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The Degrassi Digest # 28 June 21th,1998
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The Degrassi Digest #29 will be sent next Tuesday, June 30th, not
next Sunday. I am off to New York from Thursday to Monday.
NEWS: The Degrassi 2005 site has been updated and if you didn't see it yet. well... we need your help. We added a new Announcement page, there you will find a survey asking what new section would you like to see the most in the site (we really need your ideas), and another one that asks for writers for the 2005 section. it is very important and we would really appreciate it if you could check those stuff.
There is a Degrassi IRC Channel on the server Castlenet,
irc.castlenet.org Port: 6667 Download Mirc is you do not have a
shell account that has an IRC client.
Download at http://www.mirc.co.uk/
UPDATES: http://www.degrassi.org/DFS/index.html
has been updated. Check out the Degrassi Junior High/ Degrassi
High Final Stills to each show
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Check out Degrassi World Fan Fiction Episode #9 after this weeks
posts,
written by Rachel Cherwinski
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THIS WEEK'S POSTS:
Re: question/comment
Degrassi Movie
Natalie Earl's Response to Ravi Malhotra In Degrassi Digest #27
Re: The Degrassi Digest #27
spina bifida
Michelle/BLT comment
degrassi question
Re: 2nd question/comment
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Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 15:18:18 -0400
From: Ravi Malhotra
To: Mark Polger <post@degrassi.org>
Subject: Re: question/comment
I realize that some DeGrassi people collect the books, but I
don't suppose there would be a way that I could either buy or
borrow the Maya book? That's the only one I
am interested in buying. Maybe if I posted in the digest, someone
might be
willing to sell me a copy??. I gather it is out of print now :-(.
If you have read it,
maybe you could tell me what is in the Maya book?
By the way, I hope you won't see this as endless criticism,
but many of us don't see spina bifida as a disease but a
disability. It's obviously not
contagious and it is stable. Again, I recognize the artistic
aspect of a fictional episode, but I think there are other areas
of your website (I can
reply later with specific references if you want) where you refer
to Maya as suffering from spina bifida. I think these should be
changed to "having spina
bifida" which is a neutral non-judgmental term. Also, she
*uses* a wheelchair on the show; she is not wheelchair bound nor
confined to a
wheelchair. Again, that's a value neutral term that the
disability rights community has been urging
people to adopt. If you could change the non-fictional areas of
the site to reflect this (they
are very few), I would appreciate it. Just a suggestion :-)
When I have time, I will consider writing a Maya episode.
Take Care,
Ravi
*Mark* Please call up James Lorimer and Co (check it out at the
URL below the Amazon URL)...They may still have some Degrassi
Books in stock. Also go to the online book store called Amazon
http://www.amazon.com
Also check out http://www.degrassi.org/pertinentaddresses.htm
I will make some changes regarding Maya. Thank you for bringing
it to my attention.
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Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 17:44:15 -0600
From: Roy Ulmer
To: post@degrassi.org
Subject: Degrassi Movie
Hi. My name is Kyla Ulmer and it is REALLY important to me that I find a copy of the Degrassi movie. I have looked everywhere. Do you know how one could purchase a copy? I would really appreciate any information. Thanks!
Kyla Ulmer (kmu180@hotmail.com)
*Mark* Please refer to
http://www.degrassi.org/pertinentaddresses.htm
I think that page on my site will help you.
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From: "NATALIE J EARL"
To: Mark Polger <webmaster2@degrassi-junior-high.org>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 18:56:53 -0700
Subject: Natalie Earl's Response to Ravi Malhotra In Degrassi
Digest #27
Dear Ravi: You recently voiced concern that DEGRASSI WORLD #3 Caitlin & Snake as College Sweethearts, portrayed a negative image toward disabled persons. [Maya was pursued by a guy named Doug but she refuses to go out with him. Doug, like Maya is wheelchair bound. She doesn't want to be stigmatized as a disabled couple. She has fought prejudice all her life. She has made it very clear that she wants to marry a non-disabled man and have non-disabled children].
Please be aware that many of my close friends and family
members are disabled. I wrote that passage as a
"teaser" to an upcoming episode that stars Maya. I too
feel that she was an underrepresented character on Degrassi. My
creative interpretation of Maya is for her to have a low self
esteem and then later experience a self-discovery revolution.
However, since you are so passionate about Maya, I warmly invite
you to share ideas for this episode. You can post them on Mark's
Degrassi World Fan Fiction Message Board.
http://www.degrassi.org/Default.htm
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Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 07:39:01 -0400
From: "Mary-Beth Furneaux"
To: webmaster@degrassi.org
Subject: Re: The Degrassi Digest #27
Hiya, I just thought I'd ask if anyone is into a show called
"Ready Or Not", and if no what are your thought?
How do you think it compares to Degrassi (if at all)?
In some ways it is slightly Degrassi-ish - it is about young
people in junior school, now junior high, maybe even
high school (I'm not sure how far along they are). It is
filmed around Toronto (suburbs I think). It is a pretty good
show, but the main difference is "Ready Or Not" focuses
almost 100% on the characters of Amanda and Bizzy and doesn't go
through, like, a tenth of the alternate-character development of
Degrassi. I would have to say also that because Amanda and Bizzy
are girls, that mostly the pre-teen and teen/quasi-adult issues
are girl-centric, whereas Degrassi, I imagine, reached many more
people, focusing both on issues for boys and girls.
In fact, I'd have to say that towards the end the main
characters of Degrassi were Joey, Snake, Wheels (all male),
with Lucy as runner-up. "Ready Or Not" has no serious
male character development like that.
My husband and I both tune in (Tuesdays on Global I think...) and it's been lumped with the horrid "Dawson's Creek" (American Degrassi too-slick, too-hip wannabe).
We are 28 and 29 respectively, so that flies in the face of
what I just said earlier, but we watch a lot of TV and my
husband is sort of a pop-culture expert. But he totally
acknowledges that I am the Degrassi queen of the
household.
Thanks for reading.
MB
*Mark* I have seen Ready or Not, it is good, very Canadian, takes
place in Vancouver, right? One of the writers for that show is
Susin Neilsen, who wrote for Degrassi. She also played Louella
Hawkins on Degrassi Junior High.
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Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 12:41:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: evol
Subject: spina bifida
To: post@degrassi.org
In the Degrassi episode where Kathleen finds Luke's joints in the bathroom, and Kathleen, Kaitlin, Melanie, etc. have a birthday slumber party, Melanie asks Maya if she can have sex and possibly children. I believe Maya directly says that people with spina bifida can have kids, etc.
*Mark* I have never seen that at all. Maybe I am used to
seeing the CBC/Showcase episodes, and you are talking about the
PBS versions which are not cut, but I do not remember Maya ever
saying that. She did mention in one episode how she wants someone
to find a cure for her disease, but that was not in "The All
Nighter" If anyone has heard of Maya saying this, then
please let us know.
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Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 14:43:27 -0700
From: Papool Chaudhari
To: post@degrassi.org
Subject: Michelle/BLT comment
Hi Everyonne!
This is my first post, I've been on the mailing list for about
3 weeks now. I'm 19 and when I was 10, I discovered Degrassi Jr.
High on our PBS station in
the San Francisco Bay Area. I watched all the episodes and the
High School episodes too. Later my PBS station air some episodes
of Kids of Degrassi
Street.
I hadn't seen an episode 'till about a few months ago when I discovered the TRIO network on DirecTV which airs it every day Mon-Sat. at 5pm EST/2pm PST.
I just saw Bad Blood Part 1 for the second time and I get this
feeling that the Playing With Time(or CBC) did not want to deal
with an interracial couple
having sex, since Bad Blood had a lot to do with sex (Condoms,
AIDS, etc.). Thus I think they broke up Michelle and BLT, which I
think is kinda messed up.
Some fans (racist ones) probably objected to the idea of Degrassi
having a black man and white woman have sex. Notice that Simon
and Alexa's relationship
holds on throughout Jr. High, High School, and School's out.
Oh well, maybe I'm over analyzing it, but who knows? See y'all
l8r
Papool Chaudhari
*Mark* Degrassi never depicted any romantic relationships having
sexual relations, only kissing. Degrassi was not like a soap
opera, and I think that the BLT and Michelle broke up because BLT
was tired of her. I do not think it was an issue of ethnicity. I
think that sex was nevr an issue for them, as they never
discussed it. Degrassi was quite innocent, until School's out,
that is. Even if racist bigots thought that BLT dating Michelle
would be hard to digest, I do not think Playing With Time would
change their plots and scripts because of racist viewers. There
is nothing wrong with Inter-Racial dating.
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From: "Laila A"
To: webmaster@degrassi.org
Subject: degrassi question
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 22:11:57 PDT
hi there.
i used to watch degrassi 'way back when', and i was wondering you
could
answer my question. in the episode the last dance, they were
closing down the school, yet
the class had not yet graduated. so in the movie, 'school's out',
had they all graduated from different
schools or had degrassi re-opened or stayed open? im not quite
sure. had
they been seperated or not?
thanks!
*Mark* School's Out was supposed to be set one year after they
all graduate. As you know they all went to separate schools, and
then gradauted. Well School's Out is the summer taken one year
after the episode "One Last Dance"
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To: Mark Polger <post@degrassi.org>
Subject: Re: 2nd question/comment
I thought I should tell you that I *think*.
I have definitively solved the mystery about Kyra Levy's
disability. Feel free to put this in your digest. A friend of
mine has charcot-marie tooth syndrome, a progressive disability
that starts off quite
mild but progressively becomes more serious. According to her,
Kyra Levy has written an article in the Canadian Charcot-marite
tooth syndrome association (or whatever it is
called) newsletter and apparently this is her disability. She is
going to mail me a photocopy of the article at some point.
Ravi
*Mark* Please feel free to tell me what periodical it is in, so I
can find it and post it on my site. I think it would be
informative. Do you think Maya had the same disability that Kyra
Levy has?
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End of Degrassi Digest #28 --Off to New York!
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Degrassi World #9: Dear Diary: My Journey and Back written by
Rachel Cherwinski
Lucy Fernandez looks into the camera in front of her and
confesses, Hi, My name is Lucy Fernandez and I was once a victim
of drunk driving..I’m here to tell you my story, and why you
should never let a friend drink and drive. In the next scene the
camera shoots the cover of a journal, lying on top
of a desk, the journal opens to the first page, as you see
Lucy’s hand writing on the first page of her journal.
Lucy’s voice is narrating the journal entry, as her story
begins.
Day 1
Dear Diary,
There is a grad party at Bronco’s tonight. I’m really
psyched about it..it’s going to be a blast. Caitlin, Joey,
Wheels and Snake are going to be there, so is the rest of the
Degrassi gang. I wish L.D could be there too, I miss her. I guess
I’ll have to make a video of the party and send it to her.
Day 2
Dear Diary,
I remember driving to the store with Wheel’s during
Bronco’s party. The next morning I woke up in the hospital.
I don’t remember much about the accident. People tell me
that Wheel’s was speeding, hit and killed a little boy.
Wheel’s is now in jail. I’m really scared, I can’t
see, There’s bandages over my eyes and I can’t move my
legs. Caitlin and Bronco come to visit me a lot, because I can
hear there voices. How could Wheel’s do this to me? I really
hate him. I may never see, and I may never be able to move my
legs again. It’s all Wheel’s fault, if only I
wouldn’t of let him drink and Drive.”
Day 3
Dear Diary,
It’s now a few weeks after the accident and my sight has
slowly been improving. The hospital has started my physical
therapy. They have been trying to get me to move my legs, and
have been doing a lot of tests. I don’t know what I would of
done without Caitlin and Bronco’s support throughout the
whole ordeal. I won’t be going
to University with Caitlin like we had planned. I will have to
postpone university for a year, or go do my therapy there.
Day 4
Dear Diary, It’s been a few months since I’ve been in
therapy, I’ve managed to attend University with Caitlin as
planned. It’s hard work, going to University, also doing
therapy, but it’s worth it. Bronco and I are still dating,
I’m glad. Wheel’s ended up getting convicted for
drinking and driving, and killing the little boy. He could serve
as long 20 years in jail without parole. I’ve gotten past a
lot of the anger I had since entering the hospital. I realized it
wasn’t totally Wheel’s fault I almost
died. My sight is improving everyday, I’m partially blind
for now. The doctors think I will make a full recovery. Lucy now
sitting in front of the camera lectures, It’s now a year
later, I’ve fully recovered, and I’m filming a
documentary concerning the dangers of drinking and driving.
I’m hoping my story will encourage others against drinking
and
driving, as well as be a lesson learned. I didn’t think
something so horrible could happen to me. Next thing you know
I’m in the car with a friend who had been drinking, driving
down the road and end up in a life threatening car accident. My
friend Wheels is now in jail serving time for killing a little
kid. The ironic thing is, his parents were on there way to a
movie, and got killed by a drunk driver. I thought I was
invincible, boy was I wrong. Don’t get in a car with someone
who has been drinking. It doesn’t matter if they had one
drink or twenty, don’t let them drive. Send them home with a
friend who is sober, or get them a cab. I learned the hard
way. I should of refused to go with him, or refused to let him
go. I will always carry the emotional scars with me forever. That
to me isn’t the price to pay. Lucy remains silent for a
moment or two before getting up and turning off the camera. A few
days later she travels around the city talking to people on the
subject of drinking and driving. She decides to use the piece for
her film class. The more people who see her film, the more
she’ll reach with her message.
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