , he
needs for the bureau's web

Ida Ne- site.

delle, Once complete,
their “{ don’t see how the volunteer
young any town can do bureau's web site
Katima- without a volun- will contain a
vik work feer bureau.” wealth of infor-
place- . mation about do-
ment is a zens of other
godsend, community

enabling the non-profit
agency to develop a web
presence at little cost.
“Julian’s been a great
help," Slana smiles.
Ruszel, a musician and
singer-songwriter who
plans to enrol in a college
jazz program in Nanaimo

next fall, admits he’s not a _
- computer eXpert.. -

“T.have a.computer at

home and. find computets -

agencies in Terrace.

“Tt will be information
based,” Slana says.
_ It’s a big job, and one
Ruszel is handing over to
someone else.
. That’s because he and
the other Katimavik patti-
cipants who've spent: the
past 11 weeks in Terrace

“head: to their next’ host:

community,” Steinbach,
Manitoba, ~ where. ~ as

they've done here — they'll
work on community ser-
vice projects before going
to their final community,
Mirabelle, Quebec.

Here in Terrace, they’ ll
be replaced by the next
Katimavik group.

Ruszel will be leaving
with fond memories of
Terrace, particularly its
snowboarding opportuni-
ties,

“lve been to Whistler
and I've been to Mount
Washington (a ski hill.
near Courtenay, B.C,),”
the Vancouver Island pow-
der hound says.

“Shames was the most
fun i've ever had snow-
boarding.”

He also gives his work
placement with the bureau
a four-star ratings

“The atmosphere here

- is reaily great,” he says,

"L think it-is a very va-
luable resoutce, [don’t see

how any town can do with-
outa ‘volunteer bureau,”

Actors
bound
for play
festival

MARIANNE Brorup
Weston and Alan
Weston will be tak-
ing a shart break
from their duties with
Skeena River Play-
ers to participate in
Theatre BC’s New
Play Festival.

The Westons have
been selected ta play
roles in two different
new Canadian plays
that get an intensive
reworking over three
days at the festival,
taking place in Kam-
loops this April.

That means the
pair will have to take
a few days off from
rehearsals of The Rez
Sisters, presented by
Skeena River Play-
ess in Terrace and
other northwest com-
munities in May.

Stage manager
Tara Lewis will tem-
porarily take over
directing duties.

Actor Alan West-
on has been chosen
to play artist Lawren
Harris in a This
Above All,

Marlanne Brorup
Weston, who's dir-
ecting The Rez Sis-
ters,.will have a role
in She'll ta the Wars,
set in 1943 during an
air raid,

Both plays won
the Canadian Natio-
nal Playwriting
Competition,

Those national
winners are reworked
at the festival by
professional directors
and playwrights,