My attempt at being artistic & funny

In most newspapers, you can find this wonderful feature in the Editorials/Opinions section of the paper. It tends to add a little colour to the page (and I’m not talking about the content;)
At the Observer we’re pretty fortunate and we get to do one. It’s probably because G-d forbid the real thoughts and perceptions of our student staff receive more space, but regardless it’s nice to add some character.

I was the guinea pig for the first cycle, and liked doing it so much, I did it again.

Observer Archives: Activists protest anti-Israel boycott by CUPE

As published in the Toronto Observer on January 10th, 2009

By Tevy Pilc

Activists braved frigid weather yesterday to picket outside the office of CUPE Ontario to protest against a proposed boycott of Israeli academics at Ontario Universities.

Last Friday, CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan called for the boycott of Israeli academics and educators who do not condemn the Dec. 29 bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza and “the assault on Gaza in general.”

Tevy Pilc reports.

Observer Archives: Scarborough soccer stars shoot for success on Toronto FC

As Published in the East Toronto Observer on  April 24th, 2009
By Tevy Pilc

For two Scarborough soccer players, it was the chance of a lifetime when they reunited to play professional soccer for their hometown.

Things I’ve been working on

I haven’t posted for a while and with good reason – having a real journalism job is time consuming!

I’ve decided to post some of my older work that I’ve done with the East Toronto Observer and the Jewish Tribune and anywhere else that my work has gone. To be honest, it’s just to keep the blog circulating with consistency but at least readers will know know I haven’t delved into seclusion (though contrary to popular belief).

Don’t know how the  work will translate through number of posts but it’ll still look nice.

Look out for my work in the Tribune… I’ve got a relatively big story or two lined up  in addition to the regular stuff I’m already working on covering.

Loser List #3- Dummies running Irish Secondary Schools

Maybe they were drinking the wrong Guinness?

If this happened to me, I would absolutely lose it. Thank G-d I live on a country where the people running the school systems have at least somewhat of a brain. Here’s the report found on the JTA website:

DUBLIN (JTA) — A group of Jewish Irish students who were “quarantined” over Shabbat are taking a state English exam a day late.

While students across the rest of the country took the test, the handful of Jewish high-schoolers spent Saturday without access to electronic media under supervision in observant households in Dublin to ensure they did not have access to the questions on the national exam

The decision to quarantine came following discussions between Ireland’s only Jewish secondary school and the Irish state examination commission.

The test, which forms part of the Leaving Certificate college entrance exams, had to be re-scheduled from Thursday after teachers at a school in County Louth inadvertently distributed the paper a day early to students who were sitting for a different test.

Within hours the contents of the exam had been widely disseminated via text messages and the Internet, forcing the Irish Department of Education to postpone the test until Saturday.

Justification for my CUPE article and response to criticism

Last week’s edition of the Jewish Tribune featured a story of mine entitled: “Anti-Israel rhetoric flies at CUPE meeting, but no time left for voting.” A day after the paper’s distribution, I was forwarded emails from Hasbara members, who were upset about the content of the story.

This post will explain why I wrote what I did. Actually it’s more like explaining why I included this piece of information in the story.