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.
On August 23, UNESCO marks the sombre “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.” The Slave Trade referred to in UNESCO’s proclamation is the so-called Atlantic slave trade, in which more than 12 million men, women, and children were wrenched from their homes in Africa to toil in the fields… Read more »
Good news for all you hardworking students: today is “National Relaxation Day!” I don’t know who designated August 15 as a day of relaxation, but I’m not going to argue. I found NRD on two websites* so it must be true. Too often we view the act of relaxation as that ideal state we’ll arrive… Read more »
Are you new to AU? You might be waiting for your first course to begin or perhaps you’ve taken a few and are ready to immerse yourself in a program. With many courses ahead of you and years of study, It’s sometimes overwhelming to decide where to begin. If you’ve never taken university courses before,… Read more »
The signs are everywhere. It’s getting harder to ignore. Summer is half over. August has begun, the birds are preparing for their fall migration, and the stores are bulging with back-to-school supplies. The deadline to register for AU courses for September is only days away. Are you ready? It’s time to put down the daiquiri,… Read more »
Do you know what’s going on? If you don’t, how do you find out? Many people wait until someone tells them or until they read it in the papers. Getting news second hand is limited engagement. I recently attended three council meetings in eight days. One, the AUSU monthly council meeting, was via telephone. At… Read more »
How long do you stare at a blank screen, willing it to turn into a completed essay? I don’t know if there are any studies on this, but I’ll bet many students spend more time generating the enthusiasm to begin than they do writing. I used to be one of those students (and I still… Read more »
I don’t know how the rest of Canada views Ontario, but I have an idea how the rest of Ontario views Toronto. We refer to Toronto as the “Centre of the Universe.” This is not meant kindly. Torontonians, to many of those beyond the fringe of the GTA, are self-important and Toronto-centric. The world revolves… Read more »
Last week’s article reviewed where AU has buried information about undergraduate transfer credits on their website. Like many university websites, finding the information you need takes a bit of digging, but It’s (usually) all there. In the case of transfer credits, the effort is worth it if you think you have even one course that… Read more »
The experience of searching for information on a website is sometimes like wading through seaweed: the way is murky and there is a danger of getting bogged down with every step. University websites are saturated with important information and finding what you need can turn into an arduous adventure. AU’s website can be a bit… Read more »
I need help “getting” laid. Seriously, the past tense of “lie” and “lay” have always baffled me. I just don’t get it. Every time I use one of these troublesome verbs, I have to look it up. Christina Frey, in her Writer’s Toolbox article in The Voice Magazine last November, covered this very topic. The… Read more »