Once upon a time, in ancient days gone by, there was no awesome beast called Internet. It was a pretty cool time full of barbarians and wizards and lots of Manowar. There were books instead of blogs, gramophones instead of MP3s, and duels instead of school bombings. People understood things and talked with each other… Read more »
STUDENT: E. Wayne Benedict How did Athabasca University help turn a locomotive engineer into a labour lawyer? In this week’s profile, E. Wayne Benedict, a 2006 graduate of AU’s Bachelor of Human Resources and Labour Relations (B.HRLR) program, talks about how his initial desire to upgrade his skills eventually turned into a law degree. He… Read more »
I’m going to take a diversion in this column to tell you about a friend of ours. His name is Peter. He owned a business called Gabriola Cycle and Kayak; it was one of the original kayak companies in British Columbia. He ran kayak trips to the Broken Islands, Queen Charlottes, and Baja, Mexico. But… Read more »
Life is So Good ? George Dawson This book is all about the title. It’s the autobiography of George Dawson, a man whose life is incredibly hard yet full and happy. Though he certainly has his troubles, he continuously finds a way to see hope through it all, and the stories from his life are… Read more »
No Country for Old Men Directed by: The Coen Brothers Starring: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, and an extremely scary man Beautiful location, great acting from a cast that couldn’t have been chosen better, brilliant dialogue, and loads of rootin? tootin? shoot-em-up barn-burnin? cowboy-style blood-and-guts action?but when the credits rolled, I felt like a kid… Read more »
There once was an elderly gardener who loved nature. She spent much of her time outside her tiny cottage, tending a beautiful garden filled with many colours, shapes, and sizes of plants and flowers. There was one part of the garden, however, right in the very centre, which did not easily yield growth. According to… Read more »
Athabasca University’s Centre for Science has expanded its Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics with a new introductory course on the subject. This course, titled Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASTR 210), provides students with a ?general overview of everything in the universe, from a science student’s point of view,? says course coordinator and developer of AU’s Geophysical… Read more »
Aesop Rock ? None Shall Pass Constantly defying hip hop convention has worked for Aesop in the past, with underground hits like Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives, and this album doesn’t see him settling down. Between brilliant wordplay, totally original samples and beats, a gorgeous digipack illustrated by Jeremy Fish, and an array of… Read more »
STUDENT: Katie Tippelt This week, we introduce AU student Katie Tippelt, a single mom in her first year of Athabasca University’s Bachelor of Human Resources and Labour Relations program. Katie, who lives about an hour east of Toronto, is enthusiastic about AU and the opportunity it provides for single parents. She explains why AU’s flexibility… Read more »
On Christmas Eve a box arrived for me from Athabasca University. It contained, as expected, the books and materials for the next two courses. The arrival of such boxes tends to evoke mixed emotions: joy that I’ve now got a whole new batch of English or French books to read, and anxiety that I have… Read more »