Archive for Jane Switzer

A Ryerson graduate shares some advice

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I’ll never forget my first week of journalism school.

Fresh out of Queen’s University’s English program, I entered Ryerson University’s Master of Journalism program in the fall of 2010 with a stint as co-editor of the Queen’s Journal and two solid internships—at the Kingston Whig-Standard and Maclean’s—under my belt.

Ryerson’s serious-looking website promised a hands-on, “rigorous and intensive” program. I was only 21, and I figured I’d be competing for lucrative paid internships alongside people with diverse but equal, if not better, experience. It was called a ‘master’s degree’ after all.

It wasn’t meant to be. During my first reporting class, the instructor mentioned in passing the “lede,” basic newsroom shorthand for the first sentence of an article because it (surprise!) leads the story. One of my classmates raised her hand. “Um, what’s a lede?”

Continue reading Is a journalism degree worth doing?

Astronauts, McGill’s budget cuts and UBC’s animal research

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1. McGill University’s board of governors spoke out for the first time Thursday on the Parti Québécois government’s mandate to cut $20-million in spending by April, and the CBC reports their response is pretty clear: They’re not gonna take it. McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum told the CBC the cuts are “draconian, unpredictable, [and] ineffective.” Quebec’s universities are under order to cut $120-million in the next four months, but McGill is in a particular pickle: the university’s budget was set last spring, before the student protests against tuition hikes that consumed Montreal and led PQ leader Pauline Marois to announce a tuition freeze in September. McGill contends the cuts are impossible, and is board is asking the provincial government to revoke the cuts and honour its original commitment to the school’s budget.

2. The University of British Columbia released 2011 data on animals involved in its research today, reporting a total of 225,043 animal used in research in 2011, up from 211,604 in 2010. The university’s animal research wing has received negative attention in the past (particularly from a 2010 report from the Canadian Council on Animal Care), but The Province reports that university scientists defended their work at a media briefing before the data was released, pointing to medical advancements made as a result of animal testing. The 2011 report says the majority of the animals used in 2011 were rodents, reptiles, fish and amphibians. UBC’s vice-president of research told The Province sometimes there are no other alternatives: “Animal research is not going away at this time.”

Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 14th edition)

The pope’s first tweet, Mount Royal’s money woes and beer for your cold

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1. Stressed out from exams and warding off a cold? Drink beer! The National Post writes that Japan’s Sapporo Breweries is promoting a study that says hops, a key ingredient in beer, may have respiratory virus-fighting powers. Researchers at Sapporo Medical University (a partner in research, but no relation to the brewery) found that humulone, a chemical compound found in hops, helps protect against cold-like symptoms in adults and more serious illnesses like pneumonia and bronchitis viruses in children. Note: Do not actually guzzle IPAs for breakfast. Sapporo researcher Jun Fuchimoto told the AFP that someone would have to drink around 30 350-mL cans for the beer to have any anti-viral effect.

2. On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI joined well-known Twitter user Jesus and sent out his first tweet “in perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever,” the Associated Press reports via CBC. The ceremony included a proclamation as the 85-year-old pontiff tapped the screen of an iPad: “And now the pope will tweet!” The inaugural papal message: “Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.” Aw. At last count, the pontiff’s English @Pontifex account was closing in on 850,000 followers. Bad news for anyone hoping to hit up the pope via direct message: The Vatican told AP the pontiff won’t actually write his own tweets.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 12th edition)

University dean suspended, Christmas cards for criminals and more Ikea monkey

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1. Your obligatory Darwin the monkey news roundup: In a little over two days since his spontaneous romp through a Toronto Ikea parking lot, the rhesus macaque monkey has achieved international celebrity, even getting the Daily Mail treatment usually reserved for footballers’ wives. Darwin is headed for a sanctuary northeast of Toronto, but the Canadian Press reports that his owner wants him back. Enough monkey business – get back to studying.

2. The University of Windsor announced Monday that education dean Clinton Beckford has been suspended “in recognition of an academic integrity breach involving plagiarism.” University of Windsor president Alan Wildeman told the Windsor Star Beckford will return as “a contributing member of the faculty,” though not as dean, but wouldn’t say how the incident came to the university’s attention. Beckford’s unpaid suspension will last until June 30, 2014.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 11th edition)

Pot brownies, grassy libraries and a monkey loose at Ikea

Photo: dichohecho on Flickr

1. Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana use in November, but feeding it to unsuspecting classmates is a half-baked plan. On Saturday, two University of Colorado at Boulder students were arrested after their professor and five classmates fell ill from unknowingly eating “marijuana-laced brownies.” University police spokesman Ryan Huff told Reuters that Thomas Cunningham, 21, and Mary Essa, 19, brought the brownies as part of a pre-exam “bring food to class” day, and that police were called after the professor complained of dizziness and drifted “in and out of consciousness.” Three of the people who ate the brownies were hospitalized, but have since been released.

2. Speaking of pot brownies, shoppers at a Toronto Ikea undoubtedly rubbed their eyes in disbelief on Sunday afternoon when a tiny monkey clad in a diaper and faux shearling coat turned up in the parking garage at the North York store. The Toronto Star reports that the monkey, later identified as Darwin, somehow managed to escape from his owner’s car. Darwin was on the lamb for about half an hour before being captured by Toronto Animal Services. Darwin’s owner, who turned himself in and signed the monkey over to the care of Animal Services, was fined $240 for owning a prohibited animal. The little guy is already a social media sensation: Twitter parody accounts @IKEAmonkey and @Ikea_monkey popped up hours after the escapade.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 10th edition)

Word received ‘unprecedented’ number of searches: Merriam-Webster

Photo courtesy of Kate Ter Haar on Flickr

English majors, take note: Merriam-Webster has chosen pragmatic as its top word of 2011.

On Dec. 15, the American dictionary publisher announced its annual top-10 list, determined by the volume of searches on their online dictionary. Pragmatic, an adjective that means “practical as opposed to idealistic,” received an “unprecedented” number of searches throughout the year.

Merriam-Webster says search trends are often influenced by economic and political conditions. In 2011, the words ambivalence, insidious, didactic, austerity, diversity, socialism, vitriol and “après moi le déluge” topped the list—influenced in some part, no doubt, by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

What do you think, Canadian wordsmiths? Should pragmatic be the top word of 2011?

Researchers say meteorites fell over Selwyn, Ont.

Photo courtesy of the University of Western Ontario

Astronomers from the University of Western Ontario released a rare video Wednesday of a meteor falling from the sky just east of Toronto.

The footage was captured just after 6 p.m. on Monday evening by six video surveillance cameras belonging to Western’s Southern Ontario Meteor Network. The basketball-sized meteor was first spotted over Lake Erie and moved toward the north-northeast ending just south of the town of Selwyn, Ont., according to a news released from the university. Researchers say it likely sprinkled small meteorites over the area east of Selwyn near the eastern side of Upper Stony Lake.

Peter Brown, the director of Western’s Centre for Planetary and Space Exploration, says the occurrence is rare—only about a dozen meteorite falls have had their orbits measured by cameras. That’s why researchers at Western and the Royal Ontario Museum are interested in hearing from anyone who may witnessed or recorded the event or has found fallen meteorite fragments.

“Finding a meteorite from a fireball captured by video is equivalent to a planetary sample return mission,” Brown said in the news release. “We know where the object comes from in our solar system and can study it in the lab.”

Did you see the meteor? Contact Kimberly Tait at ktait@rom.on.ca

University of Guelph economists predict grocery store competition will slow price increase

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Canadians can expect some relief in food prices in the next year, according to a report by two University of Guelph economists.

The study, released Monday, predicts that retail food prices will rise 2 per cent in 2012, a modest increase compared to the 4.3 per cent pace of current food inflation. The price of meat, fresh vegetables and baked goods could rise up to 3 per cent, but the increase is small compared to what Canadians have endured in the past.  In 2011, meat rose 5 per cent, fruit rose 6 per cent and baked good rose 7 per cent. Fresh vegetables topped the list with a 10 per cent increase.

The study notes that the opening of new grocery stores—specifically Wal-Mart Canada’s planned crop of super-centres and Target’s Canadian debut in 2013—will keep competition between stores high and slow food prices from increasing. Canadians spend an average of 10 per cent of their household budget on food.

Sylvain Charlebois, associate dean of research and graduate studies at Guelph’s College of Management and Economics, co-wrote the study with Guelph economics professor Francis Tapon. Charlebois told The Globe and Mail the modest increase will give budget-conscious consumers a break.

“The Canadian consumer will benefit from what will likely happen in the next couple of years in the food distribution sector,” he said. “There will likely be a price war.”