DUSTIN QUEZADA TERRACE STANDARD . The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 8, 2005 - BI _ CHARLYNN, TOEWS TP AKA AW wasn’t the classiest kid i in 1 grade school: I of- ten had a wad of toilet paper to use for blow- ing my:nose. But from time to time I had real Kleenex, those big soft squares folded neatly. The absolute best was your own personal pack- | ‘age of Kleenex, in the little cellophane-wrapped container. Modern! Hygienic! And rare and won- derful was the tiny pure white rectangle of card- board left’ over when the last Kleenex was taken out. Girls fought over it, it was a sign of favour . to have a friend who was so classy as to have a personal Kleenex pack and so generous as to give you the tiny piece of cardboard later. Write special things on-it in your finest handwriting, or rather, printing, I’m talking grade. three here. Least modern was a hanky, a real handkerchief, made of cotton and coloured dark blue often with a paisley pattern. Farm boys would blow with gusto - and stuff it back in their pockets. One boy named Garth was downright cheerful when he had the op- portunity to blow his nose, Proud to have.a hanky and know how to use it. Like a show off! A little boy who moved away before he had the ; chance to change my image of him we all called _ Snotty Scotty. He invariably had two green worms ‘sneaking out of his nose, which he would snort back up every few minutes. Oops, they’re gone again, no, here they come back down. He didn’t appear to use any kind of paper or cottony products for his nasal discharges, he seemed to-have dispensed with them entirely. ‘In low German, or anyway, in my° “childhood version of it, snot was called shnudda. So my big brother would yell, “Char, grab me a shnudda cud- da, will you?” A snot cutter,.a Kleenex, or more - likely, a small wad of toilet paper.. One time I went on an errand for my Grandma Grandma would never swear aloud, but i guess if you put it into initials and just write it down it doesn’t count _ ; Toews, and although she cheered and yelled at hockey games at the Jocal rink or on the TV, she - was very proper in every other way. On her list was an item called a.w. which I could not figure out, and was shocked when my mom told me what the ini- tials stood for. Grandma would never swear aloud, but I guess if you put it into initials and just write it - . down, that doesn’t count. , My neighbours’ house across the street had teenage girls in it, and they were forever folding . Kleenex into flowers to Scotch-tape onto cars, Pa- rades, sometimes, but mostly weddings. If 1 wanted to hang out with them I would also, have to fold. Back and forth like an accordion, then in half: se- cure. Fluff, next. In those days we had coloured Kleenex and toilet paper, to match your decor or perhaps your brides- maid dresses. Pastels dominated, but there was also vivid brilliant dark blue-green and awful orangey- pink. Wow! Looked weirder yet in the bowl or if it” rained on the parade. Here’s the thing: if you buy the absolute cheap- est non-double-roll brand of tp, what you are stock- ing up on is cardboard tubes. That's fine if you have a small child who does a lot of crafts and needs a lot of small cardboard tubes. He can have: two . tubes per day for as long as the huge warehouse: pack of incredibly i inexpensive a.w. lasts, if that’s what you’re after. And with the rough, scratchy, industrial-strength toilet paper you also get extra- . large cardboard tubes. So if it’s a lot of toilet paper you want to buy, then go for the Brand Name, get the good stuff. ~ When I was a little girl there was this exceed- ingly sweet and charming TV commercial for an American brand of tp we couldn’t buy. Living so close to the border, we received an American sta- tion with tantalizing ads for all kinds of foreign ob- jects presented expertly. A little girl’s voice would be heard from a room out. of view: “Mommy, there’s no more Zee-ee!” she would sing out, for Zee Brand TP. My little sister and I would sing this _ like we sang all the jingles we heard on the TV. And. although I am old enough to remember the days of Eaton’s and Hudson’s Bay. catalogues, along with newcomer Sears catalogues, and al- though our summer cottage did have an outhouse, ‘don’t think for a moment we used them at the same | time. Catalogues were for cutting up to make paper dolls on those days it rained. Come to think of it, are these personal hygiene products or are they better described as crafter’s supplies? DUSTIN GUEZADA DON COOPER takes the slender branch of a seedling in his hand and proclaims it a wild cherry tree. You can take him at his word. ‘Not only was Cooper. a: long- time forester, but the land he’s on. is where he lived between: 1927 and | 1960. ‘The. land in question, in the downtown core, is about to be de- " veloped. “Eby Street was the city bound- ary in 1927,” Cooper says. “It was . all wild (west of Eby St.)." . Cooper, 83, says there were acre lots and his father, Sydney, bought . the land when he moved to Terrace from Smithers in 1927, 7 Sydney Cooper, a veteran of the First World War and a forest ranger - in Terrace between 1927 and 1953, ».E purchased. the land from anothér’ 'F= -war veteran, Jock. Kirkaldy, who - had already. built .a house on the’ land a few years before: The elder Cooper then went to ‘work. He: built three cabins ‘under a soldier settlement plan that he later rented to servicemen and he planted: » trees that George Little had brought in from Ontario through his mail contacts. Cooper says there are no local . maple trees and very few oak trees” here, but their land was an excep- ‘tion. sane oak tree was planted for ” Cooper says, pointing to a still- standing mature oak that was - felled two days later. The timing of.the meetigg with Cooper and Terrace historian Yvonne Moen coincides with the land’s impending development. Moen, who lives next door to the long-vacant land had hoped some of the “heritage trees” would. be preserved. Moen says she and others in the neighbourhood make jellies from the plums and crab apples and col- lect nuts from another imported tree — possibly from the Hazeltons. _ On the day the land was lev- elled, Moen says she would have liked to have seen some of the trees preserved, but thinks development - is good for the city. An imported walnut tree that once stood in front of the family home was ripped out about 25 years ago when then-owners planned to _ move the house. Their attempt was foiled when it. ~ Around Town DON Cooper and Yvonne Moen stand beside the oak tree Cooper’ Ss father planted for him when the fam-. ast stand for import trees brings back memories _ ily lived on the land from 1927 to 1960 just two days before development began on the site. : DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO * was discovered the floor joints were. ' brothers looked at buying the prop- embedded in the concrete — an un- usual building method for its era, Cooper said. Elizabeth Cooper, Don’s mother, had kept the house for three years ‘following her husband’s passing in ‘Don Cooper and one of his three erty, but that never happened. : His memories are fond, though © ‘he said it was a lot of work. As the : designated farmer, Cooper, the sec- ‘ond of the four boys, had chores be- He had to take the cows to pas- ture before school and after, he tended to the chickens and rabbits, milked the cows and cleaned the barn, a Cooper says his fun time was at ° Lakelse Lake, where the family had : acabin. 1957, selling it in 1960. > Celebrate Aboriginal Day THE KERMODE Friendship Society has again organized. National Aboriginal Day festivities in Terrace, a day to celebrate and reflect on the proud traditions of our Indian, . Metis and Inuit cultures, on Saturday, June 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at George Little Park. The Society has decided to scale down from the two- -day festivities held last year and focused on one day. The day will kick of with a traditional First Nations welcome with remarks by dignitaries and performances by our talented and colourful aboriginal dance groups. Music and kids entertain-_ ment and games will follow throughout the day. Additionally, a free shuttle service will run between the park and the Muks Kum O] Youth Centre, site of a 3-on-3 _ basketball tournament. Downtown merchants are having a street fair, with ac- tivities and booths on Lakelse Avenue between Emerson and Kalum streets and 1 down to the George Little House. ’ Schedule of events \ 10 am. Opening Ceremony and Welcome by: Kitselas and Kitsumkalum chiefs, chiefs from outlying areas, Mayor Jack. Talstra, MLA Robin Austin, MP Nathan Cullen and Kermode Friendship Society board directors 11-12:30 p.m. First Nations dance-groups : 12-4:30 p.m. Children’s activities, featuring bubbles for wee ones, crafts for bigger ones and old fashioned races for kids of all ages. 1-4 p.m. Live music and CFNR MC William Wesley 2 p.m. Achievement Awards presentation . 5 p.m. Wind down and close up Organizers still need volunteers to help set up the big tent in the park on Friday evening, to do security overnight, to assemble booth structures and to help clean up Saturday af- ternoon. Please call Marianne at 635-4906 if you can help. Continued on page B3 By KAT LEE | * “YOU KNOW what I miss? I miss pizza.” and extra cheese.... Five members of the Ter- race Little Theatre Youth Troupe talked pizza top- pings as they rehearsed for their upcoming play. edness of their bantering; “Bang Bang You’re Dead” violence. | Written by American playwright William | Mas- trosimone after the 1997 Columbine high school ‘killings, it centers on Josh who is in jail for killing five high school classmates. “We haven’t done a seri- ous play yet,” director Jay Ross said. “We decided to - take the challenge and at- tempt a larger-scale play.” mainly of a wooden box, but it is transformed from ‘a jail bed into a courthouse, a coffin, the driver’s seat of a truck, and a psychiatrist’s chair as Josh takes us into the memories of his life. Some flashbacks show dark- er memories of school bul- lying and the first time he went hunting. “There are some tense . fore and after school. . S And olives, Despite the lightheart- . (played by Mark Briand), ° .The sparse set consists _ is a serious play about school Ay = BANG Bang You're Dead cast members pose on the. Bang bang you're on set. The TLT Youth Troupe play starts tomorrow. for'the first of two shows. KAT LEE PHOTO moments,” Ross said. Josh is mentally haunted - by his five victims, and in the end, begins to realize, the impact of his actions. “It’s got some guts to it,” said Sandy Watson, who co- ordinates the youth troupe with Brent Nixon. In addition to the main character and the five vic- tims, there are five chorus members who play multiple roles. A drummer beats time to mimic a heartbeat, adding mood to the atmosphere. “The whole idea of the play. is to.reach the audi- ence members who may be -- having these thoughts,” said Watson. _ Fifteen members of the youth troupe involved in the play have been putting in two to three rehearsals ‘ every week since rehearsals: started in February. The one-act play is 40 - Minutes long and can be seen at the McColl Play- house June 9 and 10 at 8 p-m. Tickets are $5 for stu- dents and $8 for adults at Uniglobe. ‘