 | Friday, April 09, 2021 | |  | Friday, April 09, 2021 | | |  | Wanda Blackett, of Silent Voice Canada, demonstrates some signs that could help you communicate with a hard-of-hearing person in everyday life — especially in the pandemic, when masks make communication for the deaf community that much harder. (Andrew Nguyen/CBC) | Starting this fall, two sign language classes will be part of the Ontario curriculum: American Sign Language and Langue des signes québécoise. The province is the first jurisdiction in Canada to offer the courses this widely, though it will be up to individual school boards whether they're available.
Wanda Blackett was born hard of hearing, and as a result often felt shy and isolated as a child. But learning sign language in university opened up a whole new world, something she's glad will now be available to hard-of-hearing students at a younger age.
"I got to join the deaf community and I found my own home, I found my language, something that's 100 per cent accessible to me," Blackett, who is a resource development coordinator with Silent Voice Canada, told The Current.
Learning to sign "made such an impact on who I am as a person, and my confidence," she said.
Blackett gave several examples of signs everyone can learn now, including how to sign "What's your name?" and "I miss you." Read The Current story to learn these signs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | Dr. Laura Hawryluck says writing poetry gives her a way to show people what it's like working in the ICU during the pandemic. (Jordana Goldman/University Health Network) | It's been a pretty terrible year. But COVID-19 has caused many to persevere and find creative ways to pass time and carve out opportunities that wouldn't have happened otherwise. For The Best, a special holiday program, offers a look at some of the people trying their best to cope.
Dr. Laura Hawryluck is one of these people. As a doctor who works in the ICU at Toronto Western Hospital, she sees the traumatic impact of COVID-19 firsthand. When she comes home, she decompresses by writing poetry about what she saw.
"Writing helps me to process my own experiences and helps me cope," she said.
The spring weather has given her more hope, as the pandemic drags on. "I see courage every day and I believe we have strength even in hard times to cope," she said in an email.
Read a poem titled We Will Outlast that Dr. Hawryluck wrote for this radio special. | | | | | | | | | |  | Krystel Clark is an intern architect with Patrick R. Stewart Architect. She studied the design of the Cree tipi and compared it to the skylight in common architecture. (Submitted by Krystel Clark) | | | The nehiyo (Cree) tipi was designed to embrace the natural elements other building designs try to keep out. The structure of the tipi, once made with almost entirely natural materials, was meant to coexist with the environment.
"Water was never meant to be 100 per cent resisted," Krystel Clark told Unreserved. She studied the architecture of the tipi as part of her master's thesis.
To allow some water to drip through the tipi without moisture damage, two smaller sticks wrapped in sinew would be placed near the tipi hole to guide the water down the poles all the way down to the earth. The hole also functions to let natural light in, while letting fire smoke from inside the structure out. The smoke also prevents cold air from coming into the tipi.
Clark, who is El Salvadorian and Cree from Montreal Lake Cree Nation, believes in the importance of Indigenous people seeing themselves reflected in the buildings in which they live and work. "It's about time that Indigenous communities have control of their own structures," she said.
"Each landscape is unique and different, and therefore, each structure and house should ... respond to the environment that they're in, each one should be unique."
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | In a Q interview about his new film, the cultural icon shared his fears about aging and death. (CP Images/AP/Steven Senne) | William Shatner celebrated his 90th birthday on March 22, but the Canadian-born actor somehow seems as youthful as ever. But what does he think of his age? "It's disgusting," he told Q.
"It's a disgusting number. I mean, I don't like 90. When I heard that 90 was coming up, I thought, 'What the heck is that?' I remember 90 way back when I was in Canada and I thought, '90! People don't live till 90.' And here I am."
Among his numerous recent projects is a leading role in Senior Moment, a romantic comedy about a retired test pilot who drag-races and hits on much younger women until the realities of growing older start setting in. Similar to his character, Shatner has at times found it difficult to accept his advanced age.
At one point while promoting the new film, Shatner recalled experiencing a flash of senility when he couldn't remember the name of the movie.
"That shaft of fear hits you," he explained. "Like, wait a minute, I don't know where I'm going. I'm totally lost. I totally don't know where I'm going and what I'm doing. I had that for a moment — a split second."
Fortunately, Shatner's fears are tempered with a healthy exuberance that keeps him going day to day. Read more of this interview on Q. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Chris Malloy is a Lego collector and the managing editor of 'Brother Brick,' a Lego news site. (Submitted by Chris Malloy) | French police are building a case against an international gang of thieves who have been stealing Lego sets from toy stores across the country.
"Lego has quite a following with the adult fan community. Because of that, there's a huge market for Lego right now," Chris Malloy, a Lego collector who runs the website Brothers Brick, told As it Happens.
"Unlike a lot of products, it doesn't have serial numbers or anything. So it's a very easy product for thieves to target and then find a ready market for that to be sold."
He says that older sets that are no longer in production can go for thousands of dollars. "There's one from 2007 called Café Corner ... and that goes for $2,000 to $3,000, depending on how nice of a copy it is."
Find out more about the black market for Lego pieces in this As It Happens story. | | | | | | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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