Speaker: Oh yeah, when I went on to grade thirteen. You know how I got into grade thirteen? I didn't have Latin. The principal of the high-school here wrote to the department of education and said, "Look this guy's graduate from techno- technical-school. Can we apply all those technical-school subjects in place of the Latin requirement for grade thirteen?" And they said, "Yes." Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: That's how I went on to grade thirteen.

The biggest thing that's wrong with this province, we went to- we followed the other provinces that we-- went to grade twelve and we followed the American system. That was under Mike- Mister-Mike-Harris. You know what they say, when you're a teacher, you don't um if ah you can't do anything, you become a teacher. If you don't understand anything, you become a teacher, okay? We switched. Grade thirteen in Canada was the equivalent of first-year university in the States. Christ, I heard that for so many years, it was unreal. Ah on top of that, on top of that, grade twelve. How old are you? You're not in grade twelve.

... so they asked me to be in this play and I was Spike. So it was pretty cool. And a friend of mine, he was in grade-thirteen and he was cool guy, he was Fonzie 'cause Fonzie was cool. So from then everyone called me Spyke. And i-- i-- it's funny how it- it just stuck.

Um Mister-Graham- great teacher, actually. I- I thought he was a great teacher, but he was ah pretty tough. Grade-nine and not so in grade-thirteen. He figured, "If you hadn't got it by now, you- (inc) nothing I can do for you."

Interviewer: So then ah- when you got to- to high-school were things more lenient? Can you describe- were you allowed to go out- Speaker: Oh no, typical Italian, no I was not allowed to go out. No. And dances I was never allowed to go until grade-thirteen, I was allowed to go to that- that year. I was allowed to go to the dances. I was allowed to bring the car to school when I was in grade-thirteen. Um, other than that, no, I was kept in the background because I was a girl.

Interviewer: Okay. Now so what- you said earlier that you originally were going to go into marine biology. What changed your mind? Speaker: Um let's see in grade thirteen I was sick a lot and I blew a lot of my grade thirteen credits so going off the Guelph wasn't going to happen. Interviewer: Ah, okay. Speaker: So I applied to one college and ah got in. 'Cause I was actually in the hospital when they were- are- you-know all your forms are due.

Speaker: And um my parents were both from Saskatchewan, and my mom came here to marry my dad. Interviewer: Okay. How about your grandparents? Speaker: Um my mother's father worked um in a granary elevator, and um my grandma was um a seamstress. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: And my dad's parents ah they worked um mostly in um and farmer (inc).

Then- then- then that's where they- well the wind was strong, shouldn't be up there and not picking up- (laughs) if you have a piece of plywood and it's pulling you, let it go. I don't know why ah- and he wasn't a greenhorn, like I mean he's been working, doing that stuff for quite a few years. He wasn't a young kid. He- you get some young kids they start they come on the job and nobody is- is telling them anything eh.

Interviewer: Green-horn is another mining term. Someone's who's fresh. Fresh at the mine is a green-horn. Speaker: Yeah, but a green- green-horn term comes from ah um rearing cattle.

Speaker: We used to slide a lot there. That used to be a gr-- great big gully at one time. It's been all filled. Yeah. Interviewer: I was going to say, it was like- I'm thinking about it now. I'm like, "Where would you go sliding? I don't understand." Speaker: (laughs) Yeah, that used to be a gully.

... Max ah Max-Hemmings fucking on the ah- there's like this, you-know, merry-go-round thing? ... He's on there, he's fucking juiced. I'm like "That's the wrong place to lay if you're juiced-" ... Like a whole bunch of people were fucking hammered. Fuck- a lot of the- a lot of the n-- like people that I wouldn't expect to be hammered like nerds and shit were like all hammed and shit. And I'm like "Aw."

She says "You boys getting along pretty good eh? Making your way around pretty good." "Oh yeah." I says. We take the streetcar down and ah you-know. But we saw guys leaving would get a piece of paper. We looked (laughs) what's the paper for? You-know like two hicks?

A high grader is a guy who takes the high grade gold out of the mines and there used to be a quite a- quite a business.

Interviewer: 'Cause packsack, but packsack is a Northern-Ontario slang- Speaker: Is it really? Interviewer: Word, yeah. Speaker: Yeah, so is a high grader. Interviewer: Even- even what? Speaker: High grader? Interviewer: What's that? Speaker: You don't know what a high grader is? Interviewer: I've probably heard it, but. Speaker: You've got to be kidding! That is true Northern-Ontario. Interviewer: What's a high grader? Speaker: A high grader is a guy who takes the high grade gold out of the mines and there used to be a quite a- quite a business. Interviewer: Oh they steal it! Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah, okay. No I know what that is.

Interviewer: Yeah, okay. No I know what that is. I've- Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay I don't know the word I'm word I'm sorry. Speaker: Yeah. And the O-P-P had their high grade squad. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: But you ask somebody from Nova-Soctia what a high grader is and they haven't- they don't.

So we had ah Caribbean talking ah bartenders and whatever other staff that was there. Other than that they were all white, like from Switzerland and-so-on. They were very hoity-toity.

Something that pops in my mind just holy-mackerel.

Speaker: Yep. You can't- you can't wear ah bandanas near Le-Bop or Le-Bistro either. Interviewer: Really? Speaker: 'Cause the gang-rate is very, very high. There, you can't wear a hood, a hoodie, and you can't wear any, like, insignia or anything like that. 'Cause one ti-- 'cause, like, as guide, as exec members, we have hoodies, right? And sometimes you just put your hood up. And we were walking in and they were like- basically, the bouncers grabbed us all and pushed us aside and was like, "Show us your I-D! What gang are you part of? Du-du-du-du-du!"

Speaker: "We're on contract, we're not drinking, we have no alcohol, we have no guns, we have no knives, we have no this." Like, we're going through the list of- to try to ma-- they're like, "The only way we're letting you in is to take your hoodie off." Okay. Interviewer: (inc) safer right, yeah. Yeah. Speaker: Well, it's because they've had instances with gangs in that area, 'cause there's so many ah so many, you-know. There's- i-- it's riddled with youth-gangs. I'm being sarcastic (laughs)

Interviewer: The slang terms in Northern-Ontario compared to Southern-Ontario. Speaker: Um the backpack-packsack thing? (laughs). Interviewer: It's (inc). Speaker: Yeah. Well, I noticed hoodie and sweatshirt. Some people were confused by that. I don't know if everyone would be, but I think some people were. Um. Interviewer: What about camp versus cottage?