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.
Jays in Transition: Building a Strategy for a Sustainable Contender
Caden Shapiro Jays in Transition: Building a Strategy for a Sustainable Contender “If we do everything the exact same way the Yankees and Red Sox do, they’re going to win every time because they have […]
A Better Tomorrow – Movie Review
Phillip Kong For a movie with so much blood, guns, and deaths, the Hong Kong classic A Better Tomorrow has an emotionally driven storyline that leaves the audience shocked throughout the film. It stars Ti […]
King Henry IV, Part 1
Andrew Mun-Shimoda The UCC/BSS production of Shakespeare’s King Henry IV, Part 1 was a strong, entertaining performance. The combat kept the audience on their toes, and the interesting performances kept the audience thinking. While […]
UCC Swimming: Success and Irrelevance
Phillip Kong As much as I hate complaining about the conditions of the pool, (the fact that it suspiciously resembles Shrek’s swamp) the swim team deserves more attention. I don’t expect to turn all of […]
An Interview with Our Next Head Steward – 2019/2020 Edition
Phillip Kong An Interview with Our Next Head Steward, Uche Ochuba, conducted by Phillip Kong. Are you excited to be Head Steward? What are you most excited about? I feel like being in […]
I Stare into the Fire
Andrew Mun-Shimoda For context: I wrote this poem for a contest way back in November, and only heard back if I won now. The reason I didn’t post it when I first wrote it […]
November 2018 Issue
Blazer Staff
Military History Immersion Program Artwork
Angelous Ginanena, Simon Ofiara, and Angus Webb Picture by Angelous Ginanena Picture by Simon Ofiara Picture by Angus Webb
September/October 2018 Issue
Blazer Staff
A Peace Bus
This past summer I took a forty day trip across Canada. The entire trip was under the umbrella of a larger organization called CISV (Children’s International Summer Villages), an organization aimed at improving global peace […]
A-Day, 2018
Phillip Kong & Justin Lee As the flurry of activity at the start of the school year melts into the humdrum of the IB grind, students look for a jolt of excitement that can renew […]
The Tale of my First SAS Experience
Phillip Kong The first thing I felt was the slight humidity. I shuddered, not because of the temperature, though it was slightly chilly, but at the fond memories of Year Ten gym class. I remembered […]
The Maple Leaf Forever
Andrew Mun-Shimoda I’ve never really been a very patriotic person. Sure, I’ll stand and sing the national anthem, cheer for our team during the Olympics, and embrace the superficial elements of being Canadian, but I […]
Nick’s Picks: Volume 2
Nick Papoutsidis Week One: April 9 to 13 Disclaimer: If Faiz asks, this is Nick’s Picks second straight week of publication. The Good: Mr. Poon’s Farewell Speech: To those of us who know Mr. Poon as […]
A Quiet Place Review
Andrew Mun-Shimoda John Krasinski (The Office, 13 Hours) makes his silver screen directorial debut in “A Quiet Place”, a film in which he also acts and writes. The story is fairly simple, yet intriguing: aliens […]
Ready Player One Review
Andrew Mun-Shimoda As an avid fan of Ernest Cline’s book, Ready Player One, I was naturally excited when I heard it was coming to the big screen. Between awesome 80’s references, video game culture, and […]
The 90th Academy Awards
Faiz Khwaja and Campbell MacKinnon Tonight, the biggest award show of the year wraps up of another successful year of movies. The 90th Academy Awards commence at 8:00 PM, and I (a self-proclaimed movie critic) […]
King Lear- A Review
Faiz Khwaja This week, the UCC/BSS/NT production of Shakespeare’s King Lear has finally gone up. The actors, directors, and stage crew have been hard at work and after experiencing it first hand, I can tell […]
An Interview with Our Next Head Steward
Faiz Khwaja On February 5th, Adam Rothman introduced Akash Kennedy-Ganesh as our next Head Steward. I had a chance to catch up with him and ask him a few questions that have been on the […]
Why These High Schoolers Have the NRA Scared
Adam Rothman Change is brewing in Parkdale, Florida. This gunman messed with the wrong group of teenagers. On Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas […]
Smartphones- A Couple Observations
Rohan Monga This morning, while harmlessly flipping through the morning paper, I came across yet another article on smartphones. More specifically, how they are ruining our lives. It seems it has become a journalistic freebie […]
A Poem for Valentine’s Day
Angelous Ginanena Roses are red Women are beautiful In no way should they be treated different This is a truth we shan’t mull The days are now gone When man did as they deemed […]
The Drawbacks of an All Boys’ School
Faiz Khwaja When I first moved to Toronto and found out I was attending UCC, what stuck out most was the fact that it was an all boys’ school. At the age of 12 and […]
An Interview with Micah White
Adam Rothman Micah White will be presenting the Opening Address, titled “The End of Protest”, at WAC 2018. I spoke with him briefly in advance of the conference to give a preview of his opening […]
A Community of Archers
Andrew Mun-Shimoda A reaction I often run into when I say “I do competitive archery” is one of surprise, followed by interest. To the average person, I would imagine archers aren’t common to come by, […]
TBAW Talks – Episode 5, Old Boy Reflections
Campbell MacKinnon, Matt Wang and Emerson Shoichet-Bartus In this episode, Matt and Campbell talk to the recent UCC grad Emerson Shoichet-Bartus, discussing his experiences post-UCC at UC Berkeley, as well as his thoughts on […]
New Headphones
Angelous Ginanena Leading up to the Christmas break, I misplaced my prized earphones. They had been able to sustain my music cravings for several months, and their misplacement really hit hard. I had to […]
Nick’s Picks: Volume 1
Nick Papoutsidis Here at TBAW, we are keen on reinventing ourselves from time to time in order to maintain a fresh image that we hope will appeal to our audience, unlike the good folks over […]
Coco- Film Review
Faiz Khwaja Let me start out by admitting that I love animated movies. There’s so many elements about them that cannot be captured in a live action movie. On June 15th this year, you can […]
Clubs at UCC
Andrew Mun-Shimoda Late on Thursday nights, when the majority of the school is already gone, room 241 is still sending noise down the English hallway. That’s because it’s the home of the Strategic Games club, […]
TBAW Talks – Episode 4, A Year in Film
Campbell MacKinnon, Devin Lee & Sheldon Stern For the final TBAW Talks episode of 2017, Campbell, Devin and Sheldon go over their favourite and least favourite movies of the year. The three argue about […]
Things That I Wish I Learned in Year 8 (Part 2)
Faiz Khwaja Last year, Bradley Manucha wrote an article entitled “Things That I Wish I Learned in Year 1”. You can read that article by clicking here. After surveying the current Year 12s (not […]
TBAW Talks – Episode 3, Toxic Masculinity
Campbell MacKinnon & Matt Wang Today, Campbell and Matt reflect on the overly masculine culture of UCC, sparked by the somewhat recent consent assembly at the college. The two express their points of view […]
The Expansion of the TTC
Andrew Mun-Shimoda The Toronto Transit System, or TTC for short, has been Toronto’s way of getting around since 1921. It has grown immensely over the past 96 years and continues to grow to this […]
