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Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 11 Basic Black by Arthur Black Put on a happy face The year 2003 is still a babe in swaddling clothes, but it already qualifies as an annus horribilus for B.C.'s premier, Gordon "One-for-the-road" Campbell. He's taken a lot of lumps for his high-octane bob and weave down that Maui highway - but one mistake he should be forgiven for is that goofy smile he wore in a couple couple of his police mugshots. "I cannot bear it that our Premier had been arrested for drunk driving and he just stood there, laughing at the camera" sniped a Vancouver writer in a "letter to the editor. C'mon, lady - that's not a what-the-hell smile on Campbell's face. That's a sickly leer. A weak grimace. A hand-in-the-cookie-jar, oops I stepped in the cowpoop smile. Gordon Campbell may be an arrogant SOB in the rest of his life, but that is not an arrogant arrogant grin he's wearing in the photographs. That is a pathetic pathetic simper. A wheedling plea for mercy. Having put myself through a few ohmygawdwhatwaslthinking scenarios myself, I'd recognize recognize it anywhere. Strange critter, your garden variety smile. My dictionary defines it as "a change of facial expression involving an upward curving of the corners of the mouth" - but a smile is 'way more than that. There's the Mona Lisa smile, enigmatic, inscrutable, almost not there; and there's the maniacal, thousand- megawatt leer that transformed transformed the face of Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick. There's the earnest, needy, nervous grin of sad sack salesman salesman Willy Loman in A Death of a Salesman ("He's a man way out there in the blue, riding riding on a smile and a shoeshine.."); and there's the wall-to-wall grin of toothy Carly Simon, displaying more ivory than a Steinway Grand. There are a lot of portraits of George Washington including including the one on the U.S. one- dollar bill - but you'll never see one that shows Washington smiling. Richard Nixon, on the other hand, was captured in a famous photo that showed him almost convulsing, convulsing, mouth wide open, eyes bulging, tongue hanging out. The Nixon grin was so incongruous on the face of such a normally sullen man that for years, the magazine Esquire ran the photo once a year, with the caption "Why Is This Man Laughing?" There's something about leaders and smiles and the uneasy tension that lies between them. Winston Churchill said that Russian prime minister Molotov had "a smile like a Siberian winter". winter". French president Francois Mitterand described Margaret Thatcher as having "the eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe". The odd thing is, smiling for public consumption is a relatively recent social phenomenon. phenomenon. You don't see statues statues of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great with big grins plastered across their pusses. For centuries, oil portraits portraits of notable figures showed their subjects with serious, solemn visages. Right up until 1787, when a French artist by the name of Women... time to butt out There is now help for all women who would like to quit smoking, or who have already started to quit. You are all invited to a Women's Quit Smoking group offered by the Durham Region Health Department. They are providing providing support and information geared toward women and their efforts to quit. The next group will begin meeting Tuesday evenings for six sessions, March 4 to April 8 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sessions are held at the Health Department's Whitby office, 1615 Dundas St. E., at the Whitby Mall, second floor. All sessions are free of charge. According to a 2001 Health Department survey, 60 per cent of female smokers 18 years of age and older and considering to quit smoking. This is about 24,000 women in Durham Region who want to quit. "Most smokers try to quit many times before they're successful," successful," explains Elizabeth Shantz, a public health nurse with Durham Region Health Department. "These efforts to quit are both beneficial and important as they bring smokers smokers closer to beginning a life that's smoke-free" In addition to the Women's Quit Smoking group, the Health Department has resources and information for anyone interested in quitting smoking. To register for upcoming women's sessions or to obtain information on quitting quitting smoking, please call the Health Department at (905) 732-8521 or 1-800-841-2729, ext. 2125. Louise Elizabeth Vigee- LeBrun painted a self-portrait that showed her pleasantly smiling back at the world. The world was scandalized. scandalized. One critic of the time sniffed "An affectation which artists, art lovers and persons of taste have been united in condemning...is that in smiling, smiling, Mme Vigee-LeBrun shows her teeth. This affecta tion is particularly out of place in a mother." And therein lies the reason our ancestors and predecessors look so grim in those paintings and photos - bad teeth. Up until the 18th century Europeans had no toothbrushes, no tooth powder or paste and no concept whatsoever whatsoever of dental care. Consequently, most of them had mouths full of rotten teeth by the time they were teenagers. George Washington didn't smile because he had a gobful of carved, discoloured wooden dentures. Smiling would have made him look like a beaver caught in mid-chew. And Mona Lisa, even when she smiled, was careful to show no teeth. As a result of that one evening in Hawaii, Gordon Campbell has a lot of ironies that he'll live with for the rest of his life. Like the fact that he could have said to his hosts "You know what? I'm hammered. hammered. Mind if I sleep on the couch?" Or the fact that calling out one four-letter word - "Taxi!" - would have spared him a world of grief. Or the fact that, if he'd had a worse set of teeth in his mouth, chances are he'd have looked better in those mug shots. Celebrating Our Communities' OUTSTANDING STUDENTS Each year, a number of exceptional young people graduate from our local high schools. As your neighbour, Ontario Power Generation is proud to be a part of a community that generates such talented and committed young people. We have honoured this select group of graduating students with the OPG Secondary School Achievement Award. The 2002 awards celebrate 54 exceptional individuals drawn from secondary schools in the region. The award recognizes their outstanding academic achievement and interest in the environment, science, engineering, technology, physics, business and mathematics. The award also reflects their leadership skills and involvement in extracurricular activities. Each student receives a certificate and bursary to put towards their post-secondary education. Congratulations to all the students who have worked so hard to earn this award. 2002 AWARD RECIPIENTS Mailiis Metsis, Diane Tam Carly Harrison, Craig Buchinski Ajax High School G.L. Roberts Collegiate & VI, Oshawa Cameron Bruce, Mark Pryjma Liam O'Reilly, Charlie Qaqish Exeter High School, Ajax Kelly-Anne Fagan, Brian Zhou Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic High School, Oshawa Pickering High School, Ajax Joshua Galaski, Katherine Rudzinski Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic Allison Kadowaki, Elizabeth Murray High School, Oshawa Cartwright High School, Blackstoch Emad Saif, Beth Le Chris Bateman, Chris McDaniel Bownuvwille High School O'Neill Collegiate &• VI, Oshawa Alan Jacula, Regine Krechowicz Michael Rotondi, Jake Lang St. Stephen's Secondary School, R.S. McLaughlin Collegiate & VI, Oshawa Bowmanville Andrea Taylor, Brian Teefy Geoffrey So, Paul Shadbolt Dunbarton High School, Pickering Brock High School, Cannington Neshat Nivi, Breanne Randell Tyler Lahti, Leigh Cushnie Pine Ridge Secondary School, Pickering Courtice Secondary School Jocelyn Shih, Justin Eickmeier St. Mary's Catholic High School, Pickering Melissa Brosko, Elizabeth Goulding Central Collegiate Institute, Oshawa Aurelea Gumiela, Ryan Hall Aaron Alton, Justin Carroll Port Perry High School Dr. F.J. Donevan Collegiate, Oshawa Cindy Stienburg, Ashley Randall Ryan Mihkelson, Julie Tsapoitis Uxbridge Secondary School Durham Alternate Secondary School, Justin McComb, Jeffrey Armstrong Oshawa Anderson Collegiate 6 V VI, Whitby Angela Giffin, Cory Van Belleghem Joyce Chan, Zeina Dahdouh /'• ■ A. LoreII Continuing luluc. ('.entre, Lather Leo /. Austin Catholic Oshawa High School, Whitby Bhadra Sthankiya, Krista Gordon Blake Kirchcr, Stephanie Hird l-.astdale Collegiate 6 V V/, Oshawa Henry Street High School, Whithx Jennifer Bock, Ncclufcr Bana Sinclair Secondary School, Whithx ONTARIOrSWEB putting our energy to good use www.oprj.com GENERATION