ava shannon

I am a student in Global Resource Systems studying Sustainable Community Development in the Americas. I came to this field through my passion for architecture, and out of the dying of a life-long dream to become an architect. I had studied architecture for two years at the University of Waterloo before going on a semi-hiatus while I had my son and got married. I was transferring to UBC's Environmental Design program, and it wasn't until nearly summer that it dawned on me that I was completely disillusioned with the field, and that it actually would not benefit me to be studying a subject whose mere methods of teaching I disagreed with. My problems with the field are deeply rooted, and I have come to the conclusion that if I am to actually contribute to the construction of the kinds of buildings and communities I want to see, then I am better off studying the fields of knowledge that I myself find relevant rather than a series of lectures on "architectonic themes" and "graphic lexicons of place". (OK, I made those up, but you couldn't tell, could you?!) Thus my classes have been in ecology and economics, geography and urban planning, social philosophy and anthropology, and of course, "land, food and community", issues I now recognize as central to discussions of civilization and human development. Technically this is my sixth year of studies by credit, or my eighth consecutive year of being at least a part-time student; in the next year and a half before I graduate I look forward to classes in sociology, community organizing, and natural resource management.