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.
The polls are open for AUSU’s by-election and voting time is limited. Voting takes place for four days only, from Friday September 30 to Monday October 3. AUSU will e-mail each member a confidential ballot September 30. (Check your eligibility for AUSU membership here. If you haven’t received a ballot and believe you are eligible… Read more »
Athabasca University has dozens of scholarships for its undergraduate students. Most AU scholarships require students to apply for them. A cluster of AU scholarships have an application deadline of October 15. It’s not too early?nor too late?to organize your applications for these scholarships. Here are the highlights for three of the AU undergraduate scholarships with… Read more »
It was the best movie Monty Python never made. Yellowbeard, released in 1983, was surely the funniest movie ever to stagger across a movie screen. Even though few people seem to have heard of it, let alone watched it, Yellowbeard remains a cult-classic pirate film among aficionados of campy comedy. Starring Graham Chapman, Eric Idle,… Read more »
September comes with that inspiring back-to-school essence. Whether you’re beginning your first AU course or in the middle of your fifteenth, September still inspires. It may be the flurry of back-to-school ads, the reappearance of school buses, or just the ingrained habit of many years. Whatever it is, school and September just go together. Although… Read more »
This autumn, AUSU offers its members an off-schedule opportunity to run for a position on AUSU student council. The next general election isn’t scheduled until March 2018, however, due to the recent departure of two councillors, AUSU council is left with two vacancies. A by-election has been called for September 2016 to fill those empty… Read more »
Quick! Check the weather forecast. It’s almost time for International Go Topless Day! Held annually on the Sunday closest to August 26?Women’s Equality Day?this year’s topless event is scheduled for Sunday, August 28. The annual Go Topless Day event is held to support the right of women to go topless in public. As the official… Read more »
Late summer brings a cyclone of back-to-school advertisements. A new school year prompts thoughts of fresh beginnings and the need for crisp new school supplies. But there’s a different kind of back-to-school shopping that doesn’t involve lined paper, fresh pens, or tablet computers. It’s the kind of shopping students do when they’re selecting their next… Read more »
Like the predictable man-walks-into-a-bar joke, the “news” that AU might be closing seems to reappear with tiresome frequency. And like the reaction to a tired old joke, students who have heard it before tend to sigh and roll their eyes. Each time the not-so-new news breaks about threats to AU, new students break into a… Read more »
So, don’t tell my tutor, but I’ve fallen a bit behind with my course. The end date is less than four weeks away and I haven’t finished the final unit. I haven’t finished the assignment due before the final unit. And the final essay? Just a dream at this point. I’d like to blame summer,… Read more »
The end of July marks roughly summer’s half-way point. I often dread the act of flipping the calendar over to August because it forces me to acknowledge the beginning of the end of summer. As long as the calendar reads “July”, summer seems to stretch far into the hazy horizon. In August, though, summer seems… Read more »