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Faces of the Fallen


Wilber

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We saw this story on local news a few days ago and it was on Global National tonight. The exhibit is on display until tomorrow afternoon. We went and saw it yesterday. There are thirty six portraits as part of the school's Remembrance Day exhibition. Other displays also included collages of personal correspondence by WWI and WWII vets reproduced on paper that they had artificially aged together with personal photos and another of prints describing students personal impressions. A hanging sculpture made of paper planes made from reproduced aged newspapers from the World Wars. Sculptures including a row of sixteen pairs of worn empty boots and another of battered old rusted helmets. All made out of paper mache. Very realistic, you had to touch them to make sure they weren't real.

We walked out dumbstruck by the emotional capital these kids had invested in this project and the talent there is in that school. Despite the terrible subject, it really gave us a good feeling about this generation .

Here is the Link to the video.

For some reason the link always comes up on the Canada page. Click Top Stories, the video is on that page.

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We walked out dumbstruck by the emotional capital these kids had invested in this project and the talent there is in that school.

It looks like it started with a good teacher.

I've often wondered if there was a way to recognize great educators more clearly. Queen's Educator (QE) after their name perhaps?

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I think that here is the video.

Stalin said that one death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic. Nevertheless, some statistics are in order.

Some 50,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam in the Cold War. About 3,000 American soldiers died in Iraq. About 1 million Vietnamese died in the Cold War. About 100,000 Iraqis died when the Americans overthrew Saddam.

About 45,000 Canadian soldiers died in World War II. So far, about 130 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan. Some 400 Canadian soldiers died in Vietnam.

Whether in Vietnam, Afghanistan or over France or Germany, North American men have fought abroad for liberty. We should all be thankful that such men go abroad, not to defend territory, but to defend this ideal of liberty on our behalf. They make our civilized society possible.

Edited by August1991
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It's a high school that offers a fine arts major. The academic requirements to graduate are the same as other high schools.

Exactly. And here is a teacher that has taken a art class and elevated it to cover history and civics. Students researched their material in a way they might not have done for a class before.

It doesn't get much better than that for education.

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Some 400 Canadian soldiers died in Vietnam.

The numbers are still mostly unknown. Some stats start at 80 and run to 110. Haven't heard the 400 people number but it isn't impossible. Between 12,000 to 30,000 Canadians volunteered for service in the war. No one knows exactly how many. There are still 7 Canadians missing in action in Vietnam. One of those Canadians won the medal of honour and became a prominent businessman in the U.S.

I have known a few Canadian Vietnam vets over the years.

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Some people will always be hobos on the inside, no matter how much money they make.

He does raise a point, however. There are immense opportunities for artists right now, but these opportunities are for artists who can work on a computer, not brushes and pencils. I doubt that many art students have the opportunity to learn these kind of software and computer skills in the classroom, and I doubt many art teachers have the skills to teach them.

Regardless, it's a good project that has obviously caused the students to reflect on the soldiers' lives and deaths and choices.

-k

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It looks like it started with a good teacher.

I've often wondered if there was a way to recognize great educators more clearly. Queen's Educator (QE) after their name perhaps?

There are few things more important to society than great teachers. I can't help but wonder if teacher's federations would brand such a thing as being elitist.

Edited by Wilber
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Some people will always be hobos on the inside, no matter how much money they make.

He does raise a point, however. There are immense opportunities for artists right now, but these opportunities are for artists who can work on a computer, not brushes and pencils. I doubt that many art students have the opportunity to learn these kind of software and computer skills in the classroom, and I doubt many art teachers have the skills to teach them.

Regardless, it's a good project that has obviously caused the students to reflect on the soldiers' lives and deaths and choices.

-k

If we look at art as just a job, how long will it be before there are no artists capable of picking up a paint brush or sculpting a piece of stone and no one to teach them?

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If we look at art as just a job, how long will it be before there are no artists capable of picking up a paint brush or sculpting a piece of stone and no one to teach them?

I'm not advocating that classical media be abandoned. I'm just disappointed that new mediums for art are being left as the exclusive domain of nerds.

-k

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It's sweet that one of the writers here admires the young students who did the project giving thanks to the "fallen" - The writer seems to have faith in some of the up coming generation...well buisness as usual. I guess it's good that we have an educational system that still turns out one dimentional people that will not question the powers that be about what their true intent is...Yes I can see showing thanks for those that died a thousand a day fighting off Hitler..but it's not the same thing - Our soldiers of today are not fighting for our freedom - they are fighting for the right of passage - for oil pipe lines - for opium and for the further enrichment of those in the war supplies buisness - How come no one explains to our dear school children that all authority is corrupt and never to trust it and that killing solves nothing - unless you are acting in self defence. So far I have no heard of one Afhani peasant wanting to come to Toronto to bring me harm..

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It's sweet that one of the writers here admires the young students who did the project giving thanks to the "fallen" - The writer seems to have faith in some of the up coming generation...well buisness as usual. I guess it's good that we have an educational system that still turns out one dimentional people that will not question the powers that be about what their true intent is...Yes I can see showing thanks for those that died a thousand a day fighting off Hitler..but it's not the same thing - Our soldiers of today are not fighting for our freedom - they are fighting for the right of passage - for oil pipe lines - for opium and for the further enrichment of those in the war supplies buisness - How come no one explains to our dear school children that all authority is corrupt and never to trust it and that killing solves nothing - unless you are acting in self defence. So far I have no heard of one Afhani peasant wanting to come to Toronto to bring me harm..

Got it Oleg, our people dieing in Afghanistan aren't worthy of your respect.

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Don't be a jerk - you know me better than that. Those are my people dying there - this is the red neck Canadian white culture that I grew up with. My point is and always will be that killing our own tribe members by sending them on a useless adventure is a very evil thing - AFHANISTAN is not worth one single Canadian life - There is only one thing that is of real value in this world - a human life! Why don't the creeps who enjoy this enterprise and war send their own sons and daughters to die in that dried up rock pile? That's my gripe - You do not justify the killing of your own because they are naive..naive does not mean inferiour!

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Don't be a jerk - you know me better than that. Those are my people dying there - this is the red neck Canadian white culture that I grew up with. My point is and always will be that killing our own tribe members by sending them on a useless adventure is a very evil thing - AFHANISTAN is not worth one single Canadian life - There is only one thing that is of real value in this world - a human life! Why don't the creeps who enjoy this enterprise and war send their own sons and daughters to die in that dried up rock pile? That's my gripe - You do not justify the killing of your own because they are naive..naive does not mean inferiour!

I don't think I am being the jerk here. You make a display of respect for people who have died for their country a platform for your own agenda. Can you not give it a rest for one day?

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I don't think I am being the jerk here. You make a display of respect for people who have died for their country a platform for your own agenda. Can you not give it a rest for one day?

"You make a display of respect(do you mean dis-respect?.. for people who have died for their country" Perhaps there is a devine error on your part? Yes I make a show of respect for those soldiers - there are others who send them into battle who are actually the real dis-repectors of these young men and woman. No I will not give it a rest . How can you say with a real sense of reality that these soldiers DIED for their country? They did not die for you or I - they died for nothing...War is a rich and privledged man's game..do you really think that some old guy sitting in some bank tower who has his own agenda in these regards and influences governments HAS RESPECT FOR THESE JOE AVERAGE SOLDIERS? The men pushing this war respect no one- not even themselves.

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Also to teach children to accept illegal and legal wars is the showing of the greatest disempowerment and dis-respect for our young students and children in general - why are we programing them so early to die to serve rich people who look at them as sheep to be slaughtered? It's a disgrace - teach the kids that war is waged for fun and profit and it's a barbaric adventure. It should not exist at this point in time in our history - we have learned nothing and now we want to teach the next generation on how to be stupid?

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I guess you can't give it a rest for one day of the year. You remind me of some of the Olympic protesters around here. They rob a kid with cerebral palsy of a chance to take part in the torch run and say that they have to stand up for their right to protest. In other words, it is all about them.

A spot of trivia for you. Canada was not attacked by Germany or the Austro Hungarian empire in WWI or by Germany and Japan in WWII. We went to the defence of our allies and attacked them. Sound familiar?

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I think that here is the video.

Stalin said that one death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is a statistic. Nevertheless, some statistics are in order.

Some 50,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam in the Cold War. About 3,000 American soldiers died in Iraq. About 1 million Vietnamese died in the Cold War. About 100,000 Iraqis died when the Americans overthrew Saddam.

About 45,000 Canadian soldiers died in World War II. So far, about 130 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan. Some 400 Canadian soldiers died in Vietnam.

Whether in Vietnam, Afghanistan or over France or Germany, North American men have fought abroad for liberty. We should all be thankful that such men go abroad, not to defend territory, but to defend this ideal of liberty on our behalf. They make our civilized society possible.

It's more than just ironic that the enemy in the Cold War was once an ally, just like Saddam. What this says about us is perverse.

We should be a lot more wary about going abroad - doing so has a lot more to do with improving the fortunes of the already fortunate than our ideals, which are clearly conditional if not negotiable.

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I'd be very interested in seeing a similar video made, involving all of the lives destroyed by the 'good intentions' of the social democratic welfare state. Which traps invidivduals and families into dependency on a meager subsistence for generation after generation.

But I'm guessing it'll be a cold day in hell before any of these artsy fartsy types make anything resembling that.

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I'd be very interested in seeing a similar video made, involving all of the lives destroyed by the 'good intentions' of the social democratic welfare state. Which traps invidivduals and families into dependency on a meager subsistence for generation after generation.

Are you complaining again that you don't get enough money?

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I think alot of people are missing the piont....It's about taking a few minutes out of your day and remembering those that have gone before us...not just soldiers, but everyone who paid any price to keep our nation the way it is today....be it on Nov 11 or any time of the year...in my opinion thats what counts...so thumbs up to the arts...thanks...

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