In a big world, @youthvolunteercorps volunteers know how impactful it can be when addressing community issues and taking steps to make a change. Calgary’s YVC youth know just how important volunteering is for their community. This year, YVC (Youth Volunteer Corps) Day was on March 5th. The theme was “One World, Many Voices.” YVC Steering…
You may have undoubtedly heard of the Gender Gap in STEM before, but even though we’ve made considerable progress in bridging the gender gap in STEM in recent decades, there is still continues to be a vast gap in STEM that needs to be bridged. Women hold less than 25% of the total jobs in…
In the fragmented world that we are living in today, it is more important now than ever that we are able to get to know and support our fellow neighbours. One way the community of Edgemont aims to promote this type of community building is through its One World Celebration. One of the greatest ways…
I was recently introduced to a new website called “Dollar Street”. The first time I visited it, I was on the site for almost an hour. The website is a collection of families all over the world with different incomes. The objective of this is to show what it’s really like in various countries we…
Unless your place of residence is located somewhere underneath a large boulder, you’ve probably heard about the massive success of DC’s newest superhero flick, Wonder Woman. Critically acclaimed, the movie has racked up the title of most successful opening weekend for a female-directed movie. Highly anticipated and directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman earned a…
With the 2016 Academy Awards at the root of the cynically popular hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, after no POC (people of colour) actors and actresses were nominated for any awards, The Academy got quite a bit of flack from the public. This year, however, the nominees were considerably more diverse than in previous years. With 35% of…
As a writer, poet, singer, filmmaker, and visual composer, Toronto based artist Vivek Shraya has been generating a continuous flow of creative content for about 22 years. Her numerous and multimedia works have been critically acclaimed and recognized by institutions like The Globe and Mail, The Huffington Post, the CBC, and The National Post. Shraya is a…
This last Wednesday, my fellow blogger Emily and I had the chance to attend Wordfest and hear author, writer, host, feminist, and geek extraordinaire, Sam Maggs in conversation with Shelley Youngblut, General Director of Wordfest. If you read my last post, you may know that in addition to writing for many publications across the internet…
Religion has always been a fundamental aspect of identity, community and worldview. It has formed nations and destroyed them. It has driven people to explore new lands and also to close their borders. Religious beliefs, or even lack thereof, ultimately shapes our understanding of those around us, our interaction with others and ultimately the entire…
I have a bone to pick with the #Oscarssowhite movement that has taken social media by storm for the second year in a row. Imbalances in racial diversity shouldn’t only be noticed when all the nominees for an awards show are white. Though I’m appreciative of the media and Twitter users for finally getting the…
(Original Image) Disclaimer: There is some sensitive language that is used in this post, but it’s solely for the sake of analysis and is not intended to offend anyone. Have you ever been treated unfairly because of your race? If your answer is yes, then it’s proof that racism still exists. Even if you haven’t…
In the spring of 2014, Twitter erupted with a cunning media campaign that got #WeNeedDiverseBooks to trend globally. Beginning with support from authors who were hoping to “raise [their] voices into a roar that can’t be ignored”, the campaign caught like wildfire. However, almost a year later, I can’t help but fear that the movement has fallen out of…
What would it look like if all of Facebook’s 1.2 billion users were stuffed into one massive profile picture? Now, we have a chance to find out. Created by programmer Natalie Rojas, a website brings together all of Facebook’s users’ profile pictures into one collective mosaic. On the website, you can zoom in to the…
This July, I had the opportunity to visit one of the premier Canada Day events in Calgary at Prairie Winds Park, hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamā’at (AMJ) Calgary. The community event was filled with speeches, various community booths, games for the kids and a free family barbeque. I thought that the event was a…
So this past weekend, I had a chance to go and check out the annual Kiwanis Youth Diversity Cup from June 8-9, 2013 at the Forest Lawn Athletic Park. The Kiwanis Youth Diversity Cup is a fun, free soccer tournament for youth run by Kiwanis in partnership with the Calgary Learning Village Collaborative (CLVC) and the Calgary Police Service…