Blog 13

Life Expectancy in Canada RISES

This afternoon CBC released an article saying how the average life expectancy of Canadians has increased to 80.9. I found this article pretty interesting and shocking to read just because of how people now a days try to pound it down our throat and tell us that we are not eating healthy enough and that global warning is affecting our health, in a bad way.
I know in my high school we were constantly getting taught about nutrition and how to eat healthy so we could decrease our chances of obesity. So I wonder why the life expectancy has increased in Canada. It was also shocking to find out that the life expectancy of males has increased; a little pick up for all the Canadian males out there!
Overall Canadians are listed as 11th place for the best life expectancy in Canada, with the USA coming in at 36th. I think that this news should be made very public because I think that we are focused to much on living right and staying healthy we clearly we are doing something right!

Blog 12

Disney!

So I recently went to the 3D Lion King in theatres, which was pretty cool. As I was sitting there watching it though I found myself laughing quite a bit! I thought that was strange because I could not remember laughing when I had watched it as a kid. After the movie I was talking to my mom about movies that she watched with me and my sister as a kid and she said that a lot of movies created by Disney, Pixar and other shows geared towards kids had a lot of adult humour in them as well. Not humour that a child would think was funny, but that adults could find entertaining as well.
I think that was very smart for Disney to do that and I think that it also makes the movies more enjoyable to watch and remember; however old or young you are.
On another note, it was interesting to watch The Lion King again, after looking this up to make sure my facts were correct; Walt Disney was anti semitic and it was very obvious in some scenes the way he projects his feelings. The one particular scene that came to mind was when Scar is getting ready to kill Mufasa, the Hyena's are marching the way the Nazi's would have.
Overall though it felt really good to watch a movie that I fell in love with when I was a kid and laugh at the jokes that I found funny then, and the ones that I found funny now.

Blog 11

Today is not a very creative day for me, I haven't thought about anything real great to blog about so I am going to talk about my favourite book/play/musical/ ever! Les Miserables. I fell in love with the musical Les Miserables when I was very young. In my life; going to the London broadcast of Les Mis. was probably the greatest thing that I have ever witnessed! (The Shamu show in Seaworld was pretty amazing though). I was probably only 10 or 11 when I went and saw it but I remember it so clearly. I went with my sister, mom and dad. Seeing the talent that these actors had was absolutely amazing. I had chills the entire performance! It is crazy that another person can do that to you by just hearing there voice and the story that they are singing. What it feels like for them I can only imagine. 
Les Miserables was originally a book by Victor Hugo. Hugo was apparently a miserable man who was not well liked by very many people. It is hard to believe that a man such as that could write such beautiful work such as he has. 
I love Les Miserables for many different reasons, but I love it because of what I took out of it;
Find something that you believe, then fight for it. No matter how much the odds are stacked against you. 
Victor Hugo does send a lot of political messages in this book as well, but at the age I fell in love with it, that message didn't really get to me. I understand it know; but when I was younger what I took out of the musical was a lot simpler. 


' To love another person is to see the face of God' - Musical - Les Miserables 
' Those who do not weep do not see ' - Book - Les Miserables 

Blog 10

Just recently it has came to my attention that Canada, more specifically Winnipeg has a large base of people that are being transported and imported for human trafficking. For those of you who do not know what sex trafficking is, it is an illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour, or a modern-day form of slavery. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking). 
In 2009 CBC did a story on Winnipeg being a big centre for child sex trade. I think that this is a major issue and I don't believe that it has been been brought to the public eye enough. Every year around 400 children are involved with sex trade in Winnipeg alone (2009 statistic) which I think is totally unacceptable. 
The reason given for why Winnipeg has so many child slaves is; there is not enough room to shelter homeless girls. That to me is a very pathetic excuse. Human trafficking is illegal and a terrible crime. Up until recently when I thought crimes I usually thought, murder, stealing, assault, etc. I think these crimes because they are what gets put on the news every night and is what the people are being aware of. I think that human trafficking is something that is a very serious issue and it needs to be brought up more so that people can be aware of it so we can start doing some actions to fix it.  
Here is the link to the 2009 CBC article on sex trade in Winnipeg; http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2009/07/08/mb-human-trafficking-winnipeg.html

Blog 9

Go Bomber Go!
Bombers vs Roughriders

I am 100% a Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan! It really bugs me when Roughrider fans try and tell me that there team is better than them without a doubt. When I ask why they say well look at what happened when we played you guys and beat you... Okay. Yes you did beat us. But what team is first in the league? What team has won the Grey Cup ten times, compared to the three times the Saskatchewan Roughriders have won it. What team can count the right about of players to be put on the field? What time is 8 and 3? What team is first in the CFL? Oh yeah, I know! The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, not the team that can't count, and that is second last in the league. The only reason they aren't last right now is because they narrowly pulled off a win against Toronto, which was a very painful game to watch. At any cost; I do not understand how fans like Saskatchewan can be so arrogant by trying to tell Winnipeg fans that they have the better team. It just doesn't make any sense to me, nor should it for any common sensed person!

Blog 8

LAKE SUPERIOR 

I just got back from Wisconsin! A state that I have never been before and I was very impressed by it. Wisconsin was absolutely beautiful! The destination did not only have surprisingly amazing scenery that I saw though. On our way to Wisconsin to play soccer we drove around a bit of Lake Superior which was is in Minnesota. I was amazed with how beautiful the water was. I had no idea of how big these lakes were! 

Lake superior is the largest of the Great Lakes. Just to give you an idea; it is the largest freshwater lake in the world if you are going by surface area and the third largest lake in the world if we are going by volume. Lake Superior is known for (beside's its size) the geology that can be found on the shores. It was also home to the worlds richest silver mine in the 1800's. 

Lake Superior borders Canada and the USA. When we go other places I always think to myself that the locations I am at are so unique and beautiful and how much I would love to live there. When I think of Lake Superior I thought of that for a second then realized that this Great Lake is also home to Canada. We often take for granted the beauty of this country we live in and this weekend was a really good reminder of that! 

Blog 7

This weekend in Quebec over five-hundred dogs were found and rescued from a puppy mill outside of Ottawa. The court still has to decide what will happen to the numerous dogs and whether or not they should be put up for adoption or returned back to there owner.
I don't understand how people can do such terrible things to innocent creatures that don't have a fighting chance. It really upsets me to know that with all the awareness and media that has been focused on puppy mills and how inhumane it is that people still continue to do such things. You must have some serious issues if you can knowingly harm animals that do not have a fighting chance. I know that they are not humans, but for a lot of people (myself included) who have pets treat there animals with as much pampering and respect as they would a family member. They almost do it to the point of it being ridiculous sometimes; but at any cost at least they still recognize that these animals come into the world, are born with a heart and are wanted to be loved. For people to totally forget about that is terrible and use the animals for profit in a uncivilized way is unforgivable. I hope that the owners of the puppy mill farm in Quebec and every other puppy farm in the world are treated with punishment and hopefully realize what they are doing is so, so wrong!

Blog 6, Interview

Today in class you asked us to interview someone for around twenty minutes and then see if we could find out about them and some surprising facts that we didn't know before, so without further adieu; here's KAITLYN!
Before we got to deep, we learnt a little about each other and where they were from. Kaitlyn is from Regina. This is her first year at Providence college and the reason she chose to pursue a degree in communications and media is because she wants to express her ideas and thoughts in a public way.
Some of Kaitlyn's favorites include; her favorite color is purple, she claims she loves everything purple (as she was wearing a purple sweatshirt), she loves watching Futurama and Tim Burton movies. Her favorite writer is Hunter S Thompson, who I had no idea who that was. Turns out Hunter S Thompson was an American journalist and is credited for creating the Gonzo journalism style of writing. Gonzo journalism is where the writer involves itself in the story so much that it becomes the central figure of the writing. Anyways, Kaitlyn really wants to travel up north because she loves northern animals such as polar bears and her favorite northern animal, an empire penguin! She also considers herself a 'nerd' because she likes playing World of Warcraft.
A really interesting special fact that I found out about Kaitlyn is that she is metis! Which did surprise me! She says that when her family gets together for important family gatherings on her dad's side they do wear their sashes. They also will get together and make traditional metis food!
I did really enjoy this assignment and I liked getting to know Kaitlyn and I appreciated her sharing things about herself to me.  Thank you!!

Blog 5,

What defines an athlete? I was asked this question last week, and I wasn't to sure how to respond. There are a lot of things that popped up in my mind right away... but as soon as I think the idea's that popped into my mind soon something came up that contradicted it! So the only idea that I could think of lately that makes sense and something hasn't came up that makes it a faulty definition. To me, an athlete is someone who is mentally and physically fit. To me, you definitely need to be in a good physical condition to play a sport of any kind (Poker on TSN does not count as a sport). That one is kind of obvious I think. The other type of fitness I think you need to have in order to be an athlete is mentally fit. Being mentally fit for me means that you need to be in control of your emotions all the time and to have a strong attitude towards the sport that you are playing. It is easy to get physically fit I think... but being mentally fit is hard. I have been playing sports for over ten years and I am still trying to get the mentally fit part down. It is so easy to take things to personal when a coach yells at you or puts you down in a way that is strictly in the heat of the game and not a personal attack on the person. Being mentally fit also means that you need to realize how to play competitive, it makes you know that you need to set goals for yourself and achieving them, but then setting higher ones, and also working hard is a lot mental to me. Working hard means definitely is mental. You need to know that when you push yourself as much as you think you can push just that extra bit farther to finish the race.
So to me that is what the definition of being an athlete is! Goodnight:)

Blog 4

 Remember; to recall to the mind with effort; think of again.
                    to keep (someone) in mind as worthy of consideration and recognition.

That is what I did yesterday, as well as many many others across the country and world did. Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of 9/11. As I was watching the memorial yesterday morning on TV I saw all kinds of different faces and people. All were grieving at ground zero, the place where this tragic, terrible event happened. I cannot even begin to imagine how loved ones felt on that day. To look at there faces and see the sadness in there eyes because someone they knew and loved was taken from them to soon; that is a face I hope I never have to encounter for myself or anyone else that I know or love. These people that I saw yesterday showed amazing courage and strength, and I am sure that whom ever they are missing, those people or person would be so proud of them in that moment.
It is never fair to see a an innocent life, or in this case innocents lives taken from them without there will. I don't know how someone can justify doing what they did that day.
Nearly 3 000 lives were taken that day. Yesterday we thought of them and what their lives would have been like today. Who would they be? A husband, wife, dad, mom, uncle, aunt, son, daughter, cousin, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, or friend? When I think of that, I think of there loved ones and how they feel on a day like yesterday. I also think about my family though, and even though we fight sometimes and are sometimes maybe to harsh on each other I think about what my life would be without them, and I can't even imagine. So in memory of that horrible day I hope that everyone else out there also took a moment to remember the courageous people who died on that day fighting to help the victims of the attack. Think about there families that have to live everyday without them, and think about your own family and be so grateful for the life that you have. Live your life everyday to the fullest extent that you can. Love the people in your life everyday. Pray for the people who need help.
<3 RIP

Blog 3 , Men vs Women

Today the woman's college soccer team that I am on had a meeting today to talk about some of the elements and different idea's we and other people (like our peers) around us have about being an athlete. This conversation evolved into a different conversation about the difference between men and woman in sport, then from the that just the difference between men and woman in general. It really got me thinking about how much our world has changed in the fact that woman are so much more powerful and respected now a days compared to ____ when woman were treated terribly and weren't thought of anything to a lot of people.
I don't know a whole lot on how much we as woman have been treated differently over the past years so I thought that I would do some research to find out more about woman's rights and history. From what I do know though, I think that we have come a long way ALTHOUGH I really do think that some of the idea's of woman are still not represented correctly and it is still very unfair in a lot of ways. For an example; most men's sports team's have a later starting event than the woman's. Which if you just saw that on the schedule you wouldn't think would be a big deal... when you look closer into it though I think that it should rotate, men games start first, then woman's. The reason I think that that is unfair is because the men's games are later on in the evening and everyone will come and watch them compared to a woman's game which is a five instead of seven and at five everyone is still eating there supper. Men 99% of the time have a larger fan base than the woman and I think that it isn't because of the gender, but because of a time slot for them. How do woman expect to be recognized as good strong competitors when they don't have the support in the first place to prove themselves? I guess though if the woman's soccer team went and supported there argument to a board of people then it would be a big deal because really the men were just being polite and just doing what is right by them, "ladies first". There are both extreme's I suppose!
Here is just some food for thought to process though; these are just some facts I found on a website called http://she-power.com/2008/02/25-fast-facts-about-women/
- In 76 countries, less than half of the eligilbe girls are enrolled in secondary school, but the highest standard IQ's ever recorded were from woman.
- Woman only own 1% of the world land
- Only 5% of featured Hollywood film are directed by women
- According to The World Health Org., 40% of woman 17 years of age or under in South Africa are reported to being a victim of rape or attempted rape.
So while as a society in whole we have improved our way's of woman's rights there is still very much room for improvement!

Blog 2

First day of classes and I survived! I had two different classes today; Speaking in Public and Western Civilization, and after both of them I realized that I think that I can survive the next eight months and that I might actually enjoy the next eight months. The only class that I am really not looking forward to is Science. Not much of a science person... Or math. Which is exactly why I chose to go into Communications and Media. I have wanted to be A LOT of different careers! You name it and there is a good chance that I have wanted to pursue it as a career. I have a pretty short attention span though, and find a lot of different things interesting, so once I got my mind set on my latest and best career choice I would be sitting there watching shark week and think that it would be so much fun and so amazing to be able to swim with the sharks and find out all about them... and by that point I had forgotten all about the last career path I was wanting to do and now wanting to be a marine biologist. Later on I found out though that as much as I did not like math, I really did not like science much more.
I have always really liked English and history though, and like I said before how I dislike math and science very much, and how I am not able to concentrate on the same subject for a very long time before the next best and greatest thing comes along... So my dad actually mentioned to me one day about possibly going into broadcast television. That sounded pretty cool. I liked the news, my favourite story to follow this year was the Casey Anthony case. Terrible story. She must have had Michael Jackson's and OJ Simpson's lawyer or something. Anyways, I really did like the idea of becoming a journalist of some sort because of everything that I got told about it. Not a lot of math skills required, you report one story and then are onto the next so you really don't need to focus on the same idea for that long of time, and I get to talk all day, which I have no problem doing so!
It has now been about eight months that I have stuck to this career choice and so far I am enjoying all the steps I am taking to becoming a journalist or some sort. Here's hoping it continues!
Cheers,
Laura

Blog 1

First blog, yay! I hope I am doing this correct! Today was supposed to be my first day of classes, but unfortunately I had to miss my first two courses for a funeral. I am thinking that I am just supposed to be writing about anything I feel like? Lets hope so, because that is what I am going to do tonight!
So my mood, not the greatest. Not surprising considering I just came from a relatives funeral. As much as I am very sad that he passed away it was almost just as sad to see everyone there grieving for him. Funeral's are very sad but as much as they are sad, I feel like I laugh as much as I do cry. It is really comforting I found today to instead grieve about the death but to talk to all my family about the good times that we all had with him. I think that everyone is so sad and everyone is dealing with so many different emotions that after the funeral is done that it is nice just to sit and relax; at that point a lot of the stress is lifted that you had about arrangements for the funeral, you are done crying; well maybe not done, but for a the past three or four day's that has been all you have done and that really does exhaust you. Just a lot of the emotions that you have been dealing with can be kind of set aside and you can relax with people that you feel comfortable around and just enjoy all of the stories that are shared about someone who once was close to you and made an impact in your life in one way or another.
So, with all that said, maybe a little to heavy for a first blog? But for now I am done for the night.  Hopefully  they get a bit better as the year continues!
Goodnight!