The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - BI

: aoe =6TERRACE STANDARD

_ INSIDE
COMMUNITY
EVENTS B2

EV BISHOP

Dissolving resolve
66 ©, DO you have any New Year’s
resolutions?” It’s a common ques-
tion at this time of year. To an-
swer, I have to digress awhile first.

I’m quite good at making resolutions. Actu-
ally, ’'m a pro. IN FACT, it’s the creation of
resolutions that [I excel at.I love the
process. It’s interesting and inspiring. I'm just
not very good at the rest of it... You know the
second, more annoying part of resolutions... the
part where you attempt to KEEP them? ] am
NOT good at that at all. Bue that’s OK because
nowadays I’m not very concerned with keeping
them.

Yes, you read that right. Let me explain.

From pretty much as soon as I could write,
every New Year’s Eve found me sneaking
away to some place of solitude. | would sit and
meticulously chart and outline where I wanted
my life to go in the New Year.

My resolutions always became a long list of
things that I felt needed to be changed in or
about me. One year in my teens, il took a full
Sheet of loose-leaf to record all the things I
had scrutinized in myself, physically and
otherwise, and found flawed that I was resolute
to change... ,

As with most resolutions, mine fell away
within two to six weeks of my aitempts, every
time. This confirmed, to my mind at least,

. that I was just as bad as my long list of unhap-
piness had suggested. It was a vicious circle.

It wasn’t until my early 20s that I stopped
feeling like a failure for not achieving my lofty
goals year after year. I started to see that, for
me, the whole value of resolutions was in the
list itself, in writing them down and then
studying what P'd written. The importance of
the ritual had nothing to do with actually
keeping the list or not.

Why not? Because the lessons | needed to
learn came from looking at what I listed as my
“chief problems.” The lists-became two things
for me, a barometer of my own mental health
(needing a whole sheet of paper dedicated to
listing things you hate about yourself is not
good thing) and an indicator of how badly I
was missing out on LIVING my life when I
was so centred on changing it.

‘As with most resolutions, mine
fell away within two to six weeks
of my attempts, every time.’

For things that aren’t thinly veiled self-
hatred issues needing to be addressed, I’ve

needs changing, it needs changing now. If I
don’t have the conviction that something is
worth the effort TODAY, will January 1st real-
ly have the magic power to make me
commit? No.

This attitude is empowering and aggravating
because | find myself in the position of con-
stantly having to evaluate decisions and
change them immediately if need be, no more
resting in my complacent, “Well, come New
Year’s that’ll change” attitude. When I fail to
uphold my ideals perfectly, I can’t quit trying
and wait ‘till New Year’s. I have to try
again. I’m living how I feel I should be living
NOW, not planning to live that way sometime.

Resolutions aren’t bad. Deciding to make
positive changes health-wise, attitude-wise,
action-wise, finance-wise, etc. is good... but I
do find it helpful and self-enlightening to laok
at what I’m resolving to do and what the real
reasons behind the resolution are. Do I really
want to lose weight to be healthy or am [ buy-
ing inta society’s message that as a woman
I’m not acceptable being confident or self-as-
sured at my size? Do I really want to go to
school or am I chickening out on what I really
feel I should be doing?

Sometimes a resolution to do fifly crunches
a day is just a resolution to strengthen your
abs; sometimes it means you feel weak ot
powerless. Occasionally resolutions point to
bigger issues that need to be dealt with.

So to answer the question, do ] have any re-
solutions? Sort of. Socrates said, “The unexa-
mined life is not worth living.” T resolve to not
wait until the end of the year to evaluate my
life. I will contemplate each day, enjoy each
day, seeing what, if any, changes need to be
made so that hopefulty [| don’t wake up one
day with regrets. ] will concentrate on what my

even do some crunches.

come to the conclusion that if something ©

feelings might be trying to.tell me... and what‘ found.

the heck, while I’m- thinking on it, T might

‘We paid a
huge price’

A Holocaust survivor tells his story
so that others can fight oppression

By JENNIFER LANG
TO LOOK into Robbie Waisman’s
eyes is to understand that the Ho-
locaust isn’t a remote historical
event.

For those who lived through it
like he did, it’s a vivid, personal
memory.

Of the 11 million people wha
were killed during the Holocaust
(six million Jews and five million
others, including political priso-
ners, intellectuals, homosexuals,
and gypsies), an estimated 1.5
million Jewish children perished.

Just 5,000 survived. Waisman,
now a 71-year-old Vancouver resi-

dent, was one of them,

“I feel being one of those that
survived leaves me with an awe-
some responsihility,” he told more
than 750 attentive high school
students last week, including a
bus load of students from Stewart.

He was liberated from the Bu-
chenwald Concentration Camp at
the age of 14. He and most of the
other children who survived were
orphans.

Sharing his remarkable story of
survival is not just a recitation of

facts for Waisman, it’s a painful, :

personal exercise that brings up
images and memories that are
still so raw, despite the passage of
time.

He avoids scheduling other

major appointments.

“It usually messes up my day.”
That’s because when the memor-
ies come back, he has to deal
with them. He doesn’t know when
theyll hit.

“Sometimes a smeil will trig-
fer a memory, or you’re in a
crowd and something just triggers
it and boom! You're back.”

Even being stopped at a rail-
way crossing while driving can be
difficult. The Nazis transported
prisoners to the death camps in
cramped railway cars; the tracks
efficiently leading right into the
camps.

His own sister, the only other
member of his family to survive,
still can’t talk about her ordeal at
ali — not even to her own children.

Waisman began to speak out
after learning about Jim Keegstra,
an Eckville, AB, high school tea-
cher who taught his students the
Holocaust was a myth.

“That’s when I began to be
angry and to counter his
nonsense.”

He’s a proud Canadian but is
critical of. ovr nation’s conduct to-

wards Jewish refugees during the

Second World War. Canada tre-
fused to give 5,000 Jewish child-
ren safe harbour. When federal of-
ficiats finally relented, it was too
late. War had broken cut,

| | SECTIONB fe
| JENNIFER LANG si
638-7283

ROBBIE WAISMAN believes the world has learned something
positive from the-atracities of the Second World War.

Just 5,000 Jewish refugees
were permitted to enter Canada
between the years 1938 and 1945.

By contrast, 200,000 entered
the United States, another
700,000 entered the United King-
dom and 15,000 entered Australia.

When he. applied to come to
Canada after the war, only refu-
gees exhibiting perfect health

were allowed; even wearing gias- -

ses was grounds for disqualifica-
tion, noted Waisman, who wears
wire rim specs today.

When he arrived in Halifax and
boarded a cross-Canada train for
Calgary, he was overwhelmed by
the sheer size of the country.

“| was thinking, ‘How many
people might have been saved if .
Canada had been forthcoming?”

His message is a call for
people to stand up when they wit-
ness injustice or discrimination.

“] do this because I feel it’s
necessary to understand what ra-
cism can do. I want students to

Continued Page B3

Se
w Making faces
CALEDONIA Senior Secondary students Dustin Tashoots, feft, and Bal
Dhaliwal display their works-in-progress, two plaster masks created using
moulds taken from their own faces. Career and personal planning stu-
dents 'n Grades 11 and 12 learned mask making and design unit from
Dani Pigeau and Eddie Spencer from the First Nations Education Centre.

A scholarship-savvy
student earns praise

By JENNIFER LANG

COAST MOUNTAINS school trustees are
congratulating former Hazelton secondary
student Tara DiZazzo on her successes in
finding scholarship money — and sharing

her tips with other students.

The second year psychology student at
the University of Northern B.C. earned
about $36,000 in scholarship money after

she did some digging.

Seme of the scholarships she applied
for and won include the Canadian Mille-
nnium Supply Association's Scholarship
warth $16,000, the Canadian Supply As-
sociation Scholarship worth $2,000 and
the UNBC Scholars award, which covers
four years of tuition costs - so long as she

maintains a B average.

Sales from her Scholarship Handbaok
for Secondary Students in B.C. support the
creation of new scholarships at her old
Alma Mater, Hazelton Secondary,

Newly-elected Hazelton schaol trustee
Jessica Mikolayczyk commended Di-
Zazzo for leaving such a positive legacy.

“She is still contributing to our
district,” Mikolaycayk told fellow
trustees at a recent school board meeting.

Copies. of DiZazzo’s scholarship
pamphlet have been sold to school dis-
tricts and students across B.C.

“It’s good to see that,” said Terrace
trustee Hal Stedham. “Our kids are using
a resource by one of aur kids.”

The board plans to send DiZazzo a let-
ter of congratulations.

Most don’t eat filling first

TWO-THIRDS of Cana-
dians have chomped into a
Girl Guide cookie at some
time or other, a poll con-
ducted by Ipsos-Reid has

And most of the cookie-
caters, some 67 per cent,
prefer to eat the popular

chocolate or vanilla coo-
kies ‘a bite or nibble at a
time rather. than separating
the wafers and eating the
cream filllng first.

~ Just 22 per cent con-
sume.
twisting the cookie. apart
to expose the creamy

centre.

Nearly half of respon-
dents, or 47 per cent of
those asked, like to eat
their cookies along with a
glass of cold milk, with 1
per cent favouring warm
milk. Four per cent eat
them without a beverage.

the filling first, |

~ Around Town.

Raffle for anniversary
Harley motorcycle

THERE’S NO feeling like it: the sense of freedom
and adventure you get when you’re riding on the
back of a Harley along kilometres of open road.

But why take somecne’s word for it when you
could pet a chance to experience it for yourself?

The Northwest B.C. Harley Davidson owners
Group, cr HOG, is raffling off a special bike this
year, a 100th anniversary edition 2003 Standard
Softtail, as part of a charity fundraising effort.

All proceeds from the raffle, which takes place
at 11 p.m, March 22 at a HOG dance at the Elk’s
Hall, will be given to the Muscular Dystrophy As-
sociation of Canada.

Tickets cost $10 and are available from HOG
members. Calf Arlene at 635-7620 or John at 635-
4242 for more information.

The Harley Davidson Motor Company cele-
brates a century in business this year. A special
anniversary ride will take place, along with other
events. Bil! Harley and brothers Arthur, William |
and Walter Davidson began manufacturing motor-
cycles in 1903, after developing a one-cylander
engine.

Harley Davidsons became a symbol of the coun-
ter-culture in the 1950s and ‘60s when the compa-
ny introduced its “superbikes”, a series of heavy,
loud machines favoured by leather-clad bikers.

Harleys, known for their distinctive, deep rum-
ble, their heavy-duty size thal’s suited to highway
touring and their tear-shaped gas tanks, inspire
fierce loyalty among fans. Milwaukee, WI, home
to the company's headquarters, welcomed 140,000
visiting riders in 1998, the 95th anniversary.

Autumn graduates

FOUR Terrace students were part of the University
of Victoria’s fall graduating class. Cherri Gagnon
received a certificate in public management. Jen-
nifer McMynn and David Western both earned Ba-
chelor of Arts degrees. Roy Hernes has earned a
Bachelor of Commerce degree. -

Rockfest breather

ORGANIZERS of Northern B.C.’s biggest Classic
Rock music festival are taking a year off.

Vanderhoof’s Rockfest officials blame a poor
local turnout at the 2002 festival for forcing them
to take a hiatus this year, the Omineca Express re-
parts.

They’ll decide this summer if the festival will
go ahead in the future. Rockfest 2002 headliners
included Canadian rock legends Tom Cochrane,
Doucette, Trooper, Glass Tiger with. Alan Frew,
Doug and the Slugs, and the Stampeders. They
were joined at the three-day-festival by Juno nomil-
nee Marcel Gagnon, Coquitlam’s own Matthew
Good, post punkers the Headstones, and Stabilo
Boss.

As in previous years, Rockfest took place on the
August long weekend, which is traditionally River-
boat Days weekend in Terrace. -