Live and Love

Sun smiles

2011-04-04T18:35:00.002-05:00

It’s plus four on what seems to be the nicest day of the year.

To celebrate, I decide to take a walk downtown and end up at the Forks. I almost feel like I need my sunglasses to shield the streaming sun while I sit in the food court. The warm, bright, smiling sun shines through the tall long ceilings at the Forks Market in Winnipeg on this Monday. The sun sits on my back, and I know its rays are hitting my hair perfectly. 150 days of the year, I have black hair and for the rest, when the sun is as it is today, my hair has a tint of red in it.

After basking in the sun’s warm rays, I get up and continue my walk. I resist the cinnamon buns from Tall Grass Prairie…..although the warm, intoxicating smell of butter and cinnamon is overwhelming to the point that I have to stop and stare at the cinnamon buns glazed with white sugary icing. My mouth watering, I decide a bag of candy can also satisfy my sweet tooth.

Stella Gower, owner of The Almond Tree, chats with me in a thick addictive Ukrainian accent as I pick my treats, candy corn, chocolate raisins, and sour patch kids. I ask her whether the sun being out makes a difference in the amount of business the store receives.

She tells me that it absolutely does.

“Naturally, as soon as it gets green outside, people want to come out,” she says.
Then she says what I’ve been feeling all day.

“Everyone feels a little better once it’s nice out.”

She’s right. I feel better when I see the sun. I’ve been in an edit suite desperately working through the last of my work in CreComm as this is my last week in the program. Now, I’m here at the Forks in the strong sunlight and all I can think of is how lovely it would be to stay a little longer rather then head back to the blank draining disheartening computer screen that’s calling to me back at school.

I remind myself my walk isn’t over yet and head into the second corridor of sun. The vegetable and fruit aisle. The long line of food stretches on for what seem an eternity and the colours of the vegetables and fruits are extra bright and vibrant today, what with the sun shining down on them, reds, greens, and yellows. That’s where I find myself starring at the red and yellow mangoes, my favourite fruit, ripe and ready to eat.

Suddenly a woman comes up next to me…and I’m immediately obsessed with her. Why? She has a little tiny baby attached to her stomach in one of those baby-carriers-on-the-stomach things. He’s tiny. I can’t help it, I make conversation. She tells me he’s her son, Sylar, and her name is Angela Anderson. She’s on maternity leave and she decided, with the sun being as warm as it is, to take a walk from her home downtown.

"I debated where to go and decided on the Forks because I have the option of walking inside or outside," Anderson tells me.

I say hello to her little baby boy, tiny with soft blond precious hair, we agree the cinnamon buns are to die for and then I go on my way.

I move on from the engaging health aisles into another dream food world. Ice cream. With the weather getting better, I imagine there are people getting ice cream, gelato, or frozen yogurt. And I am right. A mother and daughter sit together and chat quietly while they eat ice cream at Neon Cone and a young boy, probably around 7, grabs his dad’s hand and maneuvers him to the ice cream stand, I laugh as I watch. I feel the same way.

I turn my head and watch a couple walking outside. They’re about the same age, but the girl is very tall, with long longs and a skirt so short it’s only appropriate in the summer. I’m intrigued. I follow them outside to the benches near the river. They sit, eat candy as I do as well, and chat away, clearly on some kind of date.

A few benches away, two middle ages women, friends I assume, sit together tightly on the bench. Their words are a distant whisper to me, articulated only by the expression in their waving hands.

One brown bench closer, a young woman in her 30s I believe, sits in a green sweater, jeans, and sneakers. She shields the sun with her hands and looks out the water, the river which is still half covered in melting off-white snow.

I look out with her, following her gaze. The soft breeze in the air hits me hard, it’s sunny, but the wind is still striking, any stronger and I’d consider it cold out.

Around me, the sound of leaves softly flutter across the grass…grass which is barely visible under the mud and dirt spring has brought. The grass looks yellow actually, dried and dead. Besides the leaves which have fallen from the bare grey trees, there is little sound besides that of the wind rustling softly.

I look around. Its quiet today, but I imagine what it will look like when summer begins, perhaps on Canada Day, when there’s not a free bench to sit on for miles. When streams of people crowd in the space like tiny ants waiting for the fireworks. I wonder if I’ll be back in Winnipeg this year to watch them…

I can barely get myself to leave. I wish I could have sat in that spot and took it all in for a moment longer. But I couldn’t. I don't know when I'll be back. It could be months. But I’m already looking forward to going back and am grateful for the peaceful moment I received from this place amidst life's craziness today. Under the smiling sun.

Final Two

2011-03-28T14:01:00.002-05:00

Crecomm is coming to an end. Now what?

The end of the school year is approaching. Fast.

Last week, while standing in line at Tim Hortons with Dr. Petty, we both came to the conclusion that I only had two weeks left of CreComm.

It hit me.

Two weeks.

It’s the end of post-secondary education for me. Five years, a double major and a diploma later, I am done school. For now at least…I think I eventually want to get a Masters in journalism, but probably not for a few years.

So this is it for now. No more school.

I have the next two months of my life planned out. After these next two weeks, I head to Vancouver for a six week internship at Global National.

After that? I have no idea…

This is the first time in my life where I’ve had NO idea, absolutely no idea, where I am heading or what’s going to happen.

In two months, where will I be?

Will I have a job? If I do have a job, what will it be? An internship? Maybe I’ll be volunteering? Travelling?

Or maybe I’ll be working out and sleeping…or sitting at home unemployed watching soap operas?

I’m not scared of change….but it does make me a bit uneasy… I’d rather I knew what was going to happen…but the unknown is kind of wonderful too.

If you’d told me in September I’d be living in Vancouver for two months this summer, I’d have been shocked. Change can be so surprising and amazing…but I’ll admit it. I’m scared.

School has always been my security blanket. The one constant thing in my life. What am I going to do without it?

And I’ve realized, I’m really going to miss it.

Winnipeg's Great War, close to one hundred years later...

2011-03-21T15:43:00.003-05:00

Last week, I finished reading a book called Winnipeg’s Great War: A City Comes of Age by Jim Blanchard.

It was filled with interesting details, information, stories, and anecdotes about people, businesses, and the history of Winnipeg during the First World War starting in 1914.

I decided to learn a little bit more about some of those organizations and places the book references.

One of the first places I visited was the Bank of Montreal building located at the corner of Main Street and Portage Avenue. This building, located at what is one of Canada’s windiest corners, was finished in 1913, right before the First World War began.

Today, it is still absolutely stunning, made from marble with high ceilings and beautiful architecture.

Caronline Torres, the senior customer service representative for the BMO branch, told me that most of the branch’s employees at the time of the war were male. They all lived on the third floor of the building in apartments. They had maid service, three hot meals a day, and laundry service. When the war broke out, the branch lost most of its employees as many went to fight in the war. In fact, the statue in the front of the building (still standing today) is of one of the employees who went off to war.

“Most of the bank’s employees at that time were men. As a result, when they all went off to war, that’s when we started hiring women to work at this branch,” she said. “That was the beginning of women working here.”

Torres also said that the branch was built in 1913 at the center of the city because (as Blanchard states in his book) Winnipeg was the third largest city in Canada and that its growth was imminent and booming. Branch owners thought by building the bank at the center of the city, it was a great way to be in the center of an economic boom.

But Torres said, after the war occurred, the bank went from being focused on Winnipeg’s economic growth and prosperity to farming.

“This branch became the center for farming,” she said. “After the war, the bank was now earning all its money from the farming community.”

This got me thinking more about Winnipeg’s Exchange District.

That’s why after the Bank of Montreal, I headed down Main Street and visited CentreVenture Development Corporation located at 492 Main Street. The senior development officer there Jeff Palmer showed me a large framed photograph taken of Winnipeg’s Exchange District, a national historic site, in 1911 (right before the war).

“This building was built in 1894 and is a designated building by the City of Winnipeg,” he said.

He directed me to the City of Winnipeg’s website, and I learned that the building was MacDonald Shoes for a really long time.

Thomas Ryan opened the store that year, a businessman who had confidence in Winnipeg’s boom. At that time, the building, with its four stories, cost close to $35,000 to make.

In 1900, Armine Banfield, a household furnishings dealer, took over the property. After a fire in 1903, he rebuilt the building. In 1933, after another disastrous fire, MacDonald Shoes took ownership of the property. Interestingly, T.J Ainslie MacDonald served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War One before settling in Winnipeg. Today, CentreVenture has been operating out of the building for a few years.

It’s interesting, as I read Winnipeg’s Great War as lifelong Winnipegger, how many names of businesses that I recognized, such as the Canadian Red Cross that’s still around today as well as the Winnipeg Free Press (although it has moved from its original location on Carlton Street downtown to its location on Mountain Avenue now).

The Hudson’s Bay Company, located on Portage Avenue, is also mentioned in the book and it’s still around close to 100 years later, but the Eaton’s building is not (although I do remember when Eaton’s closed when I was a kid).

Other newspapers mentioned in the book, The Winnipeg Tribune (1890-1980) and the Winnipeg Telegram (1907-1920), are also no longer in existence.

The Royal Alexandra Hotel is mentioned in the book and it is no longer around. Instead, a plaque where it used to be in Winnipeg’s Exchange District exists in its memory.

Lt. Colonel’s Thomson’s old home is now St. John’s Ravenscourt School, a private school in Winnipeg. My brother goes to that school and I can say, having visited many times, it is amazing to see how much it has changed from a home to a school over the years. It’s hard to recognize it as a home anymore.

I also found in my research that although the First World War took place close to 100 years ago and across an ocean, there are many memorials here in the city, even today, to pay tribute to all those who fought for our freedom. At Augustine United Church, located at 444 River Ave, a memorial stands outside the church to commemorate the soldiers who fought.

Outside the Bank of Montreal on Main Street that I visited, like I mentioned before, a 9 foot tall bronze statue with a marble base is of a World War One soldier to pay tribute to the 230 BMO employees who died in the war.

I learned a lot by reading this book and even more by doing some research about the places, businesses, and people Blanchard mentions in his book.

The thing I took away from this reading experience is that it is really nice to know that close to 100 years, in so many ways, in Winnipeg, the soldiers who sacrificed their lives have not been forgotten.

I also think it’s interesting to know how so many businesses in the Exchange District have been around for so many years….every day while I drive by these buildings to get to school, I never stop to think about how long the buildings have been around or what they were first used for. I will definitely do that in the future.

I definitely recommend Winnipeg’s Great War: A City Comes of Age to anyone interested in Winnipeg’s history.

Happy Reading!

Winnipeg’s Great War

2011-03-14T16:08:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Winnipeg’s Great War by Jim Blanchard.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve always been interested in history, and this story was very detailed and intensely edited. The amount of information in it is absolutely remarkable.

The author, Jim Blanchard, came to our journalism class this week, and we had the privilege of asking him a few questions about his writing process.
He told us that he wrote the draft to this story by hand twice before ever sending it to an editor, and if you’ve read the book, that’s outstanding.

Moreover, like I mentioned before, the amount of research and information that went into this book is admirable.

The book is about the First World War starting in 1914 and basically goes over most of what happened in Winnipeg at that time.

I was particularly interested in this because, in my old job at Manitoba Film and Music, one of my tasks was to showcase the city to offshore producers who visited. Many producers saw Winnipeg as “the Chicago of the North” and I always told them that, at one time, Winnipeg was on the path to becoming as large and prosperous as Chicago.

I found this book to be very interesting, because it explained how Winnipeg went from being Canada’s third largest city in 1914 (“the Chicago of the North”) to the city it is today.

I was super interested in learning what exactly took place that changed the course of our city’s history, and I think Blanchard did a great job of explaining what happened.

My favourite topics in the book were women’s role in the war and how voting for women became legal. I also enjoyed reading about conscription and what events made enrolling as a soldier mandatory.

If you’d like to read more about how the First World War and Winnipeg in particular, pick up a copy of Winnipeg’s Great War at McNally Robinson.

Evidence based reporting

2011-03-03T22:49:00.001-06:00

So this week, the journalism majors learned about evidence based reporting. Dr. Noralou Roos from the University of Manitoba visited our class and taught us about the Evidence Network. We learned that evidence reporting is essential for journalists in order to get the real story out. If one writes a story without adequate research or evidence, the story lacks depth, credibility, accuracy, and validity, especially for stories related to health care.

As an exercise, I took a health care related topic and searched articles about it written on the internet to see what I found. My topic was “patient financing of health care.”

I was astonished to find that in most of the journalistic articles I found, there was little evidence used as a reference or reported. Most of the stories were about the benefits of patients paying for their own health care (privatization in Canada).

Interestingly, by reading up about this topic through research from the Evidence Network, I found that in actuality, based on research and evidence done, it was found that for many patients, privatization is a bad thing.

Dr. Noralou Roos said that many patients are unaware of when they need to go to the doctor in the first place, when it’s really necessary, so when they do, if there is a user fee, it tends to discourage care for the people who really need it.

"In Saskatchewan, in a study done on user fees in health care, it has been found that people who need to be at the doctor’s office who avoid going because of user fees often end up even more sick and in the hospital because they didn’t go the doctor earlier as they could not afford the fees,” she said.

Roos said that it has been found through research that many people may not go to the doctor even if they need to because of the fees.

“Most people who are at the doctor’s office aren’t there because they enjoy being there,” she said. “People in the office are usually sick and need to be there. They need the care.”

I was shocked to see the results I found from the Evidence Network on this topic.

Through the search I did on patient financing of health care, it seemed that many people were in favour of patients’ paying because it would lead to better quality health care.

I see how for a journalist, it is essential to learn about your topic not just through stories and anecdotes or interviews, but to review research on your topic. Otherwise you could end up making a journalist’s biggest sin, not doing justice to the story.

IPP Go Time...

2011-02-28T15:16:00.002-06:00

So here it is. The moment has arrived.

It's been over a year since this year's second year Crecomms began deliberating their IPPs (independent professional projects). And now, the time has come. It's almost hard to believe.

For those of you who don't know, my IPP is a video documentary on arranged marriages.

It has been a long and challening year for me with this IPP and, no doubt, the next week and a half, as I finish up and prepare for my presentation next week, will only be longer.

That being said, how sweet the end of the race feels!

I am so excited to finally have something to show for all of my work, and the final product reminds me why I chose a documentary in the first place. Because I now have something I can show to tell this story.

Next week marks IPP week. To anyone who reads this blog or knows anything about Crecommm, all the second year Crecomms will present their IPPS over the course of three days (March 9-11) at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Here is the list of the order.

http://creativeinlove.blogspot.com/2011/02/ipp-time-baby.html

If you're in the area, drop by. It's unbelievable that Crecomm is ending and that in one week, the IPP, the thing that's been looming over our heads for over a year, will be over.

Wow. Time flies.

Going back to the basics

2011-02-14T19:44:00.002-06:00

Duncan, I'm sorry! For my post today, I am reverting back to the beginning....to my original blog topic...Love.

I'm sorry, but it's Valentine's Day!!! How could I not post about something to do with love?

I will refrain from posting about how people who don't agree with the holiday should come over to the dark side....lol, I'll let that debate go (I already had it with 7 people today...)

Instead, here are some of my favourite love poems...They aren't all happy...as love can be a rollercoaster of good and bad, but nonetheless, here are some wise words about love.

And Duncan...how does this relate to journalism?

Easy....poems are words mixed with creativity...which in a lot of ways is what crecomm is all about!

The Benjamin Franklin of Monogamy
Jeffrey McDaniel

Reminiscing in the drizzle of Portland, I notice
the ring that's landed on your finger, a massive
insect of glitter, a chandelier shining at the end

of a long tunnel. Thirteen years ago, you hid the hurt
in your voice under a blanket and said there's two kinds
of women—those you write poems about

and those you don't. It's true. I never brought you
a bouquet of sonnets, or served you haiku in bed.
My idea of courtship was tapping Jane's Addiction

lyrics in Morse code on your window at three A.M.,
whiskey doing push-ups on my breath. But I worked
within the confines of my character, cast

as the bad boy in your life, the Magellan
of your dark side. We don't have a past so much
as a bunch of electricity and liquor, power

never put to good use. What we had together
makes it sound like a virus, as if we caught
one another like colds, and desire was merely

a symptom that could be treated with soup
and lots of sex. Gliding beside you now,
I feel like the Benjamin Franklin of monogamy,

as if I invented it, but I'm still not immune
to your waterfall scent, still haven't developed
antibodies for your smile. I don't know how long

regret existed before humans stuck a word on it.
I don't know how many paper towels it would take
to wipe up the Pacific Ocean, or why the light

of a candle being blown out travels faster
than the luminescence of one that's just been lit,
but I do know that all our huffing and puffing

into each other's ears—as if the brain was a trick
birthday candle—didn't make the silence
any easier to navigate. I'm sorry all the kisses

I scrawled on your neck were written
in disappearing ink. Sometimes I thought of you
so hard one of your legs would pop out

of my ear hole, and when I was sleeping, you'd press
your face against the porthole of my submarine.
I'm sorry this poem has taken thirteen years

to reach you. I wish that just once, instead of skidding
off the shoulder blade's precipice and joyriding
over flesh, we'd put our hands away like chocolate

to be saved for later, and deciphered the calligraphy
of each other's eyelashes, translated a paragraph
from the volumes of what couldn't be said.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

William Shakespeare - Sonnet #18

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Media Law

2011-02-07T16:30:00.002-06:00

As I watch the daily coverage of the Candace Derksen trial, I wonder just how difficult it must be to cover this story as a journalist.

While I was interning at CBC last month, the trial was just beginning, and I went with one of the reporters to watch the first day of the trial. The reporter was doing live hits about the trial, and I noticed just how careful she was about what she did or did not report. What evidence she presented, what information she gave, and what facts she told were all carefully planned out and checked over with lawyers so as to not provoke a re-trial.

Today in J class, we reviewed some of the things we learned last year about media law and some of the above topics came up.

For journalists, there are so many rules and standards they should know before they report on trials in particular, especially in a case so high profile as the one about Candace ( I've personally read her mother's book about her murder and recommend it, it's riveting.)

All the rules must be daunting for journalists, but I'm assuming that experience over time helps them learn what is appropriate to report on and what needs to be left out. Also, I'm sure it helps that places like the CBC have lawyers to help them sort through all the regulations!

2011-02-07T12:22:00.002-06:00

When does a challenge become a bad idea?

2011-01-31T19:48:00.004-06:00

So, as most people who are close to me know, this year, my biggest challenge has been working on my IPP which is a video documentary on arranged marriages.

I have sincerely enjoyed the process, heck to some extent, I even enjoy staying at school late night after night working away at something I'm so passionate about.

But lately, I've got to thinking, was this IPP a good idea?

Now don't get me wrong, I love my topic, arranged marriages. It is one that is so intense and passionate, one I feel very strongly about. It is a topic I think people need to be educated on and I honestly feel I have come across stories throughout this six month process so far that deserve and need to be told. So I don't regret choosing arranged marriages as my topic for my independent professional project this year...not one bit. I love it as much today as I did a year ago when I decided on it.

The problem I'm struggling with now is the video documentary part of it. When I decided to do a doc last year, it was because I truly believed this was the medium that was best suited for this topic. It was the medium which would most accurately portray the issue in its full capacity.

But I look back now, and I wonder, did I make a mistake? The reason being is that I am a journalist. I am a writer, I am an interviewer, I am a storyteller. But I am not a shooter, and I definitely am not an editor.

It brings me to the question: when does challenging yourself become a mistake? I chose the video documentary medium because I thought, well, that it was the best medium to portray the issue and that even though I was completely unfamiliar with shooting and editing, it was a challenge and one I should face in order to grow and learn.

And have I grown and learned a lot. Definitely. Do I regret that? No way. Have a learned so much about the production of a documentary that is invaluable? Yes. Have I gained amazing skills? For sure.

But was it the right answer? I'm not sure.

The reason being is because....I am all for challenging one's self, but as I work on my documentary night after night, I realize one thing. This is not as good as it could be. It is not reaching the potential it could be. IT could be better.

I am so happy with my interviews, my topic, my stories. But as I look at the way the interviews are framed, my b-roll, the lighting, even the editing, I think, man, a professional shooter or editor could really have made this 100 per cent better.

I really wish that I had chosen to get someone else to shoot and edit this documentary for me. Not because I am lazy or because I haven't enjoyed the process, but because I feel indebted to my topic. I feel such loyalty and a connection to it....and I don't think I've done it justice in terms of my shots or my edits.

Why not? Because those things just aren't my strength. And while I am all for challenges and growth, I have started to realize, we are good at what we are good at, and I think my documentary would be a lot more effective had I spent more time storytelling and interviewing and less time shooting and editing.

This post isn't about complaining....or knocking my documentary. I'm sure in the end, it will be something I am incredibly proud of.

I just feel that I was blessed with discovering such a wonderful topic, one that deserves to have justice done to it, and I'm not sure it will be done because of the shooting and editing which really bothers me.

Let me propose an analogy. It's as though you have an amazing idea for a painting to convey a topic...for argument's sake, an idea of how to portray love through a painting...maybe it's through the use of colour, texture, and technique.....but just because you have a topic and an idea of how to tell the story, it doesn't mean, if you are not a painter or have the natural talent as an artist, that you'll be able to portray your idea as well as you could if you were a professional painter.

When my documentary is done, I'll be proud. And I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped me or participated in it. But do I hope to one day have the opportunity to take this topic and re-do it, this time by being the producer, director, and journalist....not the shooter and editor... for sure.

CBC Internship

2011-01-24T12:04:00.002-06:00

For my first work placement, I interned at CBC News Winnipeg (television).
It was a really challenging yet rewarding experience.

I can't believe just how intense it can be to daily report. The reporters at CBC have to produce a 1.5-2 minute story as well as a BG (vosot) which they edit themselves by 4:30 pm each day. Their edit times are 2:15 pm and 3:15 pm….which makes for a short day to conduct your interviews, pick your clips, and write your script. A lot of work, but I think it all pays off once the story goes to air.

I learned so much during my internship….about story pitches, software, writing for TV, and general television reporting.

Everyone at CBC was kind and helpful; they answered all of my questions, and in the end, gave me a wonderful opportunity to produce my own story.

On-the-job work experience is invaluable. I took a lot of the things I’ve learned at university and Crecomm to the job but actually being at CBC in the flesh was a whole different experience all together.

I’m excited for my next internship in April!

Parkour- Kiran and Keith- Broadcast profile

2010-12-08T22:03:00.001-06:00

Winnipeg North speaks

2010-11-30T00:59:00.001-06:00

Democracy works. That’s the message that rang through the Punjab Banquet Hall on Monday night during the Winnipeg North federal byelection.

Piercing wind and flying snow couldn’t keep 300 Kevin Lamoureux supporters from watching the former Liberal Party of Canada’s Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Inkster win Winnipeg North’s Member of Parliament (MP) seat with 46 per cent of the vote.

A sea of red and white exploded in whistles and cheers as supporters as multicultural as the riding itself jumped up and down as the newly elected Member of Parliament entered the hall.

Lamoureux addressed the crowd and greeted many constituents by their first names.

“For those of you that have been with me for years, thank you,” he said. “Politics is about engaging people and building on relationships. I couldn’t have done it with you.”

Winnipeg North has been a New Democratic Party (NDP) riding for years. In the 2008 federal election, NDP MP Jusy Wasylycia-Leis won the seat she’d held since 1997 with 62.61 per cent of the vote. Lamoureux stepped down as MLA for Inkster, a position he’d held since 1988, to run in her place when she resigned to run for Mayor of Winnipeg in 2010.

According to the Elections Canada website, NDP candidate Kevin Chief came in a close second with 41.7 per cent of the vote. The Conservative Party of Canada’s Julie Javier received 10.3 per cent of the vote, Pirate Party of Canada’s Jeff Coleman received 0.6 per cent of the vote, Green Party of Canada’s John Harvie received 0.7 per cent of the vote, Communist Party of Canada’s Frank Komarniski received 0.4 per cent of the vote, and Christian Heritage Party of Canada’s Eric Truijen got 0.3 per cent of the vote.

After tonight’s byelection, the Conservative Party of Canada has 143 seats in the House of Commons, the Liberal Party of Canada has 77 seats, the Bloc Québécois has 47 seats, and the NDP has 36 seats. Two seats belong to individuals and three remain vacant.

Jan Gabbs, 67, said it is Lamoureux’s dedication to his constituents that sets him apart.

“Every Thursday night he holds meetings at McDonald’s where any constituent can come to talk to him,” she said. “When he moves to Ottawa, he’ll come home every weekend to do the same thing.”

Vince Vasallo, 37, said Lamoureux’s leadership is hope for Canada’s future.

“If you ever need any help with government problems, even if you don’t live in his area, he’ll help you.” he said. “I hope he becomes party leader and eventually prime minister.”

Hiroshima by John Hersey

2010-11-27T20:27:00.001-06:00

I recently finished reading a book called Hiroshima by John Hersey.

As the title of the book implies, the book is about the use of the first atomic bomb by America on Hiroshima in 1945 where close to 100,000 people were killed.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the author’s use of real people to tell the story of Hiroshima. This added a wonderful amount of believability to the story but also gave the reader the opportunity to feel for the characters in the book, because we knew their stories were real. What I would have liked for Hersey to do differently is, I wish he had put his characters in first person. I think this would have added another level of empathy from the reader for the characters because it would have felt like we were actually experiencing the actual events from the point of view of the characters.

The other thing I felt was missing from Hiroshima was some bigger context to the atomic bomb being dropped. Although I agree that there has been much written about the American perspective of the events and tragedy, I would have liked to read a bit more about the history of conflict regarding Pearl Harbour, Hiroshima, Nagasaki etc.

From a journalist’s perspective, I think there’s a lot that I could learn from reading this book. I think the amount of work and research, time, effort, and resilience it would have taken Hersey to compile all of the information and interviews he did to write this book must have been very much. I think from Hersey, journalists can learn that interviews can be the backbone of a really good story.

I watched a BBC TV documentary on Hiroshima before called Hiroshima: The First Weapon of Mass Destruction. I found the book by Hersey and the documentary to be similar in that they both used eyewitness accounts to tell the story about what happened during that time in Japan. I did find the documentary more effective for the sole reason that the visual clips (although many were computer generated) helped give the story context.

Quite interestingly, when Hiroshima was published in The New Yorker in 1946, it filled up the entire issue. There were no other articles or cartoons and it sold out the day it was put on newsstands. Many radio stations around the world read the text out loud and the article was published into a book soon thereafter.

I really enjoyed reading Hiroshima. I found it to be a stimulating, exciting, thought provoking, and emotional read. I would definitely read it again or recommend it to anyone who wants a good history lesson.

Journalists for Human Rights

2010-11-22T21:46:00.001-06:00

Here's an organization which pretty much sums up my journalism dreams.

http://www.jhr.ca/en/

Visit their website to learn more.

Last summer, I received an internship with the organization in Toronto. Unfortunately, I was not able to take it because of other circumstances, but I hope everyone takes the time to check out the website and get involved with the organization because it is one that I am very proud to be associated with.

Dani Finch, a first year Crecomm wants to start up a chapter of the organization here at Red River College. If you're interested, message me and I can forward you on to her!

JHR, you inspire me!

Look what I found!

2010-11-15T16:00:00.002-06:00

Can YOU learn how to be a reporter from online tutorials?

Good interview. Great answers

2010-11-08T15:58:00.002-06:00

Oprah Winfrey gets to interview people for a living. I wish that were my job.

Watch the interview with Portia de Rossi below (Ellen Degeneres' wife) about struggling with her eating disorders and coming out as a lesbian.

Oprah's questions are fine, but its the honesty in Portia's answers that brings true light to this interview.

I always say, it is up to the interviewer to make the subject feel so comfortable they will open up with them.....but I never forget, that an interview is only most successful, if the subject is willing to give you the truth.

So that’s what a murderer looks like in person….

2010-11-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

Today, Red River College Creative Communications students took their second trip to the law courts and low and behold, I experienced something I’m sure I’ll never forget.

I came face to face with a murderer…or at least, he’s accused of first-degree murder (innocent until proven guilty, I know….but for the sake of argument, let’s call him Mr. Murderer.)

Our assignment was to get to the Law Courts and cover something interesting. And boy, was it ever.

Yvonne, Jessica, Kim, and I sat through the day long proceedings where we saw an accused first-degree murderer go on trial. The Crown presented three witnesses in the case, and the defence lawyers cross-examined them. The trial continues on for the next few weeks but the first day was a good indication of what was to come.

The jury sat and listened and I couldn’t help but think, wow…I am so glad I am not them.

Why? Because I found my opinion changing as the day went on. In the morning, I was sure, its first degree murder…lock him up! Then as the day went on, I became less sure…maybe its second degree murder or maybe its manslaughter.

After the day was over, all four lawyers and the judge were kind enough to hang with us journalism students in the courtroom and answer some our questions. This was the best part because we had the chance to clarify things with them (such as, why was the accused in normal people clothes? Turns out they do that so the jury members won’t catch on to the fact that he’s in jail for other charges right now….they don’t want to sway their opinion.)

I also asked the lawyers if they defended people they knew were guilty. They replied, “of course, it’s the nature of the job. The Crown has to prove the person is guilty….even if I know they are, it’s their job to prove it. If they can’t, the person goes free.” I don’t think I could do it….but the two defence lawyers just shrugged and said, “it’s the nature of the job.”

Crazy. An exciting day it was. I had never considered court reporting before, but now, I don’t think I’d mind it at all.

Except for the fact that you have to spend time around potential murderers….err. That part isn’t so great…

Welcome Home, Dawna Friesen!

2010-10-25T15:47:00.003-05:00

Red River College welcomes Dawna Friesen, Global National anchor, on Tuesday, Oct. 26.

She’s the face of Canadian media. And she’ll be at Red River College tomorrow.
Rumour has it; Dawna actually asked Global National if she could stop in at her old school during her Winnipeg stop of the show’s national publicity tour.

She will be hosting a live broadcast of Global National later in the afternoon, but in the morning, she’ll be speaking to Red River College students about social media.
Those of you who know me or have read this blog, I’m sure, could guess how I feel about this. I’m super excited.

Dawna Friesen grew up in a small town in Manitoba, took CreComm, and then went on to work in Portage La Prairie, Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, and Brandon. After that, she worked nationally for CTV and CBC before becoming a NBC foreign correspondent. She held that position for the past 11 years and is now the Global National anchor and executive editor.

According to a press release from Canwest Corporation, Dawna has covered “everything from the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the British Royal Family. Assignments have taken her to Africa, Middle East, Russia and across Europe. Dawna was part of the Emmy® award-winning team covering Barack Obama's election and returned to Vancouver in February to report on the Winter Olympics.”

I cannot wait to ambush her tomorrow…err…congratulate her.

Passion in Journalism

2010-10-17T18:16:00.007-05:00

This week, my blog is going to be about a segment of television from The View.

I don't really want to start talking about the content of what the discussion in the below clip is about (it sort of makes my blood boil, so I'd rather not). What I do think is relevant to this blog is the confrontation that takes place in this clip.

Take a look:

Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg get up during the interview with Bill O'Reilly and walk off stage, saying "I don't have to sit here for this." Basically, O'Reilly says, "Muslims killed us on 9/11," and the women are so offended by this, they leave the interview. They do return after O'Reilly has apologized for what he has said but, I still think this walk-off merits discussion.

Now, after the women leave the set, Barbara Walters (Queen of the Universe) says that her colleagues were wrong to leave because in today's society, people should be allowed to speak their minds and there should be an open forum for discussion, without people getting angry, violent, or storming off.

While I agree with Walters to an extent, I also see why the women walked off set (and trust me, Goldberg is my least fave of The View women, even over Hasselbeck).

I think sometimes, passion, when it comes to journalism, is necessary. I don't blame the women for walking off set to prove their point. The reason for that is this, sometimes, when you are dealing with someone who is quite set in their ways, discussion really will not change their minds. Additionally, I feel that as the interview went on, O'Reiley's comments only got more and more offensive, more ignorant, and more hurtful. It was only after the women left the set that he finally stepped back and apologized.

Now, don't get me wrong. I also see the benefits of letting an interview get more and more heated. Often, that is when the real juicy or truth of the matter comes out. Such as in this interview, O'Reilly's real feelings came out as a result of things getting heated.

But at the same time, sometimes, even as a journalist, I feel we need to take a stand. No matter how important an interview is, I do feel the journalist, if they feel offended, disrespected, or completely ignored, can get up and say, "I am done with this interview." Sometimes, integrity matters more than a good interview.

What do you think?

To J or not to J? That is the question.

2010-10-11T21:00:00.002-05:00

An instructor in the Creative Communications program at Red River College, Kenton Larsen, posed a question about whether or not the program should become major-less on his blog.

Go here to read more, http://www.kentonlarsen.com/2010/10/whats-major-idea.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KentonsInfotainmentScan+%28Kenton%27s+Infotainment+Scan%29

Anyways, after reading his blog, I got to thinking...would I enjoy CreComm as much as I do if I could not have majored in journalism and had to take advertising, PR, and media production in my second year?

The truth is, I do value the other three subjects which make up CreComm and have learned so much from each of them. That being said, I am not good at advertising. Broadcast stresses me out because I am a techno-phone...and PR, while I appreciate the work, am not always motivated by it.

So my take on the whole thing is, it is important for CreComms to be well-rounded in all four of the major areas, but at the same time, it is essential we hone our greatest skills in the second year with our major.

I'd be more open to the idea of two majors, broadcast-j and ad-pr, but to eliminate the majors all together is not something I would be crazy about. I like the extra time I get in journalism, I like the work because it interests me, challenges me, and is where my passion lies.

I think CreComm's major system is good as it is.

Does gender count when it comes to votes?

2010-10-04T16:03:00.002-05:00

This past weekend the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press both wrote stories which said that if Winnipeg’s mayoral candidate Judy Wasylycia- Leis was a man, she would win the upcoming civic election.

Reading the article got me thinking. First of all, I found the articles poorly written with unsubstantiated facts. The authors and sources pretty much made the claim that Judy would win if she wasn’t a woman…but really, no one knows that for sure.

Secondly, I started to think, “Is it true? Is gender the main thing holding Judy back from being as successful as she could be?”

Don’t get me wrong, there are hundreds of successful women in the world who have not
let their gender come between them and their dreams.

Then again, to say that gender plays no role in how reputable a woman is in politics would be a mistake, in my opinion.

I feel like gender is the one minority status that doesn’t work in your favor in politics. For example, if I were to run for mayor, I’m sure the fact that I’m East-Indian would help me. Other East-Indians may vote for me just for that fact alone.

But I’m not sure people would vote for me just because I am a woman. More than
helping me, I think it may work against me.

To say people don’t have stereotypes against women in office is untrue, in my opinion.

Take a look at the Winnipeg Free Press’ articles about the issue.

I want to reiterate that I feel the articles are not well written, they are not backed up with real people, or statistics. But I do think the topic of gender in politics is a good and debatable one.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/gender-may-sink-judy-expert-104231469.html

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Prof-says-gender-working-against-Wasylycia-Leis.html

What do you think?

so this is what dreams are made of

2010-09-27T19:58:00.003-05:00

Have you ever had a moment of absolute clarity? The kind where everything makes sense and where a weight is lifted off your shoulders? A moment where you've achieved something you've wanted so desperately. Have you ever had a dream of yours come true? When you've made it?

Last year, Red River College presented Dawna Friesen with the Alumni Achievement award for her various accomplishments which include being the NBC foreign correspondent based out of London, England.

I had the priviledge of meeting Dawna while she was here accepting her award and attending a dinner in her honour. She shared a story with RRC students about how when she graduated, a news director once told her to slit the bottom of her tongue in order to get rid of her lisp. She refused and prospered anyways.

I think of the things she's achieved, the places she's visited, the things she's seen, and the people she's helped, and I wonder if this was her dream. Because it's mine.

This past Spring, it was announced that Dawna would be taking over as anchor for Global National for Kevin Newman.

So why am I writing about all of this? It's because, I wonder, how must Dawna feel at this time? Did she ever dream about being in the place she is now today? What were her hopes and dreams? When did she have her moment of clarity when she decided to be a journalist? Is she proud of herself or has she accomplished so much that she's used to her successes?

I remember getting emotional as I listened to Dawna speak when she was in Winnipeg last year. The reason is simply because she inspires me. It isn't often you see someone who has started in the exact same place that you currently are go on and achieve the things you can only dream of one day doing. She motivates me. And I'm proud of her.

Congratulations Dawna. I am so thrilled to have met you and I admire where you are and all you've done to get there. Good luck with your new job because I, for one, will be watching.

Journalism or entertainment?

2010-09-19T20:31:00.000-05:00

So, most people who know me well know that I have a soft spot in my heart for Ms.Oprah Winfrey.

I know, it’s a bit strange. But I don’t mind admitting to it.
I like the fact that her show is about real people and real stories (so maybe it’s her producers I really like...) and I respect the fact that she surpassed surmountable odds to get where she is (being raped by family members, getting pregnant as a teenager and having her child die, etc).

I remember watching an episode of the show a few years ago where Oprah read an entry from her diary on the eve of her 25th birthday about how she was restless, anxious, and waiting for something to change and happen in her life. I admire how far she’s come and I’ll miss the show.

For those who know anything about Oprah, they know she started as a broadcast journalist and then moved on to have her own show. So what I want to ask this week is whether or not Oprah’s show is a form of entertainment or a true form of journalism....or maybe a mixture of the two?

I think her show is clearly for entertainment, but I also think there’s so much journalism, reporting, interviewing, facts, and stories in her show that it’s also a form of journalism.

I, for one, am sad to see her go. Hey, Oprah, if you need a replacement, I’m sure we could work something out.

So I thought about it a bit more....

2010-09-08T19:48:00.003-05:00

Last week, I wrote about what I think journalism is....and my answer was what I believe to be true, but I truly had a hard time answering that question.

How do you sum up what you think you are meant to do with your life?

Then it came to me. The below video is what journalism means to me.

When people ask me why I want to be a journalist, I always say, well...er... I want to make a difference, I want to help people, I want to be where the real world is, I want to experience the truth and then tell it.

Most of the time, I am met with blank stares.

But here, this is why I want to be a journalist. Whether the video was staged or not, for argument's sake, let's say it was not. Anderson Cooper is out there, he's making a difference, he's where it matters. And wow, do I wish I were there too.

What is journalism?

2010-09-06T16:12:00.003-05:00

What is journalism?

So I’m back. After four months of what seems like an accelerated summer, I am back to blogging.

And I’m happy to be here.

Over the past year, I’d become attached to my blog. I began to feel at home with the art of writing from my heart, without worrying about being graded for my work. So I admit, I am glad to be back.

We were asked in our journalism class what exactly journalism is. And it got me thinking. I know I want to be a journalist, I know I’ve committed myself to this career and cannot wait to being working in the field. But then, when I was faced with this question, I realized, I’m not really sure exactly what journalism is.

According to the University of Western Ontario, “journalism is the timely reporting of events at the local, provincial, national and international levels. Reporting involves the gathering of information through interviewing and research, the results of which are turned into a fair and balanced story for publication or for television or radio broadcast.”

Hmm...that definition seems to make sense. Journalism does include research, information, interviews, facts, and storytelling, all things I love about it....but I’ve realized, those things, while I love them all, are not what makes me so passionate about journalism.

What is it for me? Where does my passion come from?

Simple. People.

To me, journalism is people. We have no facts, interviews, stories, research, or life to our words or broadcasts without people. I am passionate about journalism because it is a form of storytelling which enables those around us to learn about others and their experiences which may not be possible if there were no journalists to tell their stories.

What is journalism? To me, it is people. It is the mechanism which connects what is happening in the world to a person (or people) and other people around the world becoming aware of it.

one of my all time favourite songs

2010-05-11T20:15:00.001-05:00

summer

2010-04-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee

quotes warm the soul

2010-04-04T12:33:00.001-05:00

"Always remind her that she's braver than she believes, stronger than she seems, and smarter than she thinks."

Chapters in a book....

2010-04-03T21:50:00.002-05:00

People are like books. We have different parts to our personalities and characters, different chapters to our hearts if you will. But the entire book is a holistic version of who we really are.

Remember that when you fall in love.....

If you love someone, love them completely.

And if you decide to stay in love, love the entire book, not just one experience over time you shared, one part of their personality, or one chapter of their heart.

One of my favourite love songs....

a picture can speak a thousand words

2010-03-29T00:10:00.006-05:00

Hold your head up high.

2010-03-25T14:49:00.003-05:00

“Man, I would have hit a lot more than she did … I would have kept hitting.”

I write with a heavy heart today (and also for my Creative Writing blog!)

The words above come from Sandra Bullock and were released by an Orlando radio station which has footage of Bullock talking about Tiger Woods cheating on his wife, Elin, early this year in January.

“She was respectable. I’d get the baseball bat, I’d get everything out,” Bullock said in the interview.

Can you really blame either woman?

Now, to begin, I want to clarify something. I am no huge Bullock fan. I think she’s lovely. I enjoy watching her interviews, specifically on Ellen where the two have a dynamic friendship which always keeps me laughing. I think she’s beautiful and funny. I think she’s gracious and generous. She is one of the first celebrities I always hear about donating large amounts of money to different charities and causes. Watch some of my favourite Sandra interviews below. In the first, she dances for Ellen. In the second, she eats a full chili pepper and Ellen smashes her over the head with a bottle. Hilarious.

This one is my favourite. Bullock wins the Razzie for Worst Actress and she actually shows up to accept it, and her acceptance speech is SO witty.

I think she’s a good woman. And I feel bad for her. She does not deserve the hurt and disrespect and the humiliation she is so clearly fighting as a result of her husband’s cheating.

I’m not going to mention his mistresses. Who really cares? I’m sorry to say, but I doubt this is one isolated incident. It doesn’t matter to me WHO he cheated with because it seems there have been many women. What breaks my heart is what Jesse James has done to Bullock's dignity.

The most heartbreaking part of this whole thing is the irony. Bullock has been making movies and working in the film industry for DECADES. She FINALLY got some recognition for her work in The Blind Side. Only to find out two weeks later that her husband, who she seems to love more than anything, has been betraying her for months.

You know, to me, this seems like some kind of sick twist of fate. Weeks leading up to the Academy Awards, Bullock was quoted in major interviews talking about how much James’ support has helped her, including one with Barbara Walters. During her Oscar acceptance speech, she looked at her husband (who was cheating at the time) and you could see the love in her eyes. The next day on Oprah, she went on about how much she loves him. Tragic.

Again, I am not a huge Bullock fan. But I am a woman. I feel for her. For the humiliation she is feeling now. For how betrayed she must feel. For how stupid she must feel. For how many tears she is likely crying.

How sad and ironic that she was unable to celebrate fully the fruits of her labour over the years. He took that from her. Stole her limelight. He made a great thing for his wife into a horrible memory.

More than that, she CREDITED her winning the Oscar to him on numerous occasions saying James had her back and that her work got better after meeting him.

Call me a feminist, and maybe I am, but this man screwed over this woman. And I wonder, if the opposite was true, if it had been a man who won an Oscar and then got cheated on by his wife, would the press be so critical of him?

If Brad Pitt won an Oscar but found out Angelina Jolie was cheating on him, I’m sure the press would say, “but he still has that Oscar.”

For Bullock, it’s, “poor girl, she got her Oscar but lost her husband.”

That’s not right. Hey, Sandra. I’m on your side. Hold your head up, beautiful.

AND, I'm not sure why a woman can never seem to have her cake and eat it too. He was cheating ON her while she was away filming her Oscar winning role. How's that for being stabbed in the heart?

He doesn’t deserve you. You seem like an amazing woman, and you deserve only great things.

Don’t let him take this moment away from you. You earned it. It’s yours. Enjoy the good, and get rid of the bad.

Words to live and love by

2010-03-18T10:03:00.013-05:00

i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

I had a dream

2010-03-13T16:16:00.001-06:00

I really like this one....

Let me count the ways

2010-03-12T19:52:00.001-06:00

One of my favourite poems....

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise,
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints -I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Marry the man that loves you a millimeter more.

2010-03-12T19:30:00.002-06:00

I heard this saying the other day...and I still have not decided how I feel about it.

Marry the man that loves you a millimeter more.

My interpretation of the saying is that at the end of the day, you should end up with someone who loves you a little more than you love them.

I understand. You deserve to be with someone who has unconditional respect, admiration, and love for you.

But my problem with this saying is this: let’s say for debate’s sake that you’re with someone who loves you a millimeter more than you love them, but you aren’t loving to your full capacity.

Are you settling with this person? Or is this how it SHOULD be? Is it naive to think you’re going to end up with someone you have crazy and passionate love for?

Is it a sign of maturity to accept and be grateful for the fact that you're with someone who while you may love them, they love you more than you do them?

This is one topic, I’m really not sure about. What do YOU think?

You’re perfect...but something’s missing: the ultimate insult.

2010-03-01T23:43:00.007-06:00

So tonight marked the finale of a show I loyally follow, The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love.

The world watched as bachelor Jake picked Vienna as his final one. I know, I know...most people hate Vienna or have something negative to say about her...but honestly, he seems to really love her. And I do think he’s a smart guy. He figured out Elizabeth’s games, got rid of Michelle, let four women go in one episode because he knew they weren’t for him, and didn’t let Ali come back after she left him. I think he was there for the right reasons and I hope he found true love.

Jake

Vienna

Now...that being said...there is one other person in this equation. The woman he didn’t pick. Tenley, the beautiful girl with a heart of gold. His reason for not picking her that seemed to resonate in this episode with me was, “we just don’t have the physical chemistry I need.” (Unlike the physical connection he did have with Vienna).

Tenley

This brings me to the topic for tonight’s blog: the ultimate insult: you’re perfect...but something’s missing.

Now, Jake very clearly told Tenley many times that she was “perfect.” I’ll admit...even watching the show, she came across as quite lovely and perfect to me too. Yet something was missing. He wasn’t physically compatible with her. This is the ultimate insult in my opinion. Basically, you’re telling someone that although they have everything you think you want, you are not physically attracted to them.

This makes me wonder...what happens when you’ve found a perfect match for you in every single way...but your physical connection is off or you are not physically attracted to the person?

Do you stick with the relationship?

Do you let it go?

Can chemistry be created?

At the end of the day, what’s more important, the emotional or the physical connection with someone?

If you had to pick one of the two, ask yourself, which would it be?

I wonder how long Jake and Vienna will stay together if one of the major aspects of their relationship is only their physical compatibility. Then again, maybe they found love and lust in each other...that’s pretty special if they did.

I always say, the reason it’s so hard to be emotionally and physically connected to one person at the same time is because it’s a rare occurrence. But that’s why when you do find it, you know, that person could be the one.

I do feel bad for poor Tenley. She’s kind, wonderful, smart, and stunning...but she just wasn’t enough for Jake. She got the ultimate insult. The explanation that never really was. The confusing answer that only confused her some more.

The truth is, we all know what he really meant to say was he wasn’t as physically attracted to her as he was to Vienna. Unfortunate but true.

Heartbreak numbers

2010-02-25T16:28:00.004-06:00

As I sat today at lunch with my Cre-comm gal pals, I stopped to ask one of them how things were going with a guy I know she’s been involved with for awhile. I know they have a rocky history and things have been tough for her in the past with him. Recently, she’s confided in me that he’s confessed to her the thing she’s been waiting to hear for years; he really wants to make it work.

Now, even as she has been telling me that she’s been trying to fight his constant advances and she knows (based on his history) that he isn’t the guy for her, I can still see that glimmer of hope and excitement in her eyes every time we talk about it. I try to ask her about it as often as I can, even if it’s just to be the nagging voice in her head that reminds her how amazing she is and that she must not give in to his incessant advances.

Then again, I understand her happiness with the situation. She is finally on the winning side of this relationship. She had the upper hand. He is begging her to get back together. And although, I am, of course, advising her against it, I am still happy she is getting her closure on the issue.

Back to today at lunch. I ask her how things are going since the last time we discussed the topic earlier this week. She looks at me, frustrated and angry.

“Oh, Kiran,” she says. “It’s all gone to hell. He struck again.”

I ask her for details and it is revealed that she just found out that he is now, once again, behind her back, talking suggestively with one of her friends. Now, to give my readers some context, he had previously snuck around with a friend of hers and lied about it. Repeat the scenario now. She knows what’s coming.

My heart sinks. Again? Really? Even I was hoping this boy had finally changed and learned his lesson. Alas, do they ever?

This brings me to the topic of today’s post. The player and his numbering system.

My friend told me that she knows, in her heart, that although he recently told her she is the one he wants to be with, he is also talking to many other girls at the same time as her.

I know many other people who have experienced this same scenario. Actually, one of my close friends is a “player,” in that he is often involved with one girl he really likes, but talks/flirts/hooks up with up to three or more on the side at the same time. When I ask him why he does this, his reply is usually the same.

“I guess, Kiran, it’s because I can.”

Do I think players can be good people? Sure. Do I think they have hearts and are capable of love? Probably. Do I know a lot of them and call some my friends? Yes. Do I hate their numbering system? With a passion.

So what is this numbering system? It’s simple. The player often has one girl they are genuinely interested in. She’s his number one. Then they have a series of other girls who fall below the number one. The hot chick. The smart girl. The texter and so on. These girls get their own subsequent numbers based on what needs they fulfill for the player. In a nutshell, the player really likes his number one, but when he doesn’t get what he wants from her, he moves on to number two, or three, or four, or five.....

I told my friend to call her “player” tonight and to end things. The fact of the matter is, even if for one second we are to assume that he isn’t cheating on her with her friend, he’s done it before and her instinct is to think he’ll do it again.

She doesn’t trust him. It’s a vicious cycle, she needs to get out.

And let me say one more thing on this topic, one I’m actually very familiar with. To those players out there and to any people who are involved with them, you shouldn’t be a number on their scale or list.

It doesn’t really matter if you’re their number one.

The point is that there’s a scale in the first place. And you deserve to be with someone who ONLY wants to be with you. You deserve someone who is willing to stick by you to work on the issues you two are having. Not one that moves on to the next person who gives them what they want when things aren’t going well.

Moreover, you deserve to be with someone who is obsessed with ONLY you. Who is addicted to your smile, the sound of your voice, the thoughts in your head, and the ideas in your heart.

Someone who is in love with you through and through. And only you.

Because this is one thing I know for sure.

You shouldn’t be his number one.

You should be his only one.

= in love?

2010-02-20T17:00:00.001-06:00

So I got to thinking this week after talking to a few of my friends (also known as my sounding boards...thank you!), is it possible to have a relationship in which both people feel the exact same way about each other? As in, they love each other equally? Or will one person always have stronger feelings than the other?

I think that falling in love is a subjective experience. It’s different for everyone and often, why we fall, when we do, and how we do is all indicative of our personal experiences or past. It is determined by what we know about love, what we want from it, and what we’ve been through before. So it is possible that two people can meet in the middle point in a relationship and having gotten to that point by different paths and with different histories, I do believe that it is possible that they feel differently for each other and that their feelings do not “=”.

That’s where my question comes about. If one person in a relationship feels more for the other (ie, likes the other person more than they like them), is this fair? Is it possible to have people who feel EXACTLY the same for each other, ie equally for one another?

I think it is possible for people to feel exactly the same way for one another, in some instances. These people are incredibly lucky. I always say, one of the greatest gifts in life is to love....and be loved in return.

But for everyone else, I’m sure you’ve all found yourself in that position before. Either you’ve been Person A, where you’ve been head over heels for someone and that person hasn’t felt the same way for you. Or you’ve been Person B, where you’ve been with someone and although you have feelings for them, you know they like you more than you like them.

Which person would you rather be?

I would actually rather be Person A. I know this isn’t the obvious answer. Why would I want to be in love with someone who didn’t love me as much as I loved them? There are a few reasons. First, I think to feel that kind of intensity for someone, that kind of passion, and love, is a gift on its own, even if it isn’t reciprocated. At least I’ll know what I’m capable of feeling in the future and will not settle for mediocre. And secondly, if I was in love with someone who I loved more than they loved me, honestly, I don’t think that relationship would last. I have too much self-respect and dignity; some might even call it pride to stick it through that long. So I’d have my feelings, but if I felt they weren’t returned, I’d bail.....which might leave me with a broken heart, but at least I’d experience true love.

Person B....although at first glance and long term, it may seem like this is an ideal situation to be in, having someone dote all over you, I actually think it’s kind of stressful. Person B would probably be plagued with guilt over the fact that they’re with someone who cares for them so much more than they do for them. It’s overwhelming. More than that, I think Person B would also wonder..... am I settling? Why don’t I feel as strongly for this person? And I haven’t reached the same amount of intensity for this person as they have for me, am I settling? I wouldn’t want to have to ask myself those kinds of questions.

Then again, Person B could develop stronger feelings for Person A and it could all work out.

But in case it doesn’t, I know it’s not the typical answer, but I’d rather be Person A....because I know I’d get out. But If you don’t know that, maybe stick with being Person B.

Of course, the right answer to this love debacle is this:

Love= Person A = Person B= a gift.

Happy belated Valentine’s Day!

Heartbreak Warfare

2010-02-20T16:56:00.002-06:00

I love this song.

It's about a girl who uses jealousy to hurt a man. And it's lovely!!!!

Lightning strikes
Inside, my chest to keep me up at night
Dream of ways
To make you understand my pain

Clouds of sulfur in the air
Bombs are falling everywhere
It's heartbreak warfare
Once you want it to begin,
No one really ever wins
In heartbreak warfare

If you want more love,
why don't you say so?
If you want more love,
why don't you say so?

Drop his name
Push it in and twist the knife again
Watch my face
As I pretend to feel no pain

Say what you will about ol'Johnny Mayer, he's a poet.

On another note: Facebook versus Twitter

2010-02-14T13:16:00.003-06:00

This year in Public Relations class, we were directed to get a Twitter and a Facebook account if we did not already have them. I’ve had Facebook for about three years but was just recently introduced to Twitter.

There are many differences between the two. Twitter exists for users to send out “tweets” which are basically status updates of their choosing that run between 0-140 characters long. Also, in Twitter, you can “follow” anyone you want really. The common trend on Twitter is to follow celebrities, athletes, news organizations, and designers, anything or anyone that interests you really. This way you can get updates about what’s up and coming in areas that interest you.

Facebook on the other hand is a bit more personal. In general, most of the people you become friends with on Facebook are people you know in some personal way. Facebook is more used for people to write on each other’s walls and posts photos.

Personally, I check my Facebook account at least once a day because I find that my “notifications/updates” on Facebook are more personal and often I’ve had someone send me a private message, write on my wall, or post photos. I use Facebook to stay connected to my family and friends. Morever, on Facebook, you can control what people can see and who you become friends with.

I don’t really use my Twitter account, I may check it max twice a week. Twitter is different than Facebook because you cannot control who becomes your “follower” and if you are not posting updates, it’s unlikely you may have much activity on your account. The one thing I do love about Twitter is that you can get headline information updates from news sources that interest you at any time. That’s a plus.

In terms of Public Relations, I think Twitter and Facebook both have their own benefits. For PR, Twitter is a great tool because it is the way to social network with other people and organizations that you may otherwise never connect with, post updates of what’s going on for you or your client, and also get your news out or keep up on the news in a fast and efficient manner.

For PR, I think Facebook is also valuable but in a different way. On Facebook, you can create fan groups, events, and add people as friends if you think they can help your cause. This is a great way to keep in touch with people, get information out, and promote your brand.

Regret: the worst emotion

2010-02-03T19:48:00.009-06:00

Those that know me best know that I live my life by this philosophy: never apologize for how you feel. You can’t help your feelings. What you can control are your actions. Those you are accountable for. But feelings? No, those come from within.

With that, I often make decisions based on how I feel, on my instinct, what I believe to be right...because that way, at least I did what I felt was best, and in that way, I don’t have regrets.

No regrets. I hate having regrets. That feeling that maybe things could have been different. I think that’s why when Glenda Ollero, a girl in my class posted the following poem in response to my last blog, it resonated with me.

How articulate and beautiful, tragic and terrible, I found it. I think we've all been there, given yourself to someone or something that could not meet you half way or give you what you deserve.I think that's why I like this poem. Because it's what every person who has been hurt by a lover wants their lover to feel later. We want them to know what they missed out on, what they gave up, and to wonder what could have been...if only they'd had enough courage to recognize what they had right in front of them. We want them to feel what he says in this poem. I'm sorry." I'm sorry all the kisses I scrawled on your neck were written in disappearing ink."

My interpretation of the poem is as follows.

It is about a man who has just met up with an old flame, a past lover. It is now 13 years later and they are reminiscing about their past together and he is regretting his choices in the relationship. She is now married, “I notice the ring that's landed on your finger.”

The first thing I liked about the poem is how strong the woman is. “Thirteen years ago, you hid the hurt in your voice under a blanket and said there's two kinds of women—those you write poems about and those you don't.”

To me, that line says that 13 years ago, the woman realized that this man could not give her what she deserved, he did not consider her to be the kind of woman you write poems for. Knowing she deserved someone who thought the world of her, but also knowing she could not force him to feel this way, she left him. That’s my kind of girl. What's better? The fact that he recognizes that he did not do right by her. "It's true. I never brought you a bouquet of sonnets, or served you haiku in bed."

The next part of the poem I enjoy is when he talks about how he fulfilled a role in her life. He was that bad boy, the one without the emotions, the unromantic...which he now regrets. I think we all fulfill different roles in each other's lives. Our purposes differ, too bad his was the wrong one in her life. How agonizingly sad. “But I worked within the confines of my character, cast as the bad boy in your life, the Magellan of your dark side."

“We don't have a past so much as a bunch of electricity and liquor, power never put to good use.” Haven’t we all been there? Had so much chemistry and passion with someone that all else was lost?

“But I'm still not immune to your waterfall scent, still haven't developed antibodies for your smile.” Now that is lovely poetry. Is it true, are there people who we never get over, no matter how hard we try?

Thirteen years later, this man is still hopelessly in love with this woman who has now moved on. “I don't know how long regret existed before humans stuck a word on it.” There it is. Regret.

And finally, the end of the poem. Words written so well and articulately so, I will let them speak for themselves. What I will add is this, if you have something to say to someone, you should say it right then and there, before the moment passes you by. The point of the poem? The fact that they were too busy being sexually engulfed in each other, they never took the time to appreciate the person behind the passion.

“I wish that just once, instead of skidding off the shoulder blade's precipice and joyriding over flesh, we'd put our hands away like chocolate to be saved for later, and deciphered the calligraphy of each other's eyelashes, translated a paragraph from the volumes of what couldn't be said.”

Thanks Glenda, this is easily one of my favourite poems now.

If you have an interpretation, please share!

The Benjamin Franklin of Monogamy
by Jeffrey McDaniel

Reminiscing in the drizzle of Portland, I notice
the ring that's landed on your finger, a massive
insect of glitter, a chandelier shining at the end

of a long tunnel. Thirteen years ago, you hid the hurt
in your voice under a blanket and said there's two kinds
of women—those you write poems
about

and those you don't. It's true. I never brought you
a bouquet of sonnets, or served you haiku in bed.
My idea of courtship was tapping Jane's Addiction

lyrics in Morse code on your window at three A.M.,
whiskey doing push-ups on my breath. But I worked
within the confines of my character, cast

as the bad boy in your life, the Magellan
of your dark side. We don't have a past so much
as a bunch of electricity and liquor, power

never put to good use. What we had together
makes it sound like a virus, as if we caught
one another like colds, and desire was merely

a symptom that could be treated with soup
and lots of sex. Gliding beside you now,
I feel like the Benjamin Franklin of monogamy,

as if I invented it, but I'm still not immune
to your waterfall scent, still haven't developed
antibodies for your smile. I don't know how long

regret existed before humans stuck a word on it.
I don't know how many paper towels it would take
to wipe up the Pacific Ocean, or why the light

of a candle being blown out travels faster
than the luminescence of one that's just been lit,
but I do know that all our huffing and puffing

into each other's ears—as if the brain was a trick
birthday candle—didn't make the silence
any easier to navigate. I'm sorry all the kisses

I scrawled on your neck were written
in disappearing ink. Sometimes I thought of you
so hard one of your legs would pop out

of my ear hole, and when I was sleeping, you'd press
your face against the porthole of my submarine.
I'm sorry this poem has taken thirteen years

to reach you. I wish that just once, instead of skidding
off the shoulder blade's precipice and joyriding
over flesh, we'd put our hands away like chocolate

to be saved for later, and deciphered the calligraphy
of each other's eyelashes, translated a paragraph
from the volumes of what couldn't be said.

Love and a crush on the side

2010-01-27T14:34:00.005-06:00

A few times in the past couple of weeks, this very topic has arisen between me and some of my classmates. Girls that are in relationships/are in love with their boyfriends but currently have “crushes” on other guys. I’ve recently done some research on this topic, because it is one that I am so unfamiliar with. If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’ll know that I am completely against the idea of being with one person but having feelings for another (ie acting on those other feelings/cheating). That being said, I actually completely understand where these women are coming from.

It is very easy to judge women who have great partners, spouses or boyfriends that are loving, kind, generous, and supportive but still have feelings for other guys. If your partner is so lovely, then how can it be that you have a “crush” or have feelings for another person? More importantly, the real question is, if you do have these other feelings, does that mean that you aren’t really in love with the person you are with? Is that relationship wrong for you? Does that mean that you subconsciously are not happy with your partner?

What heavy questions. And I’ve thought a lot about this topic since it was brought up to me. The hopeless romantic Kiran would say, if you can have feelings for someone else while you’re with your partner, then you shouldn’t be with your partner in the first place. Something is missing.

The more analytical Kiran has thought about it and is torn. I also believe that at the end of the day, these feelings are natural. Think about it. The world is filled with men and women; it is inevitable that throughout your life, there will be many people who you have been intellectually, emotionally, or physically attracted to. Society tells us there should only be one, and perhaps there is only ONE person who is best suited for you (your soul mate perhaps), but that doesn’t mean that you will never feel anything for anyone else.

Think about for a few minutes. Imagine couples who have been together for years and years. 60 years, let’s say for the sake of argument. Do you think that in those 60 years, they never felt anything for anyone besides their spouse? I doubt it.

I think what’s significant about this topic is what you choose to do with those feelings. I do believe people emotionally cheat and that it is not the best decision. That being said, relationships take work and effort. Nothing is perfect, no relationship, small or big is always easy.

It is important to remember two things. One, not every relationship is perfect and two, it is normal to have other feelings for other people from time to time. The way to judge whether or not you are with the right person is whether or not you are willing to put the work into your current relationship to make it work.

Remember, whoever you are with, you are CHOOSING to be with them for certain reasons, and if those reasons are enough to keep you with them, that’s where you belong.

So to all my girl friends who are conflicted, my advice on this topic is this: if you are not happy in your relationship, get out. With that said, it is normal to have to work to make a relationship work, and it is normal to have a “crush” on someone else (not emotional cheating though….there is a line, you know the one I’m talking about!)…..This is a time for you to evaluate why you have chosen to be in the relationship you are in and whether or not those reasons are still enough for you. Who knows, perhaps it will be a chance for you to evaluate your current relationship and realize what you have in it and gain a new appreciation for it (could make it stronger?)

There is a scale of what is appropriate. A tipping point perhaps. A crush is a crush...but you must be fair to the other guy, your partner, and even to yourself. If you are SERIOUSLY conflicted or unsure one way or the other, please, think a bit harder about the topic. Emotionally conflicted is not the same as having a crush.

If you don’t cross the line into emotional cheating and have decided that the relationship you are in is worth the effort, don’t worry about the small crushes you may develop here or there. It’s normal.

What do you guys think!?

School assignment: In the Chamber 2010: Last Men

2010-01-16T14:18:00.002-06:00

Last night, I went to see Theatre Projects Manitoba’s In the Chamber 2010: Last Men and aside from one redeeming quality of the play, I disliked the experience so much, it is doubtful that I’d ever go back.

To begin, I will admit that I was running on only about 5 hours of sleep and after a 12 hour day, I was not particularly up to going to a play for school. That being said, I still did not get much from the two performances.

In the Chamber 2010 is a play consisting of two 50 minute sets. Both are directed by Sarah Constible and the first was performed and written by Gordon Tanner and the second by Stephen Ratzlaff. The first set, Last Man in Krakendorf, consisted of Tanner expressing his disdain at a video camera he was to send to Warren Buffet. In this set, he spent 50 minutes describing his anguish over the horrible mistreatment of animals, in particular hogs. The second set, Last Man in Puntarenas, consisted of Ratzlaff at his retirement dinner giving a speech in which he discusses the misery that is his life, including the death of his son and the divorce from his wife.

The one redeeming quality of the play was its acting. Both actors were superb. Passionate and emotional, I could feel their struggles as I watched them display agony at their lives. I have always had an appreciation for theatre. Having worked in the film industry and having been on numerous movie sets, I sincerely feel there is much more pressure on theatre actors. Their timing must be completely right, their lines memorized, and their acting must be perfect on the first take, otherwise the moment will have passed them. These two men were superb at their craft. Although both were clearly character actors, I did enjoy watching their passion, listening to their voices, and watching their faces change as their emotions did.

Unfortunately, the acting was the only thing I enjoyed about the play. I found the content to not only be a bit boring, but even more poorly executed in terms of the writing. I understand that the actors wrote the plays themselves. Actually, Ratzlaff was one of my high school substitutes and he mentioned Balmoral Hall School Girls in his monologue.....which made me wonder, if he wrote this, and that part is true, is this entire piece true?

Other than that, the content was presented in such a fast fashion, with terminology that was difficult to follow. As a result, I felt lost within the first ten minutes of the first set, and although I did catch up and understand the overall message of set 1, I never did enjoy the experience. Set 2 was better for me in terms of content. I felt bad for Ratzlaff as he described the death of his son and how it lead to his entire life collapsing, but, again, the set went on far too long, seemed to drag, and was redundant in content.

The mood in the room was one of acceptance. The audience laughed at the jokes, although I did not find them that clever. Overall though, I would only recommend this play to people who know the actors, or are super interested in the content of the play because otherwise, the entertainment value was close to invisible. There was not much in the play to keep my attention, get me excited, fuel my passion, or evoke my emotions.

As a result, I would not return to watch the play again.
That being said, if you are interested, tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors at 8:00 p.m. tonight at the Rachel Browne Theatre (211Bannatyne at Main Street).

My Guiltiest Pleasure

2010-01-12T21:31:00.003-06:00

It is that time of year again. The time of year when Kiran sits down to watch TV. Now don’t get me wrong, I love TV just like the rest of the world. But sometimes, when life gets busy, the first thing that goes in my life is the television except of course when this one show is on, the Bachelor/Bachelorette.

I’ll just admit it; this show is my guiltiest pleasure. Now, I want to clarify something before I begin, I am fully aware that it can be disrespectful, condescending, sexist, and degrading towards women/men. Perhaps it is not the most feminist show, and I will admit, I do experience severe cognitive dissonance while I watch. That being said, I watch it for a few reasons. The first is because I am, of course, a hopeless romantic. Obviously, I believe in true love, enjoy watching it come about and therefore, this show is an opportunity to see, albeit amongst some heartache, true love flourish. Moreover, I like watching the show because even though the show’s producers are mastermind editors and try to make you think one thing when really something else is happening, I am often right when I pick the final man/woman standing.

For example, once there are about 8 contestants left, even if the show’s edits make it seem like the person isn’t a contender, I can tell who the final people will be....and I always get the winner right. Call it intuition, call it hopeless romanticism, I know my stuff.

I hear a lot of criticism about how the show is fake, no one is really in love, and nothing lasts. Perhaps true, especially in many of the cases (such as Brad W. picking neither of the two final women, Jillian not picking amazing Reid, or Jason picking Melissa and then switching to Molly), there has been one case on this show which sums up pretty much why I still watch the show....

Trista and Ryan. Trista was on the original season of the Bachelor and was the runner-up, as in Alex, the first Bachelor, did not pick her. She returned later as the Bachelorette, and I still remember watching this season. Side note: for some reason, the Bachelorette seasons have always been more successful. The couples last longer so I recommend that if you are going to start watching, you begin there.

Anyways, back to my story. The guy no one thought she’d pick, Ryan, stood on the sidelines and won over her heart. He was shy, quiet, strong, confident, a firefighter and a poet at the same time, and I was his biggest fan from day. It was lovely watching their love story evolve, and even in the end, when everyone thought she’d pick Charlie over Ryan, I knew Ryan had to be the one. And he was. Today, the couple have two children together and seem quite in love.

So here’s to the real thing, this show may not produce amazing love stories all the time and its intentions may not be pure, but I watch today, a hopeless romantic, with hopes that one of those couples will beat the odds.

How lovely!

On another note…Public Relations, the Pseudo-event.

2010-01-10T14:30:00.001-06:00

This week in Public Relations, Melanie introduced us to the term “pseudo-event.” According, to dictionary.com, a pseudo-event is “an event that is staged primarily so that it can be reported in the media.”

Melanie then asked us to think of any examples we had of this so-called-event. I racked my brain for any events that I could think of whose sole purpose is to garner attention.

It came to me. A classic example of this kind of event is one that occurred not too long ago. Popular media named it the “bBalloon Boy Hoax.”
The Balloon Boy Hoax:

In mid-Oct.2009, according to world media reports, in Collins, Colorado, Falcon Heene, 6, was set adrift in a home-made air balloon.

Or was he? Heene’s parents, Richard and Mayumi, claimed that their son had floated away in a helium balloon. The world watched as the balloon travelled over 50 miles and 3 counties until it finally landed near the Denver International Airport. Authorities rushed to the scene and discovered the boy was not in the balloon after all. It was feared that the boy had fallen out of the balloon until later on that day, when he was found to be hiding in his home instead.

Eventually, it was determined that the entire incident was a publicity stunt doctored by the boy’s parents to receive media attention. The young boy was even quoted to say, "you guys said that, um, we did this for the show," in response to being asked why he was hiding while being interviewed on Larry King. The parents faced a series of felony charges and both mother and father were sentenced to time in jail.

For me, this is one of those moments where I wonder if this actually happened. Did these people actually think they would get away with this? Did they consider how their children would be affected by the ordeal? And what will come of the family now?

Back to School Cool

2010-01-07T18:59:00.002-06:00

The second semester of Creative Communications has begun and already, we’re in full gear. The Projector editor interns are well on their way (it’s actually pretty fun, a great group of people!), classes are in full swing, and Christmas is over.

I spent my holiday vacation sleeping, visiting with friends and family, taking a trip to Ottawa and Montreal, meeting up with an old Australian friend, and enjoying my down time. It was lovely. But now, school is back, which can only mean one thing. My blog is as well. Expect great, interesting, and exciting stories about life and love in the New Year! Here goes round two!

Section Two, How I Will Miss You (yes, that does rhyme!)

2009-12-04T21:50:00.004-06:00

As Creative Communications Year 1 Section 2 begins their last week together, I felt the need to say a few words. Most of my previous entries have been wordy, but since there are so few words to describe how I am feeling about some of the best people I’ve met in a really long time, I’m going to try to be as succinct and articulate as possible.

What it has meant to be to be around some of the smartest, most talented people I know, as well as be surrounded by people who are equally as passionate about things that matter to me, I cannot explain. I have enjoyed getting to know you all; I know that I can call each one of you my friend. Thanks SO much for all the laughs, treat days, I LOVED coming to class every day. What a great time it was. And dancing! Our section can dance!!!

I wish everyone so much luck in the next semester; I am already looking forward to seeing you around. Thanks for everything, everything, and everything.

How do you know when to let go?

2009-12-02T18:26:00.000-06:00

How do you know when to let go of a significant other? A love? A relationship? A friendship? A connection? Ie: When is it really over?

One of two times.

1) When you don’t care enough to keep trying. It isn’t worth it to you anymore. You’ve lost too much in the relationship and can’t bring yourself to make a change in order to make it work. That means you don’t care enough. Time to move on.

2) When you’ve done everything you could do to make it work. I know a lot of people feel sadness when this happens. They think, I did everything I could, and it wasn’t enough.

I look at it the other way. When you’ve given all that you can to a relationship, everything except disrespecting yourself, and it still isn’t enough, that’s when you should let go of it. Take comfort in this. You did everything you could do, compromised and sacrificed, and if it still wasn’t enough, that really isn’t your fault. Sometimes it really is the other person who cannot meet you half way.

Maybe it really isn’t you, it’s them.

Long Distance Love

2009-12-02T17:33:00.001-06:00

Since the beginning of the semester, there has been a girl in my class, Stacia, who I have known is in a long distance relationship. Her boyfriend, ironically he has the same name as I, goes to school in Thunder Bay and the two were separated in September when he left Winnipeg.

I have known since I met Stacia, she is deeply in love with her boyfriend. Her face lights up with any mention of him, she has his photo on her laptop screensaver, and sincerely, you can really hear it in her voice when she talks about him.

Now, I have no concept of how hard it must be for Stacia and her boyfriend to be in a long distance relationship. When she tells me how difficult it is for her, I feel sympathy for her, ask her some questions, and try to be supportive.

It wasn’t until last week, when I was talking about the Christmas break with someone and Stacia’s name came up, that I truly stopped to empathize with her. Stacia gets to see her boyfriend on Dec. 13 when she heads to Thunder Bay. Wow…..Dec. 13. She hasn’t seen him since? I don’t know why, but it didn’t really hit me until that moment. Can you imagine being away from your significant other for almost 4 months? And moreover, how is it going to feel for her when she sees him again?

I know my heart would be bursting with excitement.

So this one’s for you Stacia. I hope the trip is wonderful. And tell Kieran….that Kiran says hi!

The Little Things Really Do Count the Most

2009-11-30T15:08:00.002-06:00

Every time we receive an assignment in our Journalism class, our instructor chooses one student that he feels produced the best article in the class. The chosen student gets a handshake, a Spiderman sticker on their paper, their work read out loud, recognition for doing an amazing job, but most importantly, the satisfaction of mastering what was surely a difficult task.

Although difficult to receive, it is truly an honour if you are lucky enough to be a recipient of a sticker.

Angele Faucher, one of the girls in my class, just told me the sweetest story the other day on this topic.

For her one-year anniversary, her boyfriend Taylor gave her a Spiderman sticker because he knows how much it would mean to her to receive one.

As Angele told me the story, every girl in our class melted.

What does the Spiderman sticker symbolize for the couple?

It is indicative of Taylor’s consideration, thoughtfulness, and support. He truly listens to her, believes in her, respects and admires her, and cares about what she cares about.

Now that, Angele, is a keeper.

Epic Fail- How NOT to Pick Up a Girl

2009-11-30T14:45:00.002-06:00

Try emphasizing her brain.

Kiran sits down to eat her lunch in the crappy café at the RRC Princess Street Campus.
Random business admin boy sits next to her and starts a conversation.

“So what are you studying in school?’ he asks Kiran.
“Journalism, you?” Kiran responds politely.
“Oh…so you want to be some writer? Like for Maxim?”
“Umm….no….I’m thinking like the world news eventually! It’s ambitious, I know, but I…” Kiran says.
“So…like you want to work for Cosmo then?” He says as he cuts Kiran off.
“Huh??…No, I said, world…” A confused Kiran stutters.
“Ah! I totally get it now. You’ll be a great weather girl.” The boy says, clearly very proud of his progress in the conversation.

Twitter???? Ah..ok!

2009-11-24T11:21:00.004-06:00

So today in Public Relations, Melanie informed us that our assignment was to create a Twitter account.

Err...Twitter? Isn't it enough that I have hotmail, a blog, and Facebook? I'm not sure if I can handle another social media networking site...Remember the days of Myspace, Hifive(sp??), and other awkward friend-making/stalking sites? Please, not another one.

But then again, I've now been on Twitter for 20 mins and I already am enjoying it. The best part of it so far is that I can follow such a wide variety of people and get the news in that way. For example, I'm following CNN, CTV, Barack Obama, Oprah, Larry King, Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, and a few more, so now, instantenously, I'm getting a good variety of news that I'm interested in at my fingertips.

Additionally, I do think that Twitter is an amazing resource for communicators. It allows them the ability to send out their messages in a mass way that is super fast and efficient. Moreover, it also allows communicators to receive messages that they otherwise may not have access to. So overall, I may not be a huge Twitter fan yet, but I do see its value.

Can Guys and Gals Just Be Friends?

2009-11-20T15:16:00.006-06:00

The million dollar question: can boys and girls ever just be friends?

The million dollar answer......I don’t have it. But I do have my opinion.

This is a touchy topic, and one that I know most people have an opinion on. My answer to this question is simple. No. They cannot.

Now, of course, I have one exception to this rule. Guys and gals cannot just be friends...if in any way, they are physically attracted to one another.

The premise is simple. Not every person of the opposite sex you meet and create a connection with, you’ll have feelings for. In fact, quite the opposite is true, in my opinion. Most of the people you meet, you will not have romantic feelings for. Some will become your greatest friends, strongest allies, and greatest confidants, and yet, you will never consider them to be any more than just your friend. Why is this? Because you are not sexually or physically attracted to them.

Think about it. When you meet someone new and begin to forge an association, do you not consider if they could be a potential match for you? Of course you do! Be honest. Every time you meet someone of the other sex, you consider whether or not you could see them more than an association or a friend. Sometimes, this process is innate, fast, and takes no time. Nope. He’s as old as my grandpa. Nope, she is kind of rude. We go through this process in our minds and in the end; a person emerges into one of two categories. Category one is friendship or association. Category two is potential.

I’m not advocating that you’ll be in love with a “potential” or be super interested in them. I’m just saying that if there is any physical attraction there, the person has potential to be more than just your friend. I’m not even saying that you’ll be SUPER attracted to the person (they don’t have to be your Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie), just that there is SOME physical attraction to begin.

So then what happens? You become friends with that person. That’s fine. I’m also not saying that the friendship is not sincere. It is....but still, I think that if at any time there is potential or physical attraction between two people, even if they are just friends, there will always be a degree of jealousy, possessiveness, curiosity, or interest between them.

Now, a refutation to my theory is this: in order to be in love with someone, you also need an emotional connection. I agree with this though. I’m just saying that friends have emotional connections to.... psychological and intellectual connections as well. So what differentiates a friend and a lover? A person you emotionally connect with and a partner?

That’s physical attraction.

When Harry Met Sally....go rent that movie. This movie deals with this topic in the best way.

Disclaimer: I am completely aware that people reading this blog may be interested in someone of their own sex. In order to make my blog comprehensively flow well, I only address women and men as potential matches. That being said, I do mean to include gay men and lesbian women in my posts. All of this still applies to you!

Three Types of Boys to Avoid

2009-11-12T22:50:00.006-06:00

Three Types of Boys to Avoid

1) The guy that hits on your friends: There is no excuse for this kind of guy. And I have no patience for him. We all know him, the guy that seems to like one girl but cant really make up his mind...and is a little too nice to her friends, but never crosses the line blatently so she can't do anything but feel insecure and sad about it? Yeah, I know this guy. The one who enjoys a free-for-all, whatever sticks, he’ll go with. AVOID. If he can’t even decide that you’re the one he wants to pursue, you’re already too good for him. Move on. You’re dogging a bullet on this one. Trust me.

2) The overall asshole: This one is a bit more subjective, I realize. I'm not talking about the bad boy with a good heart here...When I was growing up, one of the biggest criteria I had for a guy was not only how he treated me, but how he treated everyone else around him. If a guy likes you, most likely, he’ll give you attention and will show interest in you. All positive things. The thing to watch for? How does he treat everyone else? Your family? Your friends? More than that, how does he treat the cashier? The gas attendant? The ticket taker at the movies? The taxi driver? The waitress? That’s important. Why? Because it is a clear indication of how he’ll treat you the second he’s not getting what he wants.

3) The cheater: No girls, I don’t care if “they weren’t really together,” “he wouldn’t do that to me,” “ he didn’t really like her,” “it was last year,” or “it only happened the one time.” If he’d cheat on her, he’d cheat on you. If he has cheated on you, his instinct will be to do it again. Cheating represents SERIOUS character flaws in the cheater...Moreover, even if it was really just a one time thing, you don’t know that, you'll probably be plagued with insecurities....so all I’m saying is, if you know a guy has cheated in the past, next. Find one that hasn’t first before you even consider the loser that has. And never forget, he's a loser because he cheated.

Next week's topic: Can guys and girls ever really just be friends?

Soulmate?

2009-11-04T17:12:00.006-06:00

Soulmates, soulmates, soulmates! Soulmates?????

What are soulmates? Do they exist?

I believe in soulmates the same way I believe in flowers and chocolate. They may seem cliché, but they exist and they make our lives better.

Now, to begin, I also believe in fate and karma (call me idealistic, everyone does). I believe that everything happens for a reason,even if the reason is not evident or obvious to us at first glance. In terms of karma, what goes around definitely comes around.

My best friend Darcy often scolds me on my undying faith in the concept of karma. He says, “but Kiran, if you only do good things because you don’t want karma to come around and work against you, that isn't true karma. You’re only being good so it will come back to you.” He thinks the idea of karma is hypocritical and I will admit, that based on his logic, it implies that people’s good actions are not altruistic at all because they seem to be doing good deeds with the expectation that the good karma will come back to them. But I don’t agree with that. I think that over your lifespan, if you do good things and genuinely have a good heart, karma will reward you somehow. Kinda like there is no such thing as luck; luck is preparation meeting opportunity.

Anyways, off of my tangent, I do believe in soulmates. My definition for soulmates is a bit different then you may anticipate though. I think your soulmate is someone who completes you, who brings out the best in you, and who you are most comfortable with. That at the end of you life, you can trun around and say that you were most at ease with that person who understood you the best and with whom you bonded with most. Even if you don’t end up with that person or the relationship fails, that does not mean that it wasn’t worth something, that it didn’t teach you about yourself, or that it hasn’t made you who you are.

Based on this definition of soulmates, if you’ve read carefully, you'll notice that I don’t actually think that your soulmate has to necessarily be someone that you are romanticailly involved with. Instead, they can be a parent, a mentor, a sibling…..a best friend. The person in your life who you truly connect with. Stop for one second and think of that person in you life now or in your past who you havebeen most at peace with….they may be a strong contender in your soulmate search.

Watch the trailer below. It's for the film Prime with Bryan Greenberg, Meryl Streep, and Uma Thurman. The movie seems a bit silly, but it is truly lovely once you watch it. I highly recommend it because it deals with a few of the topics (soulmates as well as having an ex matter to you even if the relationship fails) I've written about tonight.

Top Three Reasons why I Love Blogging

2009-10-27T11:21:00.009-05:00

The middle of the semester has arrived and as I reflect upon the last two months of school, I realize how much I am enjoying the Creative Communications program. Before I talk about how much I love blogging, I want to talk about school so far in general. I had one of those “ah ha!” moments last week while I was interviewing Ace Burpee for my personality profile article.

After the epic interview ended and I felt like I had really grown as a journalist, I couldn’t seem to contain my excitement. You know when you have one of those moments? Where you realize that you are exactly where you belong? If my job is honestly going to give me the opportunity to sit down with people, get them to open up to me, and then write about it, I’m pretty damn lucky.

Right after my interview ended, my old elementary teacher walked into Starbucks. She had taught me grade four, five, and six and is one of the teachers I will remember the most in my life. She taught me how to write, how to enjoy reading, and just about being a better learner in general. Anka Mraovic teaches at Landsdowne Elementary School in the Maples now (not my old elementary), and she is literally one of the best teachers in Manitoba. Maybe the world. How lovely that she walked in right after I had my epiphany? It was full circle!

Anyways, this leads me to my blog topic this week. How cool is it that one of my SCHOOL assignments is to blog?? I never expected to feel this way, but ever since being given the blogging assignment earlier this year, I have loved this process. Here are my top three reasons why I love blogging:

REASON #1

I really love reading my classmates’ blogs. Everyone is SO interesting, funny, and smart and so, I really do enjoy sitting down and reading their writing, thoughts, and opinions. Most of the time, they really make me laugh.

REASON #2

I love that I actually do stop and think about what my blog post will be that week. It’s fun to look for inspiration around me and make a blog topic out of an idea that I may not have otherwise explored before.

REASON #3

The third reason that I love blogging is because I am able to write freely about something that I am passionate about. I am able to sit down and write openly about a topic that I care about. How often does that happen? I’ve been told that I write the way I speak in my blog, which is pretty accurate, I think.

Usually, we write because we have to or for school, not out of pure enjoyment but this blog has given me the opportunity to just give my opinion on LOVE...no strings attached. I’ve always been a writer, but honestly, this is the first time in my life that I have consciously enjoyed writing. I look forward to writing my blog entries each week because I can document my thoughts in a laid back way. I feel like I'm journaling, so there's no pressure, and I can enjoy the process. Quite frankly, this assignment has helped reinstate my love for writing.

SIDE NOTE

How WONDERFUL is it that I am able to write about love? Seriously, Love is such a big topic in most peoples' lives and I love love love love love that I am able to talk about it! Or that you’re here to listen. Thanks!

Coming soon, my theory on SOULMATES.

Because I LOVE my freaking amazing classmates

2009-10-26T17:14:00.004-05:00

I'm still laughing. What a day! One that had every reason in the world to end epically badly and disastrously has been one that was actually pretty funny...and it's all because of CreComm section 2.

Firstly, I gotta give a shoutout to Miguel Martinez, an amazing guy in my section. This morning, I got to school early to print my personality profile, but for some reason, when I went to print it at 7:45 am in W308 (that printer is my NEMESIS), it paper jammed. I desperately tried to fix it.....but nothing worked...the minutes ticked by....Running out of options, I sprinted to the office to tell Steve. I could tell he felt bad for me but had no option, I had to print the article on time or else I'd fail.

At this point, I'm sort of freaking out. 7:49 the clock says. I run out of the office and collide into Miguel. "Miguel!!! The printer! I need help..," I say as I sprint by him, get my student card, and desperately( yes everything was desperate this morning), make my way to W312. Of course, starting the computer and signing in seems to take ages and ages. The clock ticks by, 7:53 am....it keeps going, on and on while the damn computer takes its sweet time.

Finally, at 7:58 a.m. when I try to open my document, it won't work....because the document is still open on my computer in W308. My heart sinks. It's all over. All the work I did on this assignment for nothing. I've failed.

Trying not to give up or burst into tears, I run out of W312 towards W308 to close the document and go back to W312 to print it. I run by the clock 7:59 am. I collide once again into Miguel. "Kiran, it's fine. I handed it in," he says with a smile.

I think I literally bodychecked him with my embrace and I definitely didn't let go for a solid minute. He had followed me into W308, fixed the printer, printed my paper, and then went to the office and handed it in for me, while I was running around in W312. He didn't even tell Steve what he did, he just put my paper in the drop box. No attempt at getting recognition for his help.What a guy!

I know a lot of people in CreComm are kind of competitive...I'm not really. I try to only compete with myself, and I admit that the competitiveness of the program is the one thing I'm not crazy about. But look, Miguel looked out for me, he saved me, and he literally allowed me to pass an assignment I'd worked so hard on. Dude, he's one kick ass guy.

And then!? Before I left class today on my way to the gym, I realized that I'd left my lights on and my car woudln't start. Of course, I was parked right on busy Princess street too. What did I do? I called Jeremie and Kylie...I knew I could depend on them. And without a pause, the two and Alexa showed up to help me boost my car. Haha, it was a debaucle. None of us really knew what to do, Alexa was on the phone with her "booster cable source" and in the meantime, Jeremie electrocuted himself...in the end, two randoms had to come show us what to do...but we laughed the entire time.

Thanks guys...not only for helping me...but for being the first people I thought of to call. And for being so cool, that I didn't even blink an eye when the whole thing happened.

OH and!!! Group one in Broadcast this morning? Minority Report was SOOO funny! I loved it, I laughed soooo hard!

It has to be said. Section 2 is the most amazing section ever. These people are funny, kind, and god, do I love my CreComm classmates.

But I didn't get butterflies.....

2009-10-22T18:00:00.007-05:00

I had a friend that told me about her new outlook on relationships the other day.

She told me that after being hurt by dating so many guys in the past that she’d had nothing in common with but ones that she’d been insanely attracted to, she has decided that she no longer cares about getting “butterflies” for a guy. She has decided that to her now, it is more important to be with a guy that she can trust. She’s over the whole “bad boy thing.” She no longer cares if she gets butterflies from a partner, just that he’s there for her when she really needs him.

As you get older, butterflies are overrated anyways.... trust is the most important thing in a relationship....or is it?

What do you think? Which is of the following options is more important in a relationship to you?

Option one: You get butterflies whenever the other person is around. You are insanely attracted to them physically. You get so much adrenaline and excitement just from being around them and the passion between the two of you is out of this world. Your chemistry has been crazy from the get go and you can’t stop thinking about the person. You want to be around them all the time and you can’t wait to see them next.

Option two: You’re with someone that you really connect with on an emotional level. Maybe you match intellectually, maybe the person challenges you and makes you think in ways you’d never even considered before. You are friends, you can rely on this person, you can trust them, they are dependable, and most of all? You feel safe with them. The relationship is stable and consistent.

Now most people argue that you can really only have one of the two options in a relationship. You are either madly and passionately in love with your significant other where you can’t keep your eyes or hands off of each other or you are with the “nice guy/girl,” the one that you can relate to, the one you get support from, but the one you don’t feel that extra “ouumph” for.

My opinion? Which is more important to me?

I think, of course, it is going to be difficult to find that person who completes both sets of criteria for you. The one that challenges you intellectually and supports you, the one that you can trust and depend on yet the one that you also have crazy amazing chemistry with and can’t stop thinking about.

That’s my answer. Don't settle for less.

One isn’t more important than the other. They go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. Passion without trust is weak. Trust without passion is friendship.

My theory? Maybe....when you find the person that completes both options for you......that’s when you know that you’ve found the one.

Buyer Beware: Halloween Face Paints (on an unrelated note)

2009-10-13T17:21:00.008-05:00

For our Advertising class, we were instructed to choose a topic and create a “Buyer Beware” project. The purpose of the project was to recommend certain products to consumers or to advise consumers against certain products.

MOTIVATION FOR PROJECT
Our group chose to test and study different Halloween face paints. More and more, it is recommended that children use Halloween face paint as a part of their costumes instead of masks. Masks have been found to have safety concerns for children. They can be restricting or suffocating for different kids and therefore face paint can be a safe alternative to them.

TARGET AUDIENCE
Our target audience was parents because they are the ones that buy face paint for their children (it is mostly children that go all out and get dressed up for Halloween).

PRODUCTS
We decided to go around the city and go to the places that are most popular for Halloween costumes to buy different brands of face paint. We chose Dollarama, Superstore, Walmart, Party Stuff, and Value Village. We ended up buying a total of six different brands, the Dollarama brand, the Fun World brand (Walmart), the Rubie's brand, the Seasons brand, the Danson Decor brand, and the Lucky Art brand.

RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY
Over the course of the next five days, my group met in the morning and we all painted our faces with the same brand of makeup. We then wore our face paint for a total of 6 hours and at the end of the day, we filed out a pre-made questionnaire and evaluated each product. All of the different skin types were represented by our group members and so we think that our results produced a holistic and fair evaluation.

Our group judged the products based on the following criteria:

Application: How smoothly the product could be applied and how well the colours show up (how bright).

Longevity: Whether or not the product faded throughout the day or smudged

Removal from skin: How well the product comes off with water at the end of a long day.

Skin irritability: Whether or not the product caused skin to become itchy, red, or did it give anyone a rash?

Physical activity: How well the product held up during physical activity. On Halloween, a lot of kids apply their face paint in the morning and then run around all day. We wanted to see whether or not the face paint would last even if the kids were running or sweating.

Removal from clothing: Often, children will get their face paint make up on their clothes while moving around. At times, face paint also has the ability to smear, smudge, or run onto children’s clothes. After our five days of testing, we tested how well the paints could be removed from clothing. We applied the face paint directly on to two pieces of fabric. One of the fabrics was pre-treated with Spray ‘n Wash while the other was left as is. They were both put in to a rinse cycle using Tide Coldwater and through the dryer. The results were taken, and then put through the wash cycle again.

In terms of our analysis, we did not take into consideration the price of the different products because although we do think price is an important factor in a parent’s decision of which brand to use, we did not think the price differences were enough of a reason to buy one product over the other because at the end of the day, in our opinion, quality is most important.

RESULTS

Overall we found that the Dollarama scored a 3.076 out of ten. I had a really hard time with this product for a few reasons. I have a darker skin tone (a light brown) and the colours came up really faint and were not vibrant at all. This meant that it took longer for me to apply the colours and I had to press harder (making the process uncomfortable) to get a decent colour. Additionally, the product really faded throughout the day. By the end of the day, it was barely visible and when I went to work out, it smeared and smudged, and even rubbed off onto my clothing. I know the other member’s didn’t have as hard a time with this product as I did, but I would not recommend it.

Overall, we found Danson Decor scored 5.195. The product was very faint and the colours were very dull during application which meant that it took a long time to get the desired shade. Additionally, the crayons themselves were hard to draw with or get a good colour out of. This product faded fast as well and it also seemed to rub off very easily (which made it easy to remove from my skin later on). Personally, the product was barely there to begin with and it continued to fade throughout the day. Also, my skin became itchier as the day went on and there were a few times when it seemed to smudge onto my clothes. It did wash out my clothing easily though.

Overall, we found the Seasons brand scored 5.412. I found this product to have a weak application and although it went on smoothly, it took a long time to get the desired colour because the colours were so faint. The product began to fade almost immediately, and by mid day, it was not visible on my face anymore (and it was also very light on my other group member’s faces). What was left of the product came off easily but disappeared during my workout. This product did not irritate my skin though.

Overall, we found the Rubies brand scored 5.872. I found that the colours were good but not that bright, vibrant, or interesting. Additionally, the application was not smooth. Again, although this product lasted better than the two before it, it was not that visible by the end of the day. That being said, for the most part, removal of the product was easy and most of the colours came off easily. It was a bit itchy and uncomfortable to wear and also, there was a bad selection of colours for the product.

Overall we found the Fun World brand scored 6.4083. The colours showed up clearly and vibrantly upon application and the process was smooth and easy. I was even able to blend the colours together to make more colours. Unfortunately, again for me, the product seemed to smear easily and before I knew it, the product was barely visible on my skin because it had faded so much. It had also made my skin itchy throughout the day but again, because it faded off, I was not able to judge it adequately for the physical activity, irritability, or removal from skin categories.

Overall, the Lucky Art brand scored 8.915. I loved this product compared to all the other ones. The colours were vibrant, bright, and the application was smooth. The crayons even came with a pointed tip so that there was good detail in the drawings. For the most part, the colour stayed on throughout the day and it came off well at the end of the day with just water. The Lucky Art brand also lasted throughout my workout and did not smudge at the end of the day. My skin was a bit itchy, but overall, there was no irritation.

CONCLUSION

We found that the Lucky Art brand from Party Stuff was the best face paint by far out of all the ones that we tested (with a score of 8.9 out of ten) for the reasons mentioned above. Personally, Lucky Art brand was also the ONLY brand that was visible on my skin and the only brand that lasted throughout the day on my face and did not fade during my workout. The Lucky Art brand does have its faults such as the fact that it does rub off onto hands and objects but overall, it is still a quality product.

It is important for parents to test a product on their child’s skin before they paint their kids face with any type of face paint. Remember to read the directions and watch for any fragrances or preservatives that may harm the child.

Most of the face paints we tested were of bad quality. That being said, we believe that if you find a good one, such as the Lucky Art brand, it is still better to use Halloween face paint as a safe alternative to masks.

EXPERT OPINIONS
We also spoke to two experts to get their educated opinions on face paints. The first expert that we consulted was Dr. Earl S. Minuk MD who is a board-certified dermatologist and internist in both Canada and the U.S.A.

Overall, Dr. Minuk warned that just because a product claims to be non-toxic, it does not mean that it is safe for your skin. Additionally, even if a product claims to be hypoallergenic, it does not mean that it will be allergy specific and safe for all individuals. He also advised to avoid contact with any products that contain preservatives or fragrances. He encourages consumers to always test any product they use before application by testing it on a small part of their body. If a consumer checks their product for harmful ingredients before use, they should be ok.

Our second expert was Simbo the Clown, also known as Simmie Nasberg, an expert on face painting because she paints her own face and childrens’ faces for a living. She recommends that parents use the brand Caran d’ache to paint their childrens’ faces. A bit higher in price, $2.50 for one crayon and $20.00 for a full kit, she insists that the extra money is worth it. She tells parents to avoid covering a child’s entire face with paint. “Make sure the paint comes off before you put it on and avoid covering the whole face, the skin will not be able to breathe and irritation will be inevitable,” says Simbo.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

My Buyer Beware group consisted of Angèle Faucher, Jeremy Giacomin, Stacia Franz, Kiley Dyck and myself. I found that we had a good group, one that split up our duties in a fair and productive manner. For our memo, we got together to brainstorm and Angèle typed it out. After that, I edited it, added to it, and submitted it. In terms of our research, Jeremy and Angèle bought the face paints. Stacia created our grading template and each member wore the different face paints and filled out the templates at the end of each day. The face paint clothing test was performed by Kiley and the expert interviews were conducted by Jeremy. In terms of our final draft, Stacia wrote the intro, Angèle wrote the research summary, I created the results section, Jeremy wrote the expert summary, and the stain wash summary was prepared by Kiley. The responsibilities section was created by Stacia and the final draft was edited by all the group members. Photographs and attachments were also something the group did together.

FINAL PAPER
I found that I really enjoyed doing this part of the project. Our team divided up all of the parts of the paper equally and everyone finished their individual work on time. After that, the combining of the different parts went smoothly and everyone took turns editing through an “edit train” which I think went really well. I am very proud of our finished document.

PRESENTATION

The presentation was probably the part of the assignment that I was most worried about. Funny as it is the part of the project that was worth the least. That being said, our group collaborated well and everyone came together to come up with an interesting way to present our findings. Pictures, information, and some short skits helped us present our project in an effective way, I think.

I found this to be a really great project. I enjoyed the entire process and I really liked working with my group members. Hopefully our story will be profiled through some type of news outlet and our findings can be shared with the Winnipeg world! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Theories about Love and Life

2009-10-08T16:59:00.003-05:00

As promised, I thought that I would post some theories I have about love and life.

Just to clarify before I begin, the following is my opinion. By no means have I done any type of scientific research to back up my theories and so, I admit, they may be flawed. That being said, the theories are a result of active observation of some of my friends and the people around me. Anyways, take from them what you will. Food for thought.

Let’s begin.

Theory #1: Why some men are players

Alright, this theory is based on all the guys that I know that are overall good guys but that play women. It can be frustrating, mostly because these are guys that are able to separate their everyday lives and personality (usually great people) with how they treat women and what they use them for.

My theory on why some men are players is that usually these are men who themselves have been hurt in the past by a relationship or a woman.

Think about it for one second. Think of all the “players” you know out there. Did they start out as players? Or did they maybe have an experience in their past that has tainted them or jaded them? Most of the players I know (and trust me, I know a lot of them) are great guys, good people, students, family members, friends, and workers etc. But they just aren’t that good to women. And more often than not, if you were to analyze their past, I think you’d find that each “player” has most likely had one or two really bad experiences with a partner in the past.

When a woman goes through a negative experience with a partner, it often causes her to crave love and acceptance even more than before. After a bad experience, women often are not turned off of love all together, instead, usually they crave it even more than before. Men, on the other hand, after they’ve been hurt once or twice, begin to separate having a good time from love. They now are less interested in relationships because they’ve already been hurt and now are looking out for themselves before being interested in a serious relationship.

The theory is simple. Think about it. Of all the guys you know who are “players”, I bet you could link them to one or two girls that broke their heart in the past, that turned them off to the idea of love, at least for a bit, and therefore now they are more likely to be uninterested in love.

But it's all a show!

Maybe I should be a psychologist? I think my theory rocks.

Theory #2: Why some women are players

This theory of mine also derives from observing many different women around me. The women that I know that are most interested in having a good time without having a relationship have one thing in common. The absence of a male father figure in their lives.

Now, I want to reiterate that I am not trying to offend anyone by my post. I realize that I could be totally off (and if that’s the case, I welcome you to comment on this post and give me your opinion!)

All I’m saying is that a lot of the women that I know that could be seen as “promiscuous” are usually ones that have lacked a strong male presence in their childhood. As a girl grows older, I think it is imperative that she has a father figure in her that demonstrates to her how a woman should be treated, respected, admired, and loved. As well as someone who reiterates how she deserves to treat herself. If a girl is lacking that in some way, I think her perception of men can be a bit skewed. I have many friends who tell me that to this day, because they were lacking a father figure in their lives, they now seek validation from men and often reach out to them in the easiest way, through promiscuity. (Perhaps it is a way to get validation from that “father figure” that wasn’t there for them? Just an idea???)

Every woman deserves to be desired, to be put on a pedestal, to be pampered, to be treated as if she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that going out and having a good time is a sign of promiscuity or weakness, not at all! I’m just saying that in terms of society’s typical and stereotyped “promiscuous” woman, if I had to guess, I bet that in her past/childhood, she was lacking a strong male figure that showed her just how much of a gem she really is.

Again, don’t hate! These are just my theories...totally based on observation and I am always ready to discuss!

Love, Kiran.

Another kind of love. Empathy.

2009-09-30T23:41:00.003-05:00

I decided on what my blog posts were going to be earlier this week....and will still post those two topics later on (preview: my theories on why some men are womanizers and why some women are promiscuous...stay tuned!) but I decided after my encounter with a woman at Starbucks today that I had to post about her.

I was at Starbucks on Osborne today after school, getting myself a coffee and sitting down to do some homework. That particular Starbucks is home to me. I can be found there a few times a week on coffee dates, studying, or just getting a drink. I’m there regularly and loyally and always get my signature venti Earl Grey tea with a shot of caramel.

Anyways, every time I've been there in the last month, I’ve seen the same guy there. Now this guy is a simple guy. He is in a wheelchair, has an obvious deformity to his face, and a distinct speech impediment. He moves around the store in his wheelchair and approaches different people, spends a few mins at each table, and then moves on.
I have had him come up to me quite a few times. I always quietly smile at him and make way if he needs me to. He usually comes to my table, talks to me (I have never been able to understand what he is saying), and then he moves on.

Today, something different happened. I was sitting at my table writing on my laptop when the same guy approached. I smiled at him, moved some chairs for him, and then continued on with my work. This has been the standard response towards him. Every person I have seen with him reacts quite similarly. Except today. At the table next to me was a lady, about 40 I'd say. She was a simple woman but beautiful and I could tell that she was probably waiting for a friend of hers to meet her for a coffee date.

The man in the wheelchair rolled up to her. I had my headphones in and so I could not hear what they were talking about and I proceeded to write. After about 5 mins or so, I glanced over. The man in the wheelchair was still at her table with her. This was odd. I'd never seen him stay at a table for more than a minute or so. Most people did not talk to him for that long because it was so difficult to understand what he was saying. I slowly took my headphones out and listened. The woman was talking to the man. They were chatting. She could understand what he was saying. She was laughing. She told him that he was an inspiration to her and she continued by asking him a few more questions and soon, I knew this man's history. He had been in a car accident at the age of 19, about 10 years ago, and had been seriously disabled since. The woman related with the man, told him about her own son that was 19, and even pulled out some photographs that she had with her to share with him. They laughed for a while longer and soon thereafter, the man moved on.

A few minutes later, I couldn't help myself. I turned to her and said, “I’ve seen countless people smile awkwardly at that man, barely look him, or talk to him in a condescending and pitiful way. You are the only person who I have seen reach out to that man. Thank you for that. You inspired me." The lady looked at me, expressed that she believes that everyone deserves a little empathy, and then wiped her tears that she said I caused because of my kind words.

She told me later she was a teacher and had a student in one of her classes that also had a speech impediment. She said, as long as you listen closely, even if you miss a few words, you can eventually pick up what they are saying.
She had asked the man if he was hitting on her during the conversation as a joke. She said his reply was, “for now, we're just talking. But soon, you'll see how incredible I am and not be able to resist."

We laughed together. The fact that he had that much insight is more than most of the bozo men we've met in our lives have, we agreed.

I want to thank you, mystery woman. Because you inspired me. I consider myself an open and inviting person to most and live my life trying to be as good of a human being as possible but when I couldn't understand that man on the first try, I did just give up on him. You did not. Your empathetic and patient nature towards him touched me so and was one of the nicest things I have witnessed in awhile.

I couldn't help but have to write about you. You inspired me. You motivated me to be better. And you've given me a lesson in humanity and love that I'm sure I'll remember forever. Thank you.

Lovely Love

2009-09-26T14:14:00.008-05:00

For more images, check out the following websites:

http://josevillablog.com/

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/15-beautiful-modern-love

A Picture Can Speak a Thousand Words

2009-09-26T14:09:00.003-05:00

A Little Dose of Saturday Love

2009-09-26T13:56:00.002-05:00

Is inspiration all around me?

2009-09-21T23:30:00.004-05:00

Today’s post is inspired by the people around me.

Let’s begin on a positive note. Today, after being let out of class early, I ventured on to my regular and routine visit to the gym. As I approached the front desk at Shapes, a huge smile spread across my face. There, sitting next to the front desk worker, was a huge bouquet of flowers. And I mean, huge. The bouquet was stunning to the eye, elegant, lovely, and gorgeous. Pretty, floral, and pink. I couldn’t help but stop and smile and then lean in (not lean down, the flowers were taller than me!) and smell. Of course, I had to ask the worker where they had come from. She proceeded to tell me that they were for one of the female trainers. Apparently, this was the third week that flowers were delivered to Shapes in her name. The girl mentioned that the workers think the flowers are being sent from her secret admirer or a new boyfriend. I gushed, how beautiful!!!! I know a lot of people think that flowers are overrated. I don’t. What a sweet and thoughtful declaration of love, and appreciation flowers can be. The bouquet was stunning and as I collided with Olivia later on, the trainer who the flowers were for, I told her how beautiful I thought the gift was. I could not help but smile and notice how happy she looked to have received it. Anonymous stranger or new boyfriend, either way, this guy or girl truly made her day. And for that, I was impressed and inspired.

Now I am going to move on to my real topic for this blog; cheaters. First, let me begin by saying, I have never been cheated on, I have never cheated on anyone, and I don’t agree with the idea of cheating. I think that I am a fairly non-judgemental person though; I don’t proceed to pass judgement on people who have cheated on their significant others. It just really is not for me. I think that if you could cheat on your partner, then probably, there is something very wrong with your relationship in the first place. And if you are unable to break up with your partner before you engage in these actions, you might just be scared. Either way, if a guy were to cheat on me, I think it would be one of the most disrespectful things he could do to me. Simply put, it would be a complete disregard for my feelings. Anger, passion, hate, love....these are all emotions. But indifference is the worst thing someone can feel for you and I sincerely think cheating occurs when one partner is indifferent to their partner’s feelings. What is that saying? Love me or hate me, it's still an obsession.

Moreover, I think cheating represents a weakness of character in the cheater. Maybe the cheater will also be a bit cowardly, selfish, and disloyal in other areas of their life? I’m not sure but one of my life mottos is that you should never apologize for how you feel. Because feelings are the one thing you cannot help. You may be able to help your actions, those we can control. Our feelings we cannot control. So if my best friend came up to me and said she’d fallen in love with my boyfriend (I’m single, go figure), I’d be likely to forgive her for that....because love you cannot help. If my boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend, that on the other hand, I’d have a much harder time forgiving or forgetting.

I don’t mean to offend anyone with today’s entry. In fact, I was hesitant to post on the topic. But after reading my classmate Jeremy’s blog the other day about cheating, I was tempted to post a response. Here is a link to his blog about the topic.

http://memoirs-of-a-gentleman.blogspot.com/

His major point is that if a girl would cheat on her boyfriend with him, that really isn’t his issue and he’d go ahead with it. The other day over lunch, he and I started talking about the topic and I, trying to be as open to the idea as possible for argument’s sake, asked him to elaborate. “But Jeremy, you wouldn’t mind being with someone who was cheating on her boyfriend? If she is cheating on her boyfriend, she’ll likely cheat on you too. Is that the kind of person you want to be with?” I asked him curiously.

And how did Jeremy respond to my interrogations? “No,” he replied. “I’d never actually be in a relationship with that kind of girl.”

Point taken and reiterated. A mental note. Guys never want to be with that girl. Of course they want to have fun. We all know it and I’m glad I’m not her. But as a girl myself, I still feel for the girl who thinks otherwise.

So what was the other encounter that inspired my post?

Someone I met the other night. I was at a social function, one where there were a lot of young people around, ready for a good time. A guy approached me and we got to talking. For a while, we talked about friends, life, and school. The conversation was going normally well until he brought up his girlfriend from back home (Calgary). I thought it was a bit off that he would want to go into such great detail about her with a complete stranger, but being the hopeless romantic I am, I listened contently. In fact, the more he talked, the more appealing he became. I couldn’t help but think how refreshing it was to find a guy who was so openly in love with his girlfriend.

He went on and on, talking about this perfect girl from back home that he missed dearly. I gushed along with him. He then went on to tell me that a lot of his friends often encourage him to cheat on her. I looked at him horrified and quickly blurted out,” Oh no!!! Don’t do that, it would ruin her.” He adamantly agreed. He would feel too guilty and would end up telling her himself if he cheated and she would never take him back, he told me. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“What a good guy,” I thought.

After our epically long but pleasant conversation, I went over to one of my good friends and, as most girls do, told her about how nice and loyal this new guy was that I’d just spoken with (also mentioning that it was a bit strange that he’d opened up to me so quickly). My friend looked at me, pointed at the guy, and said, “That guy? He cheats on that same girlfriend all the time. I’ve seen it with my own eyes on multiple occasions.”

I stood there dumbfounded. He’d completely made a fool of me. I realized that he was nothing more than a master player. Normally, I am quite intuitive. I had picked up on his telling me in the beginning of the conversation that he was once a big player but I eventually ignored that sketchy feeling because he seemed so sincere about his girlfriend. Anyways, it all made sense now. He had told me about the girlfriend so that I’d feel closer to him (also to avoid my finding out about her from mutual friends). After making himself look like the perfect guy to me, he then went on to bring up the topic of cheating to see how I’d react to it and if I’d be open to the possibility.

Psychologically, it makes so much sense. I bet a lot of girls fall for the whole “Oh, he doesn’t usually cheat, I must be special” thing. I'm not saying I'm any better. I almost did too ( not that I would have fallen for him, but I did fall for his act!)I foiled his plan though by jumping right in and telling him how destructive cheating can be and he had to backtrack. I never would have jumped to the conclusion that he cared enough to play me but my friend insists. This guy is a major player and cheater. What a silly boy. And so, this post was inspired by the dumb boy who regulary cheats on his unsuspecting girlfriend back in Calgary.

A lesson to everyone out there. Cheating sucks. Cheating hurts. Cheating is sketchy. Don’t do it.

Love, Kiran.

Dance that feeling!

2009-09-20T19:40:00.002-05:00

Another small movie clip that shows just how lovely love can be. Or is it?

500 Days of Summer- Tom thinks he has it all....

Unrealistic Expectations about Love

2009-09-17T17:10:00.008-05:00

I found myself sitting in the theatre a few weeks ago watching the movie “The 500 days of Summer” for the second time ( I went with two different girlfriends who were going through a rough time with guys. If you haven’t seen the film yet, go watch it) and agreeing with some of the PIVOTAL messages in the movie.

I found myself nodding aggressively as the narrator described exactly where the main character Tom’s ideas about love derived from. As the movie described, Tom thought that love was exactly what he was taught to believe by the mainstream media. His idea of what love is came from movies, music, cheesy love songs, Valentine’s Day customs, advertisements, billboards, commercials, greeting cards, and every day lovey-dovey images of love that the media presents us with. In the movie, Tom feels duped. Does that perfect, all encompassing, amazing, wonderful, indescribable, and passionate love even exist? Does anyone really feel it? Or is it all a gimmick? A marketing technique designed since the beginning of time to capitalize on this need we all have to feel special?

A heavy question indeed. One that I’m sure as the weeks pass, I’ll explore more and more. Today’s topic of conversation however is not what my definition of love is...that will come later on....but instead, where my ideas of that “ideal love” come from in the first place.

Answer? Movies. Most people argue that love stories and romantic comedies portray a “perfect love” in an ideal way. I am physical proof that this is true because my expectations about love come from movies as well (as unrealistic as they may be).
I enjoy Hollywood films. Who doesn’t cry when in Titanic Jack watches Rose go down in the lifeboat as they both cry, the fireworks blasting in the distant sky, and the haunting music echoing in the background? Sob. So very tragic. Great scene.

Or what about the scene in My Best Friend’s Wedding where Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney go on a Chicago boat cruise and she has the opportunity to tell him that she loves him but ultimately doesn’t? The moment just passes her by. Who doesn’t cry alongside her as the best friends dance to their song?

As much as I like Hollywood movies, I will admit that my true expectations about what love is and should be have come from the Bollywood movie industry. Bollywood is the Indian film industry (also known as the biggest film industry in the world, it surpasses Hollywood by quite a lot). There is one movie in particular that has shaped my “unrealistic expectations about love” and I would recommend it to you all. The film in particular, Dilwale Dulhunia Le Jayenge, was released in 1995 when I was only 7 years old but I will never forget the first time I watched it and how it made me feel. Since then, the movie has become the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema. In fact, it still plays in some theatres in India today.

The story is about a girl named Simran who lives in London with her loving but very traditional parents. She’s just finished college and her parents are beginning discussion about getting her married to the son of an old family friend from back in India. Simran is horrified, she respects her family and Indian customs and culture but she has secretly had an amazing fantasy that one day, instead of having an arranged marriage, she will marry the man of her dreams. She hasn't met him yet but she is a hopeless romantic and believes that her soul mate is out there...Crushed by this arranged marriage, Simran still eventually but reluctantly agrees to her parent’s wishes. What happens then when as a last hoorah before leaving to get married in India, Simran takes a trip through Europe with some friends where she meets Raj, a bad boy with a great heart?

Here’s a little scene from the film that sums up why I adore this movie and EXACTLY what and where my “unrealistic expectations of love” came from. In this scene, Raj and Simran have been separated from the rest of the group while travelling through Europe and have had to spend the night in a hotel before catching a train to meet up with their tour group the next day. Raj takes Simran out drinking for her first time and the next morning when she wakes up in his bed, everything goes horribly wrong.

I think it’s pretty evident in this clip exactly why this movie has helped shape my definition of love. Even when things are less than ideal, love seems to be perfect, ideal, passionate, supportive, kind, unconditional, and just very lovely. Is this the case in real life? Stay tuned to find out!

2009-09-10T12:36:00.000-05:00

How does one even begin to write a blog? There seems to be so much pressure- will the writing entice the reader? Will it be interesting? Funny? Epic? Tragic? Will I be able to attract you with my first few words?

If I’m being completely honest, I’ll admit, I don’t really know. What I do know is that I’m writing this blog for a school assignment...but that although mandatory, in the history of my education, this may be one of my favourite assignments I’ve ever had to complete (and that’s about 18 years worth...) Seriously! Why? Maybe because I love writing. And writing with a purpose? Writing while opening up a forum to talk about issues and ideas that are important to you with similarly (or not so similarly) passionate people? How exciting! That’s a gift.

So where to begin? I guess first I should introduce myself. My name is Kiran and I am a first year Creative Communications student at Red River College. Before this, I attended both the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg. I have a double major in Communications and Psychology. I decided to come to Red River because at the end of the day, I really want to be a journalist....or a broadcaster...or to just have a show that’s named the Kiran Show (run similarly to the Oprah show). Anyways, Red River and this program seemed to be the best avenue to follow that dream, at least in Winnipeg, and I am thrilled to be a part of the program.

In order to enrol though, I had to do something that I’d been dreading. Quitting my fabulous job. I have just spent the past 15 months working at Manitoba Film and Music as a Locations Services Coordinator. Basically, MBFM is the province’s Film Commission and my job was intricate, stressful, hard...but exciting, exhilarating, and challenging all at once. I spent a lot of time reading feature film scripts and analyzing them. I’d then create packages for offshore producers in which I matched the locations in the scripts with different locations in Manitoba that could double for the script’s locations. Once that was done, I was in constant communication with the producers...basically convincing them to film their movie in our province. Then, when producers came to the province to get a feel for what we could offer, it was my job to take them around, schmooze, get them familiar with the province and our locations, and entice them to shoot their movie here. It was a hard, time sensitive, detail oriented, and difficult job...but it was an amazing experience that I loved. I had the opportunity to work with some of the greatest people I’ve ever met.

In order to keep my job though, I worked full time during the day and did full time night school at the U of W so that I could still finish my degree. This lead to quite a difficult year for me but one in which I learnt a lot. That being said, I was glad to shift gears and go back to just being a student this year. I’m excited to focus solely on this program and have fun while I’m at it (I’ve taken up a part time waitressing job on the side! I’ll let you know how it goes!)

So where does that leave me now? What kind of a person am I really? I guess this leads me to the topic of my blog (if you’re still interested! :)). I thought a lot about it...and decided finally to write about the thing that I know the most about; love.

Now I know, I’m young...how much could I possibly know about this vast, intricate, and complicated topic? I’ll admit...not everything. That being said, I find myself always being asked for advice on the topic. I realize that I am no expert and I know that most of the time, people come to me with their problems just because I love to listen (and who doesn’t like to talk while someone truly listens?) But because of my listening skills and the fact that I am a hopeless romantic, I think I’ve acquired enough information about love to make it my blog topic. I’ll be writing about all kinds of love: relationships (good and bad), platonic love, companionate love, familial love, and movies, songs, books, and experiences that pertain to it. Every post I’ll explore another issue, problem, or experience that relates to love and find some way to dissect the issue! Sound passionate? Well good... I am :)