THIS WEEK
FROM WHERE I SIT – New contributor Hazel Anaka’s back in school.
NATURE NOTES – Do you have to travel to warmer climes in order to have a vacation? Zoe Dalton offers some cold-weather alternatives that might just bring the peace of mind you are seeking.
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE – Debbie Jabbour attended the party in honour of AU President Dominique Abrioux’s being granted an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the Open University, UK. Also read the Insider report for a different perspective.
WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS MEAN ANYWAY? – Do we all have a different view? Barbara Godin shares her’s.
VOICE WRITING CONTEST – HONORARY MENTIONS – Read “Stick,” by Heather Jane Doherty and “Family Stories or Grandma Teasel Speaks of the Vampire” by Bill Pollett, our two honourary award recipients.
New resource for Psychology students
AU Library has recently subscribed to PsycARTICLES, a full text journal database of 42 journals published by the American Psychological Association and other related organizations. All journals indexed in this database are also indexed in PsycINFO. (The Insider)
Nominate articles for Best of The Voice
Do you have a favourite Voice article that was published in 2003? If so, send your pick to voice@ausu.org. It might be included in a year-end Best of the Voice issue, or in an upcoming mini-print issue.
WHERE THE HECK IS EVERYONE?
Calling AU students! Many of you have asked to know more about AU’s plans for the future. You want to have the opportunity to speak with AU executives, and to make your student Voice heard. Accordingly, AU is this week providing a one-of-a-kind opportunity for students to speak directly with the AU executive, through a week long online conference on the AU message forum system.
The forum opened on November 28th. Granted, AUSU did not post the link to the forum forum when it first started (someone forgot to send it, I think) but it’s still hard to understand why as of today no non-council students are in there talking to AU!
Have you known any other university to offer this kind of forum, where students – all students – can ask questions of the highest ranking officials of the university? There is no need to be intimidated. It’s not a real-time conversation. You post questions, and check back a while later to see the reply. Everyone gets to see the conversation in progress. Heck, only two AUSU councillors have posted, so the floor is all yours!
It’s easy, it’s efficient, and it’s a marvellous use of the communications technology AU has available.
So to all of you who have been dying to get your two-cents in – or for those who simply want to look in and see what’s being said – get your butts to the conference pages! We might not get this chance again. I’ve just tossed in a couple of questions to get things started. If you agree, then I’d love some backing on these issues. If you disagree, then speak up. Don’t let two or three of us speak for everyone!
I can’t wait to see what you all have to say. Get started by visiting here:
http://chinstrap.cs.athabascau.ca/cgi-bin/b7/main.pl?rid=120
Tamra Ross Low – Editor in Chief