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.

There are 168 Hours in a Week. What Are You Doing With Yours?

Reblogged from ShiningSoulYoga:

Many people think of exercising and fitness as something that only takes place at a gym or fitness facility. Unfortunately, they are overlooking the fact that

Read more… 466 more words

I've been thinking about this quite a bit. We need to move more! Why do so many jobs require us to sit for hours at a time?

Something to smile about

What’s the secret to looking great, reducing stress and living long? Smile!

Take me to the riot

Yesterday, I fairly spontaneously ventured down to Van to experience the madness of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. I went down with a friend who I actually met at the Guatemala border when traveling in Central America last month. She was a UVic student and happened to be spending the summer working in Squamish. Small world. Anyway, we met up at the Brew Pub the other night and tossed around the idea of heading down. So, off we went. With the bars packed out, we opted to watch the game at her friend’s place in Yaletown. The loss was disappointing, but it is what it is. Then, the city went up in smoke.

Amidst the chaos in the distance, we ventured to a nearby park for some bocce ball. Definitely an interesting mood was in the air in the city.

Adding to the deafening surge of online noise, here’s my two cents. I don’t think it’s fair to compare these riots with the G20. Those had some political basis. This Walrus article suggests that maybe G20 protesters had a point. On the other hand, I think the hockey riots were a symptom of something more going on. I love this slightly cynical Georgia Strait piece that suggests just that. The riots should be a wake-up call. Why do we care more about a hockey game than democratic freedom, such as the right to vote?

Backlog coming soon

As it turns out, I’m a terrible blogger. My posts are highly irregular and way too long when they do come…with the exception of this one. I am in San José, Costa Rica. More details to come when I find the time to catch up. As it turns out, solitude is harder to come by than one might think. Or maybe I have been looking in the wrong places!?!

This is my last night in the city and I have never been more excited about a bus ride to Buenos Aires that could be anywhere from 3 – 5 hours. I’m preparing for the worst…just in case. Costa Rican transport has been decent and cheap, but hasn’t fully earned my full trust yet. The jury’s still out on that one, but maybe they’ll come back in tomorrow.

Anyway, better posts to come…including a backlog of material that I’ve pressed “Save Draft” on because I wasn’t ready for the level of commitment that “Publish” entails. My travels and the people I’ve met give me an unfamiliar yearning to become a writer. This is a new desire for me, perhaps attributed to interesting conversations with a wide variety of people, from Orange County, California to San José, Costa Rica to…all over the world really. Or more simply, it might have been inspired by unemployment or the used bookstore I was in today. Who knows? Anyway, no intentions of following through on this spontaneous passion, or at least not yet. Enough spontaneity in my life for now. Or I’ll at least wait until I come up with a storyline more intriguing than an autobiographical one.

Okay, I guess that was longer than I had anticipated…