Journalism

Political Profile – David Soknacki

Image credit goes to David Soknacki's campaign page

On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning in a busy Starbucks on Victoria Park and the 401, in comes David Soknacki. A well-versed man in both business and politics who has no problem in speaking his mind about former competitors, transit, and his views on how the political world works.

“As a municipal politician, we work to find commonality,” he said. “The difficulty in the political world, of course, is separating the froth from the substance.”

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Canada’s Hockey Hometown Heroes

Even though the 2014 Olympics in Sochi are 100 days away, all I can think of is what pride I had in being a Canadian after watching the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team win gold back in Vancouver 2010. I’m looking forward to this so much that I can’t stop looking at Hockey Canada’s website to see if the team list is posted yet.

While looking at the orientation roster, I realized that the many hockey players who are trying out to represent Canada do not actually live in the country full time due to their busy careers being NHL celebrities. However, every one of those players are and will always be true Canucks at heart. 

To prove these boys are true Canadians, I mapped out the hometowns of all of the players on the orientation roster for the 2014 Mens Hockey Team which can be viewed below or if you click here

A First Time For Everything: Court Reporting at Osgoode Hall

Being a first year student in the Journalism program at Humber, there is a compulsory course I am taking this semester called Foundations of Newsgathering. In this course, the class is required to do assignments where we go into the field and write about stories in four categories: crime, courts, city council meetings, and the community. Having already finished the crime assignment, the class now has to sit in on a court case of our choosing and take notes on what we heard and saw.

Osgoode Hall at 130 Queen Street West in Toronto

Osgoode Hall at 130 Queen Street West in Toronto

So, I decided to go to Osgoode Hall, where the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Divisional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Law Society of Upper Canada all reside.

When I first walked into the building, I didn’t quite know where to go, but a security guard checked me in and let me into the courthouse. After passing security, I felt like a fish out of water. With all the lawyers in their polished black robes walking around and so many foreign corridors to go into it, the courthouse was just overwhelming. After a couple minutes of going into wrong rooms and wandering around, I finally found the notice board that listed all the cases for the week, what courtroom they were in, and a map of the entire building (which I had to consult a couple times throughout the day). (more…)

“Can you hear me now?” – Canada Wide Rogers Outage

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Many customers want to get discounts on their Rogers Bill because of this outage.

If you live in Canada, or have people who live in Canada on any type of social media, I’m sure you’re aware of what is happening. But for those of you who are unsure of what all the commotion is about (you must either live under a rock or outside of the country), it’s a cellphone outage.

One of Canada’s top cellphone providers, Rogers Canada, is currently experiencing a nation-wide outage that is unexplained. With Rogers unsure of how long it will take to fix the problem and every form of social media booming with cries about the outage, I decided to create a Storify about it.

Anyone interested in viewing the Storify about the Rogers outage can do so by clicking this link

Toronto Transformed: Nuit Blanche 2013

With over 100 art projects, Nuit Blanche hit Toronto with full force this past weekend! Running from sunset on Saturday to sunrise on Sunday, the elaborate outdoor exhibit featured 67 independent projects produced by Toronto’s art community and three curated exhibitions featuring 44 projects. Being this event’s eighth year in a row running, more than a million people attended this excellent display of art year after year.

This photoessay will highlight just a small percent of projects that were featured in Nuit Blanche 2013. To anyone who is intrigued in these unique pieces of art, I strongly recommend attending Nuit Blanche 2014 for a eye-opening experience!

From the Exhibition, “Off to a flying start”

This 3D sculpture of 3,144 bicycles creates an amazing labyrinth-like effect

Forever Bicycles by Ai Weiwei
This 3D sculpture of 3,144 bicycles creates an amazing labyrinth-like effect.

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My Literary Journey

My dad and I reading the news together.

Me and my dad, reading the news together.

I guess you can say that it all started when I was a baby. My love of reading and writing, that is. You see, from the time I was born until I was in my pre-teens, my dad has read stories to me; however, these stories weren’t your average children’s picture books like Robert Munsch. Instead, my dad read to me classics such as Tom Sawyer, Alice in Wonderland, and even The Hobbit.

Flash forward a few years later and you’d find me, a little girl with every children’s book series imaginable under my belt. From Anne of Green Gables to A Series of Unfortunate Events to Little House on the Prairie, I would spend hours in my room reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. I guess that emphasis on reading my dad had when I was a baby never went away.

Now, my love for writing came a little after my love of reading did. I remember being in grade 6 and bored out of my mind (like most 11 year olds are), so I decided to try out writing my own stories for fun. After that, I tried my hand at everything I could – from songs to journals to short stories to poetry. Even if I didn’t quite understand how to write it, I wanted to learn! Essentially, I was addicted.

It wasn’t until high school where I discovered how much I enjoyed journalistic news writing. After getting one assignment on a news story and another on a journalistic essay, I knew I wanted to be a Journalist. So, I enrolled myself in Humber College’s Bachelor of Journalism program, which I just started this September. And so far, I’m loving every bit of it!

Finally, I get to do my passion everyday and hopefully, will make a living out of it someday.