Bullying - One Kid - Man's Tale

I still remember the day like yesterday. It was 40 years ago, but that day would have a profound impact on my life.

I grew up in an atmosphere wherein bullying was just another day at school, and I learned to always be vigilant against surprise attacks. One time, after almost reaching home while taking back-yards and the like all the way, I was brazenly sucker punched by my tormentor, hidden around the corner of a house directly across from mine, after I was sure I was home. This particular kid had a crazy kind of laugh and look that scared us 'regular" kids and it was rumoured his father was an alcoholic who routinely beat up the mom and would pitch the kids in fist fights against each other for amusement. I found out later he  was also medically drugged, thus the crazy laugh etc. A lot of the 'problem kids" were it seemed, mostly all boys, and they were terrors. It got so bad, I used to have "fly dreams" where I'd get away by flying off  just before anyone reached me.

Our public school even brought in a strict male teacher specifically to deal with the rampant fights and violence that seemingly broke out, daily for sure, often in multiples. I recall physical fights between this taskmaster, Mr Motiar, and the tough drugged kids with problems and he would make them submit - sometimes rolling across the classroom floor as he fought to control the person. This, from about grade 4 or 5 on, and these out of control 'kids" obviously had no regard for order in class with adults present so imagine the pandemonium they could cause on the way home.

Of course I could fight alright, I had to, but against some of the bigger, more, "nutbar" kids, as we called them, and older ones, I had my limits. That's where my speed came in handy, being able to out- run most, even older kids, but mostly you were expected to stand up to a challenge regardless, often taking a licking. But, being smaller, if I won they looked bad, so I did have some chance of survival!

In grade 8 it all came to a crescendo. Mr Mortiar, was now towered over by some, and, in fact, invented a board game and moved on leaving a gaping hole. By then, physical contact including corporal punishment was abolished as well, leaving an over-matched staff and Principal used to being able to dish it out. I recall class being so bad at least one teacher left citing a breakdown and still another just up and quit. It was like Welcome Back to my Nightmare Kotter without happy endings. Especially on this day.

For some reason I got another cruel blow that year when puberty seemed to forget me. Whilst most of my classmates were changing - voices, heights, hair etc, I was yet to show. Even kids that were once much shorter than I was were now taller and bigger which was an embarrassment at the time, compounded when the class bullies demanded I fight another...for their amusement.

According to them, something had been said during class the the bullies jumped on, making it sound as if a "diss" had occurred, and that I had to resolve it with the other guy or face them. Both were man-sized, with one having failed twice and on a prove himself a tough-guy tear...We were just their latest entertainment. I didn't want to fight but had no choice, a boy did not back down from a fight or he was a coward and could never face anyone again. My stomach was tied in knots as the clock ticked towards 4.....the bullies pointing at the clock and taunting when the teacher wasn't looking...or...at this point...pretended not to. Tick...tick..

I delayed the "terror walk" as long as I could, having been there before. Regardless of how many times, you always get nervous before a fight, but this one was different, If I lost I looked bad losing to someone who'd been considered very weak until recently, someone dying to prove his new-found puberty muscles were no flukes, and me, I was the perfect sacrifice.

I walked out the back doors of the school, the frenzied group already positioning me into the middle, excitedly, yelling, " Fight! Fight!", many urging my opponent on to kill me,

Kill Him! Kill Him!

As I grappled with my opponent, I gave it my all but was unable to gain an upper hand. It was surreal, out of an episode of Twilight Zone or something, almost in a frenzied slow motion, as some now former friends urged him to kill me as well. People laughed and squealed, like in horrors as we fought...I recall looking up from a hold I was unable to wriggle from, more free shots hitting me than him, feeling completely demoralized.... and in front of all the girls too...another boys worst nightmare.

...Any esteem I'd had, I lost that day.
 I'd never felt so alone than in that very moment.

I don't recall how long we went but it was awhile, broken up eventually by a teacher as I was taunted and ridiculed for having "lost" in some eyes, and, although I understand now that some of my classmates' behaviour was due to peer pressure at the time,  some even apologising, I will still never forget. That day, combined with some other then-variables in my life, sent me spiraling to a place where it very well could have ended tragically...and very nearly did.

Today you add the internet to the mix and you have another form - just as emotionally devastating.
Bullying can and does have short and long term affects too, with the teen years being most crucial as somewhat demonstrated in my short film, Shoots, Scores.

End bullying now - At home, at school, on the streets, on-line, and through legislation.

TP out.

Contaminated Soil Dumped in York Region not the only Stench

Elections in rear view

York Region, in Ontario, Canada is an unlikely place for a political hotbed of activity, but, like anyplace in our once thriving country, it too has faced some growing pains.

With the recent completion and opening of the long sought 404 highway extension to Georgina being completed, a whole new set of buzz phrases and such will likely begin to creep into play. Once you get by the usual standby's of "partnering, collaboration, sustainable growth, industrial beltway and the new kid on the block, broadband community" being tossed around like a messy salads, phrases like, "fracking", will become

Which way for wheel chairs?

commonplace, as the anticipated influx of residents, and to some degree, possibly businesses that are "expected" to infiltrate areas north of the Green Lane line in Newmarket and beyond, see fruition. Oh, not in the traditional sense, as this fracking is for water not oil, but it could affect your property's water flow by tapping into it underground. No one seems sure. Frack me!

Farmers' fields and nature spots, long used by local wildlife and game, were also quietly removed in Sharon over the summer, just outside Newmarket, with long time " iconic" trees and such removed with nary a whisper through the

recent election campaign, the land's caretakers too pre-occupied getting elected perhaps than to notice a few trees being removed, with the foreshadowing residential construction company fencing telling the tale. Until fairly recently, the property located at Leslie St and Green Lane and running north was a bustling farming property. A remaining house stood on the front also, housed for many years by residents who'd hold weekend lawn sales, with people coming for miles to see what neat stuff they had. Eventually they were pushed out and the house demolished.
I learned some of this sometime afterward, while helping resurrect a mansion, across Leslie, on the opposite side, to be used as permanent housing for people with mental health issues, from a guy who had rented a room at the farmhouse there and wanted work painting. I felt for him, but could only offer a few days work as the boss' son had just hired some friends. He understood but looked defeated, his late 50's something body sauntering off into the morning light. More recently, I helped the "house of hope" re-open again, again housing those who might otherwise be lost to the streets or worse.

Former resident of to be developed property works

Developing is inevitable some say, yet King Township has managed for many years to resist the lure of change for the sake of change, instead adopting a slower, "what's the rush to expand and destroy nature and build over it" attitude, for which they should really be commended. Such long term thinking. Should we compare Newmarket for example - they have recently started development on the very last parcel of land, also farmland, on the entire southeast corner of Davis ( highway 9) and Bathurst St's - literally, they can develop no more land, as that is the boundary line. While in contrast, across the street in King Township, a working Farm sits.

Former farm at Bathurst & Highway # 9, Newmarket

Maybe they expect we'll import all our food from China?..Produce and dairy in the future? But who wants that? Not me, that's for sure and so the disappearance of farming land and our ability to feed ourselves - which comes along with that lack of foresight - frankly scares me. This is some of the most fertile land in the world we're destroying and did I mention the unaccounted for dump truck loads of contaminated soil being unloaded on YR with no clear record of where?

Ahhh! Community gardens you say? Ah, No thanks. I prefer shopping...in private.

A Farmer recently came to me with big concerns, feeling pressured to leave the property he's farmed for over the past 12 years and now being threatened with eviction from, a process he's been through before when land farmed by him was expropriated by the Ontario government for Pickering's Airport that was never built. He says he sees the same sorts of signs again, including tactics. His deputation to Markham Council was seemingly ignored.

Locked block

He has raised issues regarding suspicions of contaminated soil dumping in the past as well to an adjacent property he suspects has been used for shady practices, also ignored, but now toxic dumping sites are being exposed by the media at those same Pickering farmlands, found to have been used as a dumping ground for contaminated soil. So maybe the old gentleman isn't so full of beans after all as people have tried to make the twice defeated Markham mayoral candidate, and now soon to be completely homeless Farmer, to be! Would it be a stretch to think the same dumpers of the contaminated soil be the same who burned Sam's two farm houses down in the past, with still another fire happening at the same Pickering property some years ago now? The farmer, Sam Orrico, certainly hasn't forgotten. Nor has he ever really recovered.


Development is coming, no doubt to all nether-regions of The Region, the key is controlling what kind, and who and where if at all possible. I think unethical companies should be excluded from the process when dealing with sensitive growth areas, such as those set up at arms length from developers which acquire properties just to change their use - for example as rental housing to condos, or store fronts to condos.

The recent attempt by Main St Clock Inc. on Newmarket's Main St,  which
originally acquired the property might fit the bill, claiming it wanted the tower for a seniors residence, but then, afterward when not getting what they wanted, moved them and all adjoining the businesses out, to create the appropriate atmosphere for developing what they really want and using municipalities' own bylaws to speed up their wishes by boarding up establishments until such time as they get what they desire. Not someone I would choose to do business with, so why do we have to?

Development now just west of farmed Markham property on 14th

Changes to ponder for a fairer York Region, include pondering a better deal for those with disabilities too, and those on O.D.S.P. with the Ontario Government. For some, they've lost all hope, and you're it. Every year, more Canadians kill themselves than die by car accidents, HIV, homicide, drowning, influenza and war combined. Something to think about....
To That end watch for STROLL & ROLL, coming to a provincial government outlet near you in spring 2015!



Here's a link to the award winning video one minute spot " One Paycheck Away "

Oh...by the way, experienced farmers can find and create ponds from ground water without fracking so....Frack Off!

Markham Farmer's Last Stand