An afternoon at Oakham Café

Stepping into Oakham Café on a Monday afternoon is an escape from the busy streets surrounding the Ryerson University campus. The lights are slightly dimmed and jazz music is playing on the radio. Daily specials are written on a chalkboard and an array of desserts and drinks are placed behind the glass counter. Each table is filled with students.

Located in the Ryerson Student Centre, Oakham Café offers students a comfortable and convenient environment where they can study, meet up with friends, or grab a quick bite to eat.

“The atmosphere is relaxing and the food is healthier than most places on campus,” says Ryerson student Felicia Nicholson who has been coming to Oakham Café for the past year.

Unlike Ryerson’s campus pub Ram in the Rye, which is known for its beer and nachos, Oakham Café takes a different approach to eating on campus. Hummus platters, avocado wraps and soups are only some of the healthier food options on the menu.

Recently, Oakham Café began ‘Organic Wednesdays,’where students can enjoy live jazz music, win prizes and try organic tea and coffee, all for free.

“I go to Oakham quite a bit,” says Ryerson student Samantha Anderson. “I love it because I can concentrate on my work and have a great meal.”

Spring Fling

Goodbye, winter! Hello, spring! It’s time to put away your sweaters, scarves and boots. Neutral colors and big shoulders are only some of the looks popping up this spring.

Grace Benac is a fashion blogger at The Fashion Pl8te, and thinks that neutral colours and structured clothing are making a comeback. “The biggest beauty trend so far is neutral colors, especially neutral coloured nails,” she says. “As for fashion, we've been seeing a lot of structured dresses and suits, like at Prada in February. The idea is to look very 'prim and proper.'"

“Spring fashions are always great to see,” says Ryerson student Rachel Reindorf. “It’s just a preview of what's to come in summer, which is when fashion gets really exciting!”

But who actually determines what trends are hip and chic?

Shannae Ingleton, is the creator of the Toronto website I Love What Women Want, and believes that it’s a joint collaboration between the designer and consumer, but that the internet plays a big role.

“We sort of live in the wild wild west of fashion where designers and consumers get inspired by an endless number of variables. With the internet, that inspiration becomes readily available for the world to see within record time."

But Ingleton’s must have for spring is something that you can’t buy in stores.

“Confidence,” she says.

The Power of Social Media

The impact of social media is something which people have underestimated says an article published on Michael Geist's blog. Geist, a University of Ottawa professor and writer, says that the growth of the Canadians Proroguing Parliament Facebook group, with over 200,000 members, proves how the Canadian political community misjudged the power of social media.
“Political parties invest millions in ad campaigns trying to garner public support, but Facebook advocacy is potentially more effective because it's all about word of mouth,” says Geist. "...behind that click is a trusted network of friends and colleagues providing their personal recommendation."

Tim Shore, who works for the Toronto website, BlogTO, says that social media is still in its early stages and that it will keep growing. “We're at the very early stages of social media. As popular as Twitter and Facebook are right now, 5 years from now things will be so much more advanced we can't even fathom,” he says.

In fact, BlogTO is one of many websites that has benefited from social media. “Twitter is one of the websites that has definitely helped us reach a new audience as well as develop our relationships with the site's regular readers.”

With the popularity of social media websites, it’s no surprise that Toronto is hosting it’s first Social Media Week this week. This event is set to address the profound impact that social media has on culture, business, and society as a whole.
To learn more about Social Media Week in Toronto click here.

The changing face of news

When was the last time you picked up a newspaper? Or flipped through a phone book? With the emergence of the internet and online content, many people don't bother anymore when everything they want and need is free and only a click away. Clay Shirkey, blogger and author of "Newspapers and Thinking the unthinkable", says the future of newspapers is bleak, because of the advancement of technology.
"The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place. The importance of any given experiment isn’t apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread."

The UHN News, a newspaper available to staff and patients at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto General Hospital, and Toronto Western Hospital, is one news outlet which has seen the diminishment of print. William Pointon, Senior Communications Advisor for the University Health Network, says that although they still print newspapers, their online version has become very popular.
“I’ve seen the print-run of the newsletter drastically reduced due to the success of the online version. This not only helps save money, it also cuts down on the amount of natural resources used to produce the newsletter.”

Saving money is another reason for the demise of the newspaper. In this tumultous economy, printing newspapers has just become too expensive.

“... the most saliant fact is this: Printing presses are terrifically expensive to set up and run,” says Shirkey.

With online content being faster and easier to access, say goodbye to newspapers.

Crime rates in Vancouver drop in 2009

The crime rate in Vancouver showed a significant decrease at the end of 2009. Almost half of the murders in Vancouver occured in the first three months of the year.
"We were able to make some key arrests in Vancouver and drive down that violence, and surpress it somewhat," said Const. Jana McGuinness of the Vancouver Police Department."So the second half of the year looked quite different than the first half of the year," she added.
In the first two months of the year, police responded to over 30 calls of shootings in the Metro Vancouver area. Although it may not be a staggering decrease, the number of homicides in 2009 in Metro Vancouver was 56, compared to 58 in 2008.
The city of Vancouver,however, did see an increase in gang violence. Most gang violence has been linked to the billion dollar drug trade. With easy access to the United States border,a burgeoning marijuana industry and links to Mexico's drug cartels, Vancouver's drug industry shows no sign of slowing down. "Let's not kid ourselves, there's a gang war and it's brutal," said Vancouver police chief John Chu. Arrests have only been made in 25 per cent of drug-realted cases, compared to 90 per cent in domestic homicide cases.

Canwest's Newspaper Division in Bankruptcy Protection

Canada's media giant,CanWest Global, has placed its newspaper division in bankruptcy protection after falling in more than 1 billion dollars in debt. Several Canadian newspapers and dailies such as the Calgary Herald and Montreal Gazette and over 5,300 employees are facing an uncertain future. Along with the newspaper division, the online and mobile divisions have also filed for protection. This comes after CanWest's television division was put under bankruptcy protection in October.
With the announcement of bankruptcy filed under the Companies Creditors' Arrangement Act, a group of lenders led by Canada's 5 largest banks has agreed to take ownership of the newspaper division. The Asper family, who founded CanWest Global, would subsequently lose ownership.The lenders also announced that they would plan to create a new Canadian newspaper company with an independent board which would manage the ongoing newspaper operations. They also reasurred employees by announching that all of their jobs, as well as pensions and benefits would be retained. Israel (Izzy) Asper, who died in 2003, founded CanWest Global in 1974. With television networks, newspapers, and dailies, the CanWest Global media group changed the face of Canadian media.

Harper shuts down parliament

What's more important to Canadians? Parliamentary debates or gold medal hockey games? Canada's prime minister believes it to be the latter, after the Conservative announced that Canada's parliament was to be suspended untill March 3rd. Recentely in The Economist, it was stated that the Parliament being prorogued would cause 36 government bills waiting to be passed, would have to start anew when Parliament commenced. Prorogation would also mean that many government committees would have to be formed once again, causing the Prime Minister to gain control and the Conservatives being the largest party. As the Olympics will be garnering much attention in the upcoming months, politics in Canada will once again become a second thought.