Originally written on 2025/09/17 in Waterloo, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.

Electoral reform in Canada has been discussed, but not talked about or thought through enough.

A big part of the election of Justin Trudeau’s majority government for 4 years and reign as Prime Minister for 10 years was his promise that the 2015 Canadian federal election would be the last under the first-past-the-post system.

Many forget or never realized he was an acting teacher before following in his father’s footsteps, but it is common knowledge that most actors will do or say anything to get their desired role.

Transcribed from what was originally branded as Consciousness Prints Podcast Monologue 3, originally spoken on 2024/11/06 in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.

Hey, it’s me Jonathan.

As you can see, this is kind of an odd situation I’m in here, but, uh, might as well make the most of it and use it as an opportunity to talk more about stuff.

I find…here, now I have light, I’ll pause it…

*****

I find, that well, for one thing, walking is the best way to reflect on stuff, for me at least.

Maybe there is a difference between personality types? I don’t know. In any case, walking in general or exercising in general is good for everyone.

Description for book published on Amazon that is no longer available. The purpose of publishing the book was to consolidate all my writing into one place and by doing so re-study it all enough to come up with concise overarching messages or lessons I wanted to convey from all the writing I had done that I believed was significant that I had access to from the year 2010 (when I was in Grade 7 and age 12) to this year in 2026.

Now that this process has been completed, I don’t feel it is useful for myself or others to have all of this writing available for purchase in book form, but I am posting the pieces of writing that I still believe in and are relevant to myself and the world here on this website jonathanmwklassen.com.

Originally published on 2018/05/23 in Waterloo, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada on selfreflectionjk.weebly.com.

My opinion on alcohol has changed many times over the past decade or so. I'm pretty sure the first time I really started thinking about it was when I was Grade 6 and we were learning about the impacts of peer pressure, the definition of a drug, and all the negative health effects different types of drugs, including alcohol, can have on a person in health class. 

Originally written on 2021/04/12 in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.

2020/03 - 2021/04: Waterloo -> Kitchener -> Winnipeg -> Ottawa -> maintenant: Gatineau.

It's hard, it's sad to leave a place but it's so exciting too. It feels like a fresh start, new hope, new life, new opportunities every time you move somewhere new. 

But this is also what makes leaving a place sad: I realize all the possibilities, all the potential in terms of relationships and experiences that weren't fulfilled. 

Originally written on 2019/10/01 in Waterloo, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.

I'm not an expert in linguistics or etymology by any means but I think it is ridiculous how unclear and un-unanimous we are on the definition of the word "gender" and if I'm going to write a blog about gender I need to come up with a clear, concise, consistent definition so people who are reading know what I'm talking to and referring to (and so I know myself). 

Originally written on 2021/03/03 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

How do I reconcile the seemingly contradictory things I said in these two posts?:

Food - 2021/02/22 05:42 (metric, UTC-5)

Purpose Pt. 2 - 2021/03/01 05:36 (metric, UTC-5)

In the first post I made the case that it is best to just follow your feelings, consume what you want, and enjoy. 

In the second, I argued using points from Henri Nouwen's The Wounded Healer that living a life focused on sensation and instant gratification is not good. 

This is a internal debate I've had so often with myself and the people I'm close to can attest to this based on my behaviours and the strong opinions I've often shared with them (at some points eating an entire pizzas or cantaloupes in one sitting, at other points vowing to give up sugar and second portions of meals completely).

Originally written on 2021/03/02 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

This is a song I grew familiar with and became comforting to me through growing up in a Mennonite church and family that sings four-part-harmony hymns. 

At this point not all the terminology used resonates or makes me feel comfortable but the general idea of the hymn makes sense to me and gives me feelings of peace and hope.

I don't like the idea of addressing God as Father; it is an image that has been used a lot throughout history, and is one of the main ways people talk about God in the Bible but it is just one of many images and it's just an image not a full and accurate description. 

Originally written on 2021/03/09 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

As I approached the gates to the O-Train station I was worried I was on the wrong side of the tracks again meaning I would have to book it down the stairs and back up the others side to make sure I was taking the Line 1 train due in one minute towards Blair Station rather than the Line 1 to Tunney's Pasture. 

But then this concern became irrelevant when I was jolted by the harsh tone of the PRESTO-card machine: "payment declined, balance -$0.37," the screen said.

"If only I had put $20 on my card when I loaded it the last time," I thought to myself "And why didn't I pay more attention to the time so I didn't have to pay for the train twice the last time I used it?" 

I began to shift my frustration away from myself, "Wait, actually, it's not my fault, the trains should be free to ride, it's called public transit afterall!" So I decided to walk.

Originally written on 2020/12/15 in Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.

I would like to start out by echoing the sentiments of both Luisa D’Amato and Brian Doucet in their opinion pieces in the Waterloo Region Record last week: I think the cycling infrastructure plan proposed by the City of Kitchener is very well-planned out and would be beneficial for everyone in the city not just for the people we think of as “cyclists” today.

I believe we can do better though.

Originally written on 2025/06/10 in Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.

(Warning: this paper discusses instances of sexual abuse by church and educational leaders).

Since I dropped out of the Computer Science and Business Administration double-degree program through University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University after 2 years in 2017 and decided instead to focus my studies on the humanities, social sciences, and the matters of religion, spirituality, and philosophy, I have been engaged in a very non-Mennonite-esque phenomenon: a war. Not a physically violent war, and not a constant war but a war consisting of many types of battles: intellectual, ideological, emotional, spiritual, political, and relational.

Suggestion: sell the name and branding of OHL/CHL Kitchener Rangers and apply for expansion or relocation of an existing team in the minor professional leagues, the AHL or ECHL. Or advocate for the CHL and its 61 existing franchises to be re-established as a minor professional league itself for players age 18+ who are paid salaries, as another farm league to the NHL. Or to merge or have franchises distributed to the existing leagues of the AHL and ECHL.

Originally written in 2010/05 in Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada for a Grade 7 English poetry assignment.

(Written two years after the Amateur Major Junior (age 16-20) Ontario Hockey League [OHL] Kitchener Rangers’ Canadian Hockey League [CHL] Memorial Cup championship final loss on home ice at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada on 2008/05/25 against the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League [WHL] who are based in Spokane, Washington, United States of America.

The climate change strike in uptown Waterloo on Sept. 27 raised awareness and got people talking about climate change, which is a good thing. But what’s a lot more important but a lot more difficult to organize and be a part of is the action that is taken after a strike like this. How can we build off this energy, this unity?

Sports have always been a big part of my life. You can see my love of sports in the things I often wear, the conversations I often have, how I often choose to spend my free time, and admittedly the people I often become close friends with. Ever since my dad and uncle took my twin brother and I to our first Kitchener Rangers junior hockey game way back when I was five years old, I’ve been obsessed with both watching and playing sports.

“Seeing the strange in the familiar” is the first part of sociologist Peter Berger’s two-part definition of the “sociological perspective” that was introduced to us in an introductory sociology course I took at the University of Waterloo.