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.
“In these unclaimed spaces, you get to know yourself…It’s the hardest and bravest thing you can do.” ? John Vaillant John Vaillant, AU’s Writer-in-Residence (WiR) for 2016-2017, gave a spellbinding presentation at AU last week. On Thursday, February 2, dozens of AU students, staff, tutors, and others gathered for Vaillant’s presentation at AU’s Edmonton campus,… Read more »
It’s time to turn off the web cam, turn up the heat, and take it all off! You almost missed it, but February 3 is the eighth annual “Working Naked Day.” The first Friday in February is the designated day to strip away encumbrances and celebrate the unconcealed freedom that accompanies working—or studying—from home. Working… Read more »
This is part two of The Voice Magazine’s Barbara Lehtiniemi’s interview with AU’s 2016-2017 Writer in Residence, John Vaillant. You can read part one of the interview here. Mr. Vaillant will give his first AU presentation on February 2, entitled “Reckoning the Present: Mediating the tension between the muse and the news.” AU Students are… Read more »
In her January executive blog, AUSU president Shawna Wasylyshyn asks, “who are the students of AU?” In her capacity as student union council president, Wasylyshyn interacts with countless people in the post-secondary education community. Some, she feels, view AU students as “disadvantaged”, “marginalized”, or people with “no other choice” but to attend AU. Like Wasylyshyn,… Read more »
John Vaillant, author of The Golden Spruce, The Tiger, and The Jaguar’s Children, is AU’s 2016-2017 Writer in Residence. During his term as Writer in Residence, Vaillant will spend time providing feedback to AU students about their writing while also working on his next book about last year’s devastating fires in Fort McMurray. The Voice… Read more »
Did you take the #goodthings2016 challenge? In my article A Year Full of Goodness in The Voice Magazine last January, I wrote about my intent to keep a “jar of goodness” for the year. For a full year, I decided to jot a little note about one good thing that happened each day and add… Read more »
As an online student, I miss not using more of my senses for learning. Although each student has their preferred learning style (visual, auditory, tactile) learning goes deepest when multiple senses are engaged. My brain gets fogged in when I rely too heavily on one sense. To combat the fogginess of too much solitary reading,… Read more »
AUSU’s annual report for 2016 was presented at the Annual General Meeting on April 7, 2016. If you weren’t at the meeting?and I suspect you were not?you missed the official presentation of the report to the membership. Not to worry. You can access the AUSU 2016 Annual Report from AUSU’s website?look for Annual Reports under… Read more »
It’s a practice many people engage in but loathe to be caught at. we’re not talking about picking one’s nose, singing in the car, or pocketing a few extra restaurant ketchup packets for later. we’re talking about re-gifting. Re-gifting is simply the practice of giving, as a gift, something you yourself received as a gift…. Read more »
’Tis the season when money seems to flow out more than in. Regardless of to what degree you do?or do not?celebrate Christmas, this time of year is peak season for spending. Social gatherings, gifts, travel?the list of expenses is endless. If you’re already short on money, this seasonal drain of funds is even tougher to… Read more »