And the Oscar goes to…

With the Oscars just around the corner (I think. They haven’t happened yet have they?), I thought I’d take this opportunity to give an ode to a couple of films that I’ve recently watched that won’t be making the list of nominees, but deserve it nonetheless.

On the day after Valentine’s Day, appropriately, I went to a screening of a documentary called “Miss Representation“, hosted by the Howe Sound Women’s Centre. The documentary was about how women are “misrepresented” in the media to focus on their bodies, rather than intellect. This is primarily due to the vastly higher proportion of men who are in control of media sources. One line that stood out in the film was by a young female who was taking over as the White House press secretary. Her male predecesor said to her, “You are better at this than you think you are.” Along a similar tone, one of the opening quotes in the film was by Alice Walker: “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” It makes me come to think, why do we sit in hair salons and read trashy magazines or sit and watch demeaning TV shows? Following the film, there was a panel. One of the topics that came out was about how to facilitate constructive discussion around these issues on a day-to-day basis. A couple of the tips that were mentioned were: ask “what” questions rather than “why” questions to prevent defensive walls from going up, try to move past positions and to one’s intentions, and have the conversation in a bunch of different ways. Take a sneak peek at the trailer…

The other documentary I watched was hosted by the local Waldorf school, and it was called, “Happy“. As the title suggests, the film explores what really makes people happy. It travels around the world looking at the latest neuroscience research and the happiness communities and people. One of the things that really struck me was a piece on a co-housing initiative in Denmark where about 40 – 50 people live together, eat together and watch out for one another. It just makes sense. Most of the tips are pretty simple, yet they still manage to slip through the cracks: play, try something new, spend time with family and friends, do something kind. Definitely check out this one…

Self-portrait

I love mind maps. My spiral-bound notebooks are filled with them, illustrating ideas, problems, solutions, or in this case my self. This mind map was created for my Identity and Perspective class as a self-portrait. I chose to present it as a video rather than the mind map itself because I think the video better represents my life as a process, a journey. Enjoy! (Sorry for the shaky camera skills…next time, I’ll go for tripod and whiteboard.)

Back to the grind

Just got back to beautiful British Columbia after an extended stay at home in Ontario. My mom had a minor stroke on Christmas Day, after which she was in rehab for a couple weeks and then she had to  transition to life back at home. So, I decided to stick around an extra month to support her in her recovery and encourage her along the way. Another life block! Although I struggled with the decision to stay or not to stay at the time, in retrospect, it seems obvious and I have no regrets. Fortunately, I go to a school that operates on the block program, and by taking one course at a time, I can jump right back in at the start of a new block. The way I see it, these difficult circumstances present an opportunity to learn to love, care and give of ourselves, and it only made sense to embrace this opportunity. It was also nice to spend some time with my family. Both my sisters now have their own places, so lots of changes on the home front.

Additionally, this past month, I had the chance to catch up on some other work. I was able to finish reading Cities on a Hill, one of my seminal works. Also, I was able to seek out some opportunities abroad. I applied for an exchange to either Zeppelin University or Amersterdam University College for next year. I also applied for Canada World Youth’s Youth Leaders in Action program, where participants work in teams of 18 youth (half Canadians, half from the partner country), volunteering in a Canadian community for three months, then in a community abroad for three months.

Plus, I spent some time thinking about my Question and where I might want to go with it or how I could focus it a bit more. Currently, it reads, “What is the role of collaboration in developing effective institutions?” Maybe I’m thinking about it too much, but it seems too obvious. I attended a screening of the film of The Economics of Happiness, hosted by our local Transitions group and rediscovered one of my passions that had somehow slipped off my radar – localization. Despite being problematic for my sometimes insomniac mind, it triggered lots of ideas. Here’s a snapshot from my spiral-ringed notebook of my post-film mind explosion…

I missed going to Guelph Organic Conference and the Combining Two Cultures Conference on interdisciplinary education as I had contemplated, but I did have the opportunity of catching Wiarton Willie’s prediction for the first time and catch up with some friends from high school who I hadn’t seen in awhile. Despite the shortage of snow, I managed to get out for at least one snowshoe and one ski.

Next up, Identity and Perspective.