PostSecret – Confessions from an International Community

Warning: there is graphic language in this post which may be triggering to some readers. “You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything – as long as it is true and you have never shared it…

President Obama’s Uplifting Speech to Kenyan Youth

{Source} Late last month, President Barack Obama visited Nairobi as part of his historic trip to Africa. His family’s longstanding ties to Kenya brought cheers upon the 4,500 students, government officials, and civil society leaders who gathered at Safaricom Indoor Arena. Part state address, part commencement speech, Obama’s 40-minute talk started with a personal reminiscence of…

Books to read this summer

As any avid reader knows, summer is the perfect time to lounge around on the couch and tuck in to read a nice, thick book. With August already upon us and summer break beginning to draw to a close, it’s important to relish in those remaining hours of freedom by fully taking advantage of the…

Dynamic classics and contemporary whirlwind: an evening with the NYO

Picture this: the vibrant, atmospheric, pulse of the Jack Singer Concert Hall, buzzing in the way that it always does in the final minutes before the musicians walk onstage. Now, as the orchestra members file in and the chairs begin to fill, imagine that same feeling quadrupled. That was the aura when Canada’s National Youth Orchestra settled into…

Faking It: How Positivity Culture Fails

The most lethal sort of ideological cocktail I’ve seen is the often contrived mixture of a positive attitude with fake optimism, shaken vehemently and rimmed with lime and denial. Not surprisingly, people like danger, and positivity culture is full of these “attitude fanatics” with strict “feel-good” regimens.  At its core, positive thinking involves the mindset that…

Leaving A Mark

Rocks… because they take forever until they begin to break down. Names… because they belong to you, and only you. Some like to write names on a padlock and lock it onto the Pont des Arts, me included. However, there’s always a less expensive yet meaningful way: rocks. We can carve a part of ourselves…