The Suzanne Diaries

All projects found below have been created by Suzanne Saghier as part of the MMJC program at Western University.

It doesn’t take Superman to make a super difference—Clark Bryan wins award in the Mayor’s Honour List of 2025

By Suzanne Saghier

[Clark Bryan, right, shaking hands with Mayor Josh Morgan upon accepting his award, Suzanne Saghier.]

From founding London’s beloved Aeolian Hall to pursuing activist initiatives, it’s no wonder why Clark Bryan made it onto the Mayor’s New Year’s Honour List of 2025.

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, London’s City Council convened for a meeting at City Hall, during which Mayor Josh Morgan awarded the 12 recipients of this year’s Mayor’s Honour List for their accomplishments.

Among them was Clark Bryan, the recipient of the Arts category award, whose achievements in London prove that he lives up to his namesake and truly is a super man in his community.

Clark expresses his gratitude at winning an award like this, recognizing that it’s no small feat and takes hard work and dedication to get to where he is.

“It feels always daunting when you win an award because, you know, your own expectations for the future as well as the community expectations for you start to get higher. So, you know, you sometimes feel like the pressure’s on to contribute even more and do more work, which is definitely in my heart and mind,” he says.

Clark is best known for being a pianist and an educator, who has been teaching for 39 years. He has made contributions to the New Millennium Piano Series for the Conservatory of Canada and sent students from under his guidance to schools like Yale and Julliard.

While listing off the many accomplishments Clark has made, Mayor Josh Morgan recognizes him for his musical talents.

“His performances are a unique blend of technical skill and emotional depth, earning him the aberrational respect from peers and audiences alike. Clark’s passion and dedication to education is truly inspirational,” says Morgan in his award speech.

Though Clark’s accomplishments in the arts are what got him to be recognized so highly, he continues to aspire to do more activist work, especially in terms of the homelessness issue in London. He feels a responsibility to help out in the city he has called home since his graduate school days.

“It’s been kind of an interesting thing to stick around and root yourself, you know, in a community that needs a lot of help right now—especially with what we call our homeless issue, which is not really homeless at all, it’s [an] inequity issue,” says Clark.

One of Clark’s biggest initiatives is the after-school music program at the Aeolian Hall, which is free of charge. It has helped hundreds of young people earn an education in music, something Mayor Josh Morgan recognizes may not be an opportunity they would otherwise have access to if not for Clark Bryan, and this is only the beginning for him.

“I’ve tried my best to contribute to the community as much as I can over the last 20 years, and I feel like I’m just getting started,” Clark says.

He encourages everyone else in the London community to step outside of their comfort zone and to pursue making a change like he has done.

Greek heritage appreciated and showcased through film festival that tours Canada

By Suzanne Saghier

The Huron University Theatre hosted the Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT) on Sunday, Oct. 6, showcasing meaningful films that pay tribute to the Greek heritage of their creators.

Films like “Murderess,” directed by Eva Nathena, and “Listen,” directed by Maria Douza were played during this festival, displaying different levels of Greek stories and the complex struggles people of certain communities face.

All films that are selected for this festival must be connected to Greek culture in some way. Executive Director and creator of GIFFT, Stan Papulkas, says that film submissions can come from any country as long as they have some connection to Greek culture, whether the filmmaker, some actors, or the story itself is Greek. He ensures that a variety of stories are told to fit the differing demographics of people who enjoy this festival.

“You don’t paint Greeks with one same brush, you know, there’s young people, there’s older people that have an affinity towards historical [films] and things that they remember […] and the young people want something they can relate to,” says Papulkas.

As a tribute to his own Greek heritage, Papulkas started the film festival in the spring of 2020.

“A lot of other communities had one,” he says, “but the Greeks didn’t.”

Papulkas comes from a TV production background. He was encouraged to create the festival by his community in Toronto. Beginning during the pandemic allowed him to see how the festival could fare in difficult situations. He says they are doing okay now, four years into it.

Papulkas says many of the films they play won’t make it to theatres everywhere.

“It doesn’t mean that they’re not good films, it’s just that it’s a niche market and we gotta grow that,” he says.

The festival has experimented with many different genres and films in the past, like “The Attack of the Giant Musaka,” which is from 1999 that has a kind of cult following and inspired other movies about a creature coming out of a body of water and musicians trying to fight it.

The festival’s biggest film this year, “Murderess,” is what Papulkas would say is the Greek qualifier for an Oscar. It is based on a novel by Greek writer Alexandros Papadiamantis and explores societal norms and the human mind. It takes place on a Greek island in the early 1900s.

Mary Fardis, an associate of Papulkas and loyal member of the festival, says about “Murderess” that it is “depressing, but for those times, […] a lot of those things were happening.” She insists people have to see the film to understand the heartbreaking nature.

“The films are very meaningful,” she says.

For Papulkas, an important aspect about the GIFFT was doing something that other film festivals—namely the Toronto International Film Festival—couldn’t do, which was going national. The Canadian cities the GIFFT tours include Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Regina and Halifax.

The Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada will be in Ottawa, next on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Barber shops, football and podcasts—the story of Ahmad Hussein

By Suzanne Saghier

“People underestimate barbers—” Ahmad Hussein says, as he gets comfortable on the couch in his basement where he gives haircuts to his friends and family. With one eye on the tv as the football game plays quietly in the background, Ahmad reflects on his life. It doesn’t take much work, though. “I took that shot and I don’t regret a day,” he says passionately.

Ahmad began cutting hair in 2017 when he and his family members were bored on New Year’s Eve. “This all started for fun,” he says, recalling that night when he asked his cousin if he could give him a haircut.

“I messed him up really bad,” he chuckles at the memory, “so, I said I’m going to practice and get better so I can give you good haircuts.”

But 2017 wasn’t when he officially made the switch. After graduating from Fanshawe College, Ahmad worked in electrical engineering until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started. With the world shutting down and giving him nothing to do, he found his calling in something that was just a hobby before.

“I started realizing how important haircuts were and how they were never going to go anywhere, so I just decided to do the switch and give it a shot,” he says.

Raised in a Lebanese, Muslim household, Ahmad knows his parents will be proud of him no matter what. It’s society that he feels the need to answer to, especially the Arab community his parents surround themselves with.

“If it failed, I was always able to go back to electrical,” he says, knowing that’s what most people expect of him. But his heart and passion lie with being a barber.

Now, Ahmad works at the Gentleman’s Barber Shop in Masonville mall, though he has plans to open up his own practice one day. “My next steps are to get licenced and make sure I have enough saved up.”

Always realistic, Ahmad understands the risks that come with opening a business, like taking a pay loss for the first little bit while getting established. He says his clientele is wide and loyal, though, which gives him a good feeling that he has the potential for success.

“It’s like a hang out spot. You have, like, you know, these discussions about sports and everything and it’s just a good time. It’s like us hanging out, but I’m getting paid for it,” he says about the atmosphere when his boys come over for him to cut their hair.

The basement is cozy and feels like home, even with his AhmadKutz sign hanging from the wall. It doesn’t scream that this is his place of business, but rather, a place where the guys can get together and enjoy themselves. The small cheer Ahmad gives when his team gets a touchdown emulates this sense of boyish camaraderie in the basement. His brother groans in the background, clearly rooting for the other team.

Ahmad says his family is his biggest support system, understanding the risks he’s taking and being there to support him fully.

“His hands make magic,” says his sister, Noura Hussein, who has loved watching her brother live out his dream. Always his number one cheerleader, Noura is consistent with her posts on Instagram supporting her brother’s passion.

Ahmad says if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s adapting to change. He understands that making such a big change in his life, going from electrician to barber, requires good personality skills. Not only has he switched professions, but he has also opened himself up to a world where human contact and good manners are a hard requirement.

“I’m a very bubbly person. I have a very big personality, I can get along with everybody, so, like, I’m never really in awkward situations,” he says, a smile on his face.

This is exactly the reason he jumped at the opportunity to join his cousin, Maya Hussein, and their long-time family friend, Lahib, on the Anything and Everything podcast. Ahmad admits that podcasting hasn’t been his dream and that it was mainly to help his cousin grow her platform. The podcast was always an idea Maya had and he joined to encourage her.

“Hopefully it gets big,” he says.

While it was never his true calling, he’s having fun co-hosting the podcast and has learned that social media is larger than anyone could ever realize.

“There are so many things to worry about,” he says, referring to the response the podcast has gotten from the public so far.

He never realized before just how mean comments and cancel culture can be. It’s opened his eyes to see how ruthless people can get and how vast social media is. He’s dealt with people calling him insecure after watching their first few podcast episodes on YouTube.

“I’m not insecure,” he says.

But, ever the changing man, Ahmad has taken this experience and run with it. He has learned a few tips and tricks from his co-hosts, Maya and Lahib, who have their own large followings on social media as influencers. While both of them have started their pages as a place to make funny skits, they have both been able to use their platforms to speak about world issues and wrongdoings.

Despite the negativity than can inherently come with social media, Ahmad has taken a positive outlook with his own page for his barber business. “I’ve been going my own route with, like, you know, content creation, by doing barber skits on my Instagram and stuff like that. I’m trying to, like, you know, dibble-dabble into that world,” he says, eliciting teasing and laughs from his brother and sister, who sit in to watch him reflect—and to watch the football game.

At the end of the day—and the game—Ahmad emphasizes the biggest motivation in his life: his parents. “That’s what’s pushing me—to make my parents live a comfortable life.”

Whether it’s living out his dreams as a barber or running a podcast alongside his loved ones, Ahmad looks change in the face and reaches out to shake its hand.

His parting message is, “for any young kid out there, to do whatever they want to and live out their dreams and not care about what people have to say about it.”

The TV is turned off when the football game ends, and Ahmad leans over to give his cat a scratch on her head.

Ahmad looks forward to opening the doors to his own barber shop one day, ready for loyal and new clients to come his way.