Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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A Definite Lesson There I was eating a mandarin when this purple bug-eyed pot of African violets sat down across from me. I looked at it for half a minute wondering if it was going to attack me. I thought it was rather strange. I mean it just sat there. Didn't do a thing. Just sat there and stared at me. Well I was starting to go nuts. I looked around to see if anybody else was upset about it. No. Not a single raised eyebrow or frown or anything. I looked at it. It looked at me. I frowned at it. It just looked at me. Then it said something. I mean I think it said something. Yes. This horrible, little round ball of purple said something. It said ----- I love you. Beneath Your Sky This is a land of the raging river And the blue wind in the sky And a lonely house beside a lonely shore. This is a land of a thousand sunsets And a thousand ways to cry And a mother singing sweetly as she sweeps. This is a land where the swaying palm trees Tower oier the deep blue sea, And flowers are sucked by the honey bee. And one day when I'm weary and the world is far from me, I'll come back and walk again beneath your sky. Bob Clarke. A Polluted Spring An eerie smog-tinted light illuminates the sky. The purple clouds churn and swell like smoke. The earth is hushed, but the breeze sways the branches in a deceitful calmness. Rolls of thunder drum in the distance. Through the filthy sky a streak of light shatters the startled world. Followed by a crash, rain makes its way through the gloomy stratosphere to clear the intoxicating air. The vicious wind swirls the dead leaves out of its path, whipping branches to distortion. A fork of fire tears the bark from an ancient oak, soon to leave its polluted soil. The supernatural light flickers among the silent trees that are black with man's soot. Rain which had pounded an insane tune can penetrate no more. The thunder thumps no more and all is silent. All men fall to an eternal sleep, never to destroy again. Charles Richmond twen ty-eight

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Genesis Part Two A man worked, busily trying to light a small fire in front ofa dismal shack, roughly constructed of twigs and mud. All around to the farthest horizons gleamed small pieces of steel and other metals. These were the last signs of a once great civilization. Now there was nothing, or, at most, very little. The man's name was . . . well, he really didn't have a name. The others called him king , He was of the second generation after the crisis. Since his adolescence. he had rapidly established his supremacy over the tribe. He enjoyed his position and little cared that he had murdered another man in order to gain it. He held great power and all the people around feared him. Only he knew the secret of fire. Not far away was a large black cave. On the inside of the cave some faded scrawlings were painted on the wall with a green dye. They said H2046 . . . the end . Far away was the beginning of another civilization. In contrast, this tribe was peaceful and happy. On a large stone wall near the village a code of laws was heavily etched. The top line ran THOU SHALT NOT KILL . Beside this was written THANK GOD! WE STILL HAVE HOPEP. The sun shone brightly. Michael Smith Peace is the one thing we all need. Not just the peace which comes with the end of war, but peace of mind. Peace is time: time to think, time to love, time to live. Peace is to be able to talk without having to shout above the voices of others. Peace is being young. Peace is being alive and thinking you are going to live forever. Peace is living, really living, not just existing. It is doing what you really want to do the most. Peace is spending a day in the country, away from the hustle and bustle and rat-race of the city. Peace is spending a Sunday in the sun. Peace is listening to the birds and the voices of nature, rather than to the voice of some preacher. Peace is sleeping in the arms of your lover, smelling the sweetness of her hair. feeling her warmth and softness next to you. Peace is being able to speak your mind, and knowing you won't be persecuted for your beliefs. Peace is knowing that your children will have the best you can give them. Peace is Life. Peace is Love. Peace is Death. May you rest in Peace. Geoff Kinnear twenty-seven

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In Retrospect Before reading this, I would like you to keep in mind that this is an attempt to show some of the opportunities which I have seen here. I admit that it is idealistic in parts, but this is my positive expression of what I have come to know during my five years at Pickering College. As the end of another year here draws to a close, many of us start to think about such things as whether we will be back in the Fall. It is indeed an occasion for thought. For most of you, your stay has been one or two years, but, for four or five members of the graduating class, it has been five years, five very interesting and worthwhile years. I still recall vividly my first day in grade nine, on the upper floor of Firth House, and remember the vague ideas ofuncertainty toward Pickeringls underlying ideas that I shared with my class-mates. I am sure that most of you who were new this September must have had similar feelings about incomprehensible past traditions which did not seem to have been established for any definite purpose. It surprises me now to see how my own impres- sions have changed, along with those held by the people whom I have known since that cold rainy, autumn afternoon of 1965. Most of us arrive in the Fall, with our own views on Pickering, and regardless of what those views are and irrespective of our own interests or differing personal backgrounds, we all have the desire for a successful year. Everyone here has the ability to attain this objective to some degree. Firstly, by directing his academic efforts to suit his own interests and capabilities. Secondly, he can take part in the non-academic aspects oflife here. Connected with the sense of having had a good year is the realization of what I call Community Feeling : this covers all facets of Pickering life. Without it, I would be unsure whether I have derived any benefit from the community. Community Feeling has contributed, I feel, to the success of any given year. This has been shown during this past year by those who have put forth their best on the athletic field, by those who have worked on the Voyageur or Quaker Cracker, by those who served responsibly on Student Committees, by those who worked on the Drama and Glee Club presentations, etc .... etc. I feel that it is important for Community Feeling to come from the individual himself. Pickering College, in its own unique way, has given me the opportunity to try to learn from my own experiences as well as from other peopIes'. In this area, I have been grateful for that part of Pickering which has been here as far back as I can remember, namely, the opportunity for students and staff-members to get together on a basis of mutual trust. By virtue of this type of approach, we are more able to understand our own mistakes ofjudgement and better equipped to deal with future situations. Also, we can try to gain some self-respect which, in turn, leads to agreater respect for and tolerance of other people and their ideas and beliefs. This is especially important at Pickering where there are students from many different cultural backgrounds. I view my position as a member of the graduating class with mixed feelings: I am glad to be graduating because, as my colleagues who have survived the last five years will agree, five years is a long time. This period of time, however, has developed within me a sense of consistency and security, due, in part, to the fact that Pickering stands alone with her old but, at the same time, new approaches. A lack of regimentation, for example, helps us to formulate actions based on moral conscience rather than on fear of consequences. twen ijv-nine