Corn kid spreads joy and corn

Earlier this fall there was a viral meme about corn going around on TikTok.

It all started with a video clip of a seven-year-old kid named Tariq who professed an enthusiastic and undying love for corn. In the short interview, Tariq expresses his love for corn, and when asked what he likes about corn, he replies: “ever since I was told corn was real, it tasted good.”

The entire video is wonderful, and probably one of the cutest things ever. (This kind of virality is probably one of the greatest things about the Internet — the ability to blow up the most simple and everyday things into a viral meme for everyone to enjoy… only when used for good of course.)

Anyway, Tariq’s video grabbed the attention of another TikTok user, who turned voice clips of his video into a catchy little ditty that exploded. Me and the kids still burst out into this song whenever anyone mentions the word corn.

“It’s CORN! A big lump with knobs. It has the juice (it has the juice) I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing!”

Corn Kid making a corn casserole for Thanksgiving. (Green Giant)

Anyway, how these things go, this song went mega-viral with many social media users using the song clip to make their own videos, and Tariq’s love of corn touched a LOT of people, sending him into meme fame.

Now, as American Thanksgiving is looming, Tariq has partnered with Green Giant to give 90,000 cans of corn to people in need over American turkey day.

We love to see it!

I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Shelley Cook, Columnist

Good news this week

Doug Spiers writes a heartwarming story about the festive folks at Variety who organized two glitzy Winter Wonderland parties — Nov. 22 and 23 at the downtown Delta Hotel Winnipeg — in hopes of making a special holiday memory for more than 900 economically disadvantaged kids from seven Winnipeg schools.

Mike Sawatzky writes about Valour FC super fan Nicky Cottee who will be at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, to witness Canada’s return to the men’s World Cup when it takes on world No. 2-ranked Belgium in Group F action. The game is underway now!

Nicky Cottee, who serves as president of the Valour FC fan club Red River Rising, has made the long trip to Qatar to support Canada at the World Cup. (Alex Lupul / Winnipeg Free Press)

A small alternative energy company in St. Malo is one of only four companies from around the world selected by Vodafone, the massive U.K. telco, to solve some pressing renewable energy challenges for its cell tower network. Kynetic Energy Solutions won Vodafone’s renewable power challenge and, if successful, could end up being in line for millions of dollars worth of work. Read Matrin Cash’s full story here.

CHOO-CHOO! For the first time since 2019, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will make its annual journey through Canada and the U.S. to bring live music to this holiday season. The schedule for Manitoba-area dates can be found here.

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Shelley Cook | Uplift

Corn kid spreads joy and corn

Good news this week

What I've been working on

Shelley Cook | Uplift

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