Hello fellow classmates, Erika, and anyone else who may have stumbled across my blog using google. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll hopefully be hearing from you shortly via comments, facebook, and online sharing. I’ll start with a little introduction of myself. I’m a fourth year student at the University of British Columbia studying English and will continue on to Aboriginal studies at the University of Northern BC. I’m sure all of you have checked out the UBC website as students, but you should check out the UNBC as well. http://www.unbc.ca/
I’m a lot of things beside a student as well. I work as a server in my great city of Richmond, which has really helped get me through university. It’s also where most of my friendships have come from. I love the Vancouver Canucks and am a really big fan of hockey. Don’t know how your team’s doing in the playoffs? Have a quick look. http://www.nhl.com/. Can we all agree that Chicago’s going to win this year?
On a more serious note, and one on which there will probably be a greater consensus, I’m looking forward to working with each of you and going through this course. As someone who really has a passion for Aboriginal culture, as well as sociological issues, I’m excited to delve into a course that looks at both of these topics with literacy in mind. As an English major, I clearly enjoy literature as well as storytelling, and I’m fascinated to learn the many ways these are interconnected to our Canadian history, including the racism, the colonialism, and the cultural diversity that makes up our national identity. I’m most excited for Thomas King’s “Green Grass Running Water”, because I absolutely love trickster characters, and King is an absolute genius at merging traditional culture with present day politics.
Hopefully, as we go through this course, I’ll be able to make some connections on an academic level with all of you, so that 1. We can learn from each other, and 2. I don’t get left out of a research group. It’s that fear of being picked last for the kickball team that sticks with you well into your twenties. I’m hoping to shake it soon!
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to working with all of you.
Hi Milica, huge Canucks fan here as well! I can’t say who will the Cup, but I feel like the finals will be between LA and either Montreal/NY. I’m undecided about who will win the Eastern Conference. Although, it would be nice if Montreal won- would be nice to see Weise win! Hockey aside, I’m looking forward to reading your blog in the months to come!
Hey Jenny, thanks for reading!
Hi Milica, very nice to meet you and welcome to our course of studies. Thanks for the great introduction and interesting photo too. Sounds like an exciting plan to attend the University of Northern BC – what prompted you to pursue that path? I am curious, always. I think you are really going to enjoy this course of studies as it will offer you many opportunities to explore and reflect upon much that has been neglected in our studies of literature and history. I am really looking forward to our work together this summer, enjoy.
Before I forget, you need to make a few adjustments on your blog – first, will you please change the settings so that you do not have to approve comments. Only your classmates can comment, and with the pace of this course it is important that comments appear when posted, thanks. You can see instructions on how to do this at the top of our Student Blogs page 🙂 As well, you should learn how to hyperlink so you are not posting a url on the page. Use the icon that has a pciture of a chain link, highlight the word you want to link, click the icon and a box will appear, paste the url in the box. I also left you a message on your Sample page.
Hi Erika,
Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely try my best to put up a navigation bar by tomorrow. I’ve gone ahead and made sure comments do not need to be approved. I’m also in the (slow) process of learning how to create hyperlinks. I’m not the best with technology, so any small accomplishment feels like a big one!
In regards to my future education at UNBC, I took quite a few women’s studies courses and sociology courses while at Langara, which really sparked an interest for me in Aboriginal studies. I find that unless a course is specifically focused on Canada, a lot of what we learn in these courses focus on American issues, or worldwide issues. Which I don’t necessarily have a problem learning about, but the courses that most interest me and which first captured my attention, focus on Canadian issues and most of those center around our oldest issues which are interwoven with Aboriginal peoples. I would really really love to go into teaching, and I feel like a big part of present day Canadian education needs to acknowledge and even incorporate Aboriginal doctrine and culture. I’m in luck, because in the next few years, the BC government is making a shift toward centralizing all academic studies to include aboriginal studies. I’m so excited about that! The University of Northern BC offers a lot of diverse programs for aboriginal studies. Whereas UBC offers a bachelors, UNBC offers certificates, diplomas, and bachelors, and in all different areas, like aboriginal medicine, youth and children’s care, and education. I think that’s so neat. I’m also pretty enthused that it’s up in Prince George, because I can’t get enough of the outdoors. I recently went up North chasing the Northern lights, with no luck. So hopefully living up there will give me a chance to drop everything and look for them whenever the weather’s right.
Anyway, sorry to chat your ear off. I’m just a tad bit excited about the next few years!