Holocaust Education speaker Mr. Leslie Meisels

What I Did:

                For this OOCLO I decided to go listen to the Holocaust survivor because I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I thought it would be interesting to hear a firsthand account of what happened in that time and what it was like to live the horror. Therefore, after my last class I went to the front desk at the bottom of the tower to ask where Sankey Chambers was. Then, after I found out, I told my friends, Dylan and Danny about the speaker to see if they would like to join me. Before going to the presentation, we all met under the tower and went to Tim Hortons for coffee. Then we walked up the stairs to Sankey Chambers, it was a fairly big room but there were only about 15 people in there. One of the members of the Jewish Students Association introduces Leslie Meisels, who had arrived moments before with his wife.  He stood at the front of the room and started with the background of his story. He started with where and when he was born and that he was one of 40 Jewish families in his town. Leslie explained to us that it started out subtle and most of the new laws did not affect his family, as they were average people. Then he was targeted because he lost his dream of becoming an engineer, as Jews were not allowed to attend school past middle school.  Then although the people in his town knew which families were Jewish, they still had to wear the Star of David on their sleeves, if they choose to not do so there were harsh consequences. As his story went on I realized how horrible it would have been, actually horrible does not even come close, there is no word to describe what he went through. I still cannot believe that this happened and that one man, Adolf Hitler, was the reason for so many deaths. There were many points when he was talking that made me want to cry and hug him because I could not believe that he survived. One of the most horrific things that I will always remember was what happened to him on his 18^th birthday. He woke up to horrible cries, so he got off his bed within the concentration camp and walked over to the window where he cleared the frost enough to see through. He looked out and saw that a train had arrived with more Jews and Nazis were herding them like animals into a building. One man was too weak to keep going and fell to the ground and screeched as a Nazi beat him with a stick that had a nail on the end. The Nazi yelled for him to get up but when he did not the Nazi continued to beat the man in the head until he died right there in front of Leslie.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to see so many people dying in front of you and having to live in those deadly conditions. I look at him as a hero that he is able to stand in front of us and tell us his story. Then at the end of his story he answered questions and his wife was able to answer a couple herself as she was a survivor as well. What really struck me was that she could not believe that some people say the holocaust did not happen, that if it did not why did she not have her family? She was there and she knew what happened and that some of the things she saw were hard to put in words. They both tried to explain what happened but the horrors of the holocaust could not be explained, it had to be seen and heard and smelt and understood first hand. To be split up from your family and not know if they are alive or dead, to have all your rights taken away from you, to not be fed but be starved and beaten daily for rules that Nazis make up on the spot. They lived in constant fear and all they had to keep them alive was hope, hope that one day it would be over, hope that one day they might see their families again. Although, Leslie Meisels could have given up, he stayed strong and depended on the hope of one day getting out of that hell and becoming a human being again, instead of dying a prisoner.

What I have been asking myself:

I will never have as much respect for someone like I do for Leslie Meisels. He survived this horrific thing and yet he was still joking and had a great outlook on life. This experience was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat, at the end of the presentation I walked up and shook his and his wife’s hand because I was so touched by their story and everything they shared with us. Leslie Meisels  explained that when he was taken away that his town came out and stood, not faught but stood there silently watching them get taken away. We need to learn from the holocaust and know that silence is not being neutral but it is siding with the enemy because you are not stopping the hatred.

What I learned:

I have learned, or begun to learn the horrors of the Holocaust and what it would be like to be living in a concentration camp.

I learned this when I went to listen to Leslie Meisels tell his story at Brock University.

This learning matters because we are the last generation to hear firsthand accounts of the holocaust.

In light of this learning, I began to understand the holocaust more and feel some of what the prisoners had to feel.

Rodman Hall Art Centre

What I Did:

For this OOCLO my roommates and I decided to go to the Rodman Hall Art Centre, as one of my roommates is in the art program and needed to go for an assignment. The three of us jumped in the car and headed over but of course, we got lost on the way and ended up having to turn around and try again. I am from a big city and I am used to a big flashy building that you can determine as an art gallery. However, Rodman hall turned out to be an old house, a huge house, but a house none the less. We walked in and a brock security guard greeted us and asked us to sign in, then he told us where the art was and we were free to walk around.  The first room we walked into was creative; the art was painted right onto the wall. The paintings were of hair; they were done in black paint, on every wall and were very detailed. You could see every strand of hair and how it intertwined with the next piece, there were no faces or heads only hair. The room with the hair paintings was long, as one end turned into a different room that was playing a movie. The sound was off so you could not hear the commentary from the movie but it was showing pictures of trees. The video of trees was really pretty, I did not get to see where the trees were but they were tall and green and it seemed to be in a forest. The three of s stood there for a bit just looking at the different trees they showed, they seemed so tall and healthy looking. The video made me want to go on a nature walk because it was so inviting. After seeing that art, we had to walk over to a different part of the hall to see more exhibits. In the next exhibit the room was split into three parts, one was of paintings, the next was photographs and the last was playing two movies. I looked at the photographs first, they were impressive, one of them was of the sky and there was a hot air balloon. The hot air balloon was in the background and the design on it made it look like a face. Then I moved on to the paintings, which were all a plain back with different shapes in different colours. I tried to understand what the abstract painting was of but I could not wrap my head around it. Lastly, I went into the last room that was playing movies and one had no sound but the other one took up the whole wall and was a skit of an older woman with two other men. The skit took place in a bar and they were talking but I came in party way through so I was not able to understand what the movie was about. As we were leaving the security guard told us we could go walk around outside and look at the sculptures. Therefore, we walked around the outside of the house to get to where they were. One of the sculptures stood out to me, it was of a bunch of numbers coming from a main point. For some reason I thought that was very interesting as they were not in any order just randomly coming out at you. Therefore, walking around Rodman Hall was interesting as I was able to see the different types of art, as well as, what an art centre is like in a different city.

What I have been asking myself:

Through this experience, I have learned how different art exhibits can be. In Toronto, art museums are a big flashy thing that stands out so that people will want to go in. However, I found that this art centre was a lot smaller and was more about the culture instead of trying to get tourists to go in and make the city money. I also found out that Brock students are allowed to submit their artwork and it may be put on display for everyone to see.  Therefore, this was a great experience because I got to learn more out the city I am living in and got to understand what art is to the people living here.     

  

What I learned:

I have learned that different cities have different art galleries and different ways to show art work to the public. Toronto is more interested in making as much money as they can; St. Catharies wants to portray their culture through their art.

I learned this when I compared the Rodman Art Centre to an art gallery in Toronto.

This learning matters because I got to see the culture in St. Catharines and see the differences from here to where I am from.

In light of this learning, I now know more about the culture in St. Catharines and hopefully will one day see my roommates art in the Rodman Art Centre.

OPIRG Documentary and Discussion Sessions

What I Did:

I went to King Street in downtown St. Catharines to watch a documentary called “The Shock Doctrine”. This documentary was about how one man by the name of Milton Friedman changed the world, so far for the worse, in my view. This documentary was very interesting as I learned more about what goes on in the government, and what the media chooses not to tell us. This documentary night was in a little room off of King Street; this confused me as it looked like I was supposed to go into an apartment. However, when I kept walking a bit it turned out to be maybe the lobby of the building. When my friend and I got there most of the seats had been taken by tenants, but we still managed to snag a seat on a couch. I found this documentary very interesting as I saw how horrible the citizens were treated and that Milton Friedman thought that these ideas were brilliant. I found him to be a sick horrible person who liked to torture innocent people; he electrically shocked people, locked them up and blindfolded them so they could not talk or move, and he also killed many innocent people including children. I thought that this was just some crazy guy who got a bunch of followers in the past and now it is over, but I was very wrong. The United States government was doing it to people of Iraq, the soldiers would kill innocent people and those who were not killed were tortured, so the soldiers could get information out of them. Milton Friedman believed that you need to shock people in order for you to get them to do what you want; when he was the government in Chili he ruined the economy then when the population rebelled he got enforcements to beat them. This man believed that if you tear them down as much as possible that you can rebuild them however you want. The bad thing was he wanted the rich to become richer and the poor even more poor, as well as torture and kill those who got in his way and did not believe what he was doing was best for them. This documentary was very graphic and showed how horrible it would have been to have someone like Milton Friedman be our Prime Minister. It is so sad that all these people died horrible deaths and were tortured multiple times because he thought it was a good idea.


What I have been asking myself:
This documentary has raised many questions and made me think more about the information the media shares with the public. How could one man cause all this harm? Why did we not know more about what was happening in Iraq? Is torture and “shock” the only way to get what they want from people? Why have I not heard about this before? What goes on behind government’s closed doors? This documentary has taught me so much and confused me a bit too; I am not sure what to think about this information as the public is closed off from a lot of what goes on. I have learned that one person can make a difference whether it is for the better or worse. I have also learned that the public is closed off from a lot of information about what goes on in the government.


What I learned:

I have learned that he public is closed off from a lot of information, a lot of the horrible things we thought had stopped have not. I also learned about what goes on behind the public’s back and how the government hides it from us.

I learned this when I went to the documentary night, on King street. By watching this movie and discussing it after I was able to learn more about what goes on.

This learning matters because the public needs to know what the government is doing. The public has the right to know what they are really voting for and what their money is paying for.

In light of this learning, I will never be able to fully understand why the government does this and why the public does not get to know about it.

Reflection on my volunteering with Climate Action Niagara

What I did:

 As I went on the second day of the two day project, September 13, 2011, all of the weeding and ground work had already been finished. Therefore; the other volunteer, Caitlin, and I dug holes for the plants and made the garden more visually pleasing. This was hard work as you could only dig so deep and then you would hit gravel. Volunteering at Goodwill Stokes Community Village was hard work as I was always on my feet and moving around the whole time. Jane Hanlon put the pots of flowers where she wanted them to be planted so all I had to do was dig the hole and put the pant in it. I found that digging was the hardest because the ground was not in the best condition. Jane explained to me that the contractors did not always respect the gardens and threw old bricks and rubble into it. With the stones and bricks covered in soil you never knew when you were going to hit one. I found myself struggling to get a hole deep enough to fit the plant in as I kept hitting a stony bottom, which I could not get through. I found it easier to raise the soil around the plant so all the roots were covered, it was the only way I could get the plant to stay in place. I could tell that no one had taken care of that garden for a long time as the soil was packed down and seemed to need caring for. As we were short on hands and time it seemed as if the garden would not get the care it needed that day as there was much to do.  However, part way through the day one a senior resident came out to help as he saw that we needed help. So he would fill the wheelbarrow with mulch and dump it into the garden and we would move it around to give the gardens a finished look. Jane explained that there were going to be pictures on September 14, 2011 so the front of the building would need to look its best.  However, when I left there was still some mulching that needed to be done but the building did look a lot better.

What I have been asking myself:

I wanted to know more about the project and how it would benefit the residences. After asking, I found out that the Goodwill Stokes building used to be a stokes seeds factory until it was sold to goodwill for a fairly cheap price. Then it was renovated and now it houses about 36 seniors; also in another part of the building they help people with disabilities. In the second part of the building they hold meetings and do activities, such as canning and soon they will be doing a cooking class. This gardening project is for the people who live there as well as the people who visit; it will give the building a finished look and make it more welcoming and approachable. However, this is not just a gardening project that ends after the two days, this project will last two years and many changes will be made, such as a place will be built for the tenants to go and sit outside. As the neighbourhood does not give them many places to go; a garden will be built in the back with pathways that will accommodate wheelchairs, picnic tables, and benches. This will give the seniors a place to go outside of the building where they can sit, talk and do as they please.  The coordinator of this project was the woman who helped us, Jane Hanlon. She studied horticulture at Brock and started the largest climate action organization in Niagara. In the first six months of her starting the organization it already had over 250 members, which continues to grow.  Jane helped me learn that if you are dedicated to something that you can accomplish almost anything. I found learning this from her was important because it allowed me to reflect on what I want to do, become a special needs teacher. People constantly tell me that it is a hard field to get into and that it is hard to get a job, but Jane made me believe that if I want it bad enough that it will happen. She started an organization that has many members; as well as, she started the project that we were helping out with.  While I was working I got to talk to Jane a bit about why she chose to start this organization and project that is hard work and time consuming. She explained to me that she wants to make a difference and give back to the community, which is why she started this project and organization; she wants to help out other people and also give people like me a chance to help with something as amazing as this project. Although, two years is quite a while she seems determined to make a difference and change the lives of those who live there. Jane is giving the residences at Goodwill Stokes Community Village a nicer place to live as well as an escape from the building where they can enjoy the nice weather, pretty gardens, and company of other residences.  

What I learned:

I have learned that a little hard work and dedication can go a long way. Jane Hanlon was able to start this project on her own, making many people’s lives easier and better. I learned how hard this project is and how hard it was to garden in this area.

I learned this when I started digging and talking to Jane Hanlon. By digging I realized how horrible the ground is and how neglected the gardens were. I got to learn more about Jane Hanlon from talking to her and asking questions about the project.

This learning matters because I got to see firsthand how one person can make a difference. It was a good way to learn about Climate Action Niagara and how it works and what they do.

In light of this learning, I may choose to help out next spring so I am able to see the end product. Also I now know more about the community and the people living in it.