Paul Fromm

I got an email from Tim, someone I went to high school (Applewood Heights Secondary School) with in Canada. We haven't been in contact since I left the Great White North 22 years ago. He found my email address on our old high school alumni site.

The weird part of the story is that Tim found my email by accident. He was looking for info on Paul Fromm, who was in a segment on The Daily Show yesterday. Paul Fromm was an English teacher at Applewood and he was my teacher for grade 12 English (ENG451). I didn't know it at the time but he turned out to be a huge neo-Nazi activist. I don't remember any overt racist/fascist remarks from Mr. Fromm though... he was actually a pretty boring teacher.

Applewood was mostly white back in 1985 so I must have stuck out as one of the few Asians at the school. I ended up getting a 75% in the class and a "good effort" comment on my final report card. Not sure if his anti-immigration ideology had anything to do with my grade... and yes, I still have my old report cards, even ones from Taiwan.



I think Mr. Fromm confused The Daily Show with a real news program. I originally thought this was a hoax but the Wikipedia entry cites a 2005 Globe and Mail article that Paul Fromm founded the "Canada First Immigration Reform Committee" and the guy in the video looks like the guy in my 1985 yearbook--yearbook faculty advisor, no less!