I have a friend who's had a unique experience of being taught in university. Yes, you read this correctly, I don't mean that he taught at university -- there's an actual course studying his work. I went to a lecture about it once. It was the weirdest thing to sit beside the course topic himself, in a huge classroom theatre, as students below us analyzed one of the short stories he had written.

On the more mind-blowing level of this experience (perhaps the wackiest level there is), there's the actor James Franco, a popular Hollywood celebrity who’s scheduled to host the Oscars this year and who's also scheduled to teach a university course about ... James Franco. Kristina Lopez writes in James Franco to Teach College Course About His Career that the actor will lecture the top 12 students at the Columbia College Hollywood in Tarzana, California. Not only that, as part of the course the students have to create a 30-minute documentary film about the actor based on Franco's own behind-the-scenes footage about ... well, James Franco.

I’ve been following his career (he does a lot of interesting things that go way beyond acting) so I'm curious to see what comes out of this. The only question I have is: how will he mark the students fairly?

Jowita

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I was never too crazy for chocolate, even as a child, I could take it or leave it. I grew up with a grandmother who loved dark chocolate and that was my first exposure to it. So all I knew of chocolate was that it could be quite strong tasting and bitter (although full of flavour). Chocolate was more of a grown-up thing but not nearly as taboo as coffee or cigarettes. Chocolate was kind of boring. I lived most of my childhood with nibbles here and there, sure, but my cavities were strictly related to the consumption of candy.

In the Chocolate Chronicles: Rogue Chocolatier article, Colin Gasko, an artisan chocolate maker and owner of Rouge Chocolatier not only makes chocolate, he actually roasts and grinds his own beans to make the delicious concoctions. He got interested in chocolate after working in a specialty food store and says he "fell into it." He only makes four distinctively flavoured bars but they do "earn rave reviews from discerning critics and chocolate aficionados, including Martha Stewart who featured the bars in her TV show."

The chocolate Gasko makes is dark chocolate, much like what I grew up with. And now that I'm older I love the bitterness and especially appreciate the quirky descriptions of what it tastes like: "earthy and woody with a subtle hint of blood orange." That makes my mouth water, actually. Too bad I'm stuck with vending machine choices here at work (but I'm very close to a gourmet food shop, so not all hope is lost). If you're especially passionate about chocolate yourself check out the Professional Chocolatier Certificate at George Brown. You never know -- what may start as a hobby may end up inspiring a career.

Jowita

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Around this time, for me, there's always a mix of excitement, anxiety and sadness over the summer gone by. When I walk by bins of binders and walls of school supplies at the local superstore I try to remember what I was hoping for the last time I was shopping for these items. In university, this time was always tinged with financial woes, but there was always, too, a sense of hope and new adventure, and the thought that the world was finally opening itself to me.

Unfortunately, by the time I got to my graduate degree I wasn't excited about shopping for school supplies because I was too stressed about money and later I was just stressed all the time in general. And as a result I forgot what I was hoping for. Now, in retrospect, I wish I had tried to worry less and enjoy the learning time better. I wish I had told my anxiety to go on a long vacation and just focused on hitting the books and sharpening pencils.

Despite all that worry, I graduated, went onto get my first real job and eventually, as time went by, things got easier. I paid off most of my loans and mellowed down a little about having adventures. Perhaps this is because I'm okay where I am today, or maybe in the end I just got a bit worn down by anxiety to have any energy left to do any more adventuring. Who knows. Still, I'm happy to see kids and parents shopping together for school supplies and I can't wait till my kid is old enough to partake in this activity. I will tell him not to worry, and I'll tell him that anything is possible and that if he studies hard and hopes even harder, he'll get to that anything-is-possible place for sure.

Jowita

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For years now we've been hearing about internships that don't pay students, use them to do menial, unrelated tasks and even require that the applicants pay for their placement. Karen* (see Poss Exclusive: One Intern Reveals the Truth!) didn't have to pay a penny to work at the Royal Academy of Arts but there were some major challenges that have made her experience somewhat frustrating. Here she outlines things she didn't like about her internship:

• Reports! Writing reports is tedious.
• Applying theory to work. Sometimes theory is hard to apply. Things happen and you cannot go by the measures of a textbook to explain them.
• I found getting involved difficult. It's hard to network when you're just thrown into a situation and expected to become personable and chatty.
• Making sure people take you seriously and give you a combination of practical and research-based tasks. Know what you need to make it a successful internship and don't be afraid to ask for it.

Karen found the actual process of looking for internship quite challenging, too, and the actual placement a little disillusioning. She says, "The frustrating aspect of this entire thing was the realization that people may not want your free work. The idea sounds awesome -- in theory -- but the reality is that even if you want to work for free it will cost you a lot of time and effort including countless applications, references, interviews and so on." She says that after coming to Royal Academy she realized that there was no guarantee that she'd get to do what she needs to do to get specific experience.

Overall, however, Karen seems to be happy with her experience and says that it taught her one extra lesson she never expected to learn: "Finding an internship was an eye-opener to the realities of the working world. I can only worry about how hard it is going to be to get a job with a salary," she says.

Either way, as hard as it all seems to be, I think nothing beats getting home via a double-decker bus.

Jowita

(*Not her real name -- she asked to protect her privacy as the internship is still going on.)

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If you're amongst the many bicycle riders in our fair city, you're undoubtedly aware that knowing basic bicycle repair can save you a few headaches and quite a bit of money. Ask anybody who's been stuck between point A and B because of a bike mishap and they'll tell you that bike repair skills sure could have come in handy.

Because I'm always interested in innovative programs that encourage youth to learn new skills, my curiosity was piqued when I came across a Yonge Street Media article, Bikes Are on a Roll in Regent Park. The article recounts the success story of Charlie's Freewheels, a volunteer-based program that invites 10 youth from the Regent Park community to learn basic bicycle mechanics and bike safety by assembling a bike which they later get to keep. The program combines hands-on practice, cooperative work, discussion and mentoring.

With the recent announcement that Bixi, a public bicycle sharing program, will be coming to Toronto, the little wheels in my brain have started turning: youth from Charlie's Freewheels should be hired to maintain Bixi bikes! By creating an opportunity for youth to learn new skills and make a little cash at the same time, we can help them develop a sense of responsibility, discipline, and self-worth -- good traits to have when it comes to eventually building a career, even under tough economic circumstances.

Learning how to fix a bike might seem insignificant, but who knows? Maybe tinkering with inner tubes, spokes and chains will get youth riding in the right direction.

Veronica

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I thought I knew all that there was to know about writing spectacular cover letters, killer resumés and so on. After all, over the years I'd gotten an interview or two based on what I had sent out. Until, one year, I kept sending out those masterpieces and sending them and ... nothing. Not a single phone call. So, based on the advice of someone who knew better than to listen to my woe-is-me rant, I went to a workshop that was supposed to teach me how to do those resumés and cover letters the right way.

I'll be honest with you: I went there with the wrong attitude. I couldn't possibly imagine how slight formatting adjustments and other "stupid" stuff would make any difference. But it did. I sent out three resumés and three cover letters that same week. And maybe this is some crazy coincidence, but I got three phone calls back and I set up three interviews. Last month, I had a chance to go back to that employment centre where I took those workshops and talk about my experience to people involved with the centre. It felt great to be able to give back a little.

Since that time, I've been a huge fan of employment workshops. Whether it's finding your transferable skills, polishing your cover letter writing, or knowing what to say and do during an interview, taking a couple hours of your time to learn and refresh your job search skills is really worth it. Try 211toronto.ca to start your search on employment centres near you and find a workshop that you can benefit from. Trust me, it's totally worth it!

ttyl

Jowita

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The "automotive industry" and "job loss" seem to come in the same breath these days. Job loss is certainly a hot topic with talk of whether or not to bail out the US auto industry and the uncertainty of recovery in the American auto makers' sector.

I grew up in a small industrial town in rural Quebec where jobs were scarce. I remember my older sister years ago losing her job as an administrative assistant and being faced with no prospects whatsoever at working at what she was trained in. After a few sessions with a career counsellor, she decided to retrain through a provincial government initiative similar to the present government of Ontario's Second Career program. She chose her new profession from a career sector where there were jobs (like jobs in demand). She signed up for the one-year course at a college 60 km away, packed her bags, found an apartment and said good bye to her past work life. The subsidy she was granted, once her tuition was paid, left her little to live on and she had to use up the small savings that she had. But in the end, she graduated as an aesthetician and found a great job right away at an upscale spa -- mind you she had to move again.

The Canadian Auto Workers' Union and Chrysler, with some financial help from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, set up an Open Action Centre in Brampton this May in order to assist laid-off employees at the Chrysler plant. In an interview with CBC Radio on Nov. 10, Cammie Peirce, head of the Open Action Centre, talked passionately about the hardship that the auto industry employees are going through and the loss of a lifestyle they have grown accustomed to. "There's no way that they are going to find a job making that kind of money. Those kinds of changes are scary," she said. Ms. Peirce also shared that after working 21 years at Chrysler, this is the first time she's been afraid of losing her job. She mentioned how destabilising that feeling is, adding, "I don't know what direction I would take but I know that I would do some kind of retraining as fast as I can."

It seems that with the current economic climate, retraining may be the answer to unemployment. Two thirds of the readers who took our October poll answered that they would be willing to retrain. Would you?

Josée

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I went to a certain university to do my undergrad degree. The university was known for its superb business program so in my fourth year I decided to challenge myself and take one business course. It was a first-year course. Within a month it became clear that all those youngsters in the class were much more serious than any first-year students I'd encountered before. They asked intelligent questions, discussed business news with great passion and competed for marks.

I was assigned to work on a small business project with four other people. I gave up trying to contribute any business knowledge -- they were far, far ahead of me. I took care of our project's ad campaign instead (creative, easy). The course showed me that I was way less focused than I thought I was and that I should probably just stick to the creative side of things. Angry with myself, I thought I'll leave those heartless M.B.A.s to make all the millions they want, fine!

But having an M.B.A. degree doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be a tough, money-making machine once you graduate. In the article M.B.A.s Who Want to Save the World the author, Colin Campbell, talks about a new group of business graduates who want to use their great entrepreneurial skills towards helping those who are less fortunate. Since M.B.A. programs usually cost thousands of dollars, going into social entrepreneurship may not seem like the most lucrative choice but it certainly gives M.B.A. grads much more than just money.

ttyl

Jowita

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When I went to university I was shocked to discover that I needed science to get my psych degree. I loved the humanities and thought psychology was in no way a scientific area -- I took it because I wanted to help people. Shows you how much I knew. I had to take calculus, biology, finite math, algebra and geometry. Later, I struggled through research methods and statistics, and by the time I got to my fourth year I was exhausted from all these numbers. When could I get to work with people? I thought as I codified “subjects” and calculated “medians.” I also wondered: why did I plan so badly?

Well, maybe it was because, like those kids in the Children as Young as Nine Turn Their Back on Science Careers article, I never realized that you need science for a number of careers. There are jobs that don’t necessarily have the word “science” anywhere in their description but rely on it entirely. In other words, you can’t be a veterinarian just because you get along with animals, and you can’t be an astronaut just because you think that the sky is cool.

ttyl

Jowita

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Not long ago, the Toronto Star published a special section on Continuing Education. It’s worth checking out. I found it quite inspiring to read about people who changed their lives around and began new careers. But perhaps the most inspiring article was the one about seniors taking online courses to learn how to build websites. I think that is so cool that someone like Anna Carling, mentioned in the article Site-Building Course Untangles the Web, is 78 and has set up an alternative health site. Not only that -- she’s making money from it and has been able to hire her grandson to help her maintain the site twice a week!

The section mentions other people who continued learning so that they could follow their dreams and better their lives. I have a friend, Susan, who started a landscaping company a few years ago. She went back to school to take courses and learned about managing a business. This year she worked with a whole crew of people and had more clients than she could book. She is a former actress and a trapeze artist (yes) and she made this recent career change when she was in her late 40s. I often think that when I grow up I want to be just like Susan. I want to have the same drive and strength to do whatever I dream of doing.

ttyl

Jowita

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There’s an ancient rumour about author Margaret Atwood who, at a party, was accosted by a neurosurgeon who said to her, “I think I’d like to write a book one day,” and to which she replied, “I think I’d like to perform a brain surgery one day.” This, I think, illustrates a certain frustration that I can relate to as a professionally trained writer. (I usually experience this frustration when I take myself too seriously -- which I try not to do, especially since English is not my first language. On top of that, I am crazy about photography and have no degree in that, yet I do it, shamelessly and confidently.)

The thing is that everyone can potentially do creative things -- most people can learn on their own how to take pictures or put together sentences to make stories (even if they don’t do it well). No one can learn on his or her own how to do brain surgery.

When I worked at an ad agency, I was hired as a copy writer, yet it was the product managers and other non-creative types who decided what was good and what wasn’t. Sometimes I fumed to myself: “Gee, I don’t tell them how to do their job!” Still, I was working for that particular company and that’s how things were executed. We had clients, we were a team.

Even as freelancers, creative workers work for clients. Most of the time, it’s the clients’ approval that counts at the end of the day. I think the biggest problem here is that some creative workers just can’t see the difference between being an artist and being well, an employee. For more discussion on that, go to the blog entry, Respect Your Creative Co-Workers .

ttyl

Jowita

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In journalism school I took a course called Online Journalism. Till this day I’m not sure what that course was about. The first few classes we talked about “The Internet,” as in what it was, why?? it developed, what it did .… “What?” I screamed in my head. “I paid thousands of dollars to sit here and talk about what the Internet is! It’s like taking an English lit class and talking about what a book is.” Thankfully, as an afterthought, the professor threw the Dreamweaver web design program into the mix and I learned something. (The Dreamweaver tutorial sessions were held independently of the lectures and were not mandatory). Not much, but something.

The Gawker has a funny write-up about the new media programs in journalism schools. The article implies that signing up for a new media program is a waste of money

Be careful about signing up for questionable courses ,or degrees, for that matter. If you can, talk to past graduates to see what they thought of the course or degree. And, just to let you know, no one on the Possibilities team has a degree in New Media yet we still put out a fantastic online magazine!

ttyl

Jowita

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My former roommate, who is now in his mid-50s, went back to school last year. He actually has a few degrees under his belt but he determined that he wanted to become a teacher. He’s had a successful career as a writer and an actor and decided that he would really love to teach drama. So he ordered his old transcripts and applied to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He graduated this June and is now on his way to being a high school teacher.

I know from talking to him that many times he felt unsure about making this drastic change, but in the end, I think, he is happy that he has done it. It’s very brave to go back to school later in life. I remember, when I was an undergrad there was a lady named Dorothy, who had retired but was taking painting classes because she always wanted to be an artist. She was really good and never seemed to be intimidated by the fact that most of us were one-third her age.

There’s a great question and answer in the July issue of salon.com, “At 56 I Want an Art History Degree,” that may be a good read if you’re wondering what to do to make a drastic career change.

ttyl

Jowita

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