May 20, 2012

PtboCanada.com Proud Sponsor Of Ode'min Giizis Festival Again This Year

May 20, 2012/ PTBOCANADA

[Ode'min Giizis website]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

April 20, 2012

From Afghanistan To Iran To Peterborough: One Woman's Amazing Story Of How A City (& A School) Saved Her Life

April 20, 2012/ PTBOCANADA

[September 22nd, 2016: UPDATE here.]

-----------

The most frequently asked question I encounter is, “Why did you come to Peterborough?”

My story goes something like this.

I was eleven years old.

And I came here kicking and screaming.

Despite the horrible circumstances in my first home in Afghanistan—and the uncertainty of refugee life in my second home in Iran—I thought I had it pretty good there.

My mom was widowed at the age of twenty-three and instead of re-marrying, she decided to spend her life taking care of her three little girls. I never felt the void of a father because my sisters and I were raised in a full house: full of extended family, love and attention.

I had the perfect childhood.

I thought I had it all.

My mom & dadI had no idea that my mother was barely getting by. Despite her brilliance and training as a teacher, she was not allowed to work in either Afghanistan or Iran: the Taliban had this thing against working women and educated girls. Iran continues to have this thing about permitting any Afghan refugee to work, period. To survive, my mother cooked, cleaned, sewed and relied heavily on her brothers’ help—an indignant, unsustainable arrangement.

So imagine her relief when I started receiving marriage proposals at the age of ten! The idea of one less mouth to feed and one less daughter to worry about was too appealing.

She had to make a decision and she did.

A decision I resented for a long time, but today, I understand it as the biggest sacrifice my mother ever made.

I was told that I would be moving to Canada to start a new life. And I didn’t have a choice.

I was shocked, angry and heartbroken.

After travelling by various modes of transportation through Iran, Pakistan, and Jordan, I found myself in Peterborough, Ontario.

It was May 1st, 1996.

The sun was shining. The grass was green. I came face to face with my very first robin. And despite the pain of separation from my loved ones, I was hopeful. Canada was the land of opportunity, and I owed it to myself, my mother and the rest of the girls back home to make something of myself here.

And if I worked really hard, I could get an education, get a good job and eventually be reunited with the loved ones I had left behind. After all, I had survived a dangerous journey to get here and the rules that held girls back did not apply here. The worst was over!

Boy, was I wrong.

-------------

My hopes for a smooth adjustment were shattered—not too long after they had formed.

The realities of new life started to sink in when I started school: I was the strange, foreign girl. I didn’t speak English, so I didn’t have a voice, which basically meant I did not matter. I didn’t smoke, drink, or have a social life outside school. Coming from a segregated school system, I was overwhelmed by the concept of boys and girls in the same classroom.

Sisters: Full of hopeI was teased, taunted and bullied. I didn’t have my support system to help heal the emotional bruises. My uncle and his family were here and they did the very best they could. They were coping with their own integration challenges and there was only so much they could do anyway.

And I didn’t know it at the time, but complicating the whole process were the growing pains of puberty.

Life was horrible.

I had gone from being the active, confident girl who loved life to being a miserable, isolated outcast who spent lunch hours hidden in the bathroom.

I cried myself to sleep every night that first year. I would pray to God to take me back to my family I was helpless in a strange new world, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I may not be the best Muslim out there, but what happened next has turned me into one of the strongest believers out there.

I like to think of it as ‘my miracle’.

------------

My mom and meNo prayer goes unanswered and a bitter, broken me was brought back to life by the kindness of strangers.

In my darkest hour, I witnessed the attentive care of staff and volunteers at the New Canadians Centre. When I had nowhere to go, I found a safe haven and a turning point at the YWCA's Crossroads Shelter. When I thought I had no family here, I was rejuvenated by the love of the Sisters of St. Joseph and found a home with Sister Ruth Hennessey's Casa Maria refugee home.

People I did not know, who spoke a different language, who believed in a different God, were hanging our curtains, finding us furniture, taking us shopping, encouraging us to explore Peterborough and feel at home.

Just when I thought I had to look, talk and dream like everyone else, I was accepted into the Integrated Arts Program at PCVS. For the first time since coming to Canada, I was encouraged to discover all the things that were unique about me and to nurture those traits. I made friends who actually liked and respected me. I connected with educators who saw something in me and went out of their way to make sure I saw it too.

The Monsef Women with brother in law (photograph by JESS MELNIK) I said it before and I'll say it again: PCVS saved my life.

My family joke that I am married to Peterborough... and they are not too far off.

It may have started out as an arranged marriage of sorts with many ups and downs, but we are in a good place now.

Like many successful marriages out there, ours is going strong because the people around us are helping to make it work—another blessing to celebrate on our sixteenth anniversary in Peteborough, on May 1st (most likely at the Silver Bean).

This kind of love is a very special kind of love. It doesn’t come around twice in a lifetime and I will love and honor Peterborough all the days of my life.

It took a while, but I finally understand why my mother did what she did to bring us girls to Peterborough. She found the courage to leave behind everything that mattered because she wanted her daughters to have the opportunity to fully participate and positively contribute to society.

Check out more of our story in this video segment below, and how my mother brought us here...

-------------

This is Maryam Monsef's first piece for PtboCanada.com. We welcome her as a new contributor.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada(hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

March 13, 2012

Great Video From Peterborough Tourism On Discovering Culture Here

March 13, 2012/ PTBOCANADA

[YouTube]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada (hashtag #bethechangeptbo) or Like us on Facebook.

January 09, 2012

East City: The Soap Was All The Rage Here In Late Eighties

January 09, 2012/ PTBOCANADA

East City: The Soap was a live, improvised soap opera performed on a weekly basis here in the late Eighties. Conceived and directed by Robert Winslow, it was first performed at Artspace, the multi-disciplinary art centre then located at Market Hall before moving production to the old Union Theatre. Here's some video clips taken from the first 25 episodes.

[YouTube]

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada.

January 09, 2012

Video About Rock Camp For Girls & Women's Rock Weekend In Peterborough

January 09, 2012/ PTBOCANADA

[YouTube]

Watch the full episode on Focus this Wednesday on TV Cogeco.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada.

December 29, 2011

Here's Deets On The 2012 ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival

December 29, 2011/ PTBOCANADA

ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival takes place Friday, January 27th through Sunday, January 29th, 2012 at Showplace, Market Hall and The Venue.

Advance tickets and info on what films are playing when is now available through the ReFrame website.

You can also purchase tickets and a festival pass at the following locations:

Peterborough Green-Up Store – 378 Aylmer Street
Kawartha World Issues Centre, Trent University, ERS Building RM B101
Titles Bookstore – 379 George Street
Trent Central Student Association – Trent University
Champlain College Fleming Bookstore – 599 Brealey Drive
Happenstance Books and Yarn – 44 Queen Street, Lakefield

Contact 705-933-4222 or info@reframefilmfestival.ca for more info on the 2012 ReFrame Festival.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada.

December 22, 2011

51 Things We Hope To See In Peterborough In 2012

December 22, 2011/ PTBOCANADA

In no particular order, here we go...

1. A place(s) to play ping pong in downtown Peterborough.
2. PCVS
3. More hilarious tweets from @/PTBO_Y_U_NO.
4. More jobs being created in Peterborough.
5. Buses running later at night in Peterborough. It's near impossible to get a cab when the bars close. And we don't want to see people ever drinking and driving.
6. More music and cultural festivals. The more, the merrier. (Our music scene is one of the best in Canada.)
7. More people biking on Peterborough's streets and trails. More people biking in general.
8. The Peterborough Petes in the playoffs.
9. More great music acts at the likes of Historic Red Dog, Market Hall, Showplace, The Spill, Spanky's and Gordon Best.
10. More plaid.
11. An authentic Irish pub.
12. PCVS
13. More restaurants and businesses opening, and less closing.
14. Less blackouts for no real reason.
15. Reggie's launching a hot dog version of their burger.
16. More tourists coming to our great city.
17. More great anti-bullying programs in the city. More people standing up to bullies.
18. More Creative Cocktails, which was one of the best things to come to Peterborough this year.
19. More funny typos on signs.
20. Continued generosity of Peterborough community.
21. A continued resurgence of the downtown—and the continued good work of the DBIA.
22. Continued transparency from city council, the Mayor's office and our tweeting Mayor, who has settled into the role nicely and is having a great first year in office.
23. A couple town hall meetings. Or one. Hey, why not? Healthy thing to try to bring community together.
24. People doing random things like dancing on bubble wrap.
25. Another great Festival of Trees downtown.
26. More Tom Phillips columns.
27. More people trying breakfast at The Only Cafe. It's worth the wait.
28. More readers submitting tips.
29. More local people and businesses joining the Twitterverse.
30. More parody accounts on Twitter. Good satire can be a great equalizer.
31. Continued development of the Peterborough Wednesday Market and Saturday Farmer's Market.
32. A splash pad at Nicholl's Oval.
33. PCVS
34. Peterborough Roller Derby taking off.
35. Less domestics on police reports. Less drug busts. Less break and enters. Less stabbings. Less crime. More jobs.
36. More flash mobs around Peterborough.
37. CP Rail bridge gets fixed, allowing pedestrian walkway/bikeway again (and our shortcut back to East City)
38. More Peterborough playlists.
39. The return of 4 Dudes On The Balcony.
40. More Stormtroopers. More Band Wagons.
41. Continued impact/recognition of Peterborough's Creative Class.
42. More shocked looks on the faces of visitors to our Zoo when they discover it's free.
43. Peterborough Square and Portage Place making an Eighties comeback.
44. Less complaining and whining about what's wrong with the city, and more solutions for how to fix things.
45. More/continued attention to the amazing artists, musicians and athletes in this city.
46. PCVS
47. A show called Culturally Speaking on TV Cogeco as spinoff of Politically Speaking.
48. The excellent owners of the now closed Have You Seen... returning with a new venture.
49. More people visiting our awesome galleries and museums—the Canadian Canoe Museum is world class.
50. Not as many people wearing pajamas as outdoor wear.
51. A town square. Well, at least more discussion about it.

That's it, you rock.

What do you hope to see in Peterborough in 2012? Add to our comments section below.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada.

December 09, 2011

Amazing Cover Of Neko Case Song Filmed In PCVS Stairwell Going Viral

December 09, 2011/ PTBOCANADA

[UPDATE December 13: It now has more than 23,000 views on YouTube.]

------------------

This cover of Neko Case's "Star Witness" performed by PCVS students Kate Macdonald and Janelle Blanchard already has more than 17,000 views since being uploaded December 4th—and has been tweeted by Neko Case herself several times. It was recorded to draw further attention to PCVS's closure and the devastating impact it could have on our community.

Tip us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Follow us on Twitter @Ptbo_Canada.

December 06, 2011

Support Local Artisans At Focus Fair Indie Craft Fair At The Spill This Weekend

December 06, 2011/ PTBOCANADA

This year's Focus Fair takes place at The Spill this weekend (December 10th and 11th). Click here to view pictures from last year's to give you a flavour.