In the past couple of weeks I have heard sooo many people complaining about how much they HATE their summer jobs. Suck it up buttercups. A lot of people don’t have summer jobs!

Actually the point of this blog isn’t to critize, it’s to emphasize the IMPORTANCE of those “sucky” summer jobs.

I can already feel your eye’s drooping and your interest fading… WAKE UP this is important! Those crappy summer jobs are going to help you in the long run. I can already hear you saying “no way, not possible, you have NEVER had to work the conditions I have had to so what could you possibly know”. You’re right, I haven’t had to work a lot of different positions, but, from being a ski instructor to young children, to a day camp counsellor, to working in a toy store for three summers, I know and understand the difficulties of working somewhere you don’t want to.

But, ladies and gentlemen, there are benefits so here they are:

1. You will now know how to deal with difficult and adverse situations (if not difficult bosses and coworkers)! You are a better person for it, you can deal with it well, which could potentially earn you brownie points at your next job. Knowing how to deal with a difficult boss or coworker, or tense situation effects all areas of your life.

2. You will have different experience. Often times people hate their first summer jobs, or just summer jobs, and it’s normally not what they want to do. But this way you will learn something new that (if you can believe it or not) be applied to life outside of that particular field of work.

3. Working all summer without vacation seems like a downer but it’s not. I have done it for 4 years now and I gotta tell you, working all year as a student is hard, working all summer as a summer temp is hard … but when you do get downtime (even if it is only one weekend off in the entire summer) you will appreciate it all the more. Real life is like this so think of it as preparation.

4. If you are one of those people looking for a job and desperately trying to find one, don’t be picky! Life is hard enough as it is! Now that you know a job that you may not like could be beneficial to the future you, go get it. The point is that you will be able to support yourself in the future, and that is also super important.

5. For those of you who still rely on your parents, having a crappy summer job teaches you the work ethic you need for school, work, life, reality, arduous people who get on your nerves and just don’t know when to stop….

6. Going along with number 5, it helps you become more financially independant from your parents and starts to teach you the value of money.

7. Last, and finally (I am sorry to all of you who have heard this before but it’s important) these crappy jobs BUILD CHARACTER, they shape and mold you into who you will become. They help you appreciate the better jobs when they come along, and (are you listening first time workers) they will for sure come along!

Summer jobs suck, especially first time summer jobs. But they are good for us in the long run and in the end, it’s only four months of your life, live a little.

For those of you from Nova Scotia, you may not realize that the Dollar Store or Dollarama or a Buck or Two is not available in every province. This luxury of a store where we can get stuff — from baskets to Halloween decorations — for under $2, is not available all over the nation.

I used to take the Dollar Store for granted, and just see it as a place where I could get candy, or a plain frame. But, now that I am a student, it has a whole new outlook.

As some of you may know I am helping a friend of mine decorate her apartment. Much of what we purchased for her bathroom (http://campusintel.com/2010/03/14/decorating-1000-how-to-decorate-the-bathroom/) was from the Dollarama. And as we go on with the decorating process I find myself wandering back to that same store.

The Dollarama

As I look around my room, I see many of the great purchases I have made at the Dollarama here in Lower Sackville. Recently a new Dollarama has opened in Bedford, just on the edge of Lower Sackville. I believe this is the best Dollarama I’ve shopped at, to date. It is HUGE. Isles with kitchenware, cleaning products, fake flowers, almost an entire row of different mugs and cups, plus so much more.

I am still living with my parents, but I have begun to realize when I do eventually move out I am going to have a shopping spree at the Dollarama. And I cannot wait for that day to come.

I often think, if for some reason I become poor in this lifetime, this is a store where I could actually afford to buy some of the necessities for my home. And since many students are very close to poor, remember this place if you need a new dishpan to wash your dishes, or if you need more utensils. It’s affordable and the quality, it’s not that bad.

The Dollarama has actually provoked many of my decorating ideas and has helped me in many times of need. For those of you who have access to the Dollar Store, do not take it for granted. Some of our fellow Canadians are without this great store. And must pay $3 for a plain frame.

So today I had a nice little rant about how although I’m only 23 I have to have the next 7 years of my life planned out within the next few months…This may seem odd to you or about right depending on the perspective and circumstances you’re coming from…so I thought I’d write a bit about this overwhelming task as it might serve as some advice to people as well as a way for me to get all of my thoughts out.

As I may have mentioned before my career aspirations have lead me to the area of clinical psychology, for this job I need to obtain a bachelors degree in psychology, a masters and a PhD in clinical psychology. This in itself is a daunting task as you might imagine…but wait…it gets daunting…er?

You see, here’s the thing, as some of you might have already found out (or will be finding out very soon), the world isn’t set up in a well planned out and helpful way as it was in high school or any school setting before that…people don’t tell you everything you need to know to do the things that you want to do or accomplish the thing you wish to accomplish. What I mean by this is, I was unfortunately utterly unaware of the process involved of much of the tasks I have to go through in order to finally obtain the end goal of my PhD in clinical psychology.

So, welcome to my headache:

-I started off doing my undergrad in criminology 5 years ago; around year 3 of this 4 year course I realized I wanted to go into clinical psychology…simple enough right? Well, there are a few catchs here. First, upon making this decision I realized I would first have to do a thesis. This was fine, as I had already decided to do one a few years earlier, which was good since I needed an A- average to be able to do this and had been working towards this already.

-One of my profs thankfully decided to mention in class one day, that in order to do a thesis you first have to find a supervisor who will oversee your thesis project (something I might not have known until too late had this never come up in class). This meant I would have to search the department to find a professor who I wanted to work with and who was willing to work with me as well as had the same research interests/goals as myself. This also meant I had to find this individual by around March, 3 months before my application for the thesis course had to be in and 5 months before I would actually have to start the course.

-As you might realize I was very thankful someone had told me this before March…even if it was already January….So, I developed a general idea of a thesis, searched out profs and thankfully got one in time.

-In the end I graduated a year later having completed a 4 years honours degree in criminology with a specialization in sociology and a minor in psychology; completing this all with an honours thesis and still maintaining my A- average. Sounds pretty nice right? Well, that’s what I thought.

-Around the same time I heard about the thesis though I had heard about the GREs as well. These are some of those general testing things some crack-pot thought up to make it harder for students to make it though their education years (thanks).

-So, I started studying for the GREs (general and psychology specific) which I needed in order to get into clinical psychology after finishing my undergrad (as I had planned to take the year off to work and save up money for grad school). This was all fine until I went to sign up to write the course. Turns out the psychology one was only offered about two or three times a year, one I had missed, the next was in two weeks and I hadn’t studied hardly enough for it, and the third would get me my grades too late for most grad school application deadlines. Frick.

-Around this time I had started researching and writing grad schools to find out which ones I wanted to go to. After sending out countless notes trying to get a straight answer from anyone as to if I needed to go back for a psychology degree or if my crim one was fine I finally got my answer. Yes, I would have to go back. Double frick.

-So, I reenrolled to upgrade my minor in psychology to a major (so long year of work). I also found out I needed a minimum of an A- to get into grad school…which thankfully I have, but now must be sure to maintain…but I would also have to do another thesis as my crim one also wasn’t good enough for the clinical psychology master program. Triple frick.

-This meant I went though the process of finding a professor again. Unfortunately in psychology labs fill up fast and I was cutting it close when I started emailing in February.

-Now, I have found my professor and am on my way to completing my second undergraduate degree. Good.

-However, the hard part now begins. I now must write the thesis, write my GRE (specific and general), maintain my A- average, pay for this all so am working part-time, finish my classes in time to apply to Grad school asap (i.e. Sept 2011), and on top of this find funding for grad school research…which is a whole other headache…

-In order to find funding, I must first decide what schools to apply to, decide which professors I wish to work with, meaning I need to also decide what kind of research I want to specialize in for the next 4-7 years of my life and potentially focus on for my career, obtain agreement from professors in each school I am applying to to work with me if I get in and then apply for funding before actually applying to the school to increase my chances of getting in.

-All of this because with two undergraduate degrees, two thesis, an A- average and funding, writing the GREs (and hopefully getting good grades) I may still only be just over the bare minimum of other applicants wishing to pursue clinical psychology…apparently finding time to volunteer is a beneficial part of the application…

See, I don’t think people realize how HARD and f’ing demanding it is to be a student, there’s not just the idea of studying and going to classes and getting good grades, you have to be 10 steps ahead of everything else without knowing what steps to go though! On top of this, the people I need information and help from are “too busy” often and put my priorities on the back burner and think that’s ok because they don’t have any knowledge as to what students go though, that their lives are actually more demanding than someone who has a secure job! When I have to email professors, employers, schools, etc. multiple times and do follow ups and re-explain things, by the time I get the information I need it’s a month later and I’m cutting it too close to deadlines. People don’t seem to prioritize very well in this world and they sure as heck don’t put students or their requests at the top of their priorities. This is a shame because as a student you need things done NOW and not a month later or when they remember it; and this isn’t because student procrastinat it’s because deadlines happen very early and if you’re not prepared because others aren’t giving you the time of day or respect they would give to others then you look bad and this can effect a heck of a lot more than people realize, it can mean waiting another year to finish your degree, it can mean not getting a position in a school or job, or not having the correct information, it can mean missing deadlines and even having to rethink your whole career. For me, nothing can go wrong now, for the next 7 years if I miss a step a lot gets screwed up, something as simple as getting a bad grade on the GRE or missing the deadline for applications or not being able to get into that one course I need to finish my psychology degree can mean my life is put on hold for another year.

I guess what I’m saying in the end is, people need to respect students more, get their priorities straightened out and work hard because as far as I’m concerned there’s a lot of slackers in this world and unfortunately we depend on them for too much. And finally…do students another small favour…if you have information that can help them out…tell them!

We ran that (euphemism for unpleasant) woman outta’ town.

Well, not me specifically. I didn’t do a thing. In fact, I didn’t even hear her coming to Ottawa until I read about how she had been forced to flee the country (obvious hyperbole) after fierce (non-violent) demonstrations by the students of Ottawa-U. I’m just including myself in the statement in a similar fashion to the way nut-hugging team-riders will include themselves when they refer to certain sports teams.

Anyways, I decided to voice the opinion of a single college student that had nothing to do with the students that actually 86′d Coulter. Since the event, she’s (apparently) preparing a human-rights complaint due to her mistreatment at the hands of the angry Canucks. Personally, I’m shocked that an ultra-conservative American would decide to file a lawsuit after people protested and made very clear through their actions that they wanted nothing to do with her gay-bashing, evolution-denying, racist, Christian-crusading (Republican) views.

Shocked. Hopefully she is awarded a paltry multi-million dollar settlement for her horrific ordeal.

I’m sure people will stir the controversy cauldron and bitch and moan about how the ~two thousand Canadian students that protested her appearance are clearly a direct representation of the ~33,000,000 other ones living in this diversified country. Good for them. It would be interesting to see what kind of conclusions those same people could draw from a similar sampling of angry Americans, if you were so inclined.

It wasn’t Canada’s most dignified moment (slight understatement) by a long shot.

It was, however, a very entertaining one.

Honestly, reading about this in today’s paper made me genuinely proud of Canada. Yes, free-speech, democracy and human rights are all very good and important things. On the other hand, having the backbone to take a stand against a woman who has made it her life’s mission to spread division, strife and hatred across the globe is something I (personally) applaud.

post-script;

According to the article, students were upset at the satiric Ann Coulter for saying that Muslims shouldn’t be allowed on airplanes and should take ‘flying carpets’. (After the student, Fatima-Al-Dhaher, called her out on the comment and said that she didn’t have a flying carpet, Coulter responded with “take a camel”).

Why would students possibly get upset at that?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/03/24/2010-03-24_ann_coulter_causes_firestorm_by_telling_muslim_to_take_a_camel_as_alternative_to.html

            Of course, you may have read a blog I wrote a while back talking about how the student life and the ‘real world’ lifestyle are very different and how the student is so efficient that they have to slow down a lot when they start working outside of school. Well, my perspectives on that topic really came from working in the public service. Now, I’m not going to say that all jobs in the government are boring or demand very little attention/hard-work because honestly, some of them are very hard and stressful, and it really depends on where you work and what’s going on in the department at the time you’re there…Also, it helps if you have a higher status and are not just working at entry level positions with a lot of other people trying to work their way up. However, I have spoken to a lot of students and people around my age who have reiterated my concerns about working in the government. It can get boring and not really tap into your strengths or skills.

            This being said, I do not want to discourage anyone from perusing a carrier or job in the government as, like I said, not all jobs will be the same. I DO however, want to warn people as to what they may be getting into and also maybe give some insight as to how to avoid getting stuck in this position and also how to get your foot in the door in the government.

Advice for getting in:

-If your school provides you the opportunity to do a field placement and there is a placement available in the government, I would say take it. Do everything in your power to get into a placement position that has opportunity for advancement. This is how I got into the public service, and honestly the majority of entry level positions I see are filled with placement students.

-With this advice in mind however, there are other way I know of getting into the government, these are: applying though FSWEP (Federal Student Work Experience Program), by either going to jobs-emplois.gc.ca/fswep-pfete/index-eng.htm or Googling FSWEP and filling out the VERY long form (don’t worry there is an end to it and after filling it out once, it’s just a matter of updating it from year to year). You could also go on the government of Canada website at www.jobs.gc.ca and search for jobs in your area. Keep in mind however, that most job postings will be posted internally, so another way would be to try and find someone working in government already who can update you on any jobs and can take your resume around to those looking to hire.

-Finally, it’s a great idea to start looking for jobs well in advance. Actually, if you’re looking for summer employment, you really should have been looking back in Dec or Jan, however, it’s never too late…so get moving!

Advice once you’re in:

-You will have to do some dirty work once you start working in the government, and by this I mean, boring and tedious tasks…sometimes reading about your department or catching up on the latest developments in the area you work in. Other times, filing documents or photocopying things for your employers.

-Do all of these tasks in an efficient manner, and ask for work when you’re done, do not wait around for your supervisor to give you something to do. Doing this shows initiative and if they have nothing more for you to work on they can possibly hand you over to someone else in your department to help them, this provides you with more exposure to others and to different work.

-Keep close contact with all those you work with and get to know them and spend as much time with them as you can. Research people who work in your department so you know who the “big wigs” are and try to rub shoulders with them any opportunity you can get. There are often small events that are held from time to time and if you receive emails for these events, ask your supervisor about them and see if you can get the chance to go and mingle, or go with your supervisor and ask them to introduce you to some people.

-Those you get close with will often be more than happy to forward you any job opportunities they hear about or provide you with references and contacts for future employment. Also, if you’re on the inside, like I said you’ll likely be given more chances to apply internally to jobs.

-All of these strategies will hopefully lead you to a higher position or one that taps into your strengths more than the entry-level ones, and at the very least, all of this exposure should provide you with a wealth of knowledge on various tasks which can promote your capabilities to those you work with, which may lead them to providing you with more difficult, demanding, rewarding and meaningful tasks.  

 Good Luck!

When it was first mentioned in class, I began thinking of the shows I watched and the movies I have enjoyed. And although cliché, I decided to analyze one of my favourite movies (please do not judge me), “Legally Blonde.”

In the movie, beautiful Elle Woods is portrayed as the typical female – she has a bubbly personality, is obsessed with shopping, make-up and shoes, and is known to be ditzy… To be clear, this is NOT my definition of a woman, but in fact, what I have learned society dictates the stereotypical woman is.

My professor discussed how today’s society continues to privilege males over females. Now, I don’t know why, but for some reason this surprised me. Perhaps it’s my many women’s studies classes or even the fact that my university is majority women, but I firmly believed that the division was becoming less and less apparent. But, supposedly, we are we are still living in a patriarchal world.

The movie tries to overcome this obstacle through having Elle attempt to break the barriers between the sexes. For instance, she starts attending a college dominated by males, Harvard Law School. Unfortunately, however, their distinction seems to do the opposite, as it appears to strengthen presupposing stereotypes and reinforce the divide between the sexes.

I further investigated other stereotypes present in the movie….and yes that required me watching parts of the movie again…..and yes I should have been studying for exams and not procrastinating….but to my defence, I was still learning! One of the most interesting lines comes from the saleswoman, who states:  “there’s nothing [she] loves better than a dumb blonde with Daddy’s plastic.” This reinforces not only that women are unintelligent but also that they are reliant on males as they hope to receive money from their fathers.

The more I watched, (and the more I procrastinated), the more I saw the presence of stereotypes. And in fact, stereotypes were present for both men and women, creating a further divide between the sexes with each one.

One of the most noteworthy examples involves shoes. For instance, when Elle is talking with Enrique, the cabana boy, he states: “don’t stomp your little last season Prada shoes at me, honey.” His knowledge of shoes, forces her to gasp and proclaim: “He’s gay!” Through this, we see that when males hold similar interests as women, their association with their sex is diminished, much like how Enrique is viewed as being unmasculine. Conversely, through observing Warner, the macho and intelligent male, we can see that the opposite can be stated. When Elle asks him what kind of shoes she’s wearing, he responds: “ummm… black ones,” reinforcing society’s expectations and thus his masculinity as well.

Through observing these facts I now wonder what other television shows and movies focus on stereotypes and highlight the distinctions between the sexes. Are there any other movies that anyone has watched that have presented similar stereotypes?

Many sitcoms are focused upon the average looking, hard-working, money-making male, with the gorgeous woman who stays home and spends all of his money. What I find unusual is that it is these shows that we have become accustomed to enjoy. I now wonder if there is any way to overcome these labels once society has etched them in our minds. For instance, do you think that if a show presents the opposite, which would be in this case, a hard-working woman, with the stay-at-home father, would the show be just as popular?

So keeping with my recent “back to school” trend, I wanted to discuss presentations. Personally, my feelings towards class presentations have always been the same. Since I can remember I have always hated presentations. Now, I don’t hate them because I’m shy or nervous or because I can’t be bothered to put in a perfectionist’s amount of work (although those are all true), I hate them because I hate to have to listen. If I have 52 people enrolled in my Shakespeare analysis class that means there are 52 presentations I have to sit through. Each presentation will be in the realm of 8 minutes long, now I’m English student so I won’t bother with the math, but that is a lot of student presenting time that I am devoting to this class. Maybe I shouldn’t be making such a big deal out of it, but I will tell you the three main reasons why this bothers me: I don’t know what I should remember, I pay to hear an educated professor speak, and (no offence) students are DULL presenters.

Let’s tackle my first issue, is what they are presenting important? I don’t know. That is the problem, I don’t know if I should be taking notes on these presentations. I don’t know if anything from these presentations will later show up on an exam or test of some sort. I know the simple answer is to ask the professor, but how do I know what she finds relevant in a presentation is going to be the same thing that I find relevant? It’s simple, I don’t know.  So I can sit there all class scribbling notes on what my fellow classmates have to say pertaining to Shakespeare’s incredibly fascinating life or I can sit there and doodle. Let me tell you, I am definitely more inclined to doodle and that is what I have done thus far in the semester. Still, I can’t help but wonder if I am foolishly setting myself up for failure in the near future. Let’s move on.

Another thing that annoys me when it comes to class presentations is the fact that I pay to be there. Post secondary education is not free (as you all know), and as far as costs go, university is pretty pricey. I can’t remember the numbers exactly but one of my math-oriented friends from first year once told me how much it costs to skip a class. Like I said, I don’t remember the number exactly, but I do remember that it made me think twice about ditching (which says a lot, if you know me). So if half of my class is taken up with student presentations then half of the money I spend on each class, to be educated by a professor, goes right down the drain. I could understand if I was a business student or a student in a program that demanded presentation and listening skills – but I am not and I do not want to be spending my money or my time listening to what my classmates have to say, no matter what it is they are talking about.

Lastly, I hate to say it, but it’s true: students are dull. Most of the time the person presenting would rather not be presenting, thus the excitement factor diminishes.  Often times the person presenting is simply relaying information that I already know or could easily read in a book. Almost every time the person presenting is meant to pose a thoughtful question, that no one wants to answer, and we are meant to sit there until someone gets so sick of the silence and decides to give the most basic and boring answer they can muster up. Now if that description alone doesn’t make you drift into lala land, I don’t know what will. These presentations are boring and painful for both the presenter and the audience and I believe it is time that our misery is put to an end – no more presentations, please! I may be cynical and I may be bitter but at least I know what I want: an education free of student lessons that put me to sleep, and if that cannot be arranged, I will be spending my time in bed.