I’m actually going to talk about something very important and newsworthy to me. It hits really close to home, and was actually one of my biggest fears growing up, so maybe I will be able to offer a different perspective to some people.
In Vancouver there was only one thing that ever really scared me when I was little, and even now when I go back to visit my old home and friends and family.
Gang violence is really something that has been around Vancouver (as well as many other places in Canada/US and many other places) for as long as I can remember. My mom tried to shield me from it when I was super young and a girl was killed as a result of gang violence at the school across the street, but I knew what was going. I remember having to be careful which way I came home, because I didn’t want to run into anyone affiliated with any kind of that stuff.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Vancouver, and it will always be home to me. There are so many beautiful places, so many friendly people, and there is no place in the world I love being more than that city, but the senseless violence HAS to stop. I remember not too long ago a cousin of mine got in an argument with someone at a mall. He didn’t know who the person was, he just didn’t appreciate the rudeness shown towards him and his girlfriend. Well, they went in to watch a movie, and when they came out the guy was waiting for him with his gang. They stabbed my cousin AND his girlfriend and for what? My cousin made it through, but his girlfriend didn’t. She lost her life because her boyfriend stood up for her, how does that make any sense at all?
In the past month in the city of Vancouver alone there have been 18 gang related shootings. That’s not anything at all that I want my friends and family to be around. That’s not what I want to have to worry about when I go back to see them.
And while I don’t like him, or agree with many of the things he says or does, I completely back the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with the unveiling of his new anti-gang legislation. Under the legislation ANY gang-related murder becomes automatically a first-degree murder charge, any drive-by shooting (resulting in injury or not) results in a MINIMUM of a 4 year sentence, and any assault with a weapon, or assault causing bodily harm would potentially hold a 10 year sentence.
We can’t just magically eliminate all of the sick people, who somehow think it’s okay to physically harm another human being, but we can at least impose stiffer penalties, taking them off the streets when they do, and hopefully deter them from doing such thoughtless and selfish acts with stiffer penalties.
Go to this site, if you get a chance: http://www.cbc.ca/bc/features/homicide/2009.html
It’s an interactive map of the homicides in the Metro Vancouver & Fraser Valley areas alone, and it’s only for the 2 months of 2009. It has the names, and the manners of death, for each and every victim to this point. Some of them are by my old house, some by my grandparents’, one practically in my aunt’s back yard.
I love the city, and I love the people more than I can even begin to express, but something needs to happen to make this stop.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Hockey Anyone? (Angelos Midterm)
Well, being from Vancouver, and since NHL playoffs are almost among us, and being that I have a pretty one-track mind (obviously) I think it’s only fitting that I write a “how to” article pertaining to hockey. So here’s my how to build a championship calibre hockey team. (Go Canucks!!!!!)
Okay, first and foremost championships are won in goal. All around hockey, you’ll hear the saying “championship teams are built from the goal out.” So we’ll start there and work our way out.
Yes, each and every position is important, but goaltending is where championships are won and lost. A superstar isn’t necessary, but they need to be able to keep their cool in every situation, they need to be solid, flexible, and all the while they need to be durable and technically sound, it takes a special kind of athlete to combine all of those traits.
Moving out from goaltender, defence is secondary to a championship callibre team. Why? Because it’s the defence that is directly responsible for how hard a goaltender will have to work on any given night. One or two good defenders won’t do the job though, although it’s very beneficial to have a star defensive pairing capable of eating upwards of 25 of the 60 minutes of playing time. If you take an in-depth look at almost any recent Stanley Cup Champion, you’ll see a solid defence core that runs 8 or 9 men deep, not just the 6 that play every night. This enables the team to always have fresh legs available, and be completely prepared in the event of an injury.
Offencively is where the most delicate balance of players comes in. On offence, you have to balance grit, finesse, ability, speed, and all around hockey smarts. Most successful teams have a balance of scoring on the top two, and often times three lines, the fourth line typically stockpiled with defensive minded forwards, and “tough guys” not at all afraid to throw their weight around, and often times to drop their gloves in defence of teammates, or sometimes to simply create a change of momentum for their team.
Perhaps the most underappreciated part of any team is the man who finds all these pieces to the puzzle, and puts them all together. No team is complete, or able to compete at the level necessary to win a championship without that one guy who makes it all work. The guy who deals with each individual personality and type of player, does what’s necessary to not only make them happy, but produce an intense, hardworking group of athletes, with the chemistry and determination to make the championship dream a reality.
Oh man, I love hockey :)
Okay, first and foremost championships are won in goal. All around hockey, you’ll hear the saying “championship teams are built from the goal out.” So we’ll start there and work our way out.
Yes, each and every position is important, but goaltending is where championships are won and lost. A superstar isn’t necessary, but they need to be able to keep their cool in every situation, they need to be solid, flexible, and all the while they need to be durable and technically sound, it takes a special kind of athlete to combine all of those traits.
Moving out from goaltender, defence is secondary to a championship callibre team. Why? Because it’s the defence that is directly responsible for how hard a goaltender will have to work on any given night. One or two good defenders won’t do the job though, although it’s very beneficial to have a star defensive pairing capable of eating upwards of 25 of the 60 minutes of playing time. If you take an in-depth look at almost any recent Stanley Cup Champion, you’ll see a solid defence core that runs 8 or 9 men deep, not just the 6 that play every night. This enables the team to always have fresh legs available, and be completely prepared in the event of an injury.
Offencively is where the most delicate balance of players comes in. On offence, you have to balance grit, finesse, ability, speed, and all around hockey smarts. Most successful teams have a balance of scoring on the top two, and often times three lines, the fourth line typically stockpiled with defensive minded forwards, and “tough guys” not at all afraid to throw their weight around, and often times to drop their gloves in defence of teammates, or sometimes to simply create a change of momentum for their team.
Perhaps the most underappreciated part of any team is the man who finds all these pieces to the puzzle, and puts them all together. No team is complete, or able to compete at the level necessary to win a championship without that one guy who makes it all work. The guy who deals with each individual personality and type of player, does what’s necessary to not only make them happy, but produce an intense, hardworking group of athletes, with the chemistry and determination to make the championship dream a reality.
Oh man, I love hockey :)
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