Awards season is upon us! And while sustainability awards ceremonies may not be as elaborate as the Oscars or have as many musical acts as the Grammys (I can only assume, since I haven't seen either in several years), I am willing to bet that they are at least as fun and twice as important. While there is a great deal of fun (again, assuming here) and anticipation in watching your favourite celebrities grace the red carpet take home the grand prize, I think that the value in watching your peers, colleagues, teachers, and mentors be recognized for their work is a far greater award. Pauline's brilliant idea to keep the recipients of each award a secret - only to be revealed at the ceremony - really paid off once you saw the genuine look of pride, astonishment, and happiness on each of the winner's faces as they went to accept their certificate and shake the hand of the university president. It's so easy to get overwhelmed with exams, papers, assignments, and the daily grind of balancing work-school-life-friends-clubs-health and forget that there is really some incredible work being done around you (and also probably BY you). These award ceremonies help to remind us that despite the challenges and barriers that we face, there is hope in the people that have passion and there are people that are interested and invested in what is being done and want to see it continue. Or at least that's what it helps remind me. Every year the ceremony grows and more and more people attend to support the progress we are making (and to enjoy the most delicious free food the university offers). For all the nominees, sustainability is more than just a footnote in their work: they live, work and breathe it. And I always fear sounding too cheesy but I can't help but say that EVERYONE deserved to win this year. Each person has gone above and beyond in their field - and sometimes outside of their field - to help make the world a little better and brighter for those living and future generations. And it's only the tip of the iceberg! The greatest asset of these awards is also one of it's greatest flaws (in my own opinion) - all nominees are legitimately NOMINATED by people, there is no self-nomination or list compiled by the office, so every person or club on stage was there because someone had recognized the work they were doing and told us they deserved it. For the winners and nominees in each category, it can be extremely moving to know that someone (nominators are anonymous) took the time to fill out an application and tell us what makes you 'worthy' of an award. That being said, there are obvious gaps where faculties, clubs, or student leaders may not be recognized because someone didn't take the time to fill out the application or, more often than not, simply didn't know about the awards and didn't realize that their nominations actually matter. Hopefully as the years go by more and more people will be nominated for awards and will have the opportunity to be recognized by the institution, in a formal way, for the effort that they put into their projects, because there is SO much amazing work being done by more people than could probably have fit into that room. Congratulations to all the winners and I'm so proud that I study and work next to some of the brightest people in this generation!
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Last Wednesday I had the extreme pleasure of attending and presenting at a Spoken Word event planned by one of my colleagues at the Office of Sustainability and hosted by the University of Calgary's television station NUTV (New University TeleVision). Pauline - the organizer - will tell you that any successful event requires a substantial lead time and we've been privy to snippets of the planning process for the past few months. That being said, the minutes and the hours leading up to the event were still nerve-wracking as people started to slowly fill into the tiny set; NUTV remarked that this was the most people that they've ever seen in their space! (It was the first time in my four years that I have ever been there.)
Echo! was presented as part of the Greenlite Arts Festival which showcases eco videos, film challenges and environmentally-themed poetry. For the spoken word portion, we simply asked performers to develop a piece that answered the question: "what would you say if you were the last artist standing?" Answers fell on all sides of the sustainability spectrum from laments about the way our earth is being treated to social commentaries on the higher education system and the value of an arts degree. I was blown away by the quality of the performers. One of my favourite things about the spoken word/slam poetry community is that it is so diverse and the atmosphere always feels comforting and inviting. Every performer always feels like they are bearing a little piece of their soul - and sometimes they are - and you as an audience member have the opportunity to witness a snapshot of their life. As cheesy as this sounds, I honestly can't express the feeling any other way. People that you may never associate with writing or look like they are unaffiliated with anyone in the room are suddenly friends and talking on the same level about our issues. Though it wasn't intended to be a competition, a prize was awarded to the poet with the greatest stage presence, message, and audience reaction. The winning poet knocked it out of the park with a rap-style slam on society, university and the human experience, which included a witty take on "higher education" in which he expressed his degree would be more useful if he rolled it into a joint and smoked it. I gave a shaky performance of my two fairly literal interpretations of the theme - Ghost Pines and What is and What Was - but I still just enjoyed being there despite the nerves and am proud that I was in the company of the other amazing performers. I'm excited to see if this becomes a tradition that continues every year as part of the Greenlite Arts Festival, but even if it isn't I am thrilled with how everything worked out. Event planning is never easy and Pauline did an amazing job of pulling this event together. Check out a stream of the entire performance here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/fullfrontallive visions of paradise from light & soul on Vimeo. Heard about Leaf Ninjas today, and I won't put words in their mouths: Forces Of Nature: Things like this reaaaaaally make me wish that I had a backyard, but it also makes me excited to see what happens with the Community Garden this year (and to have the opportunity to garden outside of my balcony pots). I always try to feel like things are going to turn out for the best, but this time I really, truly sense that there is a lot of fire driving campus initiatives and I feel lucky that I might get to see it happen while I'm still in my undergrad.
Today was bittersweet - the office celebrated pi day with a delicious assortment of fruit pies from Bliss & Co. Cupcakes and Desserts. They were a pretty incredible precursor to one of the workshops that we ran today, focused on campus dining. This is one of my favourite workshop topics not just because I enjoy food A LOT but because I think it is one of the most interesting topics in sustainability. Everyone in the room engaged in lots of lively debates about the pros and cons of eating 'local' or what the definition of 'local' even means in a food purchasing context. In light of San Francisco's recent water bottle ban we also talked about logistics of bottle-banning and what it would mean in a campus context. I can't share everything about what goes on behind-the-scenes, but I can say I always find it really interesting to hear all the different opinions and love being able to have people from all experience levels or departments on campus coming together to talk about these very real ideas. And farmer's markets....I love farmer's markets.
The sadder part of the day came upon hearing that one of our co-workers recently submitted their resignation letter. While I am super excited for them to grow and enjoy life outside the office, we will certainly miss them and it's always a loss to lose a great person who never ceases to make everyone's day. With that being said, here is this week's song swap, on time! Lil Wayne - Movement Spacehog - In The Meantime Rhye - Last Dance Junip - In Every Direction (White Sea Remix) A$AP Rocky ft. Lana Del Rey - Ridin' So, it's official. I suck at maintaining a consistent schedule (ever since I missed my own birth...)
In my defense, I had two workshops Friday to prepare for and have been working at either both the university + Pet Planet or going to the university and taking classes. I also went to a workshop about building communities end engaging people! I guess that's still no excuse, please accept these songs as condolences: Mos Def - Ms Fat Booty Little Dragon - Klapp Klapp Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Holy Roller Lupe ft. Ab-Soul - Thorns & Horns CyHi the Prynce - Is It Me Broken Bells - Holding On For Life Broken Bells - Holding On For Life (Nick Zinner Remix) Eliza Doolittle - Skinny Genes It;s been awfully lonely in the office without our engagement coordinators... But at least we finally have our on-campus space up and running!
Rac ft. Penguin Prison - Hollywood Lana del Rey - Blue Jeans (remix) Penguin Prison - Fair Warning Florian Rietze - Triebhaus (MPathy Remix) Lorde/The Beatles - Royals/Come Together Mash-Up Agnes Obel - Fuel To Fire (remix) Dark Horse (Acoustic Katy Perry cover) Also, one of the engineers in our office just had his first baby, a 7lb, 8oz creature with a full head of hair. So we added some extra 'lullabies' to the mix: Lullaby 1 Lullaby 2 Lullaby 3 Lullaby 4 So since starting this job at the university I've sort of developed an addiction to conferences. Even a year ago I was too shy to really want to attend anything - even if it was free - for fear that I would not belong or do some horrible, terribly embarrassing thing that might taint my unknown reputation. I can see now that I did myself a great disservice, but I'm hoping to make up for lost time by attending as many events as possible.
Recently, I heard about a conference in Vancouver called "Leading Change: The Emerging Leaders Forum". I have not yet decided whether or not I'll be able to fit it in (because travel time and expenses - Canada is a big country!) I did apply to be an attendee though, because at least the application was free! Now to play the waiting game... |