Month: February 2015

The Midterm Mission

Samina Sultana

 

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Professors understand the responsibility of postsecondary students. They have readings and assignments for multiple classes, studying, work, sleep, exercise, and hopefully time for socializing. So, to make things easier, they decide to ask students to demonstrate all that they’ve learned at the same time.

This month, as well as the next one, needs structure to keep things on track. Create a schedule, but don’t finalize it. Take the time to study and review notes, but keep an hour or two free.

 

Know What You Need to Study

  • Visualize this. Add the dates and times on a calendar.
  • What do you need to do for each class?
  • How long will it take (approximately) to complete? Manage this from now until the midterm.
  • Make sure you keep track of what’s completed.
  • Give yourself enough time to learn the information and review it. Flashcards, repeating key words, and rewriting notes.
  • What does the teacher repeat?
  • If you have any last minute questions, email the professor as soon as you have them, or a week before the midterm, for enough time to get a reply and review the material.

 

Prioritize What’s Important

This isn’t just school related. It includes time to sleep, eat, exercise, meet friends and family, and share the laughter, the joy, and the tears over all the work.

Now, not everyone can stick to a schedule. This is why it’s important to leave a few hours free to relax.

In terms of midterm preparation:

  • What is your first midterm?
  • Which parts of the course do you know best? Review it first and last.
  • What section(s) still needs work?

This isn’t about what you can put off. It’s about realizing what you can study and managing the time to learn it.

Also, multitasking can be counter-productive. You are viewing more than one thing and dividing your attention.

 

An Hour a Day

Take at least an hour a day for yourself. Just 60 minutes to do something relaxing. There is such a thing as studying too much and an overflow of information can lead to a collapse of sanity, sleep, and happiness.

Catch up on your favourite show, watch a movie, exercise, or listen to music. Something that’ll help you relieve stress.

 

Rewards

The minute that midterms are over, it’s time to celebrate. Most people want to sleep and that is understandable. But what do you want to do more than anything, after all the hard work you’ve done?

This doesn’t have to wait until the end of all your midterms. You can reward yourself for finishing a chapter or your essay, or sticking to your schedule. Positive reinforcement will keep you motivated.

 

Create a Study Group

Dividing up the work and reviewing it with other people lessens the work you have to do and talking it over will help you learn the material.

You can come up with possible questions, ask for help, go over notes, and quiz each other.

The year 2015 and the midterms—with multiple tests within the same week or day just hours apart—show no signs of slowing down or getting more manageable, so take these scheduling tips and strive for nothing but the best.

Perhaps There’s Hope…

Darren Clift

 

You don’t hear about many acts of kindness in the world today; sadly, stories of tragedies and heartbreaks outsell ones of happiness and hope. It seems like unrequited generosity is a lost art to most people, and that is a troubling thought. We all have the capacity to do more for others, but we just as easily make excuses
as to why we can’t do those generous things. An unfortunate cycle that
perpetuates over and over again.

Senior
citizens are often the undeserving victims of this uncaring behavior. They are considered
by some to be fragile, naïve, obstructive, and are treated as such. We have all
been guilty of avoiding a senior instead of assisting them at some point in our
lives. We immediately regretted the decision, but we have sacrificed doing the
right thing to avoid feeling embarrassed. We know better now (or we should), but
we may not choose to act on our insight when a situation presents itself. We
let our own dilemmas distract us from doing the right thing sometimes, which is
a trait we all share that demands improvement.

However,
there are people in our communities that embody selflessness and humility; we
all know and admire one person in our lives who are just like this. These aren’t
just good people, they’re great ones who do what’s right without expecting
compensation. They respect others in equal measure, regardless of differences
in age, physicality, or appearance. You don’t hear stories of their efforts
published in newspapers, but that doesn’t discourage their will to give back.

My
grandmother briefly met someone like this last week. She was at the nail salon,
waiting for her appointment, when a man entered. He had an appointment before
my grandmother, and apologized for making her wait. My grandmother thought
nothing of it, but thanked him anyways. After my grandmother had been served
and was at the register to check out, the owner of the salon told my
grandmother that she didn’t need to pay him anything. My grandmother,
perplexed, asked why. The owner revealed that the man from before had paid for
her $25 treatment. Unannounced, he did something incredibly kind for my
grandmother that she won’t soon forget. A kind gesture from a stranger, one that
most of us wouldn’t have even considered to do in the first place, made my
grandmother’s day. She has recounted it to anyone who will listen to her since.

To
the gentleman whose generous action put a smile on my grandmother’s face: your
unrequited kindness has made an impression on my family that is truly inspiring,
and for that we thank you. Acts of respect like yours prove to everyone around
you that they too can become a better person like you with ease. Your humility towards
an elderly woman you didn’t know, without the ego or desire to be formally
recognized for your action, speaks volumes about your extraordinary character.
If only we could all emulate your behaviours on an everyday basis, our
communities and societies would be happier and more prosperous places to live,
work, and participate in. Perhaps there’s hope for us yet; we just have to work
to make it a reality.

So let’s all do our part
for the community. Be the best person you can and learn to accommodate others
who are different or disadvantaged compared to yourself. There’s so much good
in the world—embrace it, and your perspective on life will change, guaranteed.

How Do You Handle Being Called Out?

Marium Faisal

Being called out on behaviour that is deemed unacceptable is problematic
for a lot of people. Being called out doesn’t mean getting your feelings hurt
or someone pointing out something feeble. A lot of celebrities recently have
been called out for saying very problematic things that “uphold the oppression
of a marginalized group of people” (YouTube user Chescaleigh). For many of us
who say and do such things, it is a strong belief that what we say shouldn’t
concern anyone else. We believe it is our right to have freedom of speech because
the Canadian Charter of Rights
protects us. However, once a line is crossed, freedom of speech starts to
become downright insulting and offensive to a marginalized group of people,
whether it be members of a certain race, religion, gender, sexual orientation,
etc.

So how do you deal with being called out? How do you properly apologize
when someone informs you that you shouldn’t say or do what you just did? How do
you handle it when someone calls you out for using the n-word and you’re very
clearly not in any position to be using that word?

Here are a few tips to help make your apology sincere:

1. Don’t become defensive. If anything you
want to say sounds something like, “You take everything so personally,” or, “It
was just a joke,” or, “I didn’t mean it like that”—don’t even think about it.
It is just an indication that whatever else you are about to say will be just
as insincere.

2. Don’t
apologize and then try to justify your actions. Being downright
defensive is one thing, but if you say, “I’m sorry,” and the next word you say
is, “but,” do not go there. Chances are, you aren’t really sorry for what you
said.

3. Understand
where they’re coming from. What they feel is valid because they’re the ones being
oppressed, not you. Ignorance is not bliss. It just means you’re very unaware
of the social structures around you.

4. Don’t take it
personally. The oppression is enacted upon the person calling you out or on the
person you are making jokes about; calling you out is a way to teach you and
educate you—it’s not about trying to make you feel extremely guilty or a
personal attack.

5. Apologize
sincerely. Tell them you’re really sorry and that you didn’t know that it wasn’t
right to say something like that.

6. Make a
commitment to change. Say something along the lines of, “How can I help?” or,
“I won’t do it again! Thank you for informing me.”

7. Remember that
calling someone out isn’t simple. It isn’t easy for someone to gather the courage and
confront you about the things you say that are offensive and oppressive.

8. Work on ways
to help others and be a strong ally to those facing oppression by the greater
social structures around us. Being called out is a way to remind you and
make you more aware. It’s to help you change. What we’ve been taught is
something we all have to unlearn. It will take time, but always be a strong
ally to those around you facing oppression.

Why We All Deserve a Break From Social Media

Hamna Awan

 

Like
many of us, I recently succumbed to the stresses of social media and just quit.
I deactivated my Facebook, said goodbye to the Instagram app, and threw Snapchat
to the curb. I did, however, decide to keep Twitter—mostly because I use it
less for connecting with others and more for complaining about late buses and
the lack of/too much cream in my iced coffee.

There
is such a thing as too much connecting. Constantly updating your social media
on what’s new in your life, seeing everyone else’s updates and pictures of get-togethers,
etc… It’s exhausting.

(Kim
Kardashian voice)

Like,
I’m just over it.

I’m
tired of knowing every little development in people’s lives—whether it be via
Facebook or Instagram—or any little, even moderately exciting thing that
happened to them recently (or that has ever happened to them, via the #tbt hashtag).
I also got tired of feeling the need to update everyone on my life. I mean, I
think there’s a very small handful of people who actually care, and I’d rather
just tell them myself.

Instagram

Am
I the only one who feels the need to scroll through her timeline sometime in
the morning until I’ve reached the batch of old ones I had already seen last
night? It’s a waste of time and I find myself getting bored doing it, but I
feel compelled.

Then
there’s the struggle of having to think of creative ways to take pictures, with
creative angles and creative lighting; I just don’t want to, dammit.

Also,
my food is to eat, not to Instagram. I’ve grown tired of showing the world my
meal before it is viciously devoured by my carnivorous appetite. (On that note,
I’ve also grown tired of seeing everyone else’s meals seconds before their
devourings.)

I
also feel like it takes away from experiences—I want to go back to having a
great time without showing everyone what a great time I had.

Snapchat

If
I’m being honest, I just don’t understand the purpose of Snapchat. I just don’t
get it. I just don’t need/want to know what everyone I know is up to every day.
It’s one thing if it’s something particularly exciting, but the number of
selfies I used to receive and pictures of people holding their coffee or pouting
in front of their books… I just don’t get it. I just don’t.

Facebook

The
big one. The king of all social media. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is
about Facebook, but it has recently taken up residence on my last nerve.
Perhaps the mindless scrolling and flooding of my mind with everyone else’s
thoughts via status updates and new photo albums has finally gotten to me.

All
in all, I’m just tired. I need some “me” time, time to grow on my own without
the constant watch/influence of 200 followers/followings on me, and I’m really
looking forward to seeing how different my life feels without a heavy online
presence. I’m also well aware that this change will not last forever. This is a
temporary hiatus, not the end of my social media career.

This
is not the last you will see of me, social media.