Personal Column- submitted for Opinion Writing class, March 12, 2007

By Valerie Maloney

I don’t know about you, but I know I have never wished that every part of my life would co-exist in the same place at the same time. And yet, right now, as I am writing this everyone I have ever known since birth has the ability to not only communicate but know almost anything and everything they want to about me.

The arena for this social chaos? Facebook. And I am certain it is going to ruin my life.

I know I am not the only person who feels this way about Facebook, I have friends who have an endless amount of worries about who is going to see what about them. One of my friends recently had a lengthy conversation with me about whether or not she should “tag” a photo of her and a guy she recently met, because her ex-boyfriend might see it. Nay, WILL see it. And you know that will lead to an awkward MSN conversation in your near future, when without Facebook he would never have known.

When I mentioned that I am writing about the perils of Facebook to my brother at lunch today, he sighed with displeasure. “I hate Facebook,” he said. When I queried the reason for his reaction he explained to me how the site is supposed to be bringing everyone so much closer together, but really it is just providing yet another way for people to communicate impersonally.

I couldn’t agree more with his point of view on this. Sure, you can say that without Facebook you would never have found out that Sally you went to pre-school with is married with two kids and a dog and that her favorite TV show is Friends. But are you actually “reconnecting” with these people? Or is it just providing a place where people can voyeuristically peer into others lives?

And you do not know who is peering back into yours. Some employers have now taken to looking up applicants’ profiles as part of the application process. I guess in this day and age the best way to find out if someone is right for the job is to read a three line blurb of the story of their life that the person wittily dreamed up in two minutes when making their profile.

I’m not saying that people should stop using Facebook all together, or that it is an end to society as we know it. I just think you should take it with the proverbial grain of salt, and to not make it your main means of communication.

Or maybe I am wrong and Facebook is the way of the future, people won’t need to talk anymore unless it is at a meeting they have planned by days of writing on each others walls to organize something that a two-minute conversation could have done. I don’t know, all I do know is that I am bitter because nobody has written on my wall today.

Humber Battle of the Bands- as published March 8, 2007 in the Humber EtCetera

By Valerie Maloney

The finale of the battle of the bands is this Tuesday at CAPS, showcasing six of the finest bands that Humber College has to offer.

There have been bands competing monthly since September for a spot in the final show. The band that wins they go home with $750 and a chance to play again at the regional competition, said Rishi Gupta, programming coordinator for the Humber Students’ Federation.

“It’s a great opportunity for them,” said Gupta “for bands that practice in their garages or basements it gives them an audience and a chance to get exposure.”

The band that wins at the regional level goes on to play at the Organization of Campus Activities Conference in Niagara Falls, Ont., this summer. A chance to play for student governments from across Canada and music agents who will be in attendance, said Gupta.

The last band to be added to the finale roster is Subconscious Mind, which won the competition at Lakeshore’s campus pm Feb. 26.

All bands entered in the battle must have one full-time Humber student, and for Subconscious Mind that is Eddie Ruiter, 19, studying in the bachelor of contemporary music program.

“It was the toughest decision yet,” Gupta said of deciding the winner in the last competition. “I am proud of Subconscious Mind though, I thought they deserved to win.”

Ruiter said he was surprised and caught off guard when he learned his band had won.

“We didn’t expect to win,” he said “we just wanted to play.”

The finale is at 9 p.m. Tuesday, from North campus the bands competing are The Drop Dead Pin-ups, Avenue Road, Lacerda, and Jack D and the Non-Alcoholics. From Lakeshore it is The Knockouts and Subconscious Mind.

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Humber Culinary Success- as published in the Humber EtCetera February 8, 2007

By Valerie Maloney

Many Humber culinary students enter the program with the hope of one day becoming a head chef in a restaurant in the big city, and now they have one more example to look up to.

Jordon Kekewich, who graduate from the culinary apprenticeship program last year, is the head chef at Miller’s Country Bistro and Bar in Toronto which had its grand opening last weekend.

Kekewich created the menu at Miller’s from scratch, and describes it as an upscale casual restaurant. It is a place where you can go to have a pizza and beer, or a rack of lamb and wine. “Just making sure we have something for everyone,” Kekewich said.

“I started cooking when I was young, when I was about 16,” Kekewich said. “It was just something that I have always enjoyed, I have always done it well.”

Chef Francisco Rivera, a culinary instructor at Humber, said Kekewich was a good student, interested and focused on what he was doing.

In order to get to the level that Kekewich has, Rivera said students must be very dedicated, adding it is rare to find students with the level of dedication to get to the level he has so quickly.

The culinary apprenticeship program Kekewich graduated from is an intense one, where a weeks worth of regular classes is condensed into two days, said Rivera. The rest of the week is spent working in the industry to gain more practical experience.

“A lot of people get turned off because it is a tough business, long hours and stuff,” Kekewich said, “just make sure everyone knows what they are doing before they get into it.”

Rivera said “on the first day I tell the students you have to be 100 per cent focused on what you are doing and passionate about food, hard work comes first, glamour comes later.”

Kekewich began his cooking career making sandwiches in a café at Pearson International airport in Toronto when he was 16, he said.

He worked his way up through a few restaurants to the position of sous chef, and then entered the culinary program at Humber because it is “one of the better schools for culinary arts,” he said, “I have worked with people from various schools and I think Humber is superior.”

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The Man of The Hour- as published in the Humber EtCetera November 9, 2006

By Valerie Maloney

If you watch CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos you may be aware that he had his beloved hockey equipment stolen early last week. What you may not be aware of is that the popular host and Humber radio broadcast graduate picked up two Gemini awards the previous week. Suffice to say, the equipment can be replaced.

The two awards recognize Stroumboulopoulos as best host of a general/human interest of lifestyle series and The Hour, a nightly current events show, for best talk series. After a taping last week at the CBC Stroumboulopoulos said “I didn’t think I was going to win. I thought about it sure, when you’re nominated there is a chance you could win but if you don’t its not ‘oh no you don’t like me’.” Stroumboulopoulos breezily added “you know who the Geminis are nice for? They’re nice for my mom, they’re nice for my sister. They’re nice for the people who work on the show.”

The show, which began its third season at the beginning of October has become a cornerstone for the network, averaging 100-thousand viewers nightly.

Yet Stroumboulopoulos admits the show faced criticism initially. “I think early on people criticized us saying we’re dumbing it (the news) down. They didn’t get that what we were doing was explaining. We sort of opened up the gates, we’re letting everybody into the party.”

Stroumboulopoulos was hesitant to classify The Hour into the award category it won for. “We do newsy stuff but we’re not a newscast, we’re not a comedy show but we do funny shit we’re not a music show but we talk music” he said. He then added “we don’t do a lot of lifestyle stuff in the tradition of lifestyle. I don’t makeover rooms.”

“We’re kind of everything.”

Humber’s Joe Andrews was Stroumboulopoulos’ instructor during his time at the school. The current director of community relations, Orangeville Campus, remembers the former MuchMusic VJ as being an enthusiastic student. “The way that George presents himself is no different than how he is. Raw, in-your-face, yet totally knowledgeable and researched,” Andrews said. He has “become a spokesperson for our school (and) brings tremendous respect and cache to the (broadcast) program. He has done it his way and we are so proud of him!”

Despite the early criticism the host and the show have become great successes in their own right. Yet Stroumboulopoulos insists it hasn’t gone to his head. “Even though I get the Gemini for best host it’s about ‘look man (the production crew) worked hard’” gesturing towards the set, adding “it’s never about me.” As for how he views the show, “all I’m striving for is to be good company at 11 o’clock, just want to be good company.”