Thursday 27 October 2011

Liang Chen remains positive after Scarborough-Agincourt loss

Here's a story I filed for our news reporting course. We were each assigned to follow a candidate in October's provincial election.


Liang Chen has had a long career, but was a first-time politician. Though she wasn’t elected, she’s taken a lot from her provincial election run.
The Progressive Conservative candidate for Scarborough-Agincourt lost to Liberal Soo Wong Thursday. Wong, a longtime school trustee, replaces incumbent Gerry Phillips, the area’s Liberal MPP since 1987.
Photo courtesy  of Ontario PC Party
“In the beginning I heard people criticize me, that I don’t have any experience and I have so many young people in my campaign,” Chen said in an interview last week. “I think they really underestimated the creativity that we have.”
Long familiar with education, Chen earned a bachelor of arts in English language and literature from Soochow University in Taiwan. She went on to complete a master of science in education at the University of Pennsylvania. Chen taught at a school for gifted children in Buffalo, N.Y., before moving to Toronto to complete an MBA from U of T.
Chen worked in accounting before teaching the discipline at Humber College for seven years. In 2005, she switched to UTSC. She then completed a doctorate of philosophy from OISE, focusing on higher education and internationalization. Since then, she’s devised courses, reviewed faculty, restructured whole programs, written a textbook and trained some of the university’s top students.
Last September, she was appointed as associate dean in charge of making the Scarborough campus more attractive to students and increasing international ties. A year after the promotion, she took a leave of absence to run for office. Many of her students helped the campaign through planning, office work and publicity.
It was through a student-led fundraising concert that Chen raised enough money to lease her campaign office.  She said she pursued provincial politics because education is a provincial jurisdiction.
Scarborough-Agincourt has a high level of immigration, especially from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chen, a Taipei native, became a Canadian citizen in the late ’90s, and often talked about the contributions immigrants make to Canadian society.
In May’s federal election, the Conservative party descended on the long-standing Liberal fortress of Toronto by targeting immigrant communities in the GTA. Though the federal Conservatives failed to shift the riding to the right, the provincial PCs hoped for better odds.
Locally, Chen focused on her riding’s precarious public transit.
“We don’t actually have a transit system, just two lines,” said Chen, who favours a subway extension on the Sheppard line. She thinks it’s an issue that’s often rushed.
“We need people with long-term vision instead of just wanting short-term gains,” she said. Chen had similar thoughts about the Liberal proposal to give a $10,000 tax credit to employers who hire highly skilled immigrants.
“There’s a large group of qualified people who don’t match that criteria,” she said. “Why help some and not other people?
“The issue is employing people, rather than just buying power (by attracting votes).”
Chen often thinks in numbers. She advocated for small business owners and focused her platform on how to fix Ontario’s economy. It’s one of many throwbacks to her experience in finance.
She says it was as a board member for the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario that she learned how to affect change in her community.
“You don’t get angry,” Chen said. “You make things happen.”
Chen celebrated her campaign with family, friends and supporters at Sogo Bar near Kennedy Rd. & Sheppard Ave E. About 30 core campaigners sipped their drinks while staring at TV screens as CP24 apologized for a delay in poll figures.
“We worked as much as we could,” Chen said. “Now we’ll just wait and see.”
The group cheered as the first round of polls put Chen ahead by 20 per cent. But subsequent polls put her chances lower and lower.
The number of visitors at the pub swelled to one hundred. Guests enjoyed dim sum finger food and socialized, still watching the television for poll results, but not reacting to them.
In the end, Woo beat Liang 14,903 to 10,216 votes with a 15 per cent lead.
“Win or lose, that’s not the primary focus,” Chen said. “The experience is more important. It was precious to have a strong team behind me. We were passionate about campaigning.”
Chen’s husband, Louis Lawrence, thanked campaigners and spoke about his wife’s experience.
“She stepped out of her comfort zone and comfortable, happy career,” he said. “A lot of people said she must be crazy; it’s a thankless task.
“But we feel we contributed to the democratic process. And who knows, we might be back to fight another battle.”
Chen is a new brand of provincial politician. Since Ontario approved fixed election dates in 2004, leaders with successful careers have been able to plan a campaign years ahead, instead of hoping the writ drops at an opportune moment.
Chen, who is in her 40s but keeps her exact age to herself, took a six-month sabbatical to run as a candidate. In a few weeks, she’ll return to her role as associate dean. She’s dipped her feet in politics. Will she run again?
“We’ll see,” she replied. “I’m taking things one day at a time.”

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Snakes are popping out of toilets

I had some fun with this one.


Look before you sit; a snake popped out of a toilet last night.

Police from 12 Division are reporting two incidents of a snake sliding into Woolner Ave. apartments near Jane St. and St. Clair Ave. W.

My blog post for the Toronto Star.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Sports story: Leafs shatter Jets, camera lens

My journalism program emphasizes versatility. Because of the changing media landscape, journalists not only has to work on multiple platforms, they have to be able to report on even the most unfamiliar topics.
For me this is sports. As a political junkie who didn't know the definition of "powerplay," it took a while but I've learned the fundamentals of sports writing. Below is a story I wrote going off of just the published sports stats (they're a bit cryptic) and a quote I took from a newscast.

Matt Frattin scored in the shootout to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Wednesday night at the Air Canada Centre.

The win moves the Leafs to 4-0-1 in the new season as the Jets dive to 1-3-1.

The tiebreaker ended a turbulent game that featured a puck bouncing off a defenceman for a goal, a player’s first NHL goal and two shots scored within less than 30 seconds.

Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul scored twice, with Phil Kessel adding a shot. Winnipeg’s three goals came from Tobias Enstrom, Alexander Burmistrov and Mark Scheifele.

The Jets fired off the scoring at 9:49 of the first period on a power play as Enstrom blasted a shot from the blue line.

Two minutes later, Lupul tied the score 1-1, taking Kessel’s pass, firing it by Ondrej Pavelec and shattering the TV camera.

“There goes our Christmas party!” screamed a TSN commentator. “Thanks, Lupul!”

Refusing to nosedive, the Jets rocked the second period a goal from Burmistrov and Scheifele’s first NHL shot, which pulled fans right off their seats.

The Leafs entered the third period 3-1 with the daunting prospect of their first loss of regulation, but rebounded with two power plays to tie the match in a 27-second flurry.

Lupul made a pass that deflected off Enstrom, bouncing into the net at 7:28. Kessel then seized an open net, tying the game 3-3.

After a quiet overtime period, both teams entered a three-round shootout, with Lupul and Frattin bringing the lackluster Jets to a quick landing.

The Jets hit another runway after their first visit to Toronto in 15 years, facing the Ottawa Senators Friday. The Leafs also hit the road Friday, attempting another win at Boston.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Paleolithic eaters find community at breakfast

The Gazette photo.
This article was published in The Gazette on October 15, 2011. It is no longer available online.

Joshua Layton teaches martial arts, drinks espresso and uses Facebook. He also eats like a caveman.

The Paleolithic diet was pioneered in the '70s as a way of replicating the diet of hunter-gatherer societies. More of a lifestyle than a strict regimen, those who eat paleo centre their diet on meat, fish, root vegetables, fruit and nuts. Dieters focus on rich food, avoiding grains, dairy, salt and any processed food.

"It's not about acting like a caveman or re-enacting some kind of prehistoric lifestyle," said Layton. "It's about getting ideas about what's really healthy for us through getting ideas from our evolutionary history."

Emulating early humans who sought wholesome meats, boiled vegetables and anything easy to forage, Paleo-eaters don't snack and avoid oils.

Many adherents say the diet has boosted their energy, mood and body composition.

"This is the best-quality food I can have for my money right now," says Mathieu Dumontet, who has followed the diet for two years. "Instead of buying empty food and wanting something, I'm always full."

Michael Bisson, associate professor of anthropology at McGill University, says the diet is close to what humans ate in Paleolithic times.

"Diet is entirely contextual, in terms of the environment and technical surrounding of a particular people," said Bisson. "What they appear to be doing is replicating a diet from very late in the Paleolithic, and there's nothing wrong with that."

Bisson described humans living in the Epipaleolithic era 15,000 years ago as "the pinnacle of the hunter-gatherer adaptation" who got the most of their environment right before the dawn of agriculture.

In January, Laval fitness consultant Melanie Halpert took up a 30-day Paleo challenge, seeking energy and relief from cravings.

"My mom was like 'You're crazy, what are you doing? You can't eat this way!' " said Halpert. "I sent her some research and told her to sleep on it. And she said she had stayed up all night reading about it, and was really interested and wanted to do it."

Eight months later, Halpert says "it doesn't even cross my mind" to return to the typical North American diet - though she does admit getting a reaction from friends.

"Sometimes they scrunch up their face and they're like 'What, like dinosaurs?' " Halpert laughed.

"People are like 'oh you're doing that caveman diet thing' and maybe they make a joke about how come I'm wearing shoes, or how come I'm not wearing animal skin or something," said Layton, who's been eating paleo for three years.

"Outside of paleo, it's sometimes very hard for people (because of) social pressure if you're not strong-minded," said Dumontet. "At first you're answering tons of questions when you just want to enjoy your meal."

It's because of that pressure that paleo-eaters seek community.

Layton started the Facebook group Eating Paleo in Montreal a year ago. Roughly one hundred local dieters, from professional athletes to firsttimers, exchange recipes, review restaurants and list grocery store finds. They also organize monthly breakfasts.

"A lot of people go to a store and just find a book, but it's nice to do some meetings in the real world," said Layton. "It's providing an outlet for people to get together and share what they know and their enthusiasm for this experiment."

While all three say they allow some leeway - a glass of wine, a scoop of ice cream - they stress that they don't have any cravings.

"Paleo has changed my relationship to food, and especially sugar," said Halpert. Layton agrees. "It's about food quality rather than quantity," he said.

Bisson says he believes the diet is a good idea.

Life expectancy in the Paleolithic Era was around 30 years. By following this ancient way of eating, dieters may find a way of prolonging their own lives.

"There are lots of things that are unhealthy in modern diets that it looks like they're avoiding," said Bisson. "I suppose they're living longer than the average life span. More power to them!"

Sunday 2 October 2011

Raw milk advocate enters hunger strike

Toronto Star photo
After armed raids and thousands of dollars in legal fees, dairy farmer Michael Schmidt is on a hunger strike after his fight to legalize the sale of raw milk hit another hurdle.
Schmidt was informed Wednesday afternoon that he’d been convicted of 15 provincial offences relating to the sale of unpasteurized milk. He could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, including $5,000 for each day he continues to distribute his milk.