War on the People

By: Brendan Chan, Grade 11

Our society exists in a world where money is everything. Business is everything – this is a world where presidents and CEO’s provide our country with the life we all enjoy. In other words, ours is a society where Friedman’s belief of the global free trade system has been entrenched into our minds; but it wasn’t easy. Although Milton Friedman won a Nobel Prize in economics, his capitalistic ideas weren’t an easy concept to pass, especially since he lived during a time of nationalization. Eventually, Friedman had his way, and his ideas evolved into our current free trade system, where almost everything is owned by a private company. This rise of capitalism is how Friedman created an economic miracle. Yet the majority of people didn’t know the terrible and shocking truth that was the result of Friedman’s ideas.

Milton was a man who believed that having restrictions on companies only slowed them down and didn’t bring out the full potential of the profits that could be made; he had to change how people thought. He did this by using what the CIA calls “cleaning the slate,” or in other words, emptying a person’s mind. As a result of ‘cleaning the slate’, Friedman could fill vulnerable minds with his ideas.

Generation Me

By: Brendan Chan, Grade 11

Over many generations, people have changed in the same way as animals. We adapt to our new surroundings and learn our manners/behaviours from our parents. Today, a major problem exists. To put it simply, our manners have disappeared. As a result, people have become selfish and in a world that needs more help than ever, selfishness is not the solution.

To begin, as teenagers, we feel we need certain things such as computers, cell phones, and video games. Living in this increasingly changing world means that we the people have to change our behaviours as well. Is change always a good thing? The answer is no; not always. Has society noticed that everyone talks on cell phones instead of meeting with others in person?  Where’s the interaction? Why don’t people want to see each other? Or how about the fact that more and more people are either playing video games or working? Why do we interrupt someone when they’re talking? Where are our manners? Communities are no longer close to each other. Parents are constantly busy at work, kids are always at school; there’s just no time for anyone except for ‘Me, Myself and I’. People are simply immersed in a world where work and money overrules all. Our society has definitely changed, a point summarized precisely by Valerie Pringle, a CBC journalist, “I’m always being shocked. No one signals, people don’t say hello back when you pass them in the park, people walk three abreast on the sidewalk and don’t move for anyone. Who says excuse me or sorry or thank you anymore?”

Dawn of a Thirsty Century

By: Brendan Chan, Grade 10

Imagine yourself dying of dehydration. You have no way to quench your thirst…You keep walking hoping you’ll find a water source, but all you find are polluted areas with unsafe drinking water. So you keep walking knowing your very life is at stake. Finally, you find an area of clean water but as you get closer you realize that it belongs to a private water company. Disheartened and exhausted after your long walk, you give up. This is what happens to about 30,000 children who die of hunger, thirst, or of preventable diseases. All of this revolves around Earth’s precious fresh water.

Today’s problem is that we use too much freshwater to stay sustainable. With more water becoming polluted, our supply of fresh, clean water is decreasing. We currently have access to 0.08% of Earth’s freshwater, yet it’s estimated that our usage of water will increase by 40%.

Warriors of the Year

By: Puneet Riar, Grade 11 & Emily Chan, Grade 10

All throughout the year, there have been some amazing, dedicated students. Those who possess those awesome leadership skills, those who have an exceptional community service record, or that person who is just an awesome friend or a great role model. Or maybe, even that teacher who doesn’t get mad if you chew gum in class.

Editors’ Message

It’s May! This issue marks the second last issue of the year. You may not realize it, but last year there was no June Issue. But hey, we’ve got some terrible news for you: by this time, we have both “retired” as project leaders/editors and are now helping next year’s brand new committee take over! :O *Gasp*! The editor of this month’s issue was Valerie Wong (Gr. 10) and the soon-to-be new project head is Gurjita Gadey (Gr. 11). They will both be working with a team of dedicated and enthusiastic individuals: Brendan Chan, Cassandra Ly, Emily Chan, Eric Lam, Jenny Ho, Jhona Binos, Mitchell Agostinho, Nicole Yu, Puneet Riar, Tammy Lee, and Yuge Liu. If you would like to join next year’s committee, please email us by May 25th. We have positions open for several of our teams, including Promotion, Distribution, Photography, and more. Come June, we will have completely handed The Word over to the new committee. You’ll hear from us one last time in June AND get the chance to read about all our screw ups *wink wink*, but just in case you miss it, we would like to say THANKS for always supporting us and believing in what we do. WORD

- Chitha Manoranjan & Jenn Lin

Are We Supporting Animal Cruelty?

By Brendan Chan, Grade 10

Have you ever watched Tarzan, Beethoven, Babe, or the Discovery Channel? These movies are about wildlife and make a lot of money, plus we enjoy watching them; so what’s the problem? What if they’re all involved with some level of animal cruelty? Can it be possible that we are actually supporting animal cruelty indirectly? No way! How can this be? The truth is that some of us actually support animal cruelty subconsciously. We are supporting the abuse by paying to watch the movie. For example, let’s say an animal documentary used trained animals and abused them; we would be supporting the show by watching or buying it and would be unknowingly encouraging the directors/ trainers to do it again by creating a market for such films. So here’s the truth…

Windermere Organic Garden

By: Cassandra Ly, Grade 10

There is nothing better than being able to walk outside into the school’s courtyard to see the wide variety of fresh and organic vegetables and fruits that are being grown. In only 2 years, the organic garden has flourished with potatoes to broccoli to tomatoes and even raspberries and blueberries. With the dedicated work of students and teachers, Windermere’s organic garden has become very, very successful.  Recently, 7 new beds were built, adding on to the previous 5. These 12 beds will be the holders of parsley, cilantro, onions, lettuce, and many other vegetables, coming soon in the spring. On top of that, a salad bar will be in the cafeteria very soon, giving students the opportunity to make their own salads. The organic garden also has a great composting system, where students empty out the distributed bins throughout the school every few days.

January Warriors of the Month

This month, The Windermere Word would like to honour two very dedicated and hardworking students. Aside from the other various volunteer activities that they are involved in, such as the Organic Garden and ACTION, they’ve recently managed to organize Windermere’s Annual Canned Food Drive and surpassed their goal of collecting 2008 cans. They definitely show warrior spirit and bring optimism to everything they do. This month’s issue proudly presents Emily Chan and Brendan Chan (not blood -related)! They are to be commended for their organization and leadership skills.

LCD vs. Plasma

by Brendan Chan

Nowadays with high definition (HD) TVs becoming popular, a common question is which one is better, LCD or Plasma. Below is the basic outline or pros and cons for each:
LCDs use liquid crystals that prevent screen burn. Unfortunately, they also use fluorescent bulbs. So if the bulb ever blew out, it would mean time to get a new TV! An LCD’s life span is about 60,000 hours, and its screen size ranges from 12 to about 50 inches. LCDs use about .12 to .37 watts per square inch, which is about 106 watts for a 27 inch LCD TV.