Youth Are Awesome, commonly referred to as YAA, is a blog written by youth for youth.
YAA provides the youth of Calgary a place to amplify their voices and perspectives on what is happening around them.
Youth Are Awesome is a program of Youth Central.
Any views or opinions expressed on this blog belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people or organizations that the blog may be associated with, unless explicitly stated. All content is for informational purposes only.
Libraries are magical places, there’s no doubt about it. Although Harry Potter may provide a great example of the wealth of knowledge that libraries can provide you, there are real world reasons why libraries are magical in and of themselves.
1. You can learn more than Wikipedia could even dream of
In the age of the World Wide Web, we often forget about the teeming ocean of information that books and other printed media can provide that are not accessible over the Internet. Perhaps learning the Dewey Decimal system might not be such a bad idea. Maybe research may take a bit more time and effort, but it’s well worth the patience.
2. The sweet smell of books (or is that just me?)
Am I the only one who loves the smell of books? It would definitely surprise me if no one else finds that crisp, papery scent intoxicating. I mean really, that’s pretty much the best part of books. In my humble opinion. Just sayin’.
3. Don’t kid yourself; books are only part of the fun
The library has sooooo much more than books! Music and videos are also available to be checked out and can also be great resources for either study or pleasure. If you don’t like to spend a lot of money on music and you don’t like illegally downloading it either, taking CDs out of the library can save you a lot of grief.
4. They make great study spaces
It’s a pretty well-known fact that the libraries offer quiet, peaceful study areas for those who seek them out. If I ever need a good place to study after school, the library doesn’t close until 9:00 most weekdays, so it’s a great place to get some work done free of distraction (well, aside from all of the books…).
5. You can find some pretty sweet volunteer opportunities
Even though I have never personally explored this avenue due to personal time constraints, from what I have heard from my friends and peers is that they have found that the library offers a ton of chances to get involved in the community. For anyone looking to get into volunteering, libraries are a convenient option with many programs available for youth.
May it never be said that books and libraries are archaic and outdated. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can ever replace the beauty and splendour that are these lovely places.
Having a society based on pressure for high achievements in all walks of life, reverence for aesthetics, and strict maintenance of the Confucian hierarchy, the Republic of Korea understandably has an annually increasing rate of suicide. It has maintained its second place in the OECD Suicide Rates for a long time. The detailed motivations of each person to pull such an act varies, but fundamentally, everything boils down to stress. Whether this be from work or a specific event, virtually everything can be stress-inducing.
To encourage employees to value life, funeral simulations are becoming popular among CEOs dealing with stressed workers. Partakers in this pretend ritual are trapped inside a coffin for any length of time up to thirty minutes. While the idea of this is horrifying, in such a society where suicide is often the “only” option left, the minutes in the coffin provide a time of reflection and appreciation for everything they had when living. They also write final letters and wills, and just this part is enough for people to make people cry – sometimes experience is the only way to learn.
Death itself is not something that can be experienced beforehand. By the time one reaches his death, it’s too late. The scary thing about all of this is that suicide is not specific to one country, one sex, one age group. It is one of the top 10 causes of death within Canada. Valuing life and time over worldly gains is something not many people believe in generally. However, the time that one has, as a mortal human being on this planet, should be honored. If death is the final destination of life, why expedite the process?
Perhaps we cannot get rid of all stress-inducing things. But balance in life is what everyone needs. No student can study for every day of the 12 years of their schooling career. Life is not a “one or the other” choice between social life, work, and sleep. There is definitely a middle ground between all three.
In the end, death is just not the easy way out. Everyone has so much potential. Embrace life in the form it comes.
Sources
Evans, Stephen. “The employees shut in coffins.” BBC News. n.p. 14 December 2015. Web. 15 December 2015.
“Suicide rates.” OECD Data. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. n.d. 15 December 2015.
This time of the year is always jam-packed with celebrations, and for many, New Year’s Eve festivities are one of the last celebrations to take place in this holiday season before we must grudgingly drag ourselves back to school and hunker down for exams. That being said, I’ve resolved to spend this New Year’s Eve out with a company of friends rather than the usual: sitting in my bed watching Netflix. In my research of things to do that don’t involve a bar or casino, I’ve compiled a list of youth-friendly celebrations happening in Calgary this year that you may or may not find me at this year as a continuation of last year’s 2015 post.
A classic annual Calgarian celebration, head down to Olympic Plaza on New Year’s Eve to take advantage of the free event that includes a skating rink, dancing, and fireworks. Bring your own skates or borrow for free at the site to hit the rink, sit by the fire and sing songs or share stories, watch ice carving, with it all culminating in a stunning laser, music, and fireworks show after a countdown, this is one holiday party you don’t want to miss.
Another classic NYE event, Zoo Year’s Eve is a family-friendly and ticketed event (limited tickets left! Get yours before it’s too late) that includes all that you would expect from the zoo and more, such as a DJ, skating rink, and much more live entertainment. The Globalfest coordinated fireworks show begins at 8:00pm, and is promised to stun.
Dirty Dancing, presented by Broadway Across Canada
This is the perfect event for those interested in a more unconventional NYE experience. This iconic play about the stories of Baby and Johnny, whose lives collide in a summer of dance and music, is in Calgary for a limited time only, so it’s now or never! Tickets are available online and the show will take place in the Jubilee Auditorium.
Another musical opportunity, Calgary’s own professional adult choir, Luminous Voices, will be ringing in 2016 with champagne, chocolates, and — of course, singing! If you’re unsure about choral music, let Luminous Voices earn your trust. I had the pleasure of attending their concert in the new Bella Concert Hall back in October, and it was truly an amazing experience. If you’re up for trying something new, check this event out!
I’m sure we’ve all heard this question before. How does it make you feel? It makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured to make a decision. It’s something that we may ask young children just for fun. You’re amused by their cute answers of: “I want to be a firefighter” or “I want to be an astronaut.” Yet, this question will continue to be posed as you grow up, until it reaches a point where people expect serious answers in return.
Every time I’ve been asked this question, I’ve responded truthfully with “I don’t know.” I’ve gotten a lot of different remarks, but the ones that gave me the most relief are: “That’s totally fine, I still don’t know what I want to be either, and I’m in my 20s.” Once upon a time, I used to also get the “Don’t worry, you still have time to figure it out.” Somewhat comforting. However, it has gradually become “You’re in Grade 12 now and you need to make a decision soon.” Yes, but what exactly am I making a decision on?
I grew up with the misconception that you have to dedicate your life to one thing. So, I thought that I would have to find that thing and that’s what I would do for the rest of my life. It may seem exaggerated, but I genuinely believed this for a long time. This never sat well with me, because the prospect of only getting to do one thing for the rest of my life seemed utterly boring and also suffocating. I had so many different interests that I dreaded having to sacrifice parts of who I am in order to pursue only one area.
Life is filled with choices and it can be paralyzing. Rather than two roads diverging in a yellow wood, it can be hundreds, all of which seem equally dangerous and rewarding. There is the fear of regret. Regret that by entering one door, you close the rest, and perhaps the door you chose isn’t what you really wanted. An individual can stand forever at those crossroads, weighing their options, but never actually choose a path. Until…
This brilliantly poignant comic was made by zenpencils.com and is an illustration of a passage from Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar. I can definitely relate to it, especially because I’m such an indecisive person. I used to be envious of those who always knew what they wanted to do, as if they had been lucky enough to have their destiny revealed to them early on. However, after talking to many people over the years, I soon realized that very few, if any, people knew where life would take them. People change their minds all the time, which is not a sign of wasted time, but rather opportunity for new growth. This lightened the immense pressure that I felt about the finality of choices.
Why do some of us don’t just have one true calling?
When I make a decision about what I want to do after Grade 12, it is a decision about direction. It is a direction to explore, but it does not mean I’m limited to that specific field forever. I recently found a TED Talk by Emilie Wapnick, titled “Why some of us don’t have just one true calling.” In it, Wapnick used the term “multipotentialite” to describe people with many interests and creative pursuits. Sounds like someone I know – me.
Instead of seeing this as a weakness, she says we should use this to our advantage. She points out 3 key strengths to multipotentialites: idea synthesis, rapid learning and adaptability. She defines idea synthesis as “combining two or more fieldsand creating something new at the intersection.” Though I hadn’t realized it previously, throughout my whole life, I loved making the different connections between different disciplines. Each time this happened, it was like connecting strands of a spider web and that I was gradually creating a network of intertwining knowledge.
This ties in with rapid learning, which talks about the ambition to explore new things and utilizing transferable skills. Everything I’ve learned has helped me in some way and helps to be a more well-rounded person and see from multiple perspectives. The skills that I learn from a specific field can be carried over into a seemingly opposite field. Writing has taught me valuable communication skills and allowed me to explore my creativity. Music has taught my discipline, but also the importance of arts in general. Volunteering has taught me interpersonal skills and the joy of giving back. All those tiny pieces connect to make a bigger picture of my identity and what I have to offer.
Lastly, adaptability means being able to wear different hats depending on the situation. I am one person, but I am multi-faceted. I am a writer, a musician, a scientist, a teacher, a counselor, all at the same time. Depending on the situation, I can draw from my pool of knowledge and find a creative solution. What I love most about this TED Talk is that it recognizes the benefit of having both specialists and multipotentialites in the world. When they work together on a project, specialists can provide focused in-depth knowledge while multipotentialites can offer new ideas based on their wide range of knowledge. We need both types of people in the world.
The problem with “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is its limiting nature. You can’t reply back with 20 different answers, because they’ll just say that you have to pick one. In reality, people are infinitely complex and always changing. I’ve interviewed several of my teachers in my school and most of them explained that they didn’t start out wanting to be a teacher. They came out of high school, followed what they thought they wanted, and ended up continuously changing their minds about the direction of their lives until they ended up what they are now. It’s normal. It’s what everyone goes through. It’s relieving.
Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken ends with him saying that he took the road less traveled and by and it “has made all the difference.” When I first read the poem, I used to think that “difference” meant that it has changed his life for the better. However, I started realizing that “difference” can also be interpreted in a more negative way. What if going down one of the roads actually made his life worse? Nowadays, I view “difference” as ambiguous, because he can never know which path was better, just that it has changed his life.
Just as it is destructive to sit under the fig tree and contemplate all of your options without actually choosing one, it is detrimental to obsess over the road not taken. It is easy to fall into the habit of fantasizing about what your life could’ve been if you had taken the other path. I would’ve been happier. I would’ve made more money. I wouldn’t have faced as many obstacles as I did now. This type of attitude stems from being unsatisfied with your current life and the desire to change your choices that led up to it. Consequently, you ignore the positive aspects of what’s in front of you, because you’re constantly looking back.
Go down a path and embrace it for what it’s worth. You’ll waste your time and energy trying to imagine yourself in a more ideal life. You may want to backtrack and find the old crossroads, but you’ll never find it. There is no path without its own set of challenges and rewards. No path is easy, but every path will help you grow as a person. Therefore, there are no right or wrong decisions in life, just decisions. Perhaps there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. Experiencing failure can teach humility. Experiencing hardship can teach resiliency. Experiencing loss can teach gratefulness.
Yes, decisions will have consequences. Choosing a road will make a difference. However, it’s up to you to accept your choices and to find what it can teach you. There is no such thing as a “grown up”, because we are always growing. It causes unnecessary stress to see graduation from high school as a big leap into “real life.” Life is more of a gradient, a continuum of growing up. That’s why when you’re 25 or 50, you can still be questioning who you really are and what you want from life.
Who are you right now?
The last thing I want to address about “What do you want to be when you grow up” is the implication that who you are right now isn’t good enough. While it is true that there is always more to learn and improve on, you should also recognize the progress you’ve made. If you try to look too far ahead, you lose sense of who you are at the moment.
You won’t wake up one day and become a doctor. In that time span between your current self and becoming a doctor, do not think that you are inadequate just because you haven’t reached your end goal. It’s about progress, like climbing a mountain. You can either look up at the summit in the distance and be intimidated by how much further you have to go. Or you can look down and see how far you’ve come. That will bring back into focus who you are and what you’ve learned along the way. You do not have to grow up to a certain age or achieve a certain goal to appreciate your current identity. Happiness lies in the now, not in the someday.
Next time you’re asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I think it’s natural to feel uncomfortable and pressured. However, do not worry too much. You do not just have to be one thing in your life, especially if you have a wide range of interests. Do not be afraid to move forward, be afraid of standing still. Nothing you learn or experience goes to waste .Instead of regretting your past, learn from it and face the future with an open mind. No one knows exactly where their choices will take them, but embrace the journey. You are on the literary hero’s journey, which is filled with conflicts, mentors, and ultimately, transformation of the self.
Whether it really is that we are constantly bombarded with advertisements and movies telling us to be thinner, curvier, etc., or just that we have too much time on our hands in 2015 to NOT obsess over our appearance (plus, so many mirrors! Mirrors everywhere), the fact of the matter stands: a lot of people, especially teenagers, are unhappy with the way they look. According to Glamour Health, 97% of women have a negative thought about their bodies at least once every day.
Yes, it’s easy (and somewhat cathartic) to blame advertising executives and media companies for our self-negativity. But a far more proactive approach to this growing epidemic of body dissatisfaction is to support the companies that DO put out campaigns promoting self-love and unconventional beauty (which, to be cynical about it, probably benefit their sales as much as they benefit society). The one downside to these advertising campaigns, though, is that they are often so superficial, so generically empowering, that they can only make you feel psyched for about 5 minutes before you return to being bummed about your thighs. To paraphrase from the Incredibles movie, calling everyone special is another way of saying that nobody is. We can’t all be flawless goddesses. These ads tell us to “love ourselves” and to “be kind to ourselves”, but they can’t answer, “Why?” That is something that, unfortunately, we have to figure out for ourselves. And I’ll admit, some days it’s easier to just avoid looking in the mirror than to try to reconcile some kind of body image positivity with my lard-like appearance.
But how about instead of telling girls to look in the mirror and say, “You are a truly beautiful, spectacular human being who literally shimmers in the sunlight and is probably who Stevie Wonder was referring to when he wrote “Isn’t She Lovely,” despite the fact that the song is about a baby and also that you did not exist at the time,” what if we tried telling them “Just look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey. This is what I look like. Sometimes, I hate it, and other times I think it’s pretty cool. But maybe, just maybe, I look like the person that somebody needs to see today. Maybe nobody cares if I have perfect legs, or takes note of the fact that my hair is naturally straight up to 90% humidity. But maybe somebody out there today will see my face full of acne, or my imperfect body, and note that I’m still overflowing with confidence. And that makes me pretty damn inspiring.’”
Perhaps this post is just white noise in the (already quite blaring) body-positive Internet crusade, for which I am markedly tardy, but hopefully if you took anything from it it’s that I’m funny and that some people are still quoting the Incredibles movie.
Let me start by just showing how an economics degree is a good stepping stone: Geology majors ideally become a geologist. Civil engineering trains you to become an engineer. Accounting paves your path to being an accountant. But not all Economics majors become economists. In fact, the majority of them do not.
Business
[Source]A lot of economics majors get into business fields. Some set out to become financial analysts. Others investment bankers. Others management consultants. Just a four year degree in Economics certainly qualifies you to all of those fields, although earning your MBA would be helpful. MBA is a sought after degree would benefit many roles in the business. Luckily for Econ majors, they score really well in the GMAT exam required for admission to an MBA program:
[Source]MBA salary: $60,000 to $140,000
Medicine, Law, Pharmacy, etc.
[Source]Medicine(MD) and Law(JD) are both prestigious, rigorous, lucrative and well-respected degrees. Economics gives you a leg up in both degrees by being one of the top scoring majors for the respective entrance exams for those degrees:
[Source][Source]The flexibility in an Economics degree lets you take premed courses without overloading yourself. It can also be a great fallback if med school does not work out. Econ can also be a prepharm (PharmD), prevet (DVM), pre anything.
MD Salary (general practice): $190,000
JD Salary: $90,000
PharmD Salary: $110,000
DVM Salary: $100,000
Masters and PhD
[Source]Some people never get tired of learning and thus aspire to become researchers or professors. Economics is one of the best degrees to take to the PhD level. It opens up many well paying and in demand opportunities and is way less time consuming than to take a PhD in a lab Science. Check out this article for more information.
Economist Salary: $95,000
Professor Salary: $122,000
Anything else?
[Source]Economics majors can also find employment in urban planning(MPlan), policy work(MPP), statistics work(CompSci minor), politics (no degree necessary but Stephen Harper has an MA Economics), education(BEd to teach math and/or social), and many more fields. This is possible due to the flexible nature of Liberal Arts and the practical nature of Economics.
[Source]Most definitely! Not only fine and performing artists (Visual Art, Drama, Media Arts, Music, Dance, etc) they get a little bit of economic knowledge, Economics allows both for an easy double major (Economics + the art of choice) while also giving the aspiring artists a good back up plan. For many arts disciplines, a degree is not even required. Setting up an arts business targeting the local community or online would be possible through the light course load that a BA Economics affords you. Again, you would also be able to take arts options alongside Economics for some formal education. This is the route I myself have chosen.
Salaries largely vary.
Economics surely can’t do everything. What can’t it do? What could be alternatives to Economics?
Oh I’m just kidding 😛 My coworkers at Dairy Queen are amazing and are where they want to be in their stage of life.
Economics will not help you in any way if you are pursuing Engineering or Nursing. These are both great degrees but they do have their cons.
While Biomedical Engineering is demand, pays well, and is a great pre-med, it drains your GPA down. This makes it iffy for the LSAT. It also doesn’t give you flexibility for double majors or Minors without overloading or taking more years in school. Labs in engineering courses also add on to the time you spend
Nursing is in demand as well and does not bring your GPA down. Many nursing students proceed to pursue medicine or law. Nursing still requires lab work and does not have much room for options.
If you wouldn’t want to sacrifice options, a good alternative to Economics would be Philosophy. Philosophy majors learn a lot of critical thinking and score on par with or better than Economics majors in the MCAT, LSAT, GMAT, and other prestigious tests. However there is not much demand for philosophy majors. A practical minor or double major would greatly enhance your prospects, though.
While Economics is on the low side of admission averages, trades programs usually ask for even lower averages, especially in mathematics. While trades jobs can often pay well, are in demand, and might allow for time for other pursuits, they don’t have the advancement opportunities that Economics has. Trades people oftentimes become trained only to their industry and their specific work. Economics allows you to easily switch to other job positions and other industries. Then again, the amount of math required to succeed in an Economics degree is definitely not for everyone.
Wait. How do you know all of this information?
Tiny clanging footsteps became my alarm clocks during the time we lived down my late grandma’s basement. She also ran a day home upstairs, and I often sought to help out with the kids. Nevertheless, I was not good with dealing with kids as I often saw them as tiny adults that you should take seriously. Obviously, that isn’t the case. A question I often asked them, perhaps as small talk, was “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I like asking that question because I’m still looking for ideas for myself, I feel sometimes.
These kids are really dreamy. Some want to be rock stars. Others doctors. Teachers. World leaders. Astronauts. Soldiers. Inventors. Video game designers.
I just want to be all of that, but there’s just no demand for medical space conquest technology professors. Maybe I should just make a video game or a rock song about that. Or you know, take Econ.
Now that I’m almost finished high school, I finally had to make the decision; I was beyond freaked out. I resorted to so rigorously researching different degrees and career pathways, and upon reaching enlightenment. This upcoming U of C Econ major decided that he should share these findings with you guys.
I plan to start a series of articles that deal with career advice for various fields (Engineering, Business, Healthcare, Trades, etc) starting next year. I plan to cover all possible fields well before Universities stop accepting applications for the next coming school year. Make sure to comment what field you guys want me to cover next time!
The ideals of mainstream or “white” feminism are almost as old as the movement itself. As defined by Huffington Post Senior Women’s Editor, Emma Gray, in a crash-course video on white feminism, white feminism is “feminism that ignores intersectionality”. What this means is that white feminism separates issues of gender from all other matters of identity, resulting in a movement exclusive to the white, cis-gendered, heterosexual, and able bodied, and exclusionary to people of colour (POC), people with mental illnesses, the disabled, the LGBTQ+ community and many, many, more.
What does Mainstream Feminism Look Like? How does White Feminism Take Place in our Society?
Well, the answer to those questions are everywhere, especially the places we wouldn’t expect. For instance, a primary goal of mainstream feminism is to solve the problem of the wage gap, where women earn $0.78 to the man’s dollar. Now you may be wondering, what’s so bad about that? Ostensibly, it seems like a perfectly reasonable and widespread issue to want to solve. However, if examined from an intersectional point of view like Laci Green and Franchesca Ramsey do in the video below, you will find that while the average white woman makes $0.78 to the man’s dollar, a black woman makes $0.68, and a Latina woman makes $0.54. Most people don’t take these statistics into consideration when addressing the issue of the wage gap, making what is supposed to be a movement to improve working conditions and salaries for all women, limited to a very select few. Additionally, while the struggle against women’s sexual harassment and assault is an ongoing one which most feminists continue to fight for, the fact that women with disabilities are 4 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than able bodied women is often overlooked, again relating back to white feminism and the concept of creating a type of feminism which is intersectional and inclusive to all.
To further understand how white feminism looks like in the media, let’s take a look at the Angry Black Woman™ trope. A short while back, Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg called out Kylie Jenner for appropriating and exploiting black culture for her own advantage in an Instagram photo where Kylie donned cornrows. For expressing her opinions and standing up for her culture, Amandla received a lot of backlash from the media, where people were quick to label her as erratic and temperamental. All too familiar with this process of dismissal and marginalization, Amandla took to twitter where she addressed those who wished to silence her:
“End the ‘angry black girl’ narrative. It’s just another attempt to undermine certain perspectives. I have strong opinions. I am not angry.”
Similarly, Nicki Minaj’s attempts to address the racism in the music industry have been dismissed by proclaimed feminists Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. According to the media, the expression of her views as a black woman in the music industry are just another petty catfight, another instance in which she lets her attitude blind her. In an another article, Serena Williams is identified as a “human volcano” while Maria Sharapova is portrayed as the more likable “ice queen”. Over and over again, black women are forced into a box, a harmful stereotype which allows people to dismiss and antagonize them for simply expressing their points of view. This overarching archetype of the Angry Black Woman™ is the perfect example of how the ideals and beliefs of white feminism negatively affect the people who do not match up to the standards of what mainstream feminists have put in place. When feminism is defined as “organized activity in support of women’s rights and interests”, isn’t it only reasonable that it should include all women?
How Can I be an Intersectional Feminist?
Being inclusive and intersectional in terms of feminism isn’t as hard as you would think:
Examine and be aware of your privilege:Just like Laci Green and Franchesca Ramsey explained in the video earlier, it is crucial to be aware of your own privilege and how it connects and relates to others in order to better understand where they are in terms of oppression and how you can help and empower each other.
Avoid silencing and marginalizing other points of view: Of course all lives matter, not all men are bad, not all cops kill black people, and not all white people are “white feminists”, however, by supporting and promoting things like the #AllLivesMatter movement or saying that you don’t “see” race, you are silencing minority voices through generalization and avoiding discussion that results in a difference of views.
Learn and listen: Finally, just listen and learn from others’ experiences. Don’t consider yourself an expert on matters that you have not personally experienced, as there is always more to learn. By educating yourself in how others struggle and deal with certain issues, you gain a better understanding of perspectives that differ from yours, hence allowing you to broaden your horizon and see things from a point of view that you may not have originally considered.
Overall, it’s pretty clear to see that the current mainstream feminism has its many flaws. However, if we work together to make feminist spaces more inclusive and intersectional, maybe we can eradicate the concept of “white feminism” and stay true to the most simplistic values of feminism that cater to the wellbeing of all.
Throughout the holiday season continuing a vegan lifestyle becomes increasingly difficult. Chocolates, cakes and other seemingly delicious treats are in abundance, and it can be annoying to have to miss out on enjoying the snacks along with everyone else. However, just because you may be a vegan, does not mean you have to miss out on enjoying delicious food. Listed below are some vegan recipes which will allow you to not miss out this holiday season. These recipes are also good for those who are not vegan and are looking for a somewhat-healthy alternative to regular holiday recipes.
Nut loaf
What you will need:
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp yeast extract in 1/4 pint/ 118 ml hot water
1 cup chopped mixed nuts
2 tbsp ground almonds
1/3 cups wholemeal breadcrumbs
1 tbsp sage
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 180C /350F
Saute the onion in vegetable oil until soft, not browned.
Combine all of the ingredients together; the mixture may be slightly slack. Turn into an oiled ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
Eggnog
What you will need:
2 cups of nondairy milk of your choice
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1/3 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes
4-6 Medjool dates, pits removed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
Directions:
Combine all ingredients into a blender
Blend until smooth
Serve immediately, and add ground nutmeg to the top
Gingerbread Cookies
What you will need:
1⅓ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup unbleached all purpose flour
½ tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup ground sugar
¼ cup water
½ cup molasses
½ tsp vanilla
Directions:
Combine all dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl
In a separate larger bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and beat until all ingredients are mixed together thoroughly
Gradually sift dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix until dough is formed
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for 2+ hours
Preheat oven to 162C/ 325F
Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Use cookie cutters to cut out the gingerbread shapes
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges but soft in the center
Let the cookies cool, then decorate and enjoy!
Hopefully these recipes provide some festive, inspiration, I had great fun making them. Good luck to anyone who would like to try them out. I wish you all a great holiday season and a happy New Year!
Lets you earn more in average than an Engineering degree
Allows for an easy double majors or multiple minors
Is in demand
Is one of the best degrees to take to PhD level
Has a relatively light course load
Is normally in the low side of admission average
And is pretty interesting to learn about. C’mon, what else would you ask for.?!
Any guesses?
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It’s Economics.
[Source]You might be thinking, how does an economics degree manage to accomplish all of that? I’ll answer it but let me just entertain you guys with this joke because I’m about to get all technical.
A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job. The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks “What do two plus two equal?” The mathematician replies “Four.” The interviewer asks “Four, exactly?” The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says “Yes, four, exactly.” Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question “What do two plus two equal?” The accountant says “On average, four – give or take ten percent, but on average, four.” Then the interviewer calls in the economist and poses the same question “What do two plus two equal?” The economist gets up, locks the door, closes the shade, sits down next to the interviewer and says, “What do you want it to equal”?
First Off, What on Earth is Economics?
Economics isn’t business. It’s not a humanity. It’s not stats. It’s not the study of money. It’s a social science. Economics the study of behavior under scarcity and other outside forces. If you won a random $1,000, where would you spend it on? Would you even spend it? How would your spending behavior differ if you instead lost a random $1,000? Economics is where artistic meets scientific meets mathematical. An economics degree isn’t just for CEOs or math geeks or aspiring law students. An Economics degree can enhance a lot of career paths, as I would show in a moment.
Many Universities offer opportunities for an Economics degree. There are two streams of undergraduate economics that are standardized across the country, often both available in Universities. It’s sometimes called the BA program and the BSc program. In the University of Calgary, it’s the BA Program and the BA Honors program. We’ll stick with BA and BA Honors because we’ll be doing a case study of economics in the U of C. The difference between the two programs is that the BA Honors often requires a higher GPA, is more demanding, is more math based, and lets you receive a masters degree in only one year after 4 years in pursuit of your BA.
Hard is pretty darn subjective. Nevertheless, Economics is a Liberal Art. Liberal Arts programs are designed to be “chill.” Let’s take the Econ program at the U of C for instance to show what I mean.
[Source] The description of a normal Economics course. (3-0) means you’ll be spending around 3 hours a week in lectures for this course and 0 hours for anything else. Woo![Source] This biology course asks for 3 hours of lecture time and 3 hours of lab time per week, although it is worth the same amount of credits as the previous Economics course. This is the case for many Lab-based science courses and for some engineering courses.
Being an art, there are no labs in economics. In university, Engineering courses and lab science (chemistry, Health Science, etc) courses usually comprise of lectures for 3 hours a week and a lab for 2-3 hours on top of that. Most other courses only require lectures and possibly an hour tutorial time extra. Another advantage of the liberal arts is the amount of option courses it gives you. Options just mean that you get to choose anything. Here’s a break down of course types in University of Calgary programs:
Program name required courses + options/total number of courses (40 is standard)
BA International Relations 21 required 19 options/40
Bachelor of Nursing 36 required 4 options/40
As you can see BA programs afford you a lot of options. Options mean that you can tailor classes based on your interest, keeping your GPA ideal. But what separates Economics from other BAs?
Finals are almost upon us and for some, diploma preparation has already begun. As my first semester comes to a close I quickly scatter to begin studying. I have noticed that my study habits have taken a turn over the last few months. A whole semester can take a lot out of someone and to have that drainage leading up to the most important exams is quite unfortunate. I have developed my own techniques/tips to keep myself focused. I also need to mention that I myself am a huge procrastinator and really like doing bare minimum when it comes to studying. The tricks I use help me get over my procrastination and stay on task.
Managing your time if you get easily distracted:
Many people have suggested that taking 5 minute breaks every half hour or an hour can help you study effectively but I find that my inner ADD kicks in during these breaks and those five minutes turn into three Friends episodes and a bowl of Lucky Charms. I go by assignment portions. Breaking down your work instead of your time may help you achieve what you need and help avoid distractions. It also adds motivation; finish the lab report and take a quick break!
Finding a place to study:
It is very common to hear that a quiet place to study helps a lot but I find that white noise or a place with an atmosphere that isn’t necessarily boring can change your habit. I often find it hard to work in the desk in my room because I can easily daydream or take a nap etc. but when I go to a coffee shop or even a library the subtle noise change and other people help me to power through my work. It may be a personal weird preference but other noise than my music puts me in a good place to get through my work.
Apps and Programs:
Forest – an app that helps you stay off of your smartphone and focused on your work. When I need to focus for long periods of time (reading, reviewing etc) I turn on this app and set an amount of time. During this time the app plants a tree but if you decide to use your phone the tree dies. This app gives me the extra motivation to get my work done!
Coffitivity – an app that plays the noises of a coffee shop. I love this app because when I am unable to get out of the house and go somewhere to do my work this gives me that extra white noise to stay focused.
Quizlet – This app takes flashcards to a whole other level incorporating quizzes matching and access to all user’s flashcards. If you don’t have time to make your own flashcards this app will be your saviour and always seems to have the course and topic I need.
Self Control – This internet downloadable program helps me stay off of all the websites I find to be my biggest distractions AKA Netflix, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. Just blacklist all the websites you find distracting and hit the books. There is no way to undo the block and you just have to simply wait until the time you’ve set ends.
This Saturday, delegates from nearly 200 Nations came to an agreement to further prevent global climate change, and to promote environmental sustainability, at COP21. The 21st “Conference of Parties,” took place in Paris over the past weeks and unlike past global initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol in 1997; included far more nations, regardless of wealth or power.
The conference ended with the implementation of the final draft of a proposal from French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, which can be summarized into a few key goals for the future, of which, the UN hopes all nations will adopt:
To cut and eventually eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions
To limit the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius (striving for 1.5 Celsius)
Calls on developed nations to give $100 billion annually to developing nations to help poorer regions combat climate change and develop greener economies
Notably; Canada has promised $2.65 billion (over 5 years) to this initiative
Urged all countries to establish individual greenhouse gas reduction targets, greater than their current goals
These targets will be reviewed and revised every 5 years, post 2023
The resolution sets the goal of being globally carbon-neutral for sometime after 2050, but before 2100
This goal can only be met through the cooperation of all nations, who all take an effort to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity, and look towards sustainable resources and “green economies”
Global scientists believe that the world will have to cease emitting greenhouse gases altogether in the next 50 years in order to achieve this goal
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Paris, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
As for what this means for Canada; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained:
We will move towards a climate resilient economy, and we will invest in public transit, green infrastructure and clean technologies to create new jobs and support our communities,” he said. “Internationally, we will provide significant support to help developing countries reduce their emissions and deal with the impacts of climate change.
Canada will tackle climate change in 5 key steps, said the PM:
Relying on scientific evidence and advice;
Implementing policies to develop a low-carbon economy, including carbon pricing;
Working with provincial and territorial leaders, city mayors and indigenous leaders to coordinate efforts;
Helping developing nations adapt to climate change challenges;
Approaching climate change as an opportunity to build a sustainable green economy, rather than just a challenge
All in all, this has truly been a historic weekend, and one that will certainly impact the future of us all. What do you think about the plan proposed at COP21? Share your thoughts with the hashtag #ParisAgreement.
So winter break is (almost) upon us, and that means that my very first semester of late French immersion (and junior high) is completed! Some of my friends have been asking how I find French immersion, and I thought I might share some things that I’ve noticed at my first few months at Branton bilingual school, and elaborate a little bit on French immersion and all it has to offer.
How did I get here? I took French lessons at my old school, starting in grade 4, but they were infrequent (two times a week for 45 mins), and as a result, it was hard to learn much. Also, the things we learned were kind of trivial, and I didn’t think they would help me if I ever were to visit France, or some of Canada’s French cities. I became slightly frustrated, because I wanted to learn French, but I didn’t feel like I needed to spend years of French lessons learning how to say “He wears a red shirt.” or “He fell out of the boat.” (although, admittedly, that was probably my fault for wanting to learn that)
I wanted to learn French because I was interested in law, and knew that if I were to work in the more eastern provinces, French would be a valuable asset. But I didn’t quite know how I would learn it.
When I was in grade 5, my friend suggested the idea of attending a French immersion school. In the following year, the assistant principal came to our school and talked about it. I attended a couple open houses, and come February, I had made my decision. Bonjour Branton!
French immersion can be quite daunting, especially if you start late. Luckily, my school has both continuing and late French immersion, which kind of separates the kids who are just getting into French immersion, and those who have been learning for years. They have 4 classes for late immersion and 4 classes for continuing, until grade 9, until they’re all integrated into mixed classes.
The way French immersion works at my school, is to just constantly be surrounded and immersed in French. I have four of my core subjects in French (French Language Arts, Social, Math and Science) (English Language Arts being the other), and all late immersion students take French as a Second Language (FSL) for one of their first semester options. So out of 9 classes, 5 are in French, making at least two thirds of my time table French.
Teachers all have different ways of helping the students get settled in into this. I have a teacher who plays sort of a survivor type game, where if you speak English, you’re “dead” (eliminated from the game). There’s small rewards each week for the survivors. I personally really enjoy this method, because it’s a really great example of literal immersion.
In my first few months, I’ve noticed a few things that I’ve really liked about French immersion. Firstly, being in French immersion teaches you the essential phrases and sentence structures quickly and effectively. Some of the most important phrases, in my opinion, are “Est-ce que je peux aller a la toilette?” (May I go to the toilet?) “Comment dit-on…” (How to say …) , and “Je ne comprend pas” (I don’t understand). These phrases are so important for school, yet I had never learned them in three years of French classes at my previous school.
Also, French immersion has built this great habit of constantly trying to translate my sentences into French. This seems to happen more than I intend it to. At home, when I say something to my parents, I generally say it once again in French just to prove that I can. My parents find this quite annoying (they kind of despise French, despite my insistence that Français est la meilleure langue dans le monde). This tends to extend to my writing as well. If I’m not paying attention while writing up English assignments or even YAA articles, I start to slip into some French (which makes for some very strange editing experiences). But it’s so cool to think that I’ve been so brainwashed by Branton that sometimes translate into French without even thinking about it. In fact, one of our Aberhart debate helpers who did late immersion described a time when she was doing a mock UN address when she started talking in French without even thinking about it, and didn’t even realize until five minutes later!
French immersion also opens up some really cool opportunities. There’s an option of doing Quebec trips, 10 day Besancon exchanges, and you can even do three month exchanges! Also, more specific to Branton, we have excellent athletic programs, and I’ve heard from other schools that it’s because we talk about game plans in French, giving us an edge. And if you’re interested in the art of organized arguing (my favourite), French immersion gives you the opportunity to do bilingual debates. There’s a lot less competition with bilinguals, so it’s a lot easier to get into the debates, and also a lot easier to win. Branton had a bilingual tournament, and we won all of the debates, probably because out of twelve teams, ten teams were composed of Branton kids. Basically, French immersion kids are prepared for world domination, in English and French.
It’s not always easy. Language acquisition can be quite difficult, and despite super great teachers and a really great program, it’s still a lot of work, especially in the first few months of late immersion. There’s a lot of catching up to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Getting through the day can be exhausting, just sitting and trying to comprehend all of this new language that is being thrown at you. In the first couple of weeks, I was told by other immersion students that “If you don’t feel like dying of exhaustion by lunchtime, then you’re not paying enough attention.” Of course, I, and all my classmates have survived so far, but it’s a process, and a difficult one at that. But if you really want to learn French, and you’re willing to put in the work, I think that it’s really worth it. I’ve made such great improvements in my French just within these past few months, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to.
If you need more information, here are some links that I was provided with when making my decision:
This Saturday, the Calgary Boys’ Choir presents “Sharing Peace” to highlight international issues of disparity and inequality worldwide as we enter the season of giving. Earlier this week I had the privilege of being able to speak with Choir Director, Paul Grindlay. Paul has been with the Calgary Boys’ Choir since 2004 and this year their Christmas Concert will include a new arrangement of Good King Wenceslas by him. I only had a couple of questions, but was moved by the passion Paul has of music and singing.
Coming into Saturday’s performance, what are you looking most forward to?
I am looking forward to celebrating the season in song with these amazing kids. This year has been hard but the Christmas season is always joyful and the tradition of carols help make the beauty of the season come to life.
What was the reason you got into music?
I was born in the United Kingdom and first began singing in the church at a very young age. It is a pleasure and privilege to be working and teaching children but I am first and foremost a singer myself.
What inspires you?
I experience the divine most profoundly in music and nature. I have a degree in zoology and music. God’s creation and the majesty of it is only communicated through nature, it has a way of communicating the ineffable. The community music provides allows for the harmonization and synchronization of souls; it’s a part of our greater calling.Seeing people discover this “team sport” is incredibly inspiring. These are all amazing individuals become more than the sum of the parts…which is pretty amazing because the parts are pretty amazing themselves.
[Image Source]When I spoke to Paul about his mentors, he paused for a moment saying there were so many, listing a couple before asking whether or not emailing me a list would be alright. The teachers and coaches he mentioned were Catherine Robbin, Patricia Kern, Stuart Hamilton, Don Tarnowski, David Gordon, Joseph Shore, Ted Baerg and the conductors were James Fankhuaser, Diane Loomer, Bruce Pullan, Ivars Taurins, Timothy Shantz, David Fallis, Jon Washburn and Glen Fast.
He went on to say that “There have also been so many amazing colleagues and friends who inspired and encouraged me, and my parents, who love and support me.”
Click here to read his own words about his experience as a singer and musician.
Paul is very inspired in regards to music and music development and it was clear throughout our conversation. Being able to speak with him was amazing and I thoroughly look forward to seeing the performance this Saturday.
[Image and Featured Image Source]The cost to attend this magical evening is 20$/adult, 15$/students and seniors and FREE for children under 12. Non-perishables and cash donations will also be collected at the door during this season of generosity and sharing.
For more information, call 403 440-8422 or go to www.calgaryboyschoir.com.
For my 17th birthday, I got my first job at Dairy Queen. Finally one step closer to taking over the world.
[Image Source] Napoleon learned his world domination skills from fast food. Probably.Two summers ago, I got my first job interview at Calaway Park, which was outside the city, though it had shuttle bus access. Needless to say, I didn’t get accepted because:
I didn’t want to work full time
My volunteer experience was a tad bit.. non-existent
I most brutally sucked at the interview
The summer after, I didn’t learn much from my mistakes. I just applied to more places. I took a clipboard full of resumes around the area, looking for any ever-so desperate strip mall that would be so kind to bother considering paying for my service.
It wasn’t the economy’s fault — definitely not. My friends who cared about getting jobs either had at least *something* in their resume heading that says “Work Experience.” I didn’t even have that heading at all in my unworthy resume. This list of friends who were working included my very sister, who got a job at Kumon when they were still hiring. I had lost my chance now that they’re flooded with employees. Maybe it actually is the economy’s fault?
[Image Source]After half a dozen interviews, I finally had half-scripted answers which were basically quixotic volunteering tales, all in memory, for most of the questions the interviewers normally asked. And so her Dairy majesty finally exalted thy humble servant.
At first, it wasn’t all too special to me, other than that it was my very first job. But it slowly dawned upon me that I was to be learning very valuable transferable skills from this unassuming fast food franchise that I may apply to my forethought of world domination. Here are 6 of them:
1. How to Make Food to Feed Your People
Probably the last thing that would come to mind when someone says fast food. When you try to take over the world, naturally, people will oppose you and perchance hunt you down to murder you. If you were stuck by yourself alone in a forest, you’d have to know how to survive.
Okay, I admit that Dairy Queen taught me nothing about surviving in the wilderness, but if I was stuck in a kitchen I’d know how to survive. This dilemma happens more often that it should in my household.
Recipe cards tell you what constitutes a sandwich. So you’ll basically be reading constitutions. That’s good training for a future world leader.
2. How to Clean
It’s Next to Godliness
Definite plus points for an absolute dictator if they know how to clean their slate. A messy society is very indicative of mess in said society. You don’t want that. Man, there’s so many things that need cleaning in the world. The air. The waters. City streets. That lab bench your chem teacher made you clean because you didn’t wear your goggles. Those are just a few examples.
Also, if you know how to clean, you’d be able to help around in the house a little more.
You can pretty much claim arctic sovereignty in this sink.
3. Time Can Get Awfully Slow
You think time goes slow in school? Well, since you’re not travelling anywhere near the speed of light, you are most certainly wrong. Working at DQ is like being on a differentplanet. I sometimes felt, after a long rush of customers or clean up session, that an hour must have passed, only to find that the second hand was the only thing that moved in that cursed wall clock. With this astrophysical phenomenon kept in mind, you’ll learn how to dominate quite a few worlds beyond Earth.
Disclaimer: NOO I DIDN’T TAKE THIS PIC DURING MY SHIFT THAT IS AGAINST COMPANY POLICY PLEASE I WANT TO BE SUPERVISOR ONE DAY DON’T FIRE ME
4. Things About Your Subjects Your Customers
These mindless folks dubbed “customers” become easily predictable NPCs once you get some XP in your game. If there’s two customers together and one of them orders fries, you better have two containers worth of fries ready to go because chances are, the other one is getting fries too. It’s mind blowing.
Also, customers don’t like it when you touch their food. Whether they realize that you made that food with your own bare hands a couple seconds ago or not doesn’t matter. You’ll find how easy it is to anticipate those mindless blizzard-craving zombies’ next few moves.
I’ve never seen such order in my life TBH. I’ve never seen stickpeople ordering at our restaurant in my life either.
5. Things About Your Coworkers
My coworkers are very much interesting people. Each and every single one of them live very vivid and complex lives. Definitely more complex than your sad and boring life.
And all of us at Dairy Queen, somehow, ended up at the same place. Almost all of us are under 25. Although there is one coworker of mine who has a PhD in Environmental Biology. So yeah she’s not under 25. Another coworker used to be a cook in the country he emigrated from. Another is a multi-instrumental music producer with a home studio I very much covet. Another is a medical technologist and just works at Dairy Queen because making cakes is fun (it is). You can’t meet people in very different walks of life working together just anywhere. Make sure to give your coworkers tax exemptions under your inevitable regime.
Stickers with the names of the supporters of the Miracle Treat Day fundraising for the Alberta Children’s Hospital 🙂
6. Things About You.
I didn’t realize how emotional of a person I was. The original plan was to quit DQ once summer break was done. But I couldn’t. It’s not just business. It’s personal. This humble fast food franchise is now a part of me. It it forever will be. Every “good job,” “you’ve improved,” “God bless you,” and “you’ll go far,” meant a lot to me.
I know, eventually, that I would have to move on, just like half a dozen coworkers of mine did. But never shall I lose any of these valuable lessons.
DQ has dominated my world
So, this is what Work Experience entails.
Okay, working at a fast food didn’t teach me how to take control of the world. But one thing it taught me is how to take control of my life. Keep one foot out of your comfort zone and you’ll take control of your life. 🙂
2. The sweet smell of books (or is that just me?)
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