I have a confession to make: I LOVE chips! Potato chips, corn chips, you name it – if they’re coated in colourful saltiness and have that satisfying crunch, I’m all in. In fact, for full disclosure here on the Wellness blog, I love chips a little too much! I try to resist their temptation, but when I do give in, it’s quite the episode. Let me admit, dear fans of health and wellness, that it’s actually quite Cookie-Monster-esque: crumbs flying everywhere, eyes bulging, and a few “om nom nom nom” sounds to boot! Yes, as much as I long to be the vision of health, I do have my vices.

If you recall the old Lay’s potato chips ads, Karim Abdul-Jabbar challenged us with the slogan, “Betcha can’t eat just one.”

Sadly, this is not a challenge I would even consider entertaining. I know full well I can not and will not try to eat just one chip . . in fact, sometimes I feel I can’t even eat just one bag!

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Winter is almost…probably…possibly… over. Retrospectively, one of the things that kept me going through the many months of winter has been my love of sitting around a winter bonfire.  So here is my ode to the fantastic combination of fire and ice, forever entwined in my list of the top five things to love about winter bonfires.

5. Outdoor Cuisine – Coming in at number five is the culinary delight of cooking on an outdoor fire. I know for many people, this would be much higher on the list. In fact, it probably merits a post of its own – best bonfire recipes ever!!!  However, I’m usually a bit lame when it comes to outdoor cooking, opting for unwellness foods like hotdogs and marshmallows (alas, I’m not perfect).  As an aside, I actually think that the way someone cooks marshmallows says a lot about their personality.  I am a slow roasting, brown around the outside, non-charcoal kind of person.  I believe this reflects a certain meticulous maturity when it comes to cooking this gourmet desert. However, when I was younger, I was a lot more like my son is now – a “stick it in the flame and watch it burn like a torch” kind of person.

4. Functionality – Fire can have many uses, first on the list being heat and light.  Let’s face it, winter is cold.  Sometimes very very very cold. Standing around a fire with some sort of windbreak can make even the most frigid nights quite warm.

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The much younger version of myself would have scoffed to think I would one day become a proponent of “the workout”. The way I saw it, working out was exactly what the terminology indicated – work! Why on earth, I argued, would any self-respecting lady put on those ugly sweatpants and tie up her well-coifed hairdo just to spend an hour of torture in the gym? The gym – ugh, a place synonymous with panting, gasping, sweating and turning red and blotchy. And for what? Those hundred calories burned on the exercise bike (the only machine I thought my clumsiness could handle) was only a fraction of what I’d consume later with my family-size bag of Doritos in front of the TV.

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“there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he’s had the pleasure to have known“
                                                                Lennon-McCartney

Turn on your audio before you click play to hear Allison Crowe’s cover of In My Life, and see if you are one of the many heads that have given me pleasure over the years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JejuYwigu14

I don’t listen to the Beatles that much anymore, but I stumbled upon Penny Lane in my iTunes library while going through photos of some of my RRC connections over the years. What could be more appropriate? And what could be more freaky than hearing Penny Lane again in SuperStore the very next day? 20 years without hearing a song and then it pops up twice in 24 hours? Clearly a sign. So I went back to my pictures and started counting. 100 faces I could put a name to, never mind all the mugs with no handles! I was amazed. Read More →

The LGBTT* Initiative at Red River College is now accepting nominations to fill the eight positions on its established LGBTT* Initiative Steering Committee for the period of July 2013 to June 2015.

The LGBTT* Initiative at Red River College fosters the development of a safe environment on our campuses so everyone has the chance to work, learn and access services in an inclusive and welcoming manner. The LGBTT* Initiative provides educational opportunities and resources to build communication, understanding and respect for diversity throughout the College. This is an initiative for all Red River College students, staff and faculty.

The purpose of the Steering Committee is to provide input and guidance on activities for the LGBTT* Initiative. Members will participate by sharing information regarding emerging needs and issues across the College campuses, and considering strategic enhancements that could further the LGBTT* Initiative educational impact at Red River College.

A diverse representation at the Steering Committee guarantees the access to a varied of views according to different campuses, professional areas, roles at the College, etc.

Responsibilities:

• Attend regularly scheduled in-person meetings (generally every 2 months).
• Give feedback on policy, direction, and strategic planning of the LGBTT* Initiative.
• Strategize effective ways to increase the LGBTT* Initiative visibility, organizational outreach and educational impact within Red River College.
• Liaise the LGBTT* Initiative with external organizations and community representatives.

Requirements:

• Steering Committee members must be Red River College faculty members, administrative staff, students and/or graduates.
• Steering Committee members must be LGBTT* Allies (screening of a DVD recording of an Ally Training is available).
• Willingness to support and advocate for LGBTT* individuals, and for the LGBTT* Initiative within Red River College and in the community at large.

If you are interested in nominating an individual or yourself for the committee, please provide:

• One page statement of interest from the nominee, including description of role and involvement at Red River College and in the community.
• Nominations must be submitted by Friday, April 5 at 3:00 pm to nsobel@rrc.ca.

For more information or any questions, please contact Nora Sobel, Diversity Initiatives Coordinator at nsobel@rrc.ca or 204.632.2404.

The next Ally Trainings at Red River College are confirmed for Friday, May 10 (The Roblin Centre) and Monday, May 13 (Notre Dame Campus).

If you are staff or faculty and you are interested and available to attend one of these sessions, please visit https://hub.rrc.ca/facultydevelopment/default.aspx and register for the session you will attend.

If you are a student and you would like to register for one of the sessions, please e-mail to nsobel@rrc.ca, indicating which day you are interested on attending.

Deadline for registration is April 30.

The trainings are organized by the College LGBTT* Initiative that provides educational opportunities and resources to build communication, understanding and respect for diversity throughout the College.

The LGBTT* Initiative appreciates the ongoing support of the Ally Project provided by Rainbow Resource Centre.

When the Wellness blog debuted over a year ago, one of the first posts was a video collaboration between Doctor Mike Evans and filmmaker Nick de Pencier entitled 23 and a ½ hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health? touting the benefits of spending 30 minutes a day taking a walk. Since posting this excellent piece (initially shared by Lucille McLeod) I had forgotten about this wellness dynamic duo until last week, when I came to work and found a Globe and Mail article on my desk.  The article was dropped off by Ashley Blackman – who is a Wellness Nut and Director of Research and Planning – as he is often sending me Wellness-related articles that he finds.

As it turns out, Dr. Evans has continued this film making collaboration, and now has several other videos featured on his YouTube channel, including the ABCs of Diabetes, Concussions 101: a primer for kids and parents, the best was to treat acne, the single best thing you can do to quit smoking and the video below dealing with stress.

Aside from the interesting advice being provided, I am drawn in by the art of storytelling, which I think these two have aced. I doubt there are many people who can make Acne interesting, but somehow they do. Like all things medical, these videos aren’t necessarily the definitive word on the subject(s), but they provide a foundation for looking further and considering other advice and information.

February is Heart and Stroke Awareness Month, and the Wellness Committee is is once again promoting our Heart-Smart Potluck Challenge.  The Wellness Committee challenges our college community to host a Heart-Smart Pot Luck between February 11^th and February 22nd.  Get together with your colleagues or challenge another department  to a “Potluck Throw Down” to see who can make the tastiest Heart-Smart dish.

If you’re not sure what to make, head over to the Heart and Stroke Foundation website and browse their extensive set of Heart-Smart recipes. While there, you can also check out their 10 simple suggestions for healthy eating.

Here’s some Potluck tips + folklore

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The Red River Runners are (left to right) Margarita, Judy, Sara, Fatima and Hannah

Post submitted by James Slade, runnning enthusiast, ACCESS program instructor

The annual Great Grain Relay is on March 9 this year.  Red River College has been well represented over the past ten years or so and we have several medals to show for it!  This great March fundraiser is in support of Juvenile Diabetes Research, which is a great cause.  We’ll have great weather because it happens indoors at the Max Bell Track at the U of M!  Are you interested in forming a team of 5 runners, or joining in?

• Date: Saturday, March 9
• Time: 12:00 noon  – 2 pm
• Distance: 800m relay – after you do your 800, you hand off.  Once everyone on your team has gone, you are up again!
• Place: Max Bell track at the U of M  (free parking on Saturdays)
• Beer garden and lunch after: Beer garden?? Did someone say beer and lunch???
• Cost per team:  $150.00

If you’re interested, send an email to James Slade (jslade@rrc.ca) or Mike Krywy (mkrywy@rrc.ca).

I consider myself a child of the music video generation. I vividly remember staying up late every Friday to watch Friday Night Videos with Terry David Mulligan. I recall seeing the debut of Michael Jackson’s Thriller in a movie theatre in Lae, Papua New Guinea where my dad had taken the family on a year-long leave of absence from the Electrical Engineering Technology department to teach at the University of Technology in Lae. Aside from featuring some crazy dance movies and the Zombie storyline – that music video extended the limits of that genre into a whole other atmosphere.

In the roughly 30 years that has passed, music videos have dramatically evolved – losing the spotlight they once had on television (hello Youtube) and becoming ingrained into mainstream film and television where the boundaries are sometimes blurred.

This post looks at the art of musician M. Ward and animation director Joel Trussell. Neither is entirely a household name, though M. Ward gets a lot of love from CBC Music 2 (98.3 FM on the dial). In addition to his solo career, M. Ward is also in a band with Zooey Deschanel called She and Him (PS – if you’ve ever seen the movie Elf, Zooey plays the female lead) and another ensemble known as the Monsters of Folk.

The first song/video is Chinese Translation off his 2006 album Post War.  The song is a simple tale of a man seeking the answer to three eternal questions.  The second song – The First Time I Ran Away was done several year later off his new Wasteland Companion album.  I realize that everyone has different tastes when it comes to music and art, but I think these collaborations epitomize how music videos truly have become an art form unto itself.  Plus it makes me “well” enjoying a few minutes of it.

Chinese Translation

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