Weekly News Recap: January 22, 2021

Weekly News Recap: January 22, 2021

After the swearing in of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, 22, recited a poem she wrote called The Hill We Climb. Photo (CBC)

If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright. -- Amanda Gorman

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Saskatoon manager 'flabbergasted' by wave of reaction to post about gender, workplace inequality during COVID (CBC) SASKATOON STORY More. Much more of this please. "A manager at a Saskatoon business says he wants to be part of the solution when it comes to addressing inequality in the workplace for women, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a widely shared Twitter thread this week, Aaron Genest, a manager with Siemens Digital Industries in Saskatoon, explained his reaction when an employee asked to cut her hours back, in order to balance her work and family responsibilities. He said 'no' — but not for the reasons you may think."

  • Vice-principal makes plea to tooth fairy after kindergarten student loses tooth at school (CBC) PRINCE GEORGE STORY I love this vice-principal. "Kids are normally able to put their lost baby teeth under their pillow hoping for a payment from the tooth fairy. But what if the tooth falls out and goes missing at school? Gavin Jensen, a five-year-old kindergarten student in Prince George, B.C., was faced with this dilemma this week when one of his teeth fell out in class. Seeing how upset he was, the vice-principal of Hart Highlands Elementary School wrote a formal plea to the fabled fairy to make sure Gavin got his due reward."

  • Black Montreal figure skater's unconventional routines earn him millions of views on TikTok, Instagram (CBC) MONTREAL STORY #Boom. So cool. "After a successful competitive career, Montreal figure skater Elladj Baldé vowed to push back against the sport's traditions and explore his own style. The result? Newfound internet fame. The 30-year-old skater's videos, which show him performing unconventional routines punctuated by backflips, have garnered over 16 million views on TikTok and 13 million on Instagram."

  • The spectacular sunsets and sunrises of southern Alberta (CBC) CALGARY STORY #WeLiveInABeautifulWorld "Every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds, our planet completes a full rotation on its axis. The result is a spectacular light show, twice daily, on the horizon."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Payette stepping down as governor general after blistering report on Rideau Hall work environment (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette and her secretary, Assunta di Lorenzo, are resigning after an outside workplace review of Rideau Hall found that the pair presided over a toxic work environment."

  2. The youngest poet to read at a U.S. presidential inauguration had dreams of this day (CBC) Like many, I cried. "In one of the inauguration's most talked about moments, poet Amanda Gorman summoned images dire and triumphant [...] as she called out to the world, 'even as we grieved, we grew.' The 22-year-old Gorman referenced everything from Biblical scripture to the musical Hamilton, and at times echoed the oratory of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. With urgency and [assertion]."

  3. Honouring an incredible legacy: The Margaret-Ann Armour Student Advising Centre (UAlberta) EDMONTON STORY Nice move UofA. And extremely fitting. "Margaret-Ann Armour [...] dedicated her life and career to diversity and the advancement of women in science. To honour her legacy, the Faculty of Science student services centre—a central fixture of Science’s CCIS building where students receive help from student advisors as they complete their degrees, receive mental health support, and more—has been named the Margaret-Ann Armour Student Advising Centre."

  4. Canada Post honours Black community of Amber Valley, Alta., with new stamp (CBC) AMBER VALLEY STORY I heart this. "Canada Post is commemorating Amber Valley, a forgotten community of all-Black settlers in northern Alberta, with a stamp for Black History Month. The community, 170 kilometres north of Edmonton, was settled by hundreds of African-Americans escaping racial violence and segregation in the United States in the 1900s."

  5. Colleges in Red Deer, Grande Prairie may not transition into universities as planned (CBC) ALBERTA STORY #Eeek "A provincial review of post-secondary institutions is raising questions about whether Red Deer and Grande Prairie Regional colleges will transition into universities as planned."

  6. COVID-19: Calgary YMCA launches ‘super helpful’ program to boost physical and mental health during pandemic (Global News) CALGARY STORY Just what we needed. Thanks YMCA! "With so many recreation facilities and programs shut down because of COVID-19 restrictions, keeping active can be a real challenge. [Now] there’s a new effort aimed at boosting people’s physical and mental health. The YMCA has just launched the Lifting Spirits Challenge, offering a different activity every day for a month."

  7. Beyond the Pandemic, Libraries Look Toward a New Era (New York Times) "Many companies and public institutions were unprepared for the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown. There was one notable, perhaps even surprising, exception: the nation’s public libraries. For more than a decade, these seemingly traditional institutions had been investing in a range of technologies and media. Libraries now balance two stacks: the physical with the so-called digital full stack."

  8. Major donor loses fight to have his name on all UBC law school degrees (CBC) VANCOUVER STORY "One of the most prominent donors to the University of British Columbia has lost a lengthy legal fight to have his name printed on every degree given to students who graduate from the law school that's named after him. Peter A. Allard, a successful lawyer who has been fighting his alma mater on the issue for years, lost his B.C. Supreme Court battle against the university [...]."

  9. Nunavut Mayor Says $2,000 Draw Is Working To Get Residents Vaccinated (Huffington Post) NUNAVUT STORY Smart move. "The mayor of a small Nunavut community hit hard by the novel coronavirus breathed a sigh of relief when hundreds of doses of the Moderna vaccine were delivered [...]. The fly-in hamlet of Arviat, on the western shore of Hudson Bay, has a population of 1,800 and reported 222 of the territory’s 266 cases this fall. Due to a lack of housing, many people live together and aren’t able to isolate properly. Now with enough doses to vaccinate most of its residents, Arviat will likely be among the first communities in Canada to achieve herd immunity."

  10. $500M for disadvantaged (CastaNet) CANADIAN STORY Thanks ScotiaBank! "Bank of Nova Scotia will spend $500 million over the next decade on a new program that aims to break down barriers to higher education and career advancement for 'disadvantaged' groups. The Toronto-based bank announced [...] that the ScotiaRISE program will be centred on using funding and partnerships to increase graduation rates and post-secondary enrolment, help newcomers feel at home faster and secure meaningful employment and senior opportunities for under-represented groups."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. 9 STRATEGIES FOR MAINTAINING MOMENTUM ON YOUR RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE JOURNEY (Toronto Foundation) TORONTO STORY This is an excellent resource. Just what I needed right now. Go Toronto Foundation!

  2. 12 Subject Line Tester Tools to Boost Your Email Open Rate (Hubspot) We tried a few of these out. Quite helpful. Expecially subjectline.com and the Hemingway app. #HappyTesting

  3. Beyond the Traditional Annual Report: Demonstrating impact in a better way (Phil) Avoid the Zzzz. It's time to innovate our annual reports."

  4. 4 Business Newsletters I Make Sure To Read Every Single Day (Entrepreneur's Handbook) These are smart. I am signing up for all four.

  5. Ultralearning: How I Became a Top 20% Chess Player in Under 50 Hours (Better Humans) Great, another thing to learn...just kidding, this is a very interesting technique.

  6. Designing a Social Signaling Strategy (The Startup) For those interested it the intersection of design with marketing and psychology, this will ring your bell.

  7. 7 Books Chosen from a Decade of Reading that Completely Changed My Life (Mind Cafe) I have only read one of these (#4) but his "key teachings" are worth a look all by themselves. Good list.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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