UpbeaT

I had always thought that my dream job (naive as it may sound) would involve being on-site somewhere,  perhaps with my afternoons spent deep in the archives of a foreign library, scrolling over the brittle vellum of a medieval manuscript; or maybe occupied with work far up north, hiking across tundra with a pack full of equipment, hearing nothing but the sound of wind sweeping over low-growing scrub.

It hadn’t dawned on me that if I could expect this much from a job, perhaps I should start to hold classes up to the same standards. After all, where does it say that spending four months sitting at a desk, staring at a projected computer screen and mercilessly scribbling down notes is ideal? Why can’t we go outside to learn? What kinds of practical skills do we obtain from taking binders full of notes and participating in two-hour laboratories, going through lab procedures as if making banana bread from a recipe?

Thanks to summer field courses, it turns out we can make the most of our classes, learning real skills in interesting places all over the world. I’m referring mainly to the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) field trips because those are the ones that I’ve been looking into over the past couple of weeks. Among a number of others, a taste for a few of the courses offered over the summer of 2010 include:

EEB401, Marine Biology: Held in Passamaquoddy Bay, NB, for two weeks in late May, the course is based on studying, by boat and along the shoreline, the invertebrate and algal communities found in the Bay of Fundy.

EEB 409, Field Ornithology: Two weeks spent in Algonquin Park and Georgian Bay in May, during the height of the spring migration, this course is designed to teach about practical skills like netting, banding and bird identification.

EEB410, Lake Ecosystem Dynamics: The last half of August could be spent on the water in Algonquin Park learning about the chemical and physical properties of boreal lakes, as well as limnological (freshwater) ecology.

EEB360, Entomology: Including one week in early September in Algonquin Park, this course involves learning about the (many!) orders of insects, along with techniques on pinning, identification and preparation of specimens.

EEB306, Tropical Forest Conservation: this year the course involves collecting data on birds, insects and plant in the Caribbean.

A lot of departments have these types of courses, including (among others):

Geography: GGR381H, field course in Environmental Geography; and GGR382H, field course in Human Geography.

Geology: GLG340H, field course on Manitoulin Island; GLG445H, field course at Benny Belt; and GLG448, field course at Chalk River.

Forestry: FOR301: field methods in Forest Conservation.

Centre of Environment: ENV395Y: Special Topics Field Course, a class with a changing focus from year to year.

The EEB field courses involve a week or two in the summer doing work on-site and one subsequent term, usually in the fall, spent doing related course work. So, for example, in EEB360, the insects collected in Algonquin Park during the last weeks of summer are brought to U of T and eventually produce a collection as a final term project, completed around December.

An application to sign up for courses is usually due quite early in the winter. The EEB dealine for applications, for example, was Feb 5, but students can still apply and stand a good chance of getting in if there is room available. Costs vary depending on the duration and location of the course, ranging from about $300 for local trips to several thousand for those in Asia and the Caribbean. Applying for grants can help make these courses more accessible to students already mired in the muck of student loans or lacking the necessary funds.

For more information on field courses, check out department websites. This year, the EEB’s annual information session has also been posted to Youtube, so you can listen to professors and organizers talk about upcoming trips:

An example from one course, EEB405, Experimental Ecology & Evolution in Southern Ontario:

While there are a few obvious drawbacks to on-site learning (transportation to the tundra starts to get expensive when it occurs on a weekly basis), there are also huge advantages. The most obvious is hands-on experience, which really can be hard to get unless you get an internship, a job or a research position in a related field. Because the classes are often small (usually 16-20 students per group), field courses are a great way to meet professors and students with similar interests, to get good references and they look great on a resume or a grad school application.

Along with the palpable skills and assets gained from field courses, they also sound worthy of participation based on content alone: school doesn’t get too much more interesting than when it involves a summer spent identifying insects, whales and algae all around the world.

So, at the end of my last post, I mentioned a lecture on-campus by Richard Stallman that happened last year. I found a transcript of a similar lecture of his, and I wanted to paraphrase it for you. It’s way too long.

And, probably, it’s way too subversive.

I don’t think it is subversive, but, then again, I think malls will be turned into greenhouses 500 years in the future.

But going back to the lecture being way too long - it is. The set-up is great and it’s easy to follow. although paraphrasing it is becoming a task bigger than me, as my mother would say; thus, you should read it yourself.

Stallman is a prominent figure in the realm of computers, computer science and jazz who also started the free software movement. From how I understand it, free software is basically software for which anyone can access the source code. You can configure it, learn from it, take it and make something new out of it. Like… food: you can take a recipe and modify it to make something new. I don’t think the concept of free software condones claiming ownership over something that isn’t yours, or modifying the source code slightly, releasing a fairly similar program and then saying you are the original author, or… anything like that. It’s about having access to the basic parts, I believe.

I referred to “hackerness” in the title because hacker culture is related to the free software movement. I don’t mean scary, evil nerds chugging energy drinks for hours as they remain glued to their dirty, cyberpunkified, customized CPUs looking for your credit card numbers. Maybe we should start calling those people “j3rk5.”

So that’s free software…

Stallman came to U of T last year, in second semester, I believe. I had a class in the same room prior to his lecture and I had spotted some friends still hanging around after class was over. One of them remarked that a guy who was closely involved with Linux but resented being called “The Linux Guy” was legendary and awesome was about to give a lecture. So I stayed.

I REGRET STAYING - I kid; it was really cool.

The lecture I linked to (above) is a bit different from the one I heard; it’s older, from 2001, and it was done in Massachusetts. Okay, I’ll paraphrase as best as I can. The gist of it was that, in the past, before the printing press, anyone who was literate could copy a book as well as anyone else with the same level of literacy. The introduction of the printing press, however, changed publication copying into a more centralized and standardized industry practice. When copyright laws were introduced, they only restricted what publishers and authors could do.

But, thanks to digital information, computers, networks and such, we are going back to a world more similar to the past (or, what Stallman refers to as “the ancient world“). Many of us now have the means to copy and distribute various kinds of information. Stallman argues that this is changing the way copyright works; rather than “restricting publishers for the sake of authors,” it restricts the public for the sake of the publishers.  I KNOW!

As copyright restrictions start cracking down on us more, we need to start asking some scathing questions. For example, why? Why is it that a course reader - $35 last semester, less than $35 for its materials alone - now costs the broke, Tim Horton’s-feeding, OSAP-laden college keener $100 more? Are the authors of the reader actually getting any money? Is T-Pain* really suffering when his auto-tuned robot wail pierces said college keener’s earphones because said college keener downloaded some song of his from some Napster-like PTP (PHP? P2P? PSP?) thing? After all, artists/writers/creators must be compensated for their “intellectual property.” To many, reproduction without proper compensation is equal to theft. I would argue that reselling is the issue, but once again, for many, mere reproduction equals theft.

[A speculative digression; I would have a problem with someone selling reproductions of my drawings. I would not have problem with someone, whether I find out about them or not, saving a copy of my drawing and putting it up on a blog, with the caption "A girl named Liesl drew this." I like free MP3s. Are they the same as reselling or just "re-distributing'? I believe some artists already pay for distribution costs, however their distribution is done. But does that mean I am "distributing illegally" if I play a song in public?]

We come to another point. T-Pain might be suffering. But, not for the reasons you may imagine, i.e. those 12-/20-year-olds downloading his music.

Stallman refers to a speech given by Courtney Love at a “Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference” that took place in 2000. You can find it at Salon.com. There are some naughty words and such, but she makes some very interesting points about where “all the money goes” and about who owns the music being sold (hint: it’s usually the record company). That, and I think we’re old enough. No, I’m not linking. Refer to the last part of my title. Besides, Google is a powerful thing. [EDIT: I lied.]

It seems to me, the crazy radical artist, that current copyright laws are becoming unnecessarily intrusive to the general public, and only for the benefit of a small number of people, usually not the artists/writers/makers of the things in question. I don’t believe in (complete) anarchy, but I think a revamping of the current system is in order. Perhaps, the general public needs to stop being distracted by shiny things like iTampons and Kindle, and start wondering if we are really supporting the makers-of-things when we blindly allow Distribution Man to handle all the money. I would hand Bjork, who is rich, a 20-dollar bill if I knew she was getting every penny. Maybe someone at this institution, or at the copyright agency we’re (they’re?) in cahoots with, could lay out where all of that course reader money goes. Maybe that will shut my radical-feminist-post-colonial mouth.

At the university level, this word keeps popping up: dialogue. “We need to have a dialogue about this.” “We need to start a dialogue about that.” Apparently, stating one’s opinion can start these necessary dialogues. I’m still just getting this; I understand the need for dialogue, but I’m also a “CAN WE DO SOMETHING NOW!” kind of person. And then I’d plan forever. But that’s a different, self-insulting digression. In short, I don’t like where this copyright thing is going, and (scary girlfriend face) “we need to talk.”

- Liesl

*I do not listen to T-Pain.

Happy Monday, dear readers!

Reading Week is approaching, and if you’re like me, you’ve been hitting the stacks to do research for your papers. Have you noticed this poster?

The Library is holding a video contest! It’s the perfect opportunity to flex your artistic muscle. Plus, if you’re looking for even more ways to procrastinate (thanks blogUT, I’m addicted to Cake Wrecks now!), making a video for the library has to be the most productive. The top two videos win an iPod Touch, and it doesn’t take a lot of work either – all you need is anything that can record video (this can be your cell phone, webcam, video cam) and less than 45 seconds to show why you love the libraries at U of T!

Personally, I love the libraries because they’re the perfect spot for studying and making out*, but I wanted to see what the librarians at U of T thought. I met with the lovely Margaret Wall, a reference librarian over at Robarts. Read my interview to find out what it is that she loves about the library.

*Not that I’m getting much done of either, mind you.

Can you tell me more about the different libraries at U of T?

There are over 30 libraries at U of T! Robarts, Gerstein, OISE and Engineering are among the larger ones on the St. George campus. There are also many smaller libraries that are connected to the different departments at the university, like Music, Architecture, etc, and there are libraries that are associated with most of the colleges as well. Many of the libraries on campus have a special focus and unique collections, like the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Collectively, they house over 16 million items, not including our electronic resources, like e-books and journals.

That’s true -  the Hollar exhibition at Thomas Fisher just unveiled. Can you tell me more about your role at Robarts?

I’m a librarian, and I spend half my time helping students and other library users with library research, and half my time on outreach projects focused on getting feedback from students about their library experience.

How did you come up with the idea for the video contest?

I got the idea from the University of Waterloo Library, which ran a similar contest a few years ago. They received lots of great videos and we thought it would be an interesting and fun way to see what’s important to students in the library. We’re looking forward to what the students at U of T have to say.

What kind of videos are you looking for?

We want to know what people love about the libraries – what draws them in, what’s special. The videos don’t have to be perfectly polished or Hollywood quality! People don’t need to feel intimidated. That’s why you can submit a video from your phone or webcam or any recording device.

How does the selection process for the winning video work?

The planning committee chooses the top ten finalists. The winners are chosen by students online. Our tech department is creating an online voting page for us – kind of like Canadian Idol!

It’s nearing midterms; what sort of incentives do you have to get students to make the video?

Incentives, well, of course we have the two iPod Touches that are our top prizes!

If I may interject for a tik tok: it was here that Margaret took out the two iPod Touches. I snuck a picture for you. Sorry it’s grainy, but that’s what you get for top secret!

Finally, why do you love the library?

There are so many things that I love about the library. I remember a recruiting poster from the 1950s in an old magazine that I saw while I was in library school. It said, “You love people, you love books, become a librarian!” That describes me pretty well. If I have a quiet moment, I like to go up to the stacks, look at the sea of books and I just go “ahhh.” I love books and information and connecting people with them, and I get to do both as a librarian.

–

Margaret told us why she loved the library, now it’s your turn! The contest is open until Feb 28 (you even get all of Reading Week!). If you can’t wait, let me know what you think about the libraries in the comments below!

Cheers,

- Cynthia

I’m assuming you’re an UpbeaT fan – after all, you’re reading my post. But if you’re clicking around UpbeaT, then you might just be a blog fan in general. There are a lot of great blogs on the internet – in particular, there are a lot of great blogs for students. I’ve compiled a list below. Most of them are U of T-based, but a few aren’t, yet I wanted to include them because they could be of interest to students of any university. Some of the blogs are anecdotal and others are informative; despite the varying styles, each blog has something awesome to offer you.

Surviving Studenthood: Do you remember the awkward stages when you morphed from a teenager into an adult? And how, in those moments of painful embarrassment, a bit of guidance and encouragement was always helpful? Well, Surviving Studenthood is based on the same concept! It’s a blog designed to help you through the awkward moments of “studenthood.” For example, one of my favourite posts, The Only Sober Apple in a Drunk Barrel (a play on the phrase “there’s one bad apple in every barrel…”), recounts a student’s frustration at being the only sober student at a university social event. The post suggests some tips on how to deal with that situation while remaining true to your beliefs. In addition, the blog encourages students to share their tips – I’m sure many of their posts recount situations you’ve experienced and you probably have some great ideas! Although Surviving Studenthood is a relatively new blog (and thus, there are only a few posts so far), I highly recommend it to you!

BlogUT: Most of you are probably familiar with BlogUT – it’s a blog about U of T written by U of T students. They cover upcoming events, interesting news, and important information which will definitely interest you – and most importantly, it’s a central, easily accessible source of U of T info that is updated regularly. Plus, it’s a fun blog! They have a post up titled You Know You’re a University Student When… which I found amusing and scarily realistic.

UeaT: Ah, if you are anything like me, eating and studying go hand-in-hand (hence the “Freshman 15” becoming the “Undergradute 30”)! UeaT is a great U of T blog – it’s the official site of  University of Toronto Food Services and it blogs about all of the food news around campus. As you may know, Aramark is the main food provider at St. George campus but there are a lot of independently owned food options on/around campus that you may not know about and which UeaT has the scoop on (pun was not initially intended, but now I like it J). UeaT also covers food events - for example, one post talks about the February Postcards, which are all over eateries on campus, indicating that this month, you can participate in Aboriginal Awareness Week, ring in the Chinese New Year, and celebrate Black History Month by trying foods from all of these cultures. Oh, and they have a cool interactive campus food map!

Alumni Circle: Alumni Circle is a very cool U of T blog, which features alumni in the news, a schedule of alumni/interesting events, alumni awards (including the prestigious Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award, which might interest you, fellow student!) and much more. I know, I know, the blog is for U of T Alumni, but it’s a wonderful way for students to learn about the alumni experience, which I know is particularly valuable to upper-year students who are now thinking about how they can take their university degree and use it in the real world. In addition, Alumni Circle links to the fantastic U of T Magazine website, which has a special section of blog posts.

There are lots of other great blogs - these are a bit more specialized, depending on what interests you:

• U of T Law School Faculty blog blog
• U of T Dentistry Library blog
• University of Toronto Chinese Christian Fellowship blog
• a list of Student Life blogs
• U of T Engineering blog

Walls have a thoroughly impressive past. They have been a lot of things: white, red or stuccoed; padded, fortified, divided and collapsible. They have been paper, wattle and daub, and myriad types of stone. They’ve been all around the world, witnessed the last 10,000 years of human history (at least), travelled through space. They’ve housed the brightest minds and harshest rulers, even watched murders taking place, religious leaders being born. One must ask, is there anything the wall has not yet done?

Indeed, I’m not sure that there is. For, as I saw this morning, walls can also be alive.

Yes, life itself has been written on the wall’s list of meritorious accomplishments, and it’s happened here, too, at U of T: appropriately dubbed the “Living Wall,” this wall is not like most others. Grown hydroponically (using aqueous nutrient solutions, but no soil), the living wall stands 2.5 metres tall and 7 metres wide and hosts a thriving community of mosses, ferns, flowering plants and specialized microbes. The microbes break down air pollutants into such constituent parts as carbon and water molecules, and thus produce significant amounts of clean air that are circulated throughout the adjoining room and building in the Multi-Faith Centre.

University of Toronto's Living wall

Also called a biowall, green wall, or vertical garden, the idea behind an indoor living wall is to integrate the wall’s biofiltering abilities into a building’s air circulation system. Because a living wall contains powerful filtering microbes, it works to clean the atmosphere immediately around it by pulling air into the plants’ roots, degrading pollutants (thanks to the microbes), and subsequently spewing out clean air into the room - a process dubbed phytoremediation. 

Since they’re able to filter contaminants out of the air, living walls are most frequently found in cities, where industrial and automotive emissions unfortunately reign supreme. Like their close relative, the green roof, living walls have further uses: because cities are essentially big, dark slabs of heat-absorbing concrete sitting on an otherwise green and blue Earth, urban centres retain a lot of solar radiation. Unlike city streets and rooftops, vegetated areas remain quite cool under the sun, thanks to transpiration. This means that by creating green walls and roofs, heat absoprtion in cities is decreased while air is simultaneously purified, with obvious benefits for those nearby.

Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects, the living wall is located in U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre (569 Spadina Ave.), an architectural treasure which deserves a post of its very own. The living wall is tucked away on the building’s second floor, yet accessible to all. From the south-west stairs, it’s found by entering the doorway reading “Male Ablution,” but sticking to the right. The room is then right around the corner, strewn with pillows and scarves on which to sit and get comfortable, and filled with the sound of trickling water, bathed in pure white light, and infiltrated by sublimely clean air.

Neat as it is, U of T’s wall is not unique. Other famous living walls include the Musee du Quai Branly’s in Paris, and the Westfield living wall, in London.

Multi-Faith Centre's Living Wall

While the wall appears to have done it all, it might yet have some competition. Other parts of buildings on campus are about to inherent some living personality: a roof-top garden and green roof on top of St. Hilda’s College residence has been planned, and U of T is currently a hotbed of research on the topic.

-Mary

Being someone who claims to love writing more than most other activities in life, I was shocked to find myself incapable of composing a simple personal statement for my graduate school application. It wasn’t just a challenge. No, my friends, it was my worst fear realized: I had encountered my very first writer’s block.

Anyone who’s ever tried to write a personal statement is well-acquainted with the Fear. The Fear that you’ll miss the opportunity to impress; the Fear that you’ve failed to highlight your best qualities and attributes effectively; the Fear that the hook unfortunately did not hook at all and perhaps even did the opposite (aka the turnoff); the Fear that instead of sounding sincere, you just sounded corny and grandiose and unintentionally egotistical; the Fear that it was too long, too short, or too long to be effectively short; the Fear of a sentence completely missing its intended point; the Fear of making spelling mistakes, like writing “asses” when it was actually supposed to be “assess”…you get the idea.

Since the lessons I’ve learned from my personal statement writing experience are still fresh in my head, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to share them with you (don’t mention it). Although, straight off the bat, I must say that I don’t really have any professional qualification where editing is concerned; I am something better - a student, just like you! Therefore, I’m sure that even if this post doesn’t end up helping you to write something impressive, it will at least make you realize that you are not alone in this battle.

1. Be courageous

Before you sit down to write, you must realize that as powerful as words can be, they are also flexible. You can exchange one for another, cut out a sentence or even a paragraph, move the beginning paragraph to the end and vice versa, and words will still be just words. The secret to writing is that almost nobody gets it right the first time, so don’t be afraid to express yourself.

To fight a blank page, jot down whatever comes to mind. It can be single words, phrases, or sentences that may or may not make sense. Remember that brainstorming stage of essay writing we were all taught back in high school? It’s probably not necessary to draw bubbles to connect ideas, but scribbling does help to stimulate your thinking. Trust your abilities and expect positive outcomes: mentally picture your admission committee members picking up your personal statement, and after a quick glance, becoming deeply absorbed in your words. A positive attitude is very important in writing, because it opens up your creative outlet. Worrying about or fearing negative outcomes will give you additional stress, and it can paralyze you so that no “right word” ends up coming to mind.

2. Examine yourself

What defines you as a unique person? Make a list of your strengths, weaknesses, abilities, visions, experiences and anything else that you feel is a part of you. It doesn’t have to be immediately relevant to the program you are applying to, although later on you can certainly mold it into one using strategic wording. The key is for you to be proud of yourself, to feel how much you’ve accomplished thus far in life, so much so that you will want to tell others about it in a coherent manner. Imagine you’ve suddenly been given a ton of money to write an autobiography - jot down anything you’d want to put in there so others can know about it.

3. Read, read, read!

Throughout my strategic writing course (INI300Y1, if anyone is interested), I’ve become increasingly aware of the different ways that I learn to become a better writer. One of my biggest discoveries was that I am not receptive to textbook tips and suggestions. Whenever I read those, I always feel the pressure to remember them so that when I do write, I immediately recall a specific suggestion and try to apply it on the spot - this has never actually happened to me. Instead, I get into “the zone” by reading tons of similar styles of writing for a similar purpose. You might not think that it would have any drastic effect on your writing, but trust me, when you read, relevant phrases and words do tend to linger somewhere in your short-term memory so that when you finally sit down to write, you might be surprised at how often these amazing words just seem to “pop out of nowhere.”

A more solid approach to writing a targeted composition is to first mentally underline certain words mentioned on the program’s website. What makes the program unique? And how does it advertise this to potential applicants? For example, on Rotman’s webpage describing its 2-year MBA program, note the following:

“Modern leadership demands the flexibility and creativity,” “key advantage,” “innovative approach,” “Integrative Thinking,” “enhance your capacity to shape,” “bold new model for business education,” “transformational learning experience that empowers you to think through the complexities of modern business and drive action in a quickly-changing world”

These are all phrases that match the program’s “branding,” for lack of a better word. These phrases create a specific tone that fits the program’s overall objective and demonstrates a sense of dynamic energy, ambition and audacity. Last, but not least, if you’ve read carefully between the lines, you’ll notice that the entire program description is a strong sales pitch: it contains the very typical “you attitude” commonly used in business communication and the professions.

As an applicant, you can most definitely use this knowledge to your advantage. Use similar terminology, state similar objectives and make an equally impressive sales pitch using your personal statement. After all, while the majority of applicants will have impressive profiles, what differentiates one candidate from another is how well theirs “fits” with the program, in terms of personality, professional and personal development goals and so on. Demonstrating your fit by using a suitable tone in your personal statement can be very convincing.

In addition, read not just program information, but also samples of personal statements. The benefit from the latter, I hope, is immediately obvious.

4. The good hook sets the scene

Imagery is a very powerful technique to grab the attention of the audience. Your hook should whip the readers out of their reality and throw them into a very specific scene you’ve set up. It could convey a specific passion you have that is necessary for success in your intended field of study. Think of powerful metaphors and how they affect you emotionally–your hook should have the same effect.

5. Sell yourself strategically

OK, I won’t say, “Don’t be modest,” because a lack of humbleness can be a real turnoff. Be…strategic, but at the same time realize that you are held fully accountable for your words.

Now is the time to combine the qualities you’ve listed with tangible evidence: don’t just say you are passionate about medicine or law or research - what have you done that can prove this? This part is very time consuming, so make sure you start thinking about it early. The U of T Academic Success Centre can help you with good essay composition and so can your college’s Writing Centre. When writing, keep in mind to vary your sentence lengths, use ten-dollar words, double-check grammar and spelling by printing out a copy and reading it out loud…you know, the works.

One last thing: Be clear about your purpose. Don’t think, “Why do I want to get into the program?” but imagine yourself already in the program and answering the question, “What am I doing here?”

To keep this post short (and effective), I think I will stop here. (Also, I must run off to my Statistics tutorial in five minutes.) I hope you found it helpful, or encouraging, at least! Take care, and best of luck, O you ambitious souls!

–Lucy

One of the things that I resolved to try this school year was to attend lectures and seminars offered at U of T that weren’t necessarily related to my subject of study. Luckily, this resolution was much easier to keep than my New Year’s resolution (exercising is hard to do in the morning when my body refuses to wake up unless I’m going to be late for school!).

A friend of mind told me about Social Impact 101, a lecture series hosted by the Peace and Conflicts Society (PACS). This series is designed to help you improve your leadership skills for social impact. After a brief 10-week stay in Kenya two summers ago with Students for International Development, I learned, truly, how privileged we are to be able to go to school in Canada. This experience added a new dimension to my career goal - yes, I still want to be in business, but I want to work for (or own) a company that will also give back to the community. When I heard about the series, I didn’t have to think twice to register.

Every week from 5-6 (the day changes), PACS brings NGO executives, private consultants and management professors to speak about their expertise on leadership in the social and humanitarian sectors. For the past two weeks, I had the chance to hear from Cheryl May, Social Innovation Lead at MaRS, and John Monahan, Executive Director at the Mosaic Institute. I had a blast! Both speakers had their own styles of course, but they both engaged me during their presentations. I found what they had to say to be useful and practical, and the case study exercise that I participated in after the speaker finished supplemented the presentation by applying the things we learned to a real-life problem. There’s even a prize the following week for the group that comes up with the best solution!

If you go to six of the eight lectures, you’ll receive a certificate at the end! This coming Thursday is the third, so you still have time to get the certificate if you’re interested. To learn more about this speaker series, I spoke with Michael Beeler, Co-President of Peace and Conflict Societies.

1) Can you give me a brief intro to the PACS Society and your role in it?
The Peace and Conflict Society is one of the smallest course unions at U of T, but in recent years has been one of the most active in organizing large events for students across the University of Toronto. Since 2006, PACS has organized four major conferences with a cumulative total of over 1000 delegates, over $200,000 fundraised, 200 guest speakers - including keynotes such as Gareth Evans from the International Crisis Group and Louise Frechette, former deputy UN Secretary General to Kofi Annan. The society has punched above its weight for years because the program attracts incredible students who are admitted through an interview process that takes into account not only academics but leadership experience and potential. I’m currently serving as the Co-President of the Society along with Jeremy Vernon.

2) Why were you interested in doing a speaker series?
We wanted to host Social Impact 101 because many of us want to take what we learn in the classroom and apply it to make change in the real world; but few of us feel that our courses imbue practical knowledge about how to affect social change. Based on the incredible turnout so far, it seems many students across the University also want practical knowledge about how to innovate, lead and make a difference in society, and not just how to write lit reviews and lab reports - although those are also important skills.

3) Who is this series for? What do you hope the audience will gain from attending the series?
The series is open to everyone and anyone. Students, profs, friends, family, strangers - whoever in the public is interested in attending. Most participants are students who want to be involved with or create their own non-profit organizations, but I have also met some graduates and a high school student at the event.

4) The 8-part lecture is free - which is great - but how did you find such awesome speakers and keep the lecture accessible to everyone?
We received $1000 from the Dean’s Student Initiative Fund, $500 from the Hart House Good Ideas Fund, and $600 from the New College Student Council. This allowed us to attract speakers with an honorarium, provide pizza, certificates, prizes for case competitions, and the like. However, our first two speakers indicated that they will be donating their honorariums to charity. Most speakers come from within the Peace and Conflict Society’s existing social network; we also received help from Students for International Development in getting speakers from the NGO community. In all cases, we’ve relied on local speakers to keep costs and our carbon footprint low, but since there are so many incredible people in the GTA we haven’t had to compromise on quality.

5) Given its success so far, what are your plans for the speaker series in the future?
Our hope is that by documenting the strong turnout and popularity of the event we will be able to convince the University to renew our funding so we can offer the course next year, with a number of improvements: a better-organized case contest component and perhaps a grand prize for teams that develop social innovation proposals over the course of the series.

As the poster above says, this Thursday we have Andrea Cassatella from U of T to talk about Ethical Decision-Making in Humanitarian Situations. I’m looking forward to going again, as well as enjoying the free pizza! Be sure to go early if you’re interested, because there were more than 90 people attending the first day alone! Email si101[@]peaceandconflict.ca to sign up for the course. Hope to see you there!

- Cynthia

I’ve realized that, with five female bloggers, UpbeaT tends to lack in the athletics area of blog writing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we can’t write about sports - women can be great sports bloggers and, of course, fantastic athletes. In fact, here on UpbeaT, we want to give you the inside scoop to all things U of T, so we can challenge you to get out there and try new things!

I’ve always been into sports. I’m the girl who tags along with the boys to a game, seemingly nonchalant and indifferent (”playing it cool”, as it were :)). Within 5 minutes, however, I’m unable to keep up the facade and my yelling, screaming, laughing, singing and cheering all give away my love for sports. Soccer and hockey have always been my passion, particularly soccer - I have a secret wish to attend the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014. In addition, soccer had a particularly positive role on my health when I played defence on my high school varsity team. Unfortunately I discovered that, in my first year of university, the typical “Freshman 15″ was doubled as a direct result of my ceasing to play soccer. *sigh*!

If I may confide honestly, I would have loved to have played soccer in university. I was never a very good player on my high school team (or, rather, I never really played to my full potential), and this discouraged me from pursuing sports at the post-secondary level. I always had the idea that only ‘the best of the best’ got to play at the university level, and for the rest of us unfortunate, uncoordinated sports lovers, the spectator sidelines was where we could play bench-warmer.

Eventually, I’ve discovered that the University of Toronto really does have a rich department of sports and athletics that everyone can access - regardless of your skill-level. You just need to look around, and see what interests you.

U of T Intramurals

I had no idea U of T had intramurals! It is really neat! In essence, the colleges on our campus, as well as UTM and UTSC, compete against each other throughout the course of the year. The intramural sports offered range significantly: soccer, tennis, dodgeball and even table tennis! And you don’t have to be conventional - if I was choosing a sport from the list, I’d choose Broomball or Innertube Water Polo! If you are looking for something a bit more competitive, you can check out the Tri-Campus league, which offers “enhanced games” and is considered to be the most competitive division of intramurals offered at U of T.

Toronto Varisty Blues

Wow! If you check out their website, there is no way you would not want to be a Varsity Blue. As U of T’s official intercollegiate athletics teams, the Varisty Blues teams have been coached by talented and critically-acclaimed individuals, including Olympic coaches! There are two leagues which the Varsity Blues compete in: the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), which oversees the provincial unversity sports, and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), which is the body that oversees national university sporting competition.

Perhaps you are interested in joining a Varsity Blues team - I’ve included a list of 2009-2010 open tryouts. Figure skating, cheerleading, fencing, ice hockey, rugby, track and field - you name it, and they’ve got it. Although the dates have passed, it gives you an idea of how to get onto a team for the upcoming academic year. If you are like me, however, then being a spectator might be more up your alley. We’ve got some amazing events coming up including my favourite: the 3rd annual “Cheer Blue Think Pink” weekend, where collected donations go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Ontario.

The Varsity Centre

If you have not seen the Varsity Centre (on the site of the former Varsity Stadium), I highly recommend you check it out. A state-of-the-art, 5,000 seat stadium, complete with an artificial turf, air-supported dome for winter use and and an eight lane international-class track, this baby has pulled out all the stops! A project valued at approximately $92.2 million, you would be a fool not to take advantage of the Varisty Centre. Best perk of all? U of T Students can get in free! (Please check out FAQ for details).

The lovely Varsity Stadium

Varsity Stadium: Closed-Dome Style!

OK, OK, I'll let you take a quick peek inside the dome!

The Varsity Stadium: Chillin' ... Ice-Style!

Alright, so what can YOU do at the Varsity Centre? A sample:

Recreation: If you are looking for a little downtime, the Varsity Centre has special times (in specific months) dedicated for recreational jogging, volleyball, ice time, and more!

Golf: Are you ready to get your golf on?! I didn’t even know the Varsity Centre was large enough to play golf in, let alone offers golf classes during the winter months. I must be honest, students get a particularly sweet deal on lessons - so if you are interested in that, I strongly recommend you check out the list of available lessons. In addition, the GOLF driving range is open for the 2010 season, Monday-Friday from 7:30AM to 1:30PM, until April 8th, 2010 (closed for Reading Week and March Break).

The Varsity Centre is really a world-class stadium. We might take it for granted as it sits in our “backyard,” so to speak, but it is truly phenomenal. Need a bit of proof? On June 12th, 2009, our very own stadium hosted the track and field event which lead to the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, winning a 100m race in 10 seconds. Check it out:

Yup, that’s our school he is running in, and I am damn proud of it!

The Athletic Centre and Hart House

I have personally dubbed both the Athletic Centre (AC) and Hart House as “The Sweat Spots” because these are the perfect places to get a workout going and shed a few pounds. The AC - a multi-story facility featuring a 50-metre Olympic pool, squash courts, a dance studio, gymnastic gym, tennis courts and much more - is free to U of T students that are enrolled in classes. The Hart House facilities (my personal favourite) are more intimate but certainly more than adequate to satisfy all of your exercise needs. No matter what your preferences are, I highly recommend you make an effort to exercise and stay healthy.

An snapshot of the Hart House facilities. Various exercising equipment - treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and more - are available to students.

A quick dip in the Hart House Pool ought to cool you down! Women's only hours and recreational swim are available as well!

Whether you are hoping to jump from high school into a university sports team, or you are a fourth-year student who needs to spend some downtime at the gym, I think U of T has you covered. There are a multitude of recreational and competitive sports as well as other athletic opportunities that students can take advantage of in order to stay fit and healthy.

After all, a healthy body means a healthy mind!

Cheers,

Fariya

You are always welcome to check out U of T’s Faculty of Physical Education & Health as an additional resource to athletic activities, as well as an undergraduate or graduate academic program.

I’m not going to lie: the students on the St. George campus are a crazy bunch. They stay overnight working on assignments at Robarts, go work out at 11 at night, wake up before the sun comes up, buy enough food from hot dog vendors and Chinese food trucks to keep these greasy food sources in business, dump Red Bull into their systems as if it was water, and yet, despite all this, they still manage to stay on the competitive edge.

Until about a week ago, I used to be like this. Going to bed at 3 a.m. was early for me, and somehow I was convinced that with the help of some strong coffee, I could run on an average of 4 hours of sleep a night with no problem. And then, something unexpected happened: I got tired of life. It was the most extreme level of burnout I had yet to experience, and on some level, I was so tired that I wasn’t even thinking about the repercussions of my unhealthy lifestyle anymore.

My mother always tells me over the phone: “Eat fruits, drink lots of water, go to bed before 12, and STAY HEALTHY!” Of course, like any daughter who’s too sure of herself for her own good, I never listened to her–until now. As I type this post, I’m currently consuming oranges and kiwi by extraordinary quantities, with the desperate hope that the vitamin C boost will beat out my incoming cold and thus prevent my already hectic life from snowballing out of control.

This past Friday, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the Healthy U Crew, as a part of the Creating A Healthy Campus initiative hosted by Health Promotion Programs on the St. George campus. By being forced to sit down and talk about my views on what makes St. George a “healthy” campus, I was suddenly much more aware of just how unhealthy our lifestyles can be. Suddenly it becomes so ironic that my peers–many of whom will become our future health care professionals–are burning their bodies to the max by subjecting themselves daily to such intense stress. So much of this stress comes from the mindset that failing to reach a goal we are working so hard toward will inevitably lead to the end of the world. To be honest, in reality this is rarely the case, and there is indeed “always a way out”. Not just a shortcut, mind you, but another direct and much sunnier path to follow.

Upon further exploration the U of T Health Services website, I managed to find a great deal of information on how to be healthy! There’s actually a “Student Body, Mind and Spirit” newsletter that contains a great deal of helpful information, from learning to come out of the closet, to an examination of the correlation between the frequency of colds and our level of sociability. When you do take a short break from studying, take a look at the site! Sometimes, as students of such a big campus, we become overwhelmed with the constant wave of information being thrown in our direction, and, as a result, we just simply stop being receptive to all of it. It’s unfortunate, because as overbearing as this information can be, it is good stuff.

During my interview, I was asked three main questions:

1. What does a healthy campus mean to you?

2. Name one thing that, in your opinion, already contributes to a healthy campus at U of T.

3. Name one thing that, in your opinion, will make St. George a healthier campus.

Try answering these questions! Let me know what you think, and leave a comment in the area below!

Stay healthy, young things!

Lucy

There’s something about the onslaught of February that leaves me feeling a little haggard. Maybe it’s that, in thinking of the month, I automatically conjure images rife with salty sidewalks and grey mornings, brown snow and assignments piled high in the waning mid-afternoon light; or maybe it’s that the cumulative lack of sleep and sunshine start to take their toll around this time of year. Whatever the reason, I was recently delighted to have my preconceptions trampled upon and thrown to the curb, new visions flooding in. Like those from a Robert Frost poem, the new February was one filled with downy flakes, animal tracks, horse bells, and white pine branches laden heavily with snow.

University of Toronto Outing Club.

For all this new imaginative fodder, I can thank U of T’s Outing Club. The Outing Club, a registered non-profit corporation established in 1957, is an organization consisting of about 250 members. Much like it sounds, the Outing Club does outings - nature outings - in all seasons, and throughout Ontario. Some of their events have involved weekends spent hiking through Killarney, day trips to Dufferin Quarry, or (what really caught my fancy) a snowshoeing trip through Algonquin Park.

Snowshoeing!

Animal tracks.

The club owns a cabin located on the Niagara Escarpment, about 160 km from Toronto. The cabin, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the city, was built (and is still maintained) entirely by volunteers. It has no electricity, no plumbing (outhouse adventures!), a wood stove, and sits serendipitously right next to a spring which provides year-round water. The cabin is located within 30 metres of the Bruce Trail and within 16 kilometres of Georgian Bay, on 45 km of one of the best cross-country ski trails in Ontario. It also neighbours downhill ski slopes and equestrian stables.

As a student, faculty, or staff member, anyone (including your family) can join for an annual fee:

Memberships can be purchased year-round, until after April 1, when they’re reduced to half price. They’re obtained by filling out one of the club’s membership forms, which can then be mailed or dropped in person (9-5 on Mondays) to the University of Toronto Outing Club:

c/o Membership Officer

21 Sussex Ave, Suite 607

Toronto, ON, M5S 1J6

What’s great about the Outing Club is that while nature, camping, and cabins in the woods are part of a fairly distant reality for many students (we’re so dismally broke), the Club makes these things accessible. Further, not everyone who is interested in camping feels comfortable simply slinging a tent over one’s back, packing up a box of matches, and setting off into a dark expanse of forest for 72 hours. Going on UTOC trips, therefore, provides members with the opportunity to experience nature and the outdoors. Finally, UTOC also provides a wintery reprieve, complete with windswept trails and bushy-tailed red squirrels, from the depressing reality popularly known as February in Toronto.

To learn more, you can also visit the group’s facebook page or visit the UTOC website.

-Mary