Category Archives: Involvement

Visiting the ESPs at UBC

Posted on February 1, 2013 | 1 comment

Bahaha the title of this blog post rhymed.

One of the Google inquiries that people use to find this blog is “how good are counselling services in brock hall”. I didn’t have an answer to this before, but now I do!

Today, my friend Michelle and I finally went to Brock Hall get our scholarship stuff sorted out. Just a heads up, you go to the Information Centre for that stuff. We figured that out after a lot of wandering around the building for a while.

While we were there, the lady helping Michelle asked if she had time to meet her Enrolment Services Professional, otherwise known as her ESP. Michelle said yes, and then we waited around for a couple of minutes until her ESP, Catherine showed up (I’m pretty sure that’s what her name was, and I’m just going to use the traditional spelling).

She talked to us about what her job was as an ESP, and how she (as an ESP) could provide information and help with non-academic issues. She also talked about getting involved and reaching out to our professors and our student development officer Robyn Leuty for opportunities.

Although Catherine’s not my ESP, I think I benefited from meeting her. She reminded me that there are lots of resources at UBC that you can tap into, and there are lots of people who are willing (and often wanting) to show you the way to do so.

So it’s true—the counselors, if you’d like to call them that, seem to be pretty darn helpful in Brock Hall.  🙂

For more information on Enrolment Services Professionals, look here.

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On The Button Bonspiel

Posted on January 29, 2013 | 1 comment

Originally, the description of my blog was supposed to be “UBC, Kin, and curling: all in a funsized package”. However, I haven’t gotten to curl very much this school year—I’d been out on the ice for a grand total of 2 times before tonight.

So when my old high school teammate messaged me about the On The Button Bonspiel held by UBC REC, I jumped at the chance. Of course, we registered at the last minute, and only managed to get 3 girls on our team, including me.

The bonspiel (essentially, a tournament) was held at the Richmond Curling Centre. Normally, when you curl there isn’t loud music blasting from a stereo, because the extra noise makes it harder for the players to communicate. For example, imagine that I’m at one end of the ice sheet and my friend Brenna is at the other end.

Me: What shot do yeh think we should make?
Brenna: *waggles arms and shouts something I can’t understand*
Me: I don’t comprehend. WHAT?
Brenna: *makes motion again*
Me: I can’t hear you. WHAT?!

In the case of the UBC REC event, however, the background dance music worked because there were a lot of new-to-curling players on the ice, and so vital, game-changing communication was kept to a minimum. Actually, I think the music brought a lot of fun to the game.

We played 3 matches of 2 ends, which took about two hours. It wasn’t super competitive, so I didn’t stress out much about winning although I’m kind of disappointed with my performance. No matter whether we won or lost, it was fun!

One complaint I have, though, is that the ice was super dirty. If you don’t know curling, clean ice is super important. My suspicion is that not all of the new-to-curling players were wearing shoes with clean soles. Maybe next year they will provide fly paper to peel away the dirt with?

To conclude, I think that this is one of the best ways to get into curling 😀 I highly encourage everyone reading this to try it out next year!

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Coming up… The SLC!

Posted on January 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

Unlike the rest of the UBC Blog Squad, I decided to volunteer to be a part of the Student Leadership Conference instead of attending as a delegate. I thought I’d get a different experience, y’know?

SLC Volunteer T-Shirt

Also, I get to wear this cool t-shirt. Volunteers at this year’s SLC will be wearing purple and blue t-shirts, just FYI. 🙂

As a volunteer, I had to attend a volunteer work party. No no, it’s not like your employees’ annual Christmas party, but more like an orientation where we also do some menial-but-time-consuming-and-also-sort-of-important tasks in preparation for this Saturday. It was more fun than it sounds like, I swear!

Only after we did all that work did I realize how much there was to organizing the SLC.  On the dry erase boards in the CSI&C there’s a giant list of things that need to be done by Saturday. So much stuff to do! At the volunteer party, we only helped out with a fraction of it. So it’s pretty amazing that everything will be running smoothly this Saturday (er, knock on wood). Huffah for the SLC planning committee!

The best thing about the work party is that it reminded me about how awesome it is to get involved. Although I’m not going to be attending any of the much-anticipated presentations (Paul’s especially excited), I think it’s going to be fun working behind the scenes and making things happen!

Hopefully I’ll see y’all there? 🙂

Psssst. You can still register to attend the SLC right… here!

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This Sexist Joke Ain’t Funny

Posted on November 29, 2012 | 3 comments

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I saw somebody had shared someone else’s picture:

Sexist Joke

Women as an element? Oh no you didn’t.

Women aren’t elements. We are not simply objects to be used by men, nor are we ornaments to be dangled from mens’ arms. We do not exist for your possession and your sexual pleasure. We are not whores and sluts and bimbos and gold-diggers.  We have brains, and it should not matter what we look like, or what we weigh.  I do not find this picture funny, and neither should you.

Immediately after I saw this, I reported it to Facebook and privately messaged the user, explaining that the post was sexist and that I found it offensive.  To his credit, he apologized and deleted it right away, thanking me for notifying him of the error. It still irks me, however, that the original post is still out there somewhere.  I’d like to find the creator of this picture and give him a piece of my mind.

Lately, I’ve been doing research on the topic of slut-shaming, rape culture, and sexism. Originally, my goal was just to finish a well-written paper for my English class and get a decent grade.

However, by doing this research I’ve been becoming more aware of what our post-feminist culture is really like—that though women might feel more empowered now than we did a century ago, we’re still facing oppression on a day to day basis. As a result, I’m seeing examples of sexism everywhere.  I’m thinking more critically of things now, including the things that my friends say.

My goal now is to raise awareness of this seemingly invisible problem. It’s a slow start, but I think I can make at least a little difference—starting within my circle of friends.  More easily said than done, as I don’t want to purposefully alienate anyone. But if you’re reading this post, then that’s a start for both me and you.  Awareness first, then action!

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Got a flu shot yesterday!

Posted on November 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

Yay for tidbits about Courtney!

On Saturday mornings, I volunteer at a residential care centre in Burnaby called St. Michaels.  I’m part of the manicures program there, which basically means I get to file and paint the nails of the residents there.  Well mostly women, obviously.

Anyways, since I’m part of the health care service I have to take part in all the sanitary regulations.  This includes either getting a flu shot or wearing a mask around the residents.  I opted for the flu vaccination, because it was free and why not?

But now my arm is hurting and I can only lift it to about shoulder height.  I don’t regret it though, because I’d really rather not get sick when final exams roll around.  I feel invincible now!

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