Barbara Lehtiniemi is a writer and photographer from Ontario. She’s a graduate of Athabasca University, having completed her Bachelor of General Studies degree in 2018.
A regular contributor to The Voice Magazine for over ten years, Barbara has also contributed to other publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul and Maclean’s. Barbara writes in several genres, including non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. She’s eternally grateful to The Voice Magazine for providing the opportunity to explore an array of topics and writing styles.
Barbara has a fondness for travel, used bookstores, everyday absurdities, and oversized wine glasses. Originally from urban Southwestern Ontario, she now lives on a windswept rural road in Eastern Ontario.
Last week, in “Reviewing AU’s Third-Party Review,” we gave readers an overview of the recent Final Report of the Independent Third-Party Review of Athabasca University. This week we focus on the Action Plan?with its fifteen recommendations?put forward in the report. The action plan sketched out in The Independent Third-Party Review of Athabasca University comprises fewer… Read more »
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein, American conductor, composer, and pianist (1918-1990). If Leonard Bernstein, quoted above, is correct, then AU is destined to achieve great things. Last week, AU made public the Independent Third-Party Review of Athabasca University. The report, compiled by… Read more »
“Karl exemplifies all that an editor should be: a mentor, approachable, on-point with language and grammar, and above all, genuinely interested in and supportive of his writers.” – from nomination for PWAC Editor of the Year. The Voice Magazine’s own Karl Low has been selected by the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) as 2017… Read more »
AU’s Convocation 2017 is well underway. From Thursday, June 8, to Saturday, June 10, AU students are taking the final portion of their AU journey across a stage in Athabasca. They have come from all over Canada and beyond. For most, it is their first time on AU’s campus. I’ve watched each year’s convocation ceremonies… Read more »
The myAU portal is the gateway to AU studies, yet It’s often rushed through on the way to course pages. Indeed, if you bookmark your course homepage, you can skip the portal almost completely. Yet, there’s a wealth of info at the portal gates, and even more on the student homepage that follows the login… Read more »
It has been my long-desired goal to obtain a university degree and, as Thoreau eloquently recommends, “move confidently in the direction of my dreams.” After thirty years spent raising a family and building a career, I decided to take several years off to focus on my education. Post-secondary education wasn’t essential thirty years ago. I… Read more »
Why should you take 90 minutes out of your busy life to attend AUSU’s Annual General Meeting May 23? You pay your membership fees every time you enrol in an AU undergraduate course. Does your obligation end there? Membership in AUSU has benefits (advocacy, scholarships, study aids, a superb weekly student magazine) but also carries… Read more »
My relationship with my mother has evolved through the decades. Growing up, Mom was the nurturer, the teacher, the kisser of scraped knees. During my teen years, Mom was the disciplinarian, the nagger, the barrier between me and all the mistakes I could make. When I grew up and became a mother myself, Mom was… Read more »
Twelve months to go. This week, I began the final year of my AU journey. I enrolled in my fourth-last AU course, ENGL 341 World Literature, which joins two courses already in progress. ENGL 341 is a 6-credit course and it will accompany me on the final year toward an AU Bachelor of General Studies… Read more »
Each AU student believes they are unique—and That’s probably true. However, there are some traits that many of us share. Traits which bind us together while separating us from the herd of “ordinary” university students. It’s not just the isolation that binds us. There’s a whole basketful of quirks all our own. Here are a… Read more »