14 • Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Standard
Greenbank Puppeteers are back in black this Saturday
BENJAMIN PRIEBE The Standard
The lights go dim, the room is pitch black, and festive music begins playing. A blur of exciting neon colours fly around on stage as the music picks up tempo. Suddenly, your
eyes adjust and you realize that they’re... flying neon coloured Christmas presents and puppets? The Greenbank Blacklight Puppeteers are back at Greenbank United Church for their twenty-second annual season. With a line-up
of 23 local students performing 13 songs and using over 375 separate props and costumes, this year’s show is bound to blow you away with their second showing on Saturday, December 14, at 7:30 p.m. The Standard spoke with coordinator Bri-
an Jones to figure out what happens behind the stage. “This year boasts the largest group of kids we have ever had in the Blacklight Puppet program - we have 23 in total,” said Mr. Jones, who works as the Leadership Officer for Durham District School Board, teaching adults how to further themselves. “They have been practicing together for three–and-ahalf months and the show looks amazing.” Behind the neon colours and exciting music, the Blacklight Puppet show holds a deeper story. The performers often join the program in Grade 7 and continue through for five years. Once they have put on a couple of shows, they begin taking leadership roles and helping the younger students.
“I know the importance of keeping kids engaged and involved,” said Mr. Jones. “The confidence that can be built in a team environment can be very powerful. With 23 teenagers in a dark space behind the stage, they not only learn how to control their puppets but how to help each other and work as part of a team.” Mr. Jones’ payment for spending the last 13 years volunteering to organize the show is seeing the students come back year after year and build their selfconfidence. By hiding their faces, the kids learn how to express themselves. “Every puppeteer learns how to work with their counterparts, and everyone helps and learns each other’s roles,” said Mr. Jones. “This is a great activity to boost self-confidence be-
cause they get to perform, but they don’t have to perform in front of people, noone knows who is who.” As always, the Greenbank United Church hosts the show, with rehearsal on Sunday nights. The 375 costumes and props were accumulated through years of community support; Greenbank locals make create a few by hand every year. “The group gets a lot of support from the church; they basically let us take over their space for a few months and provide a venue. We couldn’t do it without them.” The Blacklight Puppet Show crew have poured their hearts into this year’s performance, so make sure you catch their performance on Saturday, December 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Sifting through the gluten scare: a look at contemporary cooking BENJAMIN PRIEBE The Standard
Christmas dinner is a staple of the Canadian holiday season. Delicious and traditional foods are a must. Before you loosen the belt to have another chunk of delicious turkey, stop and remember the old saying ‘you are what you eat.’ For some Canadians, Christmas dinner could be killer. Food allergies, wheat sensitivities, celiac disease and other food-related medical problems have seemingly been on the rise recently, and the spotlight on specialized diets and organic produce has opened the door for a new section in your grocery store. Gluten-free and organic foods are a costly new contender in the food industry, as more and more people are beginning to scour the ingredients list and follow food fads. But the question asked by many – from the Average Joe to the die-hard celiac - remains the same: what do all of the buzzwords and special labels mean? The Standard sat down with Ted and Janette of Teddy’s Organic Market and John Redman of Marcelle’s Kitchen to sift through the finer points of the wheat flour scare and organic produce to rise to the top with some answers, just in time for your holiday feast. John Redman, of Redman’s Crossroads and Marcelle’s Kitchen, has been baking up a storm in his gluten-free and diabetic bakery for the past seven years. John does not have celiac disease, but his understanding of the condition stems from his personal need for diabetic foods. His methods of tweaking recipes and trial-anderror baking have brought him closer to his goal: glutenfree bread whose primary function is not a doorstop. As John puts it, he won’t sell anything he wouldn’t eat. “Gluten is a protein in wheat and barley, and when a person has celiac disease, this protein will attack and gum up the cilia in the lower-intestine,” explained John. “When the body can’t absorb nutrients, people basically starve to death no matter how much they eat.” This nutrient-robbing disease forces many people to avoid processed and packaged foods all-together, including most of the items stocked on the shelf of a typical grocery store. Luckily, John stands ready to help out his customers and free them from the shackles of stale and rather bland cooking. While gluten-free food is available in grocery stores, those with celiac disease must be incredibly careful to not poison themselves. Simply using a contaminated counter-top, knife, or dishwasher can bring on weeks of sickness and even hospital visits. “There is no wheat in my bakery, I’ve tried having separate utensils and areas for both types and it’s nearly impossible to bleach everything,” said John. “Marcelle’s
Kitchen is completely gluten-free, and I’ve learned how to cook just about anything by using different ingredients.” With the increase of medical knowledge on celiac disease, people are being diagnosed with the disease or wheat allergies much sooner and faster than ever before. According to John, if a patient presents symptoms of bloating, nausea, anemia, weight loss or fatigue, a doctor will often recommend that they give a gluten-free
lifestyle a try before committing to more serious tests. Another current food fad takes farming back to its roots. Ted and Jannette Eng of Teddy’s Organic Market and Zephyr Organics provide their customers with certified organic fruits, vegetables, and meat. The stock on their shelves is tended by their own hands to ensure that toxic chemicals are kept far away and are unable to leech into the food we eat on a daily basis.
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“We look after the food we grow like our own children,” said Ted. “If something is wrong with a baby, do you feed it chemicals and hope for the best? Or do you research and do the hard work to figure out how to fix the issue?” Ted strongly believes that modern farming methods rely too much on genetic modification, chemicals, and machinery. His wife Janette likens the deadly sprays applied to farm soil to the crisis of DDT and how we discovered its toxic effects many years later. They argue that although conventional farming methods increase yield and drive down food prices, the chemicals used can leech into the fruit of a crop and put over 350 chemicals into the average person’s body. In addition, Ted states that organic foods contain more of the nutrients and minerals that we need. “Organic and natural foods are higher in nutrients than processed foods, they will give your body what it needs,” explained Janette. “Processed food may taste great but after being machined, frozen, canned and having salt or sugar added to them – not as much of the nutrition remains.” Although organic food is touted as being healthier, the average consumer is reluctant to pay three-times the price for an organic stamp on their bag of apples. With a price driven up by higher manual labour costs and a smaller yield, organic farmers are forced to charge more for their labour of love. While the price tag may ward some shoppers off, Ted and Janette Eng are confident that their organic diet will help them to stay healthy. Some helpful tips from Teddy’s Organic Market and Marcelle’s Kitchen are to make sure you have a lot of vegetables and salads and most importantly – cook and bake everything yourself, avoid processed food as much as possible. Recipes can be found on-line at teddysorganicmarket.com and marcelleskitchen.ca.