Ecole Secondaire Chapleau High School students received standing ovations for performances in World War II production for Remembrance Day in 1987

PHOTOS ADDED ON APRIL 11, 2011. WRITTEN OCTOBER 2009

Just recently I received a message on Facebook from Derek Lafreniere recalling "You'll Get Used To It ... The War Show", by Peter Colley, a play about World War II that I directed at Ecole Secondaire Chapleau High School just prior to Remembrance Day in 1987.

 Derek was a student in my drama course and played a leading role in the production. He later served in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Derek wrote: "I remember the Army play you directed that I was in. It was such a great experience. In addition, we put on one hell of a show if I may say so. If I remember correctly it was a fairly large production,singing, dancing etc..."

It sure was all that you write about it Derek and after a successful run in Chapleau we took it to Wawa for a presentation at Michipicoten High School.

As Remembrance Day on November 11 approaches it seemed a good time to bring back the moment that ESCHS students, staff and community members were involved in the production of Peter Colley's play. Colley noted that his play looked at Canada at war through the eyes of the soldiers themselves, adding that if at times it seemed they did not take the war as seriously as some people would think, "it must be remembered that our soldiers didn't take it that seriously either." When they weren't actually fighting, they took a break from the war.

This play was produced in conjunction with Branch Number 5 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Chapleau.

I directed many plays during my years at CHS/ESCHS, and each one was very special to me, but this one really challenged the cast as it combined many dramatic techniques including mime, music and dance into a play set in a time period which was not even a distant memory to them.

When I first read the play I was studying drama at the Faculty of Education at the University of Toronto, and it was a play I knew I had to direct for two reasons: it would place new demands on my students to reach beyond the ordinary in playing the respective roles, and because of the tribute it paid to Canada's ordinary soldiers in the ranks, including many from Chapleau. But they were not ordinary at all. They were the exceptional generation who left loved ones at home to serve. Some returned. Some, like my father, James E. "Jim" Morris, and other Chapleauites did not.

Twenty-two years after "You'll Get Used To It: The War Show" brought audiences to their feet in rousing standing ovations from the packed houses, I remember it like it was yesterday, and I am still in touch with some of the cast.

Writing in The Daily Press, reviewer George Evans, said that a "wonderful thing" happened at ESCHS. "For the older people there was bittersweet nostalgia for the years of World War II, and for the younger folk there was the impact of seeing war as it really was for the 1939 generation of teenagers. From oldest to youngest, the audience was caught up in the banality, the humor, and ultimately, the irreversible waste of war."

The outstanding company included Marcel Morin, Michel Sylvestre, Derek Lafreniere, Dean Harvey, Jeremy Comte, Christopher Ivey, Tara Leigh O'Hearn, Anita Hoffren, Andre Bourgeault, Kyle St. Amand, Gerry Servais, Kyle Videto, Laurianne Martel, Desmond Larocque, Donna Old, Annalisa Meyer, Michelle Meyer and Lori Brunette.

Margaret Rose Fortin, of the ESCHS teaching staff, did an incredible job as the music director, with Mrs. Ruth Godemair as the pianist. Members of the ESCHS Chorus included Gabriela Dell, Carolyn Hryhorchuk, Gerard Lalonde, Juliette Payette, Dave Fagan, Yvette Joyal, Desmond Larocque, Mike Holgate and Alison Wedekamm. George noted in his review that it was "impossible to overestimate" the contribution of the chorus to the emotional impact of the production.

Also greatly contributing to the success of the production was the awesome use of sound and lighting particularly in the battle scenes in the very capable hands of William Mitchell, Sylvain Bernier and Scott Keech. Video was done by Derek Woods. Costumes and makeup were looked after most capably by Yvette Joyal and Lisa Martel, and I must add that Mrs. Joyal pitched in to help with every aspect of the production. She was always available to help.

Set design was by Roxane Duhaim, while official photographer was Michael Heintz, prompter was Yvonne Ranger, and properties and stage assistant was Allison Berry. Rick Dell and Crystal Collins produced the program.

Production co-ordinator was Ross Hryhorchuk who noted that on the day before Remembrance Day there was also a special ceremony at the school to honour the members and veterans of Harry Searle Branch Number 5 of the Royal Canadian Legion as a simple thank you to them.

Thanks again to all of you for making the last play I directed at CHS/ESCHS among my most memorable moments from the years I spent at the school. My email is mj.morris@live.ca.

I am also on facebook.

This article appeared originally in my Chapleau Moments column in the Chapleau Express of October 17, 2009.

Tim Berners Lee wove World Wide Web creating mass medium for 21st Century

Tim Berners Lee 'invented' the World Wide Web 23 years ago on March 13, but chances are you have never heard of him. Two years ago, I wrote a piece about him for my blog and decided to update it a bit.

In 1999, Time magazine named Berners Lee as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, saying, "He wove the World Wide Web and created a mass medium for the 21st century. The World Wide Web is Berners-Lee's alone. He designed it. He loosed it on the world. And he more than anyone else has fought to keep it open, nonproprietary and free."

In my earlier article I noted that Berners Lee had commented on the forward slash in URLS being unnecessary. I was delighted to see on Wikepedia that he confirmed it years later after I heard him speak at the University of Toronto. In a Times article in October 2009, Berners-Lee admitted that the forward slashes ("//") in a web address were actually "unnecessary". He told the newspaper that he could easily have designed URLs not to have the forward slashes. "There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he said in his lighthearted apology`.


Most recently in November 2009, Berners-Lee launched the World Wide Web Foundation in order to "Advance the Web to empower humanity by launching transformative programs that build local capacity to leverage the Web as a medium for positive change."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee



HERE IS MY ARTICLE POSTED ON MARCH 13, 2009.

The 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web didn't get much media attention today. In fact I just noticed a short article on MSN marking the occasion, and its inventor Tim Berners-Lee is not well known outside academia.

But Berners-Lee may be the single most important person since Guttenberg in changing the way we communicate. I was so privileged to spend an afternoon listening to him in 1996 while attending a conference "The Internet Beyond the Year 2000" at the University of Toronto. To be honest, even though I had developed one of the first graduate programs in New Media Communications in Canada at College of the Rockies, I had no idea who Tim Berners-Lee was before that afternoon.

Perhaps most striking about him was his great modesty Here was one of the great thinkers and scientists of our time, and he had no need to be 'the sage on the stage.' After giving his talk, Berners-Lee sat on the edge of the stage to take questions.

The first question was from Dr Somebody from Some University, who started with "Dr Berners-Lee.." and before he got any further, he was cut off by Berners-Lee who said, "Tim will do." The professor didn't get it and again said, "Dr Berners-Lee.." only to be cut off with "Tim" and a shake of his head. The room broke up.

He was asked many questions but one that stuck in my mind was, "What would you do differently now." Berners-Lee replied after a moment, "I realized I didn't need the forward slash." Again the room broke up.

He was also asked about the process involved in inventing the web and how long it took. He said that he had been "thinking" about it for a long time and then one day simply decided to get it done.

Perhaps the single most impressive moment I saw of Berners-Lee was at a showcase of technology and industry. Students from Confederation High School in Nepean had created a web page, and Berners-Lee, hands behind his back, went up to them and asked some questions. At no time did he identify himself as the inventor of the web.

After he left I went over and asked the students if they knew who their visitor was. They didn't and when I told them, like students everywhere, they were afraid they had made mistakes. I assured them Berners-Lee was likely delighted to see their work.

For those who don't know exactly what he did, Berners Lee wrote the first Web clients and server and defined the URL, HTTP, and HTML specifications on which the Web depends. He was then working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory.

Knighted in 2003, Sir Tim Berners Lee is now the director of the W3 Consortium and is a principal research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

To have been able to spend time listening to him has to count as one of the most truly memorable moments of my entire teaching career.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee