The Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) by-election campaign kicks off today. Candidates will be trying to convince voters for the next week and a half that they are right for the job.  

The VP Communications and Promotions position remains open as no one ran for the position last year. But Katie Brioux, Alexis Suzuki and Laura Robbins will be vying for the job this time.

Brioux is a Communications student in her fourth year from Brampton, Ontario. She plans on creating an “open communication platform” on ASFA’s website to keep students informed. Brioux is currently the Graphics Editor at The Concordian newspaper.

Suzuki is in her third year studying English, Art History and Studio Art. She is the VP External for Concordia Volunteers In Action (VIA) club. Suzuki plans to add a “sustainable” twist to getting students informed about ASFA events.

Robbins is an activist on campus with student-led movements. She promises to provide students with ways to be involved while doing her part to keep ASFA transparent and accountable.

The position for VP External and Sustainability is also up for grabs. Boris Degas and Paul Jerajian will go head to head in the by-election.

Degas is in his fourth year in Biochemistry from Marseille, France. He plans on starting a ride share program as well as reviving the annual Green Week.

Jerajian is in his second year of Actuarial Mathematics and Finance from nearby Saint Laurent, Quebec. He plans to focus on fighting tuition fee hikes and to create more sustainability-centred events on campus.

Also looking to get elected, Yazzy Zahar and Sian Mill will try and fill the vacant Independent Councillor slot. 

Zahar is a second year student from Washington D.C. specializing in Environmental Science. She wants to incorporate international students into ASFA as well as increase its visibility on campus.

Mill is in her fourth year...

Jean Béliveau has finally reached Ottawa this weekend after walking around the world for almost eleven years.The fifty-six-year old Quebecer has walked across six continents and more than sixty-four countries. In total, he has walked for more than seventy-five thousand kilometres during those years.

His journey had started as an attempt to discover himself during a mid-life crisis, but along the way, it turned into a walk for peace and an attempt to increase awareness about young victims of violence.

Fifty-three pairs of shoes later, he is close to reaching his goal, but he admitted that there were times where he thought about giving up.

Béliveau only has two more weeks to go before he meets with his wife Lucy in Montreal, and before he ends his eleven-year walk around the globe.

It isn’t surprising to find happier tweets on weekends than on working days.

Researchers have been delving into people's moods expressed through Twitter and other social networks to detect positive and negative moods throughout days and seasons.

More than half a billion Twitter messages, from 84 countries were analysed by language detection software for positive and negative moods. Generally, most tweets are positive in the morning and climb in the evening.

Researcher’s claim that changes in the daylight do have an effect on people’s messages. Sleep is said to be an accurate cause of mood changes during the day.

Researchers claim that people are emotionally refreshed by sleep and this would explain why positive tweets appear in the morning.

Read By Joshua Nemeroff

Produced by Erica Bridgeman

Stories written by Joshua Nemeroff and Erica Bridgeman