Jonah AngelesVictoria DeJong (Arts 3, Political Science)
Ryan Scott (Nursing 3)
Why did you choose your program and how did you know it was right for you?
Victoria: Social Studies was always my favourite subject in school. I find politics fascinating. As for my Arts and Cultural Management minor, I work in a theatre and have volunteered there since I was a teenager, so it’s really natural to me.
Ryan: I knew I wanted to do something in medicine or healthcare, but I wanted to be on the front lines. I wanted to be dealing with patients day-to-day, and registered nursing is definitely what came to mind. I’m in my acute care clinical right now, and I know I’ve made the right choice.
What’s something that’s been bothering you lately?
V: I used to do karate, and in my last tournament ever, my knee got stepped on and never healed properly. Every once in a while, it decides it doesn’t want to do stairs anymore.
R: A lot of political things annoy me. Right now, it’s healthcare. A lot of people talk about privatization, and there’s nothing I would dislike more than private healthcare. I don’t believe it’s right.
V: Also, Ryan and I were at this mixer at Devaney’s a few weeks ago with Jason Kenney — and we’re both, like, huge socialists, so we just went for fun – and to our faces, Kenney was just like, “I don’t believe in safe injection sites.”
R: If you don’t know, safe injection sites follow a harm reduction model of healthcare where we understand that people are addicted to substances, and we don’t just say, “Alright, let’s get rid of these substances,” because that’s almost impossible to do right off the bat. So these safe injection sites are areas for people who are using these drugs where they can go use whatever safely under medical supervision, and if something bad happens, professionals can intervene right away. In the future, they can work with the users to address other health concerns, like getting them tested for blood-borne diseases or trying to help them out, getting them connected to the right services, without just looking at them like an addict who needs to stop using. It’s much more complicated than that.
Describe the weirdest experience you’ve had lately.
R: I made the most useless phone call ever. I was on clinical, and there was this thing that said that once you give this medication, you have to inform the pharmacy. So I was like, okay, I guess I’ll inform the pharmacy. So I give the medication, I dial the university hospital’s pharmacy, someone picks up, and I’m like, “Hi, I gave this person Vitamin D.” There were a couple moments of silence, and then the pharmacist was just like, “okay?” It was an awful experience. Oh my god. I’m trying to work through that still.
V: I work in a theatre, and we get weird people coming through occasionally. So this guy came in, and he looked like he hadn’t showered in a long time, and he was just chatting with a couple of people. It’s a public space, so we get people walking around and it’s no big deal. But security came up to me after he left and was like, “Is this that person’s name?” and I said I hadn’t caught their name, and security was just like, “Next time, ask, because this person has bedbugs.” Oh my god. He didn’t touch me or anything, but it was weird. I don’t really think about people having bedbugs. I don’t associate people with having bedbugs, I associate beds with having bedbugs.
What’s your favourite album of all time?
V: This is half-serious — one of the first albums I ever got that I still listen to, not even ironically, is Hillary Duff’s Metamorphosis. I’ve listened to at least a couple of songs from it this week. It was her first album, so like, way back in the day. She was still Disney. I also went through a Lizzie McGuire phase around the same time. More seriously, I like punk music — one of the first punk bands I listened to was Rise Against, and I’m really into The Sufferer & The Witness. I keep coming back to it. (Favourite Song: “Behind Closed Doors”)
R: I’m personally a fan of Vampire Weekend and all of their albums, however few there are. They’re very, very good. (Favourite Song: “Walcott”)
If you could have anything named after you, what would it be and why?
V: A library. Not to sound fake-deep, but I like the idea of a place filled with so much knowledge.
R: I’d want a study space or a common area. Something with chairs. Like, the second level of the Katz Group Centre above the best Tim Hortons on campus is named after someone, I don’t know who, but I’d want something like that.
What are some general thoughts and feelings you have on the universe?
V: The universe is alright. We don’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. We are tiny specks on a rock hurtling through space.
R: I think that humans are almost like the most self-centred species. Our perspective is literally the centre of our own universe, as a species and as a planet, and I don’t think we can disregard that. Sometimes I wonder where we’re going and what we’re going to accomplish.
