This is a shameless piece of promotion for some colleagues who deserve it. In particular, this is directed to anyone who works in the field of education, especially Ontario high schools. My friends, Matt Disero and David Peck, who between them are a magicians, comedians, philosophers and teachers (I'll leave you to sort out who's what) and have created a fantastic school program: The Mosquitoes Suck Tour. The program blends magic and comedy with an important message about the importance of social justice and the means to eradicate malaria.
If that weren't cool enough, they shows also contain contributions from Rick Mercer, Fefe Dobson and the boy band Neverest. There are also spinoff programs including curriculum materials about social justice and malaria for social/science teachers. There is also a fundraising program they run for both schools and mosquito nets involving fair trade coffee which is quite good.
The program originated a few years ago in the Halton/Peel region and built itself up slowly. Most of their performances have been in that region, but they are starting to expand their territory outwards into the rest of Ontario.
I know that because of labour disputes, this has been a particularly strange year for education in Ontario. But if you're in the field and could benefit from some exception programming, I can't recommend this program highly enough.
