oe!

MY POINT OF.VIEW |
ARON STRUMECKI

W HEN I WAS in art school, I was
tors’ art works. I don’t know what

almost always struck by the lack
it was, but they always seemed quite taken

Seeing the rainbow
of colour that was in my instruc-
with brown and grey, and would go on and on

— about how much colour was in the simplest

hue and tone. Part of me suspected that they
were just trying to be clever, and were simply
doing their best to bring some understanding to
our collective youthful minds.

It wasn’t antil my third year that I realized

just how sincere they were about preaching the

word on all colours dull and boring. 1 was
going through an old art book from the *SQs_
when IJ started to get the connection.

That’s when the revelation hit me.

That was it.

The connection was clear.

The same generation that had built the
ghastly brown and orange monstrosity of the
Prince Rupert Mall were the same people who
were trying to teach me about art and colour
theory.

In that instant I knew, without a doubt, that
the crazy bugpers were indeed sincere in their
efforts to get me to “see the rainbow”, in the
all the glorious colours that were brown and -
grey.

It was a complete travesty. I would have .

none of it, and told them so, right then and |

there.

Funnily enough, that was also the year I °

learned the importance of not insinuating that
your teachers “didn’t have a clue”, or that
“the senility police: were around the corner’’,
but I digress.

Suffice it to say, after awhile, I simply
chalked up the whole colour thing to a good
example of generation gap. After all, it
seemed that us students, and even some of the .
younger instructors, were at least using the pri-
mary colours in their work.

What can I say; they were heady times
when our lives were filled with wild colours,
strange art and mind-popping architecture. The
days were long, and so were the lectures, but
it was all worth it in the end.

I remember one lecture in particular when
Murray, our art history professor for the semes-
ter, was railing on about the value of art and
design in the world around us, and how it was
the hallmark of all truly great civilizations,

Of course, being the proud Scotsman he
was, Murray went on to illustrate in great de-
tail, about the accomplishments of Scottish
design, before going on for the rest of the lec-
ture about the sad state of affairs of Canadian
Urban Architecture.

I always thought that such observations
were quite ironic coming from a man as
colourful as Murray was. The man was a le-
gend on campus by the time I starting going to
that school. First, for the amount of first year
students he helped run out of school due to his
drawing lessons, but mostly for the bottle of
Ouzo that he kept in the top drawer of his
desk.

He’d never grown up in Scotland to be sure,
but it was amazing how thick his brogue could
pet at day’s end.

Anyways, it was another late afternoon

4
‘

, class, and Murray was going on about the

lowly status that art and design enjoyed in
North America these days (mid-'90s then). He
went on forever it seemed at times, but he was
always entertaining.

“Just remember this,” he said, “how many.
famous Italian buildings or architects can you
think of?” He went around, slowly picking
numbers. “Everyone can think of at least two
or three eh? So how many famous buildings do
we have in Kelowna? How ° about
B.C.? One? Two? I bet you can't think of any,
except for maybe the legislature buildings in
Victoria. I tell you one thing, none of these
pink mid-western style boxes we have around
here weren't made in Canada!”

It was a memorable lecture to be sure, but
I've truly never looked at buildings the same
way since.] came to see, slowly but surely,’

_ what exactly a decent bit of architecture and a.

bit of colour (besides pastels and pink) can do.

_ for a city.

Consequently, I] was happy to see the eye-
catching paint job that's going up on Kondolas
Furniture. All-I have to say is that it’s about
timel It’s refreshing to see some new colour
and styling in this town. Same goes to the new’
Skeena School; you’ve a pair of thumbs up'
from me. . Coe

. 1 just hope that our other local merchants

“pet the idea. I think we’Ve got more than en-

ough grey in sky already, thanks.

TERRACE STANDARD.

Ron’s big
comeback

How one man got off welfare and
back on his feet — one page at a time

By JENNIFER LANG
RON FORTIN is learning to be a
patient man,

That's a quality that’s going to
come in handy on the road, The
42-year-old welfare recipient has
his sights set on returning to the
workforce as a long-haul truck dri-
ver,
The thing is, he’s had a heck of
a journey already. This time last
year, he couldn’t read or write, at
least not very. well, making it dif-
ficult — if not impossibie - to un-
derstand the textbooks he'd need
to study, much less pass the
exams,

Fortin has never been formally
diagnosed with a learning disor-
der, but he struggled in school. By
the time Grade 10 rolled around,
he hated it so much he quit.

He found work, holding down a

number of high-paying jobs in the |

resource sector over the years, in-
cluding BC Rail,

In between he’s found himself
on unemployment benefits more
than once. Job counsellors and
case workers always had the same
message: “You need to upgrade,”

To a man who had struggled to
read and write his whole. life, it
was overwhelming, Where would
he begin?

Still, on their advice, two years
ago he took a welding course.

“If you can’t read, how can you
learn metal? E could handle addi-
tion and subtraction and I came
out doing algebra and trig, but I
still can’t read,”

Meanwhile, personal battles
took their toll. He suffered a huge

setback when his young wife died
almost 20 years ago in a tragic
accident. Then he lost a job that
earned him $70,000 a year, “My
life has been up and down, up and
down since,” he says.

The hardest part was not letting
despair take over, says Fortin,
who comes across kind of like one
of these punching bags that keeps
springing back up.

One day last year he went ‘to
the Community Readers and Wri-
ters adult literacy program. Coor-
dinator Sue Carson took one look
at Fortin and realized she had the
perfect-tutor.

She sent him in to see Karleen
Schmidt, a volunteer who chairs
the Terrace Volunteer Bureau's
board. and sits on the literacy
planning and support committee.

Minutes later she heard laugh-
ter coming from the office.

“We met. It was magic,”
Schmidt, 33, recalls with a snap
of her fingers. That’s one of the
things — the laughter that happens
when Ron and I get together.”

That sense of humour eventual-
ly saw them through months of
hard work, frustration, and, for
Fortin, more personal tragedy.

Both of his parents died within
months of each other last year,

. Losing his mother was particularly

devastating. He almost gave up.
They continued working toge-

_ther a couple of times a week,

sometimes daily. And although
their sessions sometimes turned
into screaming matches, they

“The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - B1

638-7283

TEAMWORK: tutor Karleen Schmidt and Ron Fortin,

the books.

“Karleen helped me, but if
you’re not motivated, you're not
going to do it,” Fortin says,
laughing. “I want to make good
money — that’s a good motivator,
right there!"

Schmidt says she never pres-
sured him to study. “Ron was al-
ways saying, ‘Do you have 20
minutes? Do you have a half
hour? Let’s go over a few
questions.’”

She'll never forget the April
day she heard Fortin’s message on

‘her answering machine . saying

that hed passed. He screamed the
good news into the phone. She'd
never heard him so excited. .

head low. Now his head is up
high, the new-found sense of ac-
complishment plainly evident in
his gaze,

“I believe he reads better than
he thinks he does,” she says.
“He’s motivated, he's happy. He’s
taken obstacles most people
couldn’t get over,”

Raised in a family that valued
community involvement, she de-
cided to volunteer six years ago,

Fortin, who has become a
friend as well, is her last Jearner.

“This is not a job. I have a job.
This is for me,” she says of her
tutoring days.

“It’s selfish, It gives me satis-
faction, I know. I’ve done some-

FAMILIAR FACE: Bill Jmaeff has been there from the start. He says he’s never
missed a Saturday, selling 2,400 knives over the years.

never gave up. They’d take some She sees

time out, and then it was back to

JESSIE GIES PHOTO

A tradition turns 20

Two decades of fresh produce — and a whole
lot more at the Skeena Valley Farmers Market

By JENNIFER LANG

a gathering place for up to 70 local ven-

THERE#’S nothing quite like the swirl of dors, making it the largest market of its
activity you’ll find at a typical Saturday — kind in the province north of Kamloops, a

morning at the Farmers Mar-
ket.

Along with the ever-impres-
sive bounty of fresh, local pro-
duce, home baked cookies,
ethnic fonds, and arts and
crafts for sale, there's often
live music performed by local
musicians, lending a festive
sense of occasion to the pro-
ceedings.

But most of all, as any re-
gular will tell you, the market,
which springs to life at the cor-
ner of Davis Ave. at Emerson
once a week, is the best place
in town to bump inte old
friends and have a chat.

“It’s a great place to catch up on the
latest news,” farmers market president
Lynne Christiansen said last week, just as
celebrations marking the 20th anniversary
‘were set to get underway.

When it started with just over a dozen
vendors’ in the early 1980s, .-Terracites
were experiencing the height of an eco-

nomic recession.

Since then, the market has grown into

Christiansen

remarkable achievement.
Christiansen, who heiped rise
to the office of city councillor
on the strength of her support
for the market, knows you
don’t mess with a winning for-
mula.
These days, the market is
feeling the pinch of the recent
downturn in the economy, but
people are still showing their
support, Christiansen said.
“Much of the market's success
can be attributed to the won-
derful community spirit that
thrives here in the northwest.”
The market draws people from
all over the region and tourists
from across the globe. Visitors are just as
smitten with its wonderful food, produce
and handcrafted goods as the regulars are.

But the big attraction is the people.

“T think it’s really the community
spirit,” she said. “I just love that.”

Ironically, Christiansen missed the
July 12 party, She was headed out. of
town. .
“I'm sorry not to be there Saturday.”

Lynne

changed. He used to keep his

how Fortin has

thing to give back to the com-
munity.”

| Terrace teen
goes global

The multi-talented student is a
community leader, MLA says

By JENNIFER LANG
4 17-YEAR-OLD Terrace
student will spend two
years an international col-
lege in Turin, italy, where
she'll study alongside
some of the brightest
young minds in the world.

Orie Shiga, a Grade 11
Caledonia Senior Second-
ary student, has earned a
two-year United World
College scholarship worth
nearly $50,000.

Shiga has been accep-
ted to a two-year interna-
tional baccalaureate pro-
gram that's equivalent to
the final year of high
school and the first year of
university.

“Even though she’s only
17, Orie has already shown
she is a multi-talented
community leader,” Skee-
na MLA Roger
Harris said as he
made the an-
nouncement last
week.

-“Her talent §
and hard work

will take her a
long way, and
she certainly has
a bright future
ahead of her,” |,
Harris added,
wishing her the
best of luck pur-
suing her goals.

Shiga, who maintained
a 4,0 grade point average
and made the principal's
list, keeps up a dizzying
pace with her extra-curric-
ular activities.

She’s been involved
with dance most of her
life, training in. ballet,

jazz, tap and modern.

dance, cs

She has also studied

‘

Orie Shiga

piano, plays flute, sings in
the school choir and is a
member of the students’
council. :

Shiga begins her studies
in September, She plans to
pursue a career in medi-
cine.

Scholarship recipients
are selected by an inde-
pendent committee made
up of representatives from
the provincial ministries of
advanced education and
education, United World
College graduates and for-
mer staff.

The UWC is global
educational movement
pre-universily for students
from across the world.

Students are selected
on merit and live together
in an atmosphere that.
fosters international under-
standing, toler-
ance and peace.
Scholarships are
awarded to Grade
11 students with
high academic
standing a record
of community
service and gen-
wine enthusiasm
for international
cooperation.
There are 10
United World
Colleges, in the
UK, Singapore, Swazi-
land, the USA, Italy, Ve-.
nezuela, Hong Kong, Nor-.
way, India and the Lester
B. Pearson UWC in Ca- ,
nada.

’ The current UWC presi-
dent is Queen Noor of Jor-
dan.

The college’s honorary

‘president. is former South
‘African. leadet.. Nelson.

Mandela,

a