An unofficial AU advocate at large, Jason never misses a chance to recount the merits of an Athabasca education. Jason’s studies began alone in front of a rustic rural fireplace in December of 2003 and carried on through various brick and mortar college classrooms yet always with Athabasca as part of his journey. In 2014 he completed his BA in Sociology and in 2022 graduated with an MA in Cultural Studies. To this end, his columns seek to explore edifying moments of learning how to learn within the challenging ideological terrain of that great bugaboo facing students everywhere: the real world!
As the year of the pig commences, the Fly on the Wall separates the slop from the mire in competing cosmologies. Is time a cycle or a line? Chinese astrology experts caution that anyone whose birth date is in the year of the Pig ought to be wary: “They should avoid conflicts and be prepared… Read more »
“This is a pig, oink oink.” A captivating childhood toy of mine involved pulling what looked like a teensy weedwhacker cord and being transported to a fleeting but mysterious sonic environment replete with either pig sounds, cow sounds, horse sounds or chicken sounds. The repetition of these noises was made possible by physical discs inscribed… Read more »
“What are we laughing at?” Upon entering a room full of twitters it’s an innocuous enough question. Here in the Youtube era we may not want to see the crude or unusual videos being shared, yet the cause laughter itself remains psychologically prescient. Plus, there’s also the timeless possibility that we are the butt of… Read more »
Consider the many things we or others might say if someone wrote a biography about our essence. The category of appearance, to recall a Grade 2 study we did of the panda, might be reduced to the heading we were taught to use for that report: looks. Now, we know that a look is always… Read more »
Shadows lurk like clouds across the moon as we recollect the recent memories of New Year’s festivities. Sooner or later, amidst the frolicking and laughter, the ominous questions arose, “Have you made any resolutions?” It was as though Champagne or Canada Dry bubbles froze in mid-ascent as gaiety met psycho-social inquisition. Queries regarding New Years’… Read more »
“Ok, listen up! Everyone take off their shoes and put them on the table.” Are we in a post 9/11 airport? Nope, it’s the first day of art class and the student body is being asked as one to draw their own shoe. Inspiration drains away like chlorophyll from autumn leaves with the forced return… Read more »
Last week the Fly on the Wall made the case for taking to art such as painting or drawing to expand our capacities for learning, to be able to look at your studies from a new vantage point that might bring easier understanding. This week, we explore another method. Besides expressing ourselves visually through painting… Read more »
December 25th brings the culmination of the Holiday season: the annual gift exchange. All the hard work of shopping and planning climaxes with this big moment; like a final exam we have expectations we hope to fulfil and anxieties we must allay. The idea, of course, is: You will get a sentimental feeling when you… Read more »
Deep in Amazonian South America live capybara: boxy beavers who intermittently refresh themselves by wallowing in mud. It nourishes and hydrates their skin and probably feels great. Like AU students, capybara life is about perpetual progress. This stands in notable contrast to their cousins the prairie gophers, who take the easy way out of winter… Read more »
Christmas in July might have been the brainchild of a mind trapped in the December holiday rush. Some rugged calendar pioneer sensed the invisible energy of fellow shoppers, buzzing thick like mountain electrical lines receiving snowflake shocks during a winter blizzard, and thought, why me, why now! Or maybe they gazed upon row upon row… Read more »