The Christmas season is upon us and the subscriber contest is now concluded. The winners have been notified, so check the e-mail address you entered with to see if you won and to send us your address so we can snail mail some goodies. The winner of the iPad mini is one Tammy S., and in addition to her there are some 25 people who won packages of the new Voice Magazine swag collections. It’s so new that even I haven’t seen them yet!
However, if you didn’t win anything, don’t despair, there’s still a way you can get your hands on some nifty swag stuff, including, I’m told, some new gloves for cold hands, a USB key for storage of all those important essays and cat videos—we won’t get into which one is the more important, and a bunch of other goodies. All you need to do is get in touch with me, either by mailing me direction at voice@voicemagazine.org or letting me know through our contact form, that you would be willing to be interviewed for the posterity and glamor that comes from being one of the Minds We Meet, our series of interviews with students just like you, so that other students, also like you, get a sense of the community that is Athabasca University.
With the Christmas season, however, comes Christmas stress. Have no fear though, The Voice Magazine has a few ideas on how you can combat that. Our feature article, “Avoid the Holiday Blues and Save Your Sanity” can help you with the general stressors of the season, and if that’s not enough, we’ve got “Seasonal Shopping Shortcuts” for specific advice on how to buy for those people on your list, even the ones that seem impossible to buy for. We’ve also got some advice if you decide to just skip the Christmas stress entirely by taking a trip over the holidays, as one of our writers recently took a trip to Cuba with the thought that even while on holiday she’d be able to maintain a heavy course load. Find out what happened in the article “Expectations versus Reality.”
However, if what you’re really wondering is “What should I send that dashing editor of The Voice Magazine for Christmas?” I’ve got a great idea. Send me your suggestions for what you think should go in our Best of the Voice 2017 issue, that’ll be available on January 5th (Yes, the new year is that close I can start talking about specific dates in it now.) I’ll take your suggestions on board as I go through the articles myself, picking out which ones really stand out from our writers over the year, but I need your help, because I already know it’s going to be tough to pick out the best.
Finally, if you want to get a great start on those holiday “feels”, be sure to take a look at Deanna Roney’s article this week, Dogs and Degrees. It may not be a Christmas story, but it’s heartwarming none-the-less.
I should point out that The Voice Magazine won’t be published during the week of December 25 to December 29, while AU and AUSU is on break, but we will be having our standard issue coming out next week and on the week of December 22, keeping you informed right up to the holiday. Personally, I intend to be avoiding my computer that week, so if there’s something urgent you need to let me know, best do it before then!
Right now though, you can still check out the scholarships, events, news, interviews, and everything else that lets you enjoy the read!