A Discovery of Witches Dream Cast

 For me, I just can't really imagine the characters being as old as they actually are in the book (except for Martha), so for most of my characters they will look a lot younger than they are really described to be. These characters I pick for my dream cast for A Discovery of Witches are what I pictured the characters to look like while reading the book.

 Matthew de Clermont- Henry Cavill.....For me, the actor who I found  looks the most Matthew like is Henry Cavil. From his similar features to how Matthew was described on the book as tall, board shoulder, lean, with green-grey eyes to short black hair. Even from Diana's description of Matthew as "Board shoulders narrowed into slender hips...thick equally black eyebrows..high-angle cheekbones meeting brows that shielded and shadowed his eyes." (18) fits Henry Cavil's features, especially his strong defined jawline trademark (described in IMDB) all screams perfect vampire material. Also, he is known for many of his roles (The Tudors and Immortals)  and has won/nominated Golden Globe 2007 and Emmy 2008.Even Stephanie Meyer called him the perfect Edward Cullen for her Twilight series (but he was too old to play Edward by the time they started filming).

Diana Bishop- Amanda Seyfried...As for who I pictured Diana to be, it has to be Amanda Seyfried. As the book describes Diana as having a sharp nose and  long chin, and shoulder length blond hair. In this photo of Amanda, I think it fits Diana's physical description really well. It also shows  a bit of Diana's "unruly" hair from all her pent up magic, that she describe as hard to manage. As for acting, she is well known for many of her roles in shows and movies such as Mean Girl, Mamma Mia, Red Riding Hood and Veronica Mars. So I think with her acting experience, I am sure that she will be able to protray Diana well.

Ysabeau de Clermont- Charlize Theron...When I was browsing through actress to see who looks the most Ysabeau like, I stumbled upon the actress Charlize Theron. For why I think she looks like Ysabeau is because she has the mature yet youthful look to her in this picture (since she is Matthew's mother but also has a appearance that looks younger than Matthew), and also feels as if she could protray the cold, witch hating Ysabeau when she first met Diana, and then gradually become warmer and have a softer expression.Diana describes Ysabeau as "Elegance...high slash cheekbones..dazzling white skin and hair the colour of honey"(224), so I think that the physical description fits Charlize Theron quite well. So overall, I feel that Charlize Theron is the most fit to play Ysabeau de Clermont.

Martha- Miriam Margolyes..Probably the only character that I could picture as really old was Martha. Since when she was first introduced, she was described as "stout old woman with skin like snow and a mass of incongruously dark hair" (225). So I chose Miriam Margolyes as Martha because she is a kind character who supports Diana during her stay in Sept-Tour and is also a parental figure for Ysabeau. With Miriam Margolyes, she has alot of acting experience and she was even in Harry Potter and Romeo+Juliet! Therefore, with her looks and acting experience I think that she would protray the warm grandma feeling that martha gives in the book.

Sarah Bishop- Diane Lane..She is the actress that I think fits the role of Sarah Bishop, Diana's aunt the most. From her looks, she fits the description of Diana's aunt as having bright red hair and feels as if she can pull off Sarah's spunky and quick-tempered personality.She is also known for some of the smash hit movies from a decade or so ago called The perfect storm(2000), The glass house(2001)and Hard Ball(2001). Even when I was searching who looked most Sarah like, I'll have to say it was Diane Lane, therefore I think that she is the most fitted to play Sarah Bishop.

Miriam Shephard- Mila Kunis...Miriam is an vampire who has known Matthew even before the Crusade, but is describes as looking younger than him. Miriam has dark wavy hair past her shoulders and is short like a child.I think that Mila Kunis fits being Miriam because, she has this look that is young yet mature, and seems to fit the personality of Miriam well. Also, she is described by Diana as "fineboned and like a china doll" (465). I also feel that Miriam is a bit of a complex character as even though she dissaproves of Diana and Matthew being together, but still has to obey Matthew's hotheaded command and suck it up. With her acting experience in popular show and movies such as The 70's Show(1998) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall(2008), I think that Mila Kunis will be ideal to play Miriam Shephard.

Marcus Whitemore- Alex Pettyfer..."late twenties, with the blond hair and blue eyes of a California surfer...average height..wiry and energetic" (155) I think that Alex Pettyfer can definitly protray Marcus, since his physical features is just like described with the blue eyes and blond hair. Not only Alex Pettyfer's age is also close to Marcus, so that he can protray him well, he is also English like Marcus! Also when I think of surfers, it's definitly with the blond hair,tanned skin and toned body for sure! Let's not forget some of his amazing roles in movies such as Alex Rider, Wild Child, I am Number 4, Beastly and Magic Mike! Thats why I think Alex Pettyfer is definitly the person I'll pick as Marcus and I am sure that with his acting experience he will be able to protray the fun loving yet sort of mature personality that has.

A Discover of Witches - Too much detail can be confusing！

   Ever heard or read the book A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness? Well, many say that it is an amazing book with great details and I agree that it does have a great use of detail to describe the themes and setting…but ever heard of the quotes “Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.” by Henry David Thoreau?  Well for me, what I think of this book is that it is too much details, and that it took a whole whopping 579 pages to finish, it really dragged the story on to a point that it just got boring and finally the details really made this book confusing from a prospective of a teenager (who has to finish reading this book for English class).

 Now to start off, A Discovery of Witches is really a book that has great details from the beautiful description of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University where Diana, who is a historian, stays all the time. This really help the readers put themselves into that setting and make the library come to life with “Elizabethan reading desk…three ascending bookshelves...scarred writing surface…gothic windows…. coffered ceilings” (2). But, this book is just too overly detailed with some parts being unnecessary to some parts where I just have to ask did I miss something or what? Especially with the part where Matthew said they were married
 "Did I miss something ?" I finally asked.
 "When were we married ?"
  Matthew's eyes lifted. "The moment I came home and said I loved you. It wouldn't stand up in court perhaps, but as far as vampires are concerned, we're wed." (354)
    Also, sometimes I can't help but wonder, isn't the author just giving Diana a little too much abilities, like she couldn't decide on this a few but must give Diana every single ability to have her become like the "unbeatable" female protagonist, but is still just a damsel in distress waiting for Matthew to save her.  Just like from Truth,Beauty,Freedom and Books  where they commented on how "feels like the author is just vomiting up words. The book's almost 600 pages long and it isn't because the plot's complicated." .In addition,with the book being so long and detailed, the author really dragged the story, especially at the ending where it was made obvious that the book was going to have a sequel to it. Even from other book reviews blogs such as  The Washingtonpost "The ending, in which Diana and Matthew beat a hasty retreat, made me wish the book had started there" just screams that the book was really too dragged on. Lastly, as a fantasy, paranormal lover who just love vampires, magic and historical stories, I haven't been this unsatisfied since reading Twilight! Since this book is made for adult, the words are quite complicated to understand, especially with all those science words such as "mtDNA" where no teen would understand if they don't take science (and the author didn't even do a good job explaining what it means and I had a hard time understanding all those talk about DNA, genetics..etc). Not only was the book confusing, but it was like reading an mature version of Bella and Edward  that just made me wish the story was over already.

Overall, I have to say the book was a disappointment, from it being too overly detailed, to the story dragging on and on without anything really happening except for all the wine and difference places Matthew took to hide Diana from the Congregation and all the confusing detail and language really made this book too much to handle. Details is something extremely important in a story to help make it come alive, but too much detail is just way too confusing!

Ann Liebau - Midwife

    When people say midwife, the first thing that pops in your mind is a person who help deliver babies at home. Today our guest speaker Ann Liebau, who has been a midwife for 13 years came to talk to us about how it was like to be a midwife. Some people might think this job is cool or this job is kinda weird since you have to deal with the birthing and a lot...lots of blood. Well we got an idea on how the job was from how they have to be on call 24/7 if something happens and they do things like home visits, help the mother plan her pregnancy and also do tests like a doctor would. Now speaking of doctors, sometimes midwifes would work alongside with them if the mother has problems like diabetes and such half way through her pregnancy, since they only work with healthy women who has lower risks. To be a midwife one must 4U english, science and social science to get into the program. From there, they will have to take a 4 year program to become a midwife(though mostly the program is dominated by women, in Ontario we have 1 male midwife who just recently graduated! exciting right?) When you become a professional midwife you go through 6 stages of different annual wage depending on your experience totaling from $80 000-$110 000.

  Now this job may appeal to somebody, but to me it's just kinda hard to picture myself being one since I hate seeing blood :(  For people who wants to be a midwife must have a passion and dedication to become one. Sooo I think that our final guest speaker was a pretty good way to finish.

Richard McDonald - Corporate/Screen/Comedy Writer

 I'm sure some people have heard or know the Red Green show. Well guess what, today our guest speaker was the screen writer of the show for 5 years! But thats not the main point, today our guest speaker Richard McDonald talked to us about how it is like being a writer and how in everyones life, there are 7 careers choices. His 7 career choices were auto mechanic, cabinet maker, filmmaker, film critic, freelance magazine columnist, a comedy writer and a Corporate writer/worker. Now with that said, that is alot of different career paths from something like a auto mechanic to a writer.

  Well one thing I definitly learned today is that being a write DOES NOT PAY　THE BILLS! Definitely many people who write also have other jobs supporting them since (espically freelance writers) only earn $0.25 per word in Canada... that is definitly not alot. But also the benefits are that you get to travel and sometimes even meet or talk to famous people! So being a writer is pretty neat especially for me if it is writing fiction novels since you get to be creative and create your own story~

  All in all, todays 2 guest speaker definitly have something in common about writing and how it doesn't pay the bill but also, how it is rewarding to have your writing published and how if it is something you like go for it!

Mark Morton - A Professor for professors

 Today in class, our first guest speaker was Mark Morton a professor at the university of waterloo who teaches other professors on how to teach. Probably what I learned today was that usually people with a Ph.D tends to go into teaching as professor.Though, being a professor isn't all about teaching since you will also have to research and public books to be able to keep your job (this is totally unrelated but it kinda connects to the novel I am currently reading called A discovery of witches, where the two main character are professors at Oxford who teaches and also do alot of researching manuscripts). We also got a review on how much you get paid as a university professor, which is quite alot from $70000 starting to $130000 mid career. But of course, it takes years of schooling (12 years) so your just basically paying off your student debt with those earnings, so if you want a higher earning job go be a dentist.

  Now for his job as a professor for other university professor, people might wonder why the heck do they have professors teach other professors. To start off, most professors are paid to research on any subject they want, so they aren't really good at teaching and such. Also, those who are professors need to be "tenure" to keep their jobs which mean they will have to publish articles an 
d books from their findings.(and publishing books definitly does not pay the bill but people tend to get grants and such, and it is also pretty rewarding in a sense after you publish a book.) As for the books Mr.Morton has published in the pass are Cupboard Love, Dirty Words, and The End

Harold Albrecht - MP

Today we had the honor of meeting Harold Albrecht, the MP for the Kitchener Conastoga riding. We also learned a great deal about how it is like to be a MP and how you can get there.

  To start off, you can be a MP at the age of 14. But of course,you must have supporters who are willing to support you if you want to be a MP. So the advice he gave us was that, get to be known in the community as much as possible by volunteering and putting yourself out there by being active.He also tells us about his busy work hours from about an 80 hour week to traveling to and from Ottawa. Harold Albrecht also told us a bit of his background from how he became a MP. Starting with being a dentist first, then to being a pastor for a local church.So with that said, you don't need to major in politics to be a MP.

  With being a MP, they have to go through elections that if they lose, they will be jobless. Now that is what I call a pressure job! Long hours of work, none stop traveling and events,and lastly it is not a stable life job as there are always chances thta you will lose your seat. It definitly is not an easy job and will need alot of dedication!

 

Sarah Leishman - Child and Youth Worker

Today we got an insight on what it is like to be a child and youth worker, who works with troubled children and youth up till the age of 18. To start off, there are many different types of CYW who works in hospitals, schools and even groups homes.With the different types of CYW, the shifts and annual wage also varies from $35000-$60000 to higher paying positions. Now for what they do, they provide counselings to help children and youth cope with problems such as being abused,drug addictions, low self-esteem to anxiety. They also keep the conversation confidential, unless it breaks a certain rule. There are also positions where they talk with the whole family of the child/youth on how to handle the special needs that the child/youth may have.

  Now for my prespective on this job, I think it is a very dangerous job since if they tell you that they done something illegal and then was caught, you will also be involved in the case too. But not only that,by being a counseller you must also keep your mind calm and have this sort of personality that would make your client want to pour their heart out to you after just 20 minutes of knowning you. So I think it is quite a difficult job that I wouldn't want to persue in the future. But if it's someone who likes working with children and wants to help them then it might be a good career path.

Amy Beamer-Human Resources at WPL

 Today we had a guest speaker named Amy Beamer, who works in human resource section at the Waterloo Public Library. Even though she didn't really explain her job, she talked about how it is like being an interviewer since she is also responsible for hiring people.

   During the talk, she gave many useful advice on how to dress and act aproprately, like dress as if you want the job, during a job interview.She also told us about this period called the 'prohibition period' where you get watched on how you perform during the first 3 months. In that case, you could get fired imediately if you mess up(for example you sleep on the job or read while you are suppose to be working).

   Theres not really much I can say about her job since she only give us job interview advices, but I think what she told us would be really useful in the future since it's like an inside view of what interviewer look for and their expectations when hiring people.

Justin Kominar - Programmer at Primal

 Everyone's career path is different. Sometimes you get the career you studied for, other times you get thrown into an unexpected career. Today we had a guest speaker come in named Justin Kominar, who works as a programmer at a company named Primal. Primal is an artificial intelligence that helps build your interest network.

   Today, we got an idea of how a programmer's work is like and how Justin ended up as a programmer. To start off, he majored in philosophy but had an interest in computers ever since he was a kid. He learned all those skills needed to be a programmer through his experience from self learning to building websites for Mcmaster University. If it were me it would've been totally hard learn all those skills necessary needed for a programmer that's for sure. Parts that are fun about this job that Justin mentioned would be that you get to play with all those high edge cutting technologies, some that aren't even out to the public yet. He has also told us that to get a job as a programmer you need to be diverse and adaptive. But that's not all, getting a recommandation REALLY MATTERS! So get to know as much people from that industry and do Co-op and volunteer as much as possible!

   I would so not be able to get all those connections and such that easily and that would probably be one of the things I dislike about this career. Another thing is that the wages are very diverse and hours can be flexible or extreme depending on which company you work for (Yikes if you work for a new company that is barely hanging on！.

  I wonder if that job would be suitable to me hmm...but rather than computer engineering, I'll rather persue as a video game designer :) but same it's pretty much the same tihng.

   Justin was a good speaker, even though he rant on and on about stuff, but that shows us that he knows what he is doing in his career. But overall it was great and it gave us a view of being an programmer!

(Primal's Website : https://about.primal.com/ )



  

Endless Vengence ~A Before French Revolution fanfic~

  The Palace of Versailles stood grand and proud as the symbol of absolute monarchy during the days before the French Revolution. The blue sky, lustrous fields of colourful flower, and sparkling fountains of water could be seen from the windows of Versailles. Outside, countless noble men and women could be found chatting and passing time with entertainment. While inside the palace at night, are King Louis XV and his queen Marie Leszczyńska, holding countless parties for the rich and nobles. While the Palace of Versailles was in this grand state, outside the palace crowding the endless streets were dirty poor peasants, stealing and begging for food, with crime rates rising through the roof was what reality was  like in France under the rule of King Louis XV.

  
 Walking through this grand palace with its halls filled with antiques and painting, after having completed my mission, I began to question myself, how much longer will it be? How much longer before this will all come to an end? As I reached the chamber of his Majesty Louis the XV, I stopped my thoughts. Once I enter this velvet room; I was greeted by the King himself, his servant Charles-Francois de Broglie and a fellow member of le Secret du Roi, Maximilien de Robespierre.

“Good job Lia de Beaumont, I heard you did a fine job” said King Louise XV.        

“Thank you your majesty” I said.

“I am glad that you have established a good relationship with Russia and Empress Elizabeth. It will become helpful in the future” he said while sitting there with his hand under his chin.

“Yes your majesty” I replied

“Lia and Maximilien, you two may both leave now” said Louise after his business with us was done.

“May God bless the King” We said as we bowed and retreated from his majesty’s chamber.

  
 Maximilien and I are part of the secret police force, the Secret du Roi. It’s a group that has sworn loyalty to King Louis XV, and works as secret spies. This group is led by Broglie. In total there are only 32 known members, but most of them have their identities hidden, so no one really knows who these 32 members really are except for the king himself and Broglie. Even though Maximilien and I are working as spies under King Louis XV, we believe that the king is a corrupted ruler who has left his citizens to starve and die. But, there is also a secret that only I and Maximilien know about…and because of that, we are a threat to the king. He could have easily gotten rid of us, but we have proven ourselves useful, and without us he will not be able to maintain his position easily. But because of that, we have to be able to gain the kings trust by being in his Secret du Roi…..Our role is to led a revolution. As the tension between the peasants and royals have grown more and more, we are to prepare for it and lead the people...that’s what we have decided.

  
 As if Maximilien could read my thoughts he said “There’s no use thinking about it right now, Lia.”

“I know. But there is so much going on, especially….” I said but was hushed by Maximilien.

“Not now, we don’t know who might be listening” he said in a hushed tone.

“Alright” I said as we walked down the seamlessly long hallway inside the Palace of Versailles.

Once we got back to my chamber, we cautiously discussed current events that have taken place in France. The seven year war had recently ended with the peace treaties of Paris. With the peace that has finally settled after the long tiresome war, it was a hard time to strike and cause a revolution with everyone being ethausted. But, like usual through our endless discussion, Maximilien had decided to wait… At that time we did not know that the time to strike back would happen so soon, especially with the events that followed up to it…..

    
 Several weeks have passed since I returned from my mission. I was called out by Maximilien into an isolated area of the garden of Versailles, that was surrounded by ginormous white pillars, and it was there that I was informed about the news that his majesty would send Maximilien to Russia. Even though the relation between Russia and France had become more stable, it would still mean suicide if a man were to cross the borders of Russia! Knowing that, we could predict what the king must have wanted. To separate Maximilien and I, to pick us off so that we would never reveal the secret that would cause the whole idea of absolute monarchy to crumble. Maximilien said that he would follow his majesty’s orders, even though he knew it would be dangerous. But I just couldn’t let him! If it means that I would never be able to see him, I would just follow him to Russia…as I thought that, tears began to form. I pleaded with him to take me with him, but as he quietly wiped my tears with his thumb, he told me that it would just mean everything we worked so hard up until now would be a waste. He told me to stay and began leading the people to freedom. But no matter what he told me, I would not let him go alone…Even if it means going against our monarch, throwing away our status, becoming banned as traitors! After seeing my determination and unwavering attitude, he decided to begin the revolution. We only had a few weeks to prepare and counter King Louis XV.

   
 Through countless weeks of struggle and working overnight, day after day, we prepared for the rebellion. It also seems that the king has been trying to keep us separate, fearing that we would communicate and betray him. Keeping us both busy, we rarely have time to see each other. But none the less, we would still secretly meet up in a deep underground chamber that only few know about.
   
   After the plan had finally settled, I retired to my chamber for some rest. As I lay there on my bed, I begin to recall all the old memories of Maximilien and me: from the time when we first met at a grand masquerade ball, where nobel men and women were clad in fancy dresses and suits with matching masks hiding their identity and rank, inside the Palace of Versailles when I was 19 to when I met him again 2 years later when we were introduced to each other as fellow members of the Secret du Roi. It been a few years now… and it was him who helped me open my eyes and change my mind about his majesty King Louis XV.  After that, we had worked for a few years as undercover spies for the king, but also secretly gathering evidence and support for the rebellion against the royal family. But it was around that time that there was no turning back when we found out the most important secret of all. I slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep as I continued through the flashbacks.

   
 It was the next night when a sudden summoning from the King came. Escorted by Broglie, I entered the king’s chamber and, inside, Maximilien was already there. It seems that he was also summoned here, but why? Something was really suspicious about it. As I was thinking that, the king nodded to Broglie who replied with a “Oui” and quietly shut the door.

“It seems you two already have an idea about why you were called here” said Louis, sitting in his bed behind its soft white velvet curtains so we could only hear his voice.

“And what might that be?” Maximilien replied with a sarcastic tone.

“Watch your tongue” snapped Broglie.

“It’s quite alright Broglie” said the king.

   
“You two had always been quite useful, but also a pain, especially you Maximilien de Robespierre” he continues.

“It seems you two have been doing something behind my back”

My heart thumped when I heard him say that. So he does know about that eh…but it doesn’t matter, I’m already prepared for this possibility to happen.

“I’m just fulfilling that stupid prophecy that the old king believed in, your majesty” Maximilien said with a smirk.

“How dare you speak that way to our ruler” barked Broglie readying his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Maximilien laughed loudly. “Oh how long has he tricked this country being a monarch that doesn’t even contain a single drop of royal blood!” 

“Insolent fool! He is the absolute ruler, one that you will never be” said Broglie angrily, lashing toward Maximilien with his sword, which Maximilien dodged with ease.

 What Maximilien said is true. The secret that the royal family has kept for decades: the current king of France was not from royalty, or even French for the matter of fact. This is the secret we had found out while on our adventure as the king’s spy. It was predicted by a prophet that the newly born prince whom would become the next ruler would bring destruction to the royal family with his own hands and that only if switched with a certain person will the royal be spared of such a fate and that person would bring salvation. The previous king had taken into serious consideration what that prophet had said, and he switched his newly born son with the young Maximillien de Robespierre and with their fates changed, the young prince took the throne at the tender age of 5 when the previous king passed away.

  
 While Maximilien and Broglie kept sparring with each other, it could easily be seen that Broglie was at a disadvantage. Then with a loud clap from the king, dozens of solders came rushing in with weapons in hand. We could easily tell that this would be troublesome even with our level of swordsmanship. As Maximilien called my name, I could tell what we were going to do next. I ran to him as he grabbed my hand and jumped off the balcony door….

    
   It has been a few days since the event in the king’s chamber happened. Maximilien and I have stayed hidden since that time as we were deemed traitors. We both stayed at difference places,only meeting up occasionally to discuss our next plan. In a secret chamber under a cemetery, we would each hide notes for the other to read. 

  It was that night that I went to our secret meeting place, and there under a corpse I could see a small hidden piece of paper. When I unfolded it I read that he wishes to see me at the Catholic Church that was 30 minutes away from where I had stayed. When reading this note, I could sense that something was off. I decided to go to the church, but not without preparation. I left a note in a place that only Maximilien would notice and returned to my hideout. There I began my preparation and sent off an envelope filled with secrets that would destroy the king to someone whom I could trust to give to Maximilien, and in there I also wrote him a letter regarding my decisions.

   
  When I arrived at the church, I met the priest before I entered the dark, silent confession room. There I could make out a faint figure of a man….I called out saying that I was here and within seconds, a glint of silver came my way thrusting through my heart. While struggling from the burning pain that blossomed from my chest, I could faintly make out the face of the person behind the confession stall, its eyes filled with hatred. Stumbling with my vision blurring and strength draining, I slowly made my way out of to room, to the grand halls of the church, gasping for air as I could feel my body being drained of it's warmth, I collapsed. The only thing on my mind was that I've hope for Maximilien to read my letter and not worry..even when I'm gone...

  Trying to grasp every breath I could, I was able to maintain conscious as the burning pain continued to spread throughout my chest. I could just make out the faint footsteps coming toward me, the echo it made sound so familiar. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I could see the priest and his follower collapse to the ground in a pool of crimson. I glimpsed up, seeing a worried Maximilien, I smiled, and slowly reached my hand out to wipe away the tears running down his face. There I quietly whispered “don’t worry….everything will be alright….. Please don’t cry and smile for me….” With my vision becoming more dark and blurry, the last thing I could see was a sad smile on Maximilien’s face beneath his tears as everything became surrounded in darkness.

    
    When Lia’s eyes closed, it looks as if she was just peacefully asleep. Maximilien vowed that he could not let her die, that he would fulfil her wish and get revenge on the person who had done this to her. Swearing under his breath, wishing that he could have arrived earlier to their meeting place and finding the piece of note hidden skilfully in a corpse’s hand telling him where she went, he could have prevented all this. Carefully picking Lia up as if she was as fragile as a flower, Maximilien carried her off into the dark night where the rain came pattering down as if  crying with him in pain. There he vowed in the darkness that surrounds him and Lia that he would help her take her vengeance on this corrupted world....

Disclaimer and Credits: losely based on historical events and  figures such as Chevalier D'eon,King Louis XV and Maximilien de Robispierre, also losely based on the story Le chevalier D'eon.

 

Melissa Durrell - Roller coaster of careers

Through a roller coaster of careers, Melissa Durrell's careers path has finally stopped as a part time city counselor and a CEO.

   She began her career as a television journalist, then a politician and now finally a CEO and a city counselor for Kitchener/Waterloo. Her income range varies since being a CEO makes her income either low or high and a city counselor is only a part time job.

  Her work hours also vary so she has a very unstable work hour, but she says that she tend to try keeping her work hours to a certain amount. What I think about her job is that it is a very unlikely job that I would take for myself in the future since I dislike the part of working late and also having to work varieties of jobs. Also, having to talk and communicate with people non-stop can be very tiring too.

   Therefore, it is a job that I tend to dislike and not enjoy. I appreciate her coming to speak with us but, she didn't speak very clearly enough in a loud voice when we are in the auditorium and also her topics varies too much so it was hard to  keep focused on what she was actually talking about.

Christopher Graves - Project Hope

 Today, our guest speaker was Christopher Graves,an executive director for this charity called Project Hope. So what he does for a living is fundraising for widows and orphans, for there nutrition, and education fees to help them become self sustaining. Aside from that, he is also the only employee that is in Canada, so he basically does everything from accounting to banking. While his work shifts from 9-10 hours daily with salaries from $35000-$80000, but in reality it's a job where you are always working with a very broad, all over the place salary.

  For the part of the job where I found interesting and like is probably being able to help people.Also, the parts that I don't like about this job is probably the traveling, managing everything, asking for money, communicating/advertisement and having to always work. For some people this may be the fun or good part of being a executive director or working in the charity industry. But, for me it's probably a career I am not so interested in or will pursue in the future.

  All in all, it was a great presentation where my class got to learn a lot more about the charity industry, and what's it's like and where the money from the doners end up at.



To find more about this charity please go to http://www.projecthope.ca :)

Standardized Testing

  Why does standardized testing (EQAO, grade 9 math..etc) exist?
 Many of us wonder why they exist and how there are even a lot of people that like them! They take a long time to write, a long time to mark...so why not just erase standardized testing from the face of this planet?

  But, sadly it exist and there is a reason why .... no matter how much we hate them, they exist. So, for why they exist, I think that they exist to test our abilities on how to read,write, speak and math, basically all the important life skills. They also have pros to them, as they show how the students knowledge are from the previous years, give teachers a guideline on what to teach and help track, eliminate test questions that are a problem when they compare all the test results. So basically they exist with these pros to help both students and teachers.

 No matter how much we hate something (ahmm..standardized testing), they exist for a purpose and that purpose will help us as students in the future.

TEDx Youth Waterloo

  Now..did you ever did anything that was able to have impact on many people in a good way? Being able to actually make a difference, rather than just saying so? Especially during high school? WELL... I know a bunch of teenagers that was able to do so.

  Today, I went to watch TEDx Youth Waterloo, a TED talk ran by youth for youth sort of thing. So as I was watching through the guest speakers talk, one group of guest speaker stood out for some reason.That was a group of 3 guys in grade 11 that established this group called H.E.L.P (homelessness everywhere lacking publicity) that shed light on the issue of homelessness.

  So, these 3 guys (Brad Golding, Tibor Kovacs and Teodor Nikolov) started of by being challenged by their civics teacher to make a difference... and from there they began as a 3 people group making care packages for the homeless in the streets and community...and 6 months later, they became a even bigger group with almost their whole school supporting them..

  I think it is amazing how 3 local town boys are able to make a difference and not giving up and keeping at it and also how they are able to share with everyone else at TEDx youth their story and showing us the "Gorilla" in our life. Hope they keep doing a good job :)

Follow them on Facebook or twitter at - http://www.facebook.com/HomelessnessEverywhereLackingPublicity or
twitter.com/HelpHomelessCA

Nature of Man

    The nature of man, are they essentially evil or essentially good? Based on Thomas Hobbe's philosophy believe that all man are evil. Today...well a few days ago, after my presentation on Thomas Hobbes, we had a class discussion on if men are all essentially evil or not. So....here I am writing a blog post about this topic.  Well, I believe that humans are all naturally evil as human emotions can are based on the 7 deadly sin.
Seven Sins

-Lust (Luxuria)
-Envy (Invidia)
-Greed (Avaritia)
-Pride (Superbia)
-Glutonny (Gula)
-Sloth (Acedia)
-Wrath (Ira)
Combined
-Jealousy
(find definitions here)

   I believe that rather than all men begin from being essentially evil or essentially good then becoming the other, I think that all men are essentially evil, no matter how good that men is. Based on the 7 deadly sin, which is normal emotions that we all feel, each of them, if taken too far will lead to bad things. Since everyone in there daily lives will feel one of these emotions, doesn't it make them potential for being essentially evil? Well, think about it! Why are these 7 emotions called "The 7 Deadly Sins"?

 So yeah, that's what I think of the nature of man. Everyone has a different perception on if men are good or evil, sometimes there are a clear line that divides them, but sometimes there isn't so no one knows.

Guest Speaker Alison

   Okay, so today we had a guest speaker name Alison come in to talk about her careers with us! To begin, her career is public relation, where she facebooks and twitter all day long.

What I like about is that how she told us that even when she got out of high school and university, she still didn't know what career path she would take. That can be a bit reassuring, since you don't need to stress out so much on what career you want to do during high school. So.. the part that are important and sort of fits into my future career job is that it's best to be in the arts programs and be a dedicated hard worker to achieve your goal...even if it means you have to survive on canned soups! She also talked about how you would sometimes have to do overtime and even be in a war room sort of state and even have to take calls at 4am!! That part and probably living in sort of a povertyish life style to begin with is what I don't really like D:

 Bring a hard worker, twittering, Facebook all day,dedicated, scrapping by to live, overtime, taking calls at 4am and even have to be creative and good at writing...Phew! what a tough job! At first glance it may seem fun, but it sure is tough from how she described it. But what I think is that， if you love sometimes and have a passion for it，it would be the most funnest and awesomeness job ever！！