Killer Street Racers Slapped on the Wrist

On January 24, 2006, Wing-Piao Dumani Ross and his buddy Alexander Ryazanov decided to race their parent's Mercedes north on Mount Pleasant Road, here in Toronto.They were travelling at speeds between 80 km/h and 140 km/h. At approximately 10:20 p.m. Ryazanov's expensive ride "T-boned" a cab driven by Tahir Khan, a husband and father just three days away from obtaining his Canadian citizenship. The car crushed the can against a utility pole and the cabbie died instantly of blunt force trauma.
Justice John Moore passed sentence on the two street racers on Tuesday of this week, and you just know his decision is bound to go a long way in deterring others from taking lethal joy rides on our city streets. The two must serve 12 months of house arrest. How's that for starters? Not enough, you say? Not to worry, the good judge has taken it even further. The two killers will also have to serve an additional year under a curfew. Yup. They're going to have to confine themselves to the comfy surround of their parents' homes from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. every day. Well, unless they get written permission from their parents to go out, that is. But can you just imagine grown men like these two 20 year-olds having to endure the humiliation of asking Mommy and Daddy for a note so they can go out to play? It's damn near cruel and unusual punishment, don't you think? That's still not all, though. Judge Moore also imposed 150 hours of community service, two years probation, and a four-year prohibition against the men driving. Whew! Anyone who has ever considered street racing must be sweating buckets, reading that sentence. I can see them all now, quaking in their boots. How is it to be endured?
The witless wonder who passed the sentence said, "It was an exercise in speed and bad judgment". That should make the widow feel better. Moore said the two pose no danger to the community and that they showed remorse. If Khan's widow doesn't feel better knowing that, then obviously she can just be dismissed as one of those impossible-to-get-along-with types. I mean, these two malefactors are in university. Any sentence harsher than the one imposed by Moore, like, oh say some actual time behind bars, would interfere with their acquisition of an education. That would not be a nice thing to do to them. Just because they interfered with the lives of Khan's family, screwing them over forever, should not mean anyone needs to get their shorts in an uproar here.
Todd White, Ryazanov's lawyer said his client "appreciated that he was facing potentially seroius consequences". Now is it just me, or does anyone else see the statement between the lines that I see there? Facing potentially serious consequences means by extension that the potential was never realized. It turned instead into a slap on the wrist. That's all.
Good for you, Justice Moore. I'm sure the two murderers you tsk-tsked at will sleep much better now that you've passed that non-sentence. I hope you get sleep undisturbed by any feeling of having made a mockery of justice. I wonder if the cabbie's widow and children will sleep better now?

Toronto Schools Becoming Shooting Galleries?

Last week student Jordan Manners was killed in a Toronto high school - shot in a shameful first for Toronto, its first ever shooting in a city school. According to Dave Plaskett, a teacher at C.W. Jefferys, the scene of the shooting, it was a foreseeable tragedy just waiting to happen. In an article published in the May 30 Toronto Daily Star, Plaskett is quoted as saying, "It's possible that (Manners' death) could have been prevented."
The article goes on to detail a school that is anything but the one described by school administration after the shooting. Donna Quan, safe schools superintendent for Toronto, describes Jefferys as an "outstanding school", in contrast to Plaskett's description of a school where he states the norm was teachers being assaulted and threatened regularly by students; intruders having easy access to the school; students being bullied, robbed, and having their lockers broken into on a regular basis; and instructions and requests made to students by teachers and administration being routinely ignored; as well as other serious situations.
Who should the people of Toronto believe? If anyone really wants to know, the answer is - go with everything that Plaskett is saying and ignore every claim made by administration. Sandra Fusco, a former Jefferys teacher , says that "the principal and vice-principal were concerned more with avoiding formal complaints - either to the teachers' union or to the police- than finding solutions to the problem." Believe it, people. This is the way the vast majority of our schools are being run today. The administrators are more concerned with hiding the reality so that their schools appear to be well-run, model institutions.
Been there, done that one, folks. I know from first-hand experience, played out repeatedly, that Mr. Plaskett is the one to believe. He sent a letter to staff members, administration and police on Friday May 25th. His letter describes violations of the Safe Schools Act as being routine and routinely unpunished. He questions why C.W. Jefferys even pretends to have a conduct code when teachers are hamstrung in every effort to punish students who break it. It's one heck of a good question, and it is relevant to an absolutely alarming number of our schools. Most parents don't realize the frightening extent to which this situation exists, and some just plain don't want to know.
What is the answer? I don't pretend to know for sure. Nor would I try to say there is a simple solution available. I do know that to "fix" this problem will take a major overhaul of the discipline in our schools and that would be easier if most of our current administrators were sent to look elsewhere for paycheques.
I would like to see the problem solved before it claims other lives. I just don't have a lot of hope that it will be.

Attention Home Aviators!

If you've got some time on your hands and nothing to do with it other than twiddling your thumbs, you might be interested in this one. Paper Pilot: The Paper Airplane Pilot's Manual is a volume written by Staff Sergeant Benjamin Haynes, who served in the U.S. Air Force for the last eight years.
The book will take you through photographs and illustrations dealing with aviation history. If nothing else, you can spend some time reading it and then display it on your coffee table.
If you're the roll-up-your-sleeves type, however, you're going to like the back of this book best of all. There you will find 24 scaled paper models. 12 are folded airplane projects printed on perforated pages, while the other 12 are die-cut models you'll need to punch out and assemble with glue.
Of course, even if you do the models, you can still make it a coffee table display. You're just going to need a bigger coffee table so you can land the models beside the book on the table-runway.

Eating Weeds?

Toronto is moving to ban the use of chemical sprays to rid the city of dandelions and other weeds. About time, I say, especially since some of the "weeds", like the dandelion, really do provide such a bright splash of colour nestled in amid the green tones of the grass it dots with its sunny, yellow face. If one man's garbage is another man's treasure, can't the same be true of these wild flowers? After all, it's all in the name, isn't it?
I remember when I was growing up in Toronto, the dandelions in particular were a constant source of frustration to homeowners. Unending diligence was needed to keep abreast of their invasions across your lawn if you were using the dig-and-yank method of control. Some method of control was always necessary, unless you were ready for some self-righteous neighbour to call in a complaint about you to the municipality. You would then get a visit from someone admonishing you for allowing the growth of "noxious" weeds and be warned about possible fines. Now we've finally figured out that having a dandelion-studded lawn is simply nowhere near as dreadful as having people dying of cancer caused by exposure to the sprays used to keep lawn weeds at bay.


The trick now will be to show people that there is always more than one way to view anything. The Italians populating the Toronto of my childhood had another take on the problem. They could often be seen out and about on a weekend foraging their way across public boulevards and parks, filling their bag with "weeds" they regarded as free food. I would have a lot of problem with doing that now - you know, toxic waste, smog, etc. - but hey, if you mind a few P's and Q's, you can take your sense of adventure out into your backyard and come back in with a salad in the making! For those of you interested in the idea, "Wise Bread" is the site to visit. Head over there and they'll walk you through a list of edible weeds and suggest ways to use them. They'll also link you to informative sites giving you even longer lists and including traditional medicinal uses for the usually unloved plants. A few laughs are provided as well. For instance, the name given by the French to the dandelion reflects the fact that it is a natural diuretic. The tongue-in-cheek French moniker "pissenlits" means "wet your bed", but not to worry. Unless you already have bladder control problems, the weed will not necessitate an extra load of laundry in the morning.
The site delivers a few sensible caveats to those thinking of gathering some free food. "As always, when foraging, don't eat anything that you can't positively identify. Don't pick anything near industrial waste sites, and be sure to wash everything very thoroughly. If you use herbicides and pesticides in your yard, you might not want to eat anything that grows there (then again, if you already do eat things from your garden, so be it). Even if you don't feel inclined to join the backyard salad group, take a minute to follow the link above. At least you'll find some food for thought.

The Patron Saints of Graphic Design

As someone who was raised a catholic, I am familiar with the concept of there being a patron saint to whom you can address an entreaty for a little help and understanding for just about every cause under the sun. The legions of "holy" dead folk even include Saint Jude, the one responsible for lost causes. (Gotta' wonder how he ever got stuck with that job!)
It was, therefore, a fun find when I came across the site dedicated to the Patron Saints of Graphic Design. Created by W. Lynn Garrett, the site addresses the issue of saints for this cause having formerly been conspicuous in their absence. Says she, "Despite not being Catholic, I've always loved the rich beauty of icon paintings & found Patron Saints to be fascinating. I *adore* the idea that no matter who you are or what your problem is, there are long-dead holy people solely dedicated to be on your side so that you're never alone."
Garrett has created and canonized six saints, from Saint Concepta to Saint Typo, to look after the needs of the graphic design community. Visit the site if you have a little time to spare and you want to enjoy a little imaginative fun. The artwork is actually quite beautiful, with the Saints' portraits being original photocollages comprised of retouched and altered scans, photos and royalty free art. As Garrett points out, "They exist due to the magic of Photoshop, my friends. Blessed be Saint Pixela!"

Viewing immigration to North America from another angle ...

Wild Rice Salad

Let me share a great recipe with you. The mango in it brings you a wealth of nutritional value, with folate, calciun and potassium content as well as vitamins A & C among other things. The green onions add to the A & C vitamin value as does the parsley. In fact, parsley contains three times as much vitamin C as oranges do and is also a great source of flavonoids; anti-oxidants that neutralize free radicals. The garlic is a good source of calcium and phosphorus and an excellent source of vitamins C & B6. The wild rice does all sorts of nice things for you, including giving you lutein for eye health. If you want to know more about wild rice, follow this link, and be sure to read right down to the bottom. This recipe is just plain good for you, no matter how you look at it.

Wild Rice Salad

*2 cups wild rice *5 cups liquid (I like using chicken broth, but water's OK, too) *2 tsps salt *1/4 cup olive oil *2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice *2 minced garlic cloves *2 (or 3, to your taste) ripe mangoes *4 sliced green onions *1 cup freshly chopped parsley, your favourite type

Combine rice, liquid and salt in a large saucepan. Cover and bring it to a boil then turn heat down enough to keep the rice simmering, covered, for 45 to 50 minutes until the liquid has all absorbed and the rice is done. Fluff with a fork and place in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, juice, and garlic. Stir this into the hot rice and then chill in fridge for about 30 minutes. Add in the mango, green onion and parsley, and serve. It keeps well in the fridge for a day or two.

Enjoy!

Uniquely and Unmistakably Annoying

Go to the RW & Co. website and you'll find them billing themselves as "unique and unmistakable". After shopping at one of their stores this week, I would make the rewording that I have done in the heading of this entry.
I visited the RW & Co. in Toronto's Yorkdale Plaza and it was not a great experience. I chose the items I wanted to purchase, taking a little bit of time to do so. Not once did anyone approach me with the helpful salesclerk's usual, "Can I help you?" No problem, I took care of it myself, and then headed for the cashier. This is where the RW & Co. experience really started to fall apart. I arrived there with wanted purchases in hand, looking obviously like someone who had some money she wanted to spend. Not to be bothered by such petty annoyances as a waiting customer, the salesgirl made eye contact with me and went right on with her conversation with another girl behind the counter. They were discussing a phone call someone had made to one of them at some time. It must have been an incredibly important call since it was more important than me and my wallet. I waited a while and was just getting ready to drop the items on the counter and walk away when Little Miss finally decided taking my money and doing her job was something she could allow to interrupt her chat.
I took my purchases in the bag she had placed them and left the store feeling that I would think twice before making another trip there. I didn't realize at that point that the repeat trip would not be left up to my choice. When I got home and took the items out of the bag to look at them again, I discovered that Miss Super Salesclerk had neglected to remove the "exploding ink" tag from the shirt I bought. A call to the store confirmed that whether I want to go back there or not, I am forced to return for them to remove the tag, or the money I spent will be wasted.
Someone needs to take Little Miss there and sit her down for a refresher course about how to do her job. The name of the salesclerk game is company profit. She needs to understand that making people happy enough to become repeat customers is important to her paycheque. Making someone happy enough to return to the store to take out their wallet again also leads to good word-of-mouth advertising, another concept someone needs to explain to Miss Bubble-Brain.
She is a lousy representative of RW & Co. but if she is truly indicative of the treatment shoppers can expect there, I have no trouble with letting people know.

Bad Boy, Mahmoud!

Let's see if we all agree on this one, first, shall we? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, is not to be described as a liberal type. If you disagree with that, stop reading now. If you agree that the man is a conservative, and you feel like a giggle, read on.
It seems that on May 1st, the day before Iranian Teachers' Day, Mr. Ahmadinejad met one of his former teachers, now an old woman, at a ceremony attended by state media. The unnamed woman was wearing thick gloves, a headscarf and a long, black coat at the ceremony. It's important that these details be known because of what Ahmadinejad did. In a gesture of respect and perhaps even some affection for his teacher, he stooped to kiss her hand and then clasped her arms. The way she was wrapped up ruled out all possibility of skin contact but that didn't stop the Hezbollah newspaper, an ultra-conservative rag, from screeching criticism of the action on their front page. "This type of indecency (emphasis my own) has grave consequences, like violating religious and sacred values.", they declared.
Thank the Almighty for such diligent guardians of public morality. Who knows where such gestures of gentle recognition and respect could lead? Next thing you know, the fundamentalists might start playing nice and suicide bombings could drop off drastically. What kind of wild, chaos-loving insurgent would ever countenance such a state of affairs?
Ahmadinejad should give his head a good shake and get back to membership in the Iranian good ol' boys club by pleading momentary insanity and bashing the next female teacher he meets over the head. He'll just need to be sure someone from the media is there with a camera at the ready.

Jostling for Rank in the Idiot Files

I have already conferred on Pope Benedict and the entire Vatican a membership in the Idiot Alert Files. They, apparently, are not satisfied with being merely a part of the rank and file. They want the deluxe package, the OMG how-fucking-stupid-can-you-be star membership. Who am I to argue?
It seems the Vatican issued a statement on May 9th of this year to inform the faithful that Hitler's Pope has been moved one step closer to sainthood. Vatican spokesman Reverend Ciro Benedettini said a panel of brain-dead bishops and cardinals at the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved a declaration on the virtues of Pius XII. All that is needed is for Pope Benny to sign on the dotted line and Hitler's Pontiff will have taken a major step toward beatification.
I do love my dictionary and so when I encountered this news, the first step I took (well, the first one after prolonged snorting in major disbelief) was to open my omnipresent lexicon. I found there that beatification is defined as meaning: the official act of a Pope whereby a deceased person is declared to be blessedly happy and worthy of public religious veneration. I can well imagine Pius XII is more than just blessedly happy. If there is an afterlife, he must be spending eternity giggling over the fact that while millions died, he managed to maintain the opulence of his lifestyle, uninterrupted by the horrors of the Holocaust happening on his doorstep.
Under German occupation, Nazi officials deported approximately 8,000 Jews from Italy to Auschwitz-Birkenau and other Nazi camps. The vast majority of them were murdered. From Rome itself, 1,800 Jews were taken by the Nazis to die at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Italian people objected to the deportation of their paesani and Italian police did not participate in the roundups of the Jews. There were those, in stark contrast to the Pope, who imperilled their own life to safeguard the harried Jewish population, like Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and others of his brave and conscientious ilk.
From the Pope himself, however, situated in the Vatican in the very heart of Rome, came only a thundering silence. Not once did he publicly decry the German "final solution". Not once did he publicly suggest that Hitler was a monster, not a man. Of course, Hitler's Germany did recognize the Vatican as having the status of a neutral sovereign state. That takes us back to Pius spending eternity in his blessedly happy state. He never had to deprive himself of even one sumptuously served meal in order to have food to keep a loved one from starvation. He never had to trade in even one of his gem-encrusted robes in order to bribe an SS guard to spare a loved one's life for one more day. Following in the footsteps of Pius XII would guarantee we all turned a blind eye to man's inhumanity to man, but at least we could do so in appropriately decorated churches headed up by appropriately uncaring prelates. Truly, this is a man worthy of public religious veneration; a role model indeed.
If the Vatican canonizes this man, it will only serve to underline their total refusal to move out of the Dark Ages; their total refusal to acknowledge their mandate to serve the common members of their saviour's flock instead of fawning over the power-brokers of their corrupt and failing institution. The Idiot Files actually has no star-standing available for them. Once you're a member here, it's rank-and-file standing only.
The brain-dead have no need of hierarchy.

The Idiot (Giggle) Alert (Giggle) Files Revisited

Move over, current members. You have to make room for the U.S. Army contractors who filed a report recently about coins being circulated here in Canada with subversive radio frequency transmitters embedded in them. Thank God those stalwarts came up here to check on the bloody pinko Canucks sneaking around north of the 49th. Them thar' Yanks know they can't trust us any further than they can throw us.
These ever-vigilant contractors filed their confidential espionage accounts about coins they found "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology". Nano-technology! Everyone scream and run for the hills.
The Associated Press has learned this giggle-worthy news from once-classified U.S. government reports. Apparently, the coins carefully described by these worthies from south of the border are the poppy quarters issued in remembrance of our war dead. Poppy, you say? What kind of carefully guarded secret is this "poppy" thing? No wonder the Americans couldn't figure it out. Who the hell has ever heard of a poppy? And even worse - who would ever put one on a coin to honour their fallen heroes?
Giggle-worthy is right. Can you just picture these morons, holding a poppy quarter up to their mouths, saying "Come in, come in" repeatedly. It would have been worth a pretty penny to be a fly on the wall that day in their hotel room when they uncovered the perfidious plot being perpetrated north of the 49th.
Gentlemen, step up to the podium and receive your membership certificates. Not to worry about embarrassing yourself by trying to read all them there complicated words. We promise not to use the word "poppy".

One Little Question

What do you think the princely sum of $456 billion could buy?
The National Priorities Project is an organization that tracks public spending in the U.S. Their website is headlined with the phrase, "Turning Data Into Action", and they state their mission as analyzing and clarifying data "so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent." Visit their site to see the counter tracking the cost of the war in Iraq. Their best estimate is that by September 2007, the war will have cost $456 billion. Their site will also give you equivalents in terms of putting the money to much better use. The war cost counter keeps mounting and so do the equivalencies. While I was there this morning, the number of pre-school kids who could have had a year of the head-start program was 56 million and mounting. The NPP also gives the equivalent to the cost of killing people in terms of kids' health, college scholarships, public housing and public education. The site really provides some food for thought.
If you live in the great U.S. of A. you might be interested in clicking on your state to see their list of cities, towns and counties for which they have calculated the cost of the war in Iraq. Once you've done that, you may well want to avail yourself of their tips on how to make your voice heard and perhaps help to affect federal budget priorities.
What would you like to see them do with that $456 billion?

Crowding the Idiot Alert Files

Today I want to bestow membership on every Taliban militant who has taken part in the attacks staged this past year on schools, teachers and students. I'd also like to extend the honour to every Afghan idiot who supported the violence in any way. That would mean, for instance, anyone who knew the names of any of the mental midgets involved in the attacks but didn't immediately share the information with authorities.
The militants have burned down 187 schools and killed at least 85 students and teachers. The reason for their actions is their opposition to educating girls and teaching anything other than religion to boys. This violence is being perpetrated by mentally defective morons who want to drag the whole world back into the Dark Ages.
These idiots interpret the whole world in terms of male genitalia. What dangles between their legs is all they think they need to make them special. What they don't seem to realize is that the mere presence of a dick does nothing in any way to distinguish them from any male of any other species, including dogs. What is supposed to distinguish them from other species is the power to reason, to use their head for something other than a place to drape a turban. Since they willingly fail to do so, they are in fact lesser than the other orders of animals.
They think that their death will see them welcomed to the Koranic Paradise, where they can copulate their way through eternity, perpetually banging away at some sloe-eyed houri created solely to satisfy their lust. I think that Allah might well have a little surprise waiting for them. The violence they direct toward children would sicken the Almighty and so he would want to give them eternity to rethink their idiocy. What better way to do that than to immobilize them in an eternal upright posture, so that dogs could use them like fire hydrants, and piss on them til time itself passes away? It would be icing on the cake if Allah decided to have this take place in front of an audience of houris who could spend their eternity nibbling daintily on honeyed dates while they watched the entertainment.

World Fair Trade Day

The second Saturday in May is always World Fair Trade Day, so that means this weekend on May 12th, events will be taking place in over 70 countries to mark the day. The theme for this year's day is "Kids Need Fair Trade", to focus on the fact that fair trade helps to protect children's rights. The Ten Thousand Villages stores across Canada will be holding special events to mark the day and offering special items to purchase just in time for Mother's Day. From an African drumming circle to singer-storyteller Jane Enkin; from samples of fair trade chocolate and coffee to Mexican food and Pakistani tea, the treats will be plentiful all day. There will be contests and draws, demonstrations and sidewalk chalk drawings to liven up the day in various of the locations nation wide. Click here and you'll find a listing of all the store locations and the specials they are offering to celebrate the day. Go take a look, have some fun, and send a message of support to kids around the world.

Birds and Butterflies

I've been reading more lately on recycling and environmental awareness, and coming across some rather interesting little items in my perusals. I found another couple I'd like to share with you.
One of them really caught my eye because of how thoroughly addicted I am to crocheting baby blankets, and knitting toques, as well as combing my hair! (Wait for it! There really is a connection.) Birds will happily make use of both human hair and bits of yarn to build their nests and cozy them up for the wee ones, so the suggestion is to clean out your brushes and combs and leave the hair out in the backyard or the park for the feathered citizenry to find. Ditto with the ends of yarn left after you finish your latest project.
Especially for you guys who are beginning to find more hairs in your comb and fewer on your pate, this idea might soften the blow of male pattern baldness just a little to think of your hair still being useful even though it no longer adorns your head.



The other idea is a little nugget that could prove useful to gardeners who also happen to love butterflies - black swallowtails, in particular. I like butterflies, but I like the plant recommended for attracting the swallowtail even more. There may well be other plants that will serve the same purpose, but the one called Queen Anne's Lace is one that the butterflies and I both agree is wonderful. I have known it as a wild flower since I was little, when it draped its lovely lacy blossoms all across the fields where I played. It still grows wild in abundance here in southern Ontario and elsewhere in North America.
The plant began as a native of some areas of Europe and southwest Asia. It was brought here to the "colonies" where it took happily to the conditions and spread itself everywhere. It is also called wild carrot by some, since if you uproot it you'll find the roots smell carrot-like. When they're very young, the roots can even be eaten like carrots. I grew up calling it Queen Anne's Lace, however, and I like that name much better. The other is too prosaic.
A biennial plant that can grow as tall as a metre, it was given that name because of the small, single red flower you sometimes find at the center of its clustered white flowers. The red flower is the drop of blood shed by the Queen when she pricked herself with a needle while she was making lace. Sleeping Beauty, anyone?
Anyway, plant a few of these hearty beauties and you'll get maximum return on a minimum of work. They'll pretty much take care of themselves, while you enjoy both the pleasure of their graceful blooms and the delicate butterflies they draw to your garden.

Holy Shrink-Wrap, Batman!

I just found this out and I have to share it with you, 'cause it's another one of those great cocktail party conversation-kickstarts I toss out every once in a while.
Every year, Canadians use enough Saran and like products to shrink-wrap the province of Manitoba. To put that in perspective for you, Manitoba boasts an area of 676,000 square kilometres (261,000 square miles).

There and Back, Canada

"There and Back" is the name Trevor Redwood has given to the cross-country trek he is undertaking to raise funds for cancer research. Specifically, he is giving all monies he raises to the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in Toronto, since it is regarded as Canada's leading cancer research hospital; an internationally recognized leader in the fight against the disease.
Redwood began his march toward a cure on March 26, 2006, making his way from Vancouver to "there" in Halifax. In March of this year, he set out to walk "back". The website chronicling his journey says in today's update that he has taken 10,621,344 steps so far in 2007. It took him 24 days to make his way across Newfoundland. Today, he is in Ben Eoin, Nova Scotia and will be walking on #4 Hwy. toward St. Peter's. Sunday should find hm in Pictou County.
The total raised thus far, for 2007, is $18,850.00 - a tidy sum, and yet already so far out of step with what Trevor is aiming for. His hope was to raise one dollar for every one step he takes. Part of the reason for the shortfall, I am sure, is the lack of media coverage for his walk. It is no less noble than the cross-country run tackled by Terry Fox, but it is being basically ignored. I first saw mention of Redwood on the Weather Channel, of all places. Why isn't it on every one of the major networks? Why isn't Redwood being profiled in Chatelaine and Reader's Digest, and every other Canadian-content 'zine you'd care to name?
Come on Canada. We've got another hero here to add to our proud annals. Let's get behind him. Visit "There&Back" and learn more about Trevor Redwood and his great dream, then start making some noise. Alert your local newspaper to the story. E-mail the link to all your contacts. Call your local MP and MPP, and ask what they're doing to support this meaningful mission. Watch for him yourself and write a letter of encouragement to him. Tell him you care. Tell him you want what he wants and back it up with a loonie or two. Take a step of your own, because as Redwood says, "Every step that is taken is a step towards a cure..."