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Hi everyone!

I know I haven’t posted for a while (as usual school’s been crazy busy, but I’ve only got two more midterms to get through, so yay for that).

Today I have a post that’s a little out of the ordinary from my usual short updates and school related ramblings, but is something very important to me.

With Justin Trudeau as our newly elected Prime Minister, like me, you’ve probably also been seeing a ton of news articles going around about the future of our country. Now, I’m not sure if this is because in this federal election I was finally old enough to vote (thumbs up to everyone who made sure to exercise their right to vote!) or maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m interested in pursuing First Nations and Indigenous Studies as a part of my undergrad degree, but I’ve been following Trudeau’s Liberals really closely since their election.

Because of this interest (both academically and personally) I’m going to follow along the progression of our new Liberal government and how they are going to approach major Indigenous issues, particularly Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), and I’ll be blogging about this today and following up as we (hopefully) see some significant action taken in the near future.

Under Harper’s leadership, our previous government had a clear lack of urgency towards the topic of our missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In an interview with CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, Harper stated that the consideration of a formal inquiry “isn’t really high on our radar, to be honest”.

I guess that statement is something that baffles me most. Since 1980, there have been 1,181 reported missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. And these are only the reported numbers. So for our Prime Minister at the time to say that this “isn’t high on our radar”, it really frustrates me (which is definitely an understatement).

BUT. To shed some hope on this issue, in a press conference held on October 21^st, Prime Minister Trudeau addressed the MMIW saying “I believe that there is a need for a national public inquiry to bring justice for the victims, healing for the families, and to put an end to this tragedy”.

Trudeau on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (CBC)

The Liberal party’s Policy Resolution 110 vows to (within their first term as elected government) begin working on the issue of the MMIW, and they have resolved that they will work with Indigenous families, communities and organizations.
(http://www.liberal.ca/policy-resolutions/110-resolution-action-missing-murdered-indigenous-women/)

Even more recently, on November 5^th, Carolyn Bennett, who was sworn in as Canada’s new Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, made it clear that she will be quick to start her work on this issue, ensuring pre-consultation with families of victims to ensure prompt but not hasty action.

AND, Vancouver-Granville’s own MP, Jody Wilson-Raybould, who has been appointed as the Minister of Justice and Attorney general, is making me optimistic that Canadians will see action being taken. Why? First of all, she is a First Nations woman, not to mention she was regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations, and a Crown prosecutor. Jody Wilson-Raybould promises “true reconciliation” with Aboriginal peoples and I can’t see anything but sincerity in this comment.

From here on, we are looking at the Justin Trudeau’s government follow up on these statements, and what I hope for is that a national inquiry is a part of the “real change” that Trudeau has promised Canadians since his election.

And I (like many and hopefully all Canadians) want to see this change. I want to see taction taken that the Harper government was so irresponsibly complacent about, and I will be following up with these stories as they progress.

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think about these massive governmental changes and the incredibly important issue of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

For more information on Canada’s MMIW:
http://www.amnesty.ca/blog/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls-understanding-the-numbers

http://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/426243/Events-leading-up-to-the-missing-women-roundtable-discussion/

**Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion piece (as well as part of a project for FNIS 100), and does not necessarily reflect upon UBC’s values

I hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday. It’s gorgeous out and it’s waking up to this is a reminder that every day is fresh and new and full of potential.

Here I have a song that is currently on repeat for me right now.

Here’s James Bay’s song, Let It Go. I’ve linked a live version which is absolute perfection.

I may or may not have cried while listening to this. I love absolutely everything about it. It’s one of those songs that rips your heart out, but in a good way. It’s a song you can listen to when everything feels like it’s going wrong, and it reminds you that everything will be okay.

And isn’t that something we all need sometimes?

(I actually discovered it from this contemporary choreo:

.. Which also made me cry. A good contemporary piece gets me every time. I used to dance (though not particularly well), but this one really resonated with me. It felt real and raw and it was stunning )

<3 Talk to y’all soon and hope you have a fantastic weekend.

 

Good morning (ish)!

(Sorry that the title of this is such a mouthful)

Here I am, taking a break from the relatively gruelling task that is studying for Phys 158. (Edit: It’s been about two months since I first started writing this post.. sorry about that)

A lot of incoming first years have been asking the very loaded question: Totem or Vanier (or Gage or Rits). Which is better?

(First of all, I’m going to preface this by saying that I am pretty biased towards Totem, as a current totem resident BUT I’m going to be as neutral as possible here. This also means that I know the most about Totem so I’m sorry if the details on the other residences are a little sparse)

Let’s organize things nicely in little charts!

(Sorry they’re kind of lackluster.. there are only a few major pros and cons for each)

Totem/Vanier (Traditional style first year res):

 

Totem and Vanier both offer single and shared units.

Fun fact: If you’re in a shared unit (ie you have a roommate), if they move out/switch rooms etc, you probably won’t get a new roommate. (Most people who move in in the middle of the year get single rooms .. I can imagine that moving into a shared unit in the middle of the year could be disruptive or just more difficult) This means that you’d be paying the shared unit price, but you get a huge room. (I’ve heard that to guarantee that nobody will move into your room, you have to pay an extra $300-$400 or so)

 

Rits/Gage:

In terms of Rits and Gage, you have the luxury of having your own kitchen (this could be a pro or a con).

From what I’ve heard from people living in Gage/Rits, there’s less of a house/floor community because you really don’t have to leave your unit and interact with floormates (but despite this fact, you definitely should get out and meet people!!)

Rits:
– Now considered to be a part of Totem Park (basically the same location)
– The community bus that goes to Wesbrook Village (where the Save On Foods, Liquor Store, Menchies is) is right outside (great for lazy people like me who’d rather take the bus than walk twenty minutes..)
– Rits is split into multiperson units, with a shared kitchen and living area.

Gage:
– Best location on campus, in my opinion
– As a first year, your classes will mostly be around central campus
– Close to the SUB and bus loop, as well as the Village (where you can find a bunch of restaurants and the discount bookstore)
– The Gage Towers are quite old, but the lobby is absolutely gorgeous. It feels like a hotel lobby (which makes sense since they do rent out some gage units as hotel rooms for conferences over the summer).
– 4 units per floor, and each unit has six rooms (ie 24 people per floor)
– This year was the first year first years were placed in gage (because there was a lot more interest in first year res this year), so the entire North Tower of Gage was all first year students.

NOTE: You can switch rooms once you’ve been assigned.
In August when you get your room assignments, you’ll notice people who are going to start posting their room numbers/locations looking to switch, so at the end of the day, everyone I know ended up in the residence/building that they wanted.

Hope this was helpful!!
Let me know if you have any questions at all and I’ll be sure to either respond or write another more detailed post.

Happy Saturday!

Happy Easter weekend 🙂

Hope you’ve all been catching some nice weather (It’s been gorgeous the past few days in Vancouver), and while I wish I could say I was soaking in the sun, I’m getting my vitamin D from the sunlight through my window as I study my butt off for finals

Soo… unfortunately, I cannot post the entire album, but if anyone’s looking for some good background/studying/you-name-it music, I suggest the original soundtrack from The Theory Of Everything.

Stunning movie in terms of cinematography, the composition of the music was incredibly touching and so significant to the film.

Here’s a link:

As usual, I hope you are all having an absolutely lovely day, and I will post again shortly

<3

(Another post for a Saturday because why not and smooth jazz is good)

Imagine you’re me, it’s been a long day full of events pertaining to orientations and rez life, and now it’s time to get through some of this crazy stuff we call homework. The weather is slightly dreary (but I don’t mind) and I’d really like to take a nap. It’s around dinner time

So I’m sitting here, with the Simpson’s playing on TV in the background because I like having background noise when I work, and I’m thinking, you know what’d make this a good evening? Some smooth jazz.

So this is Moonlight in Vermont by Stan Getz

It’s absolutely lovely. I think I came across it on 8tracks. I find that in the evenings, smooth jazz is probably the nicest and most soothing music to do your assignments or even just chill to.

Later days 🙂

So once again, I start a post with an apology for my lack of posts (smh). I have a TON of things to share with you guys (and I owe you guys completed course chronicles!!!!)

Quick rundown on my life so far:
– Phys 158 is pretty killer, not gonna lie. The first midterm had an average of ~30% and the second midterm had an average of a whopping ~50%. The scaling on the final will be interesting, but I’ll most definitely update you on that…
– Let’s be real here, school this term has been exponentially more difficult than last term. I’m not sure if that’s just me exaggerating like crazy (as I occasionally do) or if it actually is must more difficult
– This coming year I’m going to be a Residence Advisor in Totem (where I currently live) and an Imagine Day Orientations Leader. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the new, eager faces 🙂 🙂
Expect some posts about these two positions and all of the events surrounding them. Hit me up with any questions too and I’d be happy to answer/do a Q&A
– Gonna be completely honest, I’m writing this blog as a semi form of procrastination. Is it still procrastination if I’m “procrastinating” by doing something that I’m supposed to be doing?
– I’ve been pretty involved on the Facebook class of 2019 page, talking to recently admitted UBC engineering students and answering their questions, so I think I’ll compile a frequently asked questions for UBC engineering and UBC/rez life in general

Have an Andy Dwyer gif just for fun 🙂

 

Bye guys 🙂 I’ll talk to you shortly

Good Thursday morning 🙂

(Pre apologies for the likely relative incoherence of this blog post)

This is a very literal mental miscellany, so I guess I’ll attempt to organize my thoughts in a sort of numerical order..

(Course Chronicles are still in progress! Expect another one – probably going over Phys 157, by the end of this weekend)

1. Somebody on my floor is probably making toast, and the smoke alarm has gone off (they’re probably making toast or something – FUN FACT: toaster ovens are allowed in first year res!). It seems as though (at least in the new Totem buildings) that our smoke alarms are extremely sensitive. In the building across from mine, their actual fire alarm for the entire building has gone off countless times (luckily, there have been no actual fires)

2. I’ve forgotten how foggy it can get in the winter. The last two days have been incredibly foggy (it’s so thick that it’s almost difficult to see). I love it.

3. On the UBC used books group (or something like that), I noticed that somebody was selling Cloud Atlas because it was required reading for an ENG 110 class (which I believe is intro to literature). That’s a tough book to read (I never had a chance to finish it, but it was incredible.. I’ll have to actually read it).

4. School has already become relatively insane, in terms of stuff to do. Well, not that bad. It’s just a lot of readings and introductory assignments. It’s nice starting class later, but I feel as though I’m being lulled into a false sense of security because there aren’t any labs or tutorials in the first week of school.

Well, that’s all for now folks.

 

(Props to Parks and Rec fans who recognized this creepy Orin reference – If you don’t watch Parks and Rec, I highly suggest that you do because you won’t be disappointed)

I hope everyone is doing well and surviving school 🙂

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