One Teacher’s Perspective: When COVID-19 shut down our schools and campuses in February 2020, all classes immediately went into virtual classrooms. One teacher's perspective on everything that happend since that times.
My name is Gabriel Henry. I was born in Thunder Bay and lived there until the end of Grade eleven.
When her mother passed away from a stroke last fall, Maggie Galanis suddenly felt surreal without Diana’s presence. But after thirty-six years with melancholic and volatile Diana, Maggie’s life would turn a new page.
Born in 1970 to Macao businessman Man-Yun Chin and his third wife Emma, Paul grew up studying Chinese, English and Portuguese in excellent schools.
My name is Juleen Thapar, an educator from India’s Amritsar region. When I came to Toronto in 2019 with husband, Ranbir, we had already been teachers and school administrators for thirty years.
Earlier this year, Louise Bruff published a new collection of poems through Bookleaf Publishing.
Two years ago, Elon Osman and Bill Poon met at a basketball event and became fast friends. Knowing Elon needed a place to stay, Bill lent him his Toronto apartment while he was teaching in the Yukon.
Several years ago, Waheed (Wayne) Mufti sang for a party where I was a guest. The hosts appreciated his music so much that he stayed for dinner, and entertained us well into the evening. Recently, I found his business card and had a chat with him.
Angie Cheng is a parent, worker, and university student. Earlier this year, she told Learning Curves (Spring Issue 2021) how her family of five had lived through a year of COVID. Last week, I asked her to tell me more about her life since coming to Canada twenty years ago.
Walter Davis definitely took many years to accept the importance of self-sufficiency. In February 2021, he finally stayed with a full-time, graveyard-shift job in data processing. Although he found the work monotonous, he managed to pass his probation earlier this month.
Angie Cheng:
Home together 24 hours a day. My name is Angie. I live in Flemingdon Park with my husband and three children.
Virginia Robos studied bartending soon after coming to Canada from San Antonio, Chile. “Skinny Ginny” (as friends called her) wanted something quick and job-ready to support her family. A short hospitality certificate seemed perfect at the time.
When I first met Helen Denny five years ago, she was working as a seamstress at a dry cleaner on my street. When I asked for help with darning a sweater, she suggested the technique of reinforcing small stitches with invisible thread.
John Murphy has always been proud of his loud voice and intricate ideas with elaborate arguments, but more importantly, he enjoys giving people advice solely based on his own opinions.
Julie Jackson and I first met at a public library concert two summers ago when she sat next to me.
I often chatted with Tim when he worked at a store near Toronto’s Main and Gerrard Streets.
When I first met Susan Shin in November 2017, she was a college student studying international business.
John has been a residential building custodian for many years on my street.
When I first met Mugi last year, she was working at a Chinese supermarket. As we got to know each other, Mugi told me she would soon start evening English classes.
In Colombia, I was a young woman with a close-knit family, good friends, and a thriving career in psychology because I aspired to help my community that was sadly criminalized by trafficking and violence.
When Saigon fell to the Vietcong, I was only in kindergarten. But soon, school became “re-education”. We swept streets and picked up garbage.
For several years, I would see Sonia’s welcoming smile behind a local library’s reference desk.
On my street lives Aaron Siu whom I met four years ago.
In part one, we learned that eighteen-year old Sarah came from Tehran during the Gulf War to marry forty-year-old Yousef.
One summer, I temporarily rented an apartment where two young women next door welcomed me.
Pete was in the classroom when I showed up for the first meeting. He had already read the course outline and purchased the textbook.