Hello again!

Recently I had the opportunity to see one of my favourite spoken word poets, Shane Koyczan. If you haven’t heard of him, I would highly recommend giving him a quick google search and a listen. He does a lot of work with the anti-bullying initiative and it a very powerful speaker. Hearing him live was very inspiring. Needless to say, being a successful spoken word poet is not easy, but he made it, and is doing what he loves. He even wrote a book of poems that is now being turned into an opera.

Lately, I have been getting increasingly frustrated with the education system, and hearing Shane talk challenged me to really think about what I was doing with my life, and rediscover that passion.

One of the challenges I have faced with the GRS program is that I sometimes get caught up in the science component of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I love soils and would love a career in the field. But the reason I came to school, and to GRS, was to make a change. Of course science and sustainability practices can and will make a huge difference in peoples lives, but I feel that sometimes focus is lost, or placed in areas where it is not as much needed. I am really looking forward to expanding my indigenous studies courses next year, and am going to try to grab any opportunity I can get to really integrate my degree. The reason I chose to have my regional component focused on rural indigenous peoples lies in their connection to the land and spirit. I would love to take a different approach to learning and really get involved with a program where traditional knowledge is passed down.

When I get back from exchange, one of my goals is to do a directed studies at the smoke house on the UBC farm. I’m not exactly sure what it would be on, but I feel that it would encompass what I want to do with my degree, connect people with their land and food. I also feel like it would really help me in being grounded with my relation to food. Often times in such a busy life, it is hard to really enjoy every meal of the day. I admire so much the efforts of traditional ways of preparing and eating food. I really look forward to learning more about it.

Until next time,

Rebecca