Every child from the 80s has that same litmus test question when meeting someone new and pondering if this could be a lasting friendship or romantic connection. And that is – what are your thoughts on the Goonies?

If their eyes don’t light immediately, or if they don’t bust out into a Truffle Shuffle, well, it wasn’t meant to be I’m afraid.

There is one movie that defines my childhood.

As actor Josh Gad puts it: “There is one movie that defines my childhood. One movie that defines my personality. One movie that defines me.”

The story of Mikey, Bran and the rest of their gang embarking on a journey to find hidden treasure is so engrained in that generation’s psyche that to this day, it remains an untouchable film that doesn’t deserve a meekly attempted sequel or worse, a remake.

The simple plot of The Goonies was part of its charm:

Once upon a time in Astoria, Oregon there was a group of friends hanging out in the summer, bored, and looking for something to do.

One day, Mikey and his brother find out their parents are defaulting on their mortgage and the bank is not only taking their house, but the houses of a lot of their friends and neighbours.

Because of that, they go searching in the attic and find a map that leads to One-Eyed Willy’s hidden pirate treasure and decide to set out on a perilous journey to find it and save their community from being bulldozed into a country club.

Finally, they end up losing the treasure but learn along the way that family and friends are what makes a community, no matter where it is. It also helps that Mikey was able to stowaway a few precious gems from the treasure and save his family’s house.

And ever since then, The Goonies were able to stick together.

But what makes the story so everlasting? The childhood friendships that bonded the group together was so relatable in its simplicity and authenticity. The protective big brother Bran both tormented but also protected his younger sibling Mikey, just as we’ve all experienced in our own lives.

It showed kids trying to figure out in their own way how to help their parents get out of a financial jam, or some just wanting one last summer adventure with their childhood friends before life inevitably changes. The Goonies showed kids (of any generation) that being an outcast didn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing – a life lesson that adults could do well to remember.

And in a time of filmmaking when diversity wasn’t exactly encouraged, the cast featured actors from varied backgrounds and ethnicities and showed different body shapes and personalities. The film taught acceptance in the group’s protective nature over Sloth, the physically disfigured but gentle and loveable giant who helps keep the kids from harm.

But most importantly, it showed kids that staying true to themselves, and to each other, meant you were capable of handling anything that came your way. And that Goonies Never Say Die.

As a full-time university student and part-time procrastinator, I don’t have a lot of time to read books for pleasure. Any time I am inclined to pick up a book for leisure, I feel guilty knowing that time could be better used to read academic resources, watch lectures, or work on assignments, not to mention all the menial tasks that come with adulthood: cleaning, grocery shopping and meal preparation, working in order to afford the rent… Regardless, the moral of the story here is that from September to May, I don’t read. Not for fun, anyway. Every summer, though, I read until my eyeballs are popping out of my head. I read early in the morning, late at night, while I’m eating, while I’m doing dishes; literally any time my eyes are not preoccupied. To understand the veracity with which I read in the summers, I can tell you that in one month, I have read 25 novels, and not short ones.

One of my favourite series of the summer thus far was The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.

The Grisha Trilogy includes Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. For your information, I bought the paperback boxset off Amazon CA for pretty cheap, you can find them here. I was inspired to read this trilogy because Netflix has now come out with a Netflix original TV series using this storyline plus other overlapping stories in the GrishaVerse. The trilogy centres around a girl named Alina Starkov. She was orphaned at a young age, and wound up at Keramzin, an orphanage where she met Mal, who becomes her long-time best friend. They join the military together, her as a cartographer, and him as a Tracker. During an expedition through The Fold, a dark and horrible curtain of death and despair dividing the people, Alina displays a very sought-after power, the ability to summon light. This ability is said to be able to banish The Fold and save the people of Ravka, and she is the first of her kind, rumored to be a Saint. She embarks on a journey to the Little Palace, where she is trained to use her power in order to save the Ravkans, but she must leave Mal, the only sure thing in her life, behind. The books detail her journey attempting to defeat The Fold, and the evildoers plotting to use her for their gain. Out of fear of giving away spoilers, I have really condensed my summary, but you can read a more detailed synopsis here.

Let’s talk about themes…

Any good story is universal, structured, simple, and has a character you want to root for. This trilogy has all of these qualities. Universality is always more subtle in fantasy novels given the subject matter, but some themes still ring true. In particular, this series tackles themes including abuse of power, the impact of division in society, the value of confidence and self-actualization, and they even tackle the idea of blind faith in religion. Most importantly, they explore the negative impact of greed the greedy person, and on society. Click here to read an interesting article about Greed Syndrome and how to recognize it. These are themes that we can read and relate to as they ring true for us too, even if we can’t manipulate matter like the Grisha can. The series itself is structured, and simple, and it is easy to read. The narration is third person omniscient, which makes the story easy for us to follow as we have insights into many of the characters’ points of view. Lastly, Leigh Bardugo masterfully wrote her characters in such a way that you almost want to root for all of them, even the ones you know to be villains. Every character has a quality about them that makes you want to hug and protect them from the tragic world they are living in, and you want to keep reading to make sure that whatever happens, they are safe.

Overall, The Grisha Trilogy is a skillfully written story, with evidence of all 4 elements of good storytelling: universality, structure, simplicity, and a character you can root for (or in this case, characters). As an added bonus, once you’ve read the books, you can watch the new hit series on Netflix.

#Video is the Key for Success

Facebook Live can be an important marketing tool for your business to showcase the latest updates and trends, it will help to attract new customers through increased engagement for your targeted marketing Persona.  Video is a key to attracting viewership it has three times the engagement over an organic post.  With Facebook Live you are connecting with an audience which is loyal to Facebook and using the platform daily.

If you are wondering about topics ask your audience on Facebook, gather their feed back and take the time to answer their questions. Another idea you could create a poll and have a list of three items and have them select which would be most interesting to them.  This will help to keep the Live event on track and interesting for your key audience.

Before the event pre-promotion is a key and tease the audience with a specific question mention some of the key highlights.

Key to Success Facebook Live Tips

#Build your Brand

Before the actual Facebook live session planning must take place if you want to present a professional approach you should follow a plan. What are you trying to accomplish and what goals are you looking for?  Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, Loyalty, Advocacy. 

 I would recommend starting at the Awareness level, to be able to maximize the Facebook Live events you will have to have a social following first. Build your brand, tell the viewers what you are all about and the key benefits for them. 

Ensure the video is educational and informative and targets interests of your key buying Persona, It is also an opportunity to offer tips and suggestions on how to use your product.  I would recommend sharing photos of your key products and tagging your business name in them. 

Keys for a successful Video Marketing Strategy

Generate a script with the pertinent information and then practice, practice, practice before going live.  Test the lighting and overall sound quality and avoid any outside noise.  You will also have to decide whether you will shoot the video horizontally or vertically depending on the overall view you are looking for.     Schedule the timing of the event for when most of the key Persona group will have the time to view.

#Social Listening

Once you are live, ensure that you are answering questions as they come up from your audience.  If you run out of time, let the audience know that you will answer these later online or on another Facebook Live event, this will keep the group coming back. Social media should be two- way communication.

Put some thought into this and use other channels to pre-promote the Live Event the overall strategy is to grow the overall market for your business.  Twitter, Instagram, and other key social sites could help grow the overall market and provide a direct link.

After the event analyze the results and check to see if your key target market was reached, unique views plus other key analytics.

#Connect with your Persona

It will be important to suggest to the viewers to engage with you directly, one suggestion would be to ask the viewers to send you their e-mail addresses, and you could send them out a newsletter of upcoming Live events and relevant updates, this will help to keep your business front and center, and provide this key Persona, with the information that they are looking for.  It will also help you build a valuable key target market which you could help use to build your business.  The audience will help you plan and decide how often you should be doing Facebook Live.   Keep it interesting and focus on what the audience is looking for and it should be a beneficial marketing tool for your business and help you to generate more leads and business.

Listen, Learn, Adapt.

# Increase Sales and SEO

#Alberta Business

Blogging can be beneficial for businesses to gain market share by establishing themselves with a potential audience as the industry experts.  To be most successful the blogs must be focused on the key audience tell them what they are looking to find out steer away from hard selling.  Teach and educate and the readers will keep on coming back.  Cover off issues the audience might be confused about in your industry.  It is a great opportunity to build loyalty and at the same time your overall sales funnel.

You can build your business as the authority gaining increased exposure and therefore more consumer confidence.  You can stand out from your competitors talk about your uniqueness and how you differ in the marketplace.  Highlight your value and experience.

#Customize your Blog to your Key Target Market    

The current market is fractured, it will be challenging for small business to survive without having a plan.  The customer base is comfortable at home ordering from their favorite stores, how can you tap into that.  Blogging is a way to reach new markets, with key information and will help businesses who put in the effort to be able to engage with markets they otherwise would have totally missed.

The main point to achieve optimum success is to have a plan heading in, what are your goals and what target market are you looking to reach. Set a clear purpose and set objectives the best way to do this is to strategize who your key customer is.  Put in the research and pinpoint the key buyer persona who is the target you are trying to reach and then target the blog to that person.

Buyer Persona  reminds you to put your audience’s wants and needs ahead of your own.

This will help you to brand your business and help to build customer loyalty be more than just a logo. You can learn from the audience to gather feedback and gain insights on how to improve your business. 

It is also important to be consistent, it will take time to build up the loyalty and trust of the audience you are trying to reach.

#Conversion Sales Funnel

The initial blog will create awareness of your product and help to build the brand but then what’s next?

Keep in mind when you are blogging that the overall goal is to generate more traffic and customers what is the plan?

One suggestion is capture e-mail addresses or have a call to action this will help generate more engagement with hot leads.

Connect with your key customer base away from social media you can do this with e-mail.  But the key is once you gather the email addresses not just to spam with specials, discounts, what is the value?  Keep in mind you gained the trust of the reader to give you the e-mail address deliver value back to them. 

The e-mails must include key specific content targeted to the audiences main interests.

To recap do the research first, know who you are trying to reach, keep it reader focused and have a plan to move customers into the sales funnel.  

Be different stand out, give it a try but most of all have fun. 

Learn, Adjust, Adapt.

“I ran because I truly believed there was something waiting in the woods that would hurt me”. At the age of five anxiety crept it’s way into my life, it came in the form of night terrors, thoughts of being kidnapped, and difficulty fitting in with other kids.

---

“Stranger Danger” was preached to me by my parents, teachers, and even on television. It became so engraved in me that I started to perceive almost everything as a threat. There was one instance that I saw a man outside my school after the bell had rang, and in my little mind I thought he fit the bill of a kidnapper. The following day my mom brought me into the principal’s office, where I brought my tiny Ken doll’s shoes to help describe what the “suspect” looked like. As it turns out, the did track this man down and he was a parent, waiting to pick up his children. My vivid imagination combined with anxiety caused me to be perceived as a difficult child.

Throughout my childhood my anxious thoughts and feelings lead to many forms of punishment by the adults in my life. I was told I was a liar, and made to write “I will not lie” after thinking I was being followed home from day camp one day. My daydreaming often frustrated teachers, so I was forced to stand in the hallway for long periods of time. It was during my visits in these hallways that I experience what I now know as panic attacks.

---

As The Years Passed

My feelings of unworthiness grew as I reached my teens. I experienced severe bullying in middle school, fueling the fire of my poor self image. I turned to self harming behaviours as a way to cope. This behaviour lead to:

• Depression
• Body Dysmorphia
• Social Anxiety
• Attempted Suicide
• Withdrawing from my academics

---

We accept the love we think we deserve

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

In my teens and early 20’s I found myself stuck in toxic relationships and friendships. I turned to substance abuse, at first it was a way of fitting in. I began to see using substances as a tool to numb my pain and what I now can recognize as a way to dissociate. I was living a life of self sabotage.

---

Enter Social Media

I was in my early 20’s when I actively starting using social media, I found it to be a really complex thing to navigate. I started to compare my lives to others, and what was meant as a way of connecting others, started to make me feel more alone than ever.

I followed many pages that I thought could boost how I was feeling about social media, and that would “drown out” my depression.

---

I started prescribing to quotes such as:

• 

• 

• 

• 

I placed so much pressure on myself to live up to these quotes. I grew frustrated when I couldn’t simple “choose to be happy”. I felt like I was weak. At social gatherings I had a constant worry that no one would want to be around me on my “off” nights because everyone would be able to sense that my “vibe” wasn’t good.

---

---

My healing began when I started therapy in 2016. Then, in 2018 I was finally given a diagnosis – This was very bittersweet for me.

---

I battled a lot after being diagnosed to make sure I didn’t let my mental illness define who I was and here’s what I found out:

Your mental or physical health does not define who you are.
You are so much more,

— Steff Happens (@Pclr_Petunia) December 2, 2020

Click here to see the entire story of “Happiness is (NOT) a choice” (Best listened to with headphones)

---

I vividly remember the day when my parents surprised me and my brother with tickets to LA! A seemingly hot, boring, and unproductive day of July suddenly became the best day I could ever ask for. The plane tickets brought about with them a moment of happiness and joy! I was beyond ecstatic and didn’t know how to express myself beyond just screaming with joy at my brother’s seemingly unfazed face.

Maybe you think that my story must have been from like 10 years ago, since my reaction almost matches that of an elementary school child but you might be pleasantly surprised in knowing that this happened only last year. (A memory from a time Covid didn’t present any travel restrictions at all).

I was unable to sleep that night, and for a few more nights because all I could think of was packing my luggage, even over-stuffing to the point where the zipper almost broke but let’s ignore that part, and catching the 4 am flight. I was ready! Ready to travel, ready to visit the US (where I’d never been), and ready to just have fun for a bit.

After a 4-hour flight from Calgary, we arrived at the airport and went straight to the Anaheim, via train.

The journey didn’t take too long and we arrived after a 30 minute ride. From then all, it was all about exploring the Disneyland and the rides in the amusement park.

• 

• 

• 

Riding the Disneyland Monorail, Finding Nemo Submarine, Mark Twain Riverboat, etc. were just some of the amazing things I got to experience during my one-day visit to Disneyland.

I felt so blessed and happy to have gone on such an amazing adventurous trip with my family and looking back at the photos now, made me realize the importance of cherishing the moments in life because who knows when you might experience them again! I hope that we can all travel the world once Covid is over and get the chance the experience these wonderful moments of joy.

-Rigvi-

From mom of five to the U of A’s first doctoral grad in piano performance, Lillian Upright’s next act will inspire a new generation

She was 41 when she’d finally run out of excuses.

Lillian Upright, since she was a girl, had dreamed of one day striding onto a stage to play piano with a major orchestra, a “knock ‘em dead” dress flowing elegantly behind her. Instead, she did everything her parents (both
born at the turn of the last century) expected of her: Get married. Stay home. Raise children.

“I had the idea that, ultimately, what a woman should do is marry and have kids,” Lillian says. Which is why going to school for piano performance took a back seat for the first half of her life.

“And also, I think I was chicken,” the now 86-year-old says, then roars with Laughter.

Lillian eventually reached her dream of studying piano and offering a major recital. A gift in her estate to rehabilitate Convocation Hall at the University of Alberta will help ensure that other promising musicians get
the performance experience they need to realize their highest potential.

In the mid-1970s, after her five sons had left home, Lillian started studying piano at the University of Alberta — a program she knew to be one of the foremost in Canada. In just over a decade of tireless study, Lillian would, in 1988, become the first person at the U of A to receive a doctorate in piano performance.

That opened the door for her to perform across the country and to deepen her piano instruction by training teachers. She also continued her busy job as long-time music director at the United Church in St. Albert, Alta. One day in 1998, she finally summoned the courage to realize her dream to perform with a major orchestra.

While shopping at a local deli, she cornered Edmonton Symphony Orchestra director Grzegorz Nowak and firmly asked for an audition. Grzegorz agreed and within a year, Lillian was featured at the Winspear Centre, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C Minor — a dramatic piece she had been working to perfect since age 11.

Music has kept me alive. It’s a privilege … to help new students realize that joy.

Lillian Upright

After she retired from teaching at age 75, Lillian wondered what more she could accomplish through music. She sat down one day and thought about how she could help — through her estate. Her sons had families of
their own and were financially Independent.

“Next to my family, music has been that essential thing in my life,” says Lillian.

“And the U of A music program did so much for me, accepting me in my forties and helping to shape me as a performer.”

A crucial part of her education was playing in Convocation Hall, the university’s historic recital space.

“To become a great performer, you have to have a great performance space with a great piano and good acoustics.”

Convocation Hall was opened in 1915 and today is hampered by an outdated stage and seating, noisy mechanical systems, inadequate dressing rooms and poor sightlines.

After learning that, Lillian decided almost on the spot to direct her estate in support of the renewal of Convocation Hall.

Her gift will help ensure that U of A music students have a first-rate venue where they can perform and record recitals, setting the stage for their own dreams of musical greatness.

“Music has kept me alive,” Lillian says. “It is a privilege to be able to help new students realize that the joy it has brought me can be theirs as well.”

Learn how you, too, can leave a legacy for a cause you believe in.