More of an April Update

Things continue to go great through the blessings of God. I am really excited about starting my PhD coursework at OISE/University of Toronto. I start in May. I have now paid my fees and looking forward to getting my Robarts library card activated so I can make full use of their wonderful resource. OISE looks as though they have a good library too.

I found out some terrific news lately. I will be teaching a dramatic writing course at Ryerson University's Chang School. This is in continuing education. The contract should come in the mail by Thursday. I'm really looking forward to this. I have been sent the course outline and I now have the required text that looks really interesting to teach from as a base. I have seen the movies we will be screening and it's going to be a really exciting class over May and June.

For July and August I will be teaching the second half of media writing, taking over from the esteemed Roger McTair at Seneca College. I'm really looking forward to that too. I have an interview for another teaching job this Monday coming up, plus finally a face-to-face interview for some bilingual consulting work I have been working on in French and English. Things are looking good. I had another interview on Tuesday for some occasional work with a consulting firm working with the University of Toronto and I should know for sure about that by Friday.

I have completed my work at George Brown College. I learned a lot while I was there and the students were absolutely excellent. I'm just wrapping everything up with Centennial College and also wrapping things up for the winter semester with Seneca College. My latest book has been Teaching Curriculum Ideas. My book sales have not been too bad, however I am really looking forward to the booth I have rented at the Word on the Street Festival in September that takes place in Toronto.

My recent intern Chris Temelkos from Seneca College is working out really well. I found out that my hunch about Rachel Muenz's career was right. She is a former intern of mine on Donna, and now will be working for a newspaper in Saskatchewan, Canada. I'm so happy for her. She will do excellent work I know for sure. I know she will really enjoy her experience too. Another one of my more recent students, Jonathan McGill, who is actually related to one of the founders of McGill University, is an extremely talented singer. Please check out his MySpace page by following the link posted up on my magazine at: http://kakonged.wordpress.com.

I was recently a guest on a show with host Robin Marvel (her real name) on "Live out Loud." It was a lot of fun. On the show I discussed a lot of things, as well as a play I was going to be in at Artscape Wychwood Barns in my neighbourhood. It turns out I will no longer be in the play. The experience helped me to fully realize that I should stick with what I know - the nuts and bolts of what my business is about (freelance communication). Well, it was a great experience and I got a chance to work briefly with some really amazing people.

The wonderful thing about the play experience is that every black woman I met associated with it was wearing her natural black hair. It was a great experience and I am still pondering if this project could work into part of my research for my dissertation on hair and clothes politics, art and education. It sure was a refreshing experience considering that it is in the aesthetically dominated field of the creative arts. Something to think about.

I'm having a blast. It sure does help that my place is tidy. Thank you Crystal Clear Maids. I recommend them. I do not do it often, however, when I do - it really does help to clear my head. I also washed my hair and that helped too :-).

Until next time.

It's Been A Long Time

Hello everyone out there!

It's been a long time since I have posted to this blog site. I am fortunate that blogspot has forgiven me and not relinquished my membership. Things have been busy.

Last semester I had seven classes to teach. Three of them were at Seneca College's Markham campus and three of them were at Seneca College's York campus. I also taught a beat reporting class with the University of Toronto Scarborough campus (UTSC) and Centennial College's Journalism program. I co-taught that class with Ellin Bessner who is excellent to work with. I had a lot of fun and the semester was great. Of course there was some anxiety working on the front lines as a teacher with H1N1 being such a huge deal for many people. It was an interesting experience to navigate through the health issues of some of the students, plus dealing with my own bout of flu, that was not H1N1.

This semester has been extremely interesting. I am teaching two news announcing courses at Seneca College's York campus. Plus, I am teaching a magazine journalism course with UTSC-Centennial. This year, the magazine journalism students have a chance to get their stories published on my magazine Donna Magazine. As well, I started working at George Brown College teaching skills for college English. It is in the continuing education program and this is my first time teaching in the continuing education. I must say the students are great and I am truly enjoying the experience. Many years ago, I used to be a student taking an acting course at George Brown College. I have also taken French courses in continuing education at Concordia University - so I am not a stranger to continuing education.

There are many exciting things I have been up to. I have now written 35 books. My latest one is called Smoking. Even though I have not stopped smoking, I wanted to write something that would still help those people see how they could quit by including stories from people who have successfully quit. In my mind - I have set my quit date - and it will happen. I will write it down when I have a calendar that goes that far to make sure it is the exact date I would want.

I have also started a new online portal called Donna Magazine's Salon Utopia. It's a place for me to showcase some of the files I was able to salvage from the master's research I did at Concordia University that ended in part with my graduation in 1999. It's been fun to set up that site and I did it all myself. I did receive some excellent technical guidance from Register.com, HostPapa, my hosting company, and motivation from Kent James who I also did a story on for Suite101.com.

I have some writing work I am doing for an NGO, plus some other plans in the works. I am working on publishing another book soon and have been busy promoting my efforts. Having your own business is a lot of work - however, I would not call what I do completely a one-woman show. Many people do help in their own way.

Well...there's the update from me on how things have been going. Thanks to my student Jennifer Winters at George Brown College who helped to inspire me to update this blog. I will certainly make more of an effort to do so. For daily content, please do check out Donna Magazine.

10 MOST POPULAR DESIGN PROGRAMS

DESIGN IS SUCH A FASCINATING FIELD OF STUDY AND IT CAN BE HARD TO FIND THE BEST SCHOOL TO STUDY AT. HERE IS A LIST OF THE 10 MOST POPULAR DESIGN PROGRAMS IN CANADA. THERE ARE ACTUALLY A FEW MORE THAN 10 BECAUSE IT WAS SO DIFFICULT TO NARROW THE LIST DOWN TO JUST 10.

THE ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN (OCAD) FOCUSES EXCLUSIVELY ON EVERYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH ART AND DESIGN, AS THE NAME STATES. OCAD FOR SHORT HAS ONE OF THE BEST REPUTATIONS IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, CANADA AND HAS PRODUCED GRADUATES THAT YOU CAN FIND IN EVERY FIELD OF ART AND DESIGN. FROM PAINTERS, TO SCULPTORS, TO GRAPHIC DESIGNERS TO INTERIOR DESIGNERS, OCAD PRODUCES SOME TOP QUALITY PEOPLE AND HAS SOME EXTREMELY FAMOUS FACULTY MEMBERS, WELL-KNOWN IN THEIR FIELD. THE SCHOOL IS DEVELOPING SO MUCH, THEY ALSO HAVE ADVERTISING PROGRAMS AND MASTER'S DEGREES. THERE HAS BEEN SOME DISCUSSION ABOUT THE SCHOOL ALSO OFFERING A DOCTORATE DEGREE IN A NUMBER OF YEARS.

YORK UNIVERSITY'S FINE ARTS PROGRAM HAS A REPUTATION THAT IS INTERNATIONAL. THIS SCHOOL OFFERS TERRIFIC PROGRAMS IN DESIGN AND EXTREMELY STRONG DESIGNERS HAVE GRADUATED FROM THE SCHOOL THAT CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER THE WORLD.

RYERSON UNIVERSITY SITUATED IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN TORONTO ALSO HAS A STRONG DESIGN PROGRAM. MOVING OVER TO THE WEST PART OF CANADA, THE EMILY CARR INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA HAS A GREAT REPUTATION THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AND HAS PRODUCED SOME EXCELLENT DESIGNERS.

KEEPING TO THE WEST PART OF CANADA, THE BANFF SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS HAVE SOME SUPERIOR DESIGN PROGRAMS THAT ARE HIGHLY RESPECTED IN THE INDUSTRY. THE BANFF SCHOOL ALSO OFFERS SPECIAL SUMMER PROGRAMS THAT HAVE JUST AS STRONG A REPUTATION AS THEIR LONGER TERM PROGRAMS.

THE BRITISH COLUMBIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IS ANOTHER PLACE THAT HAS A POPULAR DESIGN PROGRAM. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO STUDY A DESIGN VIBRANT CITY SUCH AS MONTREAL, YOU MAY WANT TO CHOOSE ACADÉMIE INTERNATIONALE DU DESIGN INC. OR DAWSON COLLEGE. NOT FAR FROM MONTREAL IN OTTAWA IS A DESIGN PROGRAM AT ALGONQUIN COLLEGE.

HEADING OUT EAST, THERE IS A DESIGN PROGRAM IN HALIFAX AT THE NOVA SCOTIA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN.

TORONTO HAS MANY EXCELLENT DESIGN PROGRAMS AT CENTENNIAL COLLEGE, DURHAM COLLEGE IN AJAX (NOT FAR FROM TORONTO), GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE, HUMBER COLLEGE AND SENECA COLLEGE ON YORK UNIVERSITY'S CAMPUS, ALSO KNOWN AS Seneca@York IN THE SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION ARTS.

10 Most Popular Culinary Arts Programs

Looking to make cooking part of your career? There are many terrific culinary arts programs throughout North America where you can turn your flair in the kitchen into a profitable lifestyle choice.

George Brown College has one of the most reputable culinary programs in Toronto, Canada. Many of its graduates have gone on to work in some of the most famous kitchens in Canada and around the world, as well as opening their restaurants. In many of your favourite restaurants you will find a George Brown graduate who either owns it or works there.

Humber College is another school with an excellent culinary arts program. Located in the outer limits of downtown Toronto, the students get a chance to test out their culinary skills at many of the great eating places right on campus. This brings real life experience before they hit the job market.

If you are interested in studying culinary arts in the United States, there are a number of schools that offer associate's degrees. They are:

● The Art Institutes
● Atlantic Culinary Academy
● Scottsdale Culinary Institute

Coming back to Canada, the Globe and Mail has listed the Vancouver Community College as having one of the most popular culinary arts program in the country.

If you are looking to study in the capital city of Canada, Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute offers a comprehensive program with many terrific restaurants from cultural backgrounds around the world to work in after graduation in the city.

For major American cities, the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts offers a program in how to become a chef. In New York, The French Culinary Institute at the International Culinary Center. There are so many great restaurants in a city like New York, with a culture that likes to go out to eat, there would be no end to places where you could work after graduation and also finding employment would not be a problem. Chicago is another city where its residents like to go out to eat and Kendal College Culinary Arts School in that city would be a great place to learn the art of cooking.

Montréal, Québec with all of its varied restaurants and being like New York and Chicago where many of its residents enjoy going out to eat, you can study at the Pearson School of Culinary Arts in Lasalle, Québec. This school has also been featured on the public broadcaster's CBC Montreal.