Students

HALLOWEEN IS JUST NOT THE SAME

By: Katia Sist

Don’t you just hate those people that hand out healthy foods on Halloween? Kids look up into the white of an adult’s eyes and think to themselves: “Is this a joke?”, as they see a fruit being tossed into their bag. When you look into your white pillowcase, after walking through the entire neighborhood, you want to see a mound of candy and chips; not apples and raisins. The whole point of going Trick-or-Treating is to get all of the treats that your parents don’t normally buy for you! So why get all dressed up and walk to all of those houses if all you’ll be getting is the healthy food that’s already in your kitchen? Most people have been sticking with the traditional candy or chips to give to the kids that come to their doorstep. However, there are still those annoying people that believe that little boxes of raisins or Royal Gala apples are what they should be giving out. These are the houses and people kids learn to avoid after their many years of Trick-or-Treating. This isn’t the only thing that’s terribly wrong with Trick-or-Treating, the costumes for children have changed completely as well. When you dress your kids for Halloween they should look cute, like a little pumpkin or a princess. However, parents haven’t exactly been going for the cute look lately. They are dressing their kids extremely inappropriately for Halloween. There are now costumes available in children and baby sizes that mimic the cast from Jersey Shore, gangsters, cigarette packs and pimps. It is truly disturbing that adults would ever dress their children as any of those things but it is the truth.

I have to say it’s really disappointing but not as disappointing as finding healthy food in a pillowcase after hours of Trick-or-Treating. Halloween is just not the same.

JOEL BROWN: Basketball Star

By: Katia Sist

This past season has been a very successful one for fourteen-year-old basketball star Joel Brown. He was the point guard of the senior boys basketball team, played for CIA Bounce, scored approximately 500 points overall and won OFSAA silver with his team at Campion.

Joel’s passion for basketball began at the age of three. He would watch the Toronto Raptors, wear a Vince Carter jersey and decorate his room with various posters and jerseys of basketball players. Since then, Joel’s talent has developed immensely. To prepare himself for a successful basketball game, Joel always listens to hip hop and gospel music and turns his phone off in order to help him focus allowing him to have no distractions. Joel as well as many other athletes his age dream of becoming professionals. However, with Joel’s talent, dedication and experience on the court, Joel has the potential to fulfill his goals of earning a division one scholarship for sports and academics and playing for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.

On the court Joel considers himself a good leader and a team player just like his idol and favourite basketball player Lebron James. Joel demonstrates this by passing the ball to his teammates, playing defence and grabbing rebounds. Although Brown has great strengths on the court, he is humble enough to admit his weaknesses as we all have them. Joel feels that to improve as a player, he should be shooting the ball more consistently. Joel appreciates how much his talent has been recognized by so many people and will continue to work hard to improve his skills. This state of mind will allow him to fulfil his dream of being in the NBA and playing for the Raptors. With all of these things in mind, Joel sincerely appreciates the talent he has been blessed with and does not take any of it for granted.

Over the summer break, Joel has continued to train and work hard at invitational camps and competed in basketball tournaments in order to prepare himself for the 2015-2016 season with his team CIA Bounce and the senior boys team at Campion. We all look forward to the day when Joel enters the ACC, ready to play his first game as a member of the Toronto Raptors.

MY FAMILY PIE

By: Katia Sist

When you think of thanksgiving, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? I hope it’s not your annoying younger cousins running around or that uncle that’s always burping and grandpa who’s always farting after dinner. Hopefully you always have nice memories like I do. The big dinner, the family time and the pie. My family and a pie are very similar. Pies have many ingredients that all contribute to make it delicious. In my family, there are so many people that make it so special. In a family gathering, each person there makes the day special and not always perfect, just like when you bake a pie. But in order to make that family gathering so special, everyone has to be there. Similarly, a single piece of pie is not enough, the whole pie is what’s special.

In my family, we celebrate Thanksgiving on two days. Both days are very special because we get to spend lots of time with both sides of the family. On Sunday, we always have a late lunch at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Around 1:00, we leave to go to their house. As soon as we open the doors, the smell of a golden turkey in the oven and a freshly baked apple pie mixed with every other dish either cooked or being cooked it is all overwhelming and amazing at the same time. We can never wait until it’s time to eat all that food.

My cousins are not very close in age with my brother Adam and I, we range from 30-17, leaving Adam and I much younger than them. However we are still very close and love to spend time with each other whenever we can. I remember when we were all much younger, there was always so much violence between us. We used to play this violent game of war every time we were at my Grandparents’ house. We would split into two teams, make couch barriers to block the enemies. While we would viciously throw stuffed animals at each other, with the goal of getting the Garfield back to your team to win. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that violent. But when you’re eight and you have teenagers and twenty year olds throwing animals at you, at what seemed like a thousand miles an hour, it gets kinda scary.

Once everybody has arrived, we all take our usual seats at the long table in the basement and begin our meal; and because we are Italian, there is much more on our Thanksgiving menu than turkey. The first serving are cabbage rolls, then of course comes the turkey and stuffing. Then Fish, a pot roast, lamb chops, salad, vegetables, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce and potatoes. My Grandma makes the most amazing food and always makes the house smell phenomenal when she cooks. For dessert we have pie, an array of homemade Italian cookies, ice cream, chestnuts and fruit. Once everyone has had their dessert, most of the guys go upstairs and probably burp and fart while they watch TV, while the rest of us stay at the table and talk until we go home.

Monday is spent at my Nonna’s house with my dad’s side of the family. As soon as the whole family is there, we sit down to eat, the parents in the dining room and all the cousins sit in the kitchen with Nonna. My Nonna likes to sit with us because as she tells us at every family gathering, “it makes her feel young”. For dinner we have a more uninteresting and “traditional” thanksgiving meal (compared to Sunday’s lunch); Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, beets and salad. After we have finished eating, and we are waiting for the coffee and dessert, us cousins sit in the family room and talk while we wait.

When we were kids, after dinner we’d go straight down to the basement and play an epic game of charades (finally a non-violent game!). This game was always the highlight of the Sist family gatherings for me. After a few rounds, the adults would come down with the pie and we would eat on the couches. But now, that we’re all “older” and my cousins think we’re “too cool” to play games, we just stay upstairs and eat our pie. Then bring our chairs into the dining room so we all can be together. After we talk for a little while and pick our Secret Santas (a game that I think someone is cheating on…) for Pre-Christmas then say our goodbyes and head home.

My extended family and yours are very much like a pie. A family gathering and a pie with many layers resemble each other as well. The bottom layer of crust is wherever the family is. It’s the base that will hold the family together. The filling is the family, some fillings have many ingredients mixed together resembling large families, like mine. While some fillings are more simple and only take a few ingredients or people to make it special. The top layer is the first thing that you see when you look at a pie. It comes in many different forms: a simple crust, meringue, no crust, lattice crust or a crumble. Each crust is different and you are generally able to tell what pie it is, just from looking at the top. For example, a lemon meringue pie and a pecan pie look completely different. Just like how my family and yours probably look very different too.

Spending quality time with my big family is extremely important to me. We don’t always get to see each other as a whole group because we all are so busy. That’s why holidays like Thanksgiving are a perfect opportunity to get caught up with everyone. Whenever all of us are mixed together like ingredients and squished together in our piecrust it’s always a great time. I am forever thankful for my amazing family, the time we spend together, the amazing memories (even the violent ones) that I have and all of the after dinner burps, memories, and pies to come.