Nightly News and CFTO Toronto, and has
had various jobs in radio. She has inter-
viewed Donald Trump, Janet Jackson,
Barbara Walters and Jimmy Carter; she
covered President Obama's inauguration
and, most importantly, she is a Lawrence
Park CI alumna.
interested in pursuing a career in the
arts, so when alumni who have succeed-
ed in the arts come to talk to the LP arts
students, we listen and try to get some
of our questions answered.
in February. I think almost everyone in
the room recognized her, yet very few
people had the confi dence to come up
and say hello. The fi rst thing I discussed
with Ms. Thomson was Corner Gas.
Strange as it may seem, this was an
important question for me to ask her, as
Ms. Thomson has been a guest star on
the show. We talked about her Corner
Gas acting experience as well as Cana-
dian television in general.
said. "However, the best part about the
show is that it is transforming the reac-
agitated line of `That's so Canadian,' to
`Wow! That's Canadian!'" She went on
to say that Corner Gas is one of the new
generation of Canadian shows that is
providing jobs to Canadian writers, ac-
tors and producers in Canada. Moreover,
Corner Gas gained international recogni-
tion starting in 2005 when it went into
syndication in Finland, and in 2006 it
was picked up by the U.S. superstation
WGN. Even after its fi nale in this year,
Corner Gas is seen as an indicator of
strength and growth in the Canadian
television industry. Many other Canadi-
an shows have been given the same op-
portunity thanks to Corner Gas' success.
career, Thomson said she always had a
passion for current events, even in high
school, and she dreamed of reading
the news on the radio one day. How-
ever, she says the high school class that
helped her most was not even remotely
related to current events. "The class that
helped me out most was Music and Vo-
cals. It really helped my vocal strength,
as well as providing me with an under-
standing of how to physically prepare
myself for a presentation, in terms of
posture and voice projection."
with fear when it came to perform-
ing. Having to get up and perform in
vocal allowed me to rid myself of that
fear." Her experiences in LP's Music and
Vocals, combined with her pre-existing
passion for current events, lead her to
pursue Communications at York Univer-
sity.
York to attend Seneca College's Radio
Broadcasting program. Radio was her
passion, and she saw Seneca's program
as the most eff ective, direct route to
achieve her goals. At Seneca she found
exactly what she was looking for, as all
of her professors had ties to the industry
and many were still actively involved in
the industry while teaching. Addition-
ally, many infl uential guest teachers
"Human Voice"
LPCI this year in honour of Black History
Month. He added an interesting element
of philosophy to the celebration of Black
History, telling a spellbound audience
that race is non-existent, and that society
has created it simply by means of "defi n-
ing a social hierarchy."
Black History Society in 1978 and was the
one to introduce Black History Month to
Toronto in 1979. Lawrence believes that
learning the actual history celebrated
during this month is crucial for students.
portant to educate students about "the
struggle for fair treatment and opportu-
nity for all." After all, much of his literary
work, including the award-winning The
Book of Negroes, focuses on this struggle.
visited this year made it clear how much
the host of CTV`s Canada AM
Negroes, winner of the Commonwealth
Writers' Prize for Best Book, CBC Radio's
Canada Reads and longlisted for both
the Giller Prize and the IMPAC Award.