A Reason for Being

Carlos Simoes

Carlos Simoes from Mathew McCarthy on Vimeo.

Carlos Simoes is the president of the Wind Climbers Kite Club. The club is based in Cambridge Ontario and has members from around Waterloo Region. Simoes has been fascinated by kites since he first flew a stunt kite on a Florida beach when he was in his early 20s.

Graham Getty

 

Graham Getty with a few origami friends he created, Friday. Getty folds most pieces of paper he touches and hopes to break a world record for the largest work of origami from a single piece of paper. He just has to find a piece big enough. 

Terry Jantzi

 

I'd heard about Terry after sending a newsroom-wide email asking for possible subjects for this project. After a quick conversation with a reporter Valerie Hill, I learned that Terry had spent six years building an airplane in his basement then tearing out a wall to remove it. Over the next few years he'd set a pile of speed records with it. 

A further look at his YouTube channel showed that he made a cotton candy machine, turned his barbeque into a convection oven and built a recumbant three-wheel bike. 

When I called him to ask if he'd be interested in my video project my timing couldn't have been better. He was putting the finishing touches on his workshop renovation and would be starting the construction of a two-wheel recumbant bike. The bike would have two pivot points in the frame making it fold like a wet noodle. And it wouldn't have handle bars. 

Over the next two weeks I visited Terry several times at his workshop as he shaped his "KrankiKobra." The inaugural ride took place at his friend's airport hangar in Breslau.

Paul Langan

 

I met Paul while covering a story for a Kids in Sports piece. It was bring a friend night at a meeting of the Scorpions Youth Volleyball Club in Cambridge, in a gym that was crammed with kids and flying volleyballs. Paul gathered the group in a row and began a speech that was half introduction and half stand up comedy. He said the club was about learning volleyball, sure, but it was just as important to have fun.