I’m quite happy with the issue this week. We received two AU interviews, one with the Associate Vice President of Student and Academic Services, Dr. Alain May, and the other with an Assistant Professor in Sociology and Labour Studies, Dr. Tony Simmons. Both are solid interviews, and after some hemming and hawing, I decided both deserved a spot in this week’s magazine. What’s interesting is that each interview touches on what it is to become an academic, how a person goes about that, and why it might not be as difficult as you think, yet they do it from two completely different points of view. I think, in the end, that’s why I chose to run them both. I couldn’t resist the compare and contrast between them.

Not to be outdone, we also have an article from our own student interviewer, as she reflects on what it has been like doing almost two years (really? Has it been that long?) worth of interviews of students from across the country and even from places around the globe. It’s a testament to AU students how even though we choose to work isolated from each other for our various reasons, so many of us are still willing to share themselves to help build this community of students. I’m amazed that the column has been able to find so many willing participants, or that it seems like such a short time has gone by since the initial discussions to start the column came about.

I guess when you get into a groove, time can run by so quickly. At each step or task you already know what is next so you just move from one to the next to the next and before you know it, the day, the week, the month, the year is done. I can hardly imagine how fast time must fly for those people who managed to find themselves a 20-year career in a single firm and industry. I think that’s part of why, as we age, time seems to move faster. We’ve gained more experience, and more experience means there are more grooves we can fall into.

But part of what a university education is supposed to provide us is the ability to reflect, to look at things from new angles, all of which help to make sure that we’re not just following the groove. In that way, education can make your life seem longer, as it enables us to see beyond the groove. To look at what’s gone before and be able to take new insights from it. This week’s “From Where I Sit”, made that particularly clear to me, as when I got to the end of it, I had to pause to consider the point Hazel had made and how it applies to my own life. I think you’ll find the same thing.

And that’s just some of what’s in this week’s issue. Of course we have news, music reviews, advice, some humour and, with convocation on the horizon, even an article looking at the parallel journey from home to Athabasca, from student to graduate.

Enjoy the read!

P.S. If you didn’t already know, The Voice Magazine has a Facebook page and a twitter feed if You’re into that kind of thing!