Emerging Leaders Blog of the Week

Partnerships, Parties and Players

2011-04-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

More from Mount Royal, here are our last three bloggers from the Recreation and Community Development class. What an amazing group, a group who have built community together, laughed and learned, questioned and taught me so much more with their combined wisdom through silence, smiles, yawns, stories, artwork and somersaults. I hope you run into one of our MRU bloggers because you will be inspired!

Look for their final projects, from soundscapes and powerpoint quizzes to musical pictorals coming soon!

Jennifer Price shares a "Neat Tool for Partnerships"
http://c0sm0.blogspot.com/

Ryan Plysiuk engages key Calgary Flames parties to find out what it might take to build the Flames community into the future
http://ryanplyscommdevel.blogspot.com/

Brent Washenfelder discusses Baseball Calgary's priority of player and coach development at an organizational level.

http://aboriginalrecreationsummit.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

Dream, Create, Act
Karen
www.fourward.ca

Diverse Communities of University Students

2011-04-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

There's diversity in all communities, the students of Mount Royal University are no exception. From snowboarding and the Special Olympics to religious affiliations, the passionate commitment to building and supporting three totally different communities can be seen through the eyes of these three students:

Goeff Edwards talks about how important real-time snow reports bring the snowboard and ski community to the hill http://recr1203-001ge.blogspot.com/

Lindsey Nielsen in on a quest for Special Olympics volunteers http://lknielse.blogspot.com/

Kristen Gibb shares her spiritual community http://recr1203-allforone.blogspot.com

Do any of these resonate with you?

Something to talk about

2011-03-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Read Tim Thurston's blogs on a very unique community, one that doesn't seem to have an identity: http://pictureframingcommunity.blogspot.com/

Reid Mitchell discusses community building in Invermere and the importance of political support:

http://reidmitchell.blogspot.com/

Joel Teindl talks about his MRU Residence community. He sees a separation between international students and Canadian students and discusses possibilities of bridging the two: http://joelteindl.blogspot.com/

Anderson Zhuang runs the intramural program at the University of Calgary. Find out about the realities he faces in working with and building the rec program. http://andersonzh.blogspot.com/

Alan Miller, a varsity soccer player, discusses the responsibility that comes with opportunity. He was recruited to play at MRU. http://alanjmiller.wordpress.com/

Nothing like the rich experiences of leaders in the field. While these students are developing their skills and knowledge through formal education, they continue to influence the communities that they live and work in.

Keep your eyes peeled

2011-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

on these bloggers. Join these Mount Royal University leaders making a difference in their communities as each share their work to enhance and build on existing strengths:

Dawn Burke http://student-dawn.blogspot.com/
Kari Youmans http://blog1contributecreatechange.blogspot.com/
Jordon Harrison http://harrisonjordon.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
Kyle L'Arrivee http://kylelarrivee1.blogspot.com/
Matt Swart http://aboriginalcommunitydevelopment.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

What are emerging leaders saying about community development?

2011-02-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

This week five Mount Royal University students are featured bloggers. They talk about communities they're a part of, how the movie "Invictus" relates to Community Development, and discuss a variety of topics, from inclusion to the ARPA. See what our emerging leaders are saying.

Dan Gyorffy - http://dgyor.blogspot.com/

Jenn Sheehan - http://biggerthanus-sport-for-development.blogspot.com/

Megan Price - http://priceisright10.blogspot.com/

Mark Phillips - http://mphil974.blogspot.com/

Emily Larson - http://firstem-otion.blogspot.com/

Whitecourt McDonalds active member and contributor to it's people and heritage

2010-08-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

By:Tyler Alexis
Whitecourt, Alberta

The Whitecourt McDonalds which is open 24 hours and located in the out-of-town area up the hill is open at all times. It has fueled the appetites and leisurely activity of this town for many years - it has become a part of our heritage. It boasts an employee roster of over 80 employees and an impressive bureaucratic arrangement designed to combat the apprehensiveness that many employees have at showing up and doing their job all the time. Initially you are hired for a rate that is above minimum wage, which is good for younger employees, as they are mostly assigned clerical tasks and are thereby encouraged.

"The average person tends to either scoff at this job or really dislike it, or else work to the disadvantage of other employees by being given seniority" claims one worker who does not dislike the job. "It has it's good points, though and I can't hate them all because I like some" the employee pointed out, "Because I work like a slave, they don't really mind my not showing up there" he stated.

I asked him what they did in the way of disciplinary action, the employee said "They don't pay you and they cut your hours and assign you the most work, but a hard-working employee like myself really doesn't worry and usually shows up.". This is a sharp contrast to the negative attention it has received in the media and from various organizations designed purely to oppose it.

"They never learned the lesson that humanity in general should; you cannot eliminate anything that people will buy on such a large scale - even things attacked by the judicial and legislative systems are at the mercy of the ones that make them up and to a lesser extent, those that come into conflict with the ones tasked with enforcing the law; those people are represented by leaders they don't necessarily like but mostly don't oppose. They have the freedom of peaceably coexisting, which they choose over anarchy. Since people generally try and avoid fighting each other, they usually agree with each other and come into conflict with different people with different agreements against their will and that right there is what we call a demographic and the reason for wars" A professor of Sociology explained,
"It also takes into consideration non-human threats like extra-terrestrials and the elements. You think I'm the only one that knows this? If I was there would be nobody that gained power over others by opposing it." he finished, at a lecture this reporter has declined to record.

Opposition is touted as being the object of censorship, but while that might not be politically correct, it's the logical solution to dealing with these small-timers. Laws that are designed at maintaining individual freedom are at the mercy of those individuals they protect, should they not choose to uphold the freedoms these laws protect. lots of people don't, but there are some that do and most people have nothing to fear, because most people cannot be amassed together without there being a risk of a massive mutiny against those systems, the system-builders therefore cannot afford to co-operate without risking being overthrown.

That would be a legitimate and logical reason for no co-operating or communicating. McDonald's does not solicit the dissemination of literature during working hours, but that doesn't stop people from leaving a newspaper there daily. It does not permit for a workers union to form either, which is usually not a problem since individuals rarely try and form unions and the employees are diverse enough and from as wide a demographic as possible that they would never disagree and are decentralized. if they centralized at all then they would no longer be as valuable or numerous as individuals and they either hate the work or each other or don't do it at all. It would be foolish to hate your job and make things difficult unnecessarily, which is why it's necessary to simply make it more difficult or grin and bear it. That's a solution that works for everyone.

Whatever some people may think, others won't pay negativity any heed and continue to eat there for low-prices paying lowly paid workers that are enjoying those freedoms of decision and choice involved. This is a paradox of course, but everything has an opposite and they attract or oppose the concept or idea of there being 'one', by definition of them being individual units that must be measured as one but cannot if you measure them; because they aren't really all the same or all different even. I would make my children work here to show them this lesson and for them to learn it instead of making a mistake later on, I know full well humanity cannot be trusted - I rob all of my customers. said one executive.

At least he was honest towards the ignorance of the mass-consciousness and how society thrives not on that being a lie, rather as an advantage over illiterate masses who never learn it in their lives or thrive on it's knowledge. That's why knowledge is power and why we are a society of knowledge: it would not be the information age without any or all of this information. It would certainly not be power if everybody knew it. Some people realize this and dream of being more like the animal species in co-habitation without realizing that it's because we know this that we're able to beat animals of prey, which our ancestors had developed based on information and techniques which became unneccesary as time went on and newer as better, more efficient and knowledgeable people were created. This is...powerful information which you make a rule of not sharing that I broke, so make it useful.

Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation: Mary-Anne Mustus Memorial Round Dance

2010-05-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

May 30 2010
Alexis Community Hall
Tyler Alexis
ACE youth reporter

The event drew a wide variety of people from all walks of life, at heart Alexis still remains a group of people devoted to communal survival and the whole above the one. Although this is not the case in everyday reserve life, which is precisely the reason why these events are so special: people behave equally when they join hands and link in the circle as one. I find the dance itself taxing; maintaining the rhythm correctly requires concentration on my part, but is ultimately satisfying when done correctly.

Above: Several circles, note new circle being linked

This dance was in memorial of one of our band that lived to a very advanced age and held respect as an elder of our community, Mary-Anne Mustus. There were raffles, dried meat was available and some food was provided to guests that arrived early.
Ten singers were called upon to perform and were paid; lead singer was Josh Alexis and he performed excellently this evening.

The dance lasted for hours as old friends socialized and new bonds were forged. The M.C. was Francis Alexis, a man best described as a very amusing entertainer; he was once Chief of Alexis. The crowd was consistently entertained by both itself as well as by the main event, which I will go into a bit from an anthropological perspective.

Sharing food with other people is a very basic sign of friendship shared by all early human societies, that the tradition is still ongoing in Alexis is something of a sociological anachronism, a by-product of colonialism and perhaps even a benevolent one. Such informalities allow us to maintain close links with fellow community members, we are in fact a Feudalism for this reason. The fact that we know who everyone is and what they do (more or less) allows us to take advantage of this and theoretically utilize the best person for the job in everything; that is, to maintain a meritocracy. This doesn’t always happen, but I think that things are headed in the right direction with more light being cast upon the issue.

Grade 3/4 Longview School

2010-05-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is a commercial about the Public Speaking Competition hosted by the Longview 4H Beef Club.

Grade 3/4 Longview School

2010-05-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is a commercial about Longview School's 50th Birthday.

Grade 3/4 Longview School

2010-05-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is a commercial about the town and school project to paint the fire hydrants.

Grade 3/4 Longview School

2010-05-04T10:37:00.001-07:00

These are some commercials the grade 3/4 class wrote and produced about events around Longview.

United Nations visit Alexis Reserve

2010-03-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

The gymnasium of the Alexis school was filled with various representatives from several different countries during March 6-9 2010. Issues of discrimination and funding cuts were discussed. Every representitive was allowed to say a few words before the next was given a chance to speak. With at least 30 different speakers from various cultures, it was almost impossible for such a body to reach anything beyond a very general and broad agreement, although it was never directly stated that any agreement whatsoever was actually reached.

"You'll never see this again in your lifetime" a community member promised with a smile, I could not help but smile back in amusement. I entered the conference and asked for a name tag, "Oh no, you can go in" someone who had to be monitoring visitors said. Unfortunately I couldn't quiet make out most of the conference, but that was beside the point. The main issue that Chief Cameron Alexis put forth was the McGiver case, "Starting April 4th everyone registered after 1987 will be non-treaty, the Federal court ruled in favour of the Provincial court of BC. They agreed that all unnoccupied reserve land will be sold to pay off outstanding debts." it was stated. A Central American representative allegedly made a comment which disrupted the entire issue, although several people present at the time couldn't agree on what exactly the comment was. It was however, everyone agreed, a splendid and momentous occasion. By the end of the conference the UN representatives had pledged to support the community by raising awareness of the issues. Although this reporter is uncertain of which issues those are precisely, the main thing is that they involve discrimination and are going to be addressed by the UN sometime in the near future.