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illustration by Simon Ng

Young Leaders, Algonquin Park, 1978

Our grade thirteen history class clique’s rite of passage

by Paul Watson

illustration by Simon Ng

Published in the Escape: Summer 2008 issue.  » BUY ISSUE     

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A skinny, one-handed teenager constantly craving hashish is pretty much dead weight in a canoe.

But Stephen Harper and the rest of the faux voyageurs couldn’t leave me behind. This was our grade thirteen history class clique’s rite of passage. I had to go. We were getting ready for the real world, and a few days’ journey through clouds of bloodthirsty bugs seemed a good, symbolic send-off. It was our test of manhood.

So what if I couldn’t hold a paddle. I was at least good for comic relief. I wangled the middle seat in the third canoe, from which, like a maharaja riding in his sedan chair, I idly watched Algonquin Park go by. The grunt work of deep stroking and portaging fell to my six friends, among them the nerd who would become our prime minister.

Bob Scott, our history teacher, was the chaperone. He was a short man, bald but for a fringe of hair that recalled the Roman emperors and senators from his in-class slide shows. His love for the past and the lessons it could teach was infectious. Why else would a stoner and a brainer find themselves together in the middle of Canoe Lake, in black water with the sun sinking fast, searching for the one last empty campsite?

Scott took the opportunity to teach. Through the darkness, I could hear him talking about Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven contemporary who died mysteriously on a trip across Canoe Lake in the summer of 1917. Pick your theory: He was murdered in a drunken brawl. He was offed after discovering German spies lying low in the woods. Or, my favourite, he was depressed and killed himself.

I was starting to think we would soon join him when the gang in the lead canoe shouted that they had found someplace to set up camp. We had survived the first big challenge, and as I took the fetal position in my sleeping bag, listening to the night, I thought of Thomson, and ghosts, and the future.

The next day, we were making good time on a loop route for weekend trippers. After one portage too many, the boys started looking for an easier way to the next lake. A creek running alongside the trail looked deep enough to pull the canoes through.

Yet someone had decided to put a portage route between these lakes, so logic suggested that just maybe the water would become too shallow a little farther into the forest. Of course, that would depend on whom you asked, and someone made the mistake of turning to me.

It was precisely the sort of judgment that should have fallen to Harper, who scored better than 100 percent on math tests by acing the bonus questions, too. But like the other paddlers, he was tapped out. I was perfectly well rested, if a little impaired by thc withdrawal. Clear headed or not, I was sent in to make the call.

I walked the full length of the portage trail, stopping every few metres to peek through the trees for a glimpse of the creek. When I couldn’t see it, I listened to the flow, somehow certain that after little more than a day sitting in a canoe I could now ascertain the depth of running water by ear. I returned to the group and confidently reported that we could easily pull through.

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Comments (2 comments)

nike dunk:
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December 31, 2008 02:05 EST

Anonymous:


What do you
have in your closet?



How long ago
was it when shoes were just footwear?  You threw them on to go play out in the
back yard, or down on the playground.  Today, however, having a pair of sneakers
has taken on a whole new meaning, especially when dealing with sports shoes. 
What has really made the sneaker culture huge is the sport shoe industry, with
Nike and Adidas pulling up the front.  These sports icons have been worn and
styled by not only top athletes, but by people in the music industry. 




They say that it was the Nike Dunk
that started it all off.  In 1985, Nike brought out the
Nike Dunk. 
Originally these sneakers meant for the college community of basketball
players.  Instead, this style of sports shoes started the sneaker sub-culture. 
 Although this style of sneaker was designed to be used during high intensity
basketball games, the spotlight quickly turned to the fashion of wearing them,
what they looked like, and which ones you owned.  Twenty years later, Nike has
brought the Nike Dunk back on
the courts with all its retro style and performance.
But why stop
with basketball shoes?  In 2000, Nike decided to jump into the skateboarding
scene with the new Nike Skateboarding product line. 



With
Nike SB has come the
Nike Dunk SB.  For years, before
skateboarding came out from the underground scene, skateboarders utilized the
rugged design of basketball shoes.  Nike decided to capitalize on what Vans and
DC shoes had been monopolizing for years, and take what was already an amazing
sneaker, and fit it into the needs of skateboarders.  What the
Nike Dunk
SB brought in the way of performance was extra-padded tongue and their
patented Zoom Air insole. In the way of style, this sneaker has already come out
with six series, and names for them like Grip, Forbes, and Vipers.



Another blast
from the past would be the Nike Air
Force 1.  These sneakers first came out in the early 80’s.  And like the
hip hop culture, their popularity grew.  However, this band did not reach their
full fashion peek until 2002 when Nelly released the song “Air
Force Ones”. 



The other major
sports shoe brand is the Adicolor
Shoes, an Adidas Original.  The design became so popular because the
plain white canvas was adaptable by painting, drawing, and spraying on your own
personal design, and even accessories were sold to help you in your creativity. 
In 2006 they pushed the envelope further with a new color series using artists
and designers from all over the world.




Another huge sneaker that was popular with the hip hop world was the
Adidas Superstar.  A very raw
and controversial Hip Hop group that helped skyrocket the
Adidas
Superstar to stardom was Run-D.M.C. This cutting edge group was known for
wearing their Superstars out on stage, and even wrote a song dedicated to them
called “My Adidas”.  Whether its Nike or Adidas, clean out that closet, dust off
your old sneakers, and get into the game. 



December 31, 2008 02:11 EST

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