Quick note, the second week of May will not have a new edition of The Voice Magazine, as I’ll be taking my first vacation in over a year. It seems like a good time, what with AU labour disputes currently settled, and AUSU moving into their annual planning and retreat meetings, and most students settled into the routine of their courses. After all, even though AU has open enrollment, we still see that the bulk of it follows the traditional school year, with large numbers of students starting in September and January, and with six-month courses, many students finding themselves too busy in May for much leisure reading as the reality of their course end date and exam request times becomes all too clear.
This issue, however, has us with some great material. Such as an interview with a student originally from Nigeria, whose life has moved him through a number of different industries and is now concentrating on health administration, with some help from AU.
We also have a look at the “puppy blues” as Karen Lam describes her first months with her new puppy. The idyllic notions she had gave way to some harsh realities, and she’s good enough to share some of those struggles with us.
And, sooner or later, pretty much everybody finds themselves having to deal with a lawyer, but that can be an expensive proposition. Alek Golijanin has some advice this issue on how to prepare yourself should you need one, what to do to help keep costs down, and, if worse goes to worst, some pointers for if you find yourself in a dispute with your own attorney.
Plus, we have some recipes, events, scholarships, advice, and even a bit of encouragement and congratulations for those new students showing up mid year.
Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine rages on, with increasing reports about various atrocities that are happening, while we stand idle. This frustrates me, as the incursion of one nation into another, especially to force regime or territorial changes, should not be permitted in the first place, whether it’s Russia, the US, or even us doing it.
At what point do we actually live up to the notion of being “good guys”? In Canada, we failed at that task in a tremendous fashion already with our legacy of residential schools. Now it seems we’re lining up to do so again when it comes to the people of Ukraine.
Personally, I fully support us sending military support, not just weapons, but trained soldiers, into Ukraine at this juncture to serve as peacekeepers and help stop the invasion. This is not to say that the Ukraine did not have some serious issues of its own to deal with when it comes to having rebels and disaffected people within, but regardless, that was not Russia’s business to intervene militarily and unilaterally. Internal conflictions within a nation should be resolved internally, with the larger global community only serving to apply pressure to resolve those conflicts in as peaceful a manner as possible.
Imagine if pressure had been put on us by the global community to get matters with our indigenous peoples sorted earlier. How many kids might that have saved? Let’s do better with the Ukraine. Enjoy the read.
