We’re in the middle of summer now, and with one of our regular writers running in the AUSU Byelection, others on holidays, this issue of the Voice Magazine is running a little thinner than many.

Also, it seems this week has been rather slow on the news front.  Sure, there’s the usual rumblings about US politics, and the continual over-arching spectre of COVID-19.  The Liberals remain plagued by the WE scandal, the Conservatives remain plagued by having little going for them aside from the WE scandal, the NDP and Greens remain plagued by being third and fourth parties in a FPTP system, so who really cares anyway?  It’s all led up to a bit of ennui for me this week.

I hope to make up for it next week, however, when I’ll be publishing our Q&A with the candidates to help you decide who you’re going to want representing you over the next couple of years, years that may prove especially important for AU and AUSU when the actions of the UCP and possible labour disputes at AU are factored in to the normal considerations of AUSU Council.

But, as usual when this feeling strikes, I find myself wondering if there’s room at Athabasca University for a gaming group.  It turns out the average age of video gamers in Canada and the average age of AU students aren’t that far apart (and it’s the students who are younger!)  The tentative name I’ve thought of for the group is the Athabasca University Gamer Society which, while it isn’t that original, has the acronym of AUGS, itself a gaming term.

These thoughts have also been brought on by finding myself watching old videos of a group of voice actors involved in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and realizing that, with modern technology and the often longer-than-usual student periods for AU students, there’s the ability for not only such a game to be had, but to create some long term connections between students across the country.  As a side benefit, it would give me a short column to run in The Voice Magazine on slow weeks such as this, updating people on what happened in the AUGS campaign.

However, even though it’s a slow week, that doesn’t mean it’s not a week worth reading, just that the read will be quicker than normal, and this week, we feature a book review about a very special book. One written by one of The Voice Magazine’s own writers, and, even more interesting for me, taken from materials previously published right here between the covers of The Voice Magazine.

Barb Godin, who you’ll recognized from the weekly “Dear Barb” articles, but may be more familiar with from her longer, personal pieces, has taken an assortment of her over 500(!) columns in The Voice Magazine, and brought them together in a single volume.  You can read the review in our feature article this week from another Barb, Barb Lehtiniemi.

Also this week, we have some writing tricks you can use brought to us by the Creative Spark to help make your writing, whether for your studies or other reasons, stand out a little more, a look back at Ricky Martin’s self-titled album, some sharp advice from Chef Corey about knives in the kitchen, scholarships, events, advice, and more!  Enjoy the read!