Colin Easton's Story

Colin Easton is a writer and the creator of The Stranger Project. He attended Camosun College where he took the Applied Communication Program there with the hopes of becoming a videographer, but he later developed in interest in radio instead. In a video call interview, he shares his stories about The Stranger Project and how it all started.

        In 2013, Colin was diagnosed with clinical depression. He avoided communicating with people and spent most of his time inside. But he later made himself go out and tried to connect with someone he doesn’t know. After a conversation with a stranger he would go home and blog about that person’s story. In 2014, The Stranger Project came to life. The Stranger Project had helped Colin connect with many different people. Strangers had shared personal stories with him. Even though there were people who declined his offer in speaking with him, Colin did not give up because he knew that he would find someone who would look forward to sharing their deep dark secrets.

        Colin has been a guest speaker at events such as TEDx Talks and he is also an advocate for mental health. There is a documentary about The Stranger Project called, “Not a Stranger” that is directed by Kate Green. Colin Easton’s story will inspire people to go out and connect with the community.    

Tweeting Exercise

 1. Today The National Widget Company will be laying off 200 employees across Canada due to a restructuring of the company.

2. A human resource firm will be dealing with employees who have been laid off. Remaining employees will be offered counseling.

3. The option was to lay off employees or continue to add to the world over-supply which would make the company go out of business.

1. Sales of widgets have increased steadily which means The National Widget Company will rehire the 200 laid off employees from June 2016.

2. The employees will be called in as needed over the next few weeks with the plant operating at full capacity in 6 weeks.

3. 50 of the laid off employees has worked at the head office and main plant in Victoria.  

1. Since the Chinese market has been a success, The National Widget Company will add a manufacturing facility in Regina and also SK.

2. The NWC will hire 100 employees due to the expansion of the company.

3. The company needs the extra capacity because the Chinese market has been such a success. 

Opinion Post #2

Child Beauty Pageants   Chow   March 20, 2017

Child beauty pageants have been around since 1855 where P.T. Barnum has created “The National Baby Show”, a contest in which young girls are judged by their appearances (Moss, 2016). With the heavy makeup, sequin outfits, and attention these young girls are getting, it seems like they are living the dream. However, it is nothing like a dream. For example, the reality show from TLC network, “Toddlers and Tiaras” can be funny to watch at times but it is not always for laughs as it documents the lives of children under beauty pressures. Children who are trained to look like dolls for the public eye go through a lot of stress because at an early age they believe that physical attributes mean everything. This can lead to physical and mental health problems. Furthermore, these pageants encourage traditional female stereotypes where girls are viewed as objects. Therefore, child beauty pageants should be banned.

Contestants participating in child beauty pageants are too young to understand what they are going through. With their whole face covering in makeup and wearing a revealing outfit, this is how they catch the audience’s attention. With that being said, this is teaching children that natural beauty is unimportant. According to the British Journal of Psychology, “half of all six-year-olds think they are fat, and that by nine, half have been on a diet. For girls of 11 to 17, being thinner is their biggest wish,” (Roche, 2013, para.11). Not only will their physical health be affected but also their mental health. Parents who are former beauty pageants have forced their daughters to follow their footsteps while taking away their simple childhood and leaving them distressed. 6% of beauty pageant girls have suffered from depression (Statistic Brain, 2016). Child beauty pageants teach children about impossible beauty standards which can impact their health negatively.

A contest in which girls are judged by their physical attributes sends out the wrong message to society. Beauty pageants help promote the notion that women are nothing more than something to look at. At an early age, parents put their daughters in revealing outfits and teach them how to pose and catwalk seductively so they can impress the judges and possibly win money. Some believe this is a chance for young girls to play dress up and have fun, however, do parents even realize that they are sexualizing their children? “Parents assume the sexual content and innuendo in the programming they are watching will go over their child's head.. [but] in reality, they are teaching their children what kind of behavior will help them get noticed,” (Henson, 2011, para.5). Parents should teach young girls that their appearances are not meant to be assessed.   

Child beauty pageants might be entertaining for the parents and audience to watch, but it can impact the child negatively. Sexualizing children and causing them to develop health problems are two factors of why child beauty pageants should be banned.    

References:

Henson, M. (2011, September 13). ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ and sexualizing 3-year-olds. CNN. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/12/opinion/henson-toddlers-tiaras/

Moss, G. (2016, September 14). What’s the history of child pageants?. Bustle. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from https://www.bustle.com/articles/183975-whats-the-history-of-child-pageants

Roche, R. (2015, September 8). The ugly side of child beauty pageants. Irish Examiner. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/the-ugly-side-of-child-beauty-pageants-242192.html

Statistic Brain. (2016, January 24). Beauty pageant statistics. Statistic Brain. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from http://www.statisticbrain.com/beauty-pageant-statistics/    

Jason Motz Interview Story

Jason Motz Interview  Chow  March 14, 2017

            Jason Motz is a freelance writer and editor for Positive Living BC. After not wanting to be in retail anymore, Motz went back to school and continued his studies. He graduated from University of Victoria and while he studied there he wrote for the university’s newspaper called the Martlet. His first cover story for the Martlet was about the Egyptian spring. For him, this was the first important story that he wrote.

In a phone call interview, he shares some tips about freelance writing and journalism. As a freelance writer, we need to learn how to hustle and juggle with writing deadlines, our health, school, and our regular day jobs. There isn’t going to be someone there to tell us to get to work or remind us to take a break. Freelance writing will never be boring because of the different stories that will be assigned to you and also working with different companies will give you the chance to meet many new people. Reading is a very important activity to do as Motz has mentioned this a couple of times. Reading books specifically about the field you want to go into will help you discover a ton of information you haven’t known before.

The important skills a writer should have are meeting the deadlines for assignments, being prepared of what’s ahead, don’t have self-doubt, and be curious. Motz has provided many useful information about being a writer and it can help encourage young writers to set foot into the field.  

Free College Tuition

The plan to make college tuition free would break the barrier of financial problems and allow anyone to obtain a higher education, however, would tuition be completely free? If the student isn’t paying for their education, someone else would need to. The words “free tuition” is not actually free because “anytime the government offers something for ‘free,’ taxpayers ultimately pay for it,” (Eichen, 2015, para.4). Students who are serious about attending post-secondary should be paying for their own education. Working hard and finding ways to pay for college allow students to realize that education should not be taken for granted. If free tuition exist, anyone can go to college, even those who don’t wish to attend but since it is free they have nothing to lose but their time. “With no personal funds invested in education, students become significantly more likely to drop out after a few semesters,” (Eichen, 2015, para.6). Free higher education doesn’t only benefit low and middle income students but it will benefit students in the upper class. This means that working class families would need to financially support college degrees for wealthy families as part of their taxes. As Luebke has stated, “[free tuition] would not only reduce the costs of education for many who already qualify for a free or lower-cost education, it would also provide free education for students whose families have the means to pay for part or all of a college education,” (2016, para.17). Free cannot always fix a problem because it might be free for one group but another group has to pay the price. Instead of making tuition free, there should be other ways to help students get into post-secondary.

    

Eichen, A. (2015, November 30). The real cost of free college tuition. Washington University Political Review. Retrieved February 19, 2017 from http://www.wupr.org/2015/11/30/the-real-cost-of-free-college-tuition-2/

Luebke, B. (2016, February 4). Why free college tuition is a bad idea. Civitas Institute. Retrieved February 19, 2017 from https://www.nccivitas.org/2016/16909/   

Best travel cameras that suits you

There are many types of cameras to choose from and this blog will help you understand the differences of each camera. The writer explains the camera's functions and the price range so it's easier for you to decide which camera to buy. If you like traveling and photography this blog will capture your attention. 

URL: https://ordinarytraveler.com/best-travel-camera 

An easy treat to make

Here is an easy recipe on how to make birthday cake cookies for someone's birthday when you don't feel like baking a cake.

URL: http://www.jacquelynclark.com/2017/02/02/birthday-cake-cookies/

Don't be so self-critical

If you're being too hard on yourself and letting stress take over you, here's an article worth reading. Joel Almeida shares some ways that can rewire your brain to think more positively. 

URL: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/simple-5-second-habit-rewire-harshly-self-critical-brain/  

A repost for Simply Grove

Kirsten Grove is an interior designer and shares many ideas and tips to help people create their own living space. This blog post is about how to decorate like an adult. Many students might be moving out or they're already living on their own, so this post can provide us some creative ideas on how to make our living space nicer.

URL: http://www.simplygrove.com/how-to-decorate-like-an-adult/  

A repost for Jeff Goins' Piece

In his blog post, Jeff Goins talks about the times when he feels unsuccessful while his friends are achieving their goals. He then explains that everyone has their own race to run, meaning everyone has their own talent or goal to achieve. Goins encourages his readers to go win their own race and not someone else's. This post is worth reading when you feel like you're failing at something while others are winning.

URL: https://goinswriter.com/choose-craft/  

Analyzing a Blog Post

In Jeff Atwood’s blog post, “Because Reading is Fundamental”, he brings up the topic of how people don’t read until the end of the article before commenting in the discussion board. He implies that talking or commenting on online discussions a lot doesn't mean it will lead to better conversations but listening or reading more will. Judging by the comment section his audience could be around any age between 18-40 years old. Their education level seems to be at least at the high school level which means their occupation is a student. Atwood introduces his blog post with an example of a user profile that has a post count. In his introduction he gets right into the topic which might draw readers in because they would want to know more about his topic. He is trying to prove to his audience that talking a lot doesn't mean it's a better way to communicate. There are two examples that he uses to support his main argument: The Ars Banana Experiment and The Slate Experiment. These examples show accurate results, therefore, the information is convincing. Atwood's proposed solutions are remove interruptions to reading, measure read times, give rewards for reading, and update in real time. His last sentence, "spend less time talking and more reading", sums up his main argument.

URL for Jeff Atwood's post: http://blog.codinghorror.com/because-reading-is-fundamental-2/