Make a wish

Inside the Toronto Eaton Centre there are no watering holes, but there is a hole of water. Well, it’s a wishing fountain to be more precise. But like a watering hole, the fountain serves as a meeting group for all people.

Just over a dozen people --mostly exhausted parents and their children-- sit around the rim of the fountain as 44 streams of water arc into the mouth of a bowl, like an oversized high school water fountain. Others are on their lunch break, munching away at their sandwiches or pecking away at take-out pad thai.

While most onlookers arm themselves with sandwiches or chopsticks Olivia Hill arms herself with a penny, hoping to strike rich. “I wished for a million dollars,” said the nine-year-old after tossing a penny right into the mouth of the seaweed green fountain.

But for Jon Reinhardt and Amie Crone, the wishing fountain takes a more personal meaning. For Crone, her wish is for more time to spend in Canada. “I’m from England and all I wish for is to come back to Canada someday, I love it here,” said Crone.

The two met each other on St. Patrick’s Day at a bar and have traveled together ever since.

“I was kind of buzzed when I first met her; she had this goofy green shamrock sticker on her face that kept falling off. I told her, ‘your sticker’s falling off’ and that’s how we got talking. That was in Quebec; since then we’ve traveled to Ottawa and now we’re here in Toronto,” said Reinhardt, “I just want to see her again,” he adds, throwing a nickel into the middle of the fountain.

Don’t get caught flatfooted

With temperatures reaching 25 degrees this Eater long weekend, Torontonians can ditch their winter boots and break out the spring foot ware. While the weather’s on your side for showcasing your flip-flops and flats down Yonge Street, you might be asking for discomfort later down the road.

Elma Bucan, a first-year nursing student at Centennial College wears flats whenever she can, even if they're sometimes uncomfortable. “I know they’re not very supportive and I get blisters from them all the time but once you break them in they’re not so bad,” said the 19-year-old.

But blisters are just the beginning of what can result in some serious health risks.



Flat shoes can "strain the Achilles tendon that runs from the back of the heel as well as the calf muscles in the back of the leg", said Mike O'Neill, a spokesman for the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, in an interview with the Guardian, adding that, "the strain can then result in pain in as little as two weeks."

For Toronto chiropodist, Dr. Eddie Yuen, a key feature of good supportive shoes is one with stiff heel counters. “It’s found at the back of the shoe and should be very stiff and non-compressible. This will control the motion of the foot,” said Yuen.

Samantha East, 20, works at Spring and understands why people buy flats despite the health risks. “It’s spring time, you want to look fashionable, show off some skin and in that process comfort gets sacrificed for style.”

Harper faces Facebook outrage over suspended Parliament

More than 224,000 members of a Facebook group failed to undo Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament, but that doesn’t mean they’ve gone unnoticed. The group, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, is an just one of many groups unhappy with Harper’s decision to shutter the doors on Parliament Hill.

While some Canadians are directing their unhappiness with the government through social networking sites, Ryan Lindsay took his discontent one step further. He used Facebook to organize protests and rallies.

“The facebook groups spawned local chapters so that each could mobilize a local rally across the country. Here in Toronto there were estimates as high as 10,000 people,” said Lindsay. The Torontonian is the creator of one the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook groups.

Last December, Harper announced that Parliament would be on hiatus until March the 3rd, just after the end of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. According to a party spokesperson, Conservatives aim to discuss the next steps in Canada’s economic plan over the two month break.

And while the Torries discussed economics, Canadians at across the nation discussed how to make democracy work again said Judy Rebick, Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University in Toronto.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. It’s a case where without the gatekeeprs of the media, a single voice could be heard across the nation,” said Rebick. That voice belongs to Christopher White, a University of Alberta graduate student. White is the creator of the larger Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, a group that quickly grew in membership in its first week.

“The rallies against proroguing Parliament were done without an official organization or formal associations. It started with individuals reaching out, talking with each other and it’s unprecedented,” added Rebick, “I’m excited to see what becomes of it.”

The interweb: friend or foe of journalism?

The media landscape is changing. For centuries, newspapers maintained the status quo of the subscription-based news service. Reporters wrote stories, newspapers churned them out, people bought the papers and everyone was happy by dinner time. Then the internet came along.

The internet didn’t destroy the demand for news. No, that still remains in full force. Instead, the internet changed the economic game of news. And according to Clay Shirky, “there is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.”

So why are newspapers around the world stopping the presses for good? “It’s the original sin of newspapers: putting their content online for free,” says Melissa Wilson, the student lounge editor for J-Source. After all, if you’re good at something you won’t give away your services for free.

As of now, the internet has two advantages when it comes to news: delivery speed and accessibility. But the trade off is a compromise in quality.

“Content is king on the web right now, and unfortunately there is not much quality content out there. Once online media reaches the same level of fact checking, credibility, and reporting quality of traditional media, then we could be looking at the Golden Age of journalism, said Thien Huynh a columnist for 24 Hours.

The print industry can’t keep fighting the battle of reporting facts. There needs to be a shift towards exclusive content. Papers need to offer something their internet counterpart can’t. Unfortunately, no one knows what that is yet.

A new kind of hall monitor

The Canadian government needs to act, not react, to address the issue of crime in at risk neighborhoods. It’s a recommendation that not only benefits the sake of the children of these neighborhoods, but all Ontarians.

Take C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute for example. The school’s been in the media spotlight in the last three years but for all the wrong reasons. Thousand-and-seven marked the year where 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot and killed by an unknown gunman.

The school would make more headlines a year later after a 16-year-old was stabbed and taken to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious injuries.
The school has become a catalyst in the efforts to have armed and full uniformed Toronto Police Officers stationed in schools. Roughly two years have passed and an evaluation report was released mid-November of 2009 with high praises for the program.

However, what the evaluation fails to address is the rising budget of the police force in the city’s budget in relation to the overall decrease in crime in the last decade. Coupled with the fact these police officers replaced school social workers, the School Resource Officer initiative is a knee jerk reaction to a problem with deeper roots.

O Canada! Our home and naked land!

Every New Year brings a sense of renewal. New resolutions and nouvelle resolve are everywhere but for those with less ambition, January the 1rst just means new TV shows. But are Canadians getting new content, or are just foreign TV shows with a slapped on Canadian label? Case in point: How to Look Good Naked Canada.

The show’s only two episodes in, but the original concept dates back to 2006. Originally airing in Britain, How to Look Good Naked takes women, of all shapes and sizes, uncomfortable with their physical appearance. These women then go on a self- esteem building adventure, style is improved, tears are cried, and emotional heart strings are pulled.

So how does the Canadian counterpart differ? Other than changing the venue and hosts (British fashion consultant, Gok Wan with former eTalk reporter Zain Meghji), there’s no difference. How to Look Good Naked Canada is a show with a noble premise but it’s also an example of foreign TV dressed as a Canadian show. But that’s not surprising since the production company, Insight Ltd, has produced shows like Canadian Idol, Project Runway Canada, and Deal or No Deal Canada. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

The legislature v.s. the luge

The doors at Parliament Hill are closed. They've been closed as of December 30th after Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued government. The PM says the temporary suspension of parliament is necessary as it gives the government time to reflect on the economy and the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The Economist on the other hand sees the suspension as more personal than business for the leader of the Conservative Party. The publication calls Harper, "a competent tactician with a ruthless streak," accusing of proroguing Parliament just as his party came under fire for alleged involvement in Afghan prisoner abuse.