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!
Distance education provides academic intimacy between our daily struggles and pleasures and the reality that all of life is a lecture hall from which we may avert our gaze or take note. When the cultural going gets tough, our academic critical thinking skills spring into action. Theorists and tutors alike provide grist for our mental… Read more »
Have you ever dreamed you saw your reflection in a mirror? What would our imagined other self say that we cannot say for ourselves? The closest moment to contact with the universal nature of being alive might be a momentary gaze into a beloved pet’s eyes. Interactions with animals special to us can teach us… Read more »
While distance education can be the mother of all struggles, it probably can’t compare to the challenge and adventures of motherhood. With that in mind, Mother’s Day is a thing. Expressing gratitude to our mothers is what the day is all about and, being academically inclined, it’s worth considering the context of progeny from a… Read more »
Imagine if you could win at life by just showing up? Well, just by enrolling at AU you have! Sure, there’s work to be done but that first step towards scholastic success is a crucial one. Cards on the table, it’s time to put up or shut up, academically. You’re enrolled, so let’s roll. It’s… Read more »
It’s been said that no person is an island, but could it be we’re each grains of sand forming a luscious beach? The philosopher, Democritus, of Ancient Greece, suggested that all the world was made up of atoms, tiny particles that Lego®’d themself into semblances of order as rocks, trees, and humans. “The atomists argued… Read more »
The buzz and hubbub of inchoate spring, a season born in fits and starts, between hail and frost, parallels our academic potential. Besides rushing to and fro, tidying and maintaining yard and garden, the season of rebirth is a great time to lean on a metaphysical rake and take stock of that flourishing enterprise we… Read more »
What matters most in life? If you’ve been asked by friends or family “what the matter is,” or been confronted with claims that you possess too much of a scowl for your own good, or that dreaded resting bitch face, you know that matter is more than a physicist’s imaginary landscape of facts, figures, and… Read more »
An April Fool’s joke, honed to perfection and often benefiting from the victim being recently awakened from an overnight slumber, serves for more than mere guffaws. Laughter on this day serves to shine torchlight on the nature of everyday reality; that is, normality’s relatively preposterous underpinnings. Life, like our learning, requires levity to function. Does… Read more »
Ever spin a globe with eyes closed, your trembling index finger hovering expectantly before landing randomly on the sphere? At this moment of halt, the whole world seems available as a next place to travel. Yet, to discover a single location is to in a sense temporarily exclude all others. Distance education is like that… Read more »
A rising tide raises all boats. Except for the leaky ones. And trickle-down economics states that we all benefit when those at the top get rich. Unless we live near toxic runoff from tar-sand projects or major in academic topics not sanctioned for lavish remuneration by the powers that be. Wherever there are causes there… Read more »