An unofficial AU advocate at large, Jason never misses a chance to recount the merits of an Athabasca education. Jason’s studies began alone in front of a rustic rural fireplace in December of 2003 and carried on through various brick and mortar college classrooms yet always with Athabasca as part of his journey. In 2014 he completed his BA in Sociology and in 2022 graduated with an MA in Cultural Studies. To this end, his columns seek to explore edifying moments of learning how to learn within the challenging ideological terrain of that great bugaboo facing students everywhere: the real world!
September brings apprehension and ambivalence to students of all ages. Whether our classroom days are four or forty years hence the creeping shadows of autumn re-stimulate memories of that dreaded return to school. Our formative years were divided, as if with a paper cutter, every September; a whoosh of a sucking sound vacated our spirits… Read more »
Fill in the blank quiz questions can be a breeze or a bummer. Like multiple choice, they leave little margin for error or ambiguity. There seems to be no room to elaborate or hedge one’s bets by fluffing up an answer to cover as much terrain as feels right. So, with that in mind, inevitably… Read more »
Pop culture gleams with opportunities for sociological analytics. Take the country song “What Was I Thinking” by Dierks Bentley: “I was thinking ‘bout a little white tank top sitting right there in the middle by me I was thinking about a long kiss man just gotta get goin’ with a night like me Well I… Read more »
In This House, A Base and A Superstructure We’re trained, said Althusser, to think simultaneously on two levels—the first cultural, the second economic. This second level is actually the base of the first (as we know when we buy something our heart yearns to possess; it’s our money that does the talking in the end)… Read more »
“It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again” This timeless line from Silence of the Lambs (and its countless attendant memes) may enter our mind clothed in hyperbole as we study on hot summer days. Maybe we have air conditioning and maybe we don’t; sometimes we might eschew A/C… Read more »
What’s in a moment? If it’s a summer moment, there might be wisps of breeze in leaves and abundant sultry heat. Isn’t a moment the ultimate timeless time frame; doesn’t its passing nature transcend ordinary timed context? Measuring time at the best of times is a sticky philosophical proposition: “the measurement of time is puzzling… Read more »
The production of enlightened wisdom is not a matter of putting our names to a simple sign up sheet. The methods we choose yield results proper to their context. The devils we dance with, and classes we register in, make us who we are. To face the unknown and the danger it entails is part… Read more »
Kids often want to play outdoors this time of year and by doing so they set a great example for us as studious summer students. Why not follow their lead; but what to do in the great outdoors? Maybe hop in a canoe! And if a canoe isn’t present, or it’s out in the garage… Read more »
Jacques Derrida’s book, The Politics of Friendship, spends a swathe of papyrus exploring and questioning the work of Carl Schmitt’s The Concept of the Political. Schmitt claimed that, going all the way back to ancient Athens, there were two types of social conflict: the first, stasis, involved rigorous debate and argument between members of one… Read more »
We’re a pretty fantastic country. Other nations have linguini or lederhosen, croissants or crumpets, Guinness harps or apple pie and on and on. But Canada has beavers and brews, hockey and maple syrup. And at a deeper (if more ambiguous) level, we like to think of ourselves as a nation with a big heart that… Read more »