Careers from Graduate School
Last week my friend, Dr. Jim Clifford, shared an article by William Pannapacker on Slate.com that painted a pretty grim picture about the plight of graduate students. First, you should watch this video montage, which is brilliant: Second, the above…
The Cost of Poverty
Poverty accounts for huge costs on our society. And not just the ones incurred by the massive losses suffered by our human capital because of all our wasted talent. There are financial costs, too. Big ones. The Canadian Centre for…
Going Zen
Every now and then all of us need to go zen – we need some time to re-charge our internal batteries and re-focus on the important and inspiring things that drive life, the universe and everything. For me, this place of zen is my family home in Merville, British Columbia.
The Culture of Mentorship
A very cool and educational event took place this weekend during UBC Alumni Weekend. UBC Career Services and Alumni Affairs celebrated 10 years of Tri-Mentoring at the school. Here is a superawesome video that highlights some of the best components…
Horn in the World: Plugged-In and Un-Plugged
A few weeks ago – back when he wrote for this blog and before he abandoned it to gallivant around “Europe” – my main man Steve Sloot wrote a column/article/post/whitepaper about traveling socializers who put it out there. Particularly ones…
Wasted Talent
You see, human beings are the only species on this planet without full employment. All the other ones – from worms to whales to walruses to wallabies – have jobs (or, more accurately, they all have work to be done). This is not a new concept – undoubtedly, the delicious jugs made me seem very wise at the time – but it should be noted that, according to the International Labour Organization, nearly one billion people on this planet are unemployed and countless others are underemployed.
Awesome Community Business Projects
[Editor’s note: Recently, I left my job at the UBC’s Sauder School of Business (pictured above, my leaving is pictured below) for a job with UBC Career Services. Last year, Sauder launched the Community Business Project, an experiential and service…
Failing Builds Community
When you fail at something, what’s your next step? How do you deal with it? Do you humbly admit your mistake and troubleshoot a solution with those affected? Or do you hide and/or massage the results to spin it as success?
Urban Densification and the Death of the House Party
On many an occasion, friends in Vancouver have crammed upwards of 30 people into their 692 square foot apartments. And a few times since moving to Vancity in 2008, I’ve seen many of those same 30 people party in a fairly spacious household setting, where – throughout the course of the evening – components of the party will actually take on identities all their own: the kitchen might turn into a cauldron of political debate, a guitar-playing sing-along might erupt in the livingroom, a game of croquet might take place on the lawn, and people might check out wedding photos on the computer in the den.
A Critique of the Metro Vancouver Sustainable Region Initiative
My first assignment for a course I’m taking at UBC – it’s called Building Sustainable Communities and is taught by the awesome Sarah Northcott – is to critique the Metro Vancouver Sustainable Regional Initiative (SRI) in about 500 words. I…