The Syringa Tree
Written by Pamela Gien
Directed by Miles Potter
Performed by Carmen Grant
Grand Theatre, London
Marcy 17 to April 4, 2009

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

As the action begins on stage, my first thought is “how can one actor possibly play 24 roles?” As The Syringa Tree opens, Carmen Grant is protraying a little girl sitting on a swing, making me think she must be 24 different little girls. But no, the characters are young and old, male and female, black and white, and Grant remarkably plays them all, and does it very, very well.
The Syringa Tree, currently on stage at London’s Grand Theatre is an excellent production of a moving story. Set in South Africa in the 1960s, the story is told by Elizabeth. She’s the young child of a presumably wealthy white doctor. Their black servant Salamina has a baby girl but the toddler doesn’t have government papers to be outside the black townships and has to be kept hidden. Carman Grant plays Elizabeth, her parents, the black servants the family employs, neighbours, grandparents, and friends.
Grant is a brilliant actor. She changes her accent and the timbre of her voice with every character. She has different mannerisms and ways of walking for each personality, and she alters her perspective accordingly. When little Elizabeth talks to her father, she reaches up to hold his hand, when the father replies, Grant portrays him reaching down to the child. She instantly becomes each character, changing herself completely, so the audience forgets she is just one woman.
Through the characters, we learn about the appalling conditions of apartheid. Innocent people, both black and white, die. The strife between the segregated races is enough to convince Elizabeth to move to California when she finishes university. The story ends when she returns to South Africa years later – unfortunately, it’s not clear that there is any improvement in the conflict, although there is a bittersweet reunion.
Grant, originally from Tisdale, Saskatchewan, has portrayed the characters of The Syringa Tree previously at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, the Belfrey Theatre in Victoria, and the Manitoba Theatre in Winnipeg, along with many other impressive credits.
She must have incredible strength and stamina to do this show eight times a week. Not only is it emotionally draining, it is also physically demanding. How she can talk in her stage voice continuously, changing the range from high to low, for a full hour and a half, without pausing for a drink is remarkable. There is no intermission.
It is worth the ticket price just to see Grant perform this feat. But it is also a valuable experience to feel the effects of the government-imposed racial prejudice. This evocative story brings the damage caused by apartheid to a personal level – we see the horrific effect on children, friends and family.
The Syringa Tree continues at the Grand Theatre in London until April 4. Tickets are available at the Grand box office at 672-8800 or 1-800-265-1593.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

Grand Bend gambler Richard Webb will travel globe after winning the Canadian Poker Tour crown

Richard Webb hit it big January 21 when he won the Canadian Poker Tour Invitational Finals at Ocean World Resort and Casino in the Dominican Republic. Webb was the best of Canada’s top 43 players, who were invited to the Caribbean resort to compete for the $60,000 title and a sponsorship contract worth $100,000. With the win, Webb will represent Canadian Poker Tour as the Canadian poker champion, and the company will pay his entry fee and all expenses when he competes in tournaments across Canada and around the world this year. He also gets to keep most of his winnings from any tournaments where he places “in the money”. It’s a high level of success for this 48-year old Dashwood native, who grew up playing cards and still plays poker weekly with his friends and family.

Photos and photo illustration by Casey Lessard
As told to Casey Lessard

When did I start playing poker? Probably with my dad when I was a young child. He would deal hand after hand of seven-card stud, and practice and play. He was a card player, and I learned my card skills from him. As we were growing up, we played cards all the time: euchre, solo, hearts – all the card games you play as a family.
Along came the charity casino days, and I played poker at those not knowing much of what I was doing. It was mainly limit poker, so there’s a fixed small blind and large blind, and there are only three or four raises. Each game would be $5 to $20 per game.
We started playing out at a local establishment in Exeter on Monday and Tuesday nights, and we moved out here for a regular Tuesday night poker game (his basement has a poker room complete with a beautiful poker table, comfortable chairs, and a painting of dogs playing poker). We had been playing various types of games, but we could see that no-limit hold ‘em was where the future of poker was. In no-limit, you can raise any time. This was in the fall of 2004 after Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, which really was the start of the explosion of the poker trend.
In February 2005, I entered my first tournament, the Bluewater Championships at Point Edward charity casino, which was their first. There were about 400 people putting up $500 each. Lo and behold, I finished second. That was a good start. I took a good portion of the winnings and took a month long motorhome trip across Canada with my family.
I played the Bluewater Championships again in February 2006, and won it that time. They had another one in September, and I won that, too. I think first prize was something like $50,000 each, so that set me off. I made headlines in poker magazines, and the international poker rankings mentioned it because it’s unusual to win back-to-back.
In 2007, I made the money again at Bluewater, finishing 12th. Then I went to Regina, where I won a tournament. It’s not the biggest tournament in Canada, but it’s one of the best.
In 2008, I came back and won the Bluewater for the third time. That gave me entry into the Canadian championships, which were put on by the Canadian Poker Tour. They decided to have a tournament for the top point getters throughout the year. In any given year, I’ve never been the top points person, but I’ve always come close. Historically, since I started, I am number one overall.

Canadian championships
It was a very good field of experienced players, all of who had won tournaments or come close, and we played in Puerto Plata. It was well put together with a big reception party. I went through day one, not as the top chip player but as one of the top 12 moving into day two. By the time we got to nine players, I started to take the lead. When we made the final table, I was the chip leader. Not by a lot, but I was chip leader.
I played well. I made two bad calls throughout that time where I actually got in the hand when I was behind. In one case I lost the hand, and the other I drew out on a guy from Toronto. He had an ace/nine versus my king/jack. You get two cards and you’re trying to make a five-card hand. Three cards are flipped – the “flop”. The “turn” brings another card, and then there’s the “river”. I got a jack on the flop to make a pair and that eliminated him.
That was good luck. You want to get in when you’re the favourite. His hand was 55 per cent favoured to my 45 per cent because he had the ace. He had one card that was over my two, but my two were over his bottom card. He had to hit an ace to win. It worked out for me.
I proceeded to knock out the rest of the field. I got down to playing heads-up with a guy named Robert Beveridge, who won two Grey Cups as a CFL player and now coaches football at the University of British Columbia. I trapped him on a hand. I had pocket queens and he had ace/seven. I was 75-80 per cent favoured to win the hand and luckily he got an ace in the flop. The very next hand I picked up pocket sevens and moved all in against his ace/queen. A seven on the flop gave me three of a kind and I won the tournament.
With the $60,000 prize, I get a $100,000 contract to go around the world and play poker. I give them 20 per cent of what I win and I give 10 per cent to charity in the city where I win. If it’s an international win, I’ll donate it in Grand Bend, Dashwood or Calgary, where the Canadian Poker Tour is based.
I’ve worked my schedule so I can still run my business (Stewart Webb & Sons septic systems, which he runs with his brother), and have already started touring. I went to Los Angeles for the LA Poker Classic, which is one of the premier events. The winner takes $1.7 million, and I played well, but didn’t make it into the top 63 to get into the money. I jumped on a plane a couple days later to Calgary and finished 38th, which was in the money, and came home.
I’m going to Regina this month; to Sanremo, Italy in April, to play in the European Poker Tour event there; Calgary for the Canadian Open; Las Vegas for the World Series; Barcelona, Spain; hopefully the North American championships in Niagara; and a whole bunch of tournaments across Canada to represent the tour coast-to-coast.
For the World Series of Poker, there will be 7,000 players putting up $10,000 each, so first prize is about $9 million. Last year there were two Canadians at the final table.

Keeping everything in perspective
Cards are a hobby for me. You see the glamour and glitz on TV, but there’s so much more that goes into it that it isn’t something I would want to have to depend on for rent payments at the end of the month. It would certainly subsidize my income if I decided to retire, but the pressure wouldn’t be there to perform.
I’ve been fortunate. But if I never won another tournament again, I’d be quite satisfied with what I’ve achieved. That said, the Canadian Poker Tour wants me to win. Next year they’re planning to do the same thing but offer contracts to all of the players that make the final table.
If I walk into a poker room anywhere in Canada, they know who I am because of the previous years. I play as hard as I can, but it’s always about the W for me. I don’t look at the money – I look for the win. That might help me be more relaxed at the end, and I think that’s one of my strengths. Plus I have a lot of final table experience.
I wear sunglasses and a hat, and I’m listening to music a lot of the time. I try to establish how good someone’s hand is, and if I’m right 60 per cent of the time, I’m doing well.
The more hands you see, the better. In no-limit poker, there’s raising (the stakes) and folding (your hand); no calling. Calling will just get you into trouble unless you’re trying to trap somebody. A good fold is as good as a good call. Maybe better. You’ve got to be able to fold when you’re beat. If you don’t, you’re going to be out of the tournament in a hurry.
It doesn’t matter if it’s for $10 or $10,000; it’s still about winning. I still like to play. Cards are a social sport. At tournaments, you’re sitting at tables for 10-12 hours, so I want to be able to talk to the person next to me. If you’re likable, maybe people don’t try to knock you out as hard. I always shake hands and say goodbye to everyone.
I’m definitely living the dream. It’s always nice to take Jackie and Sarah with me to places where it’s nice and warm, or places they want to see. Jackie will be going with me to Italy, and hopefully Jackie and Sarah will go with me to Barcelona. When I’m there playing, I don’t do anything other than play, but if I take an extra week, we can enjoy the places together. The money I’ve won has been used for things for my family and extended family, so it goes to good use and isn’t wasted.
We still play every Tuesday night with the boys, and they beat me all the time. I play with my father every Tuesday and he beats me quite regularly. I like the ability to play with my dad. I’ve taken him to some tournaments; he sees the success I’ve had, and he’s proud of that.
If I win $50,000 Sunday night, I still go to work Monday morning. If I were given a long-term contract to represent an organization, I probably would take it. I like the ability to get out there and meet people. If they want me to do charity events, I’m happy to do it. If I have interviews to do, I’m happy to do that. If I win one of the big tournaments this year, it’s not going to change the way I am and I’ll probably still come to work the next day. Well, maybe I’d take a couple days off before coming back.

To see Richard Webb win the Canadian Poker Tour Invitational Finals, you can watch The Score in April. Air dates and times are not yet set, but will be listed at thescore.com

Tim Hoffman of Dashwood and Cathy Costello of Mitchell met through a mutual friend two years ago, and started dating. They got married February 14 on a three-layer cake made of snow as part of the Grand Bend Winter Carnival.

Interview & photos by Casey Lessard

Take me back to when you first met.
Tim: It was a blind date, so I had no idea what she would look like. You never know what to expect, but it was good. We had good conversation that night and everything went well, and when I left, she told me to come and give her a hug.
Cathy: He was a gentleman. Very nice. He seemed really down to earth. He deserved a hug.

The first date is one thing, but what was the impetus to say this is going to work?
C: I brought him to a party with the girls I work with, and the Mitchell girls are pretty wild. He fit right in with them. It was very important that he could put up with their craziness.
T: They all seemed to enjoy a good time and were fun to be around. Then Cathy came up and gradually met my family more and more and fit in really well.

Family is really important to both of you. What was it like to think about merging the two?
C: We just felt it was the next step to take. I was ready to move out of Mitchell, out of the small town – and into another small town. We were driving a lot; he came up pretty much every night to Mitchell. We just thought it would make more sense to be in the same household.
T: As time goes on, you can see you will be compatible together and it makes sense to take the next step.

What were you looking for? What was special about Cathy?
T: Someone who takes interest in what I do, and we can have a good time together and laugh together.

What was special about Tim?
C: He had to be compatible with my daughter Olivia. Whenever they met, they just clicked. That was nice to see.

Cathy, you had a family already. How did that play into things?
C: It was hard. I didn’t trust many people. I could see with Tim that he was a genuinely nice guy and treated her and me with respect.
T: I just tried to be a good role model for Olivia and build a family with them.

How did you propose?
T: We were going on a camping trip to Tobermory last August, and I knew prior to the trip that I would do it. There’s a high cliff on the Bruce Trail, and it’s the most beautiful spot that I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing manmade as far as you can see. Years ago, before I had met Cathy, I said that would be the spot if I ever had to propose.
We had quite a challenging time to get to that point. It was a holiday weekend, so you had to take a narrow provincial park road and I was towing a big trailer. It was pretty much impossible for two cars to go side-by-side. Someone pretty much ran me off the road and I ended up getting stuck in the gravel going partway up the hill. We thought we were going to be there for the day. Finally, a bunch of good old Canadian boys came along and gave us a push out.
We got it out and got over the hill, and we couldn’t go any further because there were all these cars parked there. So we pulled off the side as far as we could and went swimming. When I went back to the truck, the cars were gone and I was able to move the truck to the parking lot.
I told Cathy I wanted to go for a hike before it got dark, and luckily enough, Cathy, Olivia and my nephew were willing to go. Olivia was apprehensive because she didn’t want to walk, but she got in her head that she was going to be the leader and she beat us to the top.
Once we got to the high cliff, I told the kids I needed to talk to Cathy in private for a minute.
C: I didn’t know what was going on. We had gone up the trail the year before and up to the cliff. He shooed the kids away and proposed. It was very sweet. Olivia didn’t know what to think, but she was fine. She gave Tim a big hug and she was happy.

Then this contest comes up. Whose idea was it to enter?
C: We had gone out to supper with a bunch of people from his work, and the whole month before they had been saying, You’ve got to enter. They were on us all night long and we came home and decided to put our names in. We didn’t think too much about it.
I was at work and it was 7:50 a.m. They said “Cathy Costello, Line 1.” I picked up and the voice said, This is so-and-so from 104.9 The Beach. Do you have a few minutes to talk to us? I was like, not really, I’m at work. I tried my best to get out of the phone call, but he said he would call back in half an hour. My heart was racing the whole time. All the girls were wondering what was wrong with me.
They called back and gave me the spiel about how we had won and would be the couple on the cake. I went to my supervisor and asked if I could make a long-distance call to Tim. His boss answered and she started screaming. It was crazy.
T: We had only entered the week before and the wedding was two weeks later.
C: We hadn’t told anyone at all that we had entered. People were calling and it was crazy that day.

The big day comes around, and you’re on a big snow cake. What was it like?
C: I was really nervous until I got on top of the cake and it was so calm and quiet up there. It was fine once we were up there.
T: You’re kind of apprehensive about the crowd of strangers watching you, but it was just us up there.

What was most interesting about getting married on the snow cake?
T: Getting Cathy known in the community. Everyone’s going to know her now! We pretty much went for a month straight being on the front page of the paper.
C: At the time, it was so completely stressful, but I look back now and think it was a cool way to do it.

Tim and Cathy will have another wedding this summer. They are thankful for the work of Linda Hillman-Rapley and Diana Simpson for organizing the wedding.

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

You may have seen – or not seen but noticed – that A-Channel London no longer has a morning show. The people who lost their jobs there are among many cut from the television station, including some who will be let go in August. Also gone are two bureau stations in Wingham and Windsor. It’s a tough time for television journalists in southwestern Ontario, that’s for sure.
I used to be one of those people, working at CKCO in Kitchener until 2005. And I went to school, worked with, or worked beside several of the people who lost their jobs this week at A-Channel. Anjhela and Gloria played their music on the morning show a couple of years ago, and my dad was interviewed several times by Wingham’s Scott Miller when the sewer debate was happening in Crediton. I saw many of these journalists after Bill and Helene Regier were murdered, and again at the Imeson trial. I’m sure you’d recognize some of their faces.
Television is facing tough times as advertising dollars dry up in the current economic climate. But let’s be honest; does local television serve a purpose? If the advertising dollars aren’t there, isn’t it just a big waste of money on a very large make-work project? Who needs local TV when we have the internet?
You can do pretty much everything you need on the net, including watching your favourite shows, talking to friends, making friends, making enemies, whatever.
More importantly, you can even read the news on-line. Who needs TV news? Heck, you don’t even need to buy a newspaper – you can get that on-line, too. And it’s free!
In fact, that’s true for journalists, too. We don’t need to be in Wingham, Dashwood, or even Varna to know what’s happening there. It’s all on the internet, and a TV assignment editor can simply send someone from London to do the story when it’s needed. Even better, forget London and centralize in Toronto. It’s not that far to drive.
Besides, do you really care what happens in your own community, on your street, to your neighbours? That information is overrated, and someone has to be blogging about it on the internet, right? Maybe even someone who actually lives in this area.
Personally, I don’t own a TV, but you probably do. Let’s look at the bigger picture. The loss of local programming at A-Channel is not just about the fact of the loss. It raises a larger question: do we really need local news?
A few hundred people in this community (meaning you, the Grand Bend Strip subscriber) think it’s important to read the local news in this newspaper, and the other paper has a few readers, too. But how long will that last before the internet takes over and you’re the last to know when someone from your community is named a Canadian champion, or that your child did something great? When local news outlets leave, start the clock.
The most important part of this equation is the one the TV networks and the internet news providers can’t provide. Every news story starts as a local news story. Then it goes regional, then provincial, national and international. If there’s no local news provider, there’s no news. That’s the truth.
You know the value of local news – you even pay me to do it. Thank you. Now spread the word. Maybe we can keep some of those people at A-Channel producing news that matters to you.
If you think local TV news is important write your support for A-Channel news to the CRTC, CTV Globemedia, and your MP.

To the Editor:
A huge thank you to those who supported the troop morale spaghetti dinner. Over $2,000 was raised, including $400 from people who didn’t even attend the dinner. A special thanks to the volunteers who produced the meal and refreshments, and to the Grand Bend Sobey’s and No Frills stores for donating product.
Harry C. Young
Greenway

To the Editor:
A big thank you to all who helped at the troop morale spaghetti dinner. Kitchen: Gayle McGregor; Brad Hawkins; Rick; and Barry Hill. Servers: Al Noxell; Joan McCullough; Jeanette Wales.
Special thanks to Mike Tieman for keeping everything full and Gord Glazier for running to the store. Many thanks to those who donated home-made sauce: Linda Hill; Fred and Helen Teeple; Mary and Jim Blair; Lois Gilbert; Marilyn Dick; Craig Coltman; and Sheila.
Our local businesses were very generous: Mike and Terri Rahn of No Frills; and Bob Uhrig of Sobey’s. It was a great success and we loved the support. Thanks to all.
Sheila Tiedeman
Grand Bend Legion Branch 498

Alternative View
By Lance Crossley

Prime Minister Stephen Harper drew heavy criticism earlier this month when he told CNN that international forces in Afghanistan were never going to defeat the insurgency. His comments provoked a tongue-lashing by everybody from opposing political parties to the renowned Washington-based magazine Foreign Affairs.
What’s really shocking about Harper’s comments is not their legitimacy; many reputable sources close to the issue have said the same thing for a long time now. The real scandal is what his comments and the ensuing reaction to it reveal about the pathetic scope of debate on the Afghanistan issue.
Those who criticize Harper do so because they believe the war can be won, or that it is an insult to soldiers to say otherwise.
What links Harper and his critics is that they all justify the war based on whether it is winnable or not. If we can win, we should stay. If we are going to lose, we should go. (A few years ago Harper was happy to boast to the world that Canadians “don’t cut and run”.)
There’s been an appalling lack of critical thought in this country about this war ever since the former Liberal government signed up for George Bush’s “war on terror”. Iraq has had plenty of critics, but Afghanistan has been strangely immune to criticism. Nowhere can I find a convincing answer to a very simple question: Why are we there?
Are we there because of September 11? The Taliban were not involved in the planning of 9/11. Before the invasion, the United States propped up the Taliban regime with millions of dollars until American oil interests were unable to build a lucrative pipeline through the country. That is why government documents show the U.S. was planning to overthrow the Taliban well before the terrorist attacks. Sound like Iraq? This is a more rational explanation than the idea of squandering billions of dollars just to hunt down one man.
Are we there to instil freedom and democracy? In October 2001, the U.S. and its allies ignored the pleas of 1,000 non-Taliban Afghan leaders to stop the bombing of their country. The leaders begged the West to overthrow the Taliban regime through other means – a goal they believed was possible without killing. Why were these proposed alternatives never considered?
Are we there to counter Islamic fundamentalism? We now have a country run by drug warlords with no viable economy, horrendous rates of illiteracy, and widespread starvation. Nothing has improved. Things are worse. Worse yet, the Taliban has been given a new lease on life thanks to the hatred the war has incited among Afghans.
To date, more than 100 Canadian soldiers have died. With each death, this country turns into hero-worship mode, turning our soldiers into martyrs for dying for such a ‘noble cause’. But their deaths do not make them heroes; rather, they become tragic figures. Their deaths are tragic because we cannot give a good reason why they had to die.

Focus of annual show is representational art

Paint Ontario
March 14 to April 5
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Lambton Heritage Museum

By Casey Lessard

“Fight poverty, buy art.”
That’s the mantra Paint Ontario founder Barry Richman uses to encourage people to support the representational art show he started in 1996.
“Paint Ontario was established by me, selfishly,” says Richman, “to serve artists like me – representational artists. We paint something that looks like that thing. Not abstract, not installations.”
This year’s juried show accepted 300 entries from about 110 artists; only 120 fit on the walls at the Lambton Heritage Museum. Most artists are from Ontario, with some from Michigan and elsewhere. Some artists will have no pieces accepted into the show, and the most an artist can have in the show is three.
It’s an attractive venue for artists for a reason. Forty-three paintings sold last year, an increase from the year before; this year may be different because of the economic climate.
“I don’t know any place that sells 43 pieces in three weeks. I don’t know how sales will go, but we’re up 50 per cent in entries from last year.”
All of the art is available for sale, with prices ranging from $175 to $6,000. Last year’s average sale price was $645. To prize for best in show is $2000, with other prizes offered. They include purchase awards for two pieces: $750 for a local piece featuring people living a healthy lifestyle that will be purchased by the Grand Bend Area Health Services and paid for by John and Helen Walsh; and $500 for a piece chosen by Richman to join the Paint Ontario permanent collection.
Richman is available to give tours to anyone coming to the show for the first time; he also has a wall set up with a good cross-section of the different subjects represented in the show.
“The biggest thing I enjoy is watching how artists have grown compared to last year. Artists come and are very objective about why not all of their pieces got in the show, or why none got in. They find out where they’re falling short and talk to me about what makes a good painting or a great painting. To me, that’s very important.”
For more information, visit www.paintontario.com

To get you in the mood for spring, Grand Bend artist Jack Winn presents an exhibition of small panels of winter scenes at Baillie’s Framing (beside the Grand Bend post office). The 15 panels, ranging in size from 6”x8” to 12”x15”, all depict local scenes. Some of the paintings are part of the juried show, Paint Ontario. The show runs from March 14 to April 3, with an opening reception Saturday, March 21 at noon. For more, visit jackwinn.com

Return of the Tundra Swans
March 14 to April 5
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Lambton Heritage Museum
www.returnoftheswans.com

If you’re a fan of birds or awesome spectacles, you should visit the Thedford Bog east of the Lambton Heritage Museum this month as the tundra swans return. Every spring, thousands of tundra swans leave the eastern U.S. seaboard en route to the Canadian arctic. There’s no specific date to predict when they will first arrive, but the museum’s website can keep you up to date on their progress.
“It’s just part of their migration habit,” says director and curator John Tremain. “They’ve been raised with that route. It’s a nice 24 trip for them from Chesapeake Bay. They arrive tired and rest and feed here for about two weeks.”
The birds return in the fall, but don’t rest for long because it’s not as safe; spring thaw waters on fields give them space from predators and plenty to eat in the form of corn left over from the harvest.
The best place to find the birds is off Greenway Road, on the road east of Highway 21 just before the road curves north. Bring binoculars and a camera with a telephoto lens (perhaps even a tripod or monopod), and dress appropriately. Pinery naturalists and Friends of the Pinery make regular trips to the area with spotting scopes for visitors to view the swans.

Meet Me at the Diner
Exeter Skating Club Carnival
Sunday, March 29
12 and 4 p.m. (two shows) – South Huron Recreation Centre
$8 (advance) or $10 (at door), $4 for children 12 and under

While skaters prepare their routines for the Exeter Skating Club carnival March 29, students at South Huron District High School are preparing a backdrop to match the theme, Meet Me at the Diner.
“In groups they came up with images that reflect the various eras from the 1950s to now,” says visual arts teacher Carleen Hone, who is supervising the project by her Grade 10 art class. Among the images are portraits of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Garfield, as well as images of breakdancing and iPods.
The SHDHS band will also perform at the carnival, which features junior national skating champions and local skaters.