Monthly Archives: May 2010

Posted by on 24 May

Folded transfers

While boarding a Barton bus this afternoon, my folded transfer slip refused to cooperate by straightening for display to the operator of the bus.
The operator looked at me with a smile, nothing nefarious, as I tried to display the transfer.
At that moment, I could not help but remember what it was like being a teenager and getting kicked off buses for committing the infraction of “folding a transfer.”
Transfer slips used to have a statement on the back of them which read “Folded and mutilated transfers are not valid”
Of course, this meant drivers who discriminated against teenagers were fully justified – in the eyes of the City – in kicking teenagers off of buses for having folded their transfer. This created a dilemma for me and other teenage riders – we could take our chances that our transfer would rip by not folding it, or we could take our chances that an operator would not accept it because we cleanly folded our transfer to prevent it from ripping.
Today, after I finally showed the operator my transfer, I flipped it over and read the fine print. It is now acceptable to fold a transfer slip.

0 0 26 more
Posted by on 16 May

YA health and dental plan scandal

(YA = Yet Another – I’m programming right now and using that “speak”)

Eye on the UVSS, an excellent watchdog blog written by David. J.A. Foster, has an interesting write-up about a student union health and dental plan scandal which involves the University of Victoria Student Society decreasing their students health plan benefits and diverting funds from the health plan into the general operating funds of the deficit-ridden student organization.

Many student union scandals have their origins in the misuse of health and dental plan funds or the large profits from these plans – the largest revenue source for most student unions and organizations.

In this instance, there is no evidence of illegal conduct – but there was clearly unethical conduct. Students paid for a set of services, agreed to in a referendum, and were not provided those services. After rejecting requests from the UVSS to increase fees to fund the student society, the UVSS went behind students backs to increase their internal operating funds.

It is not widely discussed, and rarely understood, that student unions and universities take a cut of student levies for “administrative costs.” In some cases, especially with the university cut, the slice of money off the top reflect the costs involved in administering the fee. (Computer infrastructure, human resources, banking fees, and overhead involved in collecting student fees and cutting a cheque to the external organization or student union)

In other cases, common with student unions, the “administrative cost” is nothing more than a kick-back to the student union. Most, (if not all), UPass or Health and Dental Plans fees involved a cut for the student union. These fees are not publicized by student unions and represent a serious conflict-of-interest.

This latest example at the UVSS only adds to the body of examples that call for student unions to become transparent and more accountable for their actions.

0 0 31 more
Posted by on 09 May

A change of venues

As many of you found out yesterday morning from my Twitter feed, I’ve been hired by The Hamilton Spectator as a summer intern..

I’m quite excited by this opportunity and very much looking forward to covering the story of my hometown.

I’m a life long Hamiltonian. Even when I was living in Winnipeg or stationed at Canadian Forces installations, my heart remained firmly in the city. One of my favourite “pranks” when I was sitting on the University of Manitoba Students’ Union Council was to try and insert a positive line about my hometown into my statements . I even wore a “I ♥ Hamilton” shirt to Council.

There are many stories to be told in my community and I look forward to telling them.

Hamilton’s an interesting city which holds much promise. At one time Hamilton was a great centre of progress and innovation within the British Empire; today is struggling with many of the challenges of older urban centres.

My roots are in the poorest and most challenged areas of the city. Congress Cresent, Kenora Ave., Barton Street, Sherman North at Burlington, the North End, and the East Downtown: these are all places that I called home growing up.

As an adult, I’ve been able to live in a nice apartment building in Glendale, another decent building in University Gardens, and presently live in Durand.

My limited success has enabled me to socialize in some of the most affluent socio-economic circles in my city. I’m hoping this unique experience of my city will make me worthy to hold the public trust that is being a local reporter.

It is this intimate knowledge of my city that makes me nervous as well – I’m known in Hamilton and people rightfully expect a lot from me. I’ve received many congratulatory emails in the last 24 hours and I’m thankful for each one of them. I only hope I can live up to the expectations of my peers.

Being a journalist is a great public trust and I find it to be a daunting challenge to make myself worthy of that trust. 

I’m honoured to have the opportunity to tell the story of my community.

I do not yet know what this summer position will mean for my higher education writing at GlobeCampus.

0 0 28 more
Posted by on 09 May

Town and Gown – the university’s been here since…

I’ve been spending a lot of time reading The Washington Post‘s higher education site over the last few weeks.

It is a well-laid out informative heavy package. A couple of things I like about it:

1) It links out to other higher education media web sites, including the “competition”:

2) It has multiple reporters who specialize in certain segments of higher education coverage who blog colour commentary to their print stories. Web and print are complementarily – they cannot stand alone.

  • The recent posts from Jenna Johnson (Campus Overload) and Daniel de Vise (College Inc.)  are good examples of how a professional print report can build connectivity to stories and their reputation as experts by writing a blog. 
  • Johnson’s post about Georgetown students knowing their universities founding date of 1789 connects readers to the behind-the-scenes of the story.  This connectivity is crucial to the future of successful print products. She talks about her surprise at how every student she meant at Georgetown knew the founding date of their institution. Turns out a local bar is named 1789.
  • de Vise’s post about the behind the scenes lobbying for better reputation rankings on the U.S. News & World Report survey brings to light a what is really happening in the administrative offices of American universities.

3) Integration with the web. The Wash Post makes an attempt to integrate with Twitter by including a live-feed box with its own hashtag #wphighered. A good effort, but – being unsupervised – has already fallen victim to spammers.

 

In short, The Washington Post is doing higher education in the Internet age right.

0 0 19 more
Posted by on 06 May

Jack MacDonald dead at 83

I cannot begin to express my sadness at learning of the death, today, of former Hamilton Mayor Jack MacDonald. While he served as Mayor before I was even born, he had a great impact upon me.

I first met Jack as a teenager when I spoke at the then-Hamilton East Kiwanis service club at the seemingly tender age of 15.

I remember how scared I was speaking and how timidly I presented my story. I was somewhat shy at the time.

I remember how making a point of approaching me afterwards and remarking how moved he was by my speech.

That was the start of a mentoring relationship that lasted to this day.

It says something about my mentors that only three years later – at age 18 – I was a serious contender in the municipal elections of 2000.

Over the years, Jack stayed in touch with me and always gave me encouragement in my endeavors.

Last year, he was one of the people that offered support as I dealth with a series of personal challenges.

Only recently (last Winter), when I decided to start pursuing getting into The Hamilton Spectator, Jack was there again offering advice and encouragement.

During our last encounter, he made a point of telling me that I was welcome at his place anytime.

Ironically, I walked on his street earlier today and thought about that offer.

Jack and I had different political philosophies. We often had heated disagreements over public policy but never did he become upset about those disagreements.

His assistance over the years – especially during my political run – advanced my ideas. That did not matter to Jack. He was committed to helping others his entire life and never lost sight of that overriding goal.

I was going to call Jack over the next few days and tell him about my success in securing The Spectator internship. I know he would have given me great advice and congratulate me on the position.

Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to do so. (I cannot help but be reminded how short our time here truly is)

Hamilton has suffered a great lost today. I mourn for both Jack and my city.

0 0 30 more
Posted by on 06 May

65 years later – Victory in Europe Day

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War. It’s hard to imagine the reality of total war to my generation; we’ve thankfully never experienced war.

The Hamilton Spectator published a special section today, which is not available behind the subscriber firewall – yes, I use my grandmother’s subscription to read the paper for free -, meaning that I’m on my way to purchase a print edition.

There is an online video to mark the occasion: http://www.thespec.com/videogallery/763863

The Second World War hit Hamilton hard. Many young men from Hamilton died on the beaches of Dieppe in 1942 when the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry landed on that god-forsaken beach during Canada’s bloody day of the war.

The only city that may have – arguably – suffered more tragedy during the war was Winnipeg. The city had infantry regiments at both of Canada’s bloodiest stands against the Axis powers. The Winnipeg Grenadiers fought gallantly – in vain – at the Battle of Hong Kong and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles at Dieppe.

Both battles must be remembered.

The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry lost 197 men that day, their names are listed on the RHLI website: http://www.rhli.ca/dieppe/dieppekia.html

Eight months ago, a former member of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment penned a moving piece in the Chatham Daily News regarding the Dieppe Raid. Larry King’s writing, while of a younger generation than the men who served, reflects the continuing Canadian struggle to understand the raid. His piece is well worth reading: Operation Jubilee –the Dieppe raid — was a valuable disaster The Essex and Kent landed

The Canadian War Museum’s page “Life on the Homefront: Hamilton, Ontario, a City at War” offers newspaper clippings from WWII editions of The Hamilton Spectator.

0 0 55 more