Alan Shefman's Home Page

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest (Ellie Wiesel)

And, in the way of an introduction,...

I live in "The City Above Toronto"THE CITY OF VAUGHAN .

In fact, as of November 25, 2004 I was elected as the Ward Five Councillor for the City!

I am President of The Edge Quality/Communications Consultants,a diversified consultancy providing expertise in human rights and harassment training, policy development, investigation and consulting.

The Edge provides media communications and crisis management services to its clients.

For more information please visit THE EDGE corporate WEB site

During the life of The Thornhill Times (1995/96), I wrote a monthly opinion piece. The Times served Vaughan and Markham, Ontario. You may find some of my articles amusing?? interesting??

January - OH, THE POOR BANKS

December - A review of THE CANADIAN REVOLUTION , by Peter C. Newman

November - BOMB IT! The "joys" of Terminal One at Toronto International Airport

October - WHAT ON EARTH? A reaction to the growing intolerance in Canadian society

September - HUGS . A family tragedy brings out the love that we all need in our lives.

Summer - WHYISIT? - Some of the crazy, unexplainable things that we deal with

Interests and Amusements

<>My interests range from running, racquetball, computers, the media, hiking , gardening , education, genealogy, red wine (especially Canadian) and politics.
Lately I have become very interested in digital photography -- both taking pictures as well as digital retouching. An example of my work was recognized by PC World as the "picture of the week." Take a look at Pointing at the Waves.

I have a life-long interest in helping people solve the everyday problems that we all face living together in a civil society -- hence my active participation in politics.

Other things that amuse me include The Wizard of Id, the hilarious comic strip about the (shhh) very little king. I guess I like it because its humour is very self-deprecating -- it makes fun of people (and especially politicians) who are just too big for their britches.

Halfway thru its season five I happen to come across the television program, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had always thought that it was some weird kids program. I was mistaken. It is (was) just one of the most brilliant television series ever conceived. It was not only very well acted, its stories were always extraordinary at many different levels. It was always full of humour and featured strong women as leaders. If you have never seen it, get the videos and take a look.

Have you ever really appreciated the pun as a form of humour? My favourite pun book is Hymie Koshevoy's Treasure Jest of Puns - sorry, it's out of print.

I also think that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - The CBC -- is still great but being destroyed by successive Canadian Governments who keep cutting its budget. It's a shame.

And things that BUG ME!!!

Packaging!!?? For example, why do they have to wrap "action figures" (the kid's toy, Batman, etc) with all that cardboard and plastic? Indeed, why do they have to shrink wrap anything in a virtually impenetrable layer of thick plastic?

The lack of concern about the physical fitness of our children. What ever happened to Participaction! It's time to challenge individual schools and school boards that don't promote physical education. The Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance is a group that has some terrific materials on how to get your school to promote physical education as an integral part of its curriculum

Misplaced values in our society. Billions of dollars is spent on the trivial when research on cancer , heart disease, AIDS, diabetes , etc, etc, etc must go begging! When people are homeless on our streets!

Do you want to say hello? (I'd love to hear from you!) Just click. Alan Shefman ashefman@theedgequality.com