S-COLUMN

Centretown News is a biweekly community newspaper with a circulation of around 17, 000 in Ottawa's Centretown neighborhood.

What makes Centretown News unique is that it is produced and published exclusively by Carleton University's school of journalism through a couple of courses available to third and fourth year students, as well the department's handful of master's students.

Under the watchful eye of our professor and publisher Klaus Pohle, we the students are the editors, reporters and photographers of the paper. It's also our responsibility to lay-out the pages and solicit advertising.

For the first two issues of the paper this semester, I took on the post of sports editor. Curling seems to be the go-to game when it comes to Centretown's small sporting scene. Some of the best curlers in the country hail from the two curling clubs in the area, the Ottawa Curling Club and the Rideau Curling Club. 

In addition to ensuring that my reporters are doing their job, part of my duty as editor is to write a column for my section for each issue. I had a crack at writing a column during my stint at the Golf Digest Middle East last summer, and had it published in the September issue of the magazine. (Click here to check it out)

But much to the amusement of my colleagues at Centretown News,  I chose to write my first column on the state of cricket in Canada.

Over the last few years, the sport of cricket has seen as an explosive rise in Canada. In my column I argue that more needs to be done to accommodate the game here in Canada, starting with creating more places for people to play the game.   

You can read my column on cricket in Canada here - 'Cricket in Canada needs a shot in the arm.'

My column for the second issue was on Ottawa's new professional basketball team, the Ottawa SkyHawks. Now in the middle of their inaugural season, the franchise is struggling both on the court and off it. Currently they play at the 20,000 capacity Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, a venue which even the city's NHL team rarely sells out.

In my column I put forth the proposition that in order to create a fan-base, the team needs to play their home games at a venue, or venues, closer to town and not way out in the suburbs of Kanata (which is a 20 minute drive from downtown).

You can read my column on the SkyHawks here - 'Ottawa SkyHawks need to come to town.'

You're probably wondering what the title ('S-Column') of this blog post is all about. S-Column was the slug for both my columns. A slug is a brief name given to every story by the editor and its purpose is to makes things easier when its time to edit stories and paginate the paper.

'S' stands for sports. 'N' would stand for news, and 'A' for an arts story. The word after describes the story in one word. For example a story on the Rideau Curling Club could be slugged 'S-Curling.' A news story on a man with a tail, like this one, could be called 'N-Tail.'

THE SHAWARMA GUY

Despite its rather dingy ambiance, the Shawarma Byte restaurant found on the corner of King Edward Street has a certain liveliness about it.

A few minutes inside and the reason becomes apparent – employee Hassan Hannoon rushes busily back and forth behind the counter, serving hungry students from neighbouring OttawaU fresh shawarmas, a traditional Arabic sandwich.

“And what can I get you, amigo?” he asks a customer, holding his hands out over a sumptuous looking array of pickles, tomatoes, garlic sauce and the like, while a massive mountain of meat roasts merrily on a spit behind him.

The better part of 29 years of age, Hannoon moved to Ottawa eight years ago from his hometown of Nablus, on the West Bank in Palestine.

“I came here to get myself educated and start a new life,” he says. Hannoon got a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Carleton University before going on to get himself a master’s in biomedical engineering, graduating earlier this year.

Currently he works as a software tester at Optimal Payments, a money transfer services firm, and also works part-time at Shawarma Byte.

Hannoon says that it’s all about presentation when it comes to making shawarmas.

“We have a saying in Arabic that goes like, ‘It is the eyes that are going to eat before the mouth,’” he says with a broad smile.

“If the food looks good then really, it doesn’t matter how tasty it’s going to be. But if it looks bad from the start, then even if it tastes good no one is going to like it!”

As is the case with many immigrants like himself, moving to Canada was a big decision for Hannoon. He came here alone, without his family, but with hopes of getting educated, finding work, and settling down.

“What I love about Canada is that you can write your own future here,” Hannoon says.

“You know what’s out there so you can plan a future for yourself and work towards it. Sometimes even if you don’t get 100% there, you get close,” he adds.

He attributes the common phenomenon of ‘culture shock’ as the biggest hurdle in settling down to his new life in Canada.

“For me the hardest part about getting used to life here was adapting to the culture,” Hannoon says, glancing outside at the direction of a nearby bar where the sounds of a promising party seem to be brewing

“For example back home in Palestine drinking alcohol is not a very common thing to do. But over here it is almost like a norm. Everybody is doing it and it is all around you.”

He says language too was an obstacle.

“Learning the language was tough as well. When I came here I knew only a little bit of English and it took some time to learn it fully. Although I still have a pretty strong accent!” Hannoon says, his rich Arab accent more obvious than ever.

The burly Palestinian admits he is still momma’s boy, saying that his mother is what he misses most about home.

“Cooking and food and all of that you can get by. But your mother, you know, you can never forget - that’s what I miss the most,” Hannoon says, his voice faltering ever so slightly.

Hannoon dreams of moving back to Nablus one day, but for now, he feels he is not yet ready.

“I want to make sure I have something to go back to,” he says.

“I’m planning on getting a house there and things like that so when I go back, I have something ready there for myself.”

Are there any plans for a Mrs. Hannoon in his life any time soon, and maybe a few junior Hannoons?

He laughs softly, saying, “Soon inshallah (Arabic for ‘God willing’).”

“Hopefully in the next year or two I plan on getting married and starting a family.”

As Hannoon returns to the counter to serve another customer, a rugged looking youth with extra baggy jeans, he smiles genuinely and asks, “Good evening sir, mutton or chicken?”

beaver tails...

At it's simplest, a beaver tail can be described as a pastry shaped to resemble the tail of a beaver.

But thats not doing it justice. No, sir.

Beaver tails are more like a dessert from heaven. Especially if you've been skating for a while on the Rideau Canal in -20 weather. A hot chocolate to boot wouldn't hurt either.

<--- This picture was taken during the fall. Hence the bottle of coke instead of hot chocolate.

Cheers,
Mohamed