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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Saturday Morning - Care Bears

How many of you out there reading today's entry remember your first movie?

I'm not talking about any random movie that you might have seen on television. I mean, actually going to a movie theater where you snack on overpriced popcorn and candy bars, go inside a theater filled with people and watch a movie on a jumbo sized screen.

And, how does this tie in with today's theme of Saturday morning cartoons?

Because as it so happens, my very first experience at a movie theater was at the screening of an animated film.

The year was 1985. Movies like The Goonies, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and Back To The Future were among some of the movies that people could watch on the big screen that year, but none of those movies were my first ones.

Back in 1985, we only had one movie house in town at the time. A movie house that had been in our downtown area for many, many years.

The Capitol theater in my hometown was one of those majestic movie houses that was filled with history and years of movie memories for everyone in town. Sadly, the Capitol no longer exists, as it closed down in 1986, and was transformed into a Canada Trust bank. Yet, I'll always have a soft spot for that movie theater as it was the site of my very first movie experience.

So I got my popcorn, my drink, and my oversized Kit-Kat bar, and sat down, waiting for my first movie to start.

By now, I'm sure that you are salivating with anticipation over what my very first movie was, so here it is.



Yes. You are reading this correctly. My very first movie was The Care Bears movie. Hardly the type of movie that one would actively brag about seeing as their very first movie experience ever.

Yet looking back on it now, I'm okay with this.

Better than okay, actually.



As I said before, the film was first released in 1985, March 29, 1985 to be exact. What made this movie even more special was that the production of the movie was based entirely out of Canada. The Nelvana animation studio in Toronto was responsible for animating the whole movie, and almost all of the voice actors in the movie were born in Canada. The film itself was a tale of a couple who ran an orphanage, telling the orphans about the story of the Care Bears who lived in Care-A-Lot, a magical place where homes were built on clouds, and where the bear citizens slid down rainbows. In the movie, the multi-coloured bears helped two orphaned children named Kim and Jason try to find new parents. At the same time, they encountered a young magician's apprentice named Nicholas who is being influenced by an evil spirit. I could go into more detail about this movie, but I'll save it for a future Monday matinee feature, as I really want to go into more details on the cartoon show, as well as the history behind the creation of the Care Bears.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Care Bears, and it might surprise some of you to know that they were a creation for a greeting card company.



It was in the year 1981 that the Care Bears first began appearing on greeting cards for the American Greetings company. The original artwork for the Care Bears was done by artist Elena Kucharik. Two years later, the images from the greeting cards were turned into plush animals, courtesy of Kenner toys. In fact, the same year that I saw the Care Bears Movie was the same Christmas that I ended up getting a plush Care Bear as a gift.



The one that I ended up getting was Good Luck Bear, the mint green coloured bear with a clover on his chest. You could tell that it was an authentic Care Bear by the red Care Bear logo that was sewn into each of the Care Bear's backsides.

As it happened, I ended up getting one of the ten original Care Bear creations when the line was officially launched. The ten original bears (as well as their corresponding colours) were;

Bedtime Bear: Blue
Birthday Bear: Gold
Cheer Bear:  Pink
Friend Bear:  Orange
Funshine Bear: Yellow
Good Luck Bear:  Green
Grumpy Bear: Dark Blue
Love-A-Lot Bear: Pink
Tenderheart Bear: Burgundy
Wish Bear:  Aqua

Over the years, the Care Bear family grew in size to include other bears such as Champ Bear, Share Bear, Hugs and Tugs, and Grams Bear. Shortly after that came the debut of the Care Bear Cousins. Although they weren't bears, they did have the same symbols on their chests as their bear counterparts. Some of these cousins included Playfulheart Monkey, Braveheart Lion, Treatfulheart Pig, Lotsaheart Elephant, and Brightheart Raccoon.



The Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins were some of the most in demand toys throughout the 1980s, and in 2002, the whole line was brought back for a new generation of kids to enjoy, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I tried watching an episode of the new version but it sort of lacked the charm that the original one had.



I think part of it as well could have been the fact that I grew up watching the original cartoon series that aired in Canada between 1985 and 1988. The cartoon series was loosely based on the Care Bears Movie, and what made the cartoon great was the fact that many of the voice actors who were in the movie were part of the television cartoon.

The Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins were featured in the cartoon as well as some new antagonists. Some of them were one shot characters like Sour Sam the Pie-Man, while others lasted the whole run. Beastly and No Heart were probably the main enemies of the Care Bears, and they frequently sent evil spirits to earth in an effort to get people to stop caring about others and engage in self-destructive behaviour. In the 1987 season, No Heart's niece, Shrieky was introduced, and her screech was enough to smash every window in the Empire State Building, it was so loud.

Most of these episodes involved one of No Heart's evil schemes, and his attempts to get the world to stop caring, and it was up to the Care Bears to stand up to No Heart and his minions.

This is where the symbols on their chest come into play.

On any normal day, they're just cute little pictures of hearts, flowers, and stars. The kind you'd see your second grade teacher giving students for good homework. But if they are provoked in any way, their tummy symbols become a lethal weapon.

(Well, as lethal as they can be considering they're shaped like happy things).

With their Care Bear stare, they can melt the coldest of hearts, and warm the most frigid of receptions. These Care Bears mean business, and they will make people start caring about others no matter what.

I figure that you want an example of this cartoon show in action, so here's a few clips from a few episodes for you to see what I mean.  In particular, with the 1986 season, Share Bear would appear in the last segment of the show to teach viewers how they can show others that they care about others.  Here's a couple of these PSA's down below.




You know, I used to get a lot of flack for watching Care Bears as a kid. It's a program that's too sugary-sweet. It's not the show that boys should be watching. It's a show that sucks.

I say wrong. On all three counts.

The show may seem like it's too sweet, but I mean, think about it. It's called CARE Bears. What, did you expect them to karate chop each other through rainbows and heart shaped doors? Common sense, people.

Secondly, who is anyone to say what shows are appropriate enough for boys or girls to watch. I liked the Care Bears, and I'm sure that a lot of boys liked them too. Just like some girls liked the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was basically dismissed as a boys cartoon.

And, thirdly, the show didn't 'suck'. If anything, it was a great way to teach kids how to show respect and love towards one another. I would think that would be a great lesson to teach kids, wouldn't you?

Friday, September 09, 2011

TGIF: Welcome Back, Kotter

As teacher's week comes to its conclusion, I hope that everyone who has read this blog this past week has enjoyed this look back at some of the most beloved examples of people in the field of education (as well as a couple of duds). It's been a pleasure to talk about this subject, and I'm hoping to have more of these theme weeks in the future. In fact, I have another one planned in about a couple of weeks from now...but I'll let you know when it happens, as all I can tell you is that I'll be...switching it up for a week.

For now though, we have one final entry for this week, and since today is Friday, you know that we'll be visiting the world of television.

But before I head into a discussion of the television show, I really want to tell you a story about a song. Don't worry, it's related.

Have any of you ever heard of a singer known by the name of John Sebastian? I see some of you nodding your head as the memories flow, while some others are giving me a confused stare as if you have absolutely no idea who or what I am talking about.

John Sebastian is a singer. He also happens to have a Hollywood link, as 'I Love Lucy' actress Vivian Vance was his godmother. He was a part of the 1960s band 'The Lovin' Spoonful', of which you may recognize as the band that sang hits like 'Do You Believe In Magic' and 'Summer In The City'. In 1968, he left the band and embarked on a solo career, played harmonica on various albums (including on one song by The Doors) and wrote music for the Broadway musical 'Jimmy Shine'.

But it wasn't until 1976 that John Sebastian would score his one and only number one hit.





ARTIST: John Sebastian
SONG: Welcome Back
ALBUM: Welcome Back
DATE RELEASED: March 1976
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHART: #1 for 1 week

And do you know why the song became such a success on the pop charts just two months after its release date? It all had to do with a television show. A show that used this very song as its theme.



Welcome Back, Kotter. A show that aired on ABC from September 9, 1975 to August 10, 1979. A show that made a star out of John Travolta.

A show that was a gem in the world of sitcoms set mainly at a school.

What made Welcome Back, Kotter stand out from the rest of the shows was the fact that the main character was brought in to teach the remedial high school class at James Buchanan High in the city of Brooklyn, New York.



Gabriel Kotter (played by comedian Gabe Kaplan) was assigned to teach the remedial class at the school which happened to have the gang that dubbed themselves the 'Sweathogs'. And whenever you dealt with four guys who went by the names of Horshack, Barbarino, Epstein, and Washington, you knew that somehow the phrase 'up your nose with a rubber hose' would be uttered in some fashion.



Certainly, Mr. Kotter had his hands full. Horshack was the class clown who had a rather unique laugh, and was quite comfortable with his oddball personality. Barbarino was cocky, but incredibly slow kid who had a way with the ladies. Epstein was short in height, but incredibly tough who was voted by his peers as 'Most Likely To Take A Life', while Washington, who often acted as the moral compass of the Sweathogs at times followed along with the group's zany schemes over the years.

If that didn't require Mr. Kotter to take ulcer relieving medicine each day, then he must have been a glutton for punishment.

But as the series progressed, the reason why Mr. Kotter took on a keen interest into teaching the Sweathogs became clear.

Years ago, when Mr. Kotter was a student at James Buchanan High, he himself was a part of the remedial class at the school. In fact, he founded the Sweathogs all those years ago!

This development in the plot was based on Gabe Kaplan's own experiences in high school. Like his character on the show, Kaplan himself was in the remedial class in his own school, and a lot of the character traits of the Sweathogs were based on some of his own classmates from the class.

But, anyways, back to the show.



Because Kotter had started up the Sweathogs, he knew exactly what they were going through. He knew because he had been there once before. He knew how hard it was to be going to a school where because he was in the remedial class, he was stereotyped as being slow, or dumb, or unteachable. He knew that simply wasn't true for him, and he worked hard to try and overcome those labels. Becoming a teacher certainly worked in his favour, and since then, he had the desire to help others overcome those same stigmas to become respected in the community.

As a result of his own experiences, Mr. Kotter developed the ability to maximize the potential of any student that came his way. He knew how hard it was to overcome the negative stigma of remedial high school, so he made it his mission to be a rock for his students to lean on.

Because of the support and encouragement that Mr. Kotter gave the Sweathogs, the group befriended Mr. Kotter, and they looked to him as a real role model. Their relationship became so close that it wasn't all that unusual for them to make house calls to Kotter's apartment, talking to him about their problems while simultaneously making fun of his wife Julie's tuna casserole.



Of course, Mr. Kotter certainly had his adversaries. One of them was the vice-principal of James Buchanan High, Michael Woodman, a curmudgeon of a man who openly dislikes the Sweathogs. He actually considered the group to be the bottom-feeders of the whole school. Mr. Woodman served as a mild antagonist in the career of Mr. Kotter, mainly because he didn't quite agree with the unorthodox methods in how Mr, Kotter taught his class. However, he did loosen up a smidgen as the series progressed.

Nevertheless, Mr. Kotter believed in his students and wanted them to succeed. And as far as I'm concerned, that makes a fantastic teacher.

Really, one lesson that one can learn by watching 'Welcome Back, Kotter' is that no child or teenager is incapable of learning. Certainly everyone has their own ways of learning, and their own methods of studying. One person might be a visual learner, while the other might be kinesthetic.

Some people may have additional difficulties that might prevent them from learning the same way as their peers. Learning disabilities such as dyslexia, or dyscalculia. Some people may have attention deficit disorder, or other behavioural challenges. All these things are factors that in the past have limited people's abilities to go where they wanted to go in life.

But if a person has a role model, mentor, or teacher that will be willing to work with them, and focus on developing the strengths they do have to overcome their weaknesses, then that will help steer them on the road to the brightest future they want to have, not a half-dim one that they might mistakenly believe in inevitable.

I believe this clip of the show will illustrate this point beautifully. When the Sweathogs were forced to go into a debate with a prissy, snobbish debate team, all odds seemed against them, until Mr. Kotter helped the Sweathogs triumph in one of the most brilliant scenes. You just have to see it.



I believe that the Sweathogs had everything going against them before Mr. Kotter came into their lives. With a vice-principal who didn't believe in them, and with the overall stereotype that they were too stupid to get anything out of the classes that they went to, it was hard for them to find that positive vibe for them to actively want to better themselves.

Mr. Kotter cared enough about them to give a damn. Remember how a couple of days ago, when I wrote that note on the teacher who made my first grade experience a living nightmare? I mentioned that I ended up becoming a better person because of the teachers who really gave a damn about me. So, for the end of this blog entry, as well as the conclusion of Teacher's Week, I thought I would list some of the teachers who for whatever reason made a huge impact on my well-being, and who inspired me never to settle for anything. You already read about my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Woodfine at the beginning of the week, but there were so many more who shaped me into being the man I am today.

Such as my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Haskin, who taught me that losing my cool against bullies and people who made fun of me was never the right answer and that I should attempt to find a more calmer and rational way to handle them. It was a lesson that admittely took me years to grasp, but I think looking back on it, he had my back.

I loved French class in elementary and high school, and there were several teachers who I can thank for that. Madame Ruston, for praising my photographic memory. Madame Morgan, who encouraged me to help tutor other students in the class who were having trouble, and Monsieur Lacerte, who came up with some of the most creative French projects that allowed me to showcase other talents in addition to just French, making my learning experiences a little more well-rounded.

My ninth grade history teacher, Ms. Renusz taught me the importance of keeping an organized notebook and making sure that my workstation was tidy...something that none of my elementary school teachers could achieve. And she also made sure that we had thorough reviews on tests and exams before we took them because she wanted us to make sure that we passed. This of course meant that some concepts we spent half the period on, but I admire the fact that she let us learn at our own pace, which was nice. And as an added bonus, she was the only teacher that I can remember who used to give us Starburst fruit chews to snack on during these tests and exams. Brain food, if you will.

My twelfth grade teacher Mr. Wright helped me learn to love math again after a horrible grade eleven year where my previous teacher sped through math lessons like that John Moschitta guy (the one who spoke at ten times the speed on those Micro Machine commercials). I almost failed grade eleven math, and thanks to the teaching methods and easy to understand lessons devised by Mr. Wright, I went from almost failing to almost getting the highest mark in the class.

I also had a really good teacher for ninth grade math. Mr. Cristello certainly knew how to make learning about math fun, and it was mostly the little things that were not even math-related that helped with that. With his implementation of treat days, and having us make birthday cards for classmates at the beginning of each class, it really got us in a rather jovial mood. And students who are happy students tend to do better in math class than students who just exist in the class. Let's just say that the fact that my highest high school math mark happened to be in ninth grade was no coincidence.

I used to despise gym class, and part of that was due to the fact that I was the token fat kid. Because of my walking deformity during my elementary school years coupled with the diagnosis of childhood asthma in 1988, I very rarely got a grade higher than a C- in physical education. It also didn't help matters much when you consider that the kids made the most fun of me in gym class. That is until Mr. Corney came into my gym class world. I may not have been the best athlete in the class, but I tried my hardest to keep up. Some of the kids in my class were natural athletes and therefore never really broke a sweat...but I was determined to at least attempt to keep up with them. Sadly, it never came to be, but at least Mr. Corney took the effort I put forth into consideration. With the health classes we took, imagine my surprise when I ended up getting a higher mark than some of the jocks in the class. Oh, and the teasing in the locker rooms? Mr. Corney put an end to that right off the bat.

I also want to throw out a shout-out to my eleventh grade chemistry teacher, Mr. Pearson. Though my marks in chemistry were not the greatest, he was also responsible for trying to control the bullying that I was experiencing at the time, and for that I am eternally grateful, as I am to my computer teacher Mr, McDonald. You two have no idea what you ended up doing for me, and I honestly have no idea how I could thank you for it.

Lastly, I'm going to throw a thank you to a music teacher that I had in elementary school named Mr. Tripp. Mr. Tripp instilled in me a love of music that while I don't play it anymore, I do listen to it. A lot. Something that I never really used to do before until I had him for a teacher. And I'll never forget the time that we were playing a concert for the Spring assembly, and the eighth grade baritone player was a no show. We had to perform a piece called 'Ash Lawn Echoes' where there was a solo by a baritone player. A solo that was supposed to be played by the eighth grader.



And, since I was the only seventh grade baritone player, guess who ended up playing it?

And you want to know something even more ironic? I almost skipped out on the Spring assembly myself because of the fact that I was unable to get along with some of my classmates, and I thought that it would be better if I skipped. Well, Mr. Tripp ended up giving me a pep talk, saying that I need not let what the other kids were saying about me affect who I was as a person, and that despite all that, he knew I had it in me to play at the concert.

So, when the concert date arrived, I was the only baritone player, and I ended up doing the solo.

And, I nailed it. And the joy and excitement that I saw in Mr. Tripp's face was priceless. In that brief moment in time, he instilled in me some self-confidence. Self-confidence that had always been there, but never had the motivation to bring out until that concert.

I wish I could have told him how much that moment meant to me, but sadly, he passed away about ten years ago. I'm sure he knew though. I hope he did.

See, there were a lot of teachers that I had who never stopped believing in me or my abilities, and because of that, I feel that I am a better person.

Just like the Sweathogs became better people under the guidance of Mr. Kotter.



Thursday, September 08, 2011

Thursday Night At The Arcade: Professor Layton

The September 7 entry of the Pop Culture blog (a.k.a. Yesterday) was an emotional one for me, because I had such strong feelings about it. But sometimes it's good to talk about those memories, even the ones that were painful.

Why?

Because now that I have gotten it out there in the open, I feel a million times better about myself. It was like this weight was lifted from my shoulders, and almost all of the anger that I had felt towards my first grade teacher melted away. I still have difficulty trying to understand why she acted the way she did, and I may not actually find it within myself to totally forgive her for what happened, but now that I do have it out there in absolute clarity in my blog, I know that none of it was of my own doing, and that there was absolutely no reason to blame myself for the actions of someone else.

Now that I have all that out in the open, I can now go back to my zen-like state, and make this blog more fun again.

And I happen to have a fun topic for this week's edition of Thursday Night at the Arcade.

Though, part of me had a bit of a dilemma this week.

Given this week is a week that I have dubbed 'Teacher's Week', it initially proved problematic to come up with an appropriate subject for today.

There aren't really a whole lot of teachers that appear in the video game world. And any of the ones that I could have thought of right off the bat were one-note characters or made a cameo. Let's see...there was Quistis from Final Fantasy VIII, but I haven't had a chance to play that game yet, so I don't know how great a character she would be. I suppose in Donkey Kong Country 2, I could have chosen Wrinkly Kong, as she had a schoolhouse that doubled as a save point, but really, all she was good for was teaching lessons on game mechanics and hints for finding bonus coins and defeating boss levels. Hardly worthy of a blog entry.

For this one, I needed to do some serious thinking. So, I tried to focus my attentions on other toys and games, hoping that it would inspire me to come up with a subject of some value for today's blog.

It suddenly hit me as I was trying to solve a popular puzzle.



If any of you remember being alive during the early part of the 1980s (and, keep in mind that although I was born in the early 80s, I do remember when these things were popular), you probably remember either playing with, or at least seeing a Rubix Cube. You know, those six sided cubes with six different colours of tiles? The object was to try and arrange the cube by twisting rows and columns around to make each face the same colour. You know you succeeded when you had a cube with one side completely the same colour (red, orange, blue, white, yellow, and green).

For the record, I've never been able to complete a Rubix Cube in its entirety. The most I think I've ever gotten was completion of one whole side. I certainly don't stand a chance against those people who can solve the Rubix Cube puzzle in under two minutes (and I know that they exist because I have a friend who can do exactly that).

But it got me thinking about how much I enjoy doing puzzles and activities that are designed to help a person train their brains, so to speak. Some puzzles I can get right off the bat, while others have me tearing pages out of activity books in frustration. But those activities have always been ones that I have gravitated to, and I always usually got some form of toy, game, or book that allowed me to work my brain muscles.

My sister in particular has always been one to support this. Initially, she would buy me word search activity books, connect-the-dot puzzles, and Archie's Story & Game comic books. Gradually, as I started to develop a love for video and arcade games, I would often get gifts like Wheel Of Fortune electronic games, and Jeopardy video games, and those games were also instrumental in developing my brain power (while at the same time, made me want to appear on a game show...a dream that I still have this very day).

In fact, if you take a look at my game collection for my Nintendo DS, you'll see lots of puzzle games, like Plants Vs. Zombies, Bejeweled Twist and Sudoku.

There's also another game for that system that I own that fits the whole idea of puzzle and strategy games, and as it so happened, the main character was a professor, which happily is a requirement for Teacher's Week!



The man up above is named Professor Hershel Layton, and he has a series of video games for the Nintendo DS system. Dating back to the year 2007 with his first adventure, and having no less than five games starring the fictional archaeologist, each game has our well-mannered and impeccably dressed hero arriving at various places to solve a mystery that is occurring in the area.

With his trusty sidekick, a young boy by the name of Luke Triton, Professor Layton is left to solve a barrage of mind teasers, sliding puzzles, logic problems and numeric codes in order to get closer to the truth.



The idea for the Professor Layton video game series was inspired by a Japanese puzzle book series entitled 'Mental Gymnastics' by puzzle creator Akira Tago. The developer of the game series, Akihiro Hino, was so inspired by these books that he ended up basing a lot of the puzzles in the series on these puzzle books.

So as a special treat (and to get your brains working into overdrive), I'm going to post some of these brain teasers that are found in the various games. Most of these are from the first game in the series, 'Professor Layton and the Curious Village', but some of them are from later games. If you get stuck, the answers will be hidden somewhere in this blog, but I would hope that you at least try to attempt answering these on your own before cheating you look up the answers yourself.

Are you ready?


(Okay...I'll post the question in a larger font in case you can't read it.)

The village is on a road that leads to no other towns.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Which village is it that the person is talking about?

It is the village that is furthest to the left of the screen...the one with the red rooftops.

Have you figured it out yet?  If yes, go ahead to question number two!



There's an uninvited guest at this event, but the guard has received a few clues as to his whereabouts.

His table is next to one with a red flower.  His tablecloth is a different colour than any next to it.  Oh, and his table isn't decorated with a yellow flower.

"Next to" means tables connected by dotted lines.  Which table should the guard go to?

You need to take the guard to the table with the red tablecloth and red flower.  The third table in row number 2.

You may think that these puzzles are simple, but some of them are a lot harder.  Here's question 3.



Before you is a digital clock.  At certain times of the day, you can sometimes see three of the same digits lined up right next to each other.  An example being 4:44.  In a TWENTY-FOUR hour period, how many times will you see a time that has three digits in a row on a digital clock?

Okay, this one may seem tricky, but remember, you're doing it in a 24 hour period.  The times you should get are 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, 5:55, 10:00, 11:10, 11:11, 11:12, 11:13, 11:14, 11:15, 11:16, 11:17, 11:18, 11:19, and 12:22.  If you counted, you should get 17, but if you take into account that a 24-hour day has times in AM and PM, just multiply the answer by 2.  The answer is 34.

Ready for question #4?  This one is also text based.



A father and son are chatting when the son poses this question.  'Dad, I'm 22 now, but just how old are you?'

The father replies 'You wanna know how old your old man is?  Well, I tell you what.  I'm as old as your age, plus half of my age.'

How old is the father?

This problem works best if you work backwards.  Remember, he said that he's as old as his son's age, plus half of his current age.  So, all you need to do is take away half of the father's age, and you have the son's age, which is 22.  So, if that's the case, that would mean that the father is twice his son's age, so therefore, the father must be 44 years old.

Here's another question for you.  Number 5.



This puzzle is super easy!  All you have to do is place each of the seven cards (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, +, =) into the square that each card is pointing to.  Oh, and one more thing.  The equation created by the cards has to be valid.

So, what's the solution?

This is a tricky one, unless you know that you can rotate the cards as you see fit.  In this case, the 1 card can be rotated to form a subtraction sign.  By doing this, you can get to the right answer by arranging the cards like this.  3 + 4 - 2 = 5.

That was a tricky one, wasn't it?  Here's problem number 6.



When asked about her birthday, a young woman gives the following information:  The day after tomorrow, I turn 22, but I was still nineteen on New Years Day last year.

When is her birthday?

This one is a very tricky one, but you can figure it out.  Begin by figuring out the date the conversation takes place.  She says that in two days, she will be twenty-two, so you know that she's already 21 when the conversation takes place.  Now for her to have been 19 on New Year's Day the year before, she would have had to have turned 20 later on that same year.  The only way that could be possible is if the conversation took place on December 31.  Two days after that will be January 2, which is the date our birthday girl was born.  If you work it out, it fits all criteria.

Okay...one last brain teaser for you before I end this blog entry for today.



Get the three wolves and the three chicks to the other side of the river while meeting the following conditions.

- No more than two animals can ride at the same time.
- There must be at least one animal on the raft in order for the raft to move
- If more wolves than chicks stay on either side of the river, the wolves will eat the chicks, and you'll have to start over.

This can be solved in as little as ELEVEN MOVES.  Can you do it?

Yes, we can.  All you have to do is follow these eleven steps.


01. Bring 2 wolves over.
02. Bring 1 wolf back
03. Bring 2 wolves over.
04. Bring 1 wolf back.
05. Bring 2 chicks over.
06. Bring 1 wolf and 1 chick back.
07. Bring 2 chicks over.
08. Bring 1 wolf back.
09. Bring 2 wolves over.
10. Bring 1 wolf back
11. Bring 2 wolves over. 


I think that's all that I have to say about this game for now.

Best of luck to all of you who plan on solving these brain teasers.

Some are easy, while others aren't so much.  But, the answers to all of these questions are hidden in this blog entry somewhere (and, I tried to make it not stand out as much, but didn't do that great a job at it admittedly).  All you have to do is think hard, and the answer should come to you.










Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Across The Pond and Beyond: Angie Russell from Home And Away

A lot of people don't seem to understand or realize the amount of power that some teachers possess when it comes to how they handle a classroom filled with kids. Teachers are responsible for providing lesson plans and homework assignments that will enable their students to pass into the next grade, taking them one step closer into adulthood.

I would also like to think that most teachers will do whatever it takes to ensure that every student gets a fair shake in the world, and that they will often sacrifice their time and efforts to ensure that every student gets a chance to succeed. Whether it be staying after class to help a student with a homework assignment, coaching a group of students through a school play, or just being there to listen to a problem that they have, I do believe that most teachers want to make a difference in their students lives both inside and outside of the classroom.

So, what happens when you end up with a teacher that does none of those things? When you have a teacher that picks on you and chooses not to help, but to harm a student? When you have a teacher that saw a student as her own personal cause, or emotionally abuses a student to the point that they don't know what is right or wrong?

Unfortunately, there are some teachers who are like this. Teachers who for whatever reason seem to play favourites, or use their power or tenure in their jobs as an excuse to go after a student for no reason whatsoever.

I know this because I had a teacher that was exactly like this. And I warn ahead of time, when it comes time to talk about my experience, I will not be kind. In fact, it could likely end up being one of my most emotionally charged and heated blog entries to date.

But first, I would like to talk about a fictional teacher who like the one that I'm going to be talking about in this blog did the same exact thing my teacher did to me. She set her sights on a particular student, did everything in her power to emotionally abuse the student, and the end result made the teacher end up looking like public enemy number one.



If anyone had followed this blog from the very early beginnings, you may remember that one of my first entries had to do with the Australian soap opera, Home and Away. I did a sketch on the character of Bobby Simpson, who appeared on the program from 1988-1993. The show is currently still airing on Australia's Seven Network, and this January will celebrate 24 years on the air. During this time, hundreds of new characters have appeared on that program, and quite a few prominent actors and actresses have appeared on that show, including Simon Baker, Naomi Watts, and the late Heath Ledger.

One of the most talked about characters to appear on the program Home and Away only managed to last a little over six months on the program, yet upon her debut in September 2002, became one of the most hated people in the whole town of Summer Bay.

Granted, the actress playing her (Laurie Foell) did such a good job with the role, and was so convincing at it that Australian viewers (as well as this Canadian who watched the storyline on videos posted on video-sharing sites) loved the actress, yet hated the character.



The name of the person is question was Angela Russell, or Angie, as most people called her. Angie was a gorgeous blonde, just entering her 40s, and had just gotten a job at Summer Bay High School. With her teenage son Dylan, things were looking up for Angie, and she thought that she could make a brand new life for herself in Summer Bay.

But hardly anyone ever comes onto a soap opera innocent and pure, now? Do they?

For Angie Russell had a secret. She actually came to Summer Bay looking for her first real love, a man by the name of Rhys Sutherland. She and Rhys had made a pact to be together when both of them turned 40, but unfortunately for her, Rhys had moved on. He married a woman named Shelley, and they had three daughters, Dani, Jade, and Kirsty.



Unbeknownst to everyone except Rhys and Angie, they had a one-night stand with each other while he was still married to Shelley, and the result was Dylan.

Or so she thought...

Anyway, Angie kept the secret of Dylan's paternity from everyone (not even Rhys knew), and had it not been for the fact that Dylan started dating Kirsty Sutherland, Angie probably would have kept the secret hidden. But with Dylan and Kirsty supposedly being half-siblings, Angie knew that in order to stop the relationship from going further, she had to tell Rhys the truth.

The revelation that Dylan was Rhys' son had negative effects on the Sutherland family. Shelley left Rhys (after falling victim to mind games courtesy of Angie), and the Sutherland family was fractured. Although the Sutherland girls eventually accepted Dylan as part of the family, they had no love for Angie, who tried again to go after Rhys romantically. But Rhys was in no mood to get reacquainted, and pushed Angie away.



This set the stage for Angie's descent into madness, and how she ended up targetting one student in particular because of her inability to separate her home life from her work life.

Certainly, Angie had her share of enemies. She played mind games with her school co-worker Sally Fletcher, and she also managed to wreak havoc with several of the Bay's residents.

However, she saved her venom for student Nick Smith. And what she did to Nick goes beyond being a bad teacher. She crossed the line.

Angie had seen Nick in a negative view ever since Nick and Dylan developed a feud, culminating in a fight. That was strike one, and in Angie's twisted world, one strike was all she needed to destroy a person.

So Angie did what she felt was necessary to try and get Nick out of the picture. Taking a page from the manual of Mary Kay Letourneau, Angie amped up her femininity and began to seduce the young Nick. Nick was left very confused by the whole thing, and wasn't sure what to do. The flirting by Angie caused Nick to have conflicting feelings, and effectively ended a relationship that he was in with Jade Sutherland (effectively killing two birds with one stone, as far as Angie was concerned).



After the break-up between Nick and Jade, Nick told his foster mother Irene everything that had happened, and when Nick tried to confront Angie about what she was doing, Angie's behaviour became even more cold and calculating. She purposely ripped her clothes, messed up her hair and began screaming at the top of her lungs, claiming that Nick had assaulted her in the classroom.

As a result of Angie's manipulative plot, Nick was expelled from Summer Bay High, and the police were ready to file charges against Nick. Angie later dropped those charges, but by then, the damage had been done. The whole town began to turn against Angie, and Angie began to lose her mind even more, burning down a boat shed, and filing a defamation of character suit against Morag Bellingham (a justice who had discovered that Angie had gotten thrown out of her last school for doing the same thing to another student that she had just done to Nick Smith).

By this point, Nick's friends, Seb Miller, Jade, and Kirsty had enough of Angie, and they wanted to team up to get evidence that Angie had set Nick up in hopes of getting Angie to leave Summer Bay. Although it took some time, they managed to get a videotaped confession of Angie admitting that she set Nick up because 'she could'. During this time, it was revealled that Dylan was not Rhys' son, and that although she had honestly been mistaken, she used that information to manipulate Rhys even further before the truth came out. So to say that Angie's hourglass was running low was an understatement at this point.

The truth about Angie and Nick finally came out in one of Sally Fletcher's classes. Seb, Jade, and Kirsty made a video project for the class called 'J'Accuse', and as you'll see in this clip, it was worthy of an A+.

Once that video came out, the writing was on the wall for Angela Russell. She was relieved of all of her teaching duties, and had to face an embarrassing and humiliating walk of shame past all of the people she had manipulated and hurt along the way in an attempt to get what she wanted.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer broad.

A few days after that incident, someone had decided to use brute force to get their message out about Angie, and the resulting confrontation sealed the fate of our teacher from hell. But, nobody could say that she hadn't done anything to deserve it. She was a piece of work, she was. But who committed the crime? I'll leave it up to you to Google to find out.

Certainly, Angela Russell was one of those short-term characters that on most shows don't really amount to anything. Yet in her six month stint on Home and Away, she was one of the more interesting (if not sadistic) characters to ever appear on that show (and quite possibly in the history of global soap operas).

Now, I won't claim that my own experience with my teacher from hell was anything like what Angie did to Nick. That was a fictional story, and quite a bit over the top in comparison to my experience.

And unlike Nick, who was a boy of sixteen when the Home and Away storyline was going on, my story starts back in the first grade.

When first grade began, I was a boy who was six years old, and very nervous about going to that class. After being secluded in the kindergarten class area prior to first grade, this was really my first time being in a school with bigger kids. Having gone to a K-8 school, it was a scary feeling to be the little fish in a big pond, so to speak.

Little did I know that upon entering my first grade classroom that being a small kid in a big school would be the least of my worries.

I guess I'll start by talking about the interesting character quirk that I had when I was in first grade. I used to walk on my tip-toes, rather than my heels, as most kids tended to do.



A lot of people mistakenly believed that I did this strictly by choice, but that wasn't the case at all. From as far back as I can remember until I reached sixth grade, I walked on my toes because I found it extremely painful to even attempt to walk flat-footed. Having been born with naturally thicker arches in my feet than most others had, it took a great deal of time for me to adjust to them, and grow into them. As a result of this, I was unable to walk for long distances at a time, and I only felt comfort by walking on my toes.

I'm fully able to walk normally now, but prior to that, it wasn't easy. It was bad enough that the kids in my class used to make fun of me for seemingly re-enacting that dreadful 'Tiptoe Through The Tulips' song every chance I got. But looking back on it, we were all only five and six at the time, so I can look past it.

So, yeah. I'll admit it. I had a deformity as a child. It just happened to be my feet. But, contain your laughter, because everyone had at least one thing about themselves that they couldn't control. All I could do though was adapt to the idea, and accept the fact that I was different from the other kids. If all that I had against me was my walking style, then I could accept it, right?

That is until she came into my life.

Do you want to know something? Initially, I wasn't even supposed to be in her class. My classroom assignment was switched just hours before the first day of school. The school had made no attempt to even contact my parents about the classroom reassignment, and when they called the school to try and fix the problem, they basically gave them the excuse that the classroom that I was supposed to be in was overcrowded. But what was done was done. I knew a couple of kids from kindergarten were in my class, and I got along with them, so I accepted the new classroom assignment and tried to keep as open a mind as a six year old boy could.

But then things really started to go pear-shaped.

It all started with our classroom writing assignments. My teacher had made comments about how my handwriting was the absolute worst in the class, right in front of everyone in the classroom. I mean, yes, certainly my handwriting wasn't calligraphy ready, but I was only six. At least it was legible which was more than I could say for some of the others in class.

She also was incredibly nit-picky about the artwork that I had done. In particular with our daily journal (of which 85% of the entries were made-up anyway). Apparently, my art skills were limited to blobs that resembled houses and cars, as well as naked stick people. Again, not Picasso worthy, but certainly far from being the worst. Yet, she seemed to think that I wasn't applying myself.

Her assessment? I had horrible motor skills for my age, and she would make it her personal mission to make sure that these skills were corrected. So, every week, it was being booted out of the classroom to 'improve my motor skills', which involved such lovely lessons like walking around school hallways with a book on my head, and being forced to use writing utensils with mega-gigantic pencil holders, which basically screamed 'Hey, look at me, I'm too stupid to hold a pencil properly!'.



She even went as far as designing a special set of crayons for me to use. Problem was that she only gave me seven crayons. No green crayon. Oh, and did I mention that I was not allowed to use the crayons provided for the rest of the class until I mastered the art of holding a pencil properly? So, whenever we had to do an assignment where we had to colour anything green, the best I could do was mix blue and yellow together because she wouldn't allow me to borrow a green crayon from the crayon bin at each table.

If that wasn't being obsessed with power, I don't know what is.

Of course, my teacher was so convinced that there was something physically wrong with me that she never bothered to check the facts as to why I seemed to have such difficulty with motor skills. If she had, she would have discovered that I was rushing through class assignments as a way to compete with my classmates. We were six years old, and we all competed to see who could get their work done the fastest, and ultimately, the quality of my work did suffer. Had she bothered to find this fact out, she could have worked with me, and taught me that by slowing down, I could achieve better quality work. But, no, according to her, I had brain damage or something.


She never really let me feel like I was a part of the class. She purposely left me out of group assignments, and when we had our school fundraising drive for the holiday season, she made a big show out of handing everyone in the class the fundraising booklet for the 1987 drive except me. I asked her why I wasn't able to have a book, and she told me that she didn't have enough, even though I knew that she had extra copies on her desk. My honest opinion was that she almost got off on keeping me from doing what all the other kids were doing because I honestly think that she saw me as a reject of some sort. That I was unable to be rehabilitated, even though in many ways, I didn't feel like I was any different from anyone else.

(Oh, by the way, for future holiday drives, I was the second place top seller in my whole school in 1990, 1991 and 1992! Take that, unbelieving grade one teacher!)

And then there was that fateful day in the middle of the school year that really sent things spiraling out of control.

It had started off just like any other day. But then shortly after lunch, I remember that I had to use the washroom really badly. The boys washroom was just down the hall across from room 8 (my classroom was room 7), so it wasn't that far a walk. I have no idea what the protocol is for leaving class to use the washroom now, but back during the 1987/1988 school year, you had to ask the teacher for permission in order to leave the classroom for a bathroom break. So, me being one who tried to follow the rules, asked the teacher if I could use the washroom.

So, imagine my surprise when my teacher refused to let me go.

She wouldn't let me go until I did something for her.

She wouldn't let me go to the bathroom until I promised her in front of the whole class that I would walk on my flat feet to the bathroom and all the way back to class.

Yep, you read that right. She took my physical weakness and used it to humiliate me in front of the class.

That's despicable.

Yet, the scared six-year-old me did exactly that, because he feared having to stay after school, or have to do extra homework. Looking back on it now, I really should have told off that evil wench of a teacher. But back in those days, the only insults I knew were something along the lines of 'YOU'RE MEAN!'

Hardly the words that make up a meaningful confrontation.

The twisted thing about it is that deep down in her mind, I honestly think she thought she was helping me. She thought that by moulding me into her own version of the perfect student that I would end up being a better example for everyone around me. She didn't even make the effort to understand that I was different, and that my differences were not anything that I could change overnight, if at all.

What she inevitably ended up doing was giving the kids in my class more ammunition to make fun of me. After all, if the teacher could do it, what stopped the kids, right?  And believe me when I tell you that some of the kids took real advantage of that.

What she did was try to make me her own personal cause. Someone she tried desperately to fix, even though I was never broken.

What she did was set the stage for years of self-hate, and self-loathing because I didn't think I could ever be good enough for anyone. If I couldn't be good enough for a teacher, what chance did I have with the rest of the world?

What she did...is unforgivable.

I have absolutely no idea what ever became of her. I refuse to even so much as put down the identity of this person who dared call herself a teacher. She was no such thing. A teacher is supposed to be an inspiration to students and help them become better adults. They are not supposed to make students feel worse about themselves. And any teacher that does this, such as my first grade teacher or the fictional Angela Russell deserves to have their teaching certificates shredded in a paper shredder.

I honestly don't know what I would do if I ever bumped into my first grade teacher out on the street. It's been 25 years almost since I saw her last, and I doubt we'd even recognize each other on the street. A few years back, I might have laid into her and made her feel small...but then I would be just like her, and despite everything she put me through, I am better than that. I can't say that I love her, because I really don't have any love for her at all. But I can't really say I hate her either. If anything, I'm indifferent. I don't feel anything for this woman. She may have hurt me emotionally years ago, but after writing this blog entry, I am at peace with it. I just wonder if she feels the same after all this time.

It is important to know that not all teachers are like my first grade teacher, or Angela Russell. Most teachers do make that effort to connect with their students in a positive manner. For every Angela Russell, there's a teacher who would stay after school to explain a difficult homework assignment to a student. For every first grade teacher from hell, there's a teacher who would fight to keep art programs in public schools to help students better express themselves.

And for every Angela Russell and first grade teacher from hell, there are millions of other teachers who work hard to make sure that their students are well-prepared for the world outside of school, and to make sure that they grow up to be well-adjusted young adults.

Besides, if there's anything that I have learned, it's that karma has a way of working out.  In the end, despite her manipulations which lead to years of self-loathing, I ended up becoming not a bad person.  And that I credit to the many teachers who gave a damn about me and my future.