USSU Centres

It’s the end of January already! That means: 1) we are probably realizing we were unreasonable about our resolutions 2) the PAC won’t be as busy anymore because other people are realizing they were unreasonable with their resolutions and 3) your holiday hangover is no longer an acceptable excuse to not study because you probably have a midterm tomorrow.

I can give you plenty of reasons to study now so you don’t miss out on the fun stuff that is coming. Eat Your Art Out, Judy Garland starts February 8th and runs for 5 days. Helping to organize the Visual Arts Night has given me unique insight into just how incredible this event will be. Some of Saskatoon’s very best artists will be showing their work and giving talks!

My weekends in January have been filled with wrestling tournaments. I have travelled as a trainer with the Huskie team to Edmonton, Regina, and Winnipeg. That means I have spent over 35 hours on buses and dealt with countless nose bleeds. I know, it sounds exciting—and it is! The wrestlers are a great group to work with, and I am a bit sad that I will not be going to CanWest or CIS (Nationals) with them.

Instead, I’ll be hitting the slopes in Whistler. My vacation is coming up on February 1st and I am more than ready to enjoy the snow that has been so scarce around here. Study hard and learn lots!

Keegan

Posted by jbv373 at 10:32 AM | Permalink

Hello World,

There are many reasons why you should volunteer for the USSU Help Centre. I will list a few:

1. It’s super fun.
2. We sing Disney songs in unison and only occasionally well.
3. We constantly quote and reference community, Big Bang Theory, and How I met your mother.
4. We have a microwave and a great lunch hangout space.
5. We are a community.
6. There are sweet perks like learning how to make buttons and where obscure buildings and offices are.
7. It’s a great place to meet awesome people.
8. We care and want to help you succeed.
9. We have copious amounts of popcorn, which you can learn to make and eat for free
10. We hang out after volunteering hours too!

So if you’re looking for something to help take up the time in your long breaks or to put some extra experience on your resume or just to meet new people please think about joining our team!

<3 Alex

Posted by jbv373 at 10:43 AM | Permalink

2012 is fast promising to be an action-packed year at the Pride Centre. 
 
In February, the Eat Your Art Out, Judy Garland Queer Arts Festival returns, including a Visual Arts night at Browsers on February 9th at 7PM.  Three great artists will be giving short talks—Zachari Logan, Levi Nicholat, and Carrie Gates.  Over 15 local emerging artists will be showing off their work!  Be sure to check it out!

In partnership with Jer’s Vision and the Avenue Community Centre, the USSU Pride Centre will put on Dare to Stand Out, a one-day conference on bullying targeted at high school students. 

In March, the Carnival of Sex drag show returns to Louis' with a bigger carnival and promises of debauchery.  Also, Breaking the Silence, an annual conference put on by the College of Education, is hosting Ivan Coyote and has a full slate of interesting sessions to check out. 

All of these events need volunteers, and you could be one of them.  Email pride.centre@ussu.ca

In other exciting news, congratulations to University of Regina Pride--they just got a huge vote of support from their student body that means more financial support.  More money means more services--way to go U of R!

Posted by jbv373 at 02:31 PM | Permalink

At the UofS, we are blessed to be a low crime campus, compared to other Canadian universities. However, we still live in a city with one of the highest rates of crime per capita, in the world.  Campus Safety works hard through out the year to maintain safety on our campus.  Each year they post statistics of crime activity/operations on campus on their website . In 2011, there was a total of 365 suspicious vehicles or persons that were reported, 27 reports of harassment, I sexual assault and 1 robbery.  

Every now and then Campus Safety will require your assistance in identifying potential culprits.  Make sure you check out their website once in a while to see if you've spotted any of the people identified.  

Although we experience a low count of crime activity, we continue to encourage people of the UofS community to not walk alone at night and if needed contact Safewalk at 966-SAFE(7233). 

Currently, the Saskatoon Police and many others, are requesting assistance in finding a UofS student that went missing in December.  The search for Hamza Alsharief, has not yet located his whereabouts.  However, we all remain hopeful that our fellow student is safe.  If you have seen him or have any information regarding the whereabouts of Hamza Alsharief, please contact the Saskatoon Police Service at 975-8300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Take Care.
Ru

Posted by jbv373 at 08:50 AM | Permalink

When school starts and the stress of classes and the first tricklings of assignments come about, I start to look for something relaxing that I can do to lessen the load. There are a lot of options depending on the person but since I am a spontaneous gym goer and prefer things that are free…my options tend to be limited. However, I have happened upon a few things that I would like to share for those with similar limitations seeking out a bit of relaxation. The first is something that I discovered a while ago through a friend of mine, a Sunday morning Tibetan meditation session at 9am at the Refinery. It goes for about 2 hours depending and afterwards someone usually brings baking or there is tea and you just sit around in the cushioned space and talk about any and all. I believe my first session was followed by a conversation about some special foreign berry that tastes disgusting but is supposed to be a cure for anything that ails you… I was speculative but intrigued. The reason this meditation felt different than others I have attended is the diversity of the practices are covered. They are all Tibetan mind you but they are different types, including mantras, mandalas, simple mindful meditation and purification of the chakras… and so on. You never really know what to expect but you are always pleasantly surprised and learn something new with each morning spent. It is a very positive, accepting and interesting atmosphere with all ages of people, sometimes there is quite the crowd and sometimes just a few dedicated individuals.

Similarly, I checked out a meditation session that takes place on Wednesday nights at Flowers by Fred on 22nd St W. Some of the same faces were there and it had the same kind of vitality in the meditation except there was difference. This session was more focused on noise! You would think this would be all but relaxing but it’s incredibly calming and a whole new vein of meditation. It’s about an hour and half straight meditation and when the discomfort of sitting fades, there is a new focus on vibrations of sound, both vocal and musical. The space itself is very interesting since it’s in the middle of a flower shop on a rug with chairs and pillows, yet it is so comfortable, even though it was my first time attending I felt completely at ease with everyone there. Again, all ages and all levels of dedication to meditation, some were students like myself looking for something relaxing to empty the mind. I would highly recommend checking one of these meditation sessions or something like it.

Coming up at the Centre in the next month is the Pro-Choice campaign taking place on January 30 – February 3rd. There will be table in the tunnel for the week from 10-2:30pm with an informative display, resources and volunteers from the Centre to answer any questions. Two different documentary screenings will be taking place in Room 105 Memorial Union Building, “Vera Drake” on Thursday at 4pm and “4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days” on Friday at 3pm. I hope to see you in the tunnel and in the Centre for the screenings!! I will be updating you further on upcoming events in the next blog!!

Take care

Ashley

Posted by jbv373 at 08:37 AM | Permalink

Hello World

January is here and as it’s still early in the month everyone is being as lazy and/or productive as possible in this calm before the storm. The USSU Help Centre is about to get ridiculously busy. I’ve already had loads of people coming in for the exam file even though midterms are still a month away. I’m a bit envious of their enthusiasm. It is my last semester as a University Undergraduate student and I believe that I have finally reached the ‘final year slump’. This is a time when students who are about to graduate start losing momentum and really just glide on by. I’m hoping that this slump is only temporary and Skyrim induced, as it is my final semester and I will be working—or should be working—diligently on my honours project and last 100-level social science credit.

I’ve been planning Mental Health Awareness Week for several months now and it is fast approaching. For this week there will be a panel regarding suicide in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan with panelists from Avenue Community Centre, Living Works (an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Trainer), Aboriginal Student’s Centre, and After Suicide (a community-based Support Group). I am hoping that this talk will encourage people to start talking more about the fact of suicide as it has always been a rather taboo topic. There will also be an ASIST training the weekend (January 28th/29th) before, which helps people to recognize people having thoughts of suicide, intervene, and connect them to help. The following week there will be a SafeTALK (February 6th), which helps train people in a similar way to ASIST, but in a less intensive and shorter time period. If you are interested in partaking in either please contact help.centre@ussu.ca for more information!

I will talk more about Mental Health Awareness Week as we get closer to the date.

Hope your January is stress free or at least a bit more relaxing than December was.

<3 Alex

Posted by jbv373 at 03:45 PM | Permalink