Olga's Poetry & Thoughts

A few months ago, I went to get my hair cut at the local shopping mall, and the female hairdresser engaged in some small talk with me. "So do you live in Oakville with your parents?" she asked, as she washed my hair with shampoo. "No, I actually live in an apartment by myself. Well, with my two cats," I answered. "And you can afford it? As a teacher?" she asked, bewildered.  I didn't really know how to respond. I don't think a male teacher would have been asked the same question, and this really irked me. This is just one of the ways in which women are prejudiced against in our society, even in our progressive Canadian one. Entering the workforce and official "adult life" I've been shocked, in 2018, how many difficulties and biases I had to clear up and overcome just because I am 1) a young millennial and 2) a woman.  Another example: When I went to the bank today, the financial advisor asked me no less than 3 times...

My adolescence was unique. I went to an International Baccalaureate high school, but stayed clear of the advanced program. The main reason was because I hated math. I didn't see a point in it, it was stressful, and the sight of formulas and shapes made me squirm in revulsion. Many kids detest math, but my IB school prided itself in its advanced mathematics and science programs. There is nothing wrong with that. We need experts in STEM subjects in the world in order to progress modern society. However, all other aspects of academia, like literature and art (my two favourite hobbies) were cast into the shadows as useless and taboo subjects. Some of my classmates weren't that nice to me, either. As the editor-in-chief of the high school newspaper for an unprecedented two consecutive years, I did not make the "cool" list among my peers. Not because I was "geeky," but because I liked... liberal arts. I would get passing comments like, "have fun wor...

During my undergraduate degree at U of T, I was completely and desolately lost. I had no idea what I wanted from life, academically, spiritually, or career-wise. During my second year, I decided to do my double major in English and "Ethics, Society and Law" (a pseudo- "pre-law" program) because those topics were (and still are) my two passions. I aimed to go to law school because 1) I thought of myself as a social justice warrior, striving for equality for people of all genders and races and 2) lawyers get paid well. My two opposing motivations for going to law school ultimately wore me out, and I ended up selling my LSAT prep book. I didn't even take the test. My back-up plan: a Masters in Public Policy. I was selected by a supervising professor to do my undergraduate thesis (approx. 50 pages) about an obscure painting located in Siena's city hall, and how it relates to medieval Sienese politics. After all that hard work, and after presenting at a thesi...

2016 is a big year for me and for most friends my age. 2016 means I'll transform from "Olga Taratuta, High School Graduate" to "Olga Taratuta, B.A." 2016 holds my future in its sweaty palms. The words "job," "money," "graduate school," and "scholarships" seem to have dominated my pool of vocabulary. 2016 is where I become a real adult, not the OSAP mooching fraud that I am now. But adulthood is a scam. It is a fable told by society to keep the economy in check. Adults are seduced by money. We become promiscuous, lurking the streets to make a buck.  My original goals for 2016 were to: A) Get into graduate school B) Get a job C) Get an apartment D) Save, save, save! Then I realized that all those goals are money-driven to some degree. They are but cookie cutter resolutions, such as "exercise more" or "lose 5 pounds." I will not make money by aiming to make money. I have realized this ...

"H uman beings are not like sheep, and even sheep are not indistinguishably alike" - Mill I got lost on the way to adulthood. It is easy to get lost in this world. To drown in a sea of facts and statistics. To get beaten over the head with estranged opinions. To get into quarrels over our views on religion, violence, sex, education, morality, this and that, each person trying to prove that he is right, each person trying to demean the other because of their insatiable need for always being right. Although it would take some god to determine whether humanity is making the right decisions or not, one can always decide what is best for himself.  But it's easy to get swayed. I've wanted to be a teacher ever since I was in elementary school. But in university I panicked. I was told that the job market for teaching sucks, that English majors will never amount to anything, and that I am not actually as special or smart as thought I was because everyone is a uniq...