Imposter syndrome
By: Chandy Dancey
Imposter syndrome is said to be a persistent feeling of inadequacy, despite any evidence of success, and I can’t be the only one to suffer from it academically. I’m a high-performing STEM major, and even I can’t help but feel like I’m just not up to par. I have classmates who dedicate themselves to lab work with several professors, who seem to understand class material faster, and who take internships in hospitals over the summer. Despite already bordering on a workaholic, I feel compelled to take on more just to feel on the same level as my peers. Ultimately, my message to others who feel the same way is this: recognize consistent or small successes as being caused by internal factors, not external ones that happened by chance. Erase the pressure of comparison, and celebrate what you’ve accomplished rather than mull over what you haven’t. Even Nobel prize winner Maya Angelou felt anxiety about possibly being a fraud, but the important thing is that she didn’t let it debilitate or stop her from trying to achieve.
Would a discount hurt?
By: Aleister Gwynne
I just spent over $100 last week for one textbook. Considering how much these ludicrously overpriced textbooks take out of our savings, I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask for some sort of program to help students save on their course materials. What I think the campus bookstore ought to do is create a coupon card system, like the one they had at Fairgrounds or Spirit Bear for coffee. When you buy a textbook at the bookstore, they could give you a card and stamp it once. The next time you buy a textbook there, you can either turn the card in and get 10 per cent off your purchase, or you can pay full price and get stamped again, so next time you can get 20 per cent off your purchase, and so on up until you get 100 per cent off. It would encourage students to buy more books at the bookstore to fill up their cards, and it would help them avoid getting cleaned out by really expensive book purchases. The store keeps making money and students can save. Everybody wins. Well, maybe the school won’t make quite as much money, but surely some savings on textbooks is the least they could do.
Tim Hortons tragedy
By: Andrea Sadowski
With a heavy heart I would like to inform you of some awful news I learned this week: Tim Hortons has pulled Beyond Meat patties from its menu. I’ll let you take a moment for that sink in. All vegans are in mourning as our only meal option from this beloved fast food chain has been cruelly taken away from us, just as SUS has taken away so many of the shuttle bus times.
The day I discovered this painful news was the second day of January. I was rushing to the airport and pulled into the Tim Hortons drive-thru for my usual order of black coffee and an everything bagel with a Beyond Meat patty, lettuce, and tomato. However, the lady through the intercom told me “We no longer carry Beyond Meat.” Devastated, I tried arguing with the voice through the intercom. “It must be a mistake. I’ll do anything, just please find me a Beyond Meat patty somewhere in the freezer! There is nothing else I can eat on the menu!” And finally, “Okay, just give me a hashbrown.”
The bad book list
By: Carissa Wiens
Bill Gates and Barack Obama are avid readers, and a couple times a year they will each release lists of their current favourite books. The type of books in these lists vary, from their favourite reads from 2019 or which five books to enjoy this winter.
Of course I don’t have over 100 million followers, but I have several hundred, which is close enough. Therefore, in order to stay original, I’m going to share the most disappointing books I read in 2019 so that you can avoid them in 2020.
- Everybody, Always by Bob Goff: His first book, Love Does, was excellent. He talked about throwing caution to the wind in order to show others you love and care about them. This one was just him flexing all the good that he’s done in the world with his fat bank account.
- The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline: Did I miss something, or was this book actually just not good or interesting? Why wasn’t there more worldbuilding?
- The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton: I’m all about psychological thrillers but this just left me thinking, “Okay, but why?”
Illustrations: Kelly Ning/The Cascade
Andrea Sadowski is working towards her BA in Global Development Studies, with a minor in anthropology and Mennonite studies. When she's not sitting in front of her computer, Andrea enjoys climbing mountains, sleeping outside, cooking delicious plant-based food, talking to animals, and dismantling the patriarchy.
Chandy is a biology major/chemistry minor who's been a staff writer, Arts editor, and Managing Editor at The Cascade. She began writing in elementary school when she produced Tamagotchi fanfiction to show her peers at school -- she now lives in fear that this may have been her creative peak.
