do you want to learn more about human trafficking?
do you need something to do on the evening of november 20th that is free?
do you want to support a local film festival that features films with meaning?
come out to the marda loop justice film festival on november 20th at 7:00pm when they will be screening the film call + response, which promises to be entertaining and informative.
Showing posts with label economic downturn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economic downturn. Show all posts
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Stephanie Nolen's message
i found this article on one of my favourite online papers, the globe and mail, and not only is Stephanie Nolen one of my favourite canadians, her message in this speech to new grads resonated with me. perhaps because i never would have told you as a 23 year old graduating from u of c in 2003 that i would be working in the private sector. and although the path that got me here had its fair few of ups and downs, i really am grateful for where i am now.
and Nolen's message reminds me of two of my favourite phrases: education is something no one can take away from you & there is no downfall to learning.
now the question is, where will i be in another 6 years?!
You learn the most from the hardest things
Though students are graduating into tough times, a lot of the world has it tougher. As the Globe's Stephanie Nolen gets an honorary doctorate, she hopes grads find inspiration in that
May 22, 2009 03:18 PM EDT
National Newspaper Award and Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Reporting winner Stephanie Nolen is The Globe and Mail's current India, and formerly Africa, correspondent. The author of 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa and two other books, she holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax and pursued a masters in development economics from the London School of Economics.
She just received an honorary Doctorate in Civil Laws from King's and this is part of her address to students:
You are graduating today into a world of great uncertainty — my generation, and the ones before mine, have done a spectacular job of really screwing things up. It's deeply unfair, that we are handing you this mess.
But if you will indulge me, I'd like to tell you a little story: On my first day of journalism school at King's, I went to a lecture in the old Haliburton Room, and Michael Cobden, who is here today, and was then the head of the journalism school, mentioned proudly how every single person in that year's graduating class had a job. You will all get jobs, he said with great confidence. And I thought, "Great. A job would be good. A career. A grown-up life."
Four years later, as I sat in this cathedral, I was graduating into the teeth of a bitter recession — and nobody, not one person, in my graduating class had managed to find a full-time job. (Stop me if you've heard this.)
I did the obvious thing: I went to graduate school, and took on $40,000 worth of additional debt. I went to the London School of Economics, and never regretted a penny of that debt, because I learned a million things, and because I met people and had adventures that continue to open doors for me today. But that was only good for a year of avoiding reality, and not long enough for the recession to end. After submitting my masters thesis, I came back to Canada, to find that now ONE person from my graduating class had a job: He was editing the monthly newsletter of the Atlantic Fish Canning Association. I'm not making this up.
So I left. I made a totally ill-thought-out decision to move to the Middle East, to Jerusalem — to be a freelance journalist in the city which, I soon discovered, already had the world's largest full-time press corps. That, in hindsight, was dumb. And it was really hard. I was broke, I was totally out of my league, I was alone. I was also too proud to come home.
Because I was broke, I lived in a Palestinian village and shopped at a local market and took the local bus and soon I had learned pretty good Arabic. Well, of course, in a couple of years world events were going to dramatically improve the market for journalists who spoke Arabic.
Because I was way out of my league, I landed in Beirut on a holiday just as Israel invaded. I was dumb, but I was also fast on my feet, and two weeks later I was working on a cover story for Newsweek.
Eventually I was able to come back to Canada, and after paying a few newsroom dues, talk my way into a job as a war correspondent, and it all happened much faster than it probably would have, if at all, if I had simply landed the job I originally had hoped for right after graduating from King's. And along the way, I got to tell important stories: I covered the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin; I covered the return of the PLO to the occupied Palestinian territories. And I got to race camels in the Egyptian Sinai and dance in a secret underground nightclub in Beirut with the drag queen son of the sheikh who founded Hezbollah.
The point of this story is that, sometimes, bad luck turns out not to be so bad.
That you learn the most from the hardest things.
That opportunities come in places where you're not looking.
And, as Amelia Earhart said (words I later took as my own motto when I was learning to fly), "Courage is the price that life demands for granting peace."
Something else happened to me along the way in those early years of working overseas: I think it began the first time I went to a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, and really spent some time there. I came away with a whole new understanding of my privilege, as a Canadian, and of the fact that really, I didn't know anything about anything in the world. I didn't know what life was really like for — as I would soon start to realize — the great bulk of people in the world.
And here's something I only started to figure out even later: that even if you spend the rest of your life right here, you are responsible for much of what happens elsewhere in the world.
For how those other people live.
Regardless of what you choose to do with your new degree, your new skills, you will be responsible.
If you have an iPod like mine, or a cellphone, or a Wii, you are connected to the 14-year-olds I have met who are enslaved by rebel groups in the Congo and who dig for coltan, the mineral that is the essential ingredient in our gadgets.
If you have a Gap T-shirt like I do, then you are connected to the Bangladeshi women who stitched it for five bucks a day, and who cannot develop their textile sector into better-paying jobs because of our trade restrictions.
If, like me, you are a Canadian citizen, you are connected to the children in Swaziland who cannot go to school today, who will never have the moment you are having today, because Canada, as a voting, policy-setting member of the World Bank, forces the Swazi government to charge school fees for their primary schools — even though ours are free.
And if, like me, you enjoy the occasional Starbucks latte, you are connected to the women in Ethiopia who earn 70 cents a day sorting their coffee beans. Ah-hah, you think. I always order the fair trade blend. Well, great. The women in the fair trade factory earn 96 cents a day. I know — I spent an afternoon on a Starbucks factory line in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a couple of years ago.
So I can tell you that those women are glad to have their jobs.
I'm not sure that's good enough.
You are connected to these people. And you decide how much responsibility you will take for that.
and Nolen's message reminds me of two of my favourite phrases: education is something no one can take away from you & there is no downfall to learning.
now the question is, where will i be in another 6 years?!
You learn the most from the hardest things
Though students are graduating into tough times, a lot of the world has it tougher. As the Globe's Stephanie Nolen gets an honorary doctorate, she hopes grads find inspiration in that
May 22, 2009 03:18 PM EDT
National Newspaper Award and Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Reporting winner Stephanie Nolen is The Globe and Mail's current India, and formerly Africa, correspondent. The author of 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa and two other books, she holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax and pursued a masters in development economics from the London School of Economics.
She just received an honorary Doctorate in Civil Laws from King's and this is part of her address to students:
You are graduating today into a world of great uncertainty — my generation, and the ones before mine, have done a spectacular job of really screwing things up. It's deeply unfair, that we are handing you this mess.
But if you will indulge me, I'd like to tell you a little story: On my first day of journalism school at King's, I went to a lecture in the old Haliburton Room, and Michael Cobden, who is here today, and was then the head of the journalism school, mentioned proudly how every single person in that year's graduating class had a job. You will all get jobs, he said with great confidence. And I thought, "Great. A job would be good. A career. A grown-up life."
Four years later, as I sat in this cathedral, I was graduating into the teeth of a bitter recession — and nobody, not one person, in my graduating class had managed to find a full-time job. (Stop me if you've heard this.)
I did the obvious thing: I went to graduate school, and took on $40,000 worth of additional debt. I went to the London School of Economics, and never regretted a penny of that debt, because I learned a million things, and because I met people and had adventures that continue to open doors for me today. But that was only good for a year of avoiding reality, and not long enough for the recession to end. After submitting my masters thesis, I came back to Canada, to find that now ONE person from my graduating class had a job: He was editing the monthly newsletter of the Atlantic Fish Canning Association. I'm not making this up.
So I left. I made a totally ill-thought-out decision to move to the Middle East, to Jerusalem — to be a freelance journalist in the city which, I soon discovered, already had the world's largest full-time press corps. That, in hindsight, was dumb. And it was really hard. I was broke, I was totally out of my league, I was alone. I was also too proud to come home.
Because I was broke, I lived in a Palestinian village and shopped at a local market and took the local bus and soon I had learned pretty good Arabic. Well, of course, in a couple of years world events were going to dramatically improve the market for journalists who spoke Arabic.
Because I was way out of my league, I landed in Beirut on a holiday just as Israel invaded. I was dumb, but I was also fast on my feet, and two weeks later I was working on a cover story for Newsweek.
Eventually I was able to come back to Canada, and after paying a few newsroom dues, talk my way into a job as a war correspondent, and it all happened much faster than it probably would have, if at all, if I had simply landed the job I originally had hoped for right after graduating from King's. And along the way, I got to tell important stories: I covered the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin; I covered the return of the PLO to the occupied Palestinian territories. And I got to race camels in the Egyptian Sinai and dance in a secret underground nightclub in Beirut with the drag queen son of the sheikh who founded Hezbollah.
The point of this story is that, sometimes, bad luck turns out not to be so bad.
That you learn the most from the hardest things.
That opportunities come in places where you're not looking.
And, as Amelia Earhart said (words I later took as my own motto when I was learning to fly), "Courage is the price that life demands for granting peace."
Something else happened to me along the way in those early years of working overseas: I think it began the first time I went to a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, and really spent some time there. I came away with a whole new understanding of my privilege, as a Canadian, and of the fact that really, I didn't know anything about anything in the world. I didn't know what life was really like for — as I would soon start to realize — the great bulk of people in the world.
And here's something I only started to figure out even later: that even if you spend the rest of your life right here, you are responsible for much of what happens elsewhere in the world.
For how those other people live.
Regardless of what you choose to do with your new degree, your new skills, you will be responsible.
If you have an iPod like mine, or a cellphone, or a Wii, you are connected to the 14-year-olds I have met who are enslaved by rebel groups in the Congo and who dig for coltan, the mineral that is the essential ingredient in our gadgets.
If you have a Gap T-shirt like I do, then you are connected to the Bangladeshi women who stitched it for five bucks a day, and who cannot develop their textile sector into better-paying jobs because of our trade restrictions.
If, like me, you are a Canadian citizen, you are connected to the children in Swaziland who cannot go to school today, who will never have the moment you are having today, because Canada, as a voting, policy-setting member of the World Bank, forces the Swazi government to charge school fees for their primary schools — even though ours are free.
And if, like me, you enjoy the occasional Starbucks latte, you are connected to the women in Ethiopia who earn 70 cents a day sorting their coffee beans. Ah-hah, you think. I always order the fair trade blend. Well, great. The women in the fair trade factory earn 96 cents a day. I know — I spent an afternoon on a Starbucks factory line in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a couple of years ago.
So I can tell you that those women are glad to have their jobs.
I'm not sure that's good enough.
You are connected to these people. And you decide how much responsibility you will take for that.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
things be good
so far, this week:
- i am rather busy!
- i got my first paid job to write something. i am a paid writer!
- i've been given more responsibility at my day job, which means that the economic downturn can kiss my arse (until, of course, someone decides to come and take over my company and they get rid of all the consultants)
- i received positive feedback on the meeting that i facilitated on tuesday for my Other Job and the hot cop was sitting right across from me, giving me a a pleasant view the entire hour and a half
- when one date had to reschedule, i went on another of pints and dog walks with a different gentleman suitor, it was swell
- another job posting for a short term consultancy in east timor was sent to me and i will apply, just in cases
- my congested head is improving with each passing day
- i learned that ojala in spanish is derived from insha'allah in arabic, which makes sense because you can't translate it into english. in arabic it means 'if god wills it' and it more or less is used in the same way in spanish
- i booked a sisters' food and wine getaway in banff
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
now this is serious panic
enough of that serious stuff about foreign aid, cida critics, and preventing hiv transmission in africa.
and on to some much more dire news... the gap is reducing its price adjustment period from 14 to 7 days effective april 1st! this economic downturn is now starting to impede my shopping habit and that is no good, no good at all.
other bad news, i seem to have lost a pair of boots. i am sure they are somewhere in the disastrous mess that i am living in right now, but i really wanted to wear them today and they were no where to be found.
i am also a bit concerned about my swollen pointer finger on my right hand. it always feels like it has to crack and it usually does, but the stiffness and swollenness is alarming. has anyone heard of this before? does it mean i have arthritis and must have my finger amputated? or maybe just a little ice will help it? do i make an appointment with my doctor? with a chiropractor?
and on to some much more dire news... the gap is reducing its price adjustment period from 14 to 7 days effective april 1st! this economic downturn is now starting to impede my shopping habit and that is no good, no good at all.
other bad news, i seem to have lost a pair of boots. i am sure they are somewhere in the disastrous mess that i am living in right now, but i really wanted to wear them today and they were no where to be found.
i am also a bit concerned about my swollen pointer finger on my right hand. it always feels like it has to crack and it usually does, but the stiffness and swollenness is alarming. has anyone heard of this before? does it mean i have arthritis and must have my finger amputated? or maybe just a little ice will help it? do i make an appointment with my doctor? with a chiropractor?
Friday, January 30, 2009
soapbox, perhaps
because you cannot turn your head without hearing or reading about the ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, i have a little something (else) to say about it too. i had coffee with my top colombian chum yesterday and he made a really good point, one that i think we often forget. he said, and i have to agree with him, that these types of crises are commonplace in so many other countries, especially in latin america. there have been economic crises, recoveries, absolute meltdowns, among other daily struggles in so many other parts of the world. people living through such things have learned to become industrious, resourceful, and hopeful in light of so-called impending doom.
and people from those countries, including colombia, are now living and working and prospering in canada. it is my prediction that it is these communities that will weather this economic storm better than anyone else and may come out the winners in the us, the uk, and canada. he also used an ever favourite english expression to recommend that canadians should just 'chill out.'
similarly, i am not so sure why canadians are up in arms about obama's economic stimulus package that includes a 'buy american' clause. how on earth can canadians say that these are unlawful protectionist policies that break trade law? we would do the exact same thing, international protocol or not. remember that little problem with the beef years ago? same thing. we rallied around our beef industry and insisted on exclusively buying canadian beef and gave all those who didn't the evil stink eye. and i think that that was an appropriate response, just as americans trying to save their own mortgages is the right response for them. now, it is our dorky pm's job to play the game, be diplomatic, and represent canadian interests. and stay away from vests of any persuasion.
and you knew it was coming, everyone is going to have something to say about the woman who just gave birth to octuplets in california. my first instinct is to think this is a product of a private health care system that would allow someone to pay for fertility treatment even though they already had 6 children and that i cannot understand a mother choosing to put 8 lives in danger rather than reducing the number of fetuses early on. but as one doctor put it, his job is not to police births, but to provide information and education to parents. and we would all be in serious trouble if our doctors were allowed to police our behaviour, yet i think in an environment where we enjoy the benefits of public health care, the burden those babies will put on our health care system may change that thinking. a little Handmaid's Tale-esque, but it does make me think.
luckily for me, i am not raising 14 children so i won't need to think about it for too long and get back to organising my daytimer to fit all my commitments and engagements in while enjoying this great weather with a run tonight!
and people from those countries, including colombia, are now living and working and prospering in canada. it is my prediction that it is these communities that will weather this economic storm better than anyone else and may come out the winners in the us, the uk, and canada. he also used an ever favourite english expression to recommend that canadians should just 'chill out.'
similarly, i am not so sure why canadians are up in arms about obama's economic stimulus package that includes a 'buy american' clause. how on earth can canadians say that these are unlawful protectionist policies that break trade law? we would do the exact same thing, international protocol or not. remember that little problem with the beef years ago? same thing. we rallied around our beef industry and insisted on exclusively buying canadian beef and gave all those who didn't the evil stink eye. and i think that that was an appropriate response, just as americans trying to save their own mortgages is the right response for them. now, it is our dorky pm's job to play the game, be diplomatic, and represent canadian interests. and stay away from vests of any persuasion.
and you knew it was coming, everyone is going to have something to say about the woman who just gave birth to octuplets in california. my first instinct is to think this is a product of a private health care system that would allow someone to pay for fertility treatment even though they already had 6 children and that i cannot understand a mother choosing to put 8 lives in danger rather than reducing the number of fetuses early on. but as one doctor put it, his job is not to police births, but to provide information and education to parents. and we would all be in serious trouble if our doctors were allowed to police our behaviour, yet i think in an environment where we enjoy the benefits of public health care, the burden those babies will put on our health care system may change that thinking. a little Handmaid's Tale-esque, but it does make me think.
luckily for me, i am not raising 14 children so i won't need to think about it for too long and get back to organising my daytimer to fit all my commitments and engagements in while enjoying this great weather with a run tonight!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
impending doom
a social experiment i would love to run, if it were not impossible, would be to see what two groups do when one is told they are in the middle of an 'economic downturn' and every company targets them with marketing campaigns promoting how they can 'stay afloat' or 'protect their savings' or 'secure their jobs in these uncertain times.' the other group would be kept oblivious to the economic woes of the rest and would be told that the economy is still going strong and they have nothing to worry about. you see where i am going with this here.
i am just getting sick of hearing about how we are in the midst of an ECONOMIC DOWNTURN and how this number is down, that statistic is reaching an all time high, and so-and-so has used the r word. and it really hit me when i saw that chapters has cleverly used this in their in-store marketing with a section set up with books all about how to stave off the effects of the upcoming recession.
i just do not think that these times are any more uncertain than any others. nothing is ever certain and the future is never guaranteed, no matter what statistics or number of analysts or experts say.
i am just getting sick of hearing about how we are in the midst of an ECONOMIC DOWNTURN and how this number is down, that statistic is reaching an all time high, and so-and-so has used the r word. and it really hit me when i saw that chapters has cleverly used this in their in-store marketing with a section set up with books all about how to stave off the effects of the upcoming recession.
i just do not think that these times are any more uncertain than any others. nothing is ever certain and the future is never guaranteed, no matter what statistics or number of analysts or experts say.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
organisational tool
i am trying not to just post lists of things i have been thinking, but cannot seem to thread together thoughts to make a coherent post about a single topic. instead, i have made nice headings and grouped my thoughts. at least it is a start.
politics/elections
politics/elections
- i kind of miss having a french canadian prime minister. i wouldn't vote for the liberals just to get dion in office, but i do love the accent.
- was canadian politics always this nasty? i don't remember it being such a name-calling, finger-pointing, adolescent schoolyard fight, but it does seem to have those qualities this time round
- i volunteered in the democratic process again and although i just fill out forms, i enjoy being involved and learning about how a campaign is run (or not run). no more steve sightings to report. i think he is done with campaigning in calgary and for good reason.
- i find elections kinda exciting. if you hadn't guessed.
getting my life together
- i had a job interview for a job that i am not sure is right for me right now, but that i know i would be great at and let me sleep easy at night
- a certain soldier has been granted his work visa, yippee! i love canadian efficiency. or, even more, i love the trust inherent in a british passport within the canadian immigration system
- i am calming down, but have a few panic attacks daily about careers, cars, houses, money, social engagements, etc.
- i keep thinking, i should be running, i should be working out, i should be starting on operation get fit (phase 2), but i don't. i am not sure what that is about.
the plummeting economy
- is it really plummeting? i am not an economist nor do i claim to know a lot about ecomonics (despite those undergrad courses in micro and macro and international political economy), but it seems that people are just automatically freaking out in canada because of the american mortgage crisis and corresponding bailout. i am very sure that the american and canadian economies are closely linked, but it seems a bit alarmist and panicky to me.
- now, who wants to give me a mortgage??
calgarians
- i have been pretty impressed since returning home with the friendliness of my townsfolk, whether it is help in the job search, compliments on my outfit by perfect strangers (pencil skirts, i tell ya), or general courtesy from other drivers (ok, the bad drivers talking on the phones are exempt from this kudos), i have been pleasantly surprised. but i guess that old stereotype about canadians being friendly rings true.
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