Professor Obama

Like many yesterday, I took the time to watch inauguration ceremonies.

The location: From the seat of my Magazine Journalism class. For me, it seemed different not sitting @ home watching something like this, rather @ school. But I don't think it's that unusual nowadays that technology has allowed us access to pretty much whatever we want, wherever we are.

Nonetheless, our entire class was fixated towards the overhead screen at the front of the class and with several others were right outside our class watching off an even bigger screen in the main atrium of the HP Campus @ Centennial College. Having President Obama in a sense "give us lecture" with his inauguration speech was fun to watch.

Things that stood out from yesterday's proceedings:

1) Rick Warren reciting the Shema: Talk about catching me off guard... I was sitting @ my desk working on an in-class assignment meanwhile the CNN feed is being shown on the overhead because our Prof wanted to watch it. I wasn't constantly watching, but I heard everything loud and clear. All of sudden I hear the words "Hear O Israel..." and I'm thinking What? I turn to look and yes indeed, Rick Warren was reciting the Shema. For those who don't know, the Shema is the most important verse in Judaism. Written in the Torah, it's recitation represents a fulfilment of the paramount commandment of acceptance of G-d's absolute sovereignty (Artscroll Siddur). Good for Warren, who's also a pastor, for reciting the holy words. Jews all around the world watching must have felt special @ that moment...

2) Wow did Chief Justice John Roberts screw up reciting the words for Obama during the swearing in. He said way too much for him to repeat afterwards and spoke way to fast. To be honest, Obama did look a little nervous. And @ one point I actually thought he said one of the words wrong... And every time I watched a replay on the news, you didn't hear the mistakes, rather a quick snippet of Obama reciting a line or two. Wonder if anyone else noticed it?

3) My mom asked this one: "What if Obama has to go to the washroom?"
It's not like he can't go during the speeches, parades, balls, or whatever event that requires him to be on television. They probably snuck him out in between proceedings.

4) How much bloody coverage Michelle Obama's dresses get: Okay, I maybe conservative in this case but honestly, is it really that important to know every single detail about the clothes worn by the First Lady? Maybe it's because I'm a guy too... At one point when discussing the dress, I actually learned something interesting about the dress - it had to do with the tradition of these balls and the likeness of Michelle Obama towards Jackie Kennedy and what they both symbolize to the American public. Fine. But they still went overboard with the coverage...

5) The balls: 10 Balls? He had to go to 10? And dance @ them all? The same dance? Talk about patience... It's actually quite admirable to see someone who genuinely seems to enjoy and care about all the places and things he saw and heard. Must be gratitude. Michelle Obama on the other hand... you could tell her attention span was dwindling @ times...

6) CNN's Live Feed + Facebook Statuses: How cool was that? In addition to watching the inauguration, you could also check your friend's Facebook statuses too. In fact, most of them were probably watching the inauguration the same way you were too. I was very impressed.

So January 20th, will be a day history will never forget.
They better not forget it. I had my Bar Mitzvah on January 20th (2001).

Tevy @ Centennial Journalism’s Weblog (and some shout outs)

One of our professors made a blog for our journalism class @ Centennial college. As "Centennial Journalism's Weblog," it's got a ton of articles written by myself and my fellow classmates. It also has pictures :)
http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/

Check out a feature I wrote on kosher food @ the Royal Winter Fair back in October:
http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/kosher-on-display-at-the-royal-winter-fair/

Also, check out a profile that was done on yours truly by a fellow journalism student at Centennial College. It's a work of art! I had tears... tears of joy
http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/tevy-pilc-profile/


Enjoy reading! And while I'm at it (it being publicizing myself, something I don't like doing), I'll shift the focus off myself to others with a few shout outs.

One.... (he gets first dibs cause he just told me he's reading the blog) to Ed Abramovitz on his recent engagement to Michelle Rosen, and for simply being an awesome person

Two.... To Aaron Samole and Sarah Shainhouse on their marriage that took place a few hours ago! What a great night! Mazel Tov! (And let me make a quick note on something, when you say on faceboook you're attending an event, ATTEND IT!! No one likes a no show) Regardless, t'was a great night for all who attended

Three... To Celeste De Muelenaere. Not only because she's a fellow Centennial Journalism student, but it was her birthday yesterday too (and I probably missed a party:(

Four... To Heshy Freid and his FrumSatire.net website. When I found this, I was so happy to see that someone made a blog or some sort of collection of thoughts and writings of this calibre and particular topic of interest. I've always wanted to do something like that since leaving yeshiva but didn't feel like the right person to do so. Glad to see that someone took advantage of a great opportunity and did it well so successfully (I even plugged it to a guy I met at the wedding I went to last night, thinking he'd get a kick out of it). And a belated happy birthday as well! And... If I may suggest for a new topic (if you end up reading this), I know you've done several wedding posts but how bout a list of all the dances you see @ frum weddings. we're talking line dances, putting the chasan and kalla on top of a table and pray to G-d the group of guys don't let go and drop the table. Oh, and to answer your survey: Mamma Leah's (I've got old Ner connections)

Five... To Talia Shmuel who recentely wrote this fantastic piece: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1005647196410&f=1&e=0#/note.php?note_id=53184044055 OR here http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=28125113&ref=profile (it's my profile, but there's a link there too)

New Feautures in Town

The Mayor of TevyTown has decided to introduce a few new features to town. They could come around here or there, one a week, when I feel like it; they're just a few things I wanna get out in the open. Fun stuff, check em' out.

Life and What Life Shoud be
An on going entry about Judaism vs. the world around me. How I'm dealing with things around me, current things going on etc. "A little bit of Torah amongst the craziness."

Flashback Freeze
Let's go back in time and talk about something that happened to myself that's worth talking about around, include why it's relevant (duh).

This Day in Yeshiva History
Citing journal entries, we go back to the greatest year of my life and find out what I was doing @ that time. A space for nostalgia, inspiration... something to feel good about.

Week/Month in Review
What the title says. I'll do my best to post these on either Fridays, Sundays or Mondays. If I miss those dates then I'll make it up on Tuesday or Thursday. If it isn't something substantial to give it its own own post, it'll wind up here.

Now enjoy the next two entries...

And a very happy birthday to my dad, Zev who turned 50 last week!!

Sympathy for York Students (a 1st for me)

Thursday night for some people means the weekend is soon to begin and it's time for a small break before getting back to work again (not for me this year). However, for students at York University, that break began a little more than two weeks ago and may not end for a long time... The union representing the faculty, teacher's assistants, and a bunch of other groups decided to go on strike.

Yep, Canada's 4th biggest University is on strike. YU North is out for business.

Two reactions came to mind when I heard about this. At first I was actually happy. No, its not because I'm a U of T student, which by default requires me to dislike York, I simply don't like York. It's not a vendetta either. Something bothers me about that school. Now, I've never spent a great amount of time there, so I may be biased but hear me out. I've got quite a few friends who go to York - according to Facebook it's actually 89 - but who's counting? For the most part, York is usually the primary option for those who've gone to yeshiva or seminary for a year or two in Israel once they come back to Toronto (that's a relative "once" because you never know what a year in Israel can do to you). I find that most people take a very passive approach towards deciding what they'll be doing @ York (not university) but rather it's expected that they'll be at York. It's viewed as the quickest option to get a university education, for the pure sake of making a living, so that you can get out of there quickly and start doing something else like making a living, or get married or anything else someone finds intriguing (like going back to Israel).

I have no problem how people choose to make use of their time and money when it comes to university. There's nothing wrong with what I mentioned above

But doing that wasn't my primary option, it was actually my last. I chose going to U of T (Scarborough nonetheless) because I was enticed by the program as well as the challenge. That being the case, it kind of upsets me when I hear about all the things that make York so accessible. These are things like:

*Closeness to home
*Cheaper tuition and transit rates and travel times/ways to get to and from school (not having to take more than one transit system)
*An active Jewish student community + atmosphere Better class times (especially when it comes to setting up a learning schedule elsewhere)
*No school because of Holidays (not anymore though)
*Credits from Israel (you just had the easiest year of your university life, and didn't miss a beat!)

Hey York people, correct me if I've made a mistake!?

Back in the day, I would've settled for less because it was more convenient (See Westmount>CHAT for high school, though I don't regret it.) But being in Israel taught me the values of learning things the hard way and where to benefit from it. I appreciate what I get out of traveling 45 minutes in the morning and an 1hour or so at night to and from Scarberia. So even though York students are off school now and have a lot of free time to what they please and here I am swimming in a sea of work, for the long run it'll work out for me. I wouldn't want to lose my winter break or summer. Or worse, lose out on the value of a good education. (especially when it's tearing a hole in your wallet.) There's my sympathy.... have fun making up the time you've lost So I wish the best to York students. And even though your not in school now, appreciate what you have - what I've mentioned above. It could be worse. You could be going to school in Scarborough ;)

I googled "york university strike" and this is what came up. Ha! And it was from the YRT!! (York Region Transit- the worst transit system in the world - a post for another time)



** I'll save the university/yeshiva story for another time

The values of hard work - journalism style!

Life can get pretty hectic. Nowadays I'm trying to find time that isn't. But I like hectic. It means you're actually getting off your tuchus and doing something (or should I say many things). It's certainly a lot better than sitting around and doing nothing.

So far I've gotten a nice taste of life = hectic with the journalism program. I don't really realize until after I've done the work that I've just exhausted myself and that the robot in me needs to recharge. The work is tough but I enjoy it. The Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) teach us that one should build an appreciation for work - a strong work ethic - no matter what the toil may be. So I do my best to weather the storm...

A lot has happened recently:

Last Thursday (October 30th), our class got to visit Toronto headquarters of the Canadian Press, or as my prof calls them : "Canadian media royalty." Two words come to mind from this trip:
Fascinating & Overwhelming.

Why fascinating? Whatever your occupation/niche/favourite hobby may be, imagine getting the chance to go visit the top producer/performer/institution of that field. Or just picture how excited the class nerd might feel when told his class was going on a field trip to the science centre/observatory (he'll need two big puffs of his inhaler just to regain normal breathing). That's kind of how it was for me. I was pretty psyched to go. Well maybe I'm over-exaggerating but as a wannabe journlalist, it was very cool to go see an all-out, top of the line newsroom. Next time I'll make sure I go to the washroom before the tour begins so I can actually give 100%, 100% of the time ;)

Overwhelming? Try this: While walking around the newsroom, my imaging professor pointed out the shower to us. That's right, the shower. These people work so hard that sometimes so much time flies by that you gotta freshen up @ some point. I wonder where they keep the cots? Beds would take up too much space and money.
I guess my point is that it seems like work is life to the people who work there. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was afraid of that notion. Then again, asides from putting money on the table (which I will soon make very clear in a later post IS NOT the ends to the work I do, its just another means to a greater goal), here's a setting where people have honed their skills to the point where they are capable of handling the over-bearing levels of work. And certainly they wouldn't be working there unless they didn't enjoy it (another important life lesson). Seeing those kind of qualities is something I can look at, admire and aspire to be able to maintain that kind of work ethic one day, G-d willing.

Speaking of working because they like it, that's exactly what award-winning reporter Dave Seglins said when he visited our class this past tuesday (November 4). Seglins is currently the anchor of the CBC Radio 1 national news program entitled, The World this Weekend, which airs every saturday and sunday night between 6-7pm. In the midst of our unit on covering crime and police, Seglins took the time to talk to us about some of the characteristics of that field and shared some of his own endeavours as well. I really got a lot of when he talked about some of the methods he used to get stories, such as word of mouth and following trends, which could eventually lead to massive stories. Take this one for example, he notices a recent trend that a certain type of car has been stolen frequentley over a certain type of time. Upon further investigation, the trend leads them to a huge scoop about a massive auto theft ring (front page material!!). It was of great benefit to hear from a pro and get an idea of how he gathers info and puts stories together.
That's Dave Seglins speaking to our class. See that head in the bottom right corner? C'est moi!

In the upcoming posts, I'll be talking about:
- a university I don't like, yet can't help but feel bad for (we'll see about that after tonight...)
- my first crime report - the actual report, and the cool story of how it landed in my lap
- everyone's new favourite person (or at least america's): Barack Obama (and some election editorial)

Class dismissed, time for recess!

Holidays + Work + Tevy = The Wrong Perspective

It's been a full week since the holidays finished (with the exception of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan- the beginning of the month of Cheshvan from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon) and things seem to be back to normal, whatever normal may be. Whether its school, work or whatever one spends their time usually doing, the routine is back in full swing.

From my perspective, I've finally caught up from missing 7 days of holidays over the past month. During that span of time I've had to make up 3 big assignments, cram for a test, and deal with the craziness of that Canadian election. I'll admit it's been tough trying to manage my time accordingly and give proper focus to the work amidst the holiday rush but I try my best not to complain. I shouldn't have to make excuses (or even call the holidays as excuses) for getting my work done efficiently and submitted on time.

But something occurred to me as the final holiday, Simchat Torah, was coming to an end. It was a realization that the holidays were finally over. Even though I had a mountain of work to do once I got home, I took some time to reflect over this year's holiday experience. Of course it was meaningful and full of joy, but I felt like I could've done more.
More as in:
- time spent preparing for the holidays, such as learning customs and helping out the family
- time spent getting work out of the way so it wouldn't impede on properly preparing and observing the holidays.

I could say more, but I think you get the picture. As much as I didn't want it to be this way, I couldn't help but have the idea that it was the holidays getting in the way of work and everything else I needed to take care of. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE OPPOSITE!

My work got in the way of the holidays -that's the right perspective to have. Though I know he takes care of me, I should have amped up my trust in G-d, especially during these times. And he did take care of me. More than I than I know it and more than I expected (though I shouldn't expect it).

I think everyone can learn from this concept regardless of the situation. We need to get our priorities straight when rationalizing our time and resources, and by doing so, we can get more done and appreciate more of what's around us.

In the meantime, stay tuned for some of things that I actually had to deal with during that span of time, such as my interview and experience with recently elected Member of Parliament for Thornhill, Peter Kent - who as yesterday was also named Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Cabinet as Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas). Let's hop he can still keep to his commitments in Thornhill in addition to his new responsibilities in Thornhill.

(and of course whatever is going on now)