On #NASSM2011 (and more!)

This past week, I went to my first ever North American Society for Sport Management Conference. I also gave my first ever national/international academic presentation. It was the first time I stayed in a college dorm. And it was my first trip to London, ON.

What a week it was! I met many new people, made new friends and new contacts and learned a lot of new things about all kinds of new topics. I stressed over my presentation and cut, cut, cut it down to a quick, 17-minute talk... only 2 minutes over the recommended 15-minute "presentation" portion of the 20-minute time slot. My roommate and I had a blast in the not-so-stellar dorms at the University of Western Ontario, and one of my new friends' intense Vancouver Canucks fandom made for awesome game-watching experiences.

Apart from that? It was nice to know that NASSM 2011 was the end of my huge end-of-term academic rush. Now, I get to focus on writing my thesis proposal and three papers I've been asked to contribute to as part of my Research Assistanceship work for two different profs. I'm looking forward to more work/life balance (read "fun") and I can't wait to soak up the sun.

In other life news, I am most definitely lactose intolerant, and it's much more serious than I thought it was as even drinking "lactose-free" milk really does a number on my GI system. So I'm taking lactase pills with just about every meal (including my morning cereal) and will be switching to Almond Milk if I can deal with the sweetness levels of the unsweetened variety. There's also some other stuff going on there, so hopefully this week's doctor's appointment will help sort it all out. It's looking like pills for life though, which sucks.

On a more positive note, I am now officially one of the organizers of Limestone New Media Group in Kingston, ON. This comes after giving a presentation on Social Media and Non-Profits during the March meeting and being a guest co-host on the second ever LNMG podcast to discuss my Facebook situation and the implications of those kinds of actions. I'm looking forward to the June meetup and mingling with even more new-to-me Kingston locals!

Finally, I should probably mention that at the NASSM 2011 Student Luncheon, I was voted in as one of three student board members! This means that I will get to organize at least one initiative for NASSM 2012 in Seattle next May. Exciting!! I also hope that I'll be able to increase the amount of communications between students in and with the NASSM community, as well as improve year-long mentoring opportunities. I guess between this and my RA position as NASSS 2011 Advertising & Exhibits Manager, I've got my work cut out for me!

So... Who wants to go to a movie?

On keeping busy

The month of April has come and gone, bringing us sun and flowers, then taking them away with freak snow and wind storms. Life goes on, no matter how busy you are, and I have been so busy that I haven't had time to Facebook, tweet or blog properly, though I've been trying really hard to keep everyone up to date.

My World Partnership Walk fundraising campaign has been going well, thanks to some very generous donations from some people who are very dear to me. Their kind words have helped boost my efforts, both on the personal front and on the not-for-profit professional front. I'm very excited about the involvement of local media in the 2010 Walk in Montreal and as soon as I officially can, I'll share some of their plans with you.

Meanwhile, two articles I have written in the past few months were finally published! The first one is available online, at The Ismaili.org. It touches on the Bridges That Unite exhibition that was held at Concordia University in March, and in 5 other cities before then, showcasing Canada's development work and 25-year partnership with Aga Khan Foundation Canada. You can read it here.

The other article I wrote appeared in The Ismaili Canada Magazine, which is distributed mainly to the Ismaili community in Canada periodically. It touches on women's role in development and how empowering the women in the developing world can help break the cycle of poverty. I've posted it below for your enjoyment.

Apart from writing, working on the Walk, and translating, I've been doing a fair amount of TV work! HBO Boxing, Versus Hockey broadcasts, CBCSports' coverage of the 2010 Canada Cup... It's been pretty much non-stop work in one field or another for me since my birthday. But hey, I'm not complaining! I am, however, very much looking forward to my mini-escape to Toronto from June 22 to 28. If you want to meet up while I'm in town, you know where to reach me! :)

And now, please excuse me as I go back to translating. Stay tuned...


Empowering women to break the cycle of poverty
By Naila Jinnah

How much do you make in a year? A typical Canadian family with two earning adults made approximately $100,000 before taxes in 2007. Imagine if that amount was cut in half. Could you offer your family the same quality of life on just one income?

In many developing countries, families have to rely on the inadequate salary of only one earner. These families work hard, but often do not see financial returns. In many rural regions, crops are consumed for subsistence rather than sold to the market. This reduces the revenues a family has available to ensure a higher quality of life.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) estimates that women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor. Statistically, women are more likely than men to be poor due to the discrimination they face in areas of education and employment.

So how can women be empowered to break out of the cycle of poverty?

There are short-term and long term approaches to this challenge. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), strives to provide economically viable solutions to poverty in the developing world by investing in entrepreneurship and offering financial services to those who are not usually eligible to receive them. These programs go beyond micro-lending into the area of private and for-profit enterprise. One example of AKFED’s investment ventures is Kenya’s
Frigoken Ltd.

Frigoken works with small-scale farmers to stimulate regional economies by providing business development services like price guarantees, quality control, training and seeds. This venture works on two levels. First, it enables entire farming villages in the coastal rural region of Mombasa to confidently invest in their crops, providing a higher and more stable source of income, and allowing families to educate their children. Second, it stimulates the national economy by providing factory jobs for trained workers who process and package the vegetables
for export.

Approximately 2,700 people work in the Frigoken factory. Most of them are women who are providing a valuable secondary income for their families. There is also an on location daycare service for the younger children. But often where agencies like AKDN are not active, employment opportunities for women remain limited.

Unskilled women with limited education are dispensable in the economic chain. In the city, these women are confined to low-paying and low-status jobs like domestic and cleaning services. Even in Canada, many immigrant families are stuck in low income lifestyles with no apparent way out. Single mothers here resort to night jobs in factories or mid-day shifts in the hospitality industry in order to accommodate their dual role as parents and earners.

The root of the poverty problem lies deeper. According to UNIFEM, women make up approximately 60 to 80 percent of the manufacturing workforce, a struggling industry in the
ongoing global economic crisis. How can they save their families from the desperation of poverty?

The solution is education. Offering proper educational services that are tailored to girls’ needs from early childhood through to adulthood is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. Fortunately, children in Canada are provided with free, quality education until the age of 16
regardless of their backgrounds, providing hope for a better life for future generations.

But in developing countries, it’s not that simple.

Children living in cities are well serviced by primary and secondary schools. But in rural areas, educational facilities are less accessible. One common form of early childhood education is the madrasa, a religiously focussed pre-school. AKDN partners with villages in East Africa to build madrasas, allowing the community to unite and effectively run the schools. Along with providing financial support, the AKDN trains village women to be teachers, ensuring that a secular curriculum is taught for at least part of the day. This allows children from all backgrounds to attend and accommodates responsibilities at home.

Girls benefit the most from this arrangement; they can still tend to sick family members or help in the kitchen or farm before and after school. Since the teachers are local women who are paid by the village, the madrasa project also empowers women on a secondary level.

Most parents understand the value of education in providing a better future for their children but they cannot afford to lose their workforce for extended periods of time. Many girls drop out of school in their teens, while boys often finish high school. The issue lies in the sensitivity to girls’ physiological and practical needs, rather than cultural considerations. Many girls stop going to school when they reach puberty because schools do not have proper latrines tailored to women’s needs. Even when they do, the poverty is so extreme that girls cannot afford feminine hygiene products. Worse, many girls do not have spare undergarments and uniforms and must go home to wash and dry them, which disrupts the school day.

The Aga Khan School Improvement Programme (SIP) is one AKDN initiative that directly addresses this challenge by providing a forum for girls to discuss issues that are relevant only to them in a secure, private setting and make suggestions to the school on their educational experience. Programs like SIP invest in girls by providing them with the tools they need to escape poverty on a practical and educational level. It empowers girls to change their lives and livelihoods and opens up a wide array of possibilities for their future. Many
dream of being doctors and teachers.

In his speech at the commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the madrasa programme in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2007, [The Aga Khan] noted that, ”… we sometimes give too little attention to the schools which prepare young children for life itself—in all of its holistic dimensions. And yet the evidence accumulates steadily showing that an investment made in the earliest, pre-school years can bring enormous dividends as a child proceeds from one level of education to another.”

Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn only 10 percent of the income and own a meagre one percent of the property. With services that are sensitive to their issues, women have the opportunity to provide a higher quality of life for their families. With some support, these girls could one day lead the developing world out of the devastating cycle of poverty.

(First appeared in The Ismaili Canada Magazine, Issue 1, March 2010)

The story behind a Canadian Cyclist

Some months ago, I was asked to do a one-on-one interview with reporter Alain Gravel, host of Radio Canada's investigative reporting programme "Enquête". Gravel, as you may recall, is the reporter who broke the story of Quebec's biggest doping scandal. After many months of pushing, cyclist Geneviève Jeanson admitted to Gravel and his team that she had in fact taken drugs and had been doing so from a very young age.

The interview was published in Media Magazine, the publication put out by the Canadian Association of Journalists. Ironically, Gravel was, at the time of the interview, the president of the Fédération Professionelle des Journalistes du Québec.

This interview was particularly tough to write up, not because of the translation work required, but because of the sheer amount of content that the interview provided. Originally, I had planned on a 15 to 30 minute interview - MAX. Instead, I had just over an hour of tape to listen and sort through. Plus, the story itself was very complex, as there was a lot of back and forth before Gravel and his team were able to get a confession out of Jeanson. In fact, the story was so complicated that even Gravel had to think hard about the timing and sequence of the events leading up to his scoop. Not to mention that the story and the pursuit of the story were both very interesting and full of juicy details.

All in all, I was very satisfied with the article and with the editing job - with one exception. Near the end of the second page, the text mentions that "a Canadian cyclist had written about a marriage certificate" when it should instead say "Canadian Cyclist had written about a marriage certificate", meaning the industry magazine Canadian Cyclist.

Without further ado, here I am, on page 18!

Stay tuned for more goodies...

Paper trail...

In honour of the NHL trade deadline, it's time to think of something else. In this case, paper.
This year, I once again was an intern for The Reporter, Pulp and Paper Canada's daily publication during PaperWeek International and EXFOR 2008.
It took place in early February, so while I'm a bit slow on the posting, I figured today was a symbolic day for looking back at past success and forward at new horizons.

Here are a couple of texts I wrote during that week.

Irving impresses with SC-A upgrade

In 2006, Irving Paper Ltd. decided to convert its PM1 to an SC-A grade machine, with plans to upgrade to SC-A+. The PM1, which was built in 1964, was in need of an upgrade, especially in the press and calendering areas.

“This was a strategic decision by the company to move away from newsprint and go to value add grades, so that was probably the biggest asset,” said PM1 Superintendant Terry Tomney.

One of the most interesting aspects of this presentation, which was part of Metso’s annual conference, was the time lapse photography of the whole process. The upgrade took 65 days to complete, and the bird’s-eye view of the calendering and dryer hood deconstruction and reconstruction was captured every 20 minutes, providing a remarkable amount of material for an impressive slideshow.

Most inspiringly, the process was ongoing as workers were on the floor 24 hours a day and the project was completed with no downtime.

At first, Irving experienced some quality issues such as dry end breaks, VIB Digital Block Corrosion, and wrinkling due to air entrapment, but Metso and Irving cooperated in finding the solutions to these problems, often by using new technologies such as the OptiReel Plus.

However, several of Irving’s concerns turned out to be non-issues.

“One thing we were really concerned about,” said Tomney, “is that it’s approximately 80 meters that the sheet runs, so there’s a lot of opportunities for issues. But to our great surprise, thanks to the advance work we had done with Metso, we had no issues with threading.”

Since Irving has only two paper machines, it was important for the company to minimize downtime. One of the keys to accomplishing this was quicker troubleshooting of E&I issues, as software made it possible to resolve issues in ten to fifteen minutes rather than four to five hours.

“We are taking a quantum step in development for ourselves and we’re entering an area that we didn’t know so much about,” Tomney said. “[Metso] was very valuable to us, so much so that we extended our co-operation agreement.”

Still, while early 2007 results showed a great increase in the quality of the paper produced by Irving’s reconstructed SC-A/SC-A+ machine, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

-30-

Industry analyst forecasts transition year

By Naila Jinnah

Tuesday’s plenary session provided much food for thought as TD Newcrest’s Paper and Forest Products Equity Analyst Sean Steuart, CFA, presented his forecast for the year to come.

His presentation, appropriately entitled “Outlook: An Industry in Transition”, was a perfect partner to PaperWeek International’s theme for 2008, “A Bridge to the Future”.

Steuart explained that the pulp and paper industry in the United States and in Canada has a poor reputation in the investment community, partially because of its failure to meet performance expectations in the past few years but also because of the way brokers emphasize the pros but neglect to stress the cons of investing in the sector.

Since 1999, capital has been down 6%, with a more pronounced trend since the Canadian dollar started rising. Therefore, the industry is losing relevance in the investment community, as Canadian, US and European investments in the sector account for less than 1% of the equity market.

“I think there’s a credibility issue both on the analyst side and the industry side,” said Steuart. “We definitely get the sense that investors want to see how this unfolds in the next couple of years.”

In 2008, only five Canadian P&FP companies were listed in the S&P/TSX Composite Index, accounting for $6.0 million Canadian in market capital. That’s a huge drop from 1995, when 23 companies combined for $14.8 million in market capital. One major factor is the mergers and buyouts of the past few years, as traditionally Canadian companies like Abitibi and Domtar became listed as US companies.

Steuart looked back at the downturn of the past year and provided short, mid and long term trends, focusing primarily on the Canadian market.

“We estimate that the weighted average cost of capital for Canadian companies is 13%,” said Steuart of the current situation. “I wouldn’t say that USA and Europe companies have been better, but they’re certainly better than Canada. Companies have been withholding investments and share prices have gone down as a result.”

Steuart also addressed the recession fears in the US, claiming that although a broad recession might not take place, but that various commodities in this sector are already in recession.

Wood products were hit especially hard in 2007 and over the past five years, mitigated by actual demand improvement but also because of factors like the US housing crisis. New technologies will also play a role in the long term.

“A couple of products are in structural demand decline for North America,” said Steuart, “especially newsprint and uncoated freesheet. This reflects the trend in the way people are accessing information, especially with new technologies.”

Most wood product companies have a negative cashflow, especially in Canada, and further consolidation is inevitable, according to Steuart.

“Prices have fallen so much because companies with good balance sheets have decided to push their assets too hard and burn cash instead of sitting back and balancing,” said Steuart.

As for market pulp, prices are still rising across most grades and regions. The market remains tight, especially for hardwood, but momentum is decreasing due to the short term fibre scarcity caused by issues like weather, closures, and union disputes. In the long term, there will be a steady demand growth with closings of high demand price mills as new greenfield pulp mills open in the Southern Hemisphere. China remains a big driver, as shipments to that country account for 20% of the 19 major companies’ exports.

Prices for newsprint, primarily a Canadian commodity, have started increasing.

“A number of the smaller companies were waiting for Abitibi to finish their merger and proceed with expected closures. And they sort of sat at on the sidelines and waited, and prices went down,” explained Steuart.

For Steuart, it’s hard to believe prices went down so much, since the effect of inflation in the last 8 years in Canada coupled with the Canadian dollar appreciation made it double the US values.

“It’s been a very tough few years, but I think we’ve turned the corner,” said Steuart. “Part of the reasons we’re positive is that the big publishers in the States appear to be aboard and understanding our struggles.”

All Canadian lumber producers except for Interfor are losing operating cash before taxes and adjustments.

“We’re going to see the worst data in Q4 that we’ve ever seen. It’s going to be a tough quarter,” Steuart warned.

-30-

I also have an article going into the March issue of Pulp and Paper Canada, which is always interesting, and I should be writing an article on one of my pet subjects as of late, so...

Stay tuned!

New Feature!

Of the written kind, I mean.

Here's the piece I wrote on the goalies of the Concordia University women's hockey team, the Stingers. It was published in today's edition of the Link.

Enjoy!

Passion brings Stingers goalies together

But a little competition is healthy for women's hockey teammates

By Naila Jinnah

On paper, Concordia Stingers goaltenders Meggy Hatin-Léveillée, Audrey Doyon-Lessard and Stephanie Peck don’t have much in common, apart from sharing a spot on the women’s hockey team.

A quick glance at the roster shows that the girls have different eligibility years, come from different CÉGEPs and are in programs that couldn’t be more different: honours psychology, exercise science and marketing respectively. But one look at these three masked warriors and all those differences come crashing to the ice.

Goalies are a special breed, a saying that rings especially true for collegiate teams. For years, these girls have been the only goaltenders on their team, left aside at practices while the rest of the players worked on drills. They have become more self-sufficient than their teammates, often learning on their own and from their own mistakes. They have been the starting goalie every game—by default. But CÉGEP brought not only a new level of play but also a new reality—competing for the starting spot with at least two other girls.

This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there is the risk of spending most of the season on the bench rather than on the ice. On the other hand, practices are a bit more fun when you have a companion to run goaltending drills with.

“With the three of us, practice is more fun, because it’s like a team of goalies!” said Hatin-Léveillée, laughing with her goaltending partners.

“Being goalie is a very special bond,” she added. “Aside from our field of study, we really understand each other, even if others don’t. We know we can rely on the other two to understand, so we don’t feel awkward or out of place.”

Hatin-Léveillée and Doyon-Lessard have been splitting the load for one season, but Peck joined the team this year. They were an instant fit.

“I totally felt welcome with them,” said rookie Peck. “I knew right away that they got along really well because it showed. It really makes a difference when you get along with your goalie partner.”

This year, the girls need to get along with someone else too. For the first time in four years, the Stingers have added a goalie coach to their staff. Dave Paré gets on the ice with the girls during practice and his feedback is definitely appreciated.

“Last year we couldn’t improve on anything because no one would tell us what the problems were,” Hatin-Léveillée said. “But this year, in practice, our coach tells us what we do and we can improve our game.”

“It makes us feel more part of a team and more important, in a way.”

“I think it shows that we just prioritize the goaltending and that it’s really important,” said Peck. “We need that kind of help and it’s good to have that kind of support.”

The girls also get a lot of support from each other—they spend a lot of time together and the comfortable chemistry that was established during training camp turned into friendly competition as the season started. At the beginning, Hatin-Léveillée and Doyon-Lessard were the goaltending duo of choice, and while Hatin-Léveillée got many starts, there was no clear-cut number one goalie. But on Oct. 28, 2007, Doyon-Lessard was injured in a game at Carleton University.

“I tried to cover the puck and was going forward, but the girl sort of skated on my head,” explained Doyon-Lessard.

She was diagnosed with a concussion, an injury that is particularly hard to recover from since it requires complete rest. After over two months on the injured reserve list, Doyon-Lessard finally made it back between the pipes on Jan. 6, 2008 for the championship game of the Theresa Humes tournament, replacing starter Hatin-Léveillée. The Stingers lost 7-0 to McGill.

“It was great for me to play,” Doyon-Lessard said after the game, “but I didn’t like the reason why I had to go in.”

Meanwhile, Peck was back at her usual seat in the stands. The third goalie is often lost in the rush, but she is just as much a member of the team as the other girls. Like Doyon-Lessard when she was injured, Peck needs to attend all practices and games, even if she’s not dressing for the latter. The average observer doesn’t notice her, but she is far from invisible to her teammates. And while the seats in the stands are mostly comfortable, it’s not Peck’s spot of choice.

“It’s really tough coming in as a third goalie,” she said. “People don’t understand unless they’ve lived it.”

“With goalies, there are only three spots, and two that dress,” said Hatin-Léveillée. “With players, there’s a lot more room to work with. They have twelve!”

“I’ve lived it,” she added, “and now Steph is going through it.”

“It’s a real learning experience,” Peck said. “It’s definitely going to make me better for it. Stronger. It’s humbling too, because you have to earn it. Everybody has to pay their dues.”

The bond between these three girls is apparent in their interactions on and off the ice, and their unofficial ranking on the roster is not of much concern to them.

“We try to stay together and keep it equal in practices,” Hatin-Léveillée said. “And come game time, for sure there’s going to be a goalie who plays and a goalie who doesn’t dress. I think that’s the only time that there’s a difference.”

“In practice, we don’t see number one, number two, number three. We don’t see a difference.”

But for Hatin-Léveillée, having a new partner in crime didn’t change the way she approached the game. Competition is important, but the girls each have a different role to play on the team. They push each other in positive ways.

“It’s never taken for granted,” Hatin-Léveillée said. “I’m not number one for sure. We have to work for it, earn it, and if I play a good game, more points for me!”

“It’s a competition, but at the same time it’s healthy, because we’re not bitching about it and we’re not being mean about it. We want our spot and we want to deserve it. If I don’t feel like I deserve it, I don’t want to be the one in nets.”

“It’s not like if someone has a bad game, you’re like ‘yes!’ You put the team first,” Peck agreed.

“We all can do it, and we all know that everyone here can stop the puck wherever it is,” said Hatin-Léveillée. “When it happens that we have bad games, we know it’s a mental thing. So we go up to each other and tell the other goalie to get back in there and to be strong mentally.”

The girls don’t really see each other outside of hockey, although that’s probably a good thing. With practice, workout sessions, school and homework, it’s hard to find time to relax, not to mention that non-hockey friends tend to get jealous.

“You’re with each other every day,” said Doyon-Lessard. “We see each other more than our family!”

It is this commitment to the game that enables the girls to make these sacrifices. Their love for hockey is apparent on and off the ice, and their passion brings them together just as it divides them.

“We have that thing in common that we love to come here to play hockey in the morning,” said Hatin-Léveillée.

“But like it or not, we’re here to play hockey, and we all want the same thing,” concluded Peck.

-30-

Concordia Reports - Remembrance Edition

Our second TV show is now on YouTube, published yesterday, just in time for Remembrance Day. Appropriately, there's a lot of memorial and veteran content in this show.

This time, I hosted, had a pack on carepacks to Afghanistan, and helped with the show packaging and opener. I also interviewed veterans from General Vanier Branch 234 in Quebec of the Royal Canadian Legion, aka the Roxboro Branch.

I really had a lot of fun on and with this show, and I think it came together nicely.

As always, I look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions on the show, so post away! Positive and negative comments are welcome, I always want to learn :)


Enjoy!!

My first Montreal Gazette byline...

Sometimes, it takes a while for me to get stuff up on here. This time, I have an excuse... I was in Toronto when it happened.
And if that one doesn't work, blame it on the ear infection I got last Thursday. Yes, two weeks later.

Cutting to the chase... (an expression that makes no sense, if you ask me. Shouldn't you be cutting THE chase and getting to the point?)

I am now the proud owner of a Gazette byline. Sure, it's the West Island section, but that doesn't make it any less cool.

It's an article I wrote back in July, I believe, about the Lakeshore Camera Club celebrating their 50th anniversary. Here's the link: Camera Club is a wide-angle affair

Enjoy!