The Age of Unequals: An Evening with Richard Wilkinson

As a post-graduate student of the University of Nottingham, I had the rarest opportunity to be taught by Professor Richard Wilkinson. For those of you who do not know him, he is the expert on Social Inequalities, the brain behind the UK's Black Report, and the concept of the Social Determinants of Health (along with Sir Michael Marmot). His presentation in Vancouver, on December 13, 2010 is very much worth listening to:

Say what? From Calculus to Law?

Math Club Lecture Series
The MCLS is an open-topic student-run series in the spirit of the computer science UDLS and the Ted Talks. 

Abstract: This presentation will be about my transition from pure science to arts, then social sciences before law. It will highlight the various motivating factors along the way that shifted my professional trajectory to what it is now. By the end of the session, students will learn to be open-minded and not be afraid to take risks especially when it comes to education. It will be an informal session (no power-point) where students will be able to engage/interact with myself on a somewhat personal level.

Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Venue: MATX 1100 (Math Annex 1100)

Time: 3:00 pm
Refreshments will be provided. Feel free to come!

WHO SAID THERE IS NO HOPE IN THE WORLD? TRIBUTE TO JASON CAO AND NAM NGUYEN

You might say this is not the norm but it very much is, except that more of such stories don't make it to the media. Being a magnet for positive energy (regardless the age of the "giver"), I had to pay my respect to Jason and Nam, especially because we live in a society that live and breath on NEGATIVES. Actually, it was 12-year old Nam's wisdom that poked the happy "bell bubble" from my eyes: "distraction is the enemy of the mind...although, I'm still young but my mind is strong and my dream is big." Most grown-ups with so much opportunities and privilege cannot even allow themselves to be so self-motivating and strong...I say return to the young for "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength..." (Psalm 8:1-2).

To 9-yo Jason, what can I say? You are part of the reason I still believe in positive change. It took you 15 seconds to "whop" your teacher in a chess game? What I can't really understand is that you are self-taught - how do you do it? You know, I had my first chess board when I was  in the 10th grade way back when in Liberia. I was at least 5yrs older than you but I remember so well, I taught myself too. For many days, I would take my game board to school to play with my friends after school. Though there were no championships I could enter, I kept my interest in the game. The last time I played was last month - me and my Mac Book Pro. You guess right, MBP "whop" me three times.in a row. After reading your story, I'm "fired-up" for another game with MBP - don't have your hopes up - cuz I think I'm gonna get "whoppen" again.

KUDOS to you two for sharing your gifts and talent with me and the WWW. More success to come!!!

ARTS EXPO 2011 - UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

January 27, 2011, 5 - 8:30 pm

What is Arts Career Expo? Hear from UBC Alumni on the variety of career options available in law, government, business, international development and more… 

PANELIST 

Special thanks to the Arts Expo 2011 Team for inviting me. To all the amazing students who came to our panel, your exuberance and thirst for positive change left me more inspired and motivated to continue doing what I do best - innovating ways to make the world a better place for all.

Stay positive!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

                            
                            Dear WWW:

Your Quotes '2011

Three decades ago, when I was a little girl, I imagined that the world was going to end in the year 2000. I had no idea that I will not only live 11 years after but that I will also rise from my lowly beginnings to where I am today. Well, I met so many ANGELS all through my journey to success but equally so, the FALLEN ANGELS were (and still are) always around both physically and spiritually whispering "you can never become...", "you are not intelligent enough to become...", "for your race, you will succeed in entertainment and sports", "you will never amount up to anything good" or "you _______ go back to where you came from". But you know what? It seems whenever people say "I can't..." something deep inside my belly cranks up. Some call it RESILIENCE others "dare to succeed come what may." Given my ability to thrive, once I hear those words I instantly become motivated to work even harder. Let me be frank with you, 2010 had some really great snapshots but it was also a TRYING year for me. NEVERTHELESS, my "battery" is RECHARGED for 2011 because it's gonna be a good good year! I invite you to tap into your inner strength and let's ride together to "be the change" we want to see in the world. May 2011 be all that you have ever desired for yourselves. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

UBC ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2010

Global Citizenship Award 2010

 

There will never be ample lexicon to express my profound gratitude to the University of British Columbia Alumni Relations for valuing my "widow's mite" to society. I am very humble and appreciated! A full description of the deep emotions I felt (mostly positive, yet reflective) is buried in my personal diary and will hopefully re-surface (along with other very interesting life experiences) in my autobiography someday soon.

An emblem of my gratitude to all those who dare to believe in me is reflected in this song (courtesy Jonathan Larson - may your soul rest in peace).

Click to view video, snapshots, and pictures of the Achievement Award Presentation Dinner, Celebrating Achievement, and UBC Annual Review 2010.

THANK YOU UBC!!!

Could Caribana be a Possible Solution to Afro-Caribbean Community Development?

Note: This piece did not make for publication to Toronto Star, Metro News, Share News, Pride and Sway, so here you go...

As an African immigrant to the West Coast of Canada, I had always craved for the East Coast especially after being encouraged on several occasions to visit Toronto for Caribana; if I wanted to experience Canada’s true cultural mosaic with respect to Caribbean arts and entertainment. As a prospective law student with much excitement, I eagerly went about asking questions about living in Toronto. On one beautiful evening sometime in July whilst walking through the woods in Victoria, BC; I remember designing disturbing images of Toronto in my mind’s eyes as a fellow Volksports walker narrates crime prevalence rates in Toronto to me. He said, “most crimes in Toronto occur in the Jane and Finch area which is separated by only a street from York University.” “Whatever you do try not to cross the line,” he admonished. And, “those crimes are mainly committed by Jamaicans…” Of course, being an old white British descend, I could not have expected otherwise. I nodded as a sign of respect.

It had being almost 7 years of wishful thinking; finally I am going to be a part of this historical international event that has existed since 1967. Whilst researching on Caribana, I found some very interesting information that has siphoned my critical thinking. Caribana is praised for being the largest international cultural festival in North America attracting about 1 .5 million attendees in 2008; in addition to pumping about $100 million in the local Toronto economy. Of the one million attendees 57% are females; 43% are males; 58% are between the ages of 16 to 29 years; 51% have house hold income of over 50,000; 40% have tertiary education, and 64% live in Toronto area. According to the Scotiabank Caribana Sponsorship Package 2009, “festival goers have a high disposable income, are tech savvy, influential and have shown a high propensity to buy brands that visibly support the festival.” Knowledge of these information inherently provokes some hard questioning especially knowing that the Afro-Caribbean community in Toronto is being denigrated to exhibiting relatively high rates pertinent to crimes, single parenthood, teenage pregnancy, secondary school drop out, low admittance to post-secondary institutions, low representations in public offices, amongst others.

The first question is why is Caribana called “Scotiabank” Caribana? According to Wikipedia, in early 2006 Toronto municipal government refused to renew funding for Caribana Cultural Committee due to recurring accounting problems. This explains (in part) the need to Scotiabank support, however, it also necessitate the relevance of conducting further investigations into the nature of the “recurring accounting problems” should the Caribbean community deem it expedient to take full ownership and leadership of Caribana. My research on festivals in Toronto failed to find any other ethno-cultural event that has used a bank or the City of Toronto in the same way that Caribana has; e.g. Scotiabank Chinese Festival. This implies, with some level of exactitude, that the Afro-Caribbean community has serious problems in taking full control of its community. It appears that there must be some external interference at all times to ensure transparency and accountability within Afro-Caribbean communities, which can later lead to exploitation and destruction of local community.

Second major question, how does the Caribbean/Black community benefit in the long-term from Caribana? Apart from the Caribana Arts Group/Yorkgate Mall Scholarship which granted 4 students a total of $3,000 dollars scholarship award in 2006, there appears to be no other support for community development from Caribana. One would imagine that for an event that has the capacity to raise over a million dollar, there would be a significant amount of plans to target local disparities and inequalities that adversely typify the Afro-Caribbean community in Toronto.

A glance at events lined up for Scotiabank Caribana, shows that guests are charged up to $150 to attend the Scotiabank Caribana Gala. Where do the proceeds of such event end up? Especially when the Festival’s website highlights such expensive events with no provision for including underprivileged children or youths in the community, or at least aspiring to recognize the fact that Caribana could offer some form of solution to the myriad of social demise that not only stereotypically characterized the Afro-Caribbean community in Toronto but also adversely stigmatized the community in so many ways.

In an attempt to challenge the Afro-Caribbean community not just in Toronto but all of Canada,

I look forward to the day when Caribana (and other local Afro-Caribbean groups) will move beyond just “entertainment,” “arts” and “cultural identity” toward setting annual trends like constructing multi-purpose community centres for underprivileged black communities, providing full scholarships to vulnerable young people, recognizing and supporting the efforts of innovative Afro-Caribbean individuals and organizations that are working assiduously to penetrate systemic racial and discriminatory barriers of Canada so-called cultural mosaic. For example the Afro Global TV which promises to be the first ever Black TV Station in Canada is one of such distinctive organization that has the potential to raise the profile of the Afro-Caribbean community in Canada but yet is being denied opportunity to broadcast in Canada.