Nico's Blog

Psychological Origin of Anxiety

2011-11-20T11:54:00.000-05:00

"One's perception of a given situation is distorted which causes one to believe it is threatening in some way."

-Toronto Notes 2011

Facundo Cabral

2011-11-20T10:49:00.001-05:00

"Una bomba hace más ruido que una caricia, pero por cada bomba que le destruye hay millones de caricias, que alimentan la vida."

http://www.amarseaunomismo.com/no-estas-deprimido-estas-distraido/

denial is bliss?

2011-04-08T18:22:00.000-04:00

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/04/08/alcohol-cancer-deaths-europe.html

Many cancers avoidable with less drinking: study

Lack of warning labels in Canada 'scandalous'

CBC News

Posted: Apr 8, 2011 9:53 AM ET

Last Updated: Apr 8, 2011 5:30 PM ET

Read 155comments155

A waitress carries a load of one litre beer mugs to thirsty customers at the start of the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich in 2010. German researchers say a 'considerable proportion' of the most common and most lethal cancers can be attributed to drinking alcohol. (Matthias Schrader/Associated Press)

External Links

Alcohol burden study, BMJ

(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

Drinking and cancer4:02

Drinking too much alcohol is blamed for a "considerable proportion" of cancer cases, a large new European study suggests.

The study in this week's issue of the medical journal BMJ said current or former alcohol consumption could be blamed for as much as 10 per cent of cancer cases in men and three per cent in women.

The conclusions were based on following more than 100,000 men and 250,000 women aged 37 to 70 in Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark from 1992 to 2005.

"A considerable proportion of the most common and most lethal cancers is attributable to former and current alcohol consumption," wrote lead author Manuela Bergmann of the Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke in Nuthetal, Germany.

"This strongly underlines the necessity to continue and to increase efforts to reduce alcohol consumption in Europe, both on the individual and the population level."

Too much drinking was also blamed for seven per cent of breast cancers in German women and 28 per cent of colorectal cancers in Spanish men, the results show.

"The effect was greater for certain cancers which we already know there's a causal relationship between alcohol and certain cancers like liver, mouth, throat, esophagus and breast cancer as well," said Dr. Karl Kabasele, CBC's medical commentator.

Standard drink labels

Canada has a national alcohol strategy that covers alcohol pricing and availability. But labelling alcohol bottles better with specific warnings about cancer risk would help reduce its adverse health effects, said Prof. Tim Stockwell of the University of Victoria's Centre for Addictions Research.

"It's a citizen's right-to-know issue," Stockwell said in an interview. "I think it's scandalous that vested interest groups have persuaded governments that it's not necessary to inform consumers about the risks of things like cancer from this product that most of use and love."

People are warned about the risks of tanning salons for example but alcohol's risks are not clearly spelled out, Stockwell.

The Canadian Cancer Society acknowledged that cancer risks of drinking have received little attention.

"There is a misconception about the safety of alcohol, " said Gillian Bromfield, a policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society in Toronto.

Alcohol labels could also carry more useful information about how many standard drinks of alcohol are found in a bottle of wine or spirits, Stockwell suggested. That way, it would be easier for people to translate upcoming national guidelines on quantity and frequency of drinking that are considered low risk to their personal behaviour.

In the study, researchers used a mathematical model to take factors such as smoking, diet and exercise into account in calculating the number of cancers attributed to drinking more than recommended.

The research was funded by several European health authorities.

J’aimerais vous parler de l’art

2011-04-02T17:16:00.001-04:00

J’aimerais vous parler de l’art – non pas l’art de la médecine, mais l’art, muse de l’esprit. Son appréciation est universelle, et pourtant on s’aventure rarement dans sa discussion, on ne s’interroge point sur son sens.

Feu Anatole Broyard, ancien essayiste et éditeur du New York Times Book Review, écrivit de ses interactions avec les médecins qui le soignaient pendant qu’il était atteint d’un cancer de la prostate métastatique :

Pour le médecin typique, ma maladie est un incident routinier durant sa tournée, tandis que pour moi c’est la crise de ma vie. Je me sentirais mieux si j’avais un médecin qui du moins percevait cette incongruité… Je voudrais seulement qu’il… me donne son esprit entier qu’une seule fois, qu’il s’attache à moi pour une brève espace, qu’il étudie mon âme ainsi que ma chaire, pour atteindre maladie, car tout homme est malade de sa propre façon.

Son éloquence est touchante, n’est-ce pas ? Artistique même. Malheureusement, ce n’est pas comme ça que les patients communiquent avec nous. Si c’était le cas, l’empathie du médecin serait un acquis. Or, malgré la parole plutôt terne qu’il employait sans doute quand il voyait ses médecins, M. Broyard ressentait surement les émotions qui sont si évidentes dans cette citation.

L’appréciation de l’art, c’est la perception de l’émotion - du sens - d’un collage de pigments, d’un assemblage de sons, d’une séquence de lettres. Et même si une œuvre est représentative – tel un portrait – le sujet nous est d’habitude étranger. Cette appréciation ne se fait pas par une analyse assidue des détails sensoriels; au contraire une telle approche peut nuire à l’expérience pure de l’art dans le moment. L’apparition du sens d’une œuvre dépend plutôt d’un certain recul analytique et d’une véritable ouverture de l’esprit. En filtrant les faits de notre bouillie phénoménale, on isole un élixir d’émotion et de symbolisme capable de pénétrer même dans le cœur d’un soldat drapé d’épaisses d’armures.

Experts par nécessité dans le processus contraire, l’art (ainsi que l’amour et les enfants) est une muse indispensable aux médecins pour garder une vision humaine des êtres patients.

epidurals

2010-11-24T20:15:00.001-05:00

whether or not you recommend an epidural, remember what really counts:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12011880

Multiple Choice Question Strategies: Getting Them Right Even When You Don't Deserve To

2010-11-20T17:53:00.011-05:00

It’s often said that those who get good grades in medical school (and in other disciplines) are not necessarily the ones who will make the best doctors. In fact, some go as far as to say that many who get below average grades are those who will excel in practise. I believe there is much truth to this.
Keywords: multiple choice test strategies, mcq, improve, grades
Unfortunately, though, nobody enjoys having grades floating around the 60s. So, in solidarity with all those who don’t think their grades reflect their knowledge, I’m writing this post to address one of the root causes of this: multiple choice testing. This is a compilation of a few multiple choice strategies that allow people who know them to do well despite mediocre understanding. Moreover, since profs subconsciously expect students to know and apply these, those who haven’t picked them up over the years can do more poorly than is reflective of their understanding. Hope you find them helpful!

Before you start

Remember that you are looking for the best answer, NOT one which must be entirely true all of the time, in all cases, and without exception.

When reading the question/stem

Look for grammatical clues. If the stem ends with the indefinite article "an," for example, then the correct response probably begins with a vowel.

Try to anticipate the correct response before you are distracted by seeing the options provided. Then uncover the responses and select the option that most closely matches your answer. Do NOT confuse this with the myth that your first answer is usually correct! Change your first answer when you are fairly sure of the correction, or when other cues in the test prompt you to change it.

Know if you are allowed to select more than one response per question/stem (e.g. Clinical Decision Making Questions). If so, select the maximum number of responses.

When considering the options

Question responses that are totally unfamiliar to you. Profs have no problem including terms/concepts that have never been discussed as long as they are part of INCORRECT responses.

You can often rule out responses that contain absolute terms like "always" or "never." Responses that contains generalizations like "usually" or "mostly" are more likely to be correct.

Look alike options: If they have different meanings (e.g. back pain, chest pain, abdominal pain), one is probably correct; if they have practically the same meaning (e.g. chest pain, torso pain), neither one can be correct.

When faced with double negatives consider the equivalent positive statement.

If two options are opposite (e.g. increases heart rate, decreases heart rate) one of them is probably correct.

Favour options that contain qualifiers (e.g. ...often presents with intense chest pain which radiates to the left arm or neck). The prof usually puts more effort (and words) into composing the correct answer.

If two alternatives seem correct, compare them for subtle differences and then refer back to the stem to find your best answer.

"All of the above" is often a correct response. If you suspect that more than one of the other responses is probably correct, then choose "All of the above."

"None of the above" is usually an incorrect response (used when the instructor has run out of ideas), but this is less reliable than the "All of the above" rule. Be very careful not to be fooled by double negative options when “None of the above” is also an option (e.g. ... rarely decrease blood pressure – this is probably the correct response but would have been taught as “usually increases blood pressure”).

Look for verbal associations. A response that repeats key words that are in the stem is likely to be correct.

If all else fails, choose b) or c). Many profs subconsciously feel that the correct answer is more "hidden" if it’s surrounded by distracters. Apparently, response a) is usually least likely to be the correct one.

Don't worry about the pattern of the answers. If you answer b) to four questions in a row, you might be right (especially when you consider the previous point).

A particular case:
Which are classic symptoms of lupus?
a) photosensitivity and acromegaly
b) angiomas and oral ulcers
c) oral ulcers and photosensitivity
d) photosensitivity and claudication

Profs like their answer to be ambiguous. In this sort of question with multiple elements in each response, profs achieve ambiguity by having one correct element and one incorrect element in each incorrect response. Since the correct elements also usually appear in the correct answer, elements that appear most often are most likely to be correct. In this case “photosensitivity” appears three times and “oral ulcers” appears twice, so the correct answer is probably “c”.

Applying the same logic to the following question:
Which of the following statements is most true with regards to Crohn’s?
a) it is an inflammatory disease that is worsened smoking.
b) it is worsened by smoking and has an increased incidence in Hispanics
c) it is an inflammatory disease that affects the ileum exclusively
d) it is a genetic disease that accounts for 60% of the global prevalence of constipation

“a” is most likely.

Finally:
Which is the proper sequence of events in mitosis?
a) 3-4-2-1
b) 3-2-4-1
c) 1-2-3-4
d) 2-3-4-1

Consider the most common position of each element (more correct positions means more ambiguity):
1 in 4th
2 in 2nd
3 in 1st
4 in 3rd
There’s your answer (b)! You didn’t even need to know that
3=prophase 2=metaphase 4=anaphase 1=telophase.

what's so special about Yaz (drospirenone)?

2010-11-17T18:11:00.000-05:00

"CONCLUSIONS: Currently available oral contraceptives still have a major impact on thrombosis occurrence and many women do not use the safest brands with regard to risk of venous thrombosis."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19679614

tantalizing tropical trout

2010-11-08T21:46:00.001-05:00

i wanted to make ceviche, but wasn't ready to "cook" fish in lime juice without any heat... this is what happened.

Place 2 trout/pink fish fillets onto enough aluminum foil to fold over.
Top with:
Dijon mustard
5 cloves of garlic, corsely chopped
1 fist of broccoli (cut stalk into thin slices and florets into chestnut-size pieces)
1 onion sliced into thin rounds
Fold over aluminum and cook on BBQ - careful not to OVERCOOK the fish.

Chop:
2 ripe tomatoes
1 cup of cilantro
Combine and add:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
Lots of ground pepper

Serve together on brown rice. With steamed kale?

55 words

2010-11-05T18:14:00.000-04:00

The moment the dame walked in the door I knew she was trouble. Blood-red lips, smoldering eyes, legs from here to Cleveland.

I thought of telling her to scram, but she was my first customer all day. "Ma'am?"

"Coffee, hash browns," she said, settling into a booth. "And two eggs."

"Hard-boiled?" I asked hopefully.

"Scrambled."

http://www.birdandmoon.com/55words/story28.html

Contradiction

2010-10-22T21:28:00.002-04:00

It is a widely accepted contradiction that recent generations have created problems never before seen in history, but that successive generations are always more enlightened than the previous. (Think: epidemic obesity, ADHD and drug dependence, for example.)

fiendlishly fine foat cakes

2010-10-18T21:50:00.000-04:00

after years of healthful - but hard to swallow - culinary experiments (e.g. sugar-free tofu smoothies!), i think i've finally struck gold!! i've already gotten endorsement from a McDonald's-goer and am confident in this recipe's kid-potential. the idea is not even 2 hours old (i just put the last cake on the pan), so please don't be shy about sending along your feedback. bon appétit ! (Thanks to Sarah Alden for the photo of her version :)

2 c old fashioned rolled oats
2 c water
lots of paprika - 2 T(?)
soy sauce - 2-3 T(?)
hot sauce to taste

mix together, microwave for 5 min, allow to cool

2 cans wild salmon
2 eggs
3 stalks of finely chopped celery
2 c corn (thawed if frozen)
1 handful fresh/frozen cilantro
3 T grated ginger

combine. place large scoop onto hot frying pan and flatten into a cake. brown both sides.

serve immediately with lettuce and salsa.

Juxtaposition

2010-03-01T07:59:00.004-05:00

Les deux premières manchettes sur Radio-Canada hier...

Jean-Jacques Bourque - Cigarette, Smoking, Fumer

2010-01-13T20:02:00.004-05:00

sujet: le nouveau livre de Jean-Jacques Bourque contre les campagnes anti-tabac.

keywords: Bourque, Jean-Jacques, smoking, fumer, tobacco, tabac, tabagisme, cigarette, depression, conflit d'intérêt, conflict of interest

http://lejournaldequebec.canoe.ca/journaldequebec/actualites/sante/archives/2010/01/20100111-214646.html

C'est carrément enrageant de voir qu'un journaliste professionnel publierait un tel article (qui effectivement promeut le livre de M . Bourque) sans avoir fait une recherche approfondie sur les conflits d’intérêt qu’il pourrait avoir. Je n’ai pas le temps pour jouer au détective, mais comme étudiant en médecine, je sais qu’aucun médecin ne publierait un tel livre sans l’appui de l’industrie de tabac. En faisant une petite recherche, j’ai pu découvrir que M. Bourque est le fondateur d’une compagnie de consultation, Humagest Inc. La compagnie ne compte que deux autres employés et aucune information sur ses activités n’est trouvable à l’internet. Par contre, Who’s Who in Canadian Business nous dit que Patricia Cherie Pitcher travaille aussi à Humagest. Serait-ce une coïncidence que dans son livre The Drama of Leadership, il se trouve au moins deux exemple dans lesquels elle appui discrètement les compagnies de tabac? Je vous les inclus ci-dessous tout en vous implorant de faire faire une recherche exhaustive sur les liens de M. Bourque avec l’industrie de tabac.

Merci,

Nicholas Dubé

1) “What’s worse, we allow experts to dictate policy to us. For example, French historian Alain-Gérard Slama reminds us that we allow cancer researchers who have studied biochemistry and medicine to dictate public policy on smoking, and yet smoking bans raise deep philosophical issues involving subtle tradeoffs between Justice and Liberty, which cancer researcher know nothing about.” (p. 196)

2) Sous le titre « Truth and Consequences » et discutant la réaction de différents types de leaders à certaines situations; NB : les adjectifs entre parenthèses carrées sont originales et la note de fin de document 4 fait référence à un article de l’année 1994 dans La Presse.

"Another context and another subject :

"Tenchnocrat: And so, in conclusion, we have to ban smoking from the planet.

"A member of the audience: I was reading the other day in a medical journal that major depression and the propensity to cigarette smoking are highly correlated. These doctors were suggestion that we should be a bit careful with depressed people, because pushing them too hard to quit smoking may inadvertently push them into a major clinical depression.4

"Technocrat: The study was no doubt financed by the cigarette lobby [paranoid], and even if it’s true, that’s their problem [narcissistic]." (p.186)

---

It is truly enraging to see that reputable reporters are effectively promoting Mr. Bourque’s book evidently without having conducted a thorough investigation into the conflicts of interest he may have. Although I don’t have time to play detective, as a medical student I know that no doctor would publish such a book without support from the tobacco industry. After a little research, I discovered that Mr. Bourque is the founder of the consulting firm, Humagest Inc.; however, I could find absolutely no information on the company’s activities. What I could find was that one of the company’s two other employee’s is Patricia Cherie Pitcher. Coincidentally, in her book, The Drama of Leadership, there are at least two instances in which she discretely supports the tobacco industry. I have included these quotations below and implore you to have an exhaustive research done on Mr. Bourque’s ties to the tobacco industry.

Thank you,

Nicholas Dubé

“What’s worse, we allow experts to dictate policy to us. For example, French historian Alain-Gérard Slama reminds us that we allow cancer researchers who have studied biochemistry and medicine to dictate public policy on smoking, and yet smoking bans raise deep philosophical issues involving subtle tradeoffs between Justice and Liberty, which cancer researcher know nothing about.” (p. 196)

2) Under the heading « Truth and Consequences » discussing the reactions of different types of leaders to certain situations. NB : the adjectives in square brackets are original and the footnote 4 refers to a 1994 article in La Presse.

"Another context and another subject :

"Tenchnocrat: And so, in conclusion, we have to ban smoking from the planet.

"Technocrat: The study was no doubt financed by the cigarette lobby [paranoid], and even if it’s true, that’s their problem [narcissistic]." (p.186)

2009 Christmas Letter

2009-12-25T19:14:00.006-05:00

Every couple of weeks I seem to hear someone say - or I catch myself thinking - "How time flies!" But as I reflect on the last year, I'm comforted by exactly the opposite realisation: How much has happened in just one year!

The year, of course, begins with my return to Mount Allison for the final semester of my general Bachelor Arts degree. Classes dragged on a little longer than I would have liked, but the social aspect (particularly the continuation of the romantic side) was wonderful. Reflecting on my three years at Mt.A. (and one in Washington, DC), I can say without any doubt that they have given me the most nourishing experience I could have asked for from my undergraduate education; through it, I've grown so much more than I had expected and in ways I didn't even know were possible!

As classes ground to a halt in April, another familiar ritual began one last time: the Tintamarre tour. Eleven other actors and I rehearsed an original play about the place of the arts in our society for one week before taking it to schools across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for two weeks. Although my mind was elsewhere whenever it could afford to be, every member of the cast was fantastic and my discussions with the director, a close friend of mine, took us places we had never before explored. On the last day of the tour, I was admitted to the Francophone stream of the University of Ottawa's medical school.

With the tour over and long-term plans to be in Ottawa in place, I headed off to Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick, where Hannah (my girlfriend for just over a year now) was working as an assistant nature interpreter. While there for two weeks, I began shopping for a house in Ottawa that my parents would help me buy (to live in and rent some rooms out). Although this involved a 10 minute trek every day to a trailer park down the street to get wireless internet, it was well worth it to have the evenings with Han. Of course, I later ended up going to Ottawa to see some places and eventually found a perfect 4-bedroom 1 1/2 story house near the medical school.

With yet another piece of the puzzle in place for the fall, younger sister Emily and I set off on a road trip from Sudbury to Nanaimo to visit Grandma who was ill. Though tenuous at times, the long days of driving and nights of camping together were great and our time in Nanaimo was idyllic! It had been many years since I'd been to BC and it was great to have all sorts of faded childhood memories revived by distantly familiar smells, sights and sounds. I spent the rest of the summer getting settled in my new home and finding my three (delightful!) tenant-roommates.

Medical school had a rather slow start, but once it did start, I became the most engaged I've ever been in all that I was learning. And the best part was that my 43 classmates in the Francophone stream all felt the same! Combined with our tiny class size and a pass/fail grading system, this common objective creates an incredible dynamic in the class: there are no closed cliques, everyone shares ressources, people are interested in how others are doing outside classes, etc.

Although I've been involved in much fewer extra-curriculars than at Mt.A., my studies were broken up by my exploration of the city (especially it's cycling trails), the wedding of my cousin Karina (the first of my cousins or siblings to marry!), and a couple of visits home to Sudbury. Of course, my parents and I miss each other, but I also had another reason to go home: Grandma has been there since August receiving chemo for her multiple myeloma (and responding really well to it!).

Finally, because this is, after all, a Christmas letter and I'm feeling rather inspired by the beautiful midnight mass I attended with my family, I have one final reflection I'd like to share with you. Indeed, "So much has happened in just one year!" but the little report I just gave you isn't really the "so much" I'm talking about.

Rather than the stories themselves, what has really happened is embedded within them: love. Love between me and my friends, siblings, parents, grand-parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, classmates, neighbours, strangers, God, and of course, Hannah.

And on that note, I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas (a little late for most of you) and all the best in the new year!!

Guide humain

2009-10-03T10:41:00.001-04:00

Être humain. Quelle notion éthérée ! Si simple, et pourtant si embrouillée par notre monde techno-scientifique. N'est-ce pas ironique que malgré tous les avancées de notre époque, le rôle du médecin comme guide humain soit tout aussi important que jamais (malgré son exclusion des rôles du médecin selon la Faculté) ?Est-ce vraiment pour des conseils cliniques qu'une jeune fille enceinte, un nouveau papa dépassé ou une triste veuve épuisée viennent voir leur médecin ? Plus souvent qu'on ne le reconnait, je crois que la confiance que les patients accordent à leur médecin ne résulte pas de ses compétences cliniques, de sa confidentialité ou même de sa bonne communication. De façon qui dépasse même la portée de la notion de "professionnalisme," il me semble que la base fondamentale de la grande confiance d'un patient en son médecin vient de la compréhension particulière du médecin de la vie humaine, l'être humain, l'humanité.

Aujourd'hui c'était notre deuxième session dans le laboratoire d'anatomie. Ma session de DAC était annulée, donc après la fin du laboratoire j'ai décidé de passer une heure de plus à étudier les cadavres par moi-même. Sans les contraintes du temps, j'ai pu vraiment prendre conscience du fait que les cadavres étaient jadis des personnes vivantes, des êtres humains. Des muscles atrophiés, de la peau lâche et de longs poils sur les bras : celui-ci était surement un vieil homme. Les traces d'une barbe, de larges bras et un gros bedon : celui-là était plus jeune. Mais malgré leurs différences, on peut identifier toutes les mêmes structures sur chacun : le splénius, les érecteurs spinaux, les muscles dentelés - ils sont tous là !

Bien sûr ces réalisations ne m'ont pas surprises, mais quand je suis sorti du laboratoire, j'étais rempli d'une telle joie à chaque fois que je passais quelqu'un. Je ne pensais plus : "Oh ! Les citadins sont toujours tellement pressés !" ou "Je me demande ce qui la tracasse." Non, il n'y avait qu'une chose qui se répétait dans ma tête : "Lui et elle, ils sont parfaitement comme moi. On est sur le même train miraculeux de l'humanité, voyageant vers la même destination - ce qui fait d'eux plus que des pairs, des collègues, des âmes soeurs. Des êtres humains." Les cadavres me rappelaient : Eram quod es, eris quod sum.

Et voilà que j'ai fait un pas vers mon rôle de guide humain. Prochaine étape : assister à un accouchement !

Graduation

2009-06-25T19:51:00.000-04:00

Sackville, in particular Bridge Street's broken bridge, is my favourite place in the world. Since just after my arrival at Mt.A, I have stopped by there regularly on runs and seen it in so many different lights. Not only has it become a place of calm and reflection for me, but it has also become a place with which I associate many fond memories.

On top of all the time I've spent alone at the bridge's remains, I've shared the site with most of my good friends at one time or another: on clear sunny days, on misty mornings, on serene starlit nights.

Perhaps the symbolic value of the site is that although the broken bridge may represent an obstacle to continuing one's path to the other side of the the river, if one stops and takes in the surroundings, he or she will notice the beautiful view from that site and the many alternate routes across the river.

The site is so beautiful, however, that one can keep coming back to it without ever having the slightest desire to go any further; needless to make the connection between this path, and that of my own life.

-From my Human Geography Lab #1, January 16th 2007

Liberal Arts[/Higher Education] in Times of Crises: An Open Letter to University Students and Faculty

2009-03-23T09:37:00.007-04:00

In the context of an informal chat about current affairs last semester, one of my best professors at Mt.A. declared:

"It must be tough being a student today - I mean, with the environmental and food crises, the financial situation, etc., it must be hard to be studying all sorts of things that won't help solve any of these problems."

I responded that as a pre-med student, it didn't really bother me that my most significant learning happened outside of classes. I was hoop-jumping toward a vocation useful and meaningful even in our troubled times. Still, he did get me thinking. Hence this letter, which is not actually about "higher education in times of crisis," but instead uses today's "crises" as an excuse to question what we're doing here.

So, why is it we're at university?

Although the reasons are innumerable, I think (and hope) that everyone has come here in part to explore: to explore who they are, what they value, what they love, how things are connected, what they could do after Mt.A. This kind of exploration, of course, doesn't happen in one place.

Given its centrality to so many students' journey through university, though, I have no doubt that our classes ought to facilitate it.

Indeed, they all do to a certain extent. Most professors incorporate an element of "This is what academia is like in ___" or "These are the typical issues addressed in ___ and the means by which this is done." Great. But what about the rest?

What kind of exploration do courses offer for the majority of students who aren't actually interested in academia or "the typical issues"?

One might argue that the need to balance exploration with intellectual exercise and the teaching of specific subject matter for a given course limits the possible breadth of a course. Still, that doesn't mean evaluations have to be done exclusively through essays on prescribed topics and through the same old exams.

Real learning can only happen if students are interested in what they're doing and take ownership of it.

This is where things get tricky, because if you ask a professor why they don't give students more opportunities for self-directed learning, they'll probably say they're totally open to it and, in fact, encourage it; students just aren't interested. Of course, if you ask students, professors are likely to get the blame. Not surprisingly, things aren't so black and white; I believe neither group is more to blame than the other.

For truly engaged, self-directed learning to become a reality at Mt.A., we've all got to overcome our familiar but outdated assumptions about each other's expectations.

By no means do I claim to have all the answers; in fact the purpose of this letter is to ask you:

Based on your unique experience, what do you think we can do to increase students' ownership of and engagement in their in-class learning at Mt.A.?

Still, to get you thinking, I'll share a few suggestions of my own.

Assignments

Students, our profs may not be quite as trendy we are, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be open (perhaps after a little convincing) to our wildest suggestion for an alternative assignments: creating an animé adaption of a story for a lit class, leading a discussion about the modern significance of Greek art for a classics class, composing a rap about epigenetic effects for a biology class, etc.

We've got to stop assuming that we're locked into every exercise proposed by our profs.

If you're not interested in an assignment, step up: propose something creative - but equally challenging - that you would actually enjoy doing, that would allow you to explore the things you want, and that would help you develop the skills you value.

Professors, first off, those lecture notes and syllabi from two, five, fifteen years ago, they've got to be revamped: not just updated to reflect academic developments in your discipline, they've got to change with the times, with current affairs, with students' interests. It's not enough to be open to the diversity of students and their interests, you've to to promote them, embrace them. No matter how hard you try to be friendly and accessible, there will always be a gap in authority and power (especially the power to determine grades) that is intimidating to many students and will deter them from questioning the relevance of your assignments to them individually.

Keeping students interested isn't just about thinking up exciting ways to present material and to evaluate students, it's about engaging students in that very process.

This, I concede, is no easy task; but no one said it would be easy.

Tests & Exams

"Is it going to be on the exam?" The dreaded question: to professors, it's a sign of impending regurgitation by uninterested students; to students, it's a degrading but necessary submission to the System. What's it really about?

First off, even compared to leading universities in the U.S. (where are a regular student covers 12 credits per 15-week semester), we cover a lot of material in our 12-week semesters! In fact, I think we cover so much that a typical student with any semblance of a balanced lifestyle rarely has time to reflect on course material at their leisure.

With all the different courses and activities competing for our time, the average student simply can't afford to ponder course material beyond what will be evaluated.

I'm sure both students and professors would be happier if students could simply study course material with a focus on that in which they're interested - not just in terms of content, but also in terms of connections. For that to become a reality though, students need to know that that accomplishment will be worth something in evaluations. That in turn will only happen if we demand it: an open-ended question about connections as an option in the long-answer section of an exam, an optional open-ended supplementary assignment, whatever! I'm not suggesting that this kind of individual knowledge and understanding replace that of basic principles on which courses are based, but rather that they supplement this prescriptive core.

If a creative approach to evaluation were implemented, students wouldn't have to worry about losing a few marks on (to them, insignificant) details because they could count on making up for it with the learning that was important to them.

Engaged learning isn't a utopia; it's a vision - a vision which we've all got to keep nurturing through discussions, blog posts, newspaper articles, videos, whatever you like. I know the vision I've outlined in this letter is very rough and incomplete. This is partly because I don't have all the answers, but mostly because I know the vision isn't just mine. So if you do share this vision, I challenge you to put in your two cents, and together, who knows how much we could save...

Maritime Elation

2009-03-10T11:29:00.002-04:00

How I'm going to miss the Maritimes!

Two days before my first interview for medical school (one day before my flight out), I thought it was time to find something to wear. I'd marked four men's clothing stores I'd found in the yellow pages on a map of Moncton and after my 8:30 class, I set out on the bus.

Tip Top was the only store I knew would actually carry the kind of clothes I was looking for; I chose the others based on their names: Zachary Samuels Men's Clothier and Custom Shirts, Up in Style, and Colin D's Boutique. Zachary Samuels sounded like my best bet so I decided to start there. I passed Up in Style on the way (thinking I might stop there first, depending on what it looked like) but it turned out to be a sk8 shop.

When I arrived at Z.S. the owner (the only staff person there) was helping another client. I told him I needed a suit ready in 24 hours; he sat me down on a leather couch and served me a cappuccino. After a couple of hours of chatting, we had a suit, shirt and tie picked out. The tie and two pairs of socks were on the house.

I had brought my own dark brown dress pleather dress shoes (which were in need of some minor mending) to try on with the “midnight navy” (i.e. practically black) suit but apparently, that simply would not do. I needed black shoes, or perhaps cognac ones. Since I had a choir concert coming up at which I would need black shoes and knew I'd get good use of them, I let conceded.

So that I would have my suit on time, he had to take it immediately to the tailor's. He shut the shop and dropped me off at a shoe store on the way. We agreed that I would find my way by to the store the next day around 1 p.m. and he would properly pack my suit (so it wouldn't wrinkle) and take me to the airport from there. There were some great sales at the shoe store and, though I didn't get the same service, I quickly found a nice pair.

Since the next bus back to Sackville wasn't until 8:15 p.m. and it was only 2 p.m. by that time, I decided to get a few more things done. First, I walked over to the Taj Mahal, the famous Indian restaurant in Moncton at which I'd never eaten and I had a late but scrumptious lunch. Before leaving, I asked the waitress if she knew of anywhere where I could get a nice haircut. She suggested a few places and I tried to follow her directions to the most promising place. Not only did I get lost and have to ask a homeless person for directions, but when I got there, it also wasn't quite up to my med-school-interview standard. I started walking in the other direction trying to recall the location of the other shops the waitress had mentioned.

When I found myself all the way into Dieppe, I decided I'd have to settle for whatever I could find in the mall there. It was a tough call: the salon looked pretty classy, but totally focussed on women and esthetics. I took a gamble – and drew the short straw, or so I thought...

Yes, they could give me a cut right away. Right this way. I sat down and a boy with emo hair, no older than 18, came and set me up. I explained my situation to him: I needed something professional enough for my interviews but didn't want to go so short that I would lose my curls. No clippers, we decided. It was the most meticulous haircut I'd ever gotten and, in the end, it was just right.

Next, I took a bus back downtown and looked for a little café where I could spend a couple hours reading as I waited for 8:15 to come. I found The Old Triangle, my favourite Irish pub that was offering two free oysters with a pint of Guinness: how could I resist?

Taking a break from my book on medical ethics, but continuing to shower the couple of oysters in my stomach with Guinness, I unconsciously and longingly stared at the oyster bar; its bartender (the pub's owner) offered me two more on the house. After that, I felt like I had get something else – and I guess I was a little hungry: I ordered a bowl of mussels. A while later, an Acadian couple arrived and sat at the table next to mine.

Perhaps intrigued by my outsider's appearance, they asked me all about what I was doing in Moncton, where I was from, where I learned French, what I wanted to do with my life, etc. They were from Cap Pelé, not far from Sackville and he was a highway supervisor: he was responsible for snow and (especially those past few days) ice removal. He also had a great hankering for some oysters but didn't want any Guinness.

He offered to buy me another pint, but I wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, after much soul-searching about how badly I wanted more oysters, I offered him a coupon for two, which someone had given me on his way out: apparently, that man liked Guinness more than oysters. By then, it was nearing the time for me to get going to the bus station, so I asked for the bill. A moment later, the waiter returned and told me my neighbours were getting the bill for me. I thanked them and we said our goodbyes, committing to keep an eye open for each other.

The bus ride home was uneventful, except perhaps for the realization that this was probably one of the last times in a while that I would be filled with Maritime elation.

Une crise économique, c’est sexiste, dites?

2009-02-09T07:45:00.000-05:00

http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/economie-affaires/la_crise_et_vous/index.asp

Par: Nicolas (pas Nicholas) Duguay (pas Dubé)

C’est étrange, mais ce matin, en prenant connaissance des plus récentes données sur l’emploi aux États-Unis, et tout particulièrement celles comparant les pertes d’emplois chez les hommes et les femmes, c’est à la vieille série télé « Papa à raison » que je pensais...

Je pensais à ça, car c’est justement l’Amérique de cette série-là, une Amérique riche et suffisante dirigée par des hommes blancs tout aussi riches et suffisants, qui en prend pour son rhume ces temps-ci.

En l’espace de quelques mois, l’un des premiers Commandements du capitalisme à l’américaine, qui veut que l’État se tienne à l’écart de l’économie, a été bafoué à coup de milliards de dollars de fonds publics.

Et maintenant, la crise économique qui dévaste le marché de l’emploi est en train de faire en sorte que pour la première fois de l’histoire américaine les femmes pourraient bientôt surpasser en nombre les hommes sur le marché du travail...

Voilà seulement quelques décennies, comme nous pouvons le voir dans le tableau ci-bas, la part des femmes sur le marché du travail américain ne dépassait guère les 30 %.

Aujourd’hui, hommes et femmes sont au coude à coude et si la tendance observée depuis le début de la récession se maintient, ne serait-ce que quelques mois encore, nous allons rapidement assister à une dominance féminine sur le marché du travail.

Hécatombe pour les secteurs « masculins »

Les experts expliquent ce revirement historique en arguant de la nature des emplois les plus mis à mal par la crise.

Comme l’explique le New York Times dans un article sur le sujet paru aujourd’hui même, ce qui se passe n’a rien à voir avec la lutte pour l’égalité des sexes, mais plutôt avec l’endroit où tombe la hache...

En effet, il appert que 82 % des emplois perdus depuis décembre 2007, date officielle du début de la récession américaine, étaient occupés par des hommes.

Pourquoi?

Tout simplement parce que les secteurs économiques sur la ligne de front de la crise, le secteur manufacturier et celui de la construction, sont des secteurs où, traditionnellement, l’essentiel de la main-d’oeuvre est masculine.

Et tout ceci, contrairement à ce qu’on aurait pu penser, est loin d’être une bonne nouvelle...

Pas parce que l’auteur de cette chronique pense que c’est une tragédie économique d’avoir davantage de femmes au travail que d’homme, mais plutôt parce que les emplois occupés par les femmes sont souvent moins « intéressants » que ceux des hommes.

« Intéressants » ?

C’est-à-dire que l’on retrouve encore aux États-Unis une plus grande proportion de femmes que d’homme qui occupent des emplois à temps partiel, des emplois qui bien souvent ne sont accompagnés d'aucune assurance médicale et qui n’offrent pratiquement aucune sécurité d’emploi.

Et même lorsqu’elles travaillent à temps plein, les statistiques gouvernementales démontrent que les femmes américaines ne gagnent encore en moyenne que 80 % de la paye de leurs homologues masculins travaillant autant.

Maybe you shouldn't be reading this...

2009-01-25T18:57:00.003-05:00

Even according to Google (the most conservative estimate), one could boil a kettle of water with the energy from approximately 15 Google searches...

From Times Online

January 11, 2009

How you can help reduce the footprint of the Web

Browsing the internet contributes to global warming by generating extra greenhouse gases – but could the web be made greener? Dr Alex Wissner-Gross a physicist from Harvard University writes for The Sunday Times

So it's Sunday morning, you're sitting down at the computer with your cup of coffee, and you decide to search for the latest YouTube hit. You groan. That video is taking too long to load. You open a new window and decide to read the morning paper while you wait for the video to download. This scene may seem innocent enough, but were you aware of the fact that your websurfing has an impact on the environment? Would you be surprised to know that it contributes to a greater global carbon footprint than the whole of the aviation industry?

Although they might seem ephemeral, websites have real-world environmental footprints. Their files are stored on servers, viewed by personal computers, and connected via networks. To operate these components, all of which are necessary to create a complete website experience, electricity must be consumed. And to generate much of that electricity, fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are usually being burned.

So, when you are sitting in London viewing a website hosted in California, there are power plants on at least two continents actively pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in order for you to watch that video or read that online newspaper.

Since millions of people are surfing the web every hour of every day, that carbon footprint adds up to an astounding 2% of international emissions each year. In fact, according to the American research firm Gartner, the carbon footprint of information and communications technology exceeded that of the global aviation industry for the first time in 2007. Add to your own footprint those of the billions of existing web searchers, not to mention those now coming online in Asia and Africa, and the numbers are staggering.

Even simple online activities take a toll on the environment. Google does not divulge its energy use or carbon footprint but, based on publicly available information, we have calculated that each Google search generates an estimated 5-10 g of CO2, in part because Google's unique infrastructure replicates queries across multiple servers, which then compete to provide the fastest answer to your query. On the other hand, just browsing a basic website generates about 20 mg of CO2 for every second you view it.

More complex websites with rich animations and video can be responsible for the emission of CO2 at up to 300 mg per second. Where are these emissions coming from? For a typical website experience, the dominant contribution to its footprint comes from the electricity consumed by its visitors' computers, followed by the network infrastructure needed to transmit the website, with the servers and data centers providing the website as the smallest contributor.

Many prominent sites are, however, increasing emissions through software errors and other problems, which increase the time – and energy – needed to access them.

Our analysis of the Prime Minister's site on Saturday, January 10, 2009, showed it was operating at only 64% network energy efficiency, while the Queen’s website was even worse at 54% efficiency. The highly trafficked BBC News website only operates at 49% efficiency.

As a web consumer, though, you can make a difference. Over the years, Internet users have become accustomed to demanding certain levels of service from the websites that they visit. It is now de rigueur for e-commerce sites to present badges certifying that their credit card processing systems are secure. Savvy users even know to watch for certification that sites they visit are safe from hacker attacks and that have audited privacy policies to protect their identities.

Websites now need to be put under pressure to clean up their environmental impacts too and demonstrate that their sites are as green as they can be.

Dr Alexander Wissner-Gross, is a physicist and Environmental Fellow at Harvard University. His website, www.CO2Stats.com, is designed to allow webmasters and bloggers to make their sites greener in an auditable way.

Real Friends

2008-08-05T18:23:00.004-04:00

In Washington, another exchange student once told me she could tell who her real friends were, not by how much they contacted her, but rather by how much she contacted them. An interesting postulation.

Can bovine burp research slow global warming?

2008-07-13T21:04:00.001-04:00

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/07/bovine_burps.html

Can bovine burp research slow global warming?

Fun fieldwork for a team of Argentinan scientists who are measuring the levels of methane in cow belches in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

July 9, 2008 3:57 PM

Methane, produced by cows, is a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Photograph: Reuters

Scientists trying to find a solution to reducing the levels of methane in the Earth's atmosphere are using a handful of lucky Argentinian cows in a novel experiment involving bovine burps.

In a country famed for its cattle herds, scientists have strapped plastic tanks to the backs of cows in order to collect their belches and study their methane levels.

The scientists, from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology, say that as much as 30% of Argentina's greenhouse gas emissions could come from cows, and hope this study will find a way to cut down on emissions by changing the diet and lifestyle of the animals.

The grass that cows eat is hard to digest and broken down by bacteria in the animal's four stomachs. In the absence of oxygen, the bacteria turn it into methane. Contrary to common belief, most gas emerges from the front, not rear, ends of the cows.

Farmed ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of "man-made" methane emissions, which researchers say is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Scientists are working to develop new diets for cows that could make it easier for them to digest food, moving them away from grains to plants like alfalfa and clover.

A study last year found that the average dairy cow in the UK belches out about 100 to 200 litres of methane each day. Given that Argentina is one of the world's biggest beef producers, with some 55 million heads of cattle grazing on the famed Pampas grasslands, that adds up to a significant number.

"When we got the first results, we were surprised. Thirty percent of Argentina's [total greenhouse] emissions could be generated by cows," said Guillermo Berra, a researcher working on the project.

Berra said the researchers "never thought" that a cow weighing 550kg (1,210lb) could produce 800 to 1,000 litres (28 to 35 cubic feet) of emissions each day.

At least 10 cows are being studied, Berra said, including some in a corral whose burps are collected in yellow balloons hanging from the roof.

"We have done a preliminary study and have found that by using tannins, you can reduce methane emissions by 25%," said Silvia Valtorta of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations.

Transitions

2008-06-21T21:07:00.005-04:00

Nearly six weeks after my return to Canada from the U.S., I believe it's time to finally write a concluding post to the portion of my blog dedicated to my experiences in Washington, DC. Because of all the excitement that inevitably both precedes and follows a big transition like this one, this is the first proper concluding post I write about any of my experiences and I'm not doing it because I feel particularly inspired, but rather because I think it's important to properly celebrate my whole experience and also just because it's a nice way to record my initial reflections on the experience after it ended. So here goes nothing.

My last exam was on a Tuesday: Tuesday, May 6th at 8:30 am. Feeling rather pressured to get back to Sackville to begin the summer research project for which I was being funded from May 1st onward, I had initially planned to leave DC on Wednesday around 5 am. I had a train ticket booked to Buffalo and a bus ticket from there to Toronto; however, as my time drew to an end, I realized I was about to leave DC with so much left undone. And so, on a bit of a whim, I checked plane tickets, found a cheap one going directly to Moncton on Saturday, checked to see if I could cancel my plane and bus tickets, and made the switch.

Of all the planning I've done for different trips, that was probably one of the best decisions I've made. Those extra three days were exactly what I needed to properly finish off the year and to be able to leave without having to suffer through any of those "I really with I had..." moments.

Despite a little overlap, I think most trips can be divided into one's relationship with the place and one's relationships with people, and for me, the latter is always most important. Thus, during those last days, I had my last meals in the cafeteria with friends from campus, I went to check out the new apartments of friends staying in DC for the summer, I had a lovely lunch downtown with a good friend from off campus, I said goodbye to everyone at the homeless drop-in centre and left them the stash of grocery bags and pens I had been saving for them all year, I went to a raw oyster bar in Georgetown for happy hour with my roommate (and we had a bottle of wine and nearly three dozen oysters between the two of us!)... In short, I said goodbye; not a frazzled, last-minute "I've just spent the last 39 hours packing and have to get on a plane in 47 minutes but goodbye. I love you! [starting to walk away] I miss you! Keep in touch! [fading away] Gotta RUN!" kind of goodbye, but rather, a wonderful "this is why I'm going to miss you" kind of goodbye.

Nevertheless, there was also the "place" aspect of my experience that was thirsty for a bit of closure. So on top of a healthy amount of time dallying around Georgetown, I also took a day to see the monuments one last time and to visit the National Art Gallery, the Museum of the American Indian, and the Air and Space Museum. It too was just what I needed, like a final exam that proves to you how much you actually learned in a class.

At the National Art Gallery, as usual, the first thing I wanted to see was a few expressionist and impressionist works. As enthralled by them as always, I thought I should really move on and spend some time on the American stuff. That's what I was really there to see, and taking it in - the portraits, the city scenes, the country scenes, the modern stuff (from Rothko's abstract paintings to stacks of Campbell's soup cans) - I think the bottom line for me - the theme that had been drilled into my head over the last year - was that America has its own distinct culture. It's by no means simply a distinct lack of culture as people sometimes claim, but rather a complex combination of history, religion, institutions, language, art, etc. arguably more similar to the cultures out of which more "classic" works stem than their contemporary geographic homologues.

Next, at the Smithsonians, I realized how skillfully I had learned to identify the overriding feature of American cutlure: politics. To give a few examples:

-The first two floors of the Museum of the American Indian were stores (of products made by or related to American Indians) and the most famous (and probably most popular) part of the museum is their cafeteria that serves traditional foods of aboriginals from across the Americas.

-There's a huge wooden Haida(?) sculpture donated by the Canadian government front and centre on your way into the museum.

-Nothing was translated in the Museum of the American Indian while lots was translated into the languages of the most common visitors in the Air and Space Museum (the most popular Smithsonian). The container for donations was also practically overflowing in the Air and Space Museum and nearly empty in the Museum of the American Indian.

-Finally, a large portion of the Air and Space Museum was dedicated to military advancements in aviation throughout history. Two words: biased much? I guess the Cold War is still in too recent history to begin to look at things a little more objectively...

And on that note, I think it's time to put this post to bed with the rest of my reflections on the United States of America. My time in Washington, DC was fabulous (many thanks to the Killam Fellowships program!) and I do love to share my experiences with you, but there's so much more to it than I could ever blog about. So, as I've already said on a few occasions in this blog, next time you think about heading back to the splendid city of Montreal for another long weekend of adventures or next time you think of buying a couple packs of cigarettes every week for year, consider taking a trip to visit our Southern neighbo(u)rs instead. Who knows what you would think of them!

Quand était-ce donc?

2008-04-22T16:38:00.006-04:00

Do you remember walking to school in the morning feeling like you were on your way to conquer the world?

Do you remember getting to play outside for an extra half hour and feeling like you hit the jackpot?

Do you remember going home for dinner after you were all tuckered out and feeling like not even a gourmet chef with his funny hat could top your mom's (or dad's) spaghetti?

Do you remember taking on a few of the BIG questions before going to sleep at night and feeling like you almost had things all figured out?

I do. I remember it from a time not so long ago...

Not Just This Poem

2008-03-26T21:19:00.003-04:00

If I had a word
for every time
I wished that I
could make you smile
I'd write you a book
and not just this poem.
---
I got this poem published in the university's literary magazine last semester and felt inspired to post if for you, my dear friends and family (and a few strangers too, I guess), tonight.

Science and Happiness

2008-03-26T10:04:00.003-04:00

In the long run, I don't believe scientific discoveries that extend life expectancy and improve "quality of life" actually do much for people's appreciation of life or overall happiness. On the other hand, I am entirely convinced that caring for people (sick or healthy) - even without offering any real "treatment - does wonder for them.

Would people be happier as a whole if nobody ever got the flu? if everyone lived 150 years? if no one needed wheelchairs?

Simply a Waste!

2008-03-23T23:42:00.004-04:00

This is so frustrating! So many things have come up over that last two weeks that I really want to blog about, but I simply don't have time. So what I'm going to do is write a quick post about some ideas from this Friday, but with the promise to write about earlier happenings (i.e. my fantabulous Alternative Spring Break to the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation in Arizona!) in the not-too-distant future.

In one of the many conversations with my grandma over Christmas, a peculiar side-effect of certain feminist activism promoting women's increased or equal participation in the "labour force" came up: the devaluation of parenting and of the stay-at-home parent in general.

On Friday night, as a very dear friend of mine and I were painting Ukrainian Easter Eggs and discussing our futures, that same issue came back into the picture. To it was added the issue that with today's divorce rates, it has become a pretty risky affair to be economically dependent on one's spouse.

So although we both agreed we'd love to have families, part of us would feel unfulfilled, as if we were wasting our skills if we'd didn't work too. Of course, we assured each other, that's foolish: raising kids (well) is as great a service to the community as any other! Now the thing about stating the matter so impersonally, is that most university students (ourselves included) don't really see it as applying to them.

So, pretty sure of what to expect, I still had to ask: "Do you think it would be a waste for me to be a stay-at-home dad?" She answered no. And once she said it (no doubt influenced by hour of playing with her two-year-old niece earlier that evening) I was filled such a happy, relieving, slightly exciting feeling.

No need to worry! I'm not going to drop out of school or forget about plans for after my undergrad... Part of my reaction comes from the fact that I do want family to be a central part of my life (even if I am working) and I guess, without knowing it, I was a little insecure about that, probably because, other than my parents, I don't think I've ever had someone so explicitly validate this goal.

But I'd be lying if I denied that another part of my reaction comes from the fact that being a stay-at-home dad is one dream from high school that seems to have quickly faded away in university and simply knowing that I could do that and it that would be ok is wonderful!

So if you dare, ask yourself: Do you think it would be a waste for you to be a stay-at-home parent? And if you're really brave, ask someone else!

Aufgeben

2008-03-22T10:50:00.001-04:00

Auch wenn man nie in einem kommunistischen Land gelebt hat, bringt Claudia Ruschs Meine freie deutsche Jugend zum Nachdenken über viele wesentliche Fragen. Eine der Wichtigsten dieser Fragen ist: Wann sollte man entscheiden, eine schwierige Situation zu verbessern aufzugeben und einfach etwas Neues zu suchen? Obwohl es natürlich keine feste Antwort gibt, – sie ist anders für jeden – finde ich, dass meine Generation in Nordamerika eine Tendenz hat, sehr früh aufzugeben. Ein wichtiger Grund dafür, das ich nachweisen werde, ist das mit der Globalisierung angekommene Weltbürgergefühl.

Der Schwerpunkt der Frage erscheint in Meine freie deutsche Jugend mit der Nebeneinanderstellung Claudias Schlussreaktion auf ihre Unzufriedenheit mit dem Leben in der DDR mit der ihrer Mutter. Claudia will auswandern, obwohl ihre Mutter sich entschieden hat, dort zu bleiben, um zu versuchen, die Situation zu verbessern. Um diese Auswanderungsentscheidung machen zu können, musste Claudia sich gewissermaßen fühlen, wie eine Fremde in ihrer Heimat.

In den USA gibt es heutzutage verschiedene Gründe für Jugendliche (besonders Liberale) sich nicht zu Hause zu fühlen. Aber könnte die Situation so schwierig wie in der DDR sein? Wahrscheinlich nicht. Warum dann sind Jugendliche so „ortlos“, ohne Verbindung mit irgendeinem Ort – sogar ihrer Heimat? Ein wichtiger Teil der Antwort versteckt sich nicht in der Ortlosigkeit, sondern im Weltbürgergefühl, dass die Globalisierung mitgebracht hat. Wegen dieses Gefühls verlassen Jugendliche ihre „Heimat“ nicht, wenn sie auswandern: eine andere Stadt ist wie eine andere Wohngegend; ein anderes Land, wie ein anderes Bundesland.

Eine Bindung mit der ganzen Welt ist aber nie so stark wie eine regionale Bindung. Deswegen finde ich, dass oft, statt zur ganzen Welt beizutragen, diese Leute nach dem Verlassen der Heimat einfach weniger der Gesellschaft zurückgeben. Abschließend zusammengefasst würde ich meinen Gleichaltrigen empfehlen, sich ganz ernst zu überlegen, ob sie wirklich nichts mehr an ihrer Heimat finden, bevor sie sich entscheiden auszuwandern.

Limits of Reasoning

2008-03-06T16:27:00.004-05:00

In the College of Arts and Science today, I saw a poster advertising an MA in Reasoning. This, combined with the juxtaposion of students carelessly playing frisbee and chatting on the quad with snip-its of intelligent though nerdy conversation between a professors and a Master's student I overheard, allowed me to finally put my finger on an idea I've felt for a long time but haven't been able to form into a meaningful statement until now.

Wow! With such and introduction, you're sure to be disappointed. Be forewarned, what comes next is no deep realisation.

I confess, I am a bit of an academic. I like ideas. This has given me a certain amount of admiration for other people with ideas (especially exciting, perceptive ones); however, throughout my academic career, I've come across a number of fabulous academics who, rather mysteriously, haven't managed to command my admiration.

Of course, this was simply because of shortcomings in other aspects of their lives that are more important to me, like family for example. Building on that, my realisation of the day is that reasoning abilities are totally unrelated to empathising abilities (duh! IQ ≠ EQ), so no amount of studying (even psychology or the like) can truly help people understand others on a personal level. One learns about people through people.

Spot the Difference

2008-03-04T23:39:00.003-05:00

I know the changing roles of technology in our lives and societies has become cliché; still, this anecdote is just too bizarre not to share.

As some of you will likely have noticed, I've started posting reaction papers I wrote for my class on Literature of Modern Germany. The reason: I have a few German(-speaking) friends who read this blog and the reaction papers are basically written just like blog posts. Why not?

So here's how the story goes. At the bottom of all my emails, I have a link to my blog - among other things - just to discretely recruit unsuspecting potential readers. This has led to a wonderful variety of people mentioning to me that they've checked it out - and apparently sometimes even liked it!

But today, when I received an email from a senior administrator at Mount Allison (yes Graeme, I've learned to be vague enough to maintain people's anonymity) with whom I'd been corresponding about university politics, and at the end of the message I read: "I've been enjoying your blog, by the way, and particularly enjoyed your analysis of Der Vorleser," I couldn't help but think how uncanny the whole situation was.

Here's this apparently really important administrator I'm little more than acquainted with, whom I was unaware could even read German, who enjoyed a one-page "analysis" of an albeit popular German novel that I wrote for an undergraduate German Literature class at American University in Washington, DC.

Of course, it's flattering, but that's not the point. The point is that no situation remotely similar could ever have happened ten years ago.

Wer sollte wandern? Eine Reaktion auf Kerkelings "Ich bin dann mal weg"

2008-03-02T18:32:00.002-05:00

Wenn man über eine Pilgerreise liest oder davon hört, kommen die Fragen heraus: Könnte ich das machen? Sollte ich das machen? Wer sollte denn wandern? Meiner Meinung nach ist es ganz leicht zu sagen, dass alle würden dadurch ihr Selbstverständnis entwickeln und deswegen sollten alle auf eine Pilgerreise gehen. Jedoch ist das für eine Analyse zu simpel. Ich werde in diesem Papier nachweisen, dass es verschiedene Arten das Selbstverständnis entwickelnde Erfahrungen gibt, dass das Wandern ein nicht besonders praktisches Selbstverständnis entwickelt, und dass diese Selbstverständnisentwicklung ein etwas selbstsüchtiges Ziel ist, das sich nicht alle leisten können.

Erstens kann man doch sagen, dass eine Pilgerreise eine gute Erfahrung für alle wäre, weil man mehr ich-bewusst wird, usw. Trotzdem kann man das Gleiche über das Gehen auf Exerzitien sagen, oder über die Meditation oder sogar über das Plaudern mit Freunden. Manche haben schon eine Pilgerreise gemacht. Wäre eine zweite noch günstig? Ja, wahrscheinlich aber vielleicht nicht so sehr wie die Erste und etwas Anderes wäre günstiger. Die Eignung einer Pilgerreise hängt von der persönlichen Situation jedes Einzelnen ab.

Zweitens gilt das Selbstverständnis, das man vom Wandern bekommt, nur für manche Situationen. Zum Beispiel kann man auf einer Pilgerreise viel über die Stärke seiner Entschlossenheit lernen und wird wahrscheinlich auch vieles über seine Glaube und Gläubigkeit lernen. Aber dieses Verständnis ist nicht allgemein gültig. Wie wäre es, wenn man auf einer Pilgerreise mit einem 20-Kilo Rucksack ginge? Wahrscheinlich anders als ohne ihn. Zudem gilt das Selbstverständnis besonders für Situationen, in denen man allein ist. Setzten Sie, zum Beispiel, die Erfahrung einer Pilgerreise mit der Erfahrung einer einmonatigen Campingreise in der Wildnis mit einem Freund. Von der Campingreise würde man tatsächlich viel mehr darüber lernen, wie man sich mit anderen verhalten kann.

Zuletzt ist das Selbstverständnis immer etwas Gutes, aber durch eine Pilgerreise entwickelt man es auf Kosten vom täglichen Leben. Wenn man ledig ist, ist das Problem nicht so groß: man hat keine Kinder, keinen Ehepartner, usw. Aber dennoch muss man Freunde und Familie für eine Zeit allein lassen und kann sie nicht unterstützen. Deswegen, würde ich sagen, wäre es besser für manche Personen, tägliche Meditation zu machen, ein bisschen Zeit am Wochenende allein zu verbringen, u.Ä. Man muss vorsichtig sein, um nicht zu vergessen, dass das Wandern sich nicht nur auf die wandernde Person auswirkt.

Also wenn Sie sich fragen, ob eine Pilgerreise richtig für Sie ist, vergessen Sie nicht, dass es andere Möglichkeiten gibt, dass die Sachen, die man vom Wandern lernt, nicht unbedingt die Wesentlichen sind und, dass eine Pilgerreise sich auf Andere auswirkt.

Learning to Fly

2008-02-27T16:07:00.000-05:00

I reckon a person who can walk and run and cycle and swim would imagine being in a wheelchair, without the ability to do these things, to be worse than it actually is. Moreover, if no one could use their legs, it seems obvious that few people would care to be able to walk 'like an ostrich'. It would be like not being able to fly in our reality; of course, people dream of it, but few are really bothered by the fact that they can't.

Now this dreaming has probably been vital to the survival and success of our species, and it has likely become such and important part of human nature, that it's essential for most anyone to be happy; however, when people become too fixated on these dreams, they seem to lose the ability to appreciate the magic of our current reality.

Let me explain with the example that got me thinking of this.

I recently decided to give me knees a break and start swimming instead of running. The first couple of times, I would try to do a certain number of laps, but after a while, I figured since I was just doing it to stay healthy, it really didn't matter, so I started just doing as much as I felt like and had time for.

Anyone who has done laps before will appreciate the fact that it actually takes a good deal of concentration to keep track of how many you've done. So when I stopped counting, my mind was suddenly free. And that's when I noticed that swimming is exactly like flying, but better. In fact, as I pushed off from the shallow end and the distance to the ground below me slowly began increasing, I was filled with the same thrill as when flying down a hillside in a dream. But I had even more control: I could stop in one spot, slowly go straight up or down, even go backwards! I wasn't an eagle, out of control; I was a masterful hummingbird!

All that to say, why save fantasy for your dreams, when you can live it everyday?

Success!

2008-02-14T09:20:00.003-05:00

It is infinitely more benificial to be able to cope with failure than it is to succeed consistently.

Becoming yourself

2008-02-12T23:07:00.008-05:00

In university, whether or not one admits it, a serious amount of selection and internalization of values occurs in every student. In the process, certain values are also downplayed and rejected - usually unconsciously. In my mind, one must make every effort to monitor this process since after university, it can only be reversed with much difficulty.

My reasoning - admittedly largely influenced by my drugs and behaviour class and somewhat neuroreductionist perspective - is as follows.

The older we get, the more we become accustomed to getting positive feelings or "reward effects" from certain activities. You study so you get that feeling of success you get from an A; you run for a runner's high; you write for a cathartic release; you party to wind down. And here's the catch: the older you get, the less willing (and seemingly able) you are to develop new skills (i.e. reward pathways) to fulfil your emotional/psychological needs. Maybe simply because adults have less time, they seem to need to experience certain feelings without much effort. Thus, though many people have always wanted to learn to play piano, few adults ever pick it up; they've already developed a creative outlet that now provides instant satisfaction.

So what's the point?

Simple: if you tell yourself you don't have time for theatre, correspondence, exercise, fun, cooking and eating ("essen" nicht "fressen"), volunteering, music, dance, caring about people, etc. because you're a student and studies are your priority, chances are you will never have time for them until retirement.

Life starts now.

Caveat
Of course, so much of this learning process takes place during the nearly two decades preceding university (or any of the many other things that can follow high school), but it's only after high school that we become fully responsible for it.

I do.

2008-02-11T20:32:00.002-05:00

Me: Are you married?
Anonymous Canadian diplomat: No. Are you?
Me: No. I'm only 20!
Anonymous Canadian diplomat: Yeah, some people -
Me: Yeah, I guess you're right.

And that's how you can tell if a Canadian has assimilated into a foreign culture.

---

Several people have asked me about this post so I decided I should probably provide a short explanation. It's simple (no offence to those who asked me about it): the U.S. is a much more religious country than Canada; marriage rates are 50% higher here and the average age at first marriage is much lower (26 here and 29 in Canada). So the bottom line is, it would be pretty weird to be 20 and married in Canada, but not so much in th U.S.

Die Comedian Harmonists: Das Ergebnis der Musik

2008-02-08T16:22:00.000-05:00

Im Artikel „Rechtsextremistische Gewalt von Jugendlichen“ von Peter Sitzer lernt man, dass Musik ein rechtsextremistische Gewalttaten motivierender Faktor sein kann. Das ist nur ein Beispiel der Höhe des Einflusses, die Musik auf Menschen haben kann. Ich glaube, man findet ein anderes Beispiel in der Musik der Comedian Harmonists, und wegen dieser Aussagekraft ist sie so populär geworden und geblieben.

Jeder hat irgendwann leichtsinnige Glücksgefühle gehabt aber für niemanden sind sie andauernd. Deswegen müssen sich alle irgendwann nach diesem vergänglichen Glück sehnen. Meiner Meinung nach versuchen die Comedian Harmonists diese Gefühle in Menschen, die sie suchen aber sie eigentlich nicht finden können, wiederaufzuwecken. Sie schaffen das mit komplexen gehaltvollen Harmonien, leichten Melodien, neckischen Klangfarben und Texten mit einfachen Universalbedeutungen und besonders arglosen Wörtern.

Alle, die offen für diese Art Musik sind, können sich wahrscheinlich eine fröhliche Szene, wie die im Musikvideo von den Hannover Harmonists „Veronika, der Lenz ist da“, vorstellen, und danach ein bisschen lächeln. Zudem haben die Comedian Harmonists ihre Musik für spätere Generationen sehr wahrscheinlich nicht absichtlich komponiert; sie war für ihre Zeit und diesbezüglich ist es schwer für einen jungen Amerikaner (oder Kanadier) das Ergebnis der Musik – für die Leute ihrer Zeit – richtig abzuschätzten.

Abschließend finde ich die Musik der Comedian Harmonists nicht nur schön und witzig, sondern auch bedeutend. Sie hat ohne Zweifel ganz vielen geholfen, das Schöne im Leben zu sehen, als nichts recht zu sein scheint.

Gedanken zu Schlinks Der Vorleser: Warum beschuldigen?

2008-02-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

In seiner Rede zum 8. Mai 1985 schlägt Weizsäcker vor, dass Schuld als etwas Persönliches und nicht Kollektives gesehen werden sollte. Er gibt aber wenige Gründe dafür. Mir hat Bernard Schlinks Der Vorleser die Sache gut erklärt. Die Geschichte zeigt – neben vielen anderem – wie viele Ursachen jede Handlung hat. Wenn man Schuld als etwas Kollektives sieht, dann überseht man alle die persönlichen Faktoren und malt ein befangenes Bild der Täter – ein Bild, das die Vergebung verhindert – und Schlinks Geschichte nach ist das unergiebig.

Wie gesagt zeigt Der Vorleser die Komplexität jeder Handlung oder Straftat und durch die Geschichte sehen wir, dass je mehr man versteht, dass jemand ein Straftat begeht, nicht weil er einfach böse ist, desto besser kann man vergeben. Michael war wahrscheinlich nicht der beste Vater oder Mann – er hat seine Tochter ins Internat gehen lassen und dachte immer noch an Hannah, als er sich entscheidet, zu heiraten – aber war er schuldig für die schlechten Erfahrungen, die ihn gedrängt haben? Hätte er als 15-jähriger vorhersehen können sollen, dass seine Beziehung mit Hannah ungesund sein würde?

Oder hat der Vater Schuld dafür, weil er sich anscheinend nicht viel um seine Kinder kümmerte? Hätte die Mutter bemerken sollen, dass etwas mit ihrem Kind los war? Ich deute nicht darauf hin, dass niemand selbst schuldig für etwas sein kann, sondern, dass wegen der vielen verschiedenen die Straftat beeinflussenden Faktoren, man nie sagen kann, dass eine Person völlig schlimm ist und Vergeben nie verdienen wird.

Ein anderes Beispiel, in dem Schlink zeigt, wie kompliziert man zu einer Handlung kommt, sind Michaels Gedanken über den Unterschied zwischen Denken, Entscheiden und Handeln. Die Meldung dieses Teils ist klar: man kann sich gegen etwas entscheiden, aber die Sache noch tun; das heißt, Straftäter sind nicht schlimme Personen. Die gleiche Moral ist auch klar in der guten Tat, die Hannah am Ende ihres Lebens tun will.

Schließlich hatte ich im letzten Kapitel das Gefühl, dass Michael eine bessere Person geworden war – für sich und für andere – nachdem er sich seine Schuldgefühle entladen hat. Deswegen könnte man sagen, dass in diesem Fall, wenn jemand Michael noch für schuldig halten würde, wäre das unproduktiv und vielleicht sogar schädlich für alle.

In Kürze geht es im Der Vorleser viel um die Frage der Schuld. Die Geschichte zeigt, wie viele Sachen einen zum Handeln bringen und was die Auswirkungen der Verteilung und Schuldgefühle sein können.

Cul-de-sac

2008-01-30T21:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Eddie - a 37-year-old homeless African-American - was walking towards the shuttle stop with me after my afternoon of volunteering at the homeless reception centre in our neighbourhood (www.cchfp.org). The shuttle was just leaving as we got there so we went into the sitting area of Whole Foods to chat for a while. During our hour of conversation I learnt so much! He just opened up to me way more than when we're at the center in a group.

Sometimes I wonder if my volunteering at this place is really worthwhile, and that afternoon totally justified it again for me: you have to have seemingly meaningless conversations and basically just be present in a given communal area for a certain amount of time in order to "prove yourself" and establish mutual trust before people will really open up to you and your relationships start to become more mutually beneficial.

So Eddie had told me before how he worked in contruction since he was 15 and used to have a nice appartment and three cars; and how one day he just got burnt out from the strenuous physical work and stopped, eventually becoming homeless; and how - now he says - the worst thing is to have nothing to do all day; and how he was going to get another job soon (in fact he has been doing day labour on and off when the weather isn't too bad); but I was never really clear on what was keeping him from getting back to work (except "pereza", as we say in Spanish, which is approximately "laziness"/"just not feeling like doing something" in English).

Of course, talking to a homeless, unemployed person about why they don't have a job is a bit of a delicate subject, but yesterday, during our fascinating conversation about race relations in the USA, the truth came out.

It's simple: since MLK and Malcom X, wages for trades in which African-Americans typically worked (e.g. brick layers) were on the rise (at least matching inflation). It seems like African-Americans had a sort of monopoly over these jobs and they figured out that if they didn't compete too much with each other and all refused to work for a less than a certain amount, their White foremen would just have to comply.

But then the 12 million Latinos came along - more in fact, since that number is only undocumented immigrants! And of course, they would work for less. According to Eddie, they could afford to do this because culturally, they could live more people in one appartment than African-Americans.

And so now, Eddie makes the same $50 a day that he did when he was 15 - and for what?! It's not enough to save up anything after living expenses; it simply replaces the things he has now learned to get for free: food (and not just junk), shelter, even movie passes, apparently! So despite the positive feeling of having had a productive day of work, working is also sort of degrading (most White foremen will pay a White labourer twice what they would an African-American or a Latino) and doesn't offer any benefits to being unemployed here.

That's the way my buddy Eddie told it to me anyhow. It sort of reminds me of the discussions that go on here about jails: if the conditions become too liveable, homeless people will try to get in jail to get off the street...

Gedanken zu Herzogs Rede Aufbruch ins 21. Jahrhundert: Auf Kosten von was?

2008-01-23T16:20:00.000-05:00

Herzogs Rede Aufbruch ins 21. Jahrhundert bringt viele Fragen auf: Wie politisch soll der Bundespräsident sein dürfen? Wie kann man ein ganzes Volk ermutigen (wenn es sogar möglich ist)? Wie sehr soll eine Person in einer Autoritätsstellung auf ihrer eigenen Meinung drängen? In diesem Aufsatz werde ich alle diese Fragen erwähnen durch eine Diskussion über einige Herzogs vorgeschlagene Lösungen zur „deutschen Krankheit“.

Gewiss müssen die Bürger eines wirtschaftlich schwachen Landes mehr an die Gesellschaft denken und zu ihrem Wohl arbeiten. Angesichts dessen kann man Herzogs Vorschläge sehr gut verstehen, aber sogar während wirtschaftlich schwerer Zeiten darf man an sich selbst denken, seine eigenen Träume haben.

Also auf Herzogs Vorschlag, dass man nicht nur einen Beruf haben soll oder zu viel Zeit an der Universität verbringen soll, antworte ich, dass ja es insgesamt besser für die Wirtschaft wäre, aber wenn man nur – aber sehr – als Lehrer arbeiten will, wäre es wirklich kein Problem. Gleichfalls, wenn man an der Universität anfängt, ohne zu wissen was man als Beruf machen will – studierend nur wegen Interesse –, ist es auch kein Problem solange man versteht, dass seine Ausbildung ein Aufwand der Gesellschaft ist und man ihn später heimzahlen soll. Vielleicht wird diese Person, nach fünfzehn Jahren Universitätsausbildung einen wunderbaren Wirtschaftsreformplan oder eine Krebskur erfinden.

Kurz glaube ich einfach, dass der Bundespräsident eine respektvolle Stellung hat und damit kann er Viele inspirieren – und er soll das versuchen. Trotzdem kann er auch Träume vernichten und muss er vorsichtig sein, um ein Ziel nicht auf Kosten des Glücks und der Gesundheit der Menschen zu erreichen. Gewiss wurde die Wirtschaft der USA die stärkste der Welt in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts, aber wie hat sich das Leben geändert? Vor 1905 haben nur 1% U.S. Amerikaner bis zum 75. Lebensjahr an Depression gelitten; von den nach 1955 Geborenen hatten 6% vor dem Alter von 24 an eine Depression gelitten.1

Schließlich erkläre ich, dass ich nicht andeute, dass ich oder irgendwer anders eine bessere Rede als Herzogs leisten konnte. Ich kenne gar nicht genug den Kontext und die Folgen der Rede, das zu äußern. Ich teile nur einige Grübeleien mit.

Gedanken zu Weizsäckers Rede zum 8. Mai 1985: Schuld und Vergebung

2008-01-23T16:17:00.001-05:00

Letztes Semester habe ich einen Kurs über das U.S. amerikanische Gefängnissystem genommen. Als Kanadier war das Interessanteste der Klasse, die Meinungen meiner U.S. amerikanischen Kollegen über Gerechtigkeit lernen zu können. Ich war wirklich erstaunt darüber, wie strafend die Meisten waren. Natürlich tauchen diese Einstellungen nicht aus dem Nichts auf: sie haben ihre Ursache in der Geschichte des Landes.

Im Vergleich mit den U.S.A. hat Deutschland eine ganz andere Geschichte, deswegen ist es keine Überraschung, dass die Einkerkerungsrate fast 10 mal niedriger als in den U.S.A. ist. In der Weizsäcker Rede zum 8. Mai 1985 war ich am meisten beeindruckt von Weizsäckers hoch entwickeltem Verstehen der Bedeutung des Zweiten Weltkrieges für das deutsche Volk, besonders die Schuld, Verantwortlichkeit und Schicksale betreffend.

In der Einleitung der Rede erklärt Weizsäcker, dass, obwohl das Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges erscheint für die Teilung Deutschlands schuldig zu sein, der Anfang des Krieges dafür verantwortlich ist. Danach kann er beitragen, dass der 8. Mai ja „ein Tage der Befreiung“ war. Trotzdem, wegen des Fehlens der Vollfreiheit für Ostdeutsche, ist der 8. Mai noch kein Tag zum Feiern für Deutsche.

Aber wie ist es dann mit den deutschen Soldaten? Sind sie denn an der Teilung – und so viele andere schreckliche Folgen des Krieges – schuldig? Weizsäcker erklärt die Sache so:
„Die meisten Deutschen hatten geglaubt, für die gute Sache des eigenen Landes zu kämpfen und zu leiden. Und nun sollte sich herausstellen: Das alles war nicht nur vergeblich und sinnlos, sondern es hatte den unmenschlichen Zielen einer verbrecherischen Führung gedient.“

Während der Rede setzt er dem Leser auseinander, dass alle, die mit den Nazis gekämpft haben, unmenschliche Leiden begangen haben und wir sie verantwortlich dafür machen sollen. Jedoch, in Anlehnung an Anne Frank, sichert er dem deutschen Volk zu, dass diese vielen Deutsche nicht übel gesinnt waren und ihnen vergeben werden kann und soll.

Außerdem „ist [Schuld], wie Unschuld, nicht kollektiv, sondern persönlich.“ Daher muss man dem deutschen Volk eben nicht vergeben, sondern nur den verwickelten Personen. Wenn die meisten Deutschen gleicher Meinung mit Weizsäcker über diese Sachen sind, dann wären sie ganz geduldig, rational und versöhnlich. Vielleicht wäre die post-Zweiten-Weltkriegserfahrung sogar stark genug, um die typische Gepflogenheit, 'Kriminelle' wegen eines Ereignisses abzustempeln, zu beseitigen.

Das wäre wirklich eine schöne Folge des Krieges und ich hoffe, dass es wahr ist, aber in Wahrheit weiß ich nicht wie viele dieser Meinung sind. Mindestens war es eine wichtige Tendenz als Weizsäcker diese Rede gehalten hat.

The Great White South

2008-01-18T15:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, did it ever snow! (Well, it was actually a big mix of snow, slush and rain, but good enough to be called snow here.) I noticed that in the Great White South, they do things a little differently than in the Great White North.

-First, before the snow showed any signs of turning to rain, several people were using umbrellas, presumably to keep their hairdos all perfect. Others were sporting ever-so-cool flip-flops.

-The university's response was quite amusing: loads of salt were sprinkled on top of the melting slush (which was all gone by morning), and instead of mini-tractor-snowplough things to clear the sidewalks, they hald mini sweeping-mashines that are used in the Great White North to clear the sand in the spring.

Oh those crazy Great White Southerners!

Simply Delicious

2008-01-18T15:34:00.000-05:00

The other day in meal hall, they had steamed quinoa with (uncooked) sliced granny smith apples and dried cranberries - all locally grown organic and without any goopy MSG sauce. Sure they've got a bit more a budget here, but really, would that be so hard to reproduce at Mount Allison or anywhere else?

Stories from Sackville, Part VI: Cottage Country

2008-01-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

Unlike in Ontario, cottages aren't very popular in the Maritimes. There's nothing to escape from here.

Stories from Sackville, Part V: Belonging

2008-01-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

Looking out the window on the train from Sackville to DC (via Montreal and NYC) I'm filled with such a sad sense of leaving the place where I belong most. Every birch and pine, the old farms and fields, the ponds and marshlands, the birds, the snow, the churches and little white Maritime house, the hilly landscape and majestic dead trees, the empty winding roads, the villages – seen in their entirety from the train and understood as a single entity –, the cows and horses, the bilingual signs, the red mud of the Bay of Fundy and the simple bridges that span across it – all these things seem to tear a piece out of me as I pass by them, holding them ransom until my return. And what about all the people? And Sackville? They've definitely taken their share too.

Of course, I've left parts of myself behind in several other places, which makes it really heartwarming to return there as well, but I think there's more of me in Sackville than anywhere else. That's why I'd say it's where I belong most; it's where I'm most complete.

Stories from Sackville, Part IV: What's in It for Me

2008-01-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

On the train to Sackville from Montreal, the attendant asked for two volunteers whom she could show how to open the door in case of emergency. After a couple minutes of begging, she resigned herself to showing only the one person who volunteered. After the “training” she put a sticky note with “AB” for “able body” at the volunteer's spot.

When I got onto the train from Sackville to Montreal, the attendant immediately put the “AB” note above my seat. Five minutes later, she came and “asked” if she could show me the procedure. This Maritimer rightfully knew that on a train full of other Maritimers, whomever she asked would be more than willing to help.

Stories from Sackville, Part III: Lunch with Mr. President

2008-01-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

Last spring, when the announcement went around campus that I had been awarded a Killam Fellowship, my friend the university President emailed me a message of congratulations – addressed to “Nico” – inviting me to lunch. We tried to work things out, but I was simply too busy touring with the university's bilingual theatre troupe, Tintamarre.

So, when I decided to go to Sackville for the last week of my winter break (the first week of classes at Mount Allison) I wrote Dr. Campbell to see if he wanted to go for a run together – yes, he is an avid runner, even in the winter. He replied that he was busy with all sorts of conferences and things that week but that I should call him at his home when I arrived on Sunday to arrange a coffee date that evening.

I called a couple of times but couldn't catch him in. The third time, I left a message. I didn't get a call back so I assumed he was just too busy and that we missed our only chance.

Thursday night, I bumped into him and his wife on the street and he asked why I hadn't called. He hadn't received my message. We arranged to have lunch the next day. We went to Joey's, a nice Italian restaurant, had beer, the lunch special and coffee, and chatted for well over an hour about my experience, travelling and living abroad, Mount Allison politics, Canada-US relations, etc. all the while bringing peers and professors whom both of us always knew.

His treat.

Stories from Sackville, Part II: Fame and Fortune

2008-01-13T11:58:00.000-05:00

During my five days in Sackville, I was continually thinking of how I could explain what was so special about that place, why I was so happy to be there. To someone at American University or from any larger city, this is what I would say.

After one or two semesters at Mount Allison, you're basically guaranteed to be a celebrity. This becomes particularly obvious after spending some time abroad. From the moment I arrived at the train station in Sackville to the moment I got onto the train back to DC, all I did was chat (in a real, not virtual sense) with dozens of people who all knew me: my hometown, my program, my extra-curriculars, my interests, my family, etc. Without any pre-arranged meetings, I easily saw over thirty of my closest friends: peers, profs, staff, friends at the nursing home, friends at the Special Populations Program, and other community members. Breakfast was the only meal I ever had alone.

Literally, every day, I would get up, have breakfast, go wander the town and campus and wait to be accosted. This is by no means an exceptional treatment; the same would happen to anyone visiting or returning to Sackville after any “prolonged” time away. Moreover, I sometimes noticed my friends first and quickly showed them how special they are to me. Honestly, I couldn't be any happier to see someone, even if they were famous by popular standards and I couldn't be any more flattered by all those excited to see me, even if there were the typical masses that greet “real” celebrities.

But that's just an explanation for city folks. For you confused hillbillies who aren't quite sure what I'm getting at, in laymen terms we say that there's a beautiful community in Sackville.

Stories from Sackville, Part I: Arriving in Sackville

2008-01-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

After arriving at the train station in Sackville and chatting with a couple of friends who had come to meet others arriving by train, I made my way over to the house where I would be staying. As I was going down the street – ecstatic – I heard a whistling sound behind me; so I turned to see who it was, but there was no one there. After looking a little more closely, I saw the birds in the trees. You can nearly always hear them when you're outside in Sackville. This takes a little getting used to after a few months in DC.

Just before arriving at the house, I came across an older man shovelling snow. Not only did he greet me, but he also told me all about his time working as a janitor at Mount Allison, we talked about the friends I was staying with – he had just been to a little good-bye party at their place for one of them who is on an exchange in New Zealand this semester – and all sorts of other things for nearly a hour.

Oh Sackville!

I know it's healthy, but I just feel so fat!

2007-12-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

Today on the university shuttle I overheard two girls talking behind me. They were going for sushi because the one had a bit of a nervous breakdown that morning. As she explained to a friend on her cellphone - holding back tears - she had her period for the first time in 6 months and it made her feel bloated and unable to eat. Still a bit of an outsider to the world of girl things, I thought I should listen in a little more before coming to any conclusions. My suspicions were quickly confirmed. "I know it's healthy, but I just feel so FFFFFFFFFAT!"

The rest of the bus ride (a couple of minutes), I tried to imagine what this girl sitting behind me looked like. When she got out, a caught a quick glimpse; pretty plain Jane: black hair just past her shoulders put up nicely with a clip, grey sweatpants and a navy blue American University sweatshirt, running shoes and a knee-length, rather cute blue jacket. I knew better than to expect a super-thin cheer-leader type, but this girl was just so normal. How many other normal-looking girls go through nervous breakdowns when they get their periods? :-S

Are there any questions? Comments?

2007-12-07T09:21:00.000-05:00

Over the last 2 days, there have been 20 visits to this blog and only 1 comment. Even with the direct question at the end of my last post, I just can't seem to stimulate any response. If I don't know you or don't know you read my blog, I promise not to be creeped out if you suddenly make your presence known through a comment - and you can even comment anonymously if you want. Na ja, thanks for reading anyhow - but a special thanks to Hannah and Rachel for your regular comments :)

The System

2007-12-04T20:18:00.001-05:00

There is something inherently wrong with an education system in which, for lack of time, one must sacrifice reading a book one is totally excited about for skimming over it and improvising a book review about it - following strict guidelines - in order to get a good grade.

Now of course, one could place the responsibility on the individual to better manage their time or to take the initiative to read the book on their own time; however, in such a grade-oriented culture in which following guidelines is given more value than developing an in-depth understanding, I believe the problem is clearly systemic. Students cannot take their education into their own hands while satisfying the requirements of the system and maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Everyone, at some point in their academic career, must make a choice to neglect at least one of those three areas in order to better focus on another, and unfortunately, in this society, most pressures favour the prioritization of grades.

What do you think?

Annie Get Your Gun

2007-12-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday night, coming back to campus on the metro, I sat down in a relatively full car just across from a rather unique looking character. He was wearing a dirty, torn, reaking, and obviously mismatched army uniform. He had a German flag patch on his arm, was wearing a couple of different layers for warmth and impermeability and had a camo back pack. He was sporting a sort of mushroom cut but with the sides totally shaven and had bites or welts of some sort on his face and neck.

Like everyone around me, I tried not to give him too much attention but without seeming to be shunning him. However, especially wearing a suit and carrying a laptop bag, I couldn't help but feel rather unsafe and, yet again, understand why one would want to carry a weapon wherever they go. In two other instances here in DC I've found myself sitting apprehensively with my hand in my pocket and my thumb on the "9" button of my cellphone.

In Newfoundland, within days of the incident in which border officials killed an agitated, though seemingly harmless Polish immigrant in a Vancouver airport using a Taser, their use and future purchase was halted. Since the province's first acquisition of Tasers in 2003, they have never been used.

Walking the Dog

2007-12-03T20:14:00.000-05:00

Today, for the second time, while I was running, I saw a young boy "walking" a little dog in the forest. That is, he was standing in one spot indifferently holding the dog's short leash and playing some type of handheld videogame while the dog basically walked on the spot, sniffing around to kill time.

Pretty Rich Girls

2007-12-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

In a cab to the airport last Wednesday, I got talking with the driver and when he heard I was studying at American U, he warned me to watch out for all the "pretty rich girls". It made me feel a little sick - like I was expected to be attracted to girls because they were pretty and rich but that I somehow had something they didn't and I had to protect it from them. I wished I was at Mt.A. again where, I like to think, one would never hear such a comment.

Going Back to the Secret Garden

2007-11-21T14:17:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Washington is a relatively green city and I'm incredibly lucky to have a good 10 km of trails right beside campus that meander through lush, mostly undisturbed forest.

On my run through the trails today, I decided one of the best things of being a baby would be not to have to watch where you're going - with someone carrying you or pushing you in a stroller, you're free to take in everyting around you. So, in a jealous attempt to regain that privilege, I decided I had done enough trail running to be able to do the same while running.

At first it was amazing! Tree trunks completely covered in leafy vines looked like overgrown pillars in a secret garden; I mavelled at them for a little while, with the beautiful yellow backdrop of leaves and the occasional crimson red tree appearing out of nowhere, like a burning bush. And then I tripped over a root.

That didn't stop me though: I started examining all the different twisted roots on the forest floor. I went from feeling like a baby crawling through tunnels only visible to me in a forest of adult legs to feeling like a giant trampling through a village of grasses, acorns, shrubs, etc. Then as I turned a corner, there were hundreds of yellow leaves falling out of the sky, foreshadowing the millions of snowflakes soon to come. As I sprinted, trying to catch them, I twisted my ankle on a rock. Time to start walking back.

Even more so than on the way there, I constantly felt like I was lost: "I can't have run passed that bench dozens of times and never noticed it"; "no, I don't remember ever crossing any bridges"; "I thought there was only one spot where the trail came so close to the street"; but sure enough, I had seen all these things dozens of times, I had just never noticed them.

As I emerged from the forest, running again, it felt like I was no longer part of that magical world anymore: it was now part of mine. Seconds later, I passed a man with one of the wretched leaf blowers blowing the leaves off a tree so he could blow them into a pile and dispose of them leaving a nice clean lawn. Sure there's nature in the city, but it only grows exactly where we let it and in ways we want it to.

So next time you're in the forest, when no one's looking, hug a tree and tell it it can grow wherever and however it wants :)

Crust

2007-11-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

At the homeless reception centre I volunteer at, they give out free sandwiches. Today, as I watched one of our regular clients eat the middle part of the sandwich and stuff the crust the back into the back for disposal, I thought... this would be a good anectdote for my blog.

Commu-what?

2007-11-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

Now I know many of you will have seen this poster before (especially if you came to visit the Sustainable Residence last year), but in a city where people don't even feel comfortable greeting each other on the street - it's not just that people don't do it, but people who try quickly realise it's inappropriate behaviour - I think it's important to remind ourselves of the the inestimable value of community and of couple of ways we can build a community.

And if anyone thinks the poster's suggestions are simply wishful thinking, you're overdue for a trip to Sackville, NB.

Oh Sackville, how I miss you!

Friendly Foreign Nations

2007-11-18T14:44:00.001-05:00

I love to read sections in books about the USA that talk about Canada. In "Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prisons", in a short section about the tainted blood scandal in which "hundreds of Canadian hemophiliacs were infected with HI of hepatitis by contaminated blood collected in a U.S. prison" Alan Elsner writes:

"There can hardly be a better example of hw disease within the U.S. prison system spread, not just throughout our society, but in this case infected innocent victims in friendly foreign nations."

Could You Be the Next Prime Minister?

2007-11-18T13:58:00.000-05:00

I've met some of really nice, down-to-earth people during my 3 months in the USA, but of course, I hear and see some things that are simply hilarious in their aburdity, especially since others find them completely normal.

The other day, I overheard a guy talking to a friend of his (on his cell, of course) about how he had worked out some problems with his girlfriend and that really most of their problems stemmed from misunderstandings and miscommunication. One example he gave was that his girlfriend likes to get her sleep but he likes to stay up talking late into the night. Thus since "[he's] genetically engineered to be a politician and doesn't need sleep" and his girlfriend does, "like normal people", he just has to learn to let her sleep at night.

The worst part was that, although I don't think politicians are "genetically engineered" to do so, he's probably right that learning to deal with sleed deprivation is an important aspect of succeeding in politics. I guess I'll stick to organic farming.

Let 'em rot in jail!

2007-11-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

I talked with a young law student yesterday at a free dinner for international students and others interested, and it just reinforced a bunch of ideas I've been developing about justice and jails in this country (I'm taking an amazing course on this topic!).

We started talking about Canada a bit, and when she noticed I had a book with me - called Gates of Injustice - that I'm reading for that justice class, we got onto the topic of incarceration. She asked about differences, and I told her how much more punitive people are here. She asked why, and I mentioned, part of it was differences in laws. I gave her the example of the daycare sex abuse hysteria that swept the USA in the 80s and 90s which Canada largely evaded - apparently in part because we required physical evidence, while here, they convicted simply based on the coached testimonies of 3-year-olds.

Then she asked about more of the root causes, and I tried to explain that throughout US American history, the country has often considered itself a "city on a hill", a perfect model (or at least the best) that other nations were expected to replicate, when they realised how good it was. Of course, in this context, there's a lot more at stake when people go out of line - it's not just a personal thing, they're polluting the perfect image of the whole nation!

Next we went on to minimum (or determined) sentences and "three-strikes-your-out laws". I explained how in reaction to public outrage, politicians have often established or raised minimum sentences for certain crimes (especially drug-related). Why should the minimum for drug dealing be less than the minimum for armed robbery (not a real example)? Both are just as harmful and dangerous! And so slowly everything moves up and usually with unforseen but severe consequences for petty criminals who really don't deserve such harsh sentences but get included through poor foresight and exceedingly broad definitions. However, once the minimum is in place, it becomes virtually impossible to lower (i.e. it would be political suicide to try to be more slack on crime), regardless of the consequences.

In response to this, my interlocutor said that determined sentences were necessary to combat widespread discrimination in sentencing. I didn't know what to say, except that racism exists in Canada as well, and we seem to manage somehow.

Finally - and this is the part that really did it for me -, we got into the issue of rehabilitation. I explained how there is a much greater focus of this in the Canadian system. Apparently, we do some of the leading research in this area. In contrast, the USA is known to be one of the harshest prison systems (or prison industrial complex, as people often call it now). Obviously, this difference in perspective would have significant effects on rates and lengths of incarceration. And in response to this, the futre lawyer told me that she would be interested in comparing the recidivism rates (percent of inmates that end up back in jail) because the truth is, once you end up in jail, it basically shows that you didn't get the parenting and upbringing you needed - and as an teen or young adult, it's just too late to be able to make up for that and fix these people: prisons and jails are the only place they belong.

And the scariest part is that this is by no means an exceptional attitude! So whatever you do, don't be accused of any crimes in this country (because it often doesn't matter whether you actually did it or not; an accusation can be the end of your life as a free human with any worth).

North Carolina State Fair

2007-10-21T19:01:00.000-04:00

I totally don’t have time to be doing this, and I’ll probably regret it when I’m working frenetically to get a million things done at the last minute, but I just have to get down some of my thoughts about this past weekend.

During the fall orientation for my Killam Fellowship, all the Fulbright Students and Scholars that are/will be doing research in Canada during this academic year were also present. During introductions, one of them, a professor at North Carolina State University (in Raleigh – pronounced Rolly) who will be in Vancouver on her Fulbright next semester, extended an invitation to any Killam wishing to experience the American South; in Raleigh, NC, today is the last of 10 days of the largest state fair in the country...

Friday morning, for $36, I was on a train to Raleigh and when I arrived at 5pm, Toddi was there to pick me up. We went straight to her 125-year-old home, through my stuff in the guest room, and headed off to Durham, NC (the home of Duke University) for a real Southern dinner at a family restaurant. Hushpuppies (fried cornbread), Brunswick Stew (hmmm... tasty corn and bean goop?), string beans, fries, fried chicken, and of course, Bar-B-Que (some sort pork cooked with vinegar and hot sauce), this – and the traditional Southern breakfast I had this morning – reminded lots of what one might find at a family restaurant in rural New Brunswick – and so did the customers’ waistlines.

Saturday was the 6th birthday party of Lina, Toddi and Joe’s daughter. I find, as a uni student, it’s always so nice to be exposed to family life, and putting up balloons and streamers in the morning for the Cinderalla Party was no exception!

After the party, it was time for the fair! I’d never seen any one thing like it before, but it was something like a combination of an amusement park (really big and with some serious rides), a midway (some smaller rides and a rather low-profile atmosphere), a craft fair (lots of craftwork and food), and a zoo (all sorts of farm animals included a cow I had the pleasure of milking!).

A few things I found noteworthy:

-signs with pricing in Spanish and even one guy advertising his little game (e.g. throw darts at balloons and win a prize if you pop one) in Spanish

-mixing of all racialised and socio-economic groups

-a real sense of safety: despite not having any police or guards visible except at the entrance and being so crowded we couldn’t even move in some places, nobody seemed afraid of pick-pocketing or obsessed with keeping their children in sight; like at the ice-cream shop we went to the night before, the sign prohibiting concealed weapons on the way in didn’t really seem necessary

-a significant agricultural connection: farm animals (some that had won prizes and been auctioned off: a $25 000 pig, for example), prize-winning produce (including a pumpkin weighing over 1000 pounds), every kind honey product, a huge exhibit on ethanol and conservation, etc.

-a lot of politics including a booth for the Republicans and one for the Democrats, a pro-life booth, and a peace booth (with a petition to close Guantánamo)

And now, I only have time for one more very important thing: I’d like say a huge thank you to Toddi, Joe and Lina for their incredible kindness and hospitality, for taking time to share their ideas with me, and just for giving me such a fantastic opportunity! Gotta love Americans!

The Uncle I Never Knew

2007-10-20T12:19:00.000-04:00

In university, everybody wants to see the world, broaden their horizons. And I think that's great: a bit of perspective surely never hurt anyone, and what better time is there to travel and entertain all sorts of crazy new ideas than in university?

So if you could go anywhere on a trip – an exchange, for example – where would it be? China? Germany? India? Guatemala? Ghana? New Zealand? I'm sure I'm missing a whole slew of countries people would choose, but somehow, I don't imagine anyone is objecting too strongly to my omission of the USA.

I know, I know: it's just like Canada but way more capitalistic; you'll probably get shot; a country governed by George W. Bush! Enough said. But have you ever wondered what lies beneath all these generalisations? And really, how many people actually carry weapons? What are these people like? Aren't Canadians more wasteful than Americans? And what's a young Republican like? Just a mini version of George Bush perhaps?

I guess what I'm getting at, is that during the last two months, I've been studying in Washington, DC on a Killam Fellowship (if you don't know what that is, you better find out soon) and my experience so far has been more incredible than I could ever have imagined! I've learned so much American history and seen it manifested in the culture that surrounds me; now, I can actually fully understand how one could view the invasion of Iraq as the only right thing to do; I met a lovely Evangelical Baptist girl from the Bible Belt and we had a great discussion about religion during which she not once mentioned any reason I should believe anything different than what I believe now. Of course, I also got to see the Dalai Lama share a stage with Bush and Richard Gere, I heard the National Symphony Orchestra play in the Kennedy Centre, and I attended a speech by a death row inmate who was acquitted 15 hours prior to his scheduled execution thanks to new DNA evidence.

Having also been blessed with the opportunity to study in Costa Rica and travel Europe, I must concede that there's much to learn in every country. But if you're interested in travelling but not in languages, or if you'd like to be somewhere close enough to home to be able to go back for Thanksgiving, or if your program would require very specific courses from time spent abroad, maybe you should consider the US?

A comparison I can offer to give you an idea of the value of studying in the US is the following. Imagine two Canadian physicians. One decides to spend a year studying Eastern medicine in China and the other decides to work in a hospital in Costa Rica. The first would likely learn a plethora of totally new treatments and techniques and would develop a broadened understanding of health and wellness. Although he may not be able to apply the Eastern treatments to his practice, his new understanding of health and wellness would undoubtedly be quite valuable.

The second physician, on the other hand, might learn some useful and cost-effective alternatives (still acceptable by most Western patients' standards) to more expensive Canadian treatments of simple ailments. She would probably also pick up on various other advantages in efficiency in a primarily public healthcare system which could be applied – with certain modification – to the Canadian system to decrease waiting times, for example. An enriched understanding of health and wellness would also inevitably ensue from this experience as well.

As this example shows, a greater difference in culture does not necessarily convert into a more meaningful experience. Personally, I think most paths end up leading us back home – or not too far away – and therefore, experience in a culture that is not too distant from our own can often prove to be quite useful in the long run. Nevertheless, I don't think anyone, myself included, is in a position comment on the overall value of travel to one country versus that to another. I simply challenge you to try to view the USA for what it is: a distinct country with its own complex culture. A culture with its faults, but with its qualities too; a culture with differences from ours, but with similarities too (and not just in qualities).

And if you can do that, you're probably a perfect candidate for a Killam Fellowship and you should check out www.killamfellowships.com. If you're still not convinced or would simply like to read more about my experience in Washington, DC, check out my blog at nicodube23.blogspot.com.

Notes from a talk by an acquitted death row inmate

2007-10-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday, when I heard from my lovely friend Laura that her class was invited to attend a talk by a Floridan who had spent several years on death row and, 15 hours prior to his scheduled execution, had been acquitted based on DNA evidence, I knew that was an opportunity most people would never have. I got the information from her that night and decided that if I made the trek, found the church basement where the talk was being help, and simply sat down, nobody would notice. That's exactly what happen: ni vu, ni connu. What follows are a few point form notes I took of things he said that I found particularly striking during his talk. He went by Bob, but I can't find his full name right now...

-When someone commits an atrocious crime, epecially against someone close to you, it would be wierd if you didn't want to strangle them. (Of course, though, Bob was strongly opposed to the death penalty.)

-He spent 15 years in isolation, only ever having human contact with his guard!

-Because there's nothing to see in your 5 x 6 cell, you develop a great sense of hearing: at night, you can hear a little noise and know that the guy 5 cells over is hanging himself. In the morning you find out you're right.

-You have to find the strenght to rise above the dehumanization and tell yourself: "I'm not going to take my life. I'm not abnormal."

-"When people see me they don't know who I am or what I've been through beause I always have a smile on my face."

-2 days before your execution, you're moved to a special cell for the presidential treatment: you get to hear the chair being tested twice a day: zzzzzzzzzzzzzap! zzzzzzzzap! A civilian also comes in to measure you, like an inanimate object, to make something for your corspe to wear.

-During your time of presidential treatment, there is also a lieutenant there 24/7 to ensure you don't deny the State the right to kill you by doing it yourself.

-When he was finally released, he thought it was a trap and that someone would shoot him, claiming he was trying to escape.

-After being released, it took him 3 weeks before he could strap a seatbelt around himself.

-The first thing he wanted upon his release was a glass of ice water (they only get lukewarm water in prison).

-It took him 8 yrs to find a job because of 15-year gap in his resumé. One employer said he didn't meet the requirement of not having been convicted in the last 5 years. He now works at the Covenant House here in DC.

-He is afraid that one day all his emotions erupt and only hopes to be alone if it happens.

-All he wants from the state is an apology. He turned down a $10 million settlement agreement they offered him instead.

-He found his emotions were the same as those written about by a man who was in a Nazi concentration camp.

-His brother needed a kindney transplant and they couldn't find a match other than Bob's. However, Bob was first denied permission to go to the hospital and donate his kidney because it was too far away. His brother then moved to the hospital used by the prisoners, but they still would not allow him to leave the prison. 8 days later, his brother died.

-Of his work at the Covenant House, he said that most people have issues, but that if we had been through what they went through, we would have issues too.

-When back in Florida for the first time since his release to give a talk at a university, the prosecutor's daughter and son organized a protest. He "gave them a spanking" during the question period of his talk.

To end on a funny note:
-When talking about where the Covenant House is active, he mentioned the USA, Honduras, and "two other Latin American countries: Mexico and Canada."

Ring! Ring! (or rather, all those other wacky sounds cell phones make)

2007-10-13T20:58:00.000-04:00

The problem with studying in a big city is that you end up having too much fun and not finding any time for blogging. So here's my attempt at giving you a glimpse into my new life in DC.

First off, I had heard stories from some friends who studied in the USA that a cellphone was a necessary amenity for one simply to exist on a campus here. However, well aware that "the demand for cell phones and computer chips is helping fuel a bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo" (please check out this excellent site for more info), I was reluctant to give in. Still, one of my priorities here was meeting new people and building new friendships, and there was also the safety issue, so with a bit of convincing from my parents, I gave in; last month, I used about 500 minutes and sent just over 100 text messages.

But it's important to understant that those 7 hours on the phone are nothing like time spent on a real phone. This may seem paradoxical at first because of the similarity in function of the two types of telephones, but as with email and snail mail, despite this similarity, the two have completely different uses, especially in college (i.e. university in the USA). There is of course a chunk of time I spent talking with family and friends from home, but of the calls made and texts sent to friends on campus, most are used in planning to get together within a couple of hours for lunch, coffee or a movie, or just to hang out. Well maybe not all the time is spent planning - much is just chatting about how the day is going - but that's at least the main purpose of the call.

Wow! This is actually a lot harder to explain than I thought it would be, so to keep myself from babbling on endlessly, I'll just mention one more thing.

The following is what I would consider the typical way one acquires another's cell number.
1- Your friend texts you at 11:15 to see if you want to meet for lunch at 1.
2- Your friend gets a text from his room-mate inviting him for lunch.
3- The 3 of you get together for lunch.
4- It's your first time meeting your friend's room-mate and you get along passably well.
5- Time to go: you exchange phone numbers with your friend's room-mate (that is, one of you adds the other to his phonebook and calls the other who simply has to save the number).
Epilogue- Maybe you'll call each other and start hanging out regularly, maybe you'll never talk again. Most likely, you'll go for lunch one or two more times and then decide to incorporate each other into your circle of closer friends or simply stop calling each other.

That's just a glimpse into college cellphone culture. The rest, you just have to experience.

Are You Prepared (An Email from the Department of Public Safety at American University)

2007-10-12T11:22:00.001-04:00

Protecting America University students, staff and faculty is the shared responsibility of the entire AU Community. Individuals can prepare themselves for emergencies by taking simple steps such as organizing an emergency supply kit, making a personal preparedness plan, becoming informed about different threats, and getting involved in preparing their community. These activities create a culture of preparedness and can help save lives.

We should also take this opportunity to ensure that we are prepared. Everyone is asked to take this time to review AU's emergency plan on Prepared.American.Edu. In addition to the plan, members of the community are encourages to view the resource links that are contained on the website. On of the most important link is the DC Alert link. At last count only 1911 community members had signed up for the text alerts. Please sign up for the text alerts. It is the best way that you can be notified for American University emergencies as well as DC area wide emergency.

Emergency plans are only as good as the people who are responsible to carry them out. Therefore in addition to reviewing the plan, all AU community members are asked to review and revise their own individual plans. Please look at the following list of items and take the appropriate actions to ensure you are prepared. In general, you should anticipate a 72 hour (3 day) period in which electricity, water, gasoline, and food might be in short supply.

1. Have spare cash on hand. Do not depend on having access to ATM's or being able to use credit or bank cards.

2. Maintain at least a 3 day supply of water at home. Cases of bottled water or the large 5 gallon jugs will work for this. Do not store the water in direct sunlight. Many locations on campus including Housing and Dining programs have spare water on campus but it doesn't hurt to have additional water available.

3. Community members who take medication should have at least 3 days worth of that medication on their person or at work. This way they will be able to keep up with their medication in the event they are unable to get home or back to their room. Community members who are students should develop a buddy system. Keep essential items at a buddy's room in another residence hall.

4. Community members should not depend on metro or mass transit systems as their sole method to get to AU. Metro, for example, will stop running 24 hours prior to a weather related emergency. Have a back up plan or alternative method to get to AU. One good way to do this is to use the buddy system. They should pick someone at work, in their residence hall or in their neighborhood who has access to a vehicle who will agree to take them to AU in the case of emergency.

5. Prepare a bag which has a change of clothes include undergarments and keep it at work or at an alternative location. Include plastic ziplock bags to ensure the undergarments stay dry. Also include toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, toilet paper, towel, wash cloth and deodorant in this bag.

6. On off campus locations, make sure you have at least one telephone which plugs directly into the wall jack. Remember, portable phones require electricity to work. If there is no electricity, only the phones plugged directly into the jack will work.

7. It goes without saying that flashlights and batteries are essential items. However, consider getting the flashlights which use the large 6 volt battery rather than the "C" or "D" cell. These flash lights will allow hands free operation when needed. Also have a transistor ready tuned to a news station like WTOP. These radios are very useful in a crisis. Make sure the radio also has the weather stations on it. At public safety we have portable battery operated televisions and radios. Rotate and test your batteries once a year.

8. Community members with kids and a spouse, should make sure that there is a plan for them to get to safety in case of emergency without your intervention. They may be unable to get home for several hours or several days. They should make arrangements with neighbors or relatives to take care of the kids in their absence.

9. Community members who drive to AU should try to keep their gas tank above the 1/2 tank level. Long gas lines will make it difficult to get to AU on time.

10. Community members should keep their emergency information up to date. All staff members are required to keep their home address and telephone information up to date. Staff members should make sure they come into work on the date and time you are supposed to. Keep sick leave down to a minimum. Remember, co-workers are counting on each other for back up.

For more information about preparedness, please go to www.ready.gov . There is also a kids site which will help kids understand emergency preparation. Hopefully, community members will stop by the table today on the dates listed above.

As an additional incentive, we are offering to put all community members who sign up for DC Alerts between October 4 and October 30 a chance to win $100 in Eagle Bucks. To enter the drawing, community members must sign up for the text alert and forward send a copy of the email from DC Alert to dps@american.edu .

Monumental Washington

2007-09-23T10:29:00.000-04:00

I've been putting replying to some personal emails for a month now telling myself I'll get a blog entry done first and include a link in my reply. Of course, I don't have any more time now than I had earlier in the month - and I'm not just doing this to procrastinate -, it's simply time I got this done.

It’s a big enough claim to fame for a city to be the capital the USA, but when one is actually there, walking past all the embassies on Massachusetts Avenue, it’s easy to understand why some call Washington, DC the capital of the world. Before ever seeing the city, I had built it up in my mind as being huge and well... city-like: like New York. On the contrary, DC is quite green and since no building can be taller than the Washington Monument, there are no real skyscrapers. One can imagine that the number of foreign diplomats that pass through the city has created a strong pressure to keep away the negative traits often associated with cities.

But for me, the most defining part of DC is its monuments and memorials (to get an idea, check out http://www.pbase.com/jpochard/washington_dc or http://www.scienceviews.com/photo/parks/WashingtonDCMonuments1.html). These monuments aren't just sculptures either, they often incorporate the most important ideas, in the form of quotations, of the people to which the monuments are dedicated. Now, I know I have to be careful how loudly I say this around other Canadians, but the monuments in DC are so inspiring that even I, as a Canadian, can't help but to feel indebted to all those Americans who vehemently fought to reintroduce and firmly establish the ancient notions of democracy and equality back into the modern world - notions Canada seemingly effortlessly borrowed and took as its own. Now, what happened after the establishment of the USA and in the more recent past is a whole other story, but I simply ask: What would Canada be now if it hadn't been for Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison?

Germany

2007-09-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

Before I move on to the more recent happenings in my life, I really have to finish my Europe blog with a brief entry on my time in Germany.

So, after finishing up with my archaeological dig in Italy, I took a bus straight from Gravina to Rome and from there, flew (for some 15 odd Euros) directly to the Karlsruhe-Baden airport where Petra was waiting for me. When I was 2, Petra was an au pair for my family, and she's now married to a wonderful man called Gérald and has a 9-year-old daughter, Sophie, and a 7-year-old son, Jérémie.

During the 10 days I spent with them, the children read Asterix and fairy tales to me in German, I played soccer with Jérémie and accompanied Sophie on the piano as she played flute (our favourite song was Scarborough Fair), I chatted for hours about life and parenting with Petra and Gérald, I met all their crazy friends at a BBQ they hosted, I went to the movies with Petra, and we traveled to Tuebingen and Strasbourg (as you can see from my photos). All in all, it was such an amazing opportunity to spend some time with a family (something most university students don't have the chance to do too often) and to learn from the perspectives of two young parents who also knew all about my parents.

But this wasn't the only opportunity I had to do that: co-incidentally, Geli, the au pair that lived with my family before Petra, lived only 20 minutes away and so I was also able to spend a couple of days with her and her family. Since the live in a smaller town, we walked around the countryside eating oh-so-yummy plums right off of trees, checking out some schools and gardens, and eating ice cream. On top of all that, we also spent so time at the stables where Geli's daughter, Lea, rides and went to a Bee Festival.

Finally, after all this fun and some sad good-byes, I headed off to Koeln to meet my friend Marina and her boyfriend, Markus. Marina was on an exchange at my uni last year from Germany and on top of just being a great friend, she helped me out quite a bit with my German. Marina was living in Neuwied with her family and working there for the summer, but since Markus was working in Koeln and had an apartment there, we took advantage of that for a couple of days. First we did a little day-tour of Koeln during which I was most surprised at how sheltered from commercialization the cathedral had been kept. Next, we went to Bonn to see a museum called the Haus der Geschichte (House of History). It was the most well-done museum I've ever seen with interactive exhibits for all ages and beautiful presentation of information, and it was entirely free for everyone!

After this time in the city, we headed of to Neuwied for my last few days where Marina's family greeted me with such incredible hospitality and delicious food! Of course, we saw the city and ate lots of ice cream - the best I had in all of Europe! - but we also had time to take a quick trip to Koblenz and have a look around there.

And then, August 14th, it was all over. After 2 weeks of relaxation and fun with some of the kindest, most generous people I've known, it was time for that dreadful 7-hour flight back to the homeland.

Orientation in Washington, DC

2007-08-27T15:46:00.000-04:00

Photos from my orientation at American University in Washington, DC are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9131915@N04/

More photos!

2007-08-04T06:34:00.000-04:00

I am currently in the process of posting all my Italy pictures to my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicodube23
Enjoy!

The Destructiveness of Archaeology

2007-07-23T05:30:00.000-04:00

After last weekend's trip to Pompeii (an ancient town that was covered in ash during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. which kept it well preserved until its excavation starting in 1748), Herculaneum (another ancient town preserved in a mudslide that resulted from the same eruption of Mt. Vesuvius), the National Archaeological Museum in Naples (where much of the orginial artefacts from the 2 previous sites can be seen), and Mt. Vesuvius itself, I finally feel like I have enough to say about archaeology to make a post out of it. For my non-anglophone readers, I've decided to make this a multilingual post; for my uni-lingual readers, you can always add a bit of humour to your day with an online translator.

Alors, pour commencer, depuis que j'ai commencé mes fouilles ici en Italie, j'ai entendu dire a maintes reprises que l'archéologie est destructive. La première fois, j'étais un peu surpris, mais j'ai vite compris ce qu'on voulait dire: en faisant nos fouilles, on enlève les trouvailles de leurs contextes originaux faisant en sorte que l'information que quelqu'un d'autre peut tirer des trouvailles est minime. Si, par exemple, en faisant nos fouilles on enlève un morceau de céramique d'une chambre sans s'en rendre compte, dès qu'elle se trouve dans notre tas de refus, on ne peut m^eme plus savoir si la jarre vien de l'édifice dans laquelle on faisait nos fouilles. Elle pourrait provenir de n'importe où dans le champs dans lequel on travaille et avoir été déplacée par une charrue.

At the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, I saw another way in which archaeology can be destructive: once an archaeological site has be excavated, it is prone to decay (buildings falling over, frescoes losing their colour because of UV damage, etc.) and, I am disgusted to say, grafitti. Unfortunately, there seem to have been economic reasons, such as tourism, that have driven the excavation of a larger area that could preserved and protected at both sites and so every day, the less and less of the original ruins are available for viewing, and more importantly, for study.

Por esta destructividad, dicen que en la arqueologIa del futuro no van a excavar nada. En vez, estAn desarollando tecnologIas que permiten sacar la misma informaciOn sobre ruinas y artefactos a travEs la radiolocalizaciOn, etc. PuEs mientras que la tecnologIa se mejora, la misma informaciOn serA siempre disponible.

Well, that was only the first of a few archaeological topics I hope to touch on, but I have to run so the rest will have to wait until another time.

Europe?

2007-07-12T12:14:00.000-04:00

During my month on the dig, I have 2 days during which I don't have to work and instead, I stay home to clean the appartment and prepare lunch (somebody different does it every day). Today was my first one of those days and, having finished all my chores, I have a bit of extra time to write another post.

In Canada, I've often heard people talk about how different European culture is from North American culture: they're more socialist, they more environmentally conscious, they're more fashionable..., they're about 20 years ahead of us. Had I thought about this a little bit, I'd would have surely realised that these are broad generalisations and that even if these they were true across Europe, these unifying characteristics are few and far between compared to the infinite number of distinguishing characteristics of individual countries. However, I did not think of this, and in my mind, I had a rather unified picture of Europe - simply with different languages in different countries. Of course, rural, Southern Italy, is not much at all like Wien so Gravina came as a bit of a shock to me.

To begin, it's so formal and traditional! Where Wien seemed like the modern and open-minded place I imagine much of California to be like, I imagine Gravina is much like rural Northern Ontario would have been 50 years ago. The first big shock was the presence of machismo I am all too familiar with from my time in Costa Rica. In Wien, I was so impressed at people's apparent maturity towards sex and nudity: they had billboards for some sort of cream with an entirely non-erotic picture of a topless woman (there was also a male equivalent) that simply wouldn't pass in Toronto; I was at a party where a new mother casually hiked up her shirt, and began to breast-feed her baby making no attempt to conceal her breast (for example, with a little blanket, as women often do in Canada); at a swimming pool (where nudity technically wasn't allowed) there were women comfortably walking around topless, without getting any unwanted attention - nowhere did I see a woman get any unwanted attention!

In Gravina, it's the complete opposite. Men stand on the street and whistle or shout at young women, and the guys are all sooo "cool". During our trip to the beach, I spent some time chatting with the bus driver, a middle-aged, married man with 2 children, who after failing on his own, tried to get me to arrange him a date with one on my 25-year-old collegues. The strangest manifestation of the very traditional gender roles here was when I attended mass last Sunday morning: for every woman there, there were nearly 10 men! When I brought it up with Alesia, an Italian student working at one of the other sites, she told me that women usually go to mass just as much as men, but because there are masses at various other times, women probably wouldn't be at the Sunday morning one because they would be preparing lunch.

Speaking of religion, I also learnt from Alesia that most young people here are baptised, confirmed Christians, that, like in many other parts of the world, go through the motions of their faith without feeling too strongly about it. However, in contrast to what I encountered in Wien, people apparently go through the motions without really questioning or reflecting on them, and very few reject them. I certainly got a vibe of this passive acceptance at the mass I attended.

Another, more pleasing, characteristic of the culture here is the camaraderie that exists between older women. They always seem to be sitting out on their front step or balcony looking out on the street for somebody to give them a little piece of gossip. And if they happen to miss something, not to worry: most of the billboard space here seems to be used to announce deaths in the town.

As you may have noticed, my comments on Gravina are a bit more superficial than my ones about Wien (I think so anyway). This simply reflects the different way in which I am experiencing the culture. Most of my time here is spent on the site and so my interactions with and observations of the people here are quite limited. So if you actually want to know what Italy is like (or any other place I write about), please refer to aircanada.com...

Goodbye Wien, Hello Gravina!

2007-07-10T13:30:00.000-04:00

I had so much more I wanted to write about Wien: the Fujimo hip hop concert I went to in a room packed with 5000 people; all the museums, plays, concerts, operas (I saw Mozart's "Die Zauberfloete" (The Magic Flute) in the Statsoper (National Opera)!!!!!!), and art exhibits I saw, and how the portrayal of white and coloured people in them might affect the culture there; the interplay between modern and traditional culture as manifested in places like the Museumsquatier; different attitudes towards nudity; and the effect having such a long history (compared to Canada) may have on the culture. Still, having been in Gravina in Puglia for almost 2 weeks, without letting you know anything about this place and my experience here, I feel like that should come first. If any of the aforementioned topics about Wien are of particular interest to you, please let me know, because chances are I won't get around to writing about them otherwise.

So... after my 2 weeks in the wudershoene city of Wien, I hopped on a train on a Thurday afternoon, en route to Venezia. I was so glad I decided to travel during the day instead of overnight, because the trip through the Alps was breathtaking! When I wasn't looking out the window, I spent most of my time going through the Italian phrasebook of my electronic English-French-Spanish-Italian-Portuguese-German dictionary and I asked some British tourists in my wagon to teach me a few basic verb conjugations.

I arrived after 11pm in Venezia and I took me a little while to find my hostel. Around midnight, I settled down in a packed restaurant for an apparently not-so-late dinner. The following day, I saw a bit of the city but spent most of my time at the Biennale world-renowned international modern art exhibition. Aside from the stunning (and surprisingly easy to appreciate) art, it was fascinating to see the variations between the pavillons of the different countries. At one point, I found a fine arts class from the University of Prague that was having some great discussions (in German) about the art. I followed them around, discretely listening in on their engaging conversations for close to an hour.

In the evening, I saw some modern dance performances put on by the Biennale's 5-year-old international modern dance festival, which, together with the art exhibition, really opened my mind to the unlimited possibilities of modern art. In fact, I now have a little modern art project of my own I can't wait to try out...

The next day, after 10 more hours on the train learning the present, past, imperfect, future, and conditional of a dozen Italian verbs and "conversing" in Italalian for a couple of hours with an old Italian couple and some Armenians, I arrived in Gravina in Puglia, a town of about 40,000 in the South of Italy (if you search "Gravina in Puglia" on maps.google.com, you can see where it is, and if you search it on images.google.com, you'll find some pictures of it and its famous ravine).

Here, I'm living and working with 15 other students and 2 profs on an archaeological dig. The others are from Mount Allison University; Acadia University; and University of Nevada, Reno. There's also a group about the same size living in a different appartment and working on different nearby sites whom we travel and have dinner with. The site I'm working on is believed to be some sort of Roman Villa from the 1st to 2nd century A.D. and the other projects include a survey of the area (to find other good places to excavate) and the excavation of a cemetery a few centuries older than our site.

Every morning, we get up at 5:30 to be out the door at 6. It's about a 20 minute drive to the site and there we work pick-axing, shovelling, trauling, sweeping, etc. until 10 am when we break for a little snack. Around 12:30, we head home for lunch and a siesta (since people know better than to do anything but sleep in weather hotter than the morning and late-afternoon 23- to 33-ish degrees Celcius) and then go back to the field at 3:30 pm for another 2 and a half hours of work.

Upon our arrival back home in the evening, we all rush to be first into one of the 2 showers and to get in a hour of internet, reading, postcard writing, relaxing, etc. before our communal dinner at one of the town's best restaurants (which I'm going to be late for!!...). After finishing dinner around 10:30, it's straight to bed (sometimes after a quick stop at a gelatto shop).

On weekends, we're off work. Last weekend, we all went on a trip to the beach at Metaponto, this weekend, we're off to Naples and Pompei, and the following weekend - my last one here - we can either stay in Gravina or travel on our own.

Break

2007-07-02T14:18:00.000-04:00

Dearest readers,
Unfortunately, I will only be able to write in my blog weekly AT MOST. I am now in Gravina in Puglia working on my archaeological dig.
Warm regard,
Nicholas

mmm... lecker (delicious)!

2007-06-23T10:16:00.000-04:00

Five minutes ago, I really didn't feel like blogging so I decided to go to the chocolate shop next door... After biting into some cherry-brandy-cream-and-marzipan-filled organic, fair trade dark chocolate, I now feel entirely inspired to write about my experience with food in Wien.

But before I go on, yesterday I was at the train station buying a ticket from here to Bari (where I will take a train to the small village of Gravina in Puglia, the home base for my archeology course) and just because it worked out nicely, I decided to include a stopover in Venedig.
Venedig? For any non-German speakers or trivia addicts, that's the German name for Venice, or Venezia as they call it there. Now maybe you could have guessed that, but would you guess that Cologne is actually Köln (with the "ö" pronounced like the "oe" in Schoenberg or the "eu" in adieu) or that Florence is actually Firenze? And there are so many more examples! Therefore, for anyone who would one day like to visit one (or more) of the places I'm writing about and not come off as a completely ignorant North American tourist - and because I feel like I'm in Wien, Österreich, not Vienna, Austria -, from now on, when a foreign name comes up, I will only give the anglicised version the first time, and stick to the original thereafter.

Food is not only one of the more noticeable differences between cultures, but it also one of the most enjoyable aspects to experience and to talk (or blog) about. Having lived one year in Mount Allison's "Sustainable Residence" I'm going to have to take it right from the start.

In the beginning...
Although, I haven't visited any farms around here, it's easy to see that there's a real affinity for organics. Every couple of days, Biggi's aunt receives a basket of various organic vegetables through some type of co-op. One can also get fruit and add restrictions to the distance your produce comes from: within Wien, Österreich, all of Europe, etc. There's also a wide selection of local and organic foods in the grocery stores with a special label (like those we use for items on sale in Canada) for items from withing the country. Moreover, there are many small shops that only sell local produce. Of course, there are also bakeries all over, and gourmet ice cream and sweet shops scattered across the city...

"We owe much to the fruitful meditation of our sages, but a sane view of life is, after all, elaborated mainly in the kitchen." Joseph Conrad
Although the following description may not be typical of a larger household, I do get the impression that it is normal for one of less than 4 people.
In the kitchen here, everything is so compact; not a square inch of space is left unused. In the first picture, you see the distance between the sink on the right and the counter on the left is equal to my waist plus one fist - obviously not build for North Americans. The washing machine (not dishwasher, because there is none), is found under the counter, in the corner, and is connected directly to the sink. The curtain on the right hand side of the first photo is the same curtain as the one on the left of the second picture: the shower curtain. Luckily, only 2 hot meals have been prepared in the house over the last 10 days, so if someone is in the kitchen when you want to shower, the can usually migrate to another room. In the 3rd photo, you see that on the wall opposite the window (in the first picture) there is a bench against the wall (that also serves as a storage chest) and a table, the dinner table, that pulls out of the counter. You can also see a cutting board that also pulls out of the counter for a little extra space, when it's needed. Finally, there's the little fridge under the counter (beside the stove) - no freezer or microwave.

You do WHAT at COSTCO?!?!
With such limited space, especially refrigerated space, bulk shopping just couldn't work here. To supplement the vegetables that get delivered, every couple of days we pick up some milk, juice, bread, and any other little things that may be needed from a grocery store or a little shop (e.g. a bakery for the bread). No freezer obviously means no frozen foods, and in this household, meat is somewhat of a rarity that we might have once a week.

Among students, maybe adults too, picking up a sandwich or stopping at a Lokal for lunch seems more popular that packing one or going home to eat. And with some many great places to eat, why not! Some of the more interesting places where I've stopped for lunch include a Georgian restaurant (the initial interest came from the shameful fact that I had never heard of Georgia, the country, but with the arrival of our food, the interest was more than sustained) and a seafood restaurant where I had something like bruchetta with caviar.

The Italian restaurant we went to was also notable, not particularly for its scrumptious food, but because I could actually understand most of the menu (which was in Italian with German translations)! Names of foods here seems to be quite dialectic so even with Biggi along (who has been here since October and has eaten out more than a couple of times), it's often quite difficult to decipher the menus and I usually end up ordering an item based on a pretty limited understanding (e.g. "some kind of bread with tomato, something, some kind of sheep cheese, something, and some kind of sauce")

Guten Appetit!
As I mentioned, we don't have too many hot meals at home: breakfast usually consists of cereal with fresh fruit and the rest of the day is mostly snacking on different types of bread, crackers, rice cakes, etc. with spreads, cheese, and/or vegetables, and occasionally a salad. One morning, when I offered to make dinner, I gained a little insight into the reasons behind this different way of eating. I was told that it was a bad day to make something first because it was too hot to have a big meal, and second because there was already food that should be eaten before it went bad (i.e. lettuce, tomatoes, bread). Another factor I imagine comes into play is energy conservation: naturally, heating food (in the absence of a microwave) requires a lot of energy, so if one can avoid it, all the better!

And this concludes my attempt to describe something that is really not meant to be described in words. Time for another trip to the chocolate shop!

Nature

2007-06-21T13:24:00.002-04:00

So I say to myself, Nico, you really should do this blog thing; not only can people find out what you're up to, but you also get a personal record of your trip. It was a hard decision - take a few hours out of each each week to blog, or... go have fun in Vienna and tell people about it when you see them - but you know, I thought this would be the right thing to do. And what do you think I get in return? An inbox full of messages asking for photos! Come on folks, I'm doin' my darndest here! But, as any 5-year-old will tell you: nag and you shall have. So once my battery is done recharging, I'll figure out some fancy way (i.e. suitable for non-Facebookers - in case they sill exist) to let you see my photos.

Now, back to business. In response to your lovely (non-photo-related) request for my reaction to nature here, Marina, I have found you an aerial photo and a link to some video footage of Vienna.

The photo (compliments of airshoots.com) is only of the city; if I'm not mistaken, beyond the bottom and left edges, there are some beautiful field- and forest-covered mountains (47% of Austria is covered in forests - the famous "Vienna Woods"), and beyond the top and right edges, there are some plains covered in by farmers fields, scattered with small Dörfer (villages) and windmills. The river seen is the picture is the "schönen blauen Donau" (beautiful, blue Danube).

Now really, need I say anything more? Vienna is a wonderfully green city and although much of the greenery is urban or preserved/restored imperial grounds (with exquisite flower beds, mazes, and Ann of Green Gables-style tunnels made of massive trees which lead to little statues, fountains, clearings, and gardens), the foot of the mountains (with some pretty fine hiking, apparently) is just a couple of minutes away on the subway. So even in comparison to rural Sackville, I find Wien has a lot of natural beauty to offer, and it is so beautifully complimented by the city's architecture. To give you an example, the picture to the left is... the city's garbage incinerator! Beautiful! And so much potential for Sudbury...

As for the weather, it's been between 25C and 35C the whole week with only a little rain. I could complain about the heat, but really, it would just be to complain. From a geographic perspective (this sentence is dedicated to Dr. Fox), I find Wien does a good job of measuring up to Canada's natural beauty. Oh, and how could I forget: I haven't got one mosquito or blackfly bite here!

Wieners and Frankfurters

2007-06-20T03:13:00.000-04:00

A small digression from my regular chronicles:
Much has been said about wieners and frankfurters, and I feel that it my duty to take a moment to ensure all members of my captive audience understand the true meaning of the two words.
Not unlike some Canadian instances, in German, "-er" is added to place names to designate the people who live there, e.g. Maritimer, Islander, Caper (can you guess where I've been studying?), Deutscher, Kanadier, Wiener, Frankfurter. For city names, this same form is used as an adjective, e.g. Wiener Lieder (Viennese songs).

As any omnivorous person will tell you, all sausages are not equal. In this corner of Europe, people were so aware of this and sausages were so important that different types were attributed to different regions and the adjective for that place could be used alone with the "Wurst" (sausage) understood. Thus the Wiener (Viennese sausage) and Frankfurter (Frankfurter sausage) - and these designations were not used lightly; many a feud began over a Frankfurter claiming to sell Wiener Wurst or vice versa.

But the story does not end there: every good European thing must be bastardised by North American culture. Now although there is some regional variation in the usage of these two words across Europe (and several additional words are used to describe the plethora of sausages that exist) , they are not used perversely or interchangeably, simply to designate "a" sausage; the whole point of the adjectival city names was to distinguish between types of sausages! Never could one simply order "a" sausage here! You need to specify what kind of sausage. Oh but in gourmet North America culture, a sausage is a weenie is a hot dog is a frank... Why?! Why! For the love of God won't somebody please tell me why!

Wien! (Vienna in German)

2007-06-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

In Vienna, I really hit the ground running. Since Biggi (the friend with whom I am staying here) had classes when I arrived into Vienna, he sent his friend Andrés to come and meet me and take me into town on the train. Andrés, like Biggi, is and international student studying and the university here. He's from Colombia, so we started of speaking English and Spanish, but then moved on to German. When we got to the park near the university, where Biggi was to meet us, we bought a couple of beers and drank them there. It felt so weird to be drinking in a public park!

When Biggi arrived, no time was wasted; we took the public transit (subways, buses, and street cars) to his aunt's apartment (where he's been living since October), dropped off my things, and headed out to a "Lokal" (which my German-English dictionary tells me is a: bar, restaurant, pub, inn, meeting place) for a birthday party. It was a great setting to find out that I had enough German to attempt to express myself here except, again, for the smoking. You really can't appreciate anti-smoking laws until you've experience living without them!

The next morning, not too long after we got to bed, I had a meeting with a refugee-serving organisation in Vienna to learn a little about the situation here and the work they're doing. It was so wonderful to hear how differently things are done here. For example, this organisation provided housing for some 150 clients for the duration of their application for asylum (usually a few years) and had every kind of service (from language training to daycare service to counseling) all in that same building.

Naturally, refugee issues isn't the only way in which things are different here. Environmentally, of course, they are sooooo far ahead here. Some of the more interesting ways I found were:
- the "City Bike" system, whereby one can go to any main intersection, swipe one's credit card in a machine to unlock a bike, ride it to another station and drop it off. After less than an hour, it's free; 2 hours, 1 Euro; etc. If you don't return the bike, 600 Euros.
*1 Euro is about $1.50
- one can buy all of one's electricity from a private, green energy company!

Aside from the environment, I've also noticed a lot more trust here:
- instead of those boxes we have in Canada that one puts money into to open and get a newspaper, they simply leave them in bags with a money box above them
- throughout the whole public transit system, one can get on and off without anywhere without having to buy a ticket. Perhaps once a month, one might come across someone checking to see who has tickets and fining those who don't, but if you're a foreigner, for example, it's pretty easy to have the fine reduced to a couple of Euros since it only says in German that you need a ticket and because people often have passes, it looks like one can simply ride for free.
- in taxis, one can sit in front, beside the driver, and there aren't any "if you see this light flashing, call the police" type of security measures.

Also, how could I leave out the lengthy discussions I've had with Biggi over free (or nearly free) university in Europe? It was neat to first have discussed the pros and cons in a theoretical way and then, after attending a lecture, to discuss the actual differences between here and Canada. I definitely found that people were a lot more blasé about things here. The lecture, as usual, started 10 minutes late and people wandered in (not particularly discretely) for a half hour after that. There were no front row keeners and everyone looked pretty uninterested: a bit of chatting, laughing, crackling of candy wrappers, and people walking out throughout the lecture.

Truly, things here are simply different, not better or worse. But is it ever engaging to try to come to some conclusion about the best way to do things!

Up, Up, and Away!

2007-06-17T04:58:00.000-04:00

Due to some exceptional planning on my part, I had a few errands to do in Toronto the day of my departure: pick up my passport, fax a copy home, get some shoes, pick up some medication, get some toothpaste, etc. Somehow, everything got done and I had enough time to go back to my Aunt Joy's house, where I was staying with my grandparents, to have a nap, to iron my white linen shirt, and to pick up a couple of roti on the way to the airport.

The 7-hour flight to London, Gatwick wasn't too bad; I managed to sleep a little, do some reading, and enjoy a complimentary hot vegetarian dinner around 1 am. I am so glad my connecting flight to Vienna was from Heathrow (about 1 hour away from Gatwick) since the shuttle service between the airports allowed me to catch a quick glimpse of the countryside and to meet a funny British bus driver. A few things I noticed during the ride that gave me my first burst of "we're not in Kansas anymore" type of excitement:
- the "truckers" we passed weren't at all like stereotypical Canadian ones: there were a lot of well-to-do looking young guys, one middle-aged man had his dashboard covered with teddy bears, one had dream-catchers dangling all over...
- during the entire drive, beautiful sheep-covered hills and old stone bridges lined the highway.

In Heathrow, I was disappointed to find that people could smoke in the restaurants, but the cheap internet service made up for it. There, I also confirmed my suspicion that well-pressed khakis and a linen dress shirt would be an asset to smooth travels. When I went to get my boarding pass to Vienna, I was told I couldn't have a one way ticket unless I could prove I had the financial ability to return home (even though I had a return ticked from Dusseldorf to Toronto booked). I gave the attendant that look that says: "Are you for real? Do you actually doubt this classy fellow doesn't have a mere $1000 in his bank account?" and everything was OK. In line, being surrounded by people speaking in so many languages with so many accents gave my excitement level another little boost.

A couple more hours of flying, and I was descending into Vienna. The view was magnificent: fields all over, sprinkled with windmills and lovely little villages here and there; winding rivers; some mountains, absolutely covered with dense forest; and the old, urban-sprawl-free city of Vienna. Before even arriving in the city, I realised I had grossly underestimated how different the perspectives here would be from North American ones.

Europe: How It All Happened

2007-06-16T14:22:00.000-04:00

Before I begin to tell you of my adventures in Europe, there's a bit of background information I think you should know. It all begins at the end of 2003, while I was still a teenager in high school. I was finishing up my first semester of grade 11 and getting ready to spend the second one in Costa Rica on an exchange. Fed up with Canadian, North American culture, I saw the trip as an opportunity to scout things out before making a final decision to settle there (and perhaps open a restaurant on the beach, with a grand piano and only a few tables so that I could go out and play when I wasn't too busy cooking)...

Well, it was a wonderful trip, and I'm still quite attached to Latin American culture, however, after that, I was convinced I couldn't settle anywhere outside Canada. Because of the way that trip seemed to lead me straight back home - and also because of some of my experiences - I had got my fill of seeing the world and wasn't very interested in travelling again anytime in the near future; I was happy simply to focus on enjoying Canada and discover and build new communities there.

The next community I got to know was in the small town of Sackville, New Brunswick at it's university: Mount Allison. At the time, I may have been sure of wanting to live in Canada, but I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to study. Shortly before arriving, I figured out ecclectic mix of course for my first term, but I still had one spot to fill. Being somewhat of a linguaphile and knowing I would inevitably end up in Europe one day, I thought German would be a nice choice (the professor's amazing reputation probably didn't hurt either). To make it worthwhile, I thought I should at least do a minor in it.

Next in this chain of events, was my application for the Killam Fellowship, a scholarship that allows Canadian students to study in the US and vice versa. Not knowing the level of the German that I could be faced with in the US and unsatisfied with my abilities, I jumped at the opportunity to take and archaeology field course in Italy for the whole month of July. The connection, you ask? Well, if was going to be in Italy anyway, it would be easy to take a little time to visit some friends in Ausria and Germany and practice my German.

And that's it. I got into the archaeology course and made plans to visit my Icelandic friend, Biggi, (whom I met in Costa Rica but is now studying German in Vienna) during the last to weeks of June; Petra, an au pair I had when I was 3, and her family (who are now great friends of my family) during the first week of August; and my German friend, Marina, (who was on an exchange at Mount Allison last year and helped me with my German) during the second week of August.

Actually, I take it back; that's not quite the end. I forgot to say that I also did get a Killam Fellowship. Now you're probably thinking: "Gosh, Nico wasn't doing to bad for a first blog entry. Why did he have to go along and spoil it with this shameless boasting." But just hold your horses one minute and let me explain.

Seeing as I had 2 weeks in planned for the end of August and I was also off to Washington, DC on the 16th, that left me with a mere 2 days at home between the two trips. In case anyone out there wasn't aware, it sure isn't easy to cross the Canada-US boarder these days, so not only did I need to pack, get health insurance, do paperwork, etc. for both trips before I left for Europe, but I also had to get immunisation records, "prove" I could financially support myself in the US... and prepare for the dreaded interview for my American visa (which, my host university, "American University", kindly reminded me the visa officer could deny me without giving me a reason).

All that to say, my pre-departure stress level was pretty high and my excitement level was verging on nill.
But that only made my post-arrival state of amazement that much more unexpected and complete...

The Connection

2007-06-03T10:22:00.000-04:00

Another new insight I had into the project this year, was the closeness that I felt between us, the actors, and students in our audiences. Much more than last year, I was very aware of this unusually strong connection during our shows. This is likely in part because of the more familiar themes and characters of this year's production, and also in part because I was more attune to this engagement. During our post-show discussion, many of the questions focused on acting: How does one balance academics and acting? How did you get involved? Is there an audition process? What is your previous acting experience? What would you recommend to someone in my position thinking about acting? At first, I found the prevalence of these questions somewhat disappointing since I had hoped for more discussions about the themes; however, with time I realised that these questions were in fact a great sign of our success in achieving one of our objectives, and the best segue into accomplishing the second. If students were asking this type of questions, surely we managed to connect with them on a level intimate enough for them to see themselves in our place: we were showing them that they could be involved in this type of project, and, with certain cast members as evidence, I daresay inspiring them to do so. What could be a better way to promote theatre in education? Then, since every actor had a slightly different answer to their questions, we were subtly, but effectively, promoting the acceptance of diversity. Man we're good!

Tintamarre: Take Two

2007-05-05T10:16:00.000-04:00

What a last two weeks I’ve had! Despite having toured last year, this year’s tour has been a totally fresh and new experience. Like reading a book for the second time, I’ve gotten completely different things out of the experience thus far and this change has helped me to realise ways in which I’ve changed, and to reflect on and evaluate these.

For example, this year, like the last, I’ve had enough long- and short-term commitments to keep me busy whenever I’m not directly tied down by rehearsals or performances. However, in contrast to last year, this year I’ve made a conscious effort to make time for socialising and chatting with the rest of the cast. This, I have no doubt, reflects a change in my view of the importance of community brought about by various experiences of the past year. With last year as a reference, I can see that this has allowed me to contribute to a better cast dynamic and thus enrich the experience for everyone. Living and working so closely with people you don’t choose, even just for a few weeks, inevitably develops one’s understanding of and appreciation for community.

This year, I’ve also had the opportunity to share a room, an experience that has been nothing but enjoyable. This is my first time ever living with a room-mate and it has greatly prepared me to share a room in the upcoming academic year. The experience has provided me with a model of an ideal room-mate dynamic and introduced me to some potential points of contention between room-mates in a context so safe that the issues are effortlessly resolved.

Touring for a second time has also allowed me to look more critically at what we do and thus to gain a better understanding of our impact on our audiences. For example, last year, I always enjoyed our post-show discussions because they showed me that members of the audience were engaged by our show and demonstrated what they got out of it. I didn’t think anything more of them. However, this year, I have even more of a sense of ownership of the project as a whole and thus I find myself questioning why we have discussions. By doing so and discussing this with the director and other cast members, not only can I better contribute to this aspect of the project, but I also take more out of it and gain a better understanding of the more complex ways that drama can be used in education, not just in a school setting.

Nico's Blog

Psychological Origin of Anxiety

Facundo Cabral

denial is bliss?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/04/08/alcohol-cancer-deaths-europe.html

Many cancers avoidable with less drinking: study

Lack of warning labels in Canada 'scandalous'

CBC News

Posted: Apr 8, 2011 9:53 AM ET

Last Updated: Apr 8, 2011 5:30 PM ET

Related Links

External Links

Standard drink labels

J’aimerais vous parler de l’art

epidurals

Multiple Choice Question Strategies: Getting Them Right Even When You Don't Deserve To

what's so special about Yaz (drospirenone)?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19679614

tantalizing tropical trout

55 words

Contradiction

fiendlishly fine foat cakes

Juxtaposition

Jean-Jacques Bourque - Cigarette, Smoking, Fumer

2009 Christmas Letter

Guide humain

Graduation

Liberal Arts[/Higher Education] in Times of Crises: An Open Letter to University Students and Faculty

Maritime Elation

Une crise économique, c’est sexiste, dites?

http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/economie-affaires/la_crise_et_vous/index.asp

Maybe you shouldn't be reading this...

How you can help reduce the footprint of the Web

Browsing the internet contributes to global warming by generating extra greenhouse gases – but could the web be made greener? Dr Alex Wissner-Gross a physicist from Harvard University writes for The Sunday Times

Real Friends

Can bovine burp research slow global warming?

Can bovine burp research slow global warming?

Transitions

Quand était-ce donc?

Not Just This Poem

Science and Happiness

Simply a Waste!

Aufgeben

Limits of Reasoning

Spot the Difference

Wer sollte wandern? Eine Reaktion auf Kerkelings "Ich bin dann mal weg"

Learning to Fly

Success!

Becoming yourself

I do.

Die Comedian Harmonists: Das Ergebnis der Musik

Gedanken zu Schlinks Der Vorleser: Warum beschuldigen?

Cul-de-sac

Gedanken zu Herzogs Rede Aufbruch ins 21. Jahrhundert: Auf Kosten von was?

Gedanken zu Weizsäckers Rede zum 8. Mai 1985: Schuld und Vergebung

The Great White South

Simply Delicious

Stories from Sackville, Part VI: Cottage Country

Stories from Sackville, Part V: Belonging

Stories from Sackville, Part IV: What's in It for Me

Stories from Sackville, Part III: Lunch with Mr. President

Stories from Sackville, Part II: Fame and Fortune

Stories from Sackville, Part I: Arriving in Sackville

I know it's healthy, but I just feel so fat!

Are there any questions? Comments?

The System

Annie Get Your Gun

Walking the Dog

Pretty Rich Girls

Going Back to the Secret Garden

Crust

Commu-what?

Friendly Foreign Nations

Could You Be the Next Prime Minister?

Let 'em rot in jail!

North Carolina State Fair

The Uncle I Never Knew

Notes from a talk by an acquitted death row inmate

Ring! Ring! (or rather, all those other wacky sounds cell phones make)

Are You Prepared (An Email from the Department of Public Safety at American University)