On
December 13th 2004, I have had a
unique experience. A team of young
reporters including Sebastian King, Michelle Kyle, and Kyle
Campbell came to visit with their teacher Reenie Marx. They
set up a video camera on a tripod, and I was interviewed in a
professional, respectful manner.
Here is the article published in the
January edition of Main Street.
Also see below photos
taken on June 2nd at the conclusion of this year's Building Bridges
project.
A Bridge on a River
called "Teenage!"
On Monday, December
13th, 2004, Reenie Marx came with three of her high school students
Michelle Kyle, Sebastian King and Kyle Campbell. This was part of
Reenie's annual major project "Building Bridges" between teenagers and
seniors. Michelle acted as cameraperson, Kyle took notes and Sebastian
interviewed me. The questions were about Teenage comparing mine to this
generation. The major question was whether it is harder to be a
teenager nowadays? All I know, is that it is hard to be a teenager, no
matter in which generation, simply because you cannot yet be independent
and everybody tells you what to do. These young people were a pleasure
to have and I really hope that they enjoyed it too. (Followed by a
Hanukah Latkes Luncheon.)
Sebastian was the interviewer, Kyle took notes, and Michelle was the
cameraperson. They were charming, well mannered and non-judgemental.
Despite the fact that it was part of a
learning process for the youngsters, the experience taught me that “adults”
can learn from teenagers. In order
to reach a conclusion about how being a
teenager has changed over 3 generations; they came prepared with well
phrased questions that simply baffled me. The main thrust was
“Is
it harder or easier to be a teenager today?” My first reaction
was “Easier of course!” However, by the end of their visit, I
realized that the hard questions they asked reveal that the problems of
teenagers today are not merely the universal hardship of a teenager,
rather the problems youth faces today, are quite taxing.
The questions were tricky.
It was as hard as being interviewed by Barbara Walters.
Some
questions dealt with Sex, Alcohol & Drugs – My answer was:
“Very simple, we did not have any!” Sex…Well we were told
to “Drink a cup of tea instead!” Schools didn’t offer 16-year olds sex
education or condoms. Nobody drank stiff drinks or used drugs. Nobody
even took Prozac!
Other
questions were about: Pastime activities - Despite the fact that
we did not have computers, TV or Cell Phones; I just couldn’t recall
being bored, we had access to all kinds of extra curricular activities.
Violence was the wars around us (I grew up in Israel), not
thrillers, science fiction, and special effect movies. As for fashion
our T-Shirts were underwear… Gym shoes were Cloth Tennis shoes, not
Cross-Training shoes with air cushion soles. Everything was much
simpler! And about family life, not a single person I knew had ever
been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.
The
mere fact that we did not have to fend off drug dealers, and deal with
friends high on drugs or girls that got pregnant, makes me realize that
we probably had an easy go at growing up.
Following the interview, we had lunch together, they concluded that “One's
own personal experience, becomes the guideline against which everything
else is measured.” This was indeed an eye opener, I never thought about
it this way.
Reenie Marx teaches
at the Laurentian Regional High School in Lachute. For the past two
years she has been working on a project called Building Bridges.
In her words “The goal is to produce a record …, as well
as help break down some of the stereotypes many young people have, about
older people.”
This year, the
students have chosen to create about 15 video documentaries focusing
on:
WWII: Hans
Giese – “War through the Victim’s Eyes”;
Russ Summers – “A Soldier's Life”;
Changes in Society: Edna Downey, Ilania Abileah
- The Changing Concept of a " Teenager"; Joan Jones, Marjorie
Cruise – The Fifties: Simpler Times? Phyllis Buxton,
Grant Beatie - Amazing Seniors. Historical
Places & Events: Shirley Captain -“The
Lumber Industry in the Morin Heights area.” Bunny Basler, Jack
Steele – The Skiing Industry in Morin Heights. Ernie
Woods – “The Death of a Village”. Raymond Roy,
Shirley Webster - “The Carillion Dam.”
It is significant
that on the year that both
Morin Heights and
Mille Isles celebrate their 150th
Anniversary, quite a few of the chosen stories come from descendants of
pioneer families of these two communities.
Building Bridges:
Screening & Farewell
Reenie
2 June 2005
On Thursday, June
2nd, 2005, I was invited to the screening of the videos produced by
Reenie Marx's students. I did not realise it, but the event also served
as a farewell to Reenie, who is moving on to continue building bridges,
but not teaching at the high school. The event was very touching (many
of Reenie Marx's students from the past attended the event, as well as
family and close friends) - here are a few shots.
