The York School Student Blogs

This blog is about how the movie Snow Walker should have ended. WARNING: IMAGINARY STORY SPOILERS

Lavery was sitting in the tent with the near unconscious Konala when he heard the grunting of something alive outside. At first he thought it was someone here to save him, to tell them both they would be all right, but then he realized he was just letting his imagination get the best of him. He decided it would be best to confront whoever was outside and ask them for help. He stealthily took off his blankets and put on his huge deer skin cloak and boots. He had just poked his head out the tent when he realized he’d forgotten his mitts inside he ducked inside and put them on.

Konala stirred and he stopped everything he was doing. He didn’t have it in his heart to stir a dying woman to try and determine who or what was outside. He decided he would definitely have to take care of this on his own. He pulled open the flap of the tent and stepped out. He realized then the mistake he just made; he’d stepped out of a tent in a wide open field of snow in a country filled with bears, wolves and all kinds of dangerous animals. It never crossed his mind that bears would hibernate through the winter and a single wolf would never go into such a wide open area of ice. All that crossed his mind was the huge outline of something standing by his tent. The terrible visibility in the snow storm prevented him from getting any real idea of what was 4 meters in front of him, and it was the visibility that helped him decide that he was going to hop back into the tent. If he couldn’t see this thing, it definitely couldn’t see him.

After what seemed like an hour of waiting, Lavery decided he needed to check; after all Konala had done for him, the least he could do was make sure they were both safe. He grabbed one of the spears they had made out of bone and wood and jumped out of his tent. He was thrown back by a huge arm. Looking up and expecting to see a bear, he was actually quite shocked: Standing above him was the largest Inuit man he’d ever seen. It was then that he realized just how lucky he was: This man could lead them to a settlement; he could bring them back to civilization. Before he could come out of his shock and say anything, the Inuit went into the tent with Lavery hot on his heels.

“Stop! Stop! Don’t disturb her!” Lavery shout-whispered

But it was too late; she was up and scared. The man saw her state and walked over to Lavery.

“She very sick. Need help. My name is Aguta. We take to medicine man”

Not only could this man help them survive, he could take them back to other Inuit who could help them find their way to Yellowknife. For a second he thought he was dreaming and had to pinch himself a few times to make sure he was conscious.

“OK. Let’s go.”

And they went off. Aguta was surprisingly helpful, and soon they made it to the little settlement. There were around 30 Inuit living together in a makeshift village of Igloos and small cabins. Konala was handed off to the medicine man, and Lavery didn’t see her for the next 6 days. If this had happened a year ago, Lavery’s doubt in anything other than modern technology would have sent him straight into the medicine man’s cabin to find out exactly what was happening. However, with his new found knowledge and trust, he waited patiently in the igloo of Aguta and his family.

After those six days, Lavery was finally called into the medicine man’s cabin. When he entered, he saw a motionless Konala lying down looking exhausted. The medicine man looked at him and he knew that he was called in to carry her out and bury her. It had never occurred to him that she might not be able to survive the advanced tuberculosis. He couldn’t control himself anymore.

Without even thinking, he reached into his pocket, grabbed his knife and sliced open the medicine man like had cut the deer before and the little ground rat things before that. He rushed to get to the door of the cabin with Konala’s body in his arms.

“Damn you all! You’ll all rot in he…”

Before he even touched the door handle, he fell through the ice. It was in the air for the first time that he realized the settlement was on the frozen ocean, and that they must have relied on fish for food. He also realized then that to do this they had to have huge holes in the ice, and that he was falling through one of the holes currently. Before he could think of anything else, he had been rendered unconscious by the ice around the edge of the hole. Konala’s body dropped down right next to the hole, and Lavery dropped right through it.

And that was the end of the sad tale that started off with a possibly fatal disease and a greedy pilot bribed with two walrus tusks.

And this is why I love open ended assignments.

Movie review

In the story there was a pilot named Charles.  And his job was to fly supplies out to the inuit tribes in the north west territories.  On one trip that he took he found a sick girl with T.B and she had to be rushed to the hospital.  So he was going to take her back and she would get better  but something terrible happened.  The engine started to fail on them and they came crashing down into the water.  They were stranded there.  Charlie was going to take all his stuff and find help while th sick girl named konala stayed there and rested.  Charlie got very lost and he lost most of his equipment what he did was bring a gun some food and a sleeping bag witch was on the plane from before.  He got stuck in the mud and lost his boots he ran into a huge swarm of flies and was bitten so much and was swollen up.  Luckily konala came and followed him and saved his life.  As they travel and try and find help Charlie is taught by konala to live on the land.  They must go fishing kill heards of caribou as well they made fires to stay warm with flint and steel.  They botyh used the animal skins to keep warm.  Later on oin the movie konala’s T.B gets much worse and she starts coughing up blood and gets tired.  They start to switch roles because before konala was taking care of him and now Charlie has to take care of her.  They think that they heard an air plane and that they will be saved.  So they walk all they way back to the where the airplane crashed. It turns out that there was no one there.  Eventually konala dies of her T.B, and Charlie is left all alone.

I think that there were a lot of diffrences and changes between the book and the movie.  In the book Charlie and konala never go through a fly infested area.  Another difference that I noticed was that  in the movie they started in charlies office and there were two or three lead up scenes to  when they crashed the plane.  In the book they start right at the crash scene and then they do a flash back four  hours earlier to when he was safe at home.  As well they also talk a lot a bout his friends and the search party.  In the book none of that happens.  In the book they do a good job describing every thing and they use specifics such as they said a certain type of moss instead of just saying moss.  As well they used a lot of big words.  In the movie the visual aspect of the movie was good nothing did not make sense and the movie was good.  In the movie it seemed that Charlie was nicer and more accepting to konala at first. As well it seemed like that there friend ship grew much more in the movie than the book and he trusted her more.

In 2003, Charles Martin Smith directed his movie, The Snow Walker, based off of the story Walk Well my Brother. In the novel, we start when Charlie Lavery, a former WWII pilot, now a Yellowknife-based bust pilot is on a flight  back to Yellowknife.  After an engine failure, the small plane crashes into the land below causing Lavery and his Inuit passenger to be lost and helpless.  The chance of being found by others and saved was even less because Lavery had strayed from his flight plan.  The crash landing rendered the plane to large piece of scrap metal and, to make things worse, Lavery’s radio isn’t working.  The story then treats us to a flashback and we learn about the Inuit passenger.  After a small family of Inuits helped him with something, they brought him back to their shelters where he was shown the girl.  Lavery was hesitant about helping her as it he suspected she had tuberculosis, a deadly disease which Lavery states that all “huskies” get because of their lifestyles.  However, after the family bribes his with a large amount of ivory, he jumps at the opportunity and takes her aboard.  Now the pilot and his passenger are stranded.  Lavery believes that he can make it all the way to a small city some hundred miles away and come back to help the Inuit girl.  As a result of his arrogance, he finds himself waking from a coma-like state days later at the tender care of Konala, the Inuit. The story follows them as Lavery hesitantly drops his heavily racist behavior and the two become one with the land as they work to survive the winter and return to civilization.

There are several noticeable differences between the book and the movie.  First, the movie starts at in Yellowknife prior to the beginning to his journey, whereas in the book he is already on the return flight from Bathurst.  Furthermore, in the movie, Bathurst was to be an additional stop which he would abandon, causing him to stray from the flight plan.  Next, I noticed several differences in the character of Charlie Lavery.  In my opinion, the manner in which the author chose to portray him made him appear older and more mature after fighting a war, however, in the movie he is displayed as a younger, fun loving person.  Additionally, in the movie, he appears much more welcoming the cold manner he held in the book.  In the movie, Lavery also makes more of an attempt of getting saved than in the book.  It also emphasizes his personal journey more.

The movie adaptation, Snow Walker, did a great job of filming the land.  Personally, I noticed how cold and harsh the land appeared prior to Konala nursing him back to health.  Afterwards, however, it looked welcoming and beautiful.  The movie also used his experience in war several times in order to make an emphasis of the “horror” he was living.

I think that text, as a storytelling medium, is more effective and powerful than film in the case of articulating the events of Walk Well, my Brother by Farley Mowat, and capturing the essence of the North. Powerful textual imagery paints a more emotionally charged of the northern landscape than wide establishing shots. For example, Mowat describes the land as place of life rather than consistent, total desolation – “the land inundated under a veritable flood of life.” The essence of the north, in my opinion, revolves around life withstanding, and working with, harsh natural elements, rather than surviving awful desolation; in this, the book does a better job of describing the north than the movie.

From a more character-based standpoint, the book also does a better job of creating a more realistic, multifaceted character. In the movie, Lavery is not as arrogant and self-absorbed as he is in the book. Through these boldly articulated characteristics, Lavery (in the short story) faces more dramatic conflicts and bigger obstacles than in the movie; he has more to overcome in order to develop an appreciation for the northern landscape. Also, in the movie, producers and directors would likely be wary of creating an extremely arrogant and off-putting protagonist; one who would be resented by the audience. The advantage of telling a story through text is that author can take more risks in realizing more unlikeable characters. This also applied to relationships in both the movie and the short story. The movie’s intention was likely to glorify Lavery and Konala’s relationship, to illicit the audience’s empathy and sympathy. However, the short story takes more risks in articulating the trials and tribulations of the two people’s relationship.

Short stories also allow for a more present narrative, wherein the author has a real presence in the story. Farley Mowat’s third person narrative consistently contrasts the north as a place of life versus a place of desolation and vast emptiness. This is not as present in the movie, where it is not as possible to contrast varying facets of the northern landscape as easily.

While the use of flashbacks in the film adaptation provides excitements, and helps to portray other aspects of Lavery, it may hinder the film – as a medium for storytelling – from capturing a sense of place in the north. In general, the lengthiness of a film – and the different settings required to make an entertaining screenplay of sufficient length – does not, in my opinion, do justice to immersing the reader in the essence of the northern landscape. The short story, however, requires efficient storytelling and productive plot development. There is no space in a short story for lengthy anecdotes or digression which takes place in different settings. By keeping the reader completely immersed in a story taking place only within a northern region, they are more likely to, in more detail, grasp its essence; its true emptiness and harshness.

In class we read a short story called Walk Well, My Brother and then watched the movie based on the text called Snow Walker. It is about a pilot who picks up an Inuit woman to take her to the hospital in exchange for two walrus tusks. Charlie Lavery , the pilot doesn’t follow his flight plan so when the plane crashes in the arctic no one knows where he is. Konala, the Inuit woman and Lavery have to survive in the arctic wilderness alone.

1. Identify three significant changes made in the film adaptation of “Walk Well my Brother” and speculate as to why they were made.

Well, this is school work. In class, we watched the movie ‘Snow Walker’ which is an adaptation of the short story ‘Walk Well, My Brother’ We were asked to answer the following question:

 Question: Write a 600 word review focusing on the success or failure of the adaptation. Which medium is more effective for capturing a sense of place, in this case the “North:

 In my opinion, this is a very good adaption to the story. It stays true to the original piece of work, while being an interesting movie, that makes you ponder many things, including how knowledgeable the Inuit must be to survive in a place that in the beginning looks so barren.

I do not think that adding backstory takes away from the plot; in fact, I think it adds another level of depth to the story.  I can see why they felt the need to add a backstory. In a book, or short story, you can keep the plot moving an interesting by spending time in your characters’ minds. You can show their opinions and their points of view right from their own heads, in some ways, it’s easier to develop a more sophisticated character. In movies, however, you can show emotion in an instant by giving the audience a flash of the character’s face. This means that the story would move much quicker.

Because the majority of the story takes place in the middle of nowhere, it would make a boring movie if they did not add sub-plot. A lot of the story also takes place in Laverney’s head, adding detail. The movie is not really from Laverney’s point of view. If we did not have the sub-plot, it would be two hours of people trudging through snow. I think the sub-plot is a necessity.

I think that both mediums, story and movie, capture a good sense of place. In books or written works, you can show more what effect the atmosphere has on the characters, where as in a movie you see it. I think that if there was a way to combine the two, it would display the tundra in its fullest detail. For example, in the movie, when Konala finds Laverny, they have him reflect on how difficult it was to get anywhere in the Tundra, how lacerated his feet had been, how cold it had been, how many insects had swarmed him. We got an account of his firsthand experience fully dimensional, showing his many hardships and emotions. In the movie, they show him going through all that, but we are not in his head. We are seeing him in pain, but we aren’t feeling him in pain. In the movie it feels like the hardships are happening to someone else, someone we don’t know. In the book it feels like we have gone along the journey with him, we can feel for him.

If I had been in charge of making this movie, I would have defiantly used the sub-plots.  I would have done many of the things that the actual makers of the movie did. However, I think I would add moments from Laverney’s head. I would show him walking, and have someone speaking from his point of view. I feel like I would have bonded more with the character if it had been more from his point of view, and with the readings, we could use actual quotes from the story.

At one point in the movie, they had Konala singing like she does in the books. But the part was very brief, If I was making the movie I would have used her singing as background music for all the parts where they are traveling.

Lotsa Love,

Hannah

In the movie adaptation there were a number of changes. Chiefly among them is that in the end of the movie Konala did not die. The whole ending was different than that of the short story, the short story ended earlier than the movie did. In the movie, there was also a subplot in Yellowknife which showed what was happening with the people who knew Charlie. This fleshed out the plot a bit more and made it a lot better. In the short story, the main characters name is Lavery, while in the movie, the main characters name is Charlie. In the movie, every now and then a white owl would appear in front of Charlie, including when he went to the end of Konala’s tracks. Owls generally symbolize wisdom. I think that this owl symbolized the knowledge and wisdom that Charlie was gaining from his experiences. The movie also ended in more of a cliffhanger and left the reader wondering what happened to Charlie. I did not like this at all. The music of the movie also helped to set the mood of the movie. A good job was done of picking music that helped set the mood as either happy or sad. I think that the movie used too many shots of the landscape and Charlie and Konala walking. It made it boring and too slow paced. Overall, the movie adaptation was not too good because it was too slow paced.

†Today, in class we watched a movie, the movie Snow Walker. It was a good movie for many reasons and aspects. This movie was based on the short story: “Walk Well, My Brother”. Although the main plot was the same there was added aspects to the plot in the movie which affected the build up to the disappearance of Konala. I think the movie was done well overall, however I think that the ending could have been more dramatic with the amount of build up which happened.†

Finally, considering all of the above, write a 600 word review focusing on the success or failure of the adaptation. Which medium is more effective for capturing a sense of place, in this case the “North”. Post to your blog.

There are polar bears all over the world. One place you might not noticed had them was in Ontario. They live on the shores of the Hudson’s Bay. A biologist named Ian Stirling has studied these polar bears longer than anyone else in the field. He says “By the middle of the century, we’re likely to have lost two thirds of the worlds polar bears.” We will soon loose all of the polar bears if we don’t do something about it TODAY! The Arctic ice has been disappearing  at a rate of 10% per decade since 1979. Since the ice is melting the polar bears are having more trouble with finding food to eat. They eat ringed seals between April and July. But the polar bears are eating them when they are young because they are easier to catch which is bad because they gain 70% of their yearly energy on in this time period. It is starting to be deadly because the polar bears aren’t getting all of that energy which makes them look for food when they are dying. Polar bears don’t lie down and die they look for other resources. The other resources include humans. Because there are only human around in where the polar bears are they end up being aggressive towards humans. Polar Bears are now being put into a polar bear jail to keep people safe. Its terrible how they are dieing and soon will be extinct. We need to preserve our north and save all of the animals that are endangered.

With the Superbowl on Sunday and my GTHL Regular Season coming to a close, I wondered how this week could possibly get any more important or intense.  However, there is a way to make this week even more special.  The Grade 9′s will be going Winter Camping up at Camp Ooch in order (I think) to get hands on experience living in “the North” as that is the unit we are just starting in ICE.

This morning we had the chance to learn about what we will be doing and reading previous ICE students blogs about the experience.  Based on these stories, I can only feel excited and optimistic about the upcoming event.  I am really looking forward to snowshoeing around the forest, being lumberjacks, using ice picks, sleeping out doors.  Essentially, I am really looking forward to everything about the journey after reading the blogs.  Furthermore, I want to play Ms. Gardner’s own sport, Boot Hockey.  Kind of like contact speed ball in the snow.

I think that this experience provides me with a lot of opportunity.  Firstly, because I am not going with my class, I think it will allow me to get to know others in 9E.  Additionally, I will get to learn basic outdoor skills, as I am not a very outdoorsy person.

So this week all in all we have a week to remember!

In just three more days, we’ll be setting our on an adventure that very few people get to experience, even those who have it practically in their backyard. Our class will be heading up north to Camp Oochigeas, in Muskoka, to learn how to survive the harsh climate of our country that we seldom have to deal with in Toronto. We’ll be camping out overnight in freezing cold temperature, cutting down trees and retrieving water from frozen rivers. We’re going to be experiencing what life was like for the early settlers and the aboriginal people, as well as learning more about the northern climate that has affected Canada as a country in a very big way.

I’ve heard from many of the students in the year ahead of me that it’s an incredible  experience that changed their outlook on Canada’s wilderness. I’m pretty nervous about going, and excited but not really looking forward to it at the same time. The part I’m probably most concerned about is sleeping in the tents and whether I’m going to be warm enough or not. I’m also a bit stressed about getting all my gear together and remembering to bring everything I need to stay comfortable and warm. Other than that, I’m mostly just excited to experience the snow and the ice with all my friends, and hopefully I’ll have a good time. It’s going to be exciting to learn about how to survive and keep warm in harsh conditions, and hopefully I’ll learn more how to benefit from the nature around me, as well as develop a new respect for it.

Winter Camping is an experience that all grade 9s go on when they go into the ICE course. In grade 9 everyone has been to Ooch is going there is not a big surprise but the difference is this time is that we are going to a tent in the forest to spend one night there. From what I have heard it is quit an experience I still do not know what to think about it. I am keeping my mind open for now but one thing i really do not like is the cold. I expect in the end it will be a fun trip but at first i think I will not like it because of the cold but I will get used to it

From February 7-9, 9C is going to Camp Oochigeas, to go Winter Camping.  We are spending one night in the cabins and one night in the tents. The tents aren’t regular camping tents, they are made out of Egyptian Cotton, especially made for winter. The first night we are going to spend in the cabins, we are going to be warm and happy. When we wake up the next day, its going to be all about “survival”. Its time to start our trek into the unknown, but not really, just a simple forest, near to civilization.

I am sort of nervous, but sort of excited, but not really excited.  I am nervous that i might die, hence the title. Everything bad always seems to happen to me, and nothing ever goes right, so I’m scared I’m g0nna mess something up and kill all of us.

I hope that this experience will be fun, and memorable. I expect that there are going to be a lot of interesting things that I have never experienced before. I think its going to be awesome cutting down trees, making fires and getting the water from the river.

I will blog after the experience.

Bye for Now.

Brownies are awesome.

From February 7-9, 9C is going to Camp Oochigeas, to go Winter Camping.  We are spending one night in the cabins and one night in the tents. The tents aren’t regular camping tents, they are made out of Egyptian Cotton, especially made for winter. The first night we are going to spend in the cabins, we are going to be warm and happy. When we wake up the next day, its going to be all about “survival”. Its time to start our trek into the unknown, but not really, just a simple forest, near to civilization.

I am sort of nervous, but sort of excited, but not really excited.  I am nervous that i might die, hence the title. Everything bad always seems to happen to me, and nothing ever goes right, so I’m scared I’m g0nna mess something up and kill all of us.

I hope that this experience will be fun, and memorable. I expect that there are going to be a lot of interesting things that I have never experienced before. I think its going to be awesome cutting down trees, making fires and getting the water from the river.

I will blog after the experience.

Bye for Now.

Brownies are awesome.

If winter camping were the moon, I would be the sun. If winter camping were blue, I would be orange. If winter camping were yin, I would be yang.

That being said, I guess there’s a chance I’ll have fun?

Next Monday night I’ll be packing my bags and double or triple checking the list of stuff I need to bring to Oochigeas, for the winter camping trip. We, as a class, are going up north on Tuesday morning to face the bitter truth: Canada is cold! We’ll spend the first night in cabins, preparing ourselves mentally for the fact that as soon as morning rolls around the next day, we will be in charge of our own survival, and that on when we come back on Thursday, we might never be the same…

The school has organized this trip for us to teach us about Canadian survival, perseverance, and how people live in the North. So far, I’ve learned that they had to wear layers, and layers of clothing, because if they didn’t, they would freeze. Some loyal Americans would joke, “Well, that’s Canada for you!”. I’ve learned that on this trip, we have to cut down trees, and get water from a river, and control fire. Not to mention, we have to pee in the woods.

I’m sure you can tell by now how I’m feeling about all this. Let’s just say, there’s a reason my family moved to Toronto and not a more northern city or town. It’s not that I totally hate this trip though, I’m just not comfortable with it. This is way outside my comfort zone. I was never the girl to go camping, or hiking. I’m sure with some effort, I could be that girl, but it wouldn’t really be me.

Some worries of mine are…:

1. I’m not sure what to wear inside the tent.

2. I don’t know how useful I’ll be cutting down trees.

3. I need to stay organized and on top of things in this new environment.

But most importantly: I DON’T HAVE ANY SHOES YET.

I will buy shoes this weekend. People might think that is a completely superficial thing to worry about, but for this trip special boots are needed, with removable insides. If I don’t have those boots, my boots will freeze and therefore, so will my feet. I really like having 10 toes, and I would like to keep it that way.

I expect I will have fun too. I like the idea of cooking over a campfire, and mixing balsam branches into water to make tea. I’m sure there’s a lot I can learn about surviving when all I have is the natural elements (and a tent, a camera, a phone, a sleeping bag, insulating clothes, a flashlight, sunglasses and a water bottle).

It’s going to be really cold. Cold, cold, cold. Like, shivering with an ax under a tree, wishing you were in charge of the fire, cold. Or as a Canadian would say, “The weather is nice here, eh?” or, “BEACH WEATHER, eh?”.

Wish me luck, I’ll need it…

Snow Walker was a great story where you can see the change of a man’s ways of life, from being forced to learn to survive in the Arctic with only a handful of supplies and an Inuit woman who doesn’t know much English. 26 year old Charley Lavery, living in the Northwest Territories, knows every part of the Arctic from Hudson Bay to the Alaska border, due to the charter jobs. After the war and multiple bombing missions over Europe, Charley is a man who believes any challenge can be dealt with, no matter how impossible it seems.

It all starts when Charley was dropping of barrels of oil at a small village of Inuit’s on an Island in the Arctic by way of piloting a war-surplus Anson. His plan was to simply drop of the barrels to these people and head back to Yellowknife with a detour on the way. But this is not how it turns out. After a couple of Inuit men from the village assist him while he rolls the barrels of oil onto the shore, one of them steps up tells him to come with him, in the best possible English he knew. At first, Charley is not sure, but eventually gives and follows the man. They want Charley to give this woman, Konala, a ride in his plane back to Yellowknife, so that she could get help because she TB. He said no though, because she was already dying. He agrees though after he’d been offered 2 walrus tusks in exchange for the transportation.

Charley and Konala start their journey back to Yellowknife, because Charley decides to skip his detour. With great surprise, the airplane “betrayed” his trust and crashed on a deserted island somewhere off coast of where people would look for him, when realizing he hadn’t come back yet. Charley was at first frustrated with anger in the choice of taking Konala with him. He stormed out of the plane, takes his anger out by yelling at her and the emptiness around them, but starts to set himself up to survive. He tells Konala he’s going to try and find a way to get back, even though Konala may not have understood, and says he will send help when he can get some for himself. He ends up passing out and is found by Konala who had followed after him. She helps him and makes sure he gets better. They survive together, while Charley learns her people’s ways and is astonished by its use. They hunted for food, shelter, and weapons and found anything else that helped. At the end of the story though, Konala dies, leaving Charley to only remember her and remember what she’d taught him.

There definitely many changes from the short story and the movie. A few of them were major and there were some that were minor. I think the story explains much about how he feels. It goes into the details, helping the readers to imagine it in their own mind. At the same time though, the story leaves out a lot of what was in the movie. The movie is an entertaining way of helping us understand the story. In my opinion, the movie was better, because it gave me a sense of what was really happening in the story, because sometimes the story could be a bit difficult to understand.

Some of the bigger changes would be more like scenes while smaller changes would be just adding in more details which the story didn’t tell us. For example, it doesn’t tell us in the story that the first couple scenes started in a bar. Also, the overall movie makes Charley seem much more kind and sympathetic towards Konala. When I read the story, I imagined him talking in more of a rough tone the whole time. There’s also a scene, after Charley gets better and just before Konala gets worse, where they are both being pestered by a bear, but it eventually leaves. In the movie, this scene doesn’t exist. It’s a scene of them hunting caribou.

So as you can see, there are differences throughout the book. I think the movie was changed up, first of all, to make it last longer and flow at a slower pace than the short story and to give the viewers a more detailed image of what’s trying to be portrayed in the story. I think they were successful changes because they helped me understand what was going on in the story, while also being entertaining and not all in one clump. The movie was spaced out. The overall idea of the story was great either way it was presented and I’d recommend it to anyone willing to watch or read the story,  because it’s really good in my perspective.

As the week of winter camping, slowly approaches, the class of 1215 (grade 9) starts to wonder: What will happen next? Will we enjoy it? What will we do? How will we stay warm? Well, for the moment, all we can do is guess, so here is my guess.

I think that we will probably be spending the first day (in Balsam) learning all of the skill that are necessary. Such as snowshoeing, cutting down trees, building a fire and keeping warm. Then we will head out into the unknown to test our skills and hope that we had brought the right clothes. Although some might wonder, why we are doing this, I feel that the answer is not to difficult to get. We are doing this to learn through experiences, what the Gold Rush must have felt like and to develop a bond with the other members of our class.

Like everyone, I have feelings and specific ones ones for the newest adventure. For the most part I am excited, but nervous as well. I am mostly excited to try something new, because although I have been camping before, I have never done it in the winter. But I think that over all it will be fun.

Many things will probably be gained from this experience, but they will be different for every one. For me, I think that I will gain a friendship with my class members, as well as an experience that I will not have had before. Think that, after this experience we will all be better at working together, and will have a happy, shared experience to remember ever after.
 

On February 7, 2012, the grade nines of The York School will bus over to camp Oochigeas for an overnight winter camping trip. The first night, we will stay in a cabin while preparing to venture out into the forest to where tents await us. We’ll be given different tasks during the process so that everyone helps out. That night, we will sleep in the tents. Of what I’ve heard, we’ll be fetching water from the frozen lake, helping cook and making sure everything is nice in the tent. As well as all of this, we’ll be playing games and learning about the environment and how to survive in such cold weather out in the woods.

I’m feeling pretty good about this winter camping trip. I’m sure the weather won’t be too cold, but if so, I know that I’ve prepared all the right things so that I will be comfortable enough to enjoy the experience. It sounds like a lot of fun, while also learning how to cope with the natural environment around us. I’ve also done a dog sledding/winter camping journey with the school a couple of years ago, and I was fine, apart from when the dogs and sled ran over me. We did most of the things described that we’ll be doing for this winter camping trip. Fetching pails of water, getting chances to help cook, cutting down trees and chopping up firewood and of course many other small things that could help.

So I don’t think that the dog sledding trip and this winter camping trip will be very different, apart from the fact that there won’t be any dog sledding on this one. I really enjoyed the last winter camping experience, so I hope that I will enjoy this one as well. It also seems like a fun thing to try around a week after we finished our first set of exams. I’ll most likely learn a lot from this experience and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

In four days, my class will be boarding a bus to Camp Oochigeas, three hours North of Toronto, for a very memorable two-night stay.  Even though most of us have been to Ooch many times, this trip will be very different, as we are spending the last night there in a tent, in the middle of the wilderness. Well, not quite, but that sounds better than a couple miles from the cabins. Some of us, who were at York in Grade 8 have experienced the Oochigeas winters, as we stayed three nights there last year, during a huge snowstorm, big enough to make York give their students a snow day. It was cold and there were many complaints about wet clothing and such, so I can only imagine how it will turn out this year.

I do think that the trip will give a lot of perspective about the wilderness and about Canadian winters. Because Canada is known for having extremely cold winters, this definitely relates to the ICE experience, as we can learn about how the different generations of Canadians coped with the extreme weather and freezing temperatures.

Because I have had some experience with camping at this time of the year, going dog sledding in late February for the past three years, I am really excited to go. I feel that if I pack well enough and keep a positive attitude, I will have a great time and I hope that my classmates do as well.

I think that from what I have read from the Grade 9′s last year, one of the major things that I will gain from the experience is the appreciation of silence. Some of the students who are now in Grade 10, described on their blogs a night walk they took winter camping last year, when they were told to sit alone for fifteen minutes to just listen. They all said that they had really enjoyed hearing the sounds of nature around them while the class was quiet, because in the city, the noise never stops. I am really looking forward to having the same sort of experience and gaining that same appreciation.

I hope I survive, wish me luck!

Bye.

In a few days I will be going winter camping in Muskoka Ontario with my Grade 9 class. The class will be split into two co-ed tents and we will do winter activities during the day. The reason this experience is in our school curriculum is because we are now studying the North and we would like to know what it feels like to be someone who lives in the North. Unlike some people in my class I do not feel nervous or scared to go on this journey because I have experience of living in the woods from my week long canoe trips at camp. Even though this is a winter camping experience its only for one night so it shouldn’t be much of a challenge to me. I expect the class will become closer on this experience, people will make new friends and probably new enemies. I hope everything goes well and everyone comes back home safely.

Three days to go and it feels like we still have a couple months. Next week is going to be a wacky week as all three ICE classes will be going to Camp Oochigeas to experience the feeling of living in the wilderness. The catch? There will be snow on the ground, the temperature below zero and we’ll be sleeping in tents. We get to chop down trees for a fire and collect water from the river.

From what I’ve heard, it is a wonderful experience and you learn lots about yourself and nature. It’s so different from the usual city life and a regret if you don’t go. Most people are going into this trip thinking that it will be really bad. But I think that it will be fun if you make it fun. Frankly, I’m quite excited for the camping, but of course, nervous as well. We haven’t found out our tent groups yet, but it affects your experience in a way.

I haven’t actually thought about the trip very much but I think I will enjoy. It will be very different and interesting but you’ve got to take risks to have fun! The prep for the trip (aka packing) will be the hardest for me. But I don’t know what else to expect so I’ll just wait and see!

in a few days my grade is going to go winter camping this  is just like a canoe trip but in the winter time when it is freezing cold.  we will be split up into groups and then we will stay in small tents.  there well be a grill and a fire pit so we can cook our own food.  we will have to cut down trees to get our own wood.  and go into the lake and boil water for clean water.  at first the trip to me sounded not that interesting and not that fun.  as i heard more and more about it i slowly am becoming to like the trip.   i hop that the trip will be fun and that i will not end up soaking wet and freezing cold.  but i am Canadian so i think i can deal with the cold part

In recent news Newfoundland  and Labrador is experiencing an unprecedented economic boom. Your usually people leave because lack of jobs but now that’s opposite. Now because of the unexpected boom they need more people to do them. Like in Alberta when it exploded with oil in the Alberta sand pits, and now its  happening in deer lake and western Newfoundland.“For years we’ve had people leaving the province because of too few jobs,” says Richard Alexander,” executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers’ Council.”“All of a sudden there’s been a switch and we’re entering an area where we have excess jobs and too few people to fill those jobs.” Lots of money have been put into the project. The Government warned that the labour shortage could hurt their economy.

But this shortage of workers really delays there project. The company’s need more people to help them finish the job so to attract peoples attention they increase the wages to bring people back to Newfoundland, slowly fixing there labour problem.  But it harms small businesses.  ” The province of yore is morphing into something else, he says: a dynamic modern economy—even if it’s sometimes tough to find people to pour coffee.” But even though its going to bring a lot of money especially the high demand for oil, it will just ruin the land and as soon as the oil is gone the will leave with nothing behind.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/31/to-have-and-have-not/

In recent news an Executive Italian  cruise ship capsized. People in Tuscany blame ‘human error’ to be the true problem to the captain for grounding off the vessel. There was 4,200 people on board. Only six bodies have been found.  The owner of the boat saw that his share price dropped by a fifth.  Police have the caption under  suspected manslaughter the court session will be held on Sunday. The investagatror will also be looking at if the captain really abandoned ship before all the passengers were safely off the boat. According to the navigation law captains who abandon ship before the passenger might be faced 12 years in jail.

But according to the captain he was not the last to leave he did everything that could possibly do to save live and proclaims that he was the last to leave the boat. But knowing that the rescue team raced to try and find more survivors. The survivors was there top priority. Many family told authorities that they didn’t here from there family member yet.  The rescue teams believe there might be some bodies still in the ship. So far there is 16 members uncounted for.  They believed that there were some air pockets still in the ship and somehow the survivors found them. During the search the waves in the ocean started to become dangerous and now there were

The call first came in on the early morning of June 30th 2009 to the Kingston, Ontario police.  They (Police) had no way of knowing that there were the bodies of three sisters and their father’s first polygamous wife, the victims of an elaborately planned but clumsily executed “honour killing,” the details of which would soon shock people across the country. It didn’t take long for the Kingston police to become suspicious after finding four bodies with a few bruises.   Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, were each found guilty Sunday, January 29, 2012, of four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths.  They killed their three daughters and his second wife.   The killers all have life sentences with a 25 year  parole.   The “honour killing” label would come later, as detectives talked to family, friends, boyfriends, social workers and school authorities, and finally as they listened to the rants straight from Shafia’s mouth, placing the value of his honour higher than the value of his daughters’ lives.  The eldest daughter, Zainab, had married her Indian boyfriend of whom her parents did not approve, the middle daughter, Sahar, was wearing clothing too revealing for them and the youngest daughter Geeti was have troubles involving school.   His second wife, was their advocate.

The case became a sudden death investigation that fell under the coroner’s authority, and police officers began to collect information at the scene, including pieces of broken head light that would soon become the key to the whole case.  They had defended said their eldest daughter Zainab had taken the car keys and must have taken her sisters and second mother for a joy ride that somehow turned tragic.    While police were taking statements from Mohammad Shafia, the father,  his wife Tooba Yahya and their son 21 year old sun, Hamed — the police had found a Farsi interpreter to help with the parents’ interviews.   The Nissan Sentra was being hoisted out of the canal, and some of what police found didn’t quite fit with the accident scenario.  The car’s ignition and lights were off and it was in first gear with the front seats reclined all the way back and the driver’s window open. The findings weren’t initially indicative of murder, but they were suspicious.  The angle of the seats would make it nearly impossible to drive, and it certainly wouldn’t have been comfortable. Even an inexperienced driver would know they should have the gear shift in D for drive. In addition all indications were the car fell into the water in the middle of the night.  One obvious clue was the front light of Mohammad’s car matched the dent in the late girls rear light.

What do you think of this honour killing?  Honour is used because the accused killers said that the way the women were behaving were dishonorable to the family and religion.  The father is quoted saying “may the devil sh*t on their graves”.

The Canadian Federation of Students believes that reducing the tuition fees is one of the least effective ways to increase the accessibility to universities. They also point out that it is one of the most expensive ways.  Students who have families that have a high income  have a better chance at getting in to  university.  Out of the top half of those, the top quarter has almost twice as much of a chance of getting into a university than the bottom quarter. The students of families who have a low income have a very small chance of getting into university.

The tuition doesn’t even count for half of  the sum of money spent when going to university.  Financial concerns only count for 12 percent of the gap between people from the high and low income families.  The Université de Sherbrooke  in Quebec  said that if they took away tuition fees the enrollment would only increase by 7. 8% . Many people say  argue saying that tuition cuts only helps the rich and really don’t make a difference.  Citizens also remind others that even if universities get rid of the tuition fee the students still have to pay for other necessities such as text books.

Will tuition cuts work or fail?

John Russel Baird is a Canadian politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He had previous political servings before he becomes the Prime minister of Foreign Affairs.He had held the posts of Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, minister of the Environment, and President   of the Treasury Board.  He was a provincial politician serving in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 19915 to 2005 and a cabinet minister serving as the Minister of Children. Community and Social services, energy and Francophone Affairs in addition to being the Government’s Chief Whip

Minister John Baird is known as known as a free straight talking man. He said to the globe and mail newspaper “There’s no mistaking where i stand.” Baird and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty were touring Israel and the West Bank. On Monday January the 30th, the both ministers met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and other Palestinian officials, where they expressed Canada’s opposition to their offer for respect as a powerful state in the UN. Baird replied “profoundly wrong.”  John Baird also was in support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling the Palestinian leadership he believes they should return to peace discussions with Israeli leaders without any conditions. For months, Palestinian leaders have refused to hold direct talks aiming to the construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. According to the organization Peace Now Israel, the rate of settlement construction in the West Bank jumped 20 per cent in 2011. Baird said on Monday for the globe and mail newspaper that “Whether it is rockets raining down on Israeli schools, or the constant barrage of rhetorical demonization, double standards and delegitimization, Israel is under attack.” He went on to border Canada’s clear support for Israel as a brave move that flies in the face of main anti-Israeli feeling among the international community. Minister John Baird goal now is to make Canada  as one of the world’s most unbending supporters of the Israeli government.

Mayor Rob Ford is trying to regain more power in the city council. He thought that he would have a lot of power becoming mayor of Toronto. He was wrong he barely has any power in the house council. Rob Ford does not have full power over Toronto. He is the “Persuader in Chief” says Marcus Gee from the Globe and Mail. He gets to have a say but not all of the time put his thoughts to force. Hes made mistakes with cutting programs and restarting them when they were almost going to happen. In resent years he cut a program for the TTC and wants to start one, once again. One of Toronto worst problems is that we need more transit systems. Mayor Rob Ford will soon have to make one of his biggest decisions with how he will be using the money that was donated by Queens Park. Mayor Rob Ford was given 8 billion dollars for the transit system. Now all he has to do is decide what to use it on. It is not only Rob Ford who gets to decide what he shall do with the money, the city council gets to have a say. It is not one man who will be deciding what our future transit system will be like its many people deciding and disusing with one another. One plan that he decided to cancel was the Transit City light rain plan. He canceled it without the city council and as mayor he did not have the right to make that decision. Rob Ford has made many mistakes in the past and now it is his time to correct them if he wants to remain mayor.

Hello,

The movie Snow Walker is an adaptation from the book Walk Well, My Brother which is the story of a pilot named Charlie Lavery who was in the war and his struggle to survive after he crashes his plane in the Arctic Tundra. The story begins when Charlie is flying to drop off oil drums (an oil cache – so they would not have to fly back to refuel on a future flight) when he comes across an Inuit family with a sick daughter named Konala. They convince Charlie to fly her to the hospital in Yellowknife when he crashes after he goes off route. At first, Charlie was very rude to Konala and tried to abandon her to find the nearest town. Konala was surprised to find Charlie lying unconscious with many bug bites and a few broken bones. As Konala nursed Charlie back to health and his strength grew, so did his respect for Konala. In the end of the story, Konala’s health was getting worse and Charlie was taking care of her. In the end, Konala passes away with her final words to Charlie, “Walk well, my brother”. Finally, after a while of walking alone, Charlie finds another Inuit family in the Tundra.

From the book to the movie, there are some distinct differences that add different effects to the story. First, one of the major differences is that the story starts in Yellowknife in the movie, however in the book; the story starts with Charlie’s first flight.  One of the reasons that they might have wanted to do this is to get a feel for the character of Charlie Lavery before he goes into the tundra. It shows that, right from the beginning, Charlie is not a pleasant person. The reason one would want to have this affect is so you can see the contrast be Charlie when he was mean and rude to Konala, and when he became nice and sympathetic towards her. I feel that this worked well in the movie and added another level to the story to make Charlie more likable at the end of the story, compared to the beginning. It also allows the viewer to grow to like Konala and feel more sympathetic towards her. Another difference is in the movie, they refer to Charlie Lavery as Charlie and in the book; he is called Lavery. This is done because in the movie, they want his character to me more likable and in the book; the author makes his character more of an antagonist and more disliked by the reader. I feel that this worked well in the book and movie to change the reader’s view of Charlie Lavery to create a different feel for both the movie and the book. The third and final major difference between the book and the movie is when Charlie is lost; in the movie they mention and show the search plane for Charlie. This is another example of in the movie, the director trying to get the Charlie character to be more liked. I feel that they were successful in the movie because they had a very big effort to find Charlie because there were many people back home that wanted him to come home. They were successful in doing this. For all of these differences mentioned above, the purpose is to get the main character to be liked in the more liked for the audience of the movie. This is because the director thought that in the book, Charlie was portrayed as a mean and rude character; the director wanted to change this to make his character liked by the audience and make him more of a protagonist as opposed to an antagonist. While making the character more liked, it added a more positive affect to the book making the audience happier in the end when Charlie is ‘saved.’

Finally, there are many differences in the literary and visual devices changed the way Snow Walker was portrayed as opposed to Walk Well, My Brother. First of all, in the book, the descriptive diction added to the story in major ways. This diction clearly showed the feelings of Lavery towards Konala right from the beginning of the story. An example of this is in the beginning. The book started with Charlie in the plane and it seemed like he was flying alone. When he crashed, that is when it first mentioned that there was a woman in the plane with him. This showed that Charlie clearly thought he was better than Konala and was not fond of the idea of taking her. This was also shown in the way that words used to describe her in the story. This added to the story in a way that made the reader feel more sympathetic towards Konala. In the movie, one of the main visual devices that I found was interesting was the birds. When Charlie finally grew to not dislike Konala anymore and Konala finally thought it was fine for her to start to talk to him and help him, there was a white owl. Throughout the movie, when Charlie took another step to like Konala, the white owl appeared again. Once they reached the plane and for the brief moment, Charlie was mean again, there was a black crow and once it was fixed, the white owl came back. Once Konala died, the white owl was sitting on a ledge (this was the final time we saw the owl). This had an effect that emphasized the tone of the situation.

All in all, I believe that the movie adaptation of the book Walk Well, My Brother was successful and interesting version of the book.

Until Next Time,

mvalentine15

This Sunday afternoon the fate was decided of the Shafia family members who were convicted for first degree murder 31 months ago.  Mohammad Shafia, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and Hamed Shafia were charged with the murder of their family members: three daughters (sisters to Tooba Yahya) and the stepmother of these young girls.  On June 30, 2009, the family’s second-hand Nissan Sentra was found submerged in a lock at Kingston Mills.  It was later discovered that four people were floating inside.  The murder had been planned by the family members – there had even been evidence to see they that had searched on the internet subjects as “where to commit murder” and sought out for the perfect location.  They succeeded in their horrific goal, but now must face 25 years in prison before eligibility for parole.

“If we remain alive one night or one year, we have no tension in our hearts, (thinking that) our daughter is in the arms of this or that boy, in the arms of this or that man.  God curse their graduation!  Curse of God on both of them, on their kind.  God’s curses on them for a generation,” could be heard from the screaming mouth of Shafia.  It was an honour killing – the father, mother and brother of the girls felt they the victims were destroying the Shafia name and reputation.  In the case of Shafia’s first wife, she was completely despised by Hamed Shafia.  This disgusting killing seems like the most “honourless” thing of all.  The Afghani family believed in the domination and control of woman – a notion which should not belong in modern society.  To Shafia, if a man cannot control his own household, and especially if he cannot control the female members, he cannot be trusted for any other matters.  His daughters had disobeyed him and his “honour,” the family’s honour, and the situation could only be handled by the shedding of blood.  The young girls (only thirteen, seventeen, and eighteen) yearned for more freedom and wanted to have the same privileges as their Canadian peers.  Inside their house was the most disturbing of chaos, and the girls had reported abuse to their teachers and police.  Zainab had run away to a woman’s shelter, Sahar had tried to kill herself after an argument with Tooba, and Geeti had requested to be sent to a foster home.  The girls reportedly wore provocative dress wear and the eldest daughters had secret boyfriends, all things completely against their family’s values.  But enough to be killed?  Absolutely not.

Unfortunately, honour killings are not uncommon around the world.  As many as 5,000 women and girls are murdered every year under these circumstances according to a 2000 United Nations Population Fund report.  The take place primarily in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of South Asia.  But don’t be mistaken – there have been numerous reports from America and Canada alone.  The scary part is, though, that in many of these countries, the honour killings are excused or given light sentences since the family’s “dishonour” is taken into account.  How can any society today, any court of law from any country around the world, actually excuse the slaughter of women for breaking or even coming close to breaking the barriers of domination men swarm around them.  How can something so heinous, gruesome, and shameful be justified?

Here in Canada, these honour killings are not taken lightly at all.  Even so, in all courts in our country, every defendant, no matter how disgustingly guilty, has the right to a fair trial which was what the murders got.  Yet, justice was brought to light and the killers were sent to their cells where they belong.  It really was a huge wake-up call for our entire nation and we have banded together with other countries, where this grotesque slaughter is taking place, to say “never again.”  A sad aspect is that the daughters and Shafia’s first wife, did receive threats from the family before but did not know where to run.  It is our duty as a country to create an environment where women and girls have the knowledge they need to get help when they need it the most.  They did try desperately to talk to officials, such as school counselors, yet these individuals did not grasp the extent of their peril.   Canadian authorities are currently brainstorming ways to address situations like these in the future and make sure that what happened to these women and girls will never take place again.