Posts By: Wayne E. Benedict

Wayne E. Benedict

Trees

As a British Columbian living in the middle of the Canadian prairies I find that there are two aspects of my former province that I miss the most; the first is the Rocky Mountains and the second is the trees. Although I was surrounded by trees my entire life, I didn’t often take particular notice… Read more »

“Live” Stories

Every weekday morning I drive my 5 & 7 year-old children to school. The drive from our home to their school takes about ten minutes and to pass the time they like me to tell them what my daughter calls “live” stories”?stories of events that I have experienced in my life. It doesn’t take much… Read more »

Tobacco

I can still recall the first cigarette that I choked back. I was eleven years old and a friend and I got hold of a package of Peter Jackson cigarettes from somewhere. We went into some bushes and each lit one up. We coughed and sputtered and both soon felt very ill, but with perseverance… Read more »

Campus Security

In previous articles I have made a few comparisons between distance education and on-campus studies. I have found that each method has inherent advantages and disadvantages. A recent incident at the University of Saskatchewan has highlighted an important aspect of home-based distance education such as that available through Athabasca University. On November 28, 2003, between… Read more »

Teens’ Cars

Voice readers have followed the Academic progress of Wayne Benedict for several years. On July 30, 2003 [v11 I31], Wayne wrote of his decision to finally become a full time AU student, and of the vehicular sacrifices he was prepared to endure in order to fund his new vocation. At that time, Wayne had no… Read more »

Christmas 2003

I have to admit that my Christmas spirit is somewhat sparse. Over the years I’ve been jaded by the commercialism of the holiday. The bombardment of advertisements seems to arrive earlier every year (Christmas commercials in October): “buy her a diamond to show your love”; “spend lots of money to show them you care.” The… Read more »

Stress

Before coming to law school I considered myself to have relatively sufficient control over my stress levels. I had a busier than average life, juggling fulltime work, part-time distance university education, labour advocacy, wife, children, dogs, cars, bills, mortgage, writing: Well, you get the picture. Even with an accumulation of multiple stressors such as those,… Read more »

First Aid

Have you ever noticed that when you experience something new you suddenly notice similar events all around you? For instance, nearly every time I’ve purchased a different car, I began seeing the same make of vehicle everywhere I turned. Also, since I began law school, every social transaction has taken on legal connotations. I now… Read more »

Olfactory Memories

I’ve always been impressed with how powerfully connected the nose is to the brain. For example, when my parents divorced I resided with my father while my sisters stayed with our mother in a distant city. Years later one of my sisters was visiting and I gave up my bed to her. As soon as… Read more »