Episode One: “Not Just A Counselor”

In this episode of Paper People, Jennifer interviews Mr. Mark Johnston, Churchill’s current Grade 12 counselor. He’s the man that we all go to in order to plan classes or talk about academics, or sometimes as the man that listens and understands when we have a problem we need to work through. It’s easy to forget that Mr. Johnston is his own person with his own feelings, and it’s easy to take advantage of his kindness – especially when it comes to borrowing his stuff, or asking for favours. Jennifer speaks to Mr. Johnston in the hopes of learning more about him, and to get to know a side of him that she’s only heard of from other people.

Episode Two – “Not Just A Teacher“

In this episode of Paper People, Aamir interviews Mr. Nathan Moes, who used to be the substitute teacher for Ms. Rosengren and is now the substitute for Ms. Moore. In place of Ms. Moore, he currently teaches Social Studies and Social Justice, and is known among students who have been in his classes as one of the coolest and nicest teachers in the school. Aamir aims to show that he’s not just a “teacher”, but a person like all of us. He goes through struggles like everyone does, and has regrets like everyone does. Additionally, he touches upon the idea that we all have a similar way of dealing with those regrets .

Special thanks to Mr. Moes for allowing us to use some music by his band, The Magician and the Gates of Love for Episode Two. Other music used in our podcast comes from freesound.org.

Regret is feeling of sadness or disappointment over something that has happened, or had been done. It’s the feeling when you say something you shouldn’t have said or hadn’t said something when you should have, or that feeling when you think of all the things you’ve taken for granted and wished you hadn’t. We all have regrets. Some small ones, some big ones. Some that we’ve accepted and forgotten, and some that still continue to haunt the inner recesses of our mind. No matter who you are or what your background is, regrets are hard to avoid.

Our podcast is not just an autobiographical archive of other people’s regrets in life, nor is it just a run-of-the-mill interview segment. We’ve taken the basic idea of “Regret” and decided to document our own thought processes – and regrets – in addition to our guests’ thoughts and answers to our questions, as a way to show different perspectives and stories related to such a broad topic. It’s not enough to simply ask about the experiences of others, but it’s also important to look within ourselves and work through any regrets one has.

Our aim is to be able to show the growth from a simple, surface level understanding of a person to truly knowing who someone is and what they’ve gone through to get where they are now, and to encourage others to become more mindful of everyone around them. That way, we can avoid regretting things like saying the wrong thing to someone or passing judgement on someone before realizing the truth.

All in all, we want to encourage others to look beyond labels, look within themselves, assess one’s regrets, and become an overall better person.