Matthew Wong and Marshall WongVideo by Sebastian Jones A pessimist sees the glass half empty while an optimist sees the glass half full. When the community is confronted with dire circumstances, we need to think […]
Author: The Blue and White
UCC's only online student publication. Est. 2008.
Europe: nCOVernments
by Nathan Chong Here’s what 10 Europeans aged 15-18 had to say about the question “How well do you feel your government has responded to the coronavirus?”, edited slightly for clarity. Spain (1,200 cases per […]
Solidarity in Isolation
by Eugene Ye With so many concerts, orchestras, and rehearsals all cancelled because of COVID-19, musicians like me are stuck at home with nothing to do. So, with nothing better to do, orchestras around the […]
Blue Tape: Corona “Gone Viral”
The Blue Tape Podcast Episode #2: A global discussion between 11 international students on the current and potential impacts of COVID-19. Countries Featured: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, Japan, […]
The Power of Storytelling
By Albert Lou In 1987, a toddler named Jessica wandered into her family’s backyard and fell 22 feet into a well. Within minutes, police and reporters were on the scene to cover the desperate rescue. […]
Strategic Reflections
Strategic Reflections from the Class of 2020 is the first season of a podcast series examining the ever-so-valued brotherhood at UCC. Every year, we hope that two Year 12 students will continue the legacy of […]
Q&A with Mr. Bardai
Shoutout to Mr. Bardai for making this happen! Big thanks to Duro and Phil for joining us as well. Part 2 will be live tomorrow and feature club/co-curriculars, and finally boarding. -TBAW
Coming Together as a Community in the Times of Social Distancing
By Drake Belanger-Polak Over 300 thousand reported people are infected by the Coronavirus. Cases exponentially increase everyday. Governments have mandated business to close operations and told everyone to stay inside. For a lot of us, […]
Blue Tape: The Impact of COVID-19 on School
The Blue Tape Podcast #1: A conversation amongst 11 high school students regarding COVID-19 and its impact on schools in Toronto. Special thanks to Marcus Orlow, Noa Ronen, Fatima Fadel, Noah Behar, Chris Noh, Sam […]
Sitting Down with the next G. R. R. Martin: The Red Castle
A few questions with Noah Verhoeff by Caden Shapiro. So… you’ve written a novel. I don’t get to say that to many of my friends. What’s it about? Yes, I have recently finished writing a […]
Lord of the Flies Preview
Phillip Kong Photography by: Gillian Levene Lord of the Flies is UCC’s Year 8 & 9 winter dramatic production for the 2019-2020 school year. The play follows an adaptation of the renowned William Golding novel, […]
Certainty
Albert Lou It was a night, not so long ago, when I laid in bed, under the blanket of silence and a strange epiphany hit me. It’s now been a question that has been bothering […]
Racism in the Time of the Coronavirus
John Lu I want to start by saying that you don’t have to agree with me here. What needs to be said won’t be sugar coated. Some of you are ignorant and will continue to […]
Metaphysical Thinking and the Nature of Truth
Ewan Maynes Recently I came upon a most interesting idea. The question was on the nature of the state of truth and as a human our ability to understand what we perceive in the information […]
A New NBA?
By Dima Kulakov This year, the NBA has seen a sharp decrease of as much as 20% in regular-season television viewers. Because of this, the commissioner, Adam Silver, has proposed several changes to the current […]
Why the Sneaker Industry will be Worth 95 billion
Alfred Shi In 2016, the athletic footwear industry was valued at $55 million. Now, it’s predicted that the industry will reach a shockingly large $95 billion in 2025. And as if that wasn’t enough, the […]
Jojo Rabbit Movie Review (Spoiler Free!)
Elliott Ingram The first thing that everyone asks before going to see a movie is, of course, what it’s about. To read the description of Jojo Rabbit, it’s not the typical movie you would want […]
1/1/20
By Caden Shapiro It’s a little cold at the moment in Dunedin, Florida. Then again, I feel for you if you’re in Toronto. 2020 just hit, and no one was more excited than the elderly […]
An Unlikely Philosopher: Taylor Swift’s Progression From Essentialism to Existentialism
Phillip Kong She is the American Music Awards’ Artist of the Decade. She has won 10 Grammys (so far). She is also arguably the most recognizable modern teenage idol. However, many “Swifties” don’t know Taylor […]
Dr. Přemek Hamr Interview
Academic Background: B.Sc. in environmental science (Concordia University), M.Sc. in watershed ecosystems (Trent University), Ph.D. in zoology (University of Tasmania, Australia), Post-doctoral fellowship in inland fisheries (University of Tasmania, Australia)International Teaching Experience: University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia; […]
From Yeezus to Jesus: The Metamorphosis of Kanye West
Nico Jeffrey On October 25, Kanye West delivered his long-awaited Album, Jesus Is King. Many longtime listeners of Kanye West were left confused as a result of Jesus Is King not resonating with the braggadocious […]
The Editor’s Review of the Board of Stewards
Phillip Kong Last spring, I interviewed our new Head Steward, Uche Ochuba, on his plans for the 2019-2020 school year. From his answers, I was confident that he would be able to lead the Board […]
What Being an Armenian Means to Me
Daniel Ayik A couple of years ago, my seven close friends and I traveled to Armenia as we graduated our Saturday Armenian School. It was a joyful time, as for most of us we would […]
Joker Movie Review (Spoiler Free!)
By Elliot Ingram I went into Joker with mixed expectations. I knew of the amazing reviews and the seventeen-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Nevertheless, I was cautious about watching […]
Academic Changes to UCC
Eugene Ye Going into a new academic year and their first year of the IB Diploma program, students in Year 11 were notified of a few academic changes that were designed to reduce stress and […]
Why This Year’s A-Day was My Favourite One
Phillip KongPhotos by Andy Wang and Faizan Haider In typical TBAW fashion, we are reporting on events way too late. Nevertheless, here is an article about A-Day. Objectively, it was not a good A-Day. It […]
Relay for Life
By Guclu Emir Can On October 11, 2019, UCC hosted their first student-led fundraising event “Relay for Life,” where students from multiple schools and seniors from the community gathered together to honour cancer survivors. The […]
UCC Open
By Dima Kulakov I never believed in Murphy’s law, which states that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. This year’s UCC Tennis Open, however, completely changed my perspective. Early this year, I had the […]
Friday’s Climate Strike in Toronto: Why We March
Written by Caden ShapiroPhotos by Justin Lee “Just listen to science,” Greta Thunberg said as she marched with 300,000 people in Montreal today. After a memorable speech to UN delegates last week, she inspired hundreds […]
The Reality of Scientific Research
Phillip Kong We’ve all seen those movies where scientists suddenly have a “eureka” moment and discover a life-changing breakthrough that alters the course of humanity as we know it. Transcendence, a film about artificial intelligence […]
Boarding Life and My Message to New Boarders
Jay Kim, with insight from Jack Gao As Albert Einstein said: “time flies when you are having fun.”Although it may be a colloquial phrase, this quote epitomizes my experience at UCC and my time spent […]
Elementary
by Toby Yellow I don’t make music by scale, signature or key; I make music by ear. I began writing songs for an Ep in March of this year. Writing verses and choruses, slowly I […]
The walls around campus are higher than you think
I am a proud old boy of Upper Canada College, Class of 2017. In large part because of the skills and work ethic I learned at the UCC, and the incredible guys I spent time […]
A New League: 2019 NBA Free Agency
Lucas DeGrandpré In one of the busiest free-agencies of all time, the landscape of the league has drastically shifted. Now that the chips have fallen, a wide-open league awaits. Almost 40% of players in the […]
The Race
By Caden Shapiro I didn’t care for a while. I’d like to say that a carefree approach to life brought happiness and peace. Honestly, It wasn’t that bad, and it wasn’t that good. It just […]
Raptors Season Recap
Lucas de Grandpré Most championship teams complete their journey to the top by either drafting a foundational player that defines everything to come or acquiring a player who agrees before stepping in the door to […]
Exam Tips from Y12s
Karam Bambawale Late spring is known for bringing forth cherry blossoms, playoff basketball, and most importantly, the short period before Summer Break known as “exam season.” That being said, I know how most of us currently […]
Poetry & Photography – Cherry Blossoms at UCC
Justin Lee Pink petals for spring Not often do they blossom A fleeting moment
3-3-1 Faculty List
Caden Shapiro Week 2 Faculty: Fiona Marshall Terry Denstedt Ms. Marshall Songs: 1. All That you Have is your Soul – Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman speaks about poverty and justice and creates […]
An Academic Paradox
Phillip Kong Few things boggle my mind more than the mindset of UCC students towards academics. How can one put so much emphasis on a single aspect of school life and then relegate its importance […]
Kawhi Leonard: King of the North
Adam Manji Tie game. Four seconds left. The ball gets to Kawhi’s hands. Two defenders come, he doesn’t care. He makes his way to the right side of the court and puts up his classic […]
Hard Candy
Caden Shapiro When I was thirteen, my father approached me about the possibility of moving to Toronto. Growing complacent in my middle school years, I felt ready for change. I thought, why not? […]
3-3-1 Faculty List
Caden Shapiro Here we go — exam season. Forget about the warmer weather; it’s bear down and grind time baby! For the next few weeks, TBAW will be posting two faculty members top movies, songs, […]
The Endgame (no spoilers)
Andrew Mun-Shimoda In the summer of 2008, I went to the drive-in with my parents. We saw a double feature, and, although I can’t remember what the second movie was, I know for a […]
Tiger and Cub – Day 4: What Led to the Embrace of the Decade?
Karam Bambawale It’s hard to imagine a sport that so rarely brings tears to a fan’s eye, except for one: golf. However, if you only watched the 2019 Masters this past Sunday, I’d argue that […]
A Look Back on my Time at UCC – 2019
Andrew Mun-Shimoda 2012 was an interesting year. The year shared the threat of the world ending with the release of Marvel’s The Avengers- but it also was the year I started at UCC. Usually, editors […]
Nuit Bleue 2019 – Photography Preview
A glimpse of Nuit Bleue 2019’s photography exhibit.
