INSIDE - ‘COMMUNITY ‘EVENTS B2_ wo oe “JUST A THOUGHT. _KATHY FLORITTO Culturally compromised? Don’t bet on it. t was a squeaker, but the map of Canada is intact. From sea to sea to polar bears, Canadians were glued to their tele-- visions and radios as the votes were counted for the Quebec Referendum, Will they? Won't they? If they do, what will it mean? If they don’t, what will it mean? What do they want? What do we want? . Who are they? Who are we? Indeed. Who are we? If a few million Cana- dians can be defined by their history, language, culture and geography as ‘‘distinct,”’ what then, defines the ROC (the Rest of Canada)? Ifsome of us (like me) pay too much attention . to our political system and how it works/doesn’t — work, that’s o.k. We're balanced by those who live bythe simple rule that if it doesn’t‘ affect their daily lives, or if they think it doesn’t, they don’t care, Their thinking may not be original, but it works for them. I must admit that their at- titude begins to make sense when our Prime Minister so persuasively responds to cries of un- _ certainty by throwing up his hands and seying “Tf,-1f iff my giandmother had: wheels, she could have been a bus.” That’s deep, real deep. We don’t define ourselves by our ‘health care, old age pension plan, unemployment insurance or fiscal policies — although they ‘reflect our national concern for protection against the vagaries of cold reality, No — despite our federal minister of multi- culturalism’s assertion that ““Canada has no cul- ture,’* we've not only got it - we've got the icons to prove it One of the greatest examples of Canadian _ television drama, The Beackcombers, (before it was cancelled by those Philistines in the Center of the Universe — aka Toronto), had kids across the country dreaming of becoming Relic’s sidekick. Older Canadians still remember being able to - relate, sometimes all too well, to the everyday concems of the Plouffe Family, Along with Hockey Night in Canada, these programs speak volumes about who we are. We know most of the words to “Snowbird”, “Seasons in the Sun”? and whatever version of “O Canada’? we learned in school. A.Group of Seven calendar hangs beside bookshelves boast- ing the Espositos’ We Can Teach You to Play Hockey crammed beside The Northern Magus, Towers of Gold and a dog-cared collection of Eric Nicol's best. , - We've sung along with Chilliwack, Stompin’ Tom and the fabulous Rita. If we can’t keep up with the alternative music scene, we recognize that it's a vibrant and grow- ing thinking person’s arena. We're thankful that grunge is gone and inordinately pleased that the ; internationally famous Prince George sports | jacket has once again taken its rightful place in the wardrobe of the All Canadian Hoser. We've. laughed along with the Neilsen brothers, Erik and Leslie, (although I don’t think Erik meant to be funny) and we've pretended to like Margaret Atwood. We watched Voice of Fire and didn’t get it, _ We're not sure if the ‘“‘most trusted man in television’’ is Lloyd or Terry David Mulligan and we chuckle at American film companies Who shoot their projects in Canada, then pretend the movies took place in the U.S. We know. We've eaten perogles in Edmonton, lobster in Halifax, pizza in Toronto, -tortieres in Montreal - and the best french fries in the world at Kelekis’ restaurant in. Winnipeg’s north end, We've watched the carp answer the gong in the Noodle "Makers in Vancouver's Gastown while reading our horoscope from the place mat beneath our plate of chow mein. We've waxed eloquent over curry with rotis (chapatis) in St: Johns and we’ve washed these gourmet delights down with that well-known - example of Canadian sophistication - a “Blue,” _ So who are we? We are Canadians, Oh, we don’t know all the words to Bobby Gimby’s ““Ca-Na-Da’’ and there’s no flagpole in most of our front yards, but we love where we live. and where we live is a place called Canada. aad CHILDREN’S voices climb in unison to an unwritten melody. Their only direction comes from a vigorous gray- haired woman, arching her body on tip-toes for high notes, and swooping her arms to the ground for lower notes, The children are members of Terrace Little Theatre’s youth troupe, rehearsing for their up- coming Christmas production. The melody is part of the kids’ warm up. Director ‘Tatiana Mackenzie leads them through a variety of warm-up exercises, hopping and march- ing around the ground floor of the McColl Playhouse. Mackenzie and her co- director Marilynn Nenninger have set the children and themselves an ambitious goal. | They hope to have everyone ready for opening night of the splashy production A Wonder- ful Worldful of Christmas on December 15. - “The kids are great,” says Nenninger. ‘‘They’re ‘so enthusiastic,’’ The play, written by James Brochu, is about a young boy and his older scroogish sister, — who is soured on Christmas. With the help of the post- master - general of the north pole, the boy and his sister take a trip around the world, discovering what Christmas means to different cultures, . They.:visit Austria, Mexico nd ‘maake a special visit to the Nass Valley ‘to visit, the _ Niggatass\ os The play features many dance numbers and songs, in- cluding Silent:.Night in four languages, ' The actors range in ages from seven to 14, There are 25 kids in total involved with the play. . Approximately double that number showed: up for the auditions. **The hardest thing to do was to call and say, ‘sorry, not this time,” ”’ said Nenninger. All the leads in the play have been double cast to allow more acting opportunities. Other children are playing up Hungry AT KITI K’SHAN - Primary school, six to twelve kids a day On uverage come to school without having eaten breakfast, or brought a lunch. It’s:a problem that’s always existed, says princi- pal Brian Phillips, but one that’s . getting easier to solve, thanks to a recent donation of’ $1,000 by the legion, "We feed some kids as much as. three times a day,’* says Phillips. “I've been here 15 years and we've always fed kids.”? Sometimes a child has just ’ forgotten his or-her lunch on the bus, Other times parents might be having financial problems and can’t afford enough food, Or sometimes a parent’s priority isn't feeding a child, “We don’t ask why,’’ says ‘Phillips, “we just feed them.’* Currently the school has a hot lunch program it runs two days a week, with the help of the parent action. committee. Volunteers help prepare food and distribute it to the class; Parents-of a majority of the students at Kiti K’Shan will buy their children hot lun- ches, and the children who might otherwise go hungry are automat- ically given. @ lunch, along with everyoneclise..- ; “Its done very discreetly,” says Phillips, With the donation from the legion, he says the school will be. » able to expand its Junch program _to three days a week. The hot lunch program has been “in on a break-even basis with the help of fundralsing activities 74 by: the "parent ‘action committee, a and the ‘generosity: of local men ‘wor Idful’ of Christmas YOUNG ACTORS from an upcoming Christmas play practice singing Silent Night In sign lan luages during the play. SECTION B CRIS LEYKAUF 638-7283 SEC t ' . guage, The song will be sung in four different lang to three or four little parts. “Sometimes ‘it’s hard for them to remember who they are in this particular scene,” says Nenninger. , She and Mackenzie have tried to involve the children in whatever ways they can. Two of the three of the musicians accompanying the play are teens, a teen is responsible for lights, and another youth is ‘andmakeup, 7° A. Wonderful Worldful_ of | Christmas is the - first TLT sTesponsible for the costumes... Christmas production in many’ years to be put'on by. children , ronic pr entire family: |<; ‘sion is $2... for children, says Mackenzie. - She’s looking forward to opening night, and says.the play will be suitable for the “The. play riins Dec. 15-at 7:30 p.m, and Dee. 16-17 at 1. and 3 p.m. both days. Admis: oblem | are automatically fed. A recent donation by the Roy. kids ach LUNCH volunteers Lisa Zorn, TA school to expand Its hot lunch program to three days a week, Maurean Allen and Michelle Haslam help prepare lunches fo al Canadian Legion Branch 13 will allow the students at Kiti K'Shan. They help make sure that those kids who would go hungry atlunchtime = J. chants, ; a “Subway, A&W, Hiopoulos Pizza, Wayside’ Grocery and Overwailea all help out by selling. food to us at really low prices,” says ‘hot Junch volunteer Lisa ~ “to 1ét teachers“ know’ go. hungry, Tea the teachérj lunches.. The fridge in the staff room js stocked with muffins — often baked by parents, apples, - peanut butter sandwiches, home- made jams and.more. they’ Then ‘acher just gei omething from thé fridge,’* Phil We've encourage the children - vic without 1