Angelina Chapin2013-05-23T19:45:44-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=angelina-chapinCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Angelina ChapinGood old fashioned elbow grease.Beyond Gifts: HuffPost Bloggers Weigh In on Mother's Daytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32472422013-05-09T15:24:33-04:002013-05-09T15:24:39-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/Does breakfast in bed count? Will they one-up last year's handmade card?Should I buy my wife something?)
Luckily, our stable of bloggers have diversified the Mother's Day conversation (though not to worry, there is still some practical advice for hopeless consumers). Our collection spans a variety of topics: motherly insecurities, the decision not to have children, mothers whose lives are in danger and the stigma against stay-at-home moms.
So while you're scrambling to remember what kind of flowers your mamma likes best (or busy worrying your kids won't remember), think of what Mother's Day means beyond a price tag.
]]>The Boston Bombing: I Like My News Right, Not Fasttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31034772013-04-17T17:20:01-04:002013-04-18T09:17:50-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/reports that a suspect in the Boston bombing had been arrested flooded our newsroom Wednesday afternoon, editors scrambled to update our website. I imagine the scene was similar at other news outlets: the mad rush that ensues when trying to publish a story very fast that is also 100 per cent accurate.
In this particular case it was more difficult than normal to do since at many publications, the latter goal was losing out to the former. Headlines fought over whether a suspect had been arrested, or was even in custody at all. Our U.S. counterparts resorted to the headline equivalent of throwing their hands in the air: "They Can't All Be Wrong."
In the end, CNN, Fox News, AP and The Boston Globe were forced to backpedal on their arrest accusations, since none had in fact been made. It was a sobering lesson that in the rat race to be first, the media often ends up in last place.
When there was less competition in the breaking news landscape, journalists had the luxury of a little more time to ensure a story they published was factual. Now, in the mad dash for readers' eyeballs, the media often chooses fast over factual.
But who are publications serving by being the first to cross an invisible finish line? What the media often forgets is the stands are packed with other members of the media, not readers. Our readers, those we supposedly exist to serve, are often left wondering why no one is running in the race they truly care about: being right.
There are countless examples of how the media has opted for scooping the competition over presenting readers with accurate facts. Gordon Lightfoot and L'il Wayne's supposed deaths, the false reporting of the Supreme Court's Affordable Care Act being shut down, the false accusation of Adam Lanza's brother in the Newton shooting, and reporting on football star Manti Teo's "girlfriend" without bothering to check whether she actually existed. (Best typo in a headline goes to "Obama Bin Laden" but that's a whole other article.)
Luckily, reporting something is true does not mean it will suddenly happen. If that were the case, the media would have a lot of blood on their hands. But in addition to tarnishing people's reputations (we hope just temporarily, until the mistake is corrected), the other real damage the media do in these cases is creating a breach of trust with their readers.
A study by Triton Digital found that only one in eight people think that "internet-only news sources" are the most trusted places to get information. Mistakes can be made in any medium (in fact, some of the biggest factual errors about the Boston bomber were made by broadcast networks), but since the currency of speed is most valuable online (and it's the second most popular source of news), news websites need to be especially careful. And, perhaps, take a page from their long-form friends.
When the radio show "This American Life" dedicated a full episode to retracting a story they broadcast, and later learned was false, many found the reaction overblown (almost an hour-long episode just to say "We're sorry"?) But what Ira Glass and his team were doing was enforcing the strongest tie any media outlet should have with its readers: trust. And the fact that maintaining this trust can take time is something all outlets should remember today.
 ]]>Let's Talk About Kaetlyn Osmond's Talent, Not Her Crotchtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29123202013-03-20T10:00:16-04:002013-05-20T05:12:02-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/crotch shot was printed in a national newspaper. And that's the real tragedy of this story.
Canadians have been critical of the Globe and Mail's decision to showcase the 17-year-old in such an evocative position (gasp! -- she is showing flexibility and wearing a normal costume by figure skating standards) and the paper's public editor, Sylvia Stead, called the photo "unacceptable."
The image has sparked a national discussion about body image, but by wagging their fingers critics have actually done a disservice to women's rights: The conversation has once again been about a female's body rather than her professional success.
The true irony of the outrage is that Osmond initially thought nothing of the photo. She told a Toronto radio station that high kicks and short skirts are par for the course in her world, and that she was simply excited to be on the cover of a newspaper for the first time. But since many Canadians saw her media splash as more of a sink, that mentality has clearly tainted Osmond's thinking: "I was really excited about it," she said on air. "Then people were talking about the picture (not being) the greatest."
And therein lies the problem with the photo's critics: They are crossing that ever-so-blurry line between standing up for a cause and being judgmental. In an attempt to make a point about female body image, they are making this otherwise proud athlete feel insecure about hers.
Feminism has a bad habit of working in absolutes (girl in underwear-like spandex: bad), rather than seeing the bigger picture (girl kicking ass in her respective sport: good). It reminds me of that episode of Girls, the HBO series about four 20-somethings struggling to navigate post-college life, where the prudish Shoshanna is touting a dating book for its wisdom applicable to all womankind (or as she refers to them: "the ladies"). The rebellious, free-spirited Jessa is horrified by this over-simplification ("I am not 'the ladies'"). She says: "I'm offended by all the 'supposed to's'. I don't like women telling other women what to do, or how to do it, or when to do it."
So let's stop telling Osmond how to feel about her photo and let her feel the only way she wants to: proud. The best thing we can do for women's rights is not to dissect this image, but to focus on the achievements it represents.
When you think of Osmond, think of this: In the past two years she's placed first at the 2013 Canadian Championships, the 2012 Skate Canada International competition and the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy event. In her first ever world figure skating championship this year, Osmond landed in the top ten, securing herself a spot at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Because of her performance, three-time world figure skating champion Patrick Chan now feels Canada is the country to beat in the Olympic team event, according to the Toronto Star.
Maybe if we talk about Osmond's successes, she can grow confidently as an athlete and a woman, rather than feel self-conscious the next time she does a high kick as part of her job.
]]>Generation Y Workplace: Millennials Who Quit Jobs To Get Aheadtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-03-11T06:31:19-04:002013-03-11T12:42:33-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/he had tweeted the following:
After careful reflection, I've decided to leave my job at CTV. You can read more at www.kainagata.com
He linked it to his website, where he posted a 3,000-word manifesto explaining his resignation as the media company's Quebec bureau chief. The post – a musing on the moral shortcomings of TV journalism ("there was a growing gap between the reporter I played on TV, and the person I really am and want to become") – went viral.
After publishing it, Nagata began receiving constant tweets, text messages and e-mails, some deriding him as a coward, others lauding him as a hero. By the time he had reached his next destination, London, Ont., and met a friend at a bar, his phone had died because of the non-stop vibrations. In the next few weeks, Nagata would receive 1,000 e-mails, 2,500 Twitter messages and 1,500 comments on his post, not to mention retweets from the likes of Margaret Atwood and Roger Ebert and personal e-mails from Elizabeth May and Michael Ignatieff. Nagata hadn't just quit his job at CTV, he had become the poster boy for the debate around Millennial attitudes towards the workplace.
Millennials, loosely defined as those born after 1980, aren't afraid of quitting their jobs (full disclosure: I am one). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Generation Y is expected to stay in jobs for just over two years, about half the amount of time spent by the current average worker. Seventy per cent of recent graduates reported leaving their first jobs within two years, according to Experience.com's recent "Life After College" survey. While this tendency to flee may seem baffling -- considering that young people graduated into a job market devastated by the 2007-2008 financial downturn and are increasingly taking on more student debt -- economic turmoil actually helped spawn a generation of quitters. Many Millennials are forced to take jobs outside their field of study with which they quickly grow impatient and leave at the next best opportunity. Remember, this is a generation that has no company loyalty and was raised by boomer parents who told them "you can be whatever you want to be." Financial turmoil is just a bump on the road to the dream job they deserve.
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When Rema Gouyez graduated from journalism school in 2011, she was terrified. She kept hearing from professors and journalists how it was the worst time to be job hunting. And they were right. Millennials were the group hit hardest by the latest recession, whose effects still taint the job market. According to #GenerationFlux, a study released last year by Community Foundations of Canada, more than half the jobs that disappeared during the economic downturn were for Millennials aged 15 to 24, and the youth unemployment rate is now 14 per cent compared with 11 per cent before the recession. A recent survey of Millennials commissioned by HuffPost Canada found that the generation's biggest challenges was the ability to find a quality job. Meanwhile, student debt levels continue to grow – in 2010, almost 60 per cent of university grads owed an average of $20,000 to 30,000 in debt. Gouyez, who was born in Britain, was even worse off: she had the Canadian equivalent of $50,000 in debt from the City University London and was having no luck finding work in her field.
Her mother, a Moroccan immigrant who worked her way from a cleaner to a biomedical scientist after moving to England, was "a bit of a snob" about jobs. She would tell her daughter: "I don't want you to do anything you're not good enough for," which to Gouyez was looking increasingly more likely. After applying for jobs in London, she decided it would be easier to find a journalism job in Toronto, where she had done an exchange during her third year at school. That was just as hopeless. After a few months, Gouyez had heard nothing back, until a friend offered to help her land a job as an event planner for the historic distillery district in downtown Toronto. Gouyez jumped at the opportunity. "It wasn't even a case of I thought I could enjoy it," she said. "It was literally just to be able to pay the bills."
According to #GenerationFlux, a third of 25 to 29-year-olds with a college or university degree move into low-skilled occupations after graduating, though they rarely stay in them for long. Although Gouyez at least wasn't working at McDonald's, after four months she grew bored of organizing events for small corporate clients, booking rooms and co-ordinating menus.
"Once I learned [the work], there was nowhere to progress," she said. "I was losing my mind and thought ‘I can't do this anymore.'" Her mom was also hounding her to "stop wasting her time," so after four months, Gouyez started a job search, applying for three jobs a week. After two months, all she had got was an interview at a fashion magazine. Desperate, when an opportunity came up to be the marketing co-ordinator for a boutique merchant bank that funds resource projects, Gouyez took it.
"I had no interest in the mining industry," she said, "but I thought it would be a great stepping stone into a marketing position. I just wanted that title on my résumé to further my career." She "hated it" and quit after three months to work as the digital marketing co-ordinator at Benefit Cosmetics, where she has been since July 2012. That's three jobs in just over a year and a half.
Rema Gouyez is now working in her third job in a year and a half
For many Millennials, giving themselves the pink slip is a golden ticket to career growth. According to research done last year by the Harvard Business Review, 95 per cent of high achievers around the age of 30 leave companies after 28 months and regularly watch for potential employers. Instead of staying at companies that dictate after how many years an employee can be promoted, get a raise and – gasp! – from where and for how long they must work, Gen Y simply looks for a new opportunity.
With every career jump she has made, Rebecca Thorman has received a minimum 20 per cent wage increase (a typical raise is 2-to-3 per cent). Like hipster fashion, her résumé is cool because it is mismatched: Her first job after graduating in 2005 from interior design and environmental studies from a college in Madison, Wisc., was at an eco-consulting firm where she had interned. She lasted half a year before her next job as a fundraiser at St. Vincent de Paul. Thorman then decided she wanted to apply as the organization's development director, but her bosses said that at 21, she was too young.
Wrong answer. Rather than wait, Thorman quit to work as executive director at Madison Magnet, a networking group of young professionals and a company that thought she was old enough for the title. In the past four years, Thorman has switched jobs twice more, first to work as director at Alice.com, an e-commerce site for household products, and most recently at Speek.com, a D.C.-based company that manages conference calls.
"I've built a portfolio career because I don't perceive the employer as loyal anymore," she said. "I've taken that loyalty upon myself rather than rely on an employer that could care less about me or an elusive dream job to give me satisfaction."
***
It wasn't supposed to be this dramatic. Two days before quitting his job, Nagata pulled out of his driveway in Quebec City to begin a six-week road trip during which he would contemplate his future. He had asked his boss for a leave of absence since after two years in the broadcast world – first at CBC and then at CTV – Nagata was feeling burned out. The then 24-year-old had started working in the industry soon after graduating in 2008, and caught a series of lucky breaks that eventually resulted in the job running political coverage from Quebec City. But Nagata had slowly been building up to a breaking point – exhaustion from overtime, deadline pressures and physical demands (he once herniated a disk in his back and was off the job for six weeks) and mental frustration with the way the corporate agenda of his company determined which stories were covered and how.
Objectively, it was a dream job, but Nagata didn't feel right about his work. He had been driving on the highway for two hours in his 2007 Ford Ranger when his cellphone rang. It was his boss, calling to inform Nagata that he no longer had a six week leave of absence. CTV was no longer comfortable allowing him to soul search with no assurance he would stay with the company. Nagata had 72 hours to make up his mind. After the call, he stared out on to the road and realized the corporate pressure made his decision easier: Did he want to work for a company that views its human capital purely as moneymakers? No. He thought about freedom. A life without HR and cubicles. As Nagata drove to his first stop in Gatineau, he contemplated how to make his exit.
***
Believing that you would work for one company your entire career was the norm 30 years ago, but that was before "corporate" became such a dirty word. Growing up, many Millennials had family members who were affected by mass layoffs in the 1980s and 1990s and the erosion of benefits such as pensions, all of which planted the seed of distrust in youth. Stan Smith, who worked as the national director for Cross Generation Initiatives at Deloitte LLP for almost a decade, saw during a series of focus groups with 14 to 24-year-olds in 2006 how distrust of companies had spread like a pandemic among American Millennials. In both liberal-minded cities such as San Francisco and conservative places such as Greenville, S.C., all kids raised their hands when asked whether they had family members who had been laid off by companies. The kids said that, though they wanted to trust companies and ideally have multiple roles at one place, they were skeptical that employers could be loyal to them.
"They had seen the way their grandparents and uncles and aunts were treated by corporations and they didn't like it," Smith said. "The pain it caused their families – they saw no reason to trust businesses." The fact that so few managers are willing to adapt in ways that accommodate Millennials' views means that Gen Y's negative attitude persists.
There is no doubt that young people have high expectations of their workplace, a fact that often leads them to be dubbed "entitled." It's easy to mock this quest for meaning for its sanctimonious quality, epitomized by a line that Lena Dunham's character in the HBO series "Girls" delivers to her parents over a tense dinner: "...I am busy – trying to become who I am."
Yet Generation Y has some concrete demands from the workplace that managers would be wise to heed. Smith's research found that 79 per cent of Millennials consider a "good" company to be one that invests in its employees, community and the environment. Forty per cent of North American MBA grads say they would sacrifice almost $14,000 a year to work at a company that prized corporate social responsibility, according to a study done by Stanford University. They also want to feel personally challenged. "A lot of workplaces just kind of put you into your spot in the system and expect you to stay there," Thorman said. "But I think Gen Y wants to have control and touch every piece of the workplace."
The conflicts between Millennials and management have created a niche of literature filled with titles such as Motivating the "What's In It For Me" Workforce and Not Everyone Gets a Trophy. According to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, 61 per cent of chief executives say they have trouble recruiting and integrating younger employees, a fact that does not surprise Smith.
"Older bosses think they have to run a business and have no time to communicate with young people," he said. "They ask me how to work with kids, and I say ‘you have to talk with them.'"
Beth N. Carver, a consultant who has delved into exit interviews, found the two biggest reasons young people leave their jobs are a lack of both training opportunities and mentors. When Craig Alexander, the senior vice-president and chief economist at TD (and a member of Gen X) interviews young people to work on his team of 13 economists, they inevitably ask about mentoring. While he has invested in coaching as a result, many managers that Alexander encounters are reluctant to invest in employees who are likely to leave.
"My question is always: ‘What if you don't invest in these skills and they stay?'" he said. "If you only have them for a few years then you've had a smart person contributing to your output for several years. That's a better outcome than hiring someone mediocre who is going to stay with you for a long time."
And a company's investing in those skills might lead to the unthinkable: a Gen Y employee might actually stick around.
For the first time in her short career, Gouyez feels loyal to an employer. She now works as the digital marketing coordinator for Benefit Cosmetics, a job that satisfies many Millennial needs: "Before, I had managers yelling at me or telling me I'm doing this or that wrong," she said. "Here, I'm more like the manager of my own digital department. Knowing that is really encouraging and pushes me to work harder." She is allowed to show personality on the company's social media accounts and enjoys the positive work atmosphere – employees are given points for making each other laugh. When she thinks of career growth, it's within the company.
As for Nagata, he is now working as a freelancer in his hometown of Vancouver and believes that leaving CTV was the best decision he has made.
"The last year and a half has been a long, unbroken exercise in figuring out what I'm not good at," he said. "I can think with some realism now about what I want to do well and how I can apply that to my larger goals about who I want to be." He admits to having alienated some people in his profession with his blog post ("I burned ... no, I blew my bridges into the stratosphere," he said in a recent interview with Vancouver Magazine) but says most of the criticisms revealed people's own insecurities and anger.
"I didn't like being used as ammo for tired attacks against young people for somehow being clued out to their own privilege or having the temerity to want to work for people they respect and respect them back," he said. "Just because most people don't find themselves in a position where they can make the decision to quit doesn't mean it's okay."
Shortly after posting the blog, Nagata returned to Vancouver and became a writer-in-residence for the independent website the Tyee. He filmed a documentary that he released online about a blind lute player who jumped motorcycles. He grew a beard. He continued to maintain his website, where he voices the opinions he couldn't in mainstream media (see his ethical oil rap, for example).
Late one morning on a weekday in January, Nagata was being picked up by his friend to shoot a film, the subject of which he refused to divulge. "I'm rattling around in a 1992 Ford Ranger with video equipment." he said. "It seems to be a theme in my life. Would I go back to an office job? Yeah. I mean, absolutely, if the conditions were right. I don't have some sort of philosophical opposition. If something comes along with people I respect and a job I think I'd be useful at then, yeah. Why not?" ]]>Allison Williams Of 'Girls' Talks Season 2, Nudity, Lena Dunham And Moretag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-01-09T16:01:42-05:002013-03-05T09:11:59-05:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/Season 2 of "Girls", the show about four 20-somethings living in New York City, life gets messier for Allison Williams' character, Marnie.
The first half of Season 1 saw Marnie as the uptight, put-together foil to her disheveled best friend Hannah (Lena Dunham), but by the season finale, their roles were blurred.
While Hannah was wearing a cute floral dress and spent the night dancing with her dedicated boyfriend, Marnie messily (and publicly) rebounded from her breakup wearing a get-up another character refers to as "J-Lo at the Grammys."
The girl who had it all starts Season 2 (premieres on Sunday, January 13 at 9 p.m. EST on HBO) with nothing: no job, no apartment and no boyfriend. HuffPost TV caught up with Allison Williams to talk about nudity, Marnie's constant anxiety and how her life has changed in small but significant ways, thanks to "Girls."
(Some spoilers if you haven't seen Season 1 in its entirety!)
What was the biggest surprise returning on set to film Season 2 of "Girls"?
I was going to say Chris Abbott [who plays Charlie, Marnie's ex-boyfriend] grew some facial hair and got a haircut, but that just took me 20 seconds to get used to. The biggest surprise was that suddenly, when we were shooting in New York, photographers would be there. When we shot outside for Season 1, the paparazzi would walk by and say, "Is anyone famous in this show?" and I'd be like, "No. No one famous is in this show. You can keep walking. I think they're shooting 'Smash' around the corner." And this season they take pictures of us.
Season 1 ended with your character, Marnie, coming undone. How does she evolve this season?
In Season 1, she had a place to live with Hannah, her best friend, in an apartment that was great and a job that she liked a lot -- or a little -- or it didn't matter because it was just a paying job. And then she had this boyfriend who she also didn't really like, but it was really nice to have a boyfriend. Now, in Season 2, she has no boyfriend, she has no job, and she's no longer living in that same apartment. So you take all the things that usually describe Marnie out of the equation and it's just her in the world, trying to figure it out. She's still very controlled and closed off, but it's definitely a season of transition and a season of reckoning for her. It's a bit of a challenge to see if she can pull herself out of this.
You said in an earlier interview that you thought you're similar to Marnie, but she is "one deep breath behind" you.
Oh, that's very eloquent. Well done, Past Me!
What did you mean by that?
What I mean is when I go to play her, the only adjustment I have to make -- in contrast to Daniel Day-Lewis, who spent months assuming his physicality and voice for "Lincoln" -- is to take a deep breath and not let it out until I go home. Even when Marnie's trying to look relaxed, something inside her is still tense. I don't know if she's ever relaxed all the muscles in her face in her life. I don't know that she's ever really let loose or had no thoughts in her head. I've definitely been there, but have gotten a lot better over the years. And it was simply by acknowledging how I'm wired that I was able to get better at relaxing and easing into everything. Marnie's still very stubbornly in pursuit of perfection.
You've also said previously that you don't intend to get fully naked on screen, as Lena's character often does. But how does the nudity on "Girls" differ from other shows or movies?
Because of the way it's shot. The fact there's no glossy lighting. There aren't candles burning. The funniest thing is there actually is a sex scene with Charlie and I in episode two of Season 1 where there are candles burning. It's the closest thing we have to one of those typical scenes in the show, and it's terrible. The whole point of the scene is that it's terrible. The sex and nudity are all supposed to remind you of the worst moments you've had sexually, or the most uncomfortable stories you've heard, and that's what people are reacting to. It's not the naked body. We see those our whole lives. The newness is in the way the nudity is depicted, floating in and out of an episode like it's nothing. It's not the big crescendo of a film or the centerpiece of the scene. It's just sort of an asterisk.
Does the way the sex scenes are filmed on "Girls" make you more comfortable with the idea of being naked on screen?
It makes me feel like I'm part of a show that's aiming to portray a very real reckoning of what's going on. It wouldn't be the full picture if viewers weren't seeing the characters in in these private moments, and that's something we all signed up for at the beginning. And sometimes it means shooting a pretty challenging scene, but it's all for the good of the show. I trust Lena. We look at what she does and just follow.
A discussion erupted in our newsroom about the male characters on the show. What do you think of them?
Oh, they're so rich. I love them.
Some of my colleagues thought they were less dimensional than the female characters.
I think Adam Driver's portrayal of Adam [Hannah's boyfriend from Season 1] is one of the most genius acting performances I've seen in a long time. It is so strange. The fact that he won us over throughout the course of the first season is kind of amazing. Like it or not, you were rooting for he and Hannah as a couple in the finale and you were on his side. Everyone was. Everyone in the world. Lena wrote that scene for people to stack up against her. It's incredible. I told my friends at the beginning of the season, "You're going to like Adam in the end," and they were like, "No, his apartment is too dirty. He is too mean to Hannah." Now my friends have a crush on him and want his number.
You've said you relate to the lifestyle portrayed in "Girls," but now that the show has brought you a new level of fame, what about four women struggling to find success in New York City still resonates?
In very specific ways my life has changed, but my daily routine is almost identical to how it was before the show happened. Really other than doing work things like getting to talk about the show and promote it, everything's the same. I go to the same exercise classes. I still take the subway. I eat at the same places. I like to wake up as late as I always liked to wake up. It's all the same and I'm still trying to be in more stuff. I'm still hearing, "No." No matter what stage of career you reach, you're still going to be denied roles and that's a very important thing to realize. Everything is business as usual except this one, tiny caveat: I'm on this awesome show that changes small things in a big way.
Season 2 of "Girls" premieres on Sunday, January 13 at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Canada.
]]>Canada Immigration: Foreign Skilled Workers Struggle To Find Jobs In Their Professionstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2012-12-19T05:39:30-05:002013-01-30T12:17:35-05:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/ In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.
Lin wasn't able to watch the president's speech at that historic January event because he was working, giving people their smokes to get through the night and eggs for the morning. At the time, the prospect of sweeping change to America greatly inspired him. Lin had always meant to study the president's message, though now, two years later, he does so skeptically. Obama's refrain of "hope and change" worked better as a rallying cry than a means of influencing policy.
When Lin moved to Canada in 1999 from Gutian county, in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, he was full of hope. He had almost 10 years of experience as a mechanical engineer and a bachelor's degree from one of the most prestigious schools in China. He had a master's degree from a university in Japan and had worked in the country, a place more racist toward other Asians than he thought Canada could ever be. Lin estimated it would take him a few months to find professional work. Instead, after sending out 150 résumés over the course of six months, he didn't receive one call.
A group of three young people interrupt the silence in his store, permeating it with the faint smell of liquor. One sits down on the stool in front of the bright-blue lottery kiosk on the back wall that faces Lin's counter. The man, wearing an army-patterned hood over his head, slumps over a brown paper bag from the liquor store on his lap.
"Porno!" he says loudly, pointing to a small collection of titles such as "Underground Asian Girls" and "Plastic in his Ass" on a shelf beside Lin. The man laughs uncontrollably. His two friends, who walk through the fluorescent-lit aisles filled with junk food, dusty canned goods, and random products such as Chinese insecticide, try to stifle their laughter, like kids in a classroom.
Lin shakes his head and says nothing.
"You have a lot of porno!" the guy says with wide eyes, looking past Lin at the DVDs. "You have no other movies! Just porno!" Lin shakes his head again and looks down, avoiding eye contact. Humiliated.
Once flush with hope, Lin is now filled mostly with regret. What career would he now have had he stayed in Asia? Why did he uproot his family for this life in Canada?
Lin is one of many skilled immigrants asking themselves the same questions.
In January, the government will overhaul Canada's economic immigration system, making changes that will have a drastic effect on future skilled workers. On Dec. 12, the government announced a new stream for skilled immigrants who work in trades, and there will be significant changes to which criteria are most valued during the selection process under the Federal Skilled Workers program. While the new system will likely help curb the overeducated and under- or unemployed phenomenon that currently plagues immigrants such as Lin, they also carry a serious consequence: Canada, a nation that prides itself on its multiculturalism, is turning its back on desperately needed diversity. Just as the economy is becoming more global, our government will make it harder for ethnically diverse immigrants to enter.
ADOPTION vs. INTEGRATION
Canada is known internationally as the poster country for multiculturalism. We have the highest level of immigration per capita of any country, about 250,000 immigrants a year. Almost 20 per cent of our residents are foreign-born.
In about 20 years, Statistics Canada predicts that about a quarter of our population will be foreign-born. While many Canadians enjoy being able to choose between samosas and spring rolls, they conveniently ignore a dark reality: Though this country excels at adopting immigrants, it too often fails at integrating them into the Canadian workforce.
Economic immigrants — those who are supposed to strengthen our labour force — account for about 60 per cent of all newcomers. The most significant stream is the Federal Skilled Workers (FSW) program, designed to attract professionals who, based on their human capital, will succeed in the Canadian workplace. A 2008 parliamentary report revealed that 60 per cent of skilled immigrants work at a lower occupational level than they did before moving to this country
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Although recent immigrants are more educated than their Canadian-born counterparts — three times as many have undergraduate degrees, according to Statistics Canada — only 24 per cent work in their fields, less than half the rate for those native to Canada.
Immigrants also earn less. In 2007, the unemployment rate for newcomers with a university degree was four times that of their Canadian-born counterparts. And the problem has only worsened with time.
Canada is sitting on an underused gold mine of diverse talent. As Western nations look to do business with prospering countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, employees from these nations could be invaluable assets.
"My concern is that exactly at a time where we need more natural ambassadors to China and Brazil, we'll get less immigrants from there," said Ratna Omidvar, president of the Maytree Foundation, an organization that develops immigrant-related policy ideas. "And I worry about the implications for multiculturalism."
Our main sources of newcomers are China (14 per cent), India (12 per cent) and the Philippines (7 per cent). Employers who embrace hiring diverse candidates will have access to an additional 1.6 million Canadians, says a recent study from RBC. That's good news for a country that is reportedly expected to see over one million jobs go unfilled in sectors such as mining, oil, and health care over the next few decades.
So why aren't we using them?
"Employers have a built-in bias and prejudice (against ethnic minorities)," said Montreal-based immigration lawyer David Cohen. "We don't recognize their language, and we don't recognize their skill set or education."
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Lin has seen better times.
Working in his native China on water turbines, he was a celebrated mechanical engineer, so much so that the government hand-picked him to help develop a turbine for export to Thailand. He moved to Japan with his wife to earn a master's in mechanical design, then worked at a company manufacturing optical glass for fax machines produced by big companies such as Canon and Xerox.
In the points system that Canada uses to determine eligible skilled immigrants, Lin scored above average, and Canada listed his profession as in-demand. After finding out he was accepted, Lin went online and received his certification from the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) to ensure that his credentials transferred to a new market.
If he did everything right, what went wrong?
Rather than fix the fact that more-than-capable immigrants such as Lin often sink in the Canadian labour market, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney's changes kowtow to employer stereotypes.
In the points system, prospective immigrants currently must reach a minimum score of 67 out of 100 points in six categories: education, language, experience, age, arranged employment and adaptability. Since employers have identified low language skills as the No. 1 impediment to hiring new Canadians, Kenney will make that category the most significant, increasing its maximum points from 16 to 24. For the first time, foreigners will be required to score a minimum on the standardized language test to show they are at an "adequate intermediate" level, meaning they can express opinions, use idioms, and research and deliver a 10-minute presentation.
Lin remembers scoring about 10 points in the language category, a low mark for which he was able to compensate with stronger performances in the other sections. The new minimum threshold means an applicant would have to score the equivalent of 16 points just to be considered.
Many skilled immigrants arrive armed with an impressive résumé, only to learn that their foreign credentials are not recognized by Canadian employers. To avoid this rude awakening, Kenney will designate non-governmental organizations to do pre-assessments on prospective immigrants so they will know before applying if their education and work experience will transfer to the Canadian market. In addition, since employers often undervalue foreign work experience, Kenney is reducing the maximum number of points available in that category to 15 from 21 and at least one year of work in Canada will earn immigrants the maximum amount of points under “adaptability.” For education, rather than award points based on the type of degree, a designated organization will determine the foreign credential’s equivalency in Canada. The Minister will also ramp up numbers in economic immigration streams where discrimination is harder to control for.
The skilled worker program is still the best way to ensure foreigners are chosen equitably.
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Before it was implemented in 1967, newcomers primarily came from Western countries such as Britain, Italy and the United States. By the early 1970s, countries such as Hong Kong, India and Jamaica became top source countries, and since at least 1994, Asia has been Canada's largest source of skilled immigrants.
Kenney, however, is increasing numbers in programs where employers play a greater role in the selection process. Since 2004, the size of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), whereby provinces sponsor immigrants for specific jobs needed there, has grown almost six-fold, and the government aims for a record high number in 2012. The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) – created in 2008 to provide a fast-track to permanent residency for foreigners with Canadian experience – was projected to increase by 1,000 spots this year.
Although these programs often result in jobs for immigrants, discrimination is extremely hard to monitor.
"There is no real way of ensuring employers will be selecting people without bias," said Jeffrey Reitz, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto and author of "Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion: Potentials and Challenges of Diversity." "The points system, with all its problems, is not something we should throw out."
Kenney has taken cues from similar changes made to the Australian system in the late 1990s that proved successful: Within six months of arriving, 81 per cent of economic immigrants had secured work in their field. But Australians also found that the revised program had an unintended consequence: The group of immigrants became less diverse.
Now the main source of newcomers to Australia is Britain – 20 per cent compared with Canada, which sees 5 per cent of immigrants who come from there – and studies show that the numbers of immigrants from other English-speaking countries such as New Zealand, the United States and South Africa are growing.
Meanwhile, a 2012 study by a University of Waterloo and Australian professor found that growth in immigration from Asian countries almost completely stopped between 2001 and 2005.
Experts worry that the same thing could happen in Canada as a result of Kenney's changes.
"Undoubtedly the new system will change source countries," said Arthur Sweetman, a professor in the Department of Economics at McMaster University. "But one thing we can also say is individuals from source countries do adapt. If the points [system] changes, people from country "X" who don't speak good English will put more effort into learning. But maybe that's putting the burden on the wrong place."
What kind of talent is Canada losing by devaluing diversity in our selection process?
THE INTERVIEW
For the first time in awhile, Lin puts on a dark navy suit and the black leather shoes he used to wear to work in Japan. It's May, 2003, and today, Lin will not be standing behind his convenience store counter.
Lin tries not to feel nervous. He is simply seeing what a Canadian job interview is like. If it doesn't work out, he always has his convenience store.
Lin knows he is qualified, that he brings a unique advantage for having worked in Asia, where technology has been developing faster. But he also knows foreign credentials are worthless. Paired with a Chinese accent, he already has two strikes against him.
Half a year after arriving in Canada, Lin had discovered that a former Chinese colleague was running a convenience store in Toronto. Lin decided to do the same. The man, who had a master's degree in economics, bought the store after growing tired of doing manual labour in a clothing factory – the only job he could find in three years.
There are many stories like his.
Fred Su owns the store down the street. Su immigrated as an electrical engineer in 2002 with 10 years of Chinese experience. After unsuccessfully applying for jobs during his first month, Su returned to night school for Canadian certification as a machinery auditor, a job he had done for two years in China.
He took a low-paying job in a food packaging factory outside the city, waking up at 5 a.m. and working until 3 p.m. After a few months of the routine, he had lost 30 pounds. When Su took the certification exam, he failed because his language skills had not improved enough to sufficiently answer the questions.
Lin bought Best Convenience eight months after moving to Canada, but quickly became restless. He found the neighborhood unsafe and would not let his wife work at night. Many of his customers were either drunk, stoned or mentally ill. Twice someone pulled out a knife and robbed his cash.
But mostly, he was bored.
Lin's daily interactions rarely moved past "do you want a bag?" and he couldn't imagine living the rest of his life to the soundtrack of a lottery machine. By 2003, he had started flipping through classified ads again in the Toronto Star again and applied for a few computer-aided design engineer jobs. Finally, he received a call back.
When Lin arrives for his job interview in downtown Toronto, two men are waiting for him. They shake hands and sit down at a table in the lobby, where the managers start asking him questions about his work experience in China. Lin answers politely in a level of English that has not improved since he bought the store.
One of the men shows him a computer drawing of a generator. They ask him how long it will take to reproduce the image, work Lin has done many times, and he replies three hours. The men keep a poker face.
Ten minutes later, leaving the building, Lin doesn't know how to feel. Though he knows he is more than qualified to do the work, he keeps thinking of all his disadvantages: the fact that he hasn't been practising for a few years, and namely, that he isn't Canadian.
The government might prize diversity, but most companies do not. Lin doesn't blame others or feel disappointment about the choices he has made. The Chinese describe this attitude as renming, signifying one who acknowledges his fate. So after two weeks, with no call back, Lin abandons his professional ambitions.
FOREIGN EXPERIENCE NOT WELCOME
Canada takes for granted that it can attract diverse immigrants. Our country's immigrant narrative, that newcomers will sacrifice their own careers as a means for their children to succeed in a free and inclusive society filled with opportunity, has become less and less compelling.
Meanwhile, some of Canada's biggest source countries have made efforts to lure back the best and brightest immigrants. In China, the "Thousand Talents" program, which consists of the central government offering jobs, research grants and moving allowances, has attracted more than 2,000 Chinese expats in three years willing to return to their country of origin.
The government launched a follow-up program in 2010 to target those under 40. An article in The New York Times documented the phenomenon of U.S.-born children of Indian immigrants – at least 100,000 in 2010, according to a senior government official – who emigrated to the country of their parents' origin, which they see as having better job options.
"Bringing in controversial immigration policies which may question our commitment to inclusiveness sends the wrong message," said University of Toronto's Reitz. "It could undermine our ability to create a more inclusive society for the people who are already here."
Our points system, which has traditionally drawn worldwide admiration, has been replicated by other countries. In 2008, the U.K. rolled out a similar system, and other Western countries such as Germany and Spain are looking to do the same.
"We can't just say we'll pick the best skilled workers and of course they'll be grateful to come here," said Bill Greenhalgh, CEO of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA). "That's not the way it works anymore."
Canada needs to tackle workplace biases against different cultures, but research suggests those biases are often unspoken and deeply ingrained. A 2011 study by two University of Toronto professors and titled "Why do some employers prefer to interview Matthew, but not Samir?" found that, after sending out résumés to English-speaking employers in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, those with a Chinese, Indian or Pakistani names were on average 40 per cent less likely to be interviewed than those with English-sounding names.
When the recruiters were asked to explain the pattern, "overwhelmingly, they responded that employers often treat a name as a signal that an applicant may lack critical language or social skills for the job."
The researchers found that adding other qualifications, such as the fact that an international applicant's university was accredited by a "Canada International Skills Certification Board" did not change the results.
A 2006 study from two University of Calgary professors discovered that skilled immigrants feel "Canadian institutions did not understand how academic systems in other countries worked and assumed that foreign qualifications were inferior."
In terms of earning potential, foreign experience is worth just 30 per cent of its Canadian equivalent, according to research done by University of Ottawa professor Ross Finnie.
With the pressure to hire quickly and effectively, many employers view foreign credentials as an unnecessary risk.
"If you hire someone with a well-known degree who does poorly, nobody's going to blame you," Reitz said. "If you take a flyer on someone whose qualifications you know less well, people will think, ‘Gee, why'd you hire them?'"
AMBITIONS HELD HOSTAGE
After 13 years in Canada and 12 years of standing behind a counter, it takes a lot more for Lin to feel inspired.
On this year's November U.S. election night, he could have watched a news channel on his store's new small flatscreen TV. Instead, he is watching "Spiderman 2." Neither candidate fills Lin with hope, and the news updates during commercial breaks are enough to satiate his curiosity. Romney's policies, especially those on foreign affairs, are too extreme for Lin. Toward Obama, Lin simply feels disappointment. Where was the change he had promised?
By the time Lin locks up the store about 10:30 p.m., Obama has taken some key red states from Romney. When Lin walks into his house, the president is close to winning Ohio, a state that will cement his re-election. Lin's 15-year-old son, Andy, is sitting in the living room in his pajamas, watching the results. His wife and six-year-old son are asleep upstairs.
Lin encourages his son's interest in politics. He would never ask Andy to waste his time working in the store, even though Lin could use the help. On Tuesdays, Andy goes to sea cadet training, and on Sundays, he takes piano lessons, working his way toward Grade 10 certification. Most of all, Lin cares about his son's academic success. He knows off the top of his head that Andy currently has the 22nd highest average out of the 60 kids in his grade. The ranking is a four-spot improvement from last year, but Lin wants him to be in the top five. After his own first year of high school, Lin had the highest marks in his entire county.
Lin receives weekly job opportunities through e-mails from a Chinese government association. If he had only himself to think about, Lin would move to China in a second and resume his professional career. But he is focused on his family's roots, now firmly planted in Canada.
Lin's ambitions may be held hostage in the store, but at least it provides a steady income so that his sons may one day have professions that would justify his decision to immigrate.
After the major television networks officially declare an Obama victory, Lin sends Andy to bed – it is more important to get rest before school in the morning than to listen to Obama's victory speech. Nor is he staying awake to hear a recycled message that didn't come true the first time.
Early the next morning, Lin sleeps while Obama tries once again to inspire a country plagued with economic challenges:
I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.
At 9:30 a.m., Lin stoops to pick up his Chinese paper with Obama's speech on the front page. He tucks it under his arm to read later, and unlocks the blue gates to his convenience store. Inside, the brightly coloured packaging and fluorescent lights provide many of his customers with temporary hope. Many while away hours scratching lottery tickets that could lead to big dreams, or more often, just an escape from their bleak realities. But to Lin, the store is a prison that keeps him from living in the outside world. An inconvenient truth about an immigrant's life in Canada.
With files from Yvonne Yo
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, William Lin's last name was misspelled.
]]>Blogs 2012: A Year in Reviewtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23196052012-12-18T08:33:33-05:002013-02-17T05:12:01-05:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/
Almost every day this year we have read about how different people view government, public figures, other cultures and their own lives.
Taken on their own, each blog might seem underwhelming. After all, it is just one person's opinion, and your crazy Aunt Edna has no shortage of those.
But when we publish these insights, arguments and confessions on our platform, often something special happens.
Often these blogs become fire crackers, igniting a national conversation.
This year our bloggers have broken news -- Arsen Ostrovosky was one of the first voices in the mainstream media to write about the Israel/Palestine bombings in his blog: "My Country is Under Attack. Do You Care?"
Before looking forward to the opinions of 2013, we wanted to bring our firecrackers of 2012 together for a grand finale.
Next year, please pull up a chair at our table.
1. Arsen Ostrovsky: My Country is Under Attack. Do You Care?
"I'm angry. You see, as most Americans were waking up this morning, and those in Europe and elsewhere around the world were going about their daily routines, here in Israel -- over one million people were running for cover from a hail of rockets being rained down by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza." Read story...
2. Jim Harris: Harper Conquers Canada, One Robocall at a Time
"This robocall scandal is not just about some inconvenient phone calls, it's about subverting our democracy and altering the outcome of the election. And it's about Harper remaking Canada in his own image." Read story...
3. Alice Moran: Dear Krista Ford, I Was Sexually Assaulted, but Not Dressed Like a Whore
"Dear a lot of people, but specifically Ms. Krista Ford, I feel like you owe me a moment of your time, even though we've never met. The circumstance being you called me a whore. I should clarify: I'm one of the victims of the recent string of sexual assaults in the Annex. 'Sup? It's nice to make your acquaintance." Ready story...
4. Douglas Anthony Cooper: PETA's "Thank You" for Killing Shelter Pets
"When the no-kill shelter in Shelby County, Kentucky recently announced that they had run out of space -- and were hence going to have to start killing healthy dogs and cats -- officials received a nice basket of gourmet cookies, with a note signed from PETA: "Thank you for doing the right thing." Read story...
5. Rene Ross: A Night in the Life of a Sex Worker
"The date took a turn for the worst. He raped her, punched her repeatedly, and beat her to the head with a stray two-by-four he found in the alley. Abigail slipped in an out of consciousness, yet, she was able to scream loudly enough to alert someone in a nearby building who called 911." Read story...
6. Chelsea Vowel: I'm in a Life-Threatening Abusive Relationship...With My Government
"Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat did not launch a hunger strike over a single piece of legislation. In short, this is what we have always been talking about. Whether the particular focus has been on housing, or education or the environment, or whatever else. What lies at the heart of all these issues is our relationship with Canada. And Canada? This relationship is abusive." Read story...
7. Amanda Garbutt: The Top 10 Foods That Make You Bloat
"We all know that salt and sugar are recipes for disaster if you are trying to avoid bloating. What you may not realize is that junk food isn't the only culprit. That's right, even healthy, fibre-rich vegetables can cause painful bloating leaving you feeling like you've just wolfed down a Big Mac. Nix these 10 items from your diet and you'll be strutting a new slimmer and trimmer you in just two weeks!" Read story...
8. Emma Woolley: What It's Like Being Violated As a Teenage Girl
"I will never forget how excited I was to be invited to watch a movie with the popular boy I liked. I primped for hours. (I was, after all, a teenager grappling with my own new sexuality.) When I got there, he did not put on the movie we agreed to watch, but a porn film. I had never seen one before. He unzipped his pants, pushed and pulled at me. I cried the whole walk home." Read story...
9. Conrad Black: "One of the Dumbest, Most Futile Elections in History"
"Mitt Romney was never going to be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but barely 40 years after he warned of it, America has become, in Richard Nixon's eerie phrase, "a pitiful, helpless, giant." It is almost irrelevant to the world, except as an engine of fiscal incontinence." Read story...
10. Josh D. Scheinert: Dear America: You Have a Gay Problem
"If you bothered to look North you'd realize we aren't all that concerned about gay people. There are still a few things to be worked out, but there's something different, something malicious about the debate in your country." Read story...
11. Justin Trudeau: We Need a New Generation of Canadian Leadership
"Our Canadian promise has never been too complicated. Work hard, we tell our kids, and you will have a better future than we did. Today, for too many, that promise rings hollow." Read story...
12. Change My Mind: Should Canada Ban Muslim Face Coverings?
"Welcome to our Change My Mind debate series, in which we challenge leading voices to debate an issue -- and allow you, the reader, to determine who wins. Today's topic is based on Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's decision to ban Muslim face coverings from citizenship ceremonies." Read story...
13. Craig and Marc Kielburger: What We're Not Saying About Chris Brown's Tattoo
"The headline that caught our attention: Did Chris Brown tattoo a battered Rihanna on his neck? When we look behind this headline, the real issue is that no one is talking about the real issue. It's not just about Chris Brown or Rihanna. It's about domestic abuse. It's also about celebrity-issued get-out-of-jail-free cards." Read story...
14. Philip Demers: Why I Left Marineland, and My Beloved Walrus Smooshi
"In May of 2012, I made the difficult and desperate decision to leave Marineland after about eight years of being a trainer for Smooshi the walrus. I could no longer bear witness to the suffering, and could ill afford to waste any more time. I simply didn't have a choice anymore." Read story...
15. Jenna Em: 10 Holiday Items that Are Cheaper at the Dollar Store
"If you're looking to save some money this holiday season, did you know that there are some great deals to be found at the Dollar Store? Although some items on this list may not be found at your particular Dollar Store, many of them will be! Save dollars at a time when you shop the items from this list!" Read story...
16. Delaine Moore: I Made Out With a Married Man, and Told His Wife
"Last year I spent out eight hours with a handsome "urban cowboy" at a bar. A day and a make-out session later, I found out he was married. I told his wife what had happened. I don't know if I made the right decision, so after a year of not speaking to her, I got in contact with her, and here's what she had to say about knowing that her husband cheated on her." Read story...
17. Kathleen Rea: How My National Ballet Career Led to Bulimia
"At ten, I was accepted into the National Ballet School of Canada training program. In puberty I developed curves that were considered too fat for the ballet world. I decided to diet my curves away, as the accolades in ballet went to girls who looked deathly thin." Read story...
18. Supriya Dwivedi: Generation Y -- Politically Engaged and Enraged
"The right-of-centre movement risks losing this entire generation of voters if it does not compromise on social issues that my cohort considers basic human rights. Millennials are a politically engaged generation. We know what is important to us, and what isn't. Perhaps it's about time politicians listened." Read story...
19. Erika Lust: How I Will Tell My Daughters I Work in Porn
"When people around me learn of my profession in pornography, they immediately start asking morbid questions. I'm used to this: Society has always tried to control our sexuality. But I'm not so much concerned with society. I'm more concerned with what I'll say when my daughters ask: 'Mommy, what is your job?'" Ready story...
20. Chris Jancelewicz: Our Obsession With Kristen Stewart: Let's Move On, Shall We?
"Do I know Kristen Stewart? No, I can never claim that. But in the past 24 hours I've seen her three times, and spoken to her once -- not for an interview, but candidly, in a hallway at the InterContinental Hotel in Toronto. In that brief five minutes I learned more about Stewart than I ever could have from any interview or gossip mag." Read story...]]>Rob Ford Gets the Boot and a City Reactstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21924112012-11-26T12:11:57-05:002013-01-26T05:12:01-05:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/
]]>Introvert or Extrovert? The Surprisingly Best Way to Telltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18525942012-09-12T08:31:08-04:002012-11-12T05:12:01-05:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/silencio. Which is why the following test might be the best way to identify whether you're an introvert or extrovert: Do you enjoy bantering while getting or giving a haircut?
A third to a half of all humans are introverts, and ever since Carl Jung defined the two personality types in the early 20th century, people have attempted to categorize themselves. The Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist's explanation, now popularized by the Myers-Briggs personality test, has to do with energy. In Jung's view, extroverts gain energy from the outer world, while introverts gain it from the inner world. A quick search online brings up countless articles with a checklist of qualities for each -- introvert: I often let calls go to voicemail, extrovert: you are almost always the life of the party -- all of which speak to the obsessive tendency we have to brand ourselves as one or the other (though some claim about 70 per cent of us fall somewhere in the middle, a category unofficially dubbed "ambiversion"). Are these distinctions even useful? I think so, because in the end, understanding our differences reveals we are really just working towards the same goal: forming good ol' fashioned connections.
I can only surmise about you extroverts, but I can explain the particular way in which introverts use energy to have meaningful interactions. A helpful cartoon is being circulated on the net called "Dr. Carmella's Guide to Understanding the Introverted" which says fairly self-evidently that "extroverted people gather their energy from their surroundings," but more interestingly that "introverted people make their own energy and, rather than taking it from others, give it on social contact." Now that's a definition I can get behind. As an introvert, I am social. I am just very particular about who and what I socialize with.
Small talk is the hardest form of communication for introverts: if you're giving energy in a social situation, the most rewarding scenario will be one with purpose, one after which you feel as if you learned something substantial or made a real connection. With chit-chat, the gutter level of conversation, it's hard to transcend surface interactions, an utterly depleting experience for introverts. We are very utilitarian: if we're going to leave our own thoughts and enter the world, we want it to be with a small group of people, someone we haven't seen in a while, or someone we have a crush on. In sum, don't ask me to "veg" or "schmooze" with you -- those words sound gross and I'd rather stay home.
Now I know some people who look forward to the small talk that usually comes with a haircut (or a trip to the bank, or a bar stool), but those people tend to be extroverts who gain energy from any kind of social interaction. Just as true movie buffs can appreciate a bad movie (all those midnight screenings of The Room by Tommy Wiseau, anyone?) for the mere fact it represents a point on a spectrum they love. Similar to the way real foodies have an appreciation for the grotesqueness of poutine or bacon donuts, I imagine for extroverts there is still something satisfying about the empty calories they gain from banter, and that sometimes, it turns into something more meaningful.
So while we could waste more time pointing out what makes each of us better -- you guys are happier, we are smarter, you are rewarded by society, but we secretly make better leaders -- the more productive conclusion is to understand how we act differently to achieve the same goal (which I think could have saved my introverted father and mildly extroverted mother a lot of grief). The next time you roll your eyes at an introvert for not leaving the house, or judge extroverts for their banal banter, keep in mind each is probably making the best choice about using or conserving his or her energy to form actual connections -- something you want to do as well.
Down the row from me in the salon, I watch a meeting of two extroverts. The hairdresser, who is wearing a backwards baseball cap, is about to cut a woman's hair and they begin chatting about sending their kids to school. Ten minutes later, after Leslie has turned off the blowdryer and I'm able to hear their conversation again, it has escalated. The woman is telling her life story, and now the whole salon knows that after living in Hong Kong for three years she came back to Canada for university. Conversationally, she and her hairdresser have progressed by embracing the small talk I loathe.
I look up at Leslie, who is silently making final trims to my hair, and still feel grateful the only thing we learned about each other is that she's heading out East on vacation and I'm staying home for the long weekend. I feel confident our few words aren't because we don't like each other, but rather because we both know that if we're going to form a connection, we'll save our energy for outside of the salon.
]]>Charlie Angus: "Twitter Has Turned Us All into 14-Year-Olds in a Cafeteria"tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16289772012-06-26T17:41:26-04:002012-08-26T05:12:05-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/an article she wrote -- suggesting she change the "D" to a "B" in her last name -- says something about the level of discourse on the social media platform. Who better to speak to this than Charlie Angus, the MP who famously left Twitter because of the mostly asinine comments ("I hate you asshole - and you sing terribly") clogging up his feed? Here's what Angus had to say about the most recent Twitter spat and the platform in general.
What do you think of Twitter as a means of political discourse?
As a vehicle it's almost always used to say something stupid by politicians. Everybody gets to be a Grade 9 girl. But Brazeau is not accountable to anybody [because he's a senator], and can say what he wants [without jeopardizing his job]. What is anybody going to do? Most politicians can be as snide as they want to on Twitter but they actually have to face comeuppance when they go back to the people at Tim Horton's or wherever. An ignorant comment will affect them.
Why are politicians so drawn to Twitter?
There's no break with it. I mean, I noticed again with the recent bill C-38 discussions going all night, everyone was saying "Check this out on Twitter" but it was always things such as "Look who's sleeping with their mouth open." That was one of reasons I got off. Your quick instinct is to say something kind of snide and hope the whole world will hear. Otherwise, you're just saying something snide.
Do you miss not being on Twitter?
Literally everyday I think "Thank God." Every time I make a statement there's not 55 trolls trying to throw rocks at me. If someone doesn't like what I say they can write or e-mail me but Twitter takes no effort. It's toxic white noise that is distracting and I've talked with many politicians from all sorts of political stripes who tell me they wish they could do what I did. Something about it is moving towards permanent snark. I'm on Facebook all day and I don't get those types of comments. When I make a public statement now I don't worry that people will decide to fill my Twitter feed with asinine comments trying to pick a fight.
How have you seen Twitter change since you first joined?
When I first got on Twitter it was mostly inane banter and people talking about their soup order from the line-up of a restaurant. It seems Twitter has now found a kind of ugly niche. Now it's more productive not being on it. Man, I'd never go back. So when I looked at the Brazman's feed I thought "Is that an adult conversation I'm watching?" I watch my daughter's text feed and they tend to be more mature than this. (Angus' daughter is 19.)
How can we elevate Twitter discourse?
[Twitter's decline] has happened quickly and we haven't had a conversation about it. The technology changed how we relate to one another in a dramatic sense. Many people and politicians thought for a long time "I have to be on Twitter." Twitter was supposed to be something to improve the democratic process but what it's done is turned us all into 14-year-olds in a cafeteria. I'm not superior to anyone else. I have the same instinct to say nasty, inane things and hope they get picked up but that's not what we're here to do. In terms of the Brazman, he's set until he's 74, so expect more colourful comments.]]>Income Inequality: Social Status Changes Gene Expression, Research Findstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2012-05-14T11:12:14-04:002012-05-14T13:25:40-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/
George, who doesn’t want his last name used, lives in an apartment in the west-end Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale. He’s originally from Jamaica and, though he won’t reveal his age, is a retired shoemaker. He lives off of Canada’s Pension Plan, on average $530 each month, and pays rent subsidized by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC).
It’s not only the price of coffee that prevents George from going to the shop -- Capital Espresso -- in the red brick building across the street. “They think that I’m poor,” he says of the patrons, exposing his yellow teeth with gaps between them. “I’m poor, yes. I’m poor. Rich people stay there. The poor people come here. You know.”
According to Richard Wilkinson -- who co-authored The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better and who came to Canada on a three-city Canadian lecture tour in early May -- income inequality breeds negative social judgments. “We infer people’s abilities, intelligence and all sorts of things from their social status,” he said in a recent editorial meeting with Huffington Post Canada. “That’s why low social status hurts and why it’s stigmatized.”
Wilkinson, who spoke to Alberta and Ontario politicians on the tour, calls the damage and strain income inequality has on social relations “the most important source of stress” for those in low-income brackets. The professor emeritus of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham Medical School says there is proof there are not “natural differences” between classes, but rather behaviours that arise as a result of being raised in certain social hierarchies.
Take for example research done by Dr. Steve Somi, who found that when comparing two groups of monkeys, one reared by their mothers and the other without, there were over 4,000 changes in gene expression. Wilkinson has paired that research with observational studies of human beings to prove that differences between the higher and lower socio-economic classes are environmental.
“The early social environment [in which we are raised] switches genes on and off,” he says. “[Asking yourself] am I in a world where I have to fight for what I can get and can’t trust others because they are rivals, or am I growing up in a world where I must be good at empathy, cooperation, and reciprocity ... breeds quite a different emotional and cognitive development.”
Andrew Fraser, a painter and musician who is enjoying a cigarette and coffee outside of Capital Espresso, says though he doesn’t make a lot of money, his upper-middle class childhood has cemented in him a certain lifestyle.
“Money doesn’t determine that kind of position,” he says. “It’s your attitude and your knowledge. You assume class, you don’t earn it, as far as I’m concerned.”
That’s why Fraser, who is 37 and wears white-rimmed sunglasses, can’t break certain habits such as spending $6 on two “sopranos” (which he describes as “an Americano that hasn’t been ruined by a whole bunch of hot water”) despite the fact he only makes on average $2,000 a month.
Fraser’s been living in Parkdale for three months, and comes to this coffee shop because “the girls are cuter,” and he can be around people just like him. Hanging out with those across the street at the convenience store would be harder. “It would require some sort of introduction,” Fraser says, looking at the plastic chairs and smoking a cigarette with a Toronto Star folded on his lap. “They are whiling away their time. I’m just killing 20 minutes.”
Wilkinson says income inequality prevents people from having productive social relations by accentuating differences.
“It not only affects our judgments of others, but affects our judgments of ourselves,” he says. “People at the top start to believe they are superhuman and that they have abilities others just don’t have. People at the bottom start to believe they are stupid.”
He cautions, however, that it’s idealistic to think that by Fraser crossing the street to speak with George, or vice versa, any problems would be solved. Merely socializing would not equalize the financial disparity that forms part of the root of social problems. The solution, rather, is for government to create policies that actually reduce income inequality so that people have more similarities than differences.
For George, he’s happy sitting amongst others from the neighborhood who can’t afford $3 coffees rather than making new friends. “I’m not going to leave there just to talk to strangers,” he says, putting out his cigarette in the tin can on the table. “We have nothing in common to talk about. Everybody should be equal, not poor or rich. But it’s not so.”
10 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT INCOME INEQUALITY FROM RICHARD WILKINSON]]>Who Knew There were Breasts Under that Burka?!tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.14220262012-04-12T16:27:01-04:002012-06-12T05:12:01-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/
I know bras can get get people stirred up, but I think we all need to calm down a little over the recent photo of a Muslim woman in a burka holding one up. The story is that a fine arts student from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C. took a photo of her friend wearing a niqab -- a veil covering her face -- and an abaya -- a full-body cloak -- holding up a bra as she sorts through her laundry.
It's been met with outrage. A staff member of the school "tore it down" from where it was displayed with the other student photos. The Saudi Arabian Embassy also has their knickers in a twist and is involved (how, I don't know). And generally, you'd think... a Dutch magazine had published cartoons of Mohammed. But no, it's just a photo of a woman holding an under garment that is just as, if not more common in the Middle East than it is in North America.
Numbers usually work to calm down hysteria so here are a few: The market for underwear in Saudi Arabia, for example, was US$1 billion a year in 2010, according to Reem Assaad, a banker and financial analyst based in Jeddah. Last year, I wrote a story for Canadian Business magazine titled the "Undercover Economy," about lingerie in the Middle East. What I uncovered was that the industry is thriving there more than it is in North America.
You think Europe is sexy? A 2010 advertisement for Motexha, the Middle East's largest garment, textile, leather and fashion accessories trade event, boasts that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia account for 77 per cent of Europe's total lingerie exports. At the time I wrote this article -- September 2011 -- La Senza had 44 stores in Saudia Arabia, and 52 others in the Middle East.
Montreal-based lingerie company La Vie en Rose has also bloomed in that part of the world. The company has 25 locations in Saudia Arabia, and since opening has expanded to include seven more countries in the region. The Middle East now makes up 20 per cent of the company's total profits.
Why? Besides the fact that many places in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are extremely fashion-forward (one source told me they don't have to bother with Paris now that their shopping malls have all the international designer brands), many women use lingerie as a way to express individual style. Much in the same way those that can afford it buy expensive hand bags and shoes to accessorize, lingerie gives them a sense of individuality Muslim veils often conceal.
Then there are other, darker reasons why women wear lingerie. In Syria, for example, it's common for a man to have multiple wives, and buying sexy undergarments is a way for a woman to gain his favour over the others. As a result, the lingerie markets in Syria (yes, these exist) have bras and panties that would make full-grown North American women blush. Think light-up Tweety Birds on the crotch, buttons you press to hear music, and a lot of feathers.
Not that we should be surprised or offended to see a Muslim woman holding a bra, if not just for basic anatomical reasons. She does have breasts you know, and those things can get heavy (the point of a bra in the first place).
So I think rather than freak out over here in the West, the least we can do is acknowledge what the photo is: art, which captures a real Muslim, if not any woman's, experience. And though Middle Eastern women may out-do their Western counterparts when it comes to frills and lace, we still have a lot more rights in terms of self-expression (lingerie companies in these countries alter their ads so as not to show women baring flesh).
The least we can do as citizens of a country where women are apparently "sexually liberated" is celebrate this photo, perhaps for the very fact it wouldn't be allowed in the Middle East. What kind of a message are we sending about our own country to insinuate this portrait of daily life is "offensive?"
]]>Budget Sounds Like Mumbo-Jumbo? We're Here to Helptag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13894002012-03-29T16:26:55-04:002012-05-29T05:12:01-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/
"For most Canadians it will be a ho-hum budget. Generally quite moderate and missing the draconian cuts that were widely predicted. No one will miss the penny. Everyone expected the civil service to be hit and while cutting 19,000 jobs is significant, it is nowhere near the 50-60,000 job losses that many suggested was coming. There will certainly be pushback by the public service unions; already they are talking about taking their message into every constituency and by environmental groups. But average Canadians for the most part should see this as a moderate budget" - Keith Beardsley, Former Senior Conservative staffer, Partner True North Public Affairs.
"The Continued Harper Assault on the Environment"
"This budget continues the Harper Conservatives' assault on the environment in more ways than one: Environment Canada, Parks Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans are all facing cuts (six per cent, four per cent, and four per cent respectively). The Harper Conservatives have followed through on threats to erode environmental protection and grease the wheels for greater fossil fuel development. First, it gagged the scientists; now it is killing the advisory institute -- the National Round Table on Environment and Economy -- and it has sent a warning shot to silence anti-government conservation groups. Without measurements, science, or critics who can speak without fear, Harper's agenda heads towards steam-rolling massive fossil fuel expansion.
The cuts to seniors, veterans, cultural institutions, and overseas development assistance are all deeply disturbing. Earlier this week, Greens identified areas of waste equal to those areas chosen for cuts in this budget. The Prime Minister had a choice where to cut and where to invest. He made the wrong choices.
Greens are incensed by this government's callous disregard for the things that matter most to Canadians." Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party.
"Important that the government will be cracking down on the often extensive political activities and foreign funding of charities in Canada."
"I'm pleased to see the government commit to reforming the regulatory system in the resource sector so that reviews are more efficient, while also ensuring that energy is being developed responsibly. The government will be implementing set timelines for reviews and hearings to prevent lengthy delays for potential project approvals. It's critical to strike the right balance and ensure that review processes are not being bogged down and delayed by groups who in many cases simply do not want our natural resources developed. In the Northern Gateway hearings, of the over 4,000 people registered to testify before the panel, 1,600 of them were reportedly signed up by one Environmental NGO in a campaign called 'mob the mic.'
It is also important that the government will be cracking down on the often extensive political activities and significant foreign funding of charities in Canada. The budget proposes that the Canada Revenue Agency will strengthen compliance with regards to charities' political activities, and will enhance transparency by mandating charities to disclose their political activities and foreign funds paying for these activities. There are groups in Canada right now who call themselves charities, who collect all the subsidies that registered charities enjoy, and yet do almost nothing but spend all day long hollering attacks against the oil sands and engaging in political activism -- and they accept foreign money to do it. This can't be what charitable tax breaks were meant for." - Kathryn Marshall, Former chief spokesperson and current blogger with EthicalOil.org.
"Despite their brave language, spending will be up $20 billion over this government's mandate."
"Ever heard the sound of one hand clapping? That's the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's feeling on the 2012 federal budget. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty should have followed the fiscal leadership of the Chretien-Martin mid-1990s Liberals and put Canada on a path to economic prosperity by balancing the budget through reductions to federal bureaucracy and real spending cuts. Despite their brave language, spending will be up $20 billion over this government's mandate. Even with the 19,200 job cuts announced today, the federal bureaucracy has still grown by 20,000 people since Prime Minister Harper took office seven years ago. They needed to go further to balance the budget sooner -- and get on with the tax cuts they promised Canadians in the last election." - Jordan Bateman, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
"Immigrants to Canada form a pool of untapped talent which is often underutilized."
"There is language in the budget which refers to 'realigning the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to better meet labour market demands.' This sounds promising if it forces companies to look domestically before allowing businesses to funnel salaries overseas. Hopefully, unemployed Canadian workers will be allowed to take on temporary positions without penalizing their E.I. benefits when the work term ends. As small and medium businesses form the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, it behooves the federal government to pull the necessary levers to espouse these jobs. Extending the 'Hiring Credit for Small Business,' will help small businesses to defray the costs of hiring new workers -- hopefully new grads will also benefit. Immigrants to Canada form a pool of untapped talent which is often underutilized. The government pledges 'improvements to foreign credential recognition,' which is often a barrier to newcomers' success. It is also a show of respect to return applications fees to certain federal skilled worker applicants who have been waiting over four years for processing to be completed." - Rachel Décoste, Software Engineer
"I don't trust weasel words like 'smart regulation.'"
"The budget is about creating jobs and economic growth, but it does not give weight to the need for shared and sustainable prosperity. Canada is losing time dealing with climate change. Meanwhile the budget opens the door to faster approval for extractive projects like the Enbridge Pipeline. It cuts nearly 20,000 public sector jobs. These may be called 'back office operations,' but that is where much of the serious work of the civil service is done. I don't trust weasel words like 'smart regulation.' Nor do I buy 'responsible resource development.' When this government talks about preparing for oil spills, improving the safety of tanker traffic, and scientific research on marine habitat, you know that the goal is not to slow down oil and gas development but to facilitate it. Everything indicates the government will move toward deregulation and downsizing of the public sector in ways that will make 'responsible development' impossible." - Maxwell A. Cameron, Director, Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions.
]]>This American Lie: Why Ira Glass Had to Apologizetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13559222012-03-18T09:02:35-04:002012-05-18T05:12:01-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/1.8 million people who listen to the weekly radio program This American Life, you know the latest episode was an unusual one. Aired on Friday rather than Sunday, the show's host, Ira Glass, was in full damage-control mode after breaking the first commandment of journalism: Thou shalt not lie.
He devoted a full 58 minutes to retracting a show because he could no longer "vouch for its truth" after finding out some of the facts had been fabricated. You may have felt this was a little overblown. But think about what Ira was really doing. The show wasn't so much about covering his own ass as is was to tell listeners: "you can still trust me." And that should matter to you.
A word about trust: I'm going with the analogy of a ball. A ball of yarn. We each have one with the people (and radio programs) we care about and when things are good we are out in the sunshine throwing it back and fourth in a ripe old game of catch. Things get bad when a piece of yarn comes loose, it starts unravelling in the air, the clouds roll in and...you see where this one ends.
In January, the program known for its unique approach to journalism, using storytelling techniques like scene and character to explore issues, featured a piece by monologist and playwright Mike Daisey about Apple workers being exploited in Chinese factories, which he'd been performing in a sold-out off-Broadway show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs." Though it was theatre, This American Lifers also believed the piece adhered to journalistic standards since Daisey had actually gone to a factory in Shenzhen along with a translator to conduct interviews.
Which brings us to the second journalistic commandment: Thou shall check facts. Ira and the show's producer Brian Reed did, just not well enough. Ira says they spent days going back and fourth with Daisey over email and in conversations, and that in addition to combing through Apple's reports about working conditions, Reed spoke with 13 people who were knowledgeable about the company's manufacturing in China.
What they didn't not do is act on the red flag. When they endeavoured to speak with his translator Cathy, who he names in the piece, he responded with two warning bells: 1) Daisey said the translator's actual name was Anna and 2) Her cellphone was no longer working. DING DING DING. But rather than hear alarms, Ira and Brian were deafened by what was probably a mix of trust and willing ignorance. The story was good (it ended up being the most downloaded in the show's history), and everything they had fact-checked so far about the monologue had panned out.
For a brief period of time, This American Life listeners, Ira, and Daisey were throwing that trust ball high and getting tans. But all it took was a Google search of "Cathy," "Translator," and "Shenzhen," and dialing the first number that came up for Marketplace correspondent Rob Schmitz to find out that much of what Daisey said was fabricated.
I won't waste space detailing those facts, but they ranged from big -- his translator claiming he fabricated the most dramatic moments of the story -- to small -- exaggerating the number of factories he visited.
If you haven't listened to "Retraction" (spoiler alert), Ira drags Daisey into the studio and interrogates him like a murderer who lied about being innocent. In an agonizing six and a half minutes of questions followed by long pauses, Daisey admits to making up parts of the story. And then the climax:
Ira Glass: "I have such a weird mix of feelings about this, because I simultaneously feel terrible, for you, and also, I feel lied to. And also I stuck my neck out for you. You know I feel like, I feel like, like I vouched for you. With our audience. Based on your word."
(Pause)
Mike Daisey: "I'm sorry."
So why the drama? Think of your own relationships. When you find out someone important to you lied, what happens? You start to question other things. That time she went for "sushi" with a co-worker. That phone call he got late at night from his doctor (OK, you should probably never believe someone who says that). But, you get my point.
The relationship between listener and broadcaster or reader and writer is also based on trust. They give you a frame in which to absorb the material, and finding out that frame was crooked or cheap makes people mad. Hence the publish lashing over James Frey's "memoir" A Million Little Pieces, or Jon Krakauer's response to Greg Mortenson's "non-fiction" book Three Cups of Tea, aptly titled Three Cups of Deceit.
Journalists and non-fiction storytellers work hard to ensure the stuff they produce is true, and the integrity and drama of the work depends on this. How good would the This American Life episode about discovering the original recipe for Coca-Cola be if a historian hadn't really said it was accurate? Or, if the Barack Obama impersonator wasn't really down on his luck before he realized he looked like the guy running for president? Heck, what if all those "normal" people were just actors?
When that ball starts to unravel, it usually leaves one person sitting alone in a pile of string, and Ira rightly wanted to make sure it wasn't him. He fessed up to his mistake saying they should've killed the story after Daisey's evasive approach to his translator, had Marketplace reporter Schmitz on the show to tell his side of the story, had Daisey on for an interrogation session, and interviewed a New York Times reporter about the real working conditions in Chinese Apple factories. This is Retraction 101, kids.
Yes, Ira cheated on you, but he also bought you a diamond ring to make up for it (meanwhile, Daisey is still wasting time qualifying his "apology"). So go on, play catch with him, and leave Daisey in that pile of string.]]>Gawking at Makeup-Less Celebs Makes Us Look Uglytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.13456452012-03-15T07:52:48-04:002012-05-15T05:12:01-04:00Angelina Chapinhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/angelina-chapin/
Every morning I would stare in the mirror, diligently separating each lash with mascara. When it came to the right eye, which was always more finicky than the left (don't ask why), I would feel panic: What if the lashes clumped together? Could I put it on perfectly with only five minutes to spare? What if I had to wash my face and start over? "Angeliiiiiiiiina," one of my parents would usually start yelling at this point. "You're going to be late."
I would curse them under my breath, take a dry mascara wand (yes, I had two) and try getting rid of any clumps until I looked like that Cover Girl close-up of whatever celebrity wearing fake lashes. I was obsessed.
During my high school years, I walked around with cosmetics in my bag for a noon touch-up, which usually involved another coat of mascara among other things. Teachers began to take notice: One (male) told me I had an interesting "cat-eye" thing going on while another (female) spent an entire parent-teacher interview with my mother applauding my cosmetic artistry (finally, some respect).
But like an addict, when those close to me pointed it out, I snapped.
When I saw the pictures of makeup-less Faith Hill going viral this week (including, admittedly, on our own site), that high school girl in me cringed. Huffington Post's own headline was "Faith Hill Without Makeup Hardly Recognizable," which quite frankly was always my fear when I thought of leaving the house without my face on. And she was catching a freakin' morning flight.
Apparently, six out of 10 U.K. women share my anxiety of being seen bare-faced according to online beauty site Superdrug.
Obviously celebrities are put under a microscope, but this kind of commentary fuels real-life female hysteria and insecurity. And to be fair, a makeup trend is now starting to affect men. I'm not saying we should all go au natural because I think makeup can look great and be a real confidence-booster, but I am saying women (or men) should never be afraid to leave the house without it.
Making fun of somebody's natural face is as sinister as making fun of the kid with acne, or the fat kid whose genes make him/her pre-disposed to obesity. That is to say, it is a mean, childish, bully tactic. There is no honour in criticizing people for something they can't help. It only proves your own ugliness.
My makeup rehabilitation came when I enrolled at a liberal arts college, where it was much cooler to have dark circles under your eyes from reading Derrida all night than it was to look fresh as a poppy in lecture hall. Gradually, I loosened my grip on the mascara, and every other makeup wand I could and did possess.
I even walked into meal hall the next day, and let guys I may or may not have romped with the night before see my un-made face. And guess what: I still got male attention. (A study conducted by skincare experts St Ives revealed that one in five men wish their partner would tone down the slap-on, while one in 10 said they liked women who wear no makeup whatsoever.)
I'm not completely cured. I would still have a heart attack if I left my makeup case somewhere, but I certainly don't treat my face like an unpainted Sistine Chapel anymore. But I will say that seeing Faith Hill berated on the Internet is the kind of thing that could throw me into a relapse. And I really don't want my father to tell me I have "pharmacy eyebrows" again at the dinner table -- whatever that meant. ]]>
"For most Canadians it will be a ho-hum budget. Generally quite moderate and missing the draconian cuts that were widely predicted. No one will miss the penny. Everyone expected the civil service to be hit and while cutting 19,000 jobs is significant, it is nowhere near the 50-60,000 job losses that many suggested was coming. There will certainly be pushback by the public service unions; already they are talking about taking their message into every constituency and by environmental groups. But average Canadians for the most part should see this as a moderate budget" - Keith Beardsley, Former Senior Conservative staffer, Partner True North Public Affairs. 
"This budget continues the Harper Conservatives' assault on the environment in more ways than one: Environment Canada, Parks Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans are all facing cuts (six per cent, four per cent, and four per cent respectively). The Harper Conservatives have followed through on threats to erode environmental protection and grease the wheels for greater fossil fuel development. First, it gagged the scientists; now it is killing the advisory institute -- the National Round Table on Environment and Economy -- and it has sent a warning shot to silence anti-government conservation groups. Without measurements, science, or critics who can speak without fear, Harper's agenda heads towards steam-rolling massive fossil fuel expansion.
"I'm pleased to see the government commit to reforming the regulatory system in the resource sector so that reviews are more efficient, while also ensuring that energy is being developed responsibly. The government will be implementing set timelines for reviews and hearings to prevent lengthy delays for potential project approvals. It's critical to strike the right balance and ensure that review processes are not being bogged down and delayed by groups who in many cases simply do not want our natural resources developed. In the Northern Gateway hearings, of the over 4,000 people registered to testify before the panel, 1,600 of them were reportedly signed up by one Environmental NGO in a campaign called 'mob the mic.'
"Ever heard the sound of one hand clapping? That's the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's feeling on the 2012 federal budget. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty should have followed the fiscal leadership of the Chretien-Martin mid-1990s Liberals and put Canada on a path to economic prosperity by balancing the budget through reductions to federal bureaucracy and real spending cuts. Despite their brave language, spending will be up $20 billion over this government's mandate. Even with the 19,200 job cuts announced today, the federal bureaucracy has still grown by 20,000 people since Prime Minister Harper took office seven years ago. They needed to go further to balance the budget sooner -- and get on with the tax cuts they promised Canadians in the last election." - Jordan Bateman, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
"There is language in the budget which refers to 'realigning the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to better meet labour market demands.' This sounds promising if it forces companies to look domestically before allowing businesses to funnel salaries overseas. Hopefully, unemployed Canadian workers will be allowed to take on temporary positions without penalizing their E.I. benefits when the work term ends. As small and medium businesses form the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, it behooves the federal government to pull the necessary levers to espouse these jobs. Extending the 'Hiring Credit for Small Business,' will help small businesses to defray the costs of hiring new workers -- hopefully new grads will also benefit. Immigrants to Canada form a pool of untapped talent which is often underutilized. The government pledges 'improvements to foreign credential recognition,' which is often a barrier to newcomers' success. It is also a show of respect to return applications fees to certain federal skilled worker applicants who have been waiting over four years for processing to be completed." - Rachel Décoste, Software Engineer
"The budget is about creating jobs and economic growth, but it does not give weight to the need for shared and sustainable prosperity. Canada is losing time dealing with climate change. Meanwhile the budget opens the door to faster approval for extractive projects like the Enbridge Pipeline. It cuts nearly 20,000 public sector jobs. These may be called 'back office operations,' but that is where much of the serious work of the civil service is done. I don't trust weasel words like 'smart regulation.' Nor do I buy 'responsible resource development.' When this government talks about preparing for oil spills, improving the safety of tanker traffic, and scientific research on marine habitat, you know that the goal is not to slow down oil and gas development but to facilitate it. Everything indicates the government will move toward deregulation and downsizing of the public sector in ways that will make 'responsible development' impossible." - Maxwell A. Cameron, Director, Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions.
When I saw the pictures of makeup-less Faith Hill going viral this week (including, admittedly, on our own site), that high school girl in me cringed. Huffington Post's own headline was "Faith Hill Without Makeup Hardly Recognizable," which quite frankly was always my fear when I thought of leaving the house without my face on. And she was catching a freakin' morning flight.