The Athenaeum

Tag: life

  • Lockdown due to Pandemic led to Cleaner air Across Cities of Canada

    Lockdown due to Pandemic led to Cleaner air Across Cities of Canada

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cities around the world were shut down, which not only affected their functioning, but also the way residents would socialize. Lockdown led to millions of people staying home and not commuting to work which made vehicle traffic across Canada plummet. The reduction in the usage of vehicles made a significant impact on the quality of air in major Canadian cities. A study by Concordia University monitored data from the downtown cores of the major Canadian cities including Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and St. John’s. They compared the cities’ concentration levels of nitrogen dioxide (N02), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) which were measured between the months of February and August 2020 to the data recorded in the same months in years 2018 and 2019. 

    The researchers concluded that they found a drastic drop in the emission level over the course of the pandemic. The most remarkable decline occurred in the week of March 15th, 2020 when the national lockdown measures were implemented. There were significant reductions in traffic congestion in various cities such as a 69 percent decrease in traffic congestion levels in Toronto, while in Montreal a 75 percent drop was observed as compared to the year 2019. Less gasoline usage led to lower pollution figures. A similar pattern was noticed in the case of carbon dioxide emissions. Gasoline production fell by almost half during the pandemic’s early weeks. 

    Apart from providing an opportunity for scenario analysis of a particularly unusual period, this data can also provide aid to the government in assessing the long-term impact of replacing gas-burning vehicles with electric-operated vehicles in the streets of Canadian cities. 

    Due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, at least Earth got a break from the constant human hustle and found an opportunity to heal from the damages mankind has made. Hopefully, this will serve as an eye-opener for the citizens and help towards reducing pollution and making it a better place to live.

    Note: This article is part of our Winter 2021 Print Edition that focuses on both issues and the good in the current state of the world. Look across campus for a paper copy of this edition!

  • Things That Should Have Been Curbed in 2016

    Things That Should Have Been Curbed in 2016

     

    1) The notion that “White Privilege” is offensive and racist towards White People.

    Racism, cultural appropriation, and discrimination have been a hot-button issue throughout history. With the rise of social media platforms, along with the recent election of Donald Trump, there is a plethora of conversation online (and in print) about the hateful rhetoric that seems to be plaguing today’s society. Unfortunately, when people feel that their privilege is being threatened, they enter an automatic defense mode. It is often presented in such a manner where the defendant makes claims of innocence, justifying their feelings of discomfort by exclaiming that they are not guilty of racism, and that if their race is being questioned, that they are automatically being discriminated against. White privilege is not racist; it is not offensive in any way. It is a method of explaining the favorable treatment that white people often receive. There are no systems of oppression designed against white people. Thinking that reverse racism exists is what perpetuates the notion of white privilege further into the foundations of our society. It is a mechanism that is used to validate the comfortable position white people hold in society. Validating your own comfortable position by attacking a marginalized group (by saying white privilege is offensive, racist etc.) is a subtle way of invalidating and shutting down any group who’s LIVED EXPERIENCE has ever been one of systemic oppression. In extension, these feelings can often be described as “white fragility,” a state in which minimum amounts of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering outward displays of emotion, such as anger, and behaviours such as argumentation. Yeah, this definitely could have been left behind in 2016.

    2) That any Indigenous culture should just “get over” colonization.

    Really? This one amazes me every time I hear it. Let us take a brief moment to recall Canadian History because we are not innocent in the ways or racism and cultural oppression. Residential schools were opened in conjunction with the Catholic and Protestant Churches and the government. Their aim was to remove any form of Indigenous culture from Indigenous children by forcefully removing them from their homes, placing them in schools where they would be taught Western values. As such, a cultural genocide was committed. Often, when hearing the word “genocide,” events such as the Holocaust, Bosnian, and Rwandan genocides. That is because Canada has attempted to repress its history. The horrors of the Residential schools did not end until 1996. Yes, most of us were living when the last school shut its doors. During their time in the Residential schools, Indigenous children were beaten, sexually assaulted, and mentally abused by their instructors. Often, these traumas were difficult to cope with. A stigma surrounds Indigenous peoples in Canada. Many people chose to believe that status cards, funding, government aid, and the Truth and Reconciliation Committee should all be abolished. They question why we should continue to apologize, and why we should continue to work towards mending our relationship with Indigenous peoples. What does it take to get over something like this? How could you possibly put a numerical value on an apology, how can you, a white person, get to dictate the appropriate measures for reconciliation after a cultural genocide has been committed? When you say these things, you act as though you assume the role of the oppressed, you may think you understand their oppression, but you simply do not. I know I do not understand, I never could. However, it is important to listen, to engage in conversation, and to be respectful of what you cannot understand. Please read the above statement about white privilege and then rethink your questions and sweeping generalizations about Indigenous peoples and Indigenous culture.

    3) “She was asking for it”- REALLY?

    For God sakes. How is this type of conversation STILL taking place? Did we not learn after Jian Ghomeshi and Brock Allen-Turner? I simply do not understand. The legal process further victimizes rape victims. Belittlement and slut-shaming occur in the courtroom in order to find loopholes in the victim’s statement. By asking her, “did you say no?” you are questioning her pain and her experience. By asking her, “how much did you drink?” you are assuming that all drunk women are ‘asking for it’, by asking her “what were you wearing” or “how many men have you slept with in the past”, you are slut-shaming her. Although there are false reports of rape, the treatment of victims in the courtroom is inexcusable. This is the reason that rape and sexual assault are so underreported. This process favours the accused, often bringing into play irrelevant aspects of his character, his achievements, and what he strives for in life. However, this does not take into account aspects of the victim’s character, her (or his) achievements in life, and how what she/he had strived for may feel as though it has become so out of reach. It’s simple, folks. If you can’t say no, you can’t say yes. There is no in-between; there is no grey area. There is yes, and there is no. Stop blaming the victim. Stop validating your need for supremacy. Stop questioning the pain of others, instead, start regarding it.

    4) Feelings of self-doubt, as brought on by Instagram and other forms of Social Media.

    I am guilty of this. Most people are guilty of this. It is so easy to feel self-doubt, and it is so easy to think that your value decreases based on the perceived notion of “perfection” in the others who you see on social media. In the last 10 years, we have “networking” apps explode. The original purpose of these apps was to stay in touch with your friends, to be able to connect with people you haven’t seen in a long time and to keep others updated on what is going on in your own life. However, it feels as though there has been a shift in the dynamic, a change in the way we behave on the Internet. Often, all we see is the picture. We believe that everybody’s lives are perfect and full of happiness based on how they display themselves on social media. Getting the “perfect picture” and pairing it with a “fire” caption that will get you over 300 likes is often a goal of most people. I know I am not innocent. There have been multiple occasions where I have found myself thinking, “if I went to the gym more maybe I would look like her and then I would be as happy as she appears.” I know this is wrong. After a conversation with one of my roommates, I found out that she was feeling the same way. She talked to me about how miserable looking at Instagram makes her. It caused her to question her own happiness by constantly comparing it to other girls’ social media pages. So, she slowly began to stop looking as much. As did I. I’ll leave this point here: everybody has their issues, but we have been conditioned to try and keep our problems to yourself. A picture is just that: a picture. You see what the poster wants you to see, just remember that your self-worth should not be determined by a like or how the world views your Instagram page.

    5) Islamophobia.

    Islam is a religion of peace. Often, people do not believe this when it is brought up in conversation. The first time I heard this was in my 11th grade world religion class. Our teacher told us that Islam was the closest religion to Christianity. She was right. It is not Islam you are afraid of, it is the “otherness.” The sense that you see something different, and that you are uncomfortable within a realm of your own privilege is what sets you off. This rhetoric gained prominence after 9/11. We were scared of them. They were scared of us. Although I am not an expert in Islamic studies, I know many men and women from the Arab world who identify as Muslims, and I can honestly say that they are much nicer than many other people I know. If we remove the concept of the “other,” perhaps we will all be able to see each other as we are: human.

  • Academic Dismissal

    I promised myself a few years ago that I would write this article before I left Acadia, and now I’m finally in my last semester ever (hopefully!), so here it goes. Dear student body of friends and strangers, I present to you my biggest and most embarrassing secret. It’s something so deeply and personally disturbing that I’ve told very few people – not even my parents. Are you ready? I flunked out. I know I’m not the first nor the last person to ever fail university, but for me, receiving that letter of academic dismissal in the mail was a gut-wrenching conclusion to a particularly dismal string of events. I’m writing this article partially to relieve some of the weight of this secret I’ve been carrying around for three years now, but mostly as a precautionary tale for any readers who might find themselves in a similar situation.

    In the spring of 2009, I was eagerly anticipating my high school graduation and less eagerly anticipating the next big life hurtle ahead of me: post-secondary education. I actually enjoyed school. I was a good student with good grades, and I participated in a wide breadth of extra-curricular activities. When it came time to make some big decisions about what to do next, like many of my peers, seventeen-year-old me applied to a variety of universities. I didn’t particularly have an end goal in mind career-wise, I just knew that I was smart and capable given my academic success to that point, and so going off to university seemed non-negotiable. I assumed I would just launch myself into school and figure things out on the way, because what seventeen-year-old knows exactly what they want to do for the rest of their lives anyway? As I had achieved well-rounded grades in both arts and sciences, my high school counselor strongly urged me to apply for science programs “to open windows to the future,” and I knew I liked people, so I chose psychology. I was accepted to all of the schools I applied to, so I chose Acadia based on reputation. Sound familiar so far?

    The slow crash-and-burn began upon arrival. I was thrust into introductory biology, statistics, research and design, and all the other fun necessities of a science degree in psych. Possibly due to my lack of end goal and mostly due to my complete disinterest in any of these things, I was strong out of the gate but quickly fell far behind. It seemed that my plan to jump right in and swim until I reached the finish line was flawed. A pivotal moment that I can remember from my second year of school is laying on the floor of my friend’s room in Chipman with a group of people talking about their life aspirations beyond university, and suddenly realizing my own impending identity crisis. Who am I and what do I want to do?! I hardly recognized myself, failing courses and wondering what the point of any of it was. In high school I was just forced to take everything, my life had a regimented structure, and I identified myself by my extra-curriculars. I was a band kid and that somehow summed up the rest. Now I was nobody, and I was going nowhere.

    Obviously the news that I was failing school didn’t exactly fly with my parents when I came home for Christmas that year. To be precise, they called me a “disappointment”… that was pretty difficult to hear. After many hours of talking and sobbing profusely with my mom, we decided that maybe I should switch majors. In retrospect, taking a step back from university to figure my life out would have been a prime choice at this point in the story, but that’s not what I did. I returned to school as an English major and began fast-tracking my way through the English program, cramming every vital course I’d missed into a 3 year plan in order to graduate by 2014. Switching to English was a breath of fresh air. I still didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I had always enjoyed reading and writing as a kid, and I found the course content much more in line with my interests. The department and the class sizes were also way smaller than anything I had seen thus far. I made friends incredibly quickly, got to know everyone in all of my classes, and all of my profs knew me by name. It was like night and day.

    From then on my marks improved and I was generally happy to be working on something I was both good at and enjoyed, but then in the spring of 2013 I got some unexpected news. My uncle had received a sudden diagnosis of terminal cancer. Following this news, my grandmother was also diagnosed with cancer. My family spent that summer in a state of somber anticipation. We spent four months saying goodbye. That somebody who had a family and a career and all the things they had ever dreamed of and worked towards could suddenly cease to exist in the midst of it all was nearly impossible for me to comprehend. It made everything seem pointless. In the fall of 2013, as I was beginning what should have been my graduating year of university, not only did my long-term relationship fall apart, but I lost two people to cancer in little over a month. Not wanting to burden my aching family with the profound impact this experience was having on my outlook on life, I kept it to myself. I stopped going to class, not because I wanted to but because I simply couldn’t seem to summon the strength or will power. I laid in bed and I watched the seasons change from fall to winter. I ignored my phone and my friends. I just stayed in bed. Christmas was extremely sad that year and further strengthened my resolve not to tell my parents I was sinking, because I could tell that they were barely coping as well.

    That spring I got my letter of academic dismissal, as expected, and I put it in a drawer. I didn’t even open it for a long time because I couldn’t look at it without feeling sick to my stomach. I told my parents (and anyone else who inquired) that I was burnt out and that I wanted to take some time away from school. I didn’t tell them I got kicked out. I couldn’t bear to admit that I had failed them after everything they had been through already. I spent two long years working a minimum wage job in food service, hating the monotony of my days and contemplating my next move. Finally, last spring, I reached a boiling point in my stagnant life and reapplied to Acadia to finish what I had started … and here I am.

    I wanted to write this article for anyone who might be feeling as unsure about their future as I did. In the leap from high school to university it seemed like everyone around you knew exactly where they’d head in life, and if you’re like me, you probably followed the masses hoping you would figure it out too. You probably didn’t let on that you were feeling a little lost and overwhelmed. I also wanted to write this article for anyone who feels like they’re carrying an impossible weight on their shoulders. I need you to know that you’re not alone, and that school isn’t everything, even if it feels like it is. I need you to recognize when you’re sinking and yelling for a lifeline, regardless of the size of the burden you’re trying to shoulder alone. I wish more than anything that somebody had reassured me that it was okay to take a step back and reevaluate my goals. I might have been more successful, for instance, if I’d taken some time after high school to really think about what I wanted to do before diving aimlessly into university because I felt like I had to. I pounded away at this degree for the sole purpose of having a degree. I did it because I thought it was what I had to do to validate my life, but at the risk of sounding cliché, I forgot that life is about finding happiness.

    We’re taught that successful people just bite the bullet and go to university, get a good job, and live happily ever after. I’m sure that’s true for many, many people, but sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes you don’t know why you’re doing something, and you need to figure out what you want before you proceed. So this is for all the people facing academic penalties at the end of this year. Your story isn’t over, your worth isn’t based on your degree, and your life isn’t a total loss. You got here because you’re smart and capable, and you’ll figure out what makes you happy eventually. Maybe it involves university, but maybe it doesn’t. Either way, there is absolutely no shame in taking time away to figure it out. I am now twenty five years old and finishing my bachelors degree, eight years after I first started here. We’re not all on the same time line, and it’s not a race to the finish line, because there is no finish line. Most importantly, none of us know how much time we have on this planet, so whatever you do, do it for you.

  • Are Millennials Too Sensitive?

    There once was a boy who was told that everyone that should be nice to everyone and that if they were not kind, they were bad people. He then grew up to find that’s not how the world works.

    As a society adapts, the mindset of the people within it change. This is also true in the change of a generation. They have learnt from the mistakes and triumphs of previous generation and use this information to change and base their lives upon. The education around them adapts to these new changes and shapes children. With the increase in mental health warning and bullying campaigns, are they really being shaped to deal with the rest of the world, or is it that the world has not yet to accept the changes that the new generation is bring? I believe that the new generations are not taught to be prepared for what the world will throw at them. They are only told that people will change and that they should not have to face the problems that occur in the world.

    In my political science class, we were discussing our upcoming presentations for our research assignments. Our TA requested that if we are planning on showing any “graphic images” we get them checked prior to putting them into our visual for our assignment. This is a ridiculous sign of how sheltered this generation is: we know violent things are happening around the world but we play a blind eye to them. Not showing these images does not make them go away and does not solve the problems that they are causing them.

    Now bullying is a topic that has only been under scrutiny for the past 20 years. It is now viewed as a national epidemic instead of a common fact of life. The young generations are now beginning to expect that everyone in life will be nice to them and if they are not there are a bully. But that is not how it works in life. You will be put down by people for making a mistake at work or for bumping into someone on the street. People will talk about you behind your back. You cannot change that. If anything, you should be taught to how ignore these comment and fight back, compared to just reporting them to the principal. You can’t report your boss in the future for yelling at you, so learn how to take criticism.

    Previous generations have been built and thrived upon the “tough love” method. People would discipline their child to a certain extent, be that verbally or physically. But now, parents are actually being arrested for spanking their children with actual reasons. The school system does not tell the students the difference between abuse and discipline so they grow up with the belief that this is wrong and that their parents are not good people.

    It is a generation under the veil of ignorance – they all imagine the world to be perfect, where everything happens their way. If things are happening outside of their community to other people it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what happens to them and that they are happy. When things that they don’t like occur, they don’t know how to handle it. They have been so shelter from the sadness and violence of the world, they when they get a large dose of if, it leads people to believe they have a mental illness.

    Now the thing about mental illness is that it is something that is very real, many people are suffering from it. The statistics show that the rate of people who report suffering from depression have increased by 6% over just this year. Now I am not saying that these people’s claims are false, but the rate shows that the recent generation cannot handle the pressure that society has put upon them because they were not trained to handle stress. They were only told that the things that cause them stress are not right.

    When any topics concerning race, sexuality, politics, or gender come into play, they become extremely agitated. They are brought up to think about living in a world when everyone should think the same way. But that is not how the world works. People have different opinions and are entitled to have those opinions, why must people be put down for not conforming to what views their society has. These generations have been told they everything should go their way, so when it doesn’t of course they don’t do how to handle it. Is it true that millennials and Gen Zs are overly sensitive? Yes it is. But who can blame them when they grow up in an environment like this one.

  • Social Etiquette and the “Dating Dilemma”

     

    Here is an awkward social situation that I’ve personally encountered multiple times in the course of my adult dating career here at Acadia. I call this the ‘Dating Dilemma.’

     

    This is the scenario: A nice boy from class approaches me somewhere on campus, and asks me if I would like to “hang out sometime,” or maybe more specifically to “grab coffee,” and then requests a phone number exchange. This act seems innocent enough; even courageous if we consider the ease with which technology has virtually eliminated the inherent social pressure of such interactions – and yet this person has opted to kick it ‘old school’ and risk the possible face-to-face rejection: a bold move indeed, good sir. That is, assuming this is a dating proposition.

     

    Let’s say I am in fact a heterosexual female. Let’s say I’m currently committed to a monogamous relationship. Let’s also say that the year is 2017 and remarkably, despite being a cisgender female, I have somehow managed to amass an impressive array of platonic friendships with humans from every degree of the gender spectrum, cisgender males included.

     

    While I hesitate to admit that antiquated social convention would dictate that yes: this interaction is obviously a dating proposition, I also happen to be what my Victorian foremothers termed, a “New Woman.” I drink, I flirt, I wear blue jeans, I carve out my own career path through higher education in the hopes of one day becoming a financially independent adult, and most importantly, I keep company with multiple single adult men with whom I share absolutely no expectation of sex. It’s all very scandalous, I know.

     

    This is the dilemma: While I beg you pardon my sarcasm, the point that I’m trying to get across here is that I don’t want to assume he’s asking me out if all he implied is that we’re “grabbing coffee” or “hanging out.” I want to assume that if he had intended to proposition me for a potential relationship, he would have made that clear in his opening statement. So this is the awkward part; the ball is in now in my court, and I have two real life examples for the possible directions in which this conversation could go, based solely on assumption.

     

    Example #1: I assume his intentions are purely plutonic, and while the thought briefly crosses my mind that I should probably mention my boyfriend somewhere in this conversation, the New Woman in me says “No, I refuse to believe that the only possible scenario in which a man would ask me to hang out is because he finds me sexually appealing. To assume such a thing would be vain and also a little depressing, if I’m being honest here. Therefore I will proceed under the assumption that this male person simply wants to connect minds, not bodies, and establish a meaningful friendship.” With that, I fork over my number, and we make plans to “hang out.” Long story short, somewhere down the line, he sheepishly admits that these ‘hangouts’ have been ‘dates’ all along, and tries to advance the relationship into that territory. Suddenly, I’m the bad guy here for having failed in my obligation to announce my relationship status to every stranger I encounter in the run of a day. This person now believes that some dark magic has taken place in which I’ve purposely concealed such information for my own malicious purposes. They are hurt, they feel betrayed, and they may even resort to some ego-saving tactic such as calling me a slut for leading them on.

     

    Example #2: I begrudgingly follow that antiquated social convention I mentioned earlier, and immediately announce the existence of my boyfriend. I do this because nice boy from class is male, and I am female, and therefore it is my civic responsibility is to assume that by “hang out” he actually meant “make out,” and by “grab coffee” he actually meant “grab each other’s butts,” because that’s obviously the only context in which I could possibly spend time with a member of the opposite sex. This action on my part is guaranteed to yield a variety of awkward results depending on his initial intentions (which are still unbeknownst to me; I merely took a guess and went for it.) If he actually was asking me out, he may now feel embarrassed and attempt to save face by pretending he was just asking for friendship all along – making me feel presumptive and vain – and as part of this he may even still take my number but will likely never use it. On the flip side, perhaps he really was just asking for friendship, but now believes I’m enslaved to some control-freak “Jabba the Hutt” boyfriend who doesn’t allow me to hang out with other males, and decides to steer clear lest he be identified as competition and subsequently targeted. At best, he simply accepts this information with dignity and tells me to have a nice life.

     

    The solution to this ‘dating dilemma’ is simple, virtually pain-free, and guaranteed to save everyone involved from having to assume the position of ‘the bad guy’ at any point during the interaction. This applies to all gender and sexual orientations; and I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve been guilty of this myself on occasion. All it takes is a little social etiquette. Here it is: clarify your communication. When asking someone out on a date, don’t hide behind vague statements like “hang out” or “watch Netflix.” You’ve come this far, so dare to sprinkle a little honesty into your question to avoid confusion. For example, slip the term ‘date’ in there so they understand your intentions and can respond more accurately. This will not only aid you in achieving desired results (and/or avoiding disastrous ones,) but it’s also simply a polite thing to do – you’re not leaving any implications hanging in the air, and therefore you’re not putting the other party in an awkward situation in which they have to make a judgment call on how best to respond. To clarify my point, here’s how these two situations would play out in a perfect world, free of those dreaded antiquated (and frankly, sexist) social conventions:

     

    Example #1: A nice boy from class approaches me somewhere on campus and asks me if I would like to “hang out sometime,” and then requests a phone number exchange. Since “hanging out” is understood to be a platonic activity, I am free to agree or disagree regardless of my relationship status – or either of our gender identities – because both of those pieces of information are irrelevant in this social situation. We make plans to “hang out,” and have a great time in which nobody’s feelings get stepped on, because we’ve both understood the context of this relationship from the beginning. Hey, maybe I’ll even introduce him to my boyfriend and then we can all be friends.

     

    Example #2: A nice boy from class approaches me somewhere on campus and asks me if I would like to “go on a date sometime,” and then requests a phone number exchange. I am either single, in which case I am free to agree or disagree at my leisure, or I’m not single, but I understand the context of this proposition and am therefore free to disagree with or without explanation. At no point during the conversation am I obligated to awkwardly insert my relationship status ‘incase it’s relevant,’ because it’s not.

     

    In summary, the awkward ‘Dating Dilemma’ is easily avoided with a little social etiquette in which intentions are clear, nobody is put on the spot, romances blossom (once you find someone who agrees to go on that hot date with you, that is) and the magic of friendship prevails without any unforeseen expectations based on age-old assumptions about gender roles. Hallelujah!

  • Ways to Stay in Touch

    Ways to Stay in Touch

    After being free of classes for nearly a month and goofing around with all of your friends from high school, it can be pretty difficult to say goodbye. At the end of winter break we bid farewell to those people who knew us during our younger years and we promise to talk to them more often than the semester before. Here are some ways to make staying in contact a lot easier:
    1. Write A Letter– I know it sounds absurd, but there’s a lot of cool things about putting pen to paper and sending your homie a real letter. You could use cursive writing or your favourite gel pens; or maybe you could train a raven to fly the letter to its destination like we live in Westeros. The options are truly endless. It’s a lot cooler than it sounds, and just imagine the surprise on their faces when your friend gets something in the mail that isn’t a power bill or coupons for McDonalds.
    2. Video Chat – For those of you who aren’t into antiquated methods of communication, or who are too embarrassed to ask your friend what their postal code is, hit them up on Skype or FaceTime.It’s the second best thing to seeing your friend in real life, and complimenting them on their hair over video chat is a step above leaving an emoji comment on their latest Instagram picture.
    3. Texting – When it comes to simple ways to keep in touch,texting is by far the fastest. The easiest thing you can do is send your friend a quick text and ask them what’s going on. To amp it up a level, make a group chat with all of your old squad. If you do this you can send each other screenshots of stupid things that others in your graduating class are posting on Facebook.It provides hours of entertainment, and the fact that none of you are trying to become famous rappers will make you feel a lot better about your own lives.The ways in which we stay in touch with the people from our past have changed immensely with the introduction of new technology. Most of the people we know and love are merely a click away. This makes staying in touch with our friends who are far away a lot easier than it might have been for our parents and grandparents. With all of this technology at our disposal we can feel closer than ever to those who are the farthest way from us.
  • Making Your Way: Or How To Make The Most Of University And Life In General

    Making Your Way: Or How To Make The Most Of University And Life In General

    What does university mean to you? Is it just a series of classes you attend day after day, or the notes you take in your books, or the letter grades printed on your blue transcript? I don’t think it should be. Strictly speaking, you are not only paying for an education, you are also paying for much more. It’s not just the grades you get, or the career you want/are training for – it’s about your development as a scholar, a community member and a human being who exists on the planet Earth. University alone is not meant to simply be vocational training. It’s meant to be a place to experiment and to grow. I have learned since my first year not to derive my satisfaction solely from my grades, but from the people I spend time with and from the experiences I happen to throw myself into. Some people come to university having learned that lesson, others leave without learning anything at all. But some will learn it during their tenure at university, and the realisation will change them forever.

    I graduated from IB in high school. Although the program’s rigour gave me certain studying habits and traits that I will always appreciate, I feel like it robbed me of something important. Growing up in a middle class family and surrounded by friends who constantly pushed themselves to succeed, I developed a sense of inadequacy, one where I was trapped within my own doubts. I forced myself to work harder, because I thought it was the only way to be happy. I believed that I could only be the best I was if I committed to something and conquered it completely.

    When I came to university, this mindset persevered. I spent most of my first year in my room studying and finishing assignments. I rarely went out. I saw almost no benefit to spending time in things that were not school-related. It was a boring first year. Of course, as with most young adults in university, the shells that they lived in while they were in grade school slowly begin to crack and split open, at which point new ideas and aspirations pour in, and the old values and beliefs escape forever. My shell was on the brink of shattering completely. Hesitant to open up to new forms of change, it took a while. A lot of it depended on the development of self-confidence and acceptance. Putting myself in more positions of leadership helped with that quite a bit.

    It’s hard to look back at myself and understand what my motivations were in first year, and before that in high school. It’s almost like I’m thinking about another person. I think this condition is universal. Since then, I have immersed myself in several academic and community initiatives – these are the things that make my work more rewarding. Others have done more impressive things than I have. The bigger point that I am trying to illustrate is this: university experiences are molded much more poignantly by the surroundings in which find for yourself than by the courses you take. Every opportunity granted is an opportunity to learn and develop. It becomes a necessity for my well-being like painkillers for an addict.

    One final note: every holiday break, I try to watch one of my favourite Christmas movies: It’s a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart. In the film, the protagonist George Bailey is constantly suffering from bouts of indecision: stay in his hometown of Bedford Falls and save it from financial and moral ruin by the ruthless Mr. Potter, or leave it behind and explore the world (a dream he holds in his youth that many students in university probably hold as well). He decides to stay, and it isn’t until the end of the movie that he realizes just how important he is to others. The lesson in the movie is a potent reminder of our place in the community, and how the smallest, most selfless actions can change a place or person for the better. It also teaches us that changing our perspective about ourselves as active members of a larger population can actually change us for the better. This is what happens to George, renewing his individual motivation and passion for protecting those he loves around him. With any luck, university will give you this change of perspective early. You might not gain the recognition or the respect you deserve, but devoting yourself to those around you will make you a far happier person than you knew you could become.

  • Light walker

    All of the people at the library are beautiful,

    reflecting the glow of Swedish architecture

    and gentle care of alphabetization

    They exude the lush world of mind words

    feelings, revelations,

    translated through time and out through their skin

    The jogging people glide on the sidewalk

    with pulsating synchronicity

    Their faces bounce off of slow strolling folk

    and shiny condo mirrors

    as they complete a lung dance on concrete.

    In the park

    people lay on the ground

    letting green earth villi energize their blood,

    trees radiating sun concentrate

    The littlest ones putter round with delight,

    the big ones wish not to return to their plastic cubes

    And the creaky old ones savour the colours that

    they may never see again.

  • Today is hard

    Today is hard

    Today is hard

    Today is weird

    For sake of vanity

    I will not mention

    What happened last is clear

    Another Radical angle

    Another Line portrayed

    Another View to strangle

    Then think that we are saved I don’t know what it’s all about

    But I guess I will conjecture

    Whatever’s spraying from from this spout is a lost and lonely texture

    But can for once our people unite?

    And bring this to final close?

    Or should we wish to further this night?

    For some advantage?

    I suppose

    Off they went

    And took with them lives well spent

    Off we go now to take their lives unbestowed

    And we may not realize

    Looking through our privileged eyes

    That every Life, no matter, is precious

    But we cannot gain that common sense

    Because for it, we lose our causes

    Yet never do we take the needed pauses

    To think the impact of our ways

    And until, we will not lead to better days

    So we ourselves become frustrated throb

    To be Free, we must unite in mob

    Against imposing the impact of our world

    Even if we think we’re helping,

    Who are we to take their revolutionary word?

    And in the words of V, on the way things are: “If you’re looking for the guilty,

    You need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid.”

    But “Everybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero”

    A Lover

    A Fool

    A Villain

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