Who are your fellow students? At times, in an online learning environment, it can feel like you are all alone, but across the nation and around the globe, students just like you are also pursuing their Athabasca University (AU) studies! Each week, The Voice Magazine will be bringing you some of these stories. If you… Read more »
Dear Barb: Hi, my wife and I have been married for 10 years and we seem to be growing apart. We don’t have any children and that was our choice, but it’s like we don’t have anything to keep us together. It seems to be getting worse since the beginning of the pandemic, even though… Read more »
In my Minds We Meet interview with Natalia Iwanek, I mentioned that I was reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Toronto-based novelist Margaret Atwood for the first time. Having now completed it, I understand why it was among the novels often assigned to students back in high school English. Its commentary on dystopias entails not only… Read more »
I have been in Scouting as a leader, which we call Scouters, for over six years. When I first started with our group, my son was a first-year Beaver Scout. As a Scouter in Beavers, you get assigned a nickname, and I got Hawkeye. I love the name so much that I kept it when… Read more »
Unlike the Christmas Day commonly celebrated on December 25, many of those who follow the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic faith continue to adhere to their traditional January 6 and 7 celebrations. This is because Ukrainians like myself, along with communities in Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Russia, still follow the… Read more »
Did you ever write an AU assignment on a tablet? Me neither! While touch screen keypads might be suitable for kibitzing with family and friends and dolling our faces up with filters ranging from Capuchin Monkey to Octogenarian Granny, nothing beats the tactile nature of a physical keyboard. Traditional keypads contain ample space for flourishes… Read more »
COVID-19 has thrown a lot of obstacles in our course. Whether it was your intended graduation date or the job you were eying for the next internship but was cancelled. So how can we make sense of these different obstacles without it feeling like life has thrown a number of wrenches in our plans. As… Read more »
Are you thinking about getting out to the mountains this year? Are you a frequent hiker? If so, this article is not for you. Although, you may enjoy reading about my amateur hiking opinions, if only to disagree with them. If you’re an amateur hiker like myself, consider this your most recent warning. If you’ve… Read more »
Recently I dealt with an incident at my six-year-old daughter’s school. She was in the hallway with a boy from her class, away from the careful supervision of her teachers, when the boy became physically violent with her. My daughter was too nervous to tell her teacher. She thought her teacher was going to be… Read more »
When we are positive toward others, they respond kindly. Positivity builds beautiful bonds, cements friendships, and bursts with wonderful feelings. For instance, smiling and laughing throughout the day sounds and looks like a kitten that purrs nonstop. What a beautiful energy. And, oh, does laughter feel good for the person who releases it. I once… Read more »
Hurt people hurt people. You’ve probably heard this simple and tired statement used in a sloppy attempt to explain the nature of trauma to a victim. I’m not saying that I’ve never used it myself, but when I heard it for the first time after my mother abandoned me, I got even angrier. What kind… Read more »
Sometimes I am at a loss for words—which is a mighty rare thing for someone from the east coast who is frequently hopped up on caffeine, chocolate milk, or rage. What continues to blow my grey matter is how, in a wealthy country whose pundits praise its kindness, generosity to other nations, and other treatments… Read more »
COVID isn’t all bad. It’s also a gift. The COVID Era normalized remote work. And I am grateful. With remote work, I don’t stress over my appearance, freeze waiting for busses in minus thirty, and go ape over office politics. I also no longer get workplace anxiety, which was worse than having my hands burned… Read more »
Let’s face it, it was a rough year. But it wasn’t all bad. Each year, we like to start off the Voice Magazine with a look back at the year before. Creating a first issue that not only represents what The Voice Magazine is, but what it can be when it hits its heights. Hence,… Read more »
A couple of comics were recommended for The Best of the Voice, 2021 edition, and the cluelessness of Chazz makes me laugh every time.
If you have a course that you would like to see a Course Exam article written for, please feel free to email us at voice@voicemagazine.org with the course name and number, and any questions you may have about it, and we will do our best to answer the questions for you! ANTH 272 is a… Read more »
I am an independent author of three books, which means my books are self-published. Some people say that’s not real publishing, but that’s debatable and not what this article is about. I am writing this article to address some of the issues I have had to deal with being a female author. The most difficult… Read more »
On October 24, 1975, the women of Iceland did not go to work. For one day, Iceland’s women did not show up for their jobs as shop clerks, receptionists, flight attendants, bank tellers, teachers, or fish-plant workers. They did not show up to do housework, farm chores, child-minding, or family shopping. They did not pack… Read more »
Do you spend more time thinking about hypothetical consequences of a decision, than you do on the decision itself? Overthinking is more than simply taking an unusually long time to make decisions; it is a culmination of excessive worrying about the future while spending too much time dwelling on past mistakes. Overthinking can impact both… Read more »
Nearly two years of this pandemic have come and gone and, despite what anyone says (expert or not), no one knows with certainty when this will eventually end. What we do know is that everyone’s finances have been affected—whether due to last year’s mass layoffs, supply chain disruptions, or rising inflation rates—no one has been… Read more »
Imagine a world where people were as capable and eager of de-escalating situations as they are taking out their phones to film conflict—hoping their video will go viral. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has been flooded with these viral videos where people are acting out upon each other, much to the amusement of the… Read more »
Scholarship name: Student Essay Contest Sponsored by: AWM and Math for America Deadline: February 1, 2022 Potential payout: a non-specified monetary prize Eligibility restriction: Applicants must be students in either grades 6 to 8, grades 9 to 12, or undergraduates. What’s required: An online application form including contact info, a short (100-word) biographical sketch of… Read more »
MBA for Executives Webinar Wed, Jan 12, 10:00 to 11:00 am MST Online Hosted by AU Faculty of Business news.athabascau.ca/events/mba-for-executives-webinar-20220112/ RSVP through above link PowerED™ and the Rick Hansen Foundation: Accessibility and the built environment webinar Wed, Jan 12, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm MST Online Hosted by AU’s PowerED™ and the Rick Hansen Foundation… Read more »
AthaU Facebook Group More than one way to approach AU studies. A funded student is curious about how students manage to complete one course per month without jeopardizing their funding status, and dozens of students quickly reply with their experiences. Discord We’ll stick with our cold climate, thanks. A discussion in the #general channel highlights… Read more »
If you haven’t yet read our honourable mention or our runner up for the fiction contest, you really should check them out as well, but this week, I’m very proud to be presenting our Fiction Voice Writing Contest Winner. “Stray Dogs” by Catherine Moise. After reading it, I have to agree with our judges, it… Read more »