Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 20, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba S slim a i it a. Y in it of it zen e focus editor. Brian Cole 1697-7044 a Winnipeg. July 20.1997 sunday free press b3 a Day at the Beach can Wash away a lot of City stress. The girls have been at the Pool and this particular Little miss did no to feel like putting her shoes Back on at the end of the Day. I can follow this line of reasoning this kicking off of restrictive apparel. I Tell the girls i have just come Back from the Lake. A a what a the Lake a now this is not As easy an answer As you might suppose. A it is a body of these Are girls aged two to six they do not know what the hell a a body of water is. A a it a where there a Sand and water As far As you can see. Its in the a a what a the country a this line of questioning goes on for awhile until i realize they have no idea what in a talking about. A wok its like say if the Pool at Vimy Ridge Cov ered Portage a like a a no no its not a flood. Its like that All the time. Its the place where the Rivers flow i search for Lake metaphors. A a it a where All the water gets together in one big the now fully recovered Pearl bedecked girl brightens and turns with authority to her pals. A she Means the i concede. She a right. The Lake May Well be a Distant Ocean for her. Slice of life is a weekly column featuring Manitoba writers. Eva Weidman is the author of a number of Short stories and editor of zygote a Small Manitoba literary Magazine. A the Lake could be an Ocean Sand in the food does no to matter there is Sand in the Cream cheese. In fact there is Sand on pretty much everything i unload from the cooler. A Small Price to pay for a glorious Summers Day at the Lake. The Lake is almost a generic term in Winnipeg. No one specifies Lake Winnipeg or Lake Manitoba or Lake of the Woods. When we say we Are going to the Lake for the weekend there is no further explanation needed really. The Lake Means Sand and water and hot dogs. It is the place Many people work All year towards. Fifty weeks of work for two weeks at the Lake was and in some circles still is the Norm. Just As pensions dental plans and Coffee Breaks were once taken for granted the Lake is not As accessible to everyone As it once was. Families with part time casual temporary or Well Call you when we need you schedules put the Lake at the Bottom of the to do list. But when you Are sitting under a tree Sun browned Savouring a Cool Breeze fluttering across your weary brow someone always says a Why done to we do this More often a even on a crowded Beach with flying Sand and bouncing bits popping out of stuffed bathing suits even when someone flings a Frisbee into the potato salad or dumps a drink on the towels even then we come Home refreshed somehow. Why who knows but for most City dwellers the Lake is the place to unwind loosen up Wear funny hats and often drink More than is necessary. Country people on the other hand especially those who live near the Lake done to take it quite As seriously. They go to the Lake to fish or swim or have a family picnic but the process does no to necessarily become a lifestyle. You done to become known to your friends As a Lake person when it is part of everyone a common habitat. I done to think i am known As a Lake person although i mind the Label. But i come from a Long line of men who Wear Long pants and a shirt at the Beach who stand guard on the Sand to make sure none of the children drown. The women make sandwiches and keep an ear out for cries of help. At the particular Lake we go to there is Seldom anyone under 30 in the water except for my husband and me and a couple of off beat cousins. My Lake observations have led me to believe there is a Rule of sorts that fathers with any sort of proportions a belly or sans belly a Are Freer to Romp and splash. Anyone within splashing distance is fair game but splashing their wives seems to be a special treat. Mothers take a longer time getting their feet wet. From this Day at the Beach Sand and All i must admit i am relaxed chilled ready for tomorrow when i hear a piercing scream. The sort of scream that should bring people out of their houses. It gets me out of the House at any rate and i look for the source of what is now louder More evenly pitched bowls. In front of my House four Little girls of various sizes Are crowded around another sobbing child. She is dressed in a Black bathing suit and a Pearl necklace i suspect they Are not real pearls and she is holding up her foot for the others to inspect. A Bare foot. A bleeding foot. In a thinking tetanus shots and stitches when i go to assess the damage. Happily there is no need for either but there is a big scrape just above her ankle and it is bleeding. She scraped her ankle against the tire of the Wagon they were pulling the two smallest girls in. I seat the five girls on the stairs get a wet cloth and a band Aid and soon my Little jewelled Friend is almost smiling. Near enough to smiling for me to begin a lecture on walking around in Bare feet. A a there slots of Glass on the sidewalks you know. Broken bottles. You should Wear your the injured one Points to their Wagon where her sandals Are to the editor English does not need to be saved a Folk festival fan laments the coverage of nudity Over music. Regarding recent pleas to a a save the English language i can Only say that English is one of the strongest and fastest growing languages on the planet in an age of rapid language extinction and certainly does not need to be saved. As an example close to Home there Are Between 50 and 60 indigenous languages in Canada three of which Are expected to survive the next 20 or so years Cree Ojibwa and inuktitut. Expressions such As a a Gonna and a a talking a Are an inevitable result of the evolution of languages. Undoubtedly conservative speakers of English lamented the loss of the a a ghz sound in words such As night and Slaughter in older varieties of English. In a few generations words such As Gonna and talking will be unquestionably accepted As night with a silent a a ghz is today. Rather than berate the process of language change we should Admire its dynamic nature and strive to maintain the tremendous linguistic diversity characteristic of our planet. Michael Barrie Winnipeg Folk festival reviews missed i am writing to Tell you How disappointed i am in the coverage of this years Winnipeg Folk festival. I was Only Able to attend part of the festival on saturday july 12. As a longtime subscriber to the free press i was anxiously awaiting the paper on sunday morning so i could read about the balance of saturdays festival concert. Instead i was greeted with a Story on nudity that Only the journalist seemed interested in. Where were the music reviews i think the journalists should have had pictures of the Darling children mud sliding on saturday How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from readers. Letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed name address and Telephone number. Names will be published but not addresses. All letters May be edited for style and length. Short letters Are less Likely to be condensed. Please address letters to letters to the editor Winnipeg free press 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Letters can be sent to our fax number 697-7412. Letters May be submitted through the internet at . Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be signed but must include Home address and Telephone number. And focused on the positive rather than the negative of a wonderful event in our City. Better yet maybe your journalists should leave their cameras at Home next year and take tape recorders. I love Reading your paper but sometimes i really regret paying for that kind of coverage. Pamela Mackay Winnipeg historical error angers family i am writing regarding an error in an article that appeared in the june 27 free press titled Amateur genealogist traces roots to settler. June 27 was something special to the More than 75 descendants of William Robert Smith attending the service at St. Paul a anglican Church in memory of this Man. Everyone was thrilled that there was an article in the paper. However for those of us who knew his Story we were shocked to read a this employ ment with the Hudson a Bay co. Ended when the company suffered a Small Revenue loss through the leaking spigot of a barrel of rum Smith Felt he caused through his own i think this is an inexcusable error. William Robert Smith was a Man of honour who worked for the Hudson a Bay co. From 1813 to 1823. At this time the two fur trading companies amalgamated under the name of Hudson a Bay co. And due to Over staffing William Robert was Given the Opportunity to return to England or to retire at the red River settlement. He chose the latter. He was forever Loyal to the Hudson a Bay co., forever dedicated to his Church and school and forever faithful to his wife family and country. His descendants Are scattered across Canada from coast to coast and Many of them will receive a copy of this and they will read it As a truth. To me this article is a defamation of character and should never have made the paper. A Small correction in some obscure unread Corner of the paper does not Cut it with me. The entire article should be reprinted along with an apology but even that cannot undo the terrible injustice paid to this Man and his descendants especially Pat Smith who in researching is forever seeking the truth. Marnie j. Inkster Stony Mountain article Short on Manitoban i was very disappointed in the free press coverage of the heavy games at the Manitoba Highland gathering. The article in your sunday edition focused entirely on Dave Brown from Oklahoma. Even though or. Brown won the Competition there was no mention of other competitors. The article did not mention that Bojan Paunovic of Winnipeg was the runner up. A doctor Dur ing the week or. Paunovic placed a very Strong second even though or. Brown weighs More than too pounds More than or. Paunovic. Also neglected was the third place finisher Brad Marshall. Though he has lived in Vancouver for the past year or. Marshall was born and raised in Manitoba. Two other Manitoban participated in the event Nick culetto and Jeff Ingram. Your article also failed to mention these gentlemen. For covering the Manitoba Highland gathering the article was woefully Short of information on Manitoban. Richard Iwuc Winnipeg standardized tests part of reality it has been said that there is Only one real cause of stress in Peoples lives its called reality. So when Derwyn Davies congratulated parents who refused to allow their children to write recent standardized math tests because they would be too stressful he was advocating and they were practising reality avoidance. Used properly such tests Are designed to reveal student strengths and weaknesses so that appropriate measures can be taken to remedy the latter by adjusting teaching methods and or the curriculum. People who attempt to Dodge these evaluations done to want to face the possibility of the existence of such weaknesses. They would prefer instead to find out about them when their children a skills have fallen so far behind that they can no longer handle the work and their likelihood of dropping out has increased enormously. And what will the reaction be when these students must face High school exams Worth typically 30 per cent of the final Mark will parents keep them at Home again or cry discrimination or take the Case to the courts these people Are evidently oblivious to education developments in other provinces such As Ontario which has just installed a More rigorous curriculum is grouping classes according to student ability and achievement and is proposing a greater Range of provincial examinations. Chances Are Good that some of these trends will find their Way to Manitoba As the Public demands greater accountability from the system. The schools themselves can Deal with the Issue by reducing the grades of the students who deliberately miss the tests since they Haven to fulfilled All the requirements of the course. Otherwise they will Start believing that if province wide assessments Are optional Why not daily assignments and consistent attendance also. Standardized tests Are hardly foolproof however they Are usually useful devices to supplement teachers opinions. Parents who run scared of them Are doing their children a disservice by refusing to allow them to face part of the real world. Pekatz Winnipeg Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 a Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Redekop / publisher email Rudy Redekop free press. My. Ca Nicholas Hirst editor Brian Cole i editorial Page editor directors Harry Brown / circulation sales and marketing Laurie Finley advertising Verne Kalichuk human resources Glenn Williams i finance and administration a 1997 Winnipeg free press a division of . Newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council vol 125 no 193 ;