The cosmetics industry, better known as the “beauty economy”, is thriving in this day and age. The industry has developed an inexhaustible number of beauty products, each designed to fulfill a specific purpose. Crest White Strips for a healthy and white smile, products from Neutrogena for healthy skin, and Listerine mouthwash to counteract bad breath. These cover a minuscule component of the industry’s creations. All of the beauty products out there can be a bit overwhelming – which ones really work and which ones are scams? Forget about roaming through the cosmetics department and head over to the supermarket. Here are five inexpensive food items that have been proven to let the inner beauty shine.
1. Raisins for a healthy smile. Who would have thought of this one? Raisins, in fact, are a prime source of antioxidants, which are chemicals that fight bacteria growth. Would you believe that people who eat bran cereal topped with fresh raisins are less prone to tooth decay than those who eat store-bought raisin bran? It’s true – researchers at the University of Illinois figured out that one. Alright, get ready for the picture, and say “raisin”.
2. Edamame for healthy skin. Edamame, a type of East Asian green soybean, can be purchased in most health food stores. Edamame and other soy-based foods contain collagen, which keeps skin firm and vibrant. “Soy is fairly cheap and it does some good,” says dermatologist Dr. Ramsey Markus. Want to find out what “good” Dr. Markus is referring to? Munch on some edamame!
3. Cucumbers for healthy eyes. Resting cucumber slices over the eyes has actually been scientifically proven to reduce swelling and inflammation. Using cucumbers to smoothen the skin around the eyes is a common world-wide practice. Everyone has seen this done either on a movie or in real life. So, since the stars yearn for the cucumber remedy for puffy eyes, why not follow their lead?
4. Parsley for fresh breath. Instead of popping a slice of gum or a mint in my mouth, I decided to indulge in a stalk of parsley. After only a couple of chews, the freshness in my breath was quite apparent. Parsley contains compounds called polyphenols, which are strong enough to break down smelly odour such as sulfur, which gives garlic its iconic scent. Garlic bread, anyone?
5. Tart cherry juice for better sleep. Calling all insomniacs! Any ideas on how to sleep more comfortably and wake up feeling well-rested without using medication? Drink a glass of tart cherry juice before turning out the lights. Tart cherry juice contains melatonin, which is a hormone that stimulates sleep, which is activated in darkness.
These foods have been proven to stimulate beauty, and work just as well or better than products found in the cosmetics department. Dare to try them?
Exploring The Used Book Stores Around Campus
As we struggle under the generous heaps of academic reading that we are all forced to endure as students, I find it becomes easy to excuse casual reading at the end of a day of studying. Prior to university, I used to go through more books than I could afford in my spare time. Prior to owning a laptop, for that matter, I used to read every night before bed without fail. I found especially in first-year that I dismissed non-academic reading with the excuse that, after all my reading for my classes, I simply didn’t have it in me to pick up another book at the end of the day, no matter the content. It was much easier to pick up my laptop and watch a show or peruse a day’s worth of tweets.
This year, I decided to reinstate my reading habits in favour of twittering, tumblring, and so on. In the pursuit of this cause, I decided to go on an inexpensive book-buying binge which led me to explore the various used books stores we are lucky enough to have around campus in search of gems for my night-time reading. Based on my exploration, I offer this informal guide to used book stores around University of Toronto campus, for night owls, overachieving essay researchers, commuters seeking subway reads, and, of course, book-lovers here at U of T.
Willow Books, 333 Bloor St. West
Tucked next to the Bata Shoe Museum, this visually unimposing bookstore is very easy to miss as one is bustling along Bloor Street. The book selection of this literary trove, however, is hardly reflected in its lacklustre store front. Willow Books boasts a vast collection of books at fantastic prices. Their fiction section has plenty of classics and a hefty amount of modern literature as well. As the signs on the shelves explain, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, they probably have it in storage. The store also has nonfiction books on a wide range of topics, anthologies, and otherwise. This is the type of bookstore where you find all those books you’ve been meaning to read for years, at five dollars each. The top shelves have the fancy, expensive editions that are a pleasure to behold for any booklover but certainly unaffordable. Exercise caution, though, as many of the books from this store are more heavily used. While a used book can be just as good as a new one, and some might say better citing the added charm, some of these books were clearly previously used by students and are covered in markings that are more bothersome than endearing.
Seekers Books, 509 Bloor St. West (Downstairs)
Seekers Books has a noteworthy range of classic and modern titles among its assortment of used books. This store has a unique selection in terms of niche reading on obscure topics, and is a great place to scout material for ambitious essay researchers. The staff is helpful and warm, and the store is more spacious than others of its kind so you’re not stepping on fellow shoppers as you look for books. The book selection at Seekers will satisfy the hippie in you, but isn’t quite as thorough as others on this list.
Ten Editions Bookstore, 698 Spadina Ave
Ten Editions is marked by an appealing exterior featuring a display window that draws in the curious book-lover at first glance, as compared to the more subtle storefronts of many of the other noted used bookstores. Ten Editions boasts an interesting array of editions and a diverse selection of books, as well as an intriguing collection of old postcards and travel booklets. There are also $2.00 books at the front of the store to peruse if you’re feeling lucky, though the odds of finding a prize in this pile are not in your favour.
BMV Books, 471 Bloor Street West
BMV Books is a beloved staple of Bloor Street and the largest book store on this list. It is by far the most visually imposing, and its big windows out onto Bloor Street differentiate it from the other used book stores on this list in a refreshing way. In other words, BMV Books feels less like a basement or library, and more like a regular book store that happens to be selling used editions – and though some may find this openness an advantage, others who are perhaps more romantic may prefer to suffer for their used finds in dusty dens. That sense of being a normal book store permeates with the books being sold, which are high-quality books that usually aren’t too marked up, but have a low price and minor flaws to indicate they are used. BMV offers not only books, but also CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, comics and magazines. It’s a well-organized store with friendly staff and really reasonable prices, as well as a lot of different, eye-catching editions alongside paperbacks that won’t cost you your life’s savings. The first floor holds fiction, with modern titles, classics, poetry anthologies, and a noteworthy Canadian literature section. The first floor also has a lot of the non-fiction titles, including the art section with its many impressive and cheap coffee table books. The second floor, which is filled with how-to guides, history books, and a youth section, also has 3 for $10 books that are definitely worth browsing with a lot of recognizable names on the shelves. These are often displayed outside the store as well. BMV Books has plenty of selection for those looking for something specific, but is also a great place to start searching for used books with its wide, high-quality selection and large, bright space.
If I’ve made a criminal omission, I assure you it is entirely accidental, and encourage you to include it in the comments!
Intercultural Love
In a university that has an incredibly international student populace and in an age in which people are more open-minded to other cultures, intercultural relationships are (not surprisingly) becoming a common phenomenon. In my own experience, I’ve noted a few factors of these relationships that notable:
The learning experience
Culture
When you’re in a relationship, especially at the beginning, you want to learn as much as you can about the other person. You ask for favourite colours (mine’s green), favourite food (lasagna), number of siblings, traditions, values, and a variety of other details both big and small.
When it comes to intercultural relationships, there is whole other level of learning about the other person. The values and opinions that each person has, is created in part by the culture they belong to. So, you not only learn about the person, you learn about the history and the formation of a culture and nationality completely different to your own.
It’s a mutual sharing experience as well. You want to share your culture as much as you want to learn about the other. I see this both in my relationship (combination Canadian-Argentine and Azerbaijani) as well as in the ones my friends are in. There’s an interchange of values between Japanese and Arabs, Canadian and Bajans, Latin American and Icelandic. Such different cultures in each relationship, and these lead sometimes to arguments, others to jokes, and others to moments of understanding that deepen the relationship even more. Even in our university student youth, we learn about the cultures that surround us by simply learning from the people we are with, and it’s quite a fun experience!
Language
Hola – Bonjour – Arigato – Ciao – Hello
The other learning experience that comes up is language. In my own case, I have only recently bought a self-teaching language book so that I can speak one of the other languages my boyfriend speaks (Russian), while he is learning Spanish. Granted, there are other reasons for which we are learning the languages, but – at least on my side – wanting to communicate with him on another level is a main one. And again, this goes beyond me as well. It’s a case of wanting to interact with your boyfriend/girlfriend in a way that not many others can. Plus, it’s a lot easier to have secret (or dirty) conversations in public without anyone else knowing what you’re saying!
Expectations
One thing that is clear in intercultural relationships is that there are always different expectations that tend to rise from the cultural difference. An example: Meeting the family. In Latin American cultures, meeting your partner’s family is done after (at most) two weeks of dating. After that, you are pretty much incorporated into the family, you join for big meals, and you are treated with the same amount of joviality as you would from your own family. However, I have now faced the reality that other cultures aren’t as comfortable with this idea, so, as I expect my boyfriend to meet my family ASAP, he’s thinking that it’s going to be another year before he does so! We both expect completely different things because of the way we grew up and what we were taught.
This variance in expectations can be seen in specific cases:
The Latina woman: A Latina will expect – to all you boys out there who are looking for one – a guy to be confident in himself. Not only that, but he should not be afraid to give a compliment to a girl, or to take control when needed. A Latina woman needs to feel both in control and dependent at the same time, so you have to be masterful and learn to use a certain type of finesse for them.
Tip: They like chocolate, and flowers
The Canadian guy: (from what I’ve observed) is shy (unless he’s too cocky, however, we will ignore this particular specimen). I’ve seen them to require girls that are cheesy up to an extent, but cannot handle (or don’t want to handle) too much drama or cattiness from girls. Traditional and quiet, but always ready to laugh, the Canadian boy tends to look for girls he can talk to easily, laugh with, and love easily.
Conclusion
We live in a city and go a university that both exemplify the idea of multiculturalism that Canada portrays to the world. Even at our ages, intercultural relationships are a real thing. Like any other relationship, they have their problems, and their successes, and they have a level to them that adds something interesting and new to one’s life. Mine, at the moment, is my cup of tea, however, I won’t tell you to run out and find the most exotic person you can to try a relationship with. All I’m saying is keep your mind (or heart) open, and be willing to learn something new.
Yours,
A
[email protected]
Background: We’re switching email servers?
Start rant:
- @mail.utoronto.ca does not look anywhere near as awesome as @utoronto.ca
- The 10Gb mailbox is cool and all, but I sync my UTOR mail with my Gmail anyways
- Integrated instant messaging–> For Keeners to IM with profs?
End rant
Ok, to be honest, aside from the @mail.utoronto.ca part, this new email system has a lot going for it. Sadly, I actually really do care about that extra ‘mail’ in my email address. I mean, having the @utoronto.ca just looks so legit.
So I looked for opt-out stuff… according to FAQs, it’s allowed, but I’ll still end up with the @mail.utoronto.ca.
This greatly displeases me.
Oops, my rant should already be finished!
Seriously though, the added 10Gb is quite nice for people who don’t sync their UTOR to other email accounts. Also, the added features (which you can read about here) are quite impressive. Integrated calendar? Mobile access? They seem to know the average U of T student quite well.
I’m also happy to know that the old UTOR mail interface is probably going to get a nice replacement. Of course, since I have yet to get the @mail.utoronto.ca email, I’m not quite sure what it’s going to look like. Does anyone even have it yet? They state that the change in emailing systems is scheduled for late October… well, they’ve got a week left.
The Evolution of Self
“Every human has four endowments: self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom. The power to choose, to respond, to change.” – Stephen R. Covey
I was once a mess, an intelligent mess, but a mess none-the-less. Careless with responsibility and neglectful of my future, I perfected the art of living for the moment and paid no attention to the sordid path I was unfolding for myself.
That is until that future started to become my reality. Debt, depression, disillusion and despair became the four walls of entrapment I boxed myself into. Year after year, I traded places with my true self and lived into the life of a false version of self. I resisted growth, improvement, evolution.
Needless to say, this constant clash between my inherent values and the person I portrayed to the world, led to massive internal turmoil. My true self was violently pushing its way outward and was fighting valiantly to overcome the negative circumstances, which I had become surrounded by and accustomed to.
This, unknown to me, was the sign that an evolution was on the brink of occurring in my life and it eventually did.
Today, I have come to learn that life is a series of stages. Our lives are the result of past choices and our futures are molded by the decisions we consciously make today. The most relieving part is that no matter which stage you are on, there is another one waiting for you to step onto. So, ask yourself, which stage are you living on now? Are you happy and thriving at this current stage? If not, do you know where your stage exit is and the path to the next stage?
Change is the pen-stroke of progression or regression. It leads to evolution, which is the hammer-stroke of adaptation. As humans, we naturally adapt to our lives and circumstances over time. We can adapt to remain in our current circumstances or we can fight to evolve beyond them, thereby changing the stage of our life.
My internal self, with all of its inherent values and knowledge of my true self-worth fought and won.
I evolved. I experienced the evolution of self.
Now, I stand proud as a man on a mission. I am on the path to becoming a doctor, yet I work full-time, am co-owner of a growing business, and proudly about to sign my name to be part of the development team of a new-born, sport-wear distribution company.
Am I proud of this stage? Yes, I am!
I have written all of this to convey to you one point; the life you live today does not have to be the life you live tomorrow. You too are capable of the evolution of self.
As Dr. Covey noted, through self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination, you have been given the right to experience the ultimate human freedom.
You possess the power to choose, to respond, to change.
Step onto your next stage, today!
Hoodsworth
Blog Abroad, Paris: On Education
I have no clue why but educational systems fascinate me… and what interest me more are the differences between them, across cultures. It’s funny, stepping out of the University of Toronto and into Sciences Po in Paris. Both are very well-reputed schools on their own terms, but so different from each other. Below is a bit of a post slash ramble put together after my first week of classes at Sciences Po. I’ve put in edits wherever I feel like I have gained a bit of insight since first writing the post. Hope you get something out of it!
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I suppose I should start with school in France in general.
When een Franz:
The French system is hilarious. Instead of marking in percentages, it marks out of 20. Not only that, but the grades it assigns aren’t proportional to the percent grades we’d assign in Toronto at all. Whereas it was pretty much possible to get a 90 in some courses back home in Econ and Philosophy, 18-20/20 here is reserved for Gods… pretty much impossible as we’ve been told time and time again. A ‘great mark’ is usually considered anything from 13 onwards. We’ll just have to see what this all turns out to mean because it’s gibberish to me right now! (Note. 2 months after writing this, I come back with good news: I’ve debunked this theory and got my first 18! Take that, intimidating men in suits.) My grades here matter if I decide to pursue further studies. The transcript officer back home is aware of these differences, though, which is all that matters in terms of transferring things, so no worries. It’s just a matter of jumping in and getting the hang of new things, I guess.
The structure of teaching and assignments is also super different. I find that teachers here tend to talk at us rather than with us in most of my classes (not all). This is more like what I thought university lectures would be like when I was a kid. All my profs are IMPECCABLY dressed. Duuude. It’s a huge contrast to philosophy classes back home where my ancient philo prof would come to lecture in a lumberjack shirt and sandals… something about Paris, I guess. Sometimes I wonder how these professors have enough time to think AND to dress themselves so well. Seriously. It’s actually been troubling me. Hahaha. A pashmina here, a green watch and silk tie there…
Pheelosophee
I’d been told that Philosophy in France is a lot more history-based than theme/argument-based as it is in America, a difference that I didn’t dig at aaaalll. Thing is, it turns out that nearly all my philosophy courses here are taught by profs who favor the American way of philosophising, so it’s been nice.
It’s funny, though: I’m so used to just thinking and formulating things and talking a few seconds later and it’s always been a very dynamic process in philo classes… it’s funny now in some of my French philosophy classes, to spend time figuring out what the hell is being said first before I can figure out what to make of it!
At the same time, the philo class with the densest material is being taught by a very flamboyant American professor who makes it all easy to understand, so I’m not scared. (He made a that’s-what-she-said joke when reading Plato, though. Actually, not much of a ‘though’… just really funny hahahaha) Some things might require a little more work, but everything is interesting and so, it’s worth it.
Ze Skewl
As for Sciences Po in particular…. whew! Now this is an elite school if I’ve ever seen one, hahaha. Guys walk around in suits to class sometimes. We have big, big, big shots who stop their political life to teach here. Sci Po isn’t well known outside of France because it’s fairly new in comparison to really entrenched institutions like the Sorbonne. I didn’t even know much about it back home aside from what past friends/students there had told me — in fact, I only chose the school because it had solid economics and philosophy courses (rare to have such crossover in France), and an excellent system for integrating study-abroad students, but knew little else. But then I come here and am told that 3 of the last French prime ministers came from this school! The students have to pass a ‘contest’ (translated literally from ‘concours’) to get in, and even then only the top 5% of them are admitted. It’s funny, how much easier it is for study abroad students to get into here.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that all the French kids here are geniuses. There are some here who just surf on Facebook throughout class and say the silliest things when they feel like it (just quoting a great thinker here, another philosopher there… even if it has little relevance). Also, it doesn’t mean the lecturers are perfect; there are times when lectures seem so history-based that they lose reason. But I do have really thought-provoking classes/students and really clear teachers for the most part, so it’s been great.
“Why does Everyone like ze Camembert if it is so smelly?”
The Sciences Po way of doing things is very distinct. They have a certain methodology that students are meant to abide by, a certain structure for writing essays. It goes something along the line of “pose a question (a paradox, they say… like ‘why does everyone love Camembert cheese here if it is so smelly?’)”; “show one way to answer; “show the contrasting way”; “tie them together to show that there’s no one answer”; “throw in another question”. That’s super different from the American way of “I’ll show you this. I’m showing you this. I’ve shown you this.” I like the difference, though. I always felt like essays back home made me sound like I was asserting way more than I actually knew.
Talk to Me
Another thing that Sciences Po is super serious about is… talking. Oral presentations are mandatory for nearly all the classes and make up a good chunk of marks! I find this interesting because I suppose the school’s trying to hone a next generation of diplomats and general movers in society. But at the same time, I have a feeling like spending large chunks of a class’s time listening to a student ramble on about what he/she thinks is right can make things superficial. We’ll see.
I had my first presentation today – not an exposé, but a critical reading worth a quarter of my mark. (Just after the first week too!) It went really well. I suppose that’s just because the class I’m in (Politics and Ethics) gets you thinking. The reading was on Kant, too, and he’s fun to get confused by. So all was well. We’ll take it from here.
It’s interesting stuff, these courses. They’re making me think and learn French, 2 awesome things. There’s a philosophy talk next month at Café de Flore, Sartre’s hideout as a writer. I’m thinking of checking it out with a few friends. It should be great, or funny at worst (actually, boring at worst… but the people-watching is always super at that place…) (Note. 2 months after writing this — it was a hilarious time! I went to the talk last month with a friend. The conversation topic was ‘Why do we believe what we believe?’ The talk was a good way to see an interesting cross-section of Parisians: students, scientists, philosophers, fashionable retirees, and I swear, a witch).
Well there’s the uber-long post on how school was! I was super curious about this before coming and still have a lot to learn about the structure of France’s education system. It’s interesting stuff.
I am falling a little sick from God-knows-what (everything is new! Where does one start?), so off to take a bit of a nap. Talk to you soon!
Bises
Raha
THE END