Alchemy fall 2015

1

Alchemy Sheridanrsquos Faculty of Humanities and

Social Sciences Newsletter

fall 2015

Welcome to the Fall 2015 issue of Alchemy As you

surely know it has been quite a semester for FHASS already from conference presentations and teaching workshops to site visits and alumni reunions none of us seem to sleep Suffice it to say that as a faculty FHASS keeps our editorial team on its toes Congratulations to everyone featured in this issue and to those of you working hard for and

within FHASS whose day-to-day accomplishments might not even appear in our pages (Therersquos an easy way to fix that by the way Send us an email and tell us about them) We offer another reminder here that Alchemy is published once per semester and that we

have established some guidelines and deadlines for submissions as we move forward Please consult the lsquoSubmissionsrsquo tab on our webpage for specific details and dates Keep your news ideas and articles coming and check out the online version of Alchemy at httpfhasswordpresscom

mdash Owen Percy Jennifer Phenix and

Glenn Clifton

Table of Contents fall 2015

From the Deanrsquos Office hellip1

Features hellip2 (articles by Christian Knudsen Janet Shuh and

Sarah Cumming research by Brandon McFarlane)

Intersections hellip7 (articles by Marcel Nelson and Anna Bartosik)

Milestones hellip9

Student Spotlight hellip10 (featuring ESL student adventures)

Faculty amp Staff Spotlight hellip12 (featuring Michelle Szabo Alia Somani Tania

Iveson Nathaniel Barr and Jessica Carey)

Cool Stuff hellip17

The Hub hellip19 (featuring a short film by Eustace Ng and Anita

Yen inspired by one of Jaime Ginterrsquos classes)

From the Deanrsquos Office

Returning to FHASS this semester was like going for a first run in a familiar neighborhood exhilarating essential just right It was hardly a surprise to find that creative and scholarly

engagement are alive and well amongst faculty and students and that there continues to be no shortage of imagination and personality all around FHASS has been buzzing with constant activity having established a reputation for distinct cultural and public engagement initiatives for unique academic programming and for authentic collaborations with a growing roster of community partners Many of our faculty delivered workshops roundtables and presentations at Sheridanrsquos inaugural Conference of Scholars and Creators and many contributed to a spectrum of creative initiatives such as the Roots of Freedom festival and the ongoing Film for Thought series FHASS

organized outstanding Remembrance Day exhibits featuring public history posters and has developed its own social media presence Perhaps most resounding were the voices of our returning graduates in the recent General Arts and Science Homecoming Alumni Reunion we celebrated 40 years of excellence by listening to the success stories of our alumni absorbing their energy marveling at their wisdom

I had the great privilege these past few weeks of connecting with faculty to learn about research and teaching initiatives and about a wide

array of emerging ideas in Humanities and Social Sciences In the area of Creative Writing amp Publishing the extraordinary talent passion and creative investment of the FHASS team resulted in true curricular innovation Congratulations to everyone on your exceptional work

Having recently attended the World Business Forum in New York City ndash this yearrsquos theme was ldquoStory Makersrdquo ndash I listened to Jim Collins renowned leadership expert talk about greatness in turbulent times He spoke of the

Photo Yael Katz

Alchemy fall 2015

2

importance of preserving the core essence of an organizational team while at the same time

stimulating progress consistent and emphatic progress He spoke of the importance of making and telling the story consistently powerfully ldquoA true sign of mediocrity is chronic inconsistencyrdquo he said As Alchemy attests one semester after another

FHASS is anything but mediocre ndash may the story thrive and continue

Yael Katz

Acting Dean Faculty of Humanities and

Social Sciences

Features

Image MarComm

FHASS Research Shines at

Sheridan Creates By Christian Knudsen

On October 28th Sheridan hosted its inaugural conference to showcase faculty research and

creative activities entitled Sheridan Creates The exciting day-long event during Reading Week celebrated and explored some of the cutting edge scholarship and teaching at Sheridan across disciplines and faculties The event was a tremendous success and included over thirty-nine concurrent sessions and workshops which were presented by over fifty different faculty members

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences was particularly well represented and collectively organized fourteen sessions ndash more

than any other faculty The range of research and creative activities addressed in these presentations and workshops was also impressive From First Nationsrsquo storytelling Canadian literary prize culture and community engaged scholarship in the social sciences to research into medieval naughty nuns mothers on social assistance and nostalgia-based marketing in vegan cookbooks ndash FHASS faculty are working on some pretty amazing things The conference also provided our faculty the opportunity to collaborate and network on future

projects through workshops on topics ranging from SSHRC grants ethical research considerations and

community engaged projects such as our Film for Thought series

The day also highlighted many of Sheridanrsquos upcoming initiatives related to Scholarship Research and Creative Activities (SRCA) including our new and exciting

institutional repository called Sheridan SOURCE (httpsourcesheridancollegeca) The repository is an online website portal and digital commons that collects archives and publishes research and creative activities happening throughout the college including journal articles books research posters creative works such as photography music

artwork films plays as well as outstanding student work For example one recent addition to the repository showcased the student-designed public history posters on Black History created last winter in the general education elective ldquoCanada in the Making Understanding Canadian Historyrdquo which had been exhibited in collaboration with the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum

During the conference Mardy Frazer and Brian Jervis also announced the launch of a new SRCA fund which will provide 10 grants of up to

$5000 and five grants up to $10000 awarded on a competitive basis for full time professors and librarians who wish to advance their scholarly research or creative activities Recipients could use these funds in any number of ways which support their research such as hiring student research assistants course releases purchasing needed equipment or licensing specialized software

The day concluded with an inspirational keynote address from David Usher Juno award-wining musician and creativity expert as part of the Creative Campus Series At the heart of Usherrsquos thesis was a belief familiar to all Sheridan faculty that creativity is not some random spark but rather a ldquolearnable skillrdquo available to everyone

The inaugural Sheridan Creates conference highlighted not only how active and engaged our faculty is in research and creativity initiatives but also how this work affects our pedagogical practices in the classroom and the community at large Indeed linking curriculum to research and building community partnerships were recurring themes in

Alchemy fall 2015

3

many presentations that day and demonstrate our continued strength in applied research

Click here to view the full conference

program (and to marvel at the range and extent of FHASSrsquos contributions)

General Arts and Science

Homecoming Celebration

Returning to Where

Academic Journeys Begin By Janet Shuh

On the evening of Friday September 25th the

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Sheridan Alumni co-hosted an inaugural Alumni Homecoming Reception The event brought together alumni professors and staff (past and present) of Sheridanrsquos General Arts and Science program The event commemorated our programrsquos 40th Anniversary General Arts and Science has seen tremendous growth in both breadth of curriculum and size mdash emerging from a single cohort of 25 students in 1975 to over 400 students annually across three unique profiles (Health

University and College) Guests connected and reminisced with fellow alumni while enjoying entertainment delicious food and impactful stories from three General Arts and

Science alumni The theme for the

evening was one of academic renewal and reflection Our alumni speakers shared their

personal narratives reflecting on how their experiences in the General Arts and Science program impacted future educational professional and personal journeys

Sheridanrsquos General Arts and Science program has maintained a rich tradition of academic inquiry exploration and path-finding The sharing of our alumni stories reinforced the transformational value of the General Arts and Science program Alumnus Andrew Snook (GAS ndash

University 2002) spoke of how a workplace injury challenged him to reflect upon his own ldquolife

courserdquo and led him back to school Returning to study here at Sheridan Andrew discovered an unrealized passion for the study of philosophy and literature After successfully pursuing his BA from Acadia University Andrew is now established in the Canadian publishing industry Andrew also

recently released his first published work of fiction entitled Remys Dilemma (2015) through Friesen

Press The other alumni speakers were Arlie Belliveau (GAS - University 2003) and Johanna Pangilinan (GAS ndash College and University 2013) Special invited guests included Judy Green (retired faculty and Program Coordinator) and Bill Adcock (retired Associate Dean Program Coordinator and faculty)

Photo (L-R) Featured Speakers Arlie Belliveau and Andrew

Snook Acting Dean Yael Katz Associate Dean Janet Shuh

and Featured Speaker Johanna Pangilinan

Help FHASS Help Home Suite Hope By Sara Cumming

According to Statistics Canada (2012) the number of lone-mother-led families jumped 32 in the Halton region between 2006 and 2011 with almost 2000 such families living at or below the poverty line In 2009 alone the Halton region experienced a 53 increase in requests for help including over 5200 requests from low-income households for financial assistance with rent utility arrears and food (HSH 2015) This is of particular concern in an area like the region of Halton where there is very

Photo Featured speaker Andrew

Snook and retired Associate Dean Bill Adcock

Photo GAS Faculty past and present

Judy Green Paul Angelini and

Judith Wintonyk

Alchemy fall 2015

4

little affordable housing and an increasing discernible gap between the haves and have nots

Home Suite Hope is a registered charitable organization that provides long-term housing to low-income precariously housed single parent families for up to 24 months to help stabilize their lives The organizationrsquos overall objective is to provide complete self-sufficiency by breaking the cycle of poverty for the mothers and the generations beyond (HSH 2015) Last year jointly with the Halton Region the YMCA the Oakville Community Foundation and Sheridan College Home Suite Hope launched Homeward Bound Halton a holistic 4-year job-readiness program featuring affordable housing free quality child

care fully funded college education in a marketable skill personal development support mental health and recreational services for children and 14 week job internships with family-sustaining career opportunities at the end of the program Sheridan College is responsible for delivering all education programs and has supplied each participant in the program with a laptop In addition Sheridan is providing internship placements and assistance with job searches post-completion of their post-secondary programs

Image Home Suite Hope

FHASS professor Sara Cumming (Sociology) hopes that our faculty can join together to support Home Suite Hope Sara is part of a charity program called Pay-It-Forward that

provides Christmas for low-income families in the Niagara Region Last year FHASS and Sararsquos TLA group were able to provide gifts stockings and a complete holiday meal to three families (Click here to see the results) This year Sara has joined forces with Home Suite Hope to do the same but for five HSH students currently enrolled here at Sheridan Itrsquos a big order to fill but Sara is hoping that we can all find our holiday spirit and share just a little of our good fortune with those less privileged than ourselves Originally there were 8 lone mothers

and 16 children on the list thanks to some collaborative sponsorships we have begun to fill the

needs of some of these families But there is much more to be done

There are several ways that you can help out You can drop gifts off to Sararsquos office in C204 at the Trafalgar campus or email her at saracumming[at]sheridancollegeca and she will come pick them up from you If you want to contribute but arenrsquot interested in shopping you can pick up gift cards and put them in her mailbox outside C227 (but please specify if you would like to give the gift card as a gift or would like Sara to go shopping for the families) You can also Interac email money but please use sarajcumming[at]

yahooca as the email address

General gift ideas Sara would like to give each mother a hamper full of household products (cleaning supplies garbage bags paper towels) and personal products (shampoo conditioner hairspray lotions feminine hygiene products toilet paper) and each child a stocking (chocolates candy toothbrush and toothpaste to help after they eat the chocolate and candy etc) Any gift or contribution will be greatly appreciated however the moms were also asked to provide specific wish lists they are listed below (using pseudonyms) Ashleyrsquos Family

Ashley MyGica Adapter

13-year-old boy Xbox One controller (wired or

rechargeable)

8-year-old boy camera

Jessicarsquos Family Jessica King-size Honsbar duvet (IKEA)

13-year-old girl large menrsquos hooded Superman-

symbol sweatshirt large fuzzy blanket

7-year-old boy Lego Creator ldquoChanging

Seasonsrdquo size 7 BatmanSupermanMinions

pyjamas

4-year-old girl DVALA double duvet duvet

cover and pillow case (multicolour) (IKEA)

Lisarsquos Family Lisa acoustic guitar size 7 figure skates 14-year-old girl Warriors Omen of the Stars novel

series (v1-6) movie passes

12-year-old boy Level 2 Rec basketball lessons

(Sundays 415 Glen Abbey Community

Centre) a basketball

9-year-old boy kidsrsquo guitar karaoke machine

Alchemy fall 2015

5

Rebeccarsquos Family Rebecca black purse w shoulder strap slippers

size 85 NikePuma running shoes winter boots

3-year-old girl Disney Princess Dress (Belle)

Toddler 8 ballet shoes and stockings doctor

play set yo-yo swimming goggles All donations must be received by December 11 2015 at the latest As she did last year Sara promises to update us all on what we were able to accomplish in our next edition of Alchemy

Thanks to everyone in advance

Spotlight on Research

At this fallrsquos Sheridan Creates day Professor of

Creativity Brandon

McFarlane presented a

paper entitled ldquo4 Pathways

to a Creative Humanitiesrdquo articulating a vision that combines the critical faculties so often celebrated in humanities disciplines with an emphasis on creative thinking and

problem solving Brandon was kind enough to write a summary of his talk for Alchemy

4 Pathways to a Creative Humanities By Brandon McFarlane

We need a creative humanities that fosters a culture of innovation through deliberate intentional creativity This is necessary because humanists have a tendency to over-privilege critical thinking to the point that the role of creativity in research and pedagogy is blinkered To be clear I do not

believe that humanists lack creativity rather creative thinking remains a disciplinary blind spot that receives little attention in discussions about humanistic research and pedagogy We need to be more explicit and self-conscious about creativity What is creative thinking Well creativity is the ability to generate new or novel ideas that have value When we measure creativity researchers generally measure fluency mdash the ability to generate many ideas flexibility mdash the ability to imagine

multiple perspectives originality mdash the statistical rarity of an idea and elaboration mdash the ability to

develop ideas There are also a number of affective and metacognitive skills associated with creativity such as imagination visualization abstraction a tolerance of ambiguity a preference for complexity and empathy Similarly there is a strong connection between creativity and metacognition the ability to assess onersquos level of learning and the ability to identify the appropriate type of thinking to solve a task When I suggest that the humanities need to foster a deliberate and intentional creativity I am referring to this diverse basket of skills And herersquos the good news the humanities already provide students with creativity skills The problem is that this tends to occur by accident we

need to do a better job of raising awareness about the humanitiesrsquo incredible ability to nurture nimble thinkers

1) Facilitate a discussion about the role of

creativity in humanities research and pedagogy While the humanities celebrate their ability to develop strong critical thinkers an equal attention to creativity is missing from our disciplinary pool of knowledge I propose that someone needs to assume a leadership role to facilitate an important discussion about creativity in the humanities We need to encourage our colleagues to reflect upon their own creativity and how they develop creative thinking skills in their classrooms In this sense we need to create a forum where humanists can share case studies ideas and strategies to rapidly develop a body of knowledge that others can adapt and apply for their own purposes So whorsquos up for

organizing a conference

2) Reconceptualize what constitutes a creative

product in the humanities To date scholars have privileged a limited array of academic genres for disseminating research

that are almost exclusively targeted at academic audiences such as the book review research essay critical edition doctoral thesis and monograph I have two concerns here Firstly the hierarchy of genres stifles innovation Graduate students and tenure-track professors are discouraged from exploring alternative forms of dissemination because they are granted a low status in funding applications on the job market and in tenure hearings

Photo Brandon McFarlane

Alchemy fall 2015

6

Secondly the hierarchy of genres is

mirrored at the undergraduate and graduate level Often students are provided with few opportunities to produce a creative product other than a research essay or conference presentation In many programs there is an assumption that the only thing humanists do is write research essays and the only career worth pursuing is to become a professor Many programs offer a token creative writing credit which is often limited to a pool of elite and high-performing honour students There is an opportunity to expand our conceptualization of humanities research to recognize the importance of being able not only to critically analyze culture but also to transfer that knowledge to produce creative

and applied research By providing students with a wider variety of creative challenges we can not only deliberately develop their creativity but also better prepare them for alt-ac opportunities

3) Create deliberate opportunities to develop

creativity skills in the classroom The humanities are developing creativity skills but this endeavor may not be an explicit and deliberate goal in the classroom Pursuing cultural experiences has been demonstrated to enhance imagination empathy mindfulness and creativity similarly students are often challenged to think through an issue by assuming broad and diverse perspectives Students in the typical literary studies or history classroom are developing these skills just by doing the work There is an opportunity to emphasize how the humanities are uniquely capable of developing cognitive metacognitive and affective skills I often test learning objectives by imagining how a student can mobilize them in a job interview I believe that the average student would struggle to explain how his or her humanities courses helped him or her become more imaginative empathetic

or creative If scholars struggle to articulate the role of creativity in the humanities it is unrealistic to expect our students to do so on their own While we do not need to redesign of all our courses we can at least begin explicitly devoting class time to deliberately nurturing these skills and explaining the value of in-class activities and assignments in terms of fostering creativity skills

4) Shift from a culture of crisis to a culture of

opportunity

There is no doubt that the humanities have

been in state of crisis since their inception Paul Jayrsquos The Humanities lsquoCrisisrsquo and the Future of Literary

Studies demonstrates that the rhetoric of crisis has

produced a long history of adaptation and innovation I agree with his central thesis and I do not deny the value of the rhetoric of crisis but I question if it is the best way to go about things Every crisis is an opportunity in disguise What matters is how we frame the problem Historically humanists have chosen to perceive change as a fundamental threat rather than reframing each challenge as an affirmative opportunity This tendency is also mirrored by our

research practices one of the major sub-genres in humanities research is the problematic mdash a paper that identifies but doesnrsquot solve a major problem It seems to me that too many humanists are content to critique but offer very few solutions beyond lsquoraising awarenessrsquo about an issue A second concern regards the notion that a state of crisis diminishes creativity One of the areas of creativity studies examines ldquocreative pressrdquo which refers to external and internal pressures that diminish creativity The negativity and end-of-the-world rhetoric have the potential to overwhelm

constituents and encourage students and scholars alike to avoid taking risks I would argue that this line of thought also applies to the jobs crisis the marketplace and workplace of high-anxiety is significantly diminishing the creativity of humanists and encourages safe reactionary responses The rhetoric of crisis and a conservative attitude towards innovation are causing real damage to aspiring and practicing humanists This needs to change Thirdly by consistently framing the state of the humanities as a crisis we present an overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the domain

to broader society The rhetoric of crisis implicitly gives value to critiques from social conservatives and neoliberals Worse if the public image of the humanities is a domain in crisis it discourages students from pursuing a humanities education and legitimizes the misconception that the humanities have little economic or social value What type of parent would want their child to spend 30k to study

in a program that is in a state of crisis

Alchemy fall 2015

7

Intersections (teaching + learning)

Teaching Political Science and

Sometimes During an Election By Marcel Nelson

There are a lot of misconceptions about the field of political science As a student I was often asked whether I wanted to become a politician whenever I mentioned that I was studying political science I always tried to explain patiently of course that just as not all English literature students want to be authors not all political science students want to become politicians Okay to be fair I am sure that a lot of political science students secretly want to be politicians in the same way perhaps that English literature students secretly or even openly want to be authors English professors am I wrong here

Getting back to the topic at hand political science put simply is more about analyzing the structures or systems of politics than the everyday practice of politics For example one spends more time reading about and discussing the pros and cons of federal versus unitary states than the latest political scandal clogging up the newsfeeds of social media Everyday politics consistently showed up in the political science courses I took but often merely

as useful examples to illustrate abstract concepts I often found that the latest salacious political scandal was best discussed as part of a heated partisan debate after class at the local campus coffee shop or pub

As a politics professor I nonetheless understand that part of the reason that students decide to take my courses beyond the vagaries

of timetable requirements is that they want a greater understanding of everyday politics In order to achieve that end I believe it is important to step back from everyday politics and introduce them to the behind

the scenes mechanics of our political system(s) My goal as a politics professor is to get students used to

the idea that the world around them is not made up of random events but of underlying structures that pattern everyday life I have learned however that students best understand an abstract concept via metaphors that can be applied to their own lives For example when teaching the concept of a constitutional convention I often have students think of the different conventions that shape their everyday lives Similarly the politics that make up the headlines each day can be used as palpable examples to illustrate a difficult concept As all FHASS professors understand even the most abstract concept can be taught if it can be broken down into its most basic and relatable elements I

think this is what we do best as FHASS professors We help to enchant the worlds of our students by making them more understandable

Now over the years I have often heard the comment that it must be interesting to teach politics during an election campaign It certainly is but

perhaps not in the way I imagine some people might expect it to be Yes student interest in politics is certainly heightened during election campaigns and yes there are more fresh empirical examples to draw on to illustrate concepts Nevertheless it is important to persist in teaching concepts at one remove from the headlines and polls released on a daily basis as I believe they are of more lasting value for students A criticism often levelled at the mediarsquos coverage of elections is that it frames them as lsquohorse racesrsquo between parties and leaders at the expense of discussing broader

political and societal issues Therefore I try to do the latter as much as possible in my classes That being said it is a lot easier to teach students about the importance of the King-Byng Affair in a Canadian Politics course during a campaign where the likely outcome is a hung parliament than it is during the second year of a majority governmentrsquos mandate

Lastly I will let you all in on a little secret I kind of like discussing politics and election

Photo Creative Commons

Image 1891 John A Macdonald

Election Poster Creative Commons

Alchemy fall 2015

8

campaigns with my students It provides me with insight on what is going on out there in the world

beyond the debates we political scientists get into Yes one can learn a lot of things from onersquos students But that is between you all and me

Pulling Together in the

Same Direction By Anna Bartosik

Sheridan sits on the Territorial Lands of the

Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation

Paula Laing Student Success and Transition

Advisor from Sheridanrsquos Aboriginal Initiatives Office creates a lasting impression with those who meet her I was first drawn into her office by the magnificent thunderbird hanging over it

Spend some time with Paula and her visiting students and you feel a connection with our Aboriginal Initiatives Office If you have only smelled the smudging in the morning in the B wing at Trafalgar follow your nose and take advantage of Paularsquos open door policy Everyone is greeted and welcomed to join the conversation

One thing that is

terribly important to me is cultural awareness in the classroom Among all the outcomes we have to meet in our ESL program it is easy to dismiss the importance of situating our students culturally within the

Canadian educational framework Tied by my course and program outcomes I seek creative ways to incorporate social commentary in my ESL classes Positioning discussions in a Canadian context provides students with a taste of that framework Giving them a taste of the context outside of the classroom doesnrsquot happen often

From our position as educators we can all

use a refresher course on what the Aboriginal

community brings to us Paula Laing is willing to edify and makes the experience both unique and

unapologetically educational Wersquove chatted about students making connections at Sheridan but Paula and I also believe in initiatives and reaching out to faculty and departments to make connections where none exist Letrsquos take those ESL students of yours canoeing she said

Photo Ready to paddle (Anna Bartosik)

She arranged an outrigger canoe outing

with Wendy Perkins owner of Wai Nui o Kanaka Canoeing Club located under the Rebecca Street Bridge on Water Street in Oakville We were all greeted warmly by Terry Wendy and her husband at the dock Paularsquos goal was to make new

associations for my students but I certainly became aware of my relationship with my class that day Sitting in the stroking position gave me a perspective on leadership that most of us should take None of us leading a classroom is any less or more important when we are working together ndash my going faster was not going to help my 12 member team paddle better Being cognizant of my counterpart paddling next to me and behind me tempered my tempo to the callerrsquos voice I was at the front so that everyone could see me stroke but we all maintained the same pace ndash I matched myself to them and vice versa

My class and I enjoyed our afternoon together paddling in unison and turning the outrigger canoe 180 degrees on several occasions to seat the rest of our team and backing up when we got caught in the reeds or braking suddenly but quietly to watch the blue heron at the end of a dock He gave us a chance for rest (finally) and contemplation Ever the teacher Paula from her paddleboard told us the heron is a blessing and we should give thanks to the creator for this blessing The bonds my class made on this end-of-semester

Photo Paula on her paddleboard

(Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

9

outing were wonderful of course but the ties the students made to the larger context were touching

to observe I really feel that this is a very Canadian experience one student remarked Everyone should do this to see what is hidden from us in Oakville someone else said

So pop in and

exchange a few words with Paula Laing and Meagan Byrne in the Aboriginal Initiatives space at Trafalgar this autumn We could all learn a few things Onahgeyah (See you

in good health)

Student reflections

Wenqi Zhao Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI often took pictures of Lake Ontario when I came to Canada I always looked at other people boating on the lake I never thought I would have the opportunity to boat especially with my classmates and my professor Anna I love the collective activities (please look at the photos) ldquoThe boat is called a canoe itrsquos also called the Canada boatrdquo Wendy said She is the owner at the club and gave us a special journeyrdquo

Junyi Li Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoOn August 20 Anna who is our ESL teacher at Sheridan College took us canoeing That was my first time canoeing and it was so exciting Even though I canrsquot swim Paula promised we wouldnrsquot fall into the water That day was cloudy but it wasnrsquot raining and we could still go canoeing When we got there Paula and Wendy were friendly and they taught us

how to paddle I think canoeing requires cooperation and following directions well We spent two hours together and it was such a great timerdquo

Lirong Xu Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI had a great time on the canoeing trip It was amazing that we went canoeing on the lake with a lot of waves just

like an adventure on the ocean It was my first time to go canoeing and it is a fantastic idea to go canoeing in the summer I saw the beautiful views around the lake In addition I tried Paularsquos paddleboard which you have to stand on and keep your balance First you need to kneel on the board and lay the paddle in front of you to keep balance Then you stand up slowly That feels more like surfing actually I think I did a good job Even though I can swim I still felt a little bit scaredrdquo

Milestones

FHASS professor Claire Meldrum successfully completed her Specialty Area Exam in September

2015 She is now an ABD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Department of English and Film Her dissertation project is Detecting Domesticity Victorian Material Culture and Domestic Ideology in the Detective Fiction of Anna Katharine

Green She recently attended the Mid-West Popular

Culture Associations annual conference in Cincinnati OH where she discussed her recent discovery of the earliest known example of a female sleuth in American detective fiction Well done Claire

Photo Jennifer Chambers

Congratulations to FHASS professor Jennifer

Chambers who presented her paper A Womans Will May Agnes Flemings Cross-Border Publishing at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA) conference held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on May 1 2015 The paper considered nineteenth-century Canadian

Photo Turning as one (Anna Bartosik)

Photo Heron on dock (Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

10

writer May Agnes Flemings publishing career of serialized domestic fiction in story papers in the

US as well as the material and social conditions of her move to Brooklyn NY to be nearer her publishers Married women in New York could own property at the time and Fleming enjoyed a lucrative career that enabled her to support her four small children and to become estranged from her neer-do-well husband The plot of her fiction often mimicked the story of her life and Fleming profited from her ability to frame it into popular fiction Her life ended due to illness at the age of 39 but not without her leaving a will that speaks volumes beyond the grave by securing fortunes for her children with specific instructions that the bequest to her daughters be left

in their names only never to be usurped by their potential male partners

On October 21 2105 the Roots of Freedom

Festival was held at Sheridan Put on annually by the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum the purpose of the festival is to foster an understanding of local Black history ndash both past and present The keynote address was

given by York University professor Michele A

Johnson who spoke about the history of slavery in

Canada dub poet Michael St George concluded the evening with a memorable musical

performance FHASS professor Alia Somani gave a short paper that addressed the theme of the festival freedom In her paper Alia considered the role that Caribbean writers have played in the fight for freedom and justice Well done all

Student Spotlight

A ldquoTallrdquo Achievement

ESL Students Reach New Heights

From Professor Violet Funk ldquoWalking is a pleasure but taking the stairs from the basement of the B building to the 3rd floor is sometimes challenging While explaining differences in grammar patterns to my ESL EAP students I brought up climbing the 1776 steps of the CN Tower versus walking about 14 kilometers as an example and went on to tell them about the CN Tower challenge for United Way It led on to suggesting that they should get a team together and

try the climb On Thursday November 5th they surprised me when they said they had a teamrdquo

From Professor Anna Bartosik ldquoI was honoured to be invited by Sharon to join the Legendary Sheridan team for the CN Tower climb on November 7th The enthusiasm and determination of the students impressed me Stickers with wwwmakethemonthca were handed out after the climb The link provides a small glimpse into the lives of people who rely on support from charities like the United Way As I clicked my way through the difficult decisions a mother or father must make when living below the poverty line the $750 our team raised seemed paltry Our teams achievement although

commendable is not enough to help a family of four living in Brampton meet shortfalls when life deals a bad card like a family vehicle breaking down Please consider the real choices people have to make when you see our colleagues fundraising for the United Way this fallrdquo

Started from the bottom now theyre here

Photo Anna Bartosik and Violet Funk

Climbing the CN Tower By Sharon (Xuelun Yang) Bright (Xiuyuan Chen)

Keno (Weili) Hedy (Ruoxi Xu) and Daniel

(Shougang Deng)

We never thought we could experience such a

wonderful event climbing the CN Tower It was unbelievable that we successfully climbed the 1776 steps 144 flights of stairs at an average time of just under 30 minutes We were also able to raise $750 for charity For international students climbing the CN Tower was an amazing experience because we could stand on the CN Tower not only as tourists

The first time we heard of the opportunity to climb

the CN Tower on November 7th was from our EAP

Alchemy fall 2015

6

Secondly the hierarchy of genres is

mirrored at the undergraduate and graduate level Often students are provided with few opportunities to produce a creative product other than a research essay or conference presentation In many programs there is an assumption that the only thing humanists do is write research essays and the only career worth pursuing is to become a professor Many programs offer a token creative writing credit which is often limited to a pool of elite and high-performing honour students There is an opportunity to expand our conceptualization of humanities research to recognize the importance of being able not only to critically analyze culture but also to transfer that knowledge to produce creative

and applied research By providing students with a wider variety of creative challenges we can not only deliberately develop their creativity but also better prepare them for alt-ac opportunities

3) Create deliberate opportunities to develop

creativity skills in the classroom The humanities are developing creativity skills but this endeavor may not be an explicit and deliberate goal in the classroom Pursuing cultural experiences has been demonstrated to enhance imagination empathy mindfulness and creativity similarly students are often challenged to think through an issue by assuming broad and diverse perspectives Students in the typical literary studies or history classroom are developing these skills just by doing the work There is an opportunity to emphasize how the humanities are uniquely capable of developing cognitive metacognitive and affective skills I often test learning objectives by imagining how a student can mobilize them in a job interview I believe that the average student would struggle to explain how his or her humanities courses helped him or her become more imaginative empathetic

or creative If scholars struggle to articulate the role of creativity in the humanities it is unrealistic to expect our students to do so on their own While we do not need to redesign of all our courses we can at least begin explicitly devoting class time to deliberately nurturing these skills and explaining the value of in-class activities and assignments in terms of fostering creativity skills

4) Shift from a culture of crisis to a culture of

opportunity

There is no doubt that the humanities have

been in state of crisis since their inception Paul Jayrsquos The Humanities lsquoCrisisrsquo and the Future of Literary

Studies demonstrates that the rhetoric of crisis has

produced a long history of adaptation and innovation I agree with his central thesis and I do not deny the value of the rhetoric of crisis but I question if it is the best way to go about things Every crisis is an opportunity in disguise What matters is how we frame the problem Historically humanists have chosen to perceive change as a fundamental threat rather than reframing each challenge as an affirmative opportunity This tendency is also mirrored by our

research practices one of the major sub-genres in humanities research is the problematic mdash a paper that identifies but doesnrsquot solve a major problem It seems to me that too many humanists are content to critique but offer very few solutions beyond lsquoraising awarenessrsquo about an issue A second concern regards the notion that a state of crisis diminishes creativity One of the areas of creativity studies examines ldquocreative pressrdquo which refers to external and internal pressures that diminish creativity The negativity and end-of-the-world rhetoric have the potential to overwhelm

constituents and encourage students and scholars alike to avoid taking risks I would argue that this line of thought also applies to the jobs crisis the marketplace and workplace of high-anxiety is significantly diminishing the creativity of humanists and encourages safe reactionary responses The rhetoric of crisis and a conservative attitude towards innovation are causing real damage to aspiring and practicing humanists This needs to change Thirdly by consistently framing the state of the humanities as a crisis we present an overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the domain

to broader society The rhetoric of crisis implicitly gives value to critiques from social conservatives and neoliberals Worse if the public image of the humanities is a domain in crisis it discourages students from pursuing a humanities education and legitimizes the misconception that the humanities have little economic or social value What type of parent would want their child to spend 30k to study

in a program that is in a state of crisis

Alchemy fall 2015

7

Intersections (teaching + learning)

Teaching Political Science and

Sometimes During an Election By Marcel Nelson

There are a lot of misconceptions about the field of political science As a student I was often asked whether I wanted to become a politician whenever I mentioned that I was studying political science I always tried to explain patiently of course that just as not all English literature students want to be authors not all political science students want to become politicians Okay to be fair I am sure that a lot of political science students secretly want to be politicians in the same way perhaps that English literature students secretly or even openly want to be authors English professors am I wrong here

Getting back to the topic at hand political science put simply is more about analyzing the structures or systems of politics than the everyday practice of politics For example one spends more time reading about and discussing the pros and cons of federal versus unitary states than the latest political scandal clogging up the newsfeeds of social media Everyday politics consistently showed up in the political science courses I took but often merely

as useful examples to illustrate abstract concepts I often found that the latest salacious political scandal was best discussed as part of a heated partisan debate after class at the local campus coffee shop or pub

As a politics professor I nonetheless understand that part of the reason that students decide to take my courses beyond the vagaries

of timetable requirements is that they want a greater understanding of everyday politics In order to achieve that end I believe it is important to step back from everyday politics and introduce them to the behind

the scenes mechanics of our political system(s) My goal as a politics professor is to get students used to

the idea that the world around them is not made up of random events but of underlying structures that pattern everyday life I have learned however that students best understand an abstract concept via metaphors that can be applied to their own lives For example when teaching the concept of a constitutional convention I often have students think of the different conventions that shape their everyday lives Similarly the politics that make up the headlines each day can be used as palpable examples to illustrate a difficult concept As all FHASS professors understand even the most abstract concept can be taught if it can be broken down into its most basic and relatable elements I

think this is what we do best as FHASS professors We help to enchant the worlds of our students by making them more understandable

Now over the years I have often heard the comment that it must be interesting to teach politics during an election campaign It certainly is but

perhaps not in the way I imagine some people might expect it to be Yes student interest in politics is certainly heightened during election campaigns and yes there are more fresh empirical examples to draw on to illustrate concepts Nevertheless it is important to persist in teaching concepts at one remove from the headlines and polls released on a daily basis as I believe they are of more lasting value for students A criticism often levelled at the mediarsquos coverage of elections is that it frames them as lsquohorse racesrsquo between parties and leaders at the expense of discussing broader

political and societal issues Therefore I try to do the latter as much as possible in my classes That being said it is a lot easier to teach students about the importance of the King-Byng Affair in a Canadian Politics course during a campaign where the likely outcome is a hung parliament than it is during the second year of a majority governmentrsquos mandate

Lastly I will let you all in on a little secret I kind of like discussing politics and election

Photo Creative Commons

Image 1891 John A Macdonald

Election Poster Creative Commons

Alchemy fall 2015

8

campaigns with my students It provides me with insight on what is going on out there in the world

beyond the debates we political scientists get into Yes one can learn a lot of things from onersquos students But that is between you all and me

Pulling Together in the

Same Direction By Anna Bartosik

Sheridan sits on the Territorial Lands of the

Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation

Paula Laing Student Success and Transition

Advisor from Sheridanrsquos Aboriginal Initiatives Office creates a lasting impression with those who meet her I was first drawn into her office by the magnificent thunderbird hanging over it

Spend some time with Paula and her visiting students and you feel a connection with our Aboriginal Initiatives Office If you have only smelled the smudging in the morning in the B wing at Trafalgar follow your nose and take advantage of Paularsquos open door policy Everyone is greeted and welcomed to join the conversation

One thing that is

terribly important to me is cultural awareness in the classroom Among all the outcomes we have to meet in our ESL program it is easy to dismiss the importance of situating our students culturally within the

Canadian educational framework Tied by my course and program outcomes I seek creative ways to incorporate social commentary in my ESL classes Positioning discussions in a Canadian context provides students with a taste of that framework Giving them a taste of the context outside of the classroom doesnrsquot happen often

From our position as educators we can all

use a refresher course on what the Aboriginal

community brings to us Paula Laing is willing to edify and makes the experience both unique and

unapologetically educational Wersquove chatted about students making connections at Sheridan but Paula and I also believe in initiatives and reaching out to faculty and departments to make connections where none exist Letrsquos take those ESL students of yours canoeing she said

Photo Ready to paddle (Anna Bartosik)

She arranged an outrigger canoe outing

with Wendy Perkins owner of Wai Nui o Kanaka Canoeing Club located under the Rebecca Street Bridge on Water Street in Oakville We were all greeted warmly by Terry Wendy and her husband at the dock Paularsquos goal was to make new

associations for my students but I certainly became aware of my relationship with my class that day Sitting in the stroking position gave me a perspective on leadership that most of us should take None of us leading a classroom is any less or more important when we are working together ndash my going faster was not going to help my 12 member team paddle better Being cognizant of my counterpart paddling next to me and behind me tempered my tempo to the callerrsquos voice I was at the front so that everyone could see me stroke but we all maintained the same pace ndash I matched myself to them and vice versa

My class and I enjoyed our afternoon together paddling in unison and turning the outrigger canoe 180 degrees on several occasions to seat the rest of our team and backing up when we got caught in the reeds or braking suddenly but quietly to watch the blue heron at the end of a dock He gave us a chance for rest (finally) and contemplation Ever the teacher Paula from her paddleboard told us the heron is a blessing and we should give thanks to the creator for this blessing The bonds my class made on this end-of-semester

Photo Paula on her paddleboard

(Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

9

outing were wonderful of course but the ties the students made to the larger context were touching

to observe I really feel that this is a very Canadian experience one student remarked Everyone should do this to see what is hidden from us in Oakville someone else said

So pop in and

exchange a few words with Paula Laing and Meagan Byrne in the Aboriginal Initiatives space at Trafalgar this autumn We could all learn a few things Onahgeyah (See you

in good health)

Student reflections

Wenqi Zhao Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI often took pictures of Lake Ontario when I came to Canada I always looked at other people boating on the lake I never thought I would have the opportunity to boat especially with my classmates and my professor Anna I love the collective activities (please look at the photos) ldquoThe boat is called a canoe itrsquos also called the Canada boatrdquo Wendy said She is the owner at the club and gave us a special journeyrdquo

Junyi Li Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoOn August 20 Anna who is our ESL teacher at Sheridan College took us canoeing That was my first time canoeing and it was so exciting Even though I canrsquot swim Paula promised we wouldnrsquot fall into the water That day was cloudy but it wasnrsquot raining and we could still go canoeing When we got there Paula and Wendy were friendly and they taught us

how to paddle I think canoeing requires cooperation and following directions well We spent two hours together and it was such a great timerdquo

Lirong Xu Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI had a great time on the canoeing trip It was amazing that we went canoeing on the lake with a lot of waves just

like an adventure on the ocean It was my first time to go canoeing and it is a fantastic idea to go canoeing in the summer I saw the beautiful views around the lake In addition I tried Paularsquos paddleboard which you have to stand on and keep your balance First you need to kneel on the board and lay the paddle in front of you to keep balance Then you stand up slowly That feels more like surfing actually I think I did a good job Even though I can swim I still felt a little bit scaredrdquo

Milestones

FHASS professor Claire Meldrum successfully completed her Specialty Area Exam in September

2015 She is now an ABD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Department of English and Film Her dissertation project is Detecting Domesticity Victorian Material Culture and Domestic Ideology in the Detective Fiction of Anna Katharine

Green She recently attended the Mid-West Popular

Culture Associations annual conference in Cincinnati OH where she discussed her recent discovery of the earliest known example of a female sleuth in American detective fiction Well done Claire

Photo Jennifer Chambers

Congratulations to FHASS professor Jennifer

Chambers who presented her paper A Womans Will May Agnes Flemings Cross-Border Publishing at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA) conference held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on May 1 2015 The paper considered nineteenth-century Canadian

Photo Turning as one (Anna Bartosik)

Photo Heron on dock (Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

10

writer May Agnes Flemings publishing career of serialized domestic fiction in story papers in the

US as well as the material and social conditions of her move to Brooklyn NY to be nearer her publishers Married women in New York could own property at the time and Fleming enjoyed a lucrative career that enabled her to support her four small children and to become estranged from her neer-do-well husband The plot of her fiction often mimicked the story of her life and Fleming profited from her ability to frame it into popular fiction Her life ended due to illness at the age of 39 but not without her leaving a will that speaks volumes beyond the grave by securing fortunes for her children with specific instructions that the bequest to her daughters be left

in their names only never to be usurped by their potential male partners

On October 21 2105 the Roots of Freedom

Festival was held at Sheridan Put on annually by the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum the purpose of the festival is to foster an understanding of local Black history ndash both past and present The keynote address was

given by York University professor Michele A

Johnson who spoke about the history of slavery in

Canada dub poet Michael St George concluded the evening with a memorable musical

performance FHASS professor Alia Somani gave a short paper that addressed the theme of the festival freedom In her paper Alia considered the role that Caribbean writers have played in the fight for freedom and justice Well done all

Student Spotlight

A ldquoTallrdquo Achievement

ESL Students Reach New Heights

From Professor Violet Funk ldquoWalking is a pleasure but taking the stairs from the basement of the B building to the 3rd floor is sometimes challenging While explaining differences in grammar patterns to my ESL EAP students I brought up climbing the 1776 steps of the CN Tower versus walking about 14 kilometers as an example and went on to tell them about the CN Tower challenge for United Way It led on to suggesting that they should get a team together and

try the climb On Thursday November 5th they surprised me when they said they had a teamrdquo

From Professor Anna Bartosik ldquoI was honoured to be invited by Sharon to join the Legendary Sheridan team for the CN Tower climb on November 7th The enthusiasm and determination of the students impressed me Stickers with wwwmakethemonthca were handed out after the climb The link provides a small glimpse into the lives of people who rely on support from charities like the United Way As I clicked my way through the difficult decisions a mother or father must make when living below the poverty line the $750 our team raised seemed paltry Our teams achievement although

commendable is not enough to help a family of four living in Brampton meet shortfalls when life deals a bad card like a family vehicle breaking down Please consider the real choices people have to make when you see our colleagues fundraising for the United Way this fallrdquo

Started from the bottom now theyre here

Photo Anna Bartosik and Violet Funk

Climbing the CN Tower By Sharon (Xuelun Yang) Bright (Xiuyuan Chen)

Keno (Weili) Hedy (Ruoxi Xu) and Daniel

(Shougang Deng)

We never thought we could experience such a

wonderful event climbing the CN Tower It was unbelievable that we successfully climbed the 1776 steps 144 flights of stairs at an average time of just under 30 minutes We were also able to raise $750 for charity For international students climbing the CN Tower was an amazing experience because we could stand on the CN Tower not only as tourists

The first time we heard of the opportunity to climb

the CN Tower on November 7th was from our EAP

Alchemy fall 2015

7

Intersections (teaching + learning)

Teaching Political Science and

Sometimes During an Election By Marcel Nelson

There are a lot of misconceptions about the field of political science As a student I was often asked whether I wanted to become a politician whenever I mentioned that I was studying political science I always tried to explain patiently of course that just as not all English literature students want to be authors not all political science students want to become politicians Okay to be fair I am sure that a lot of political science students secretly want to be politicians in the same way perhaps that English literature students secretly or even openly want to be authors English professors am I wrong here

Getting back to the topic at hand political science put simply is more about analyzing the structures or systems of politics than the everyday practice of politics For example one spends more time reading about and discussing the pros and cons of federal versus unitary states than the latest political scandal clogging up the newsfeeds of social media Everyday politics consistently showed up in the political science courses I took but often merely

as useful examples to illustrate abstract concepts I often found that the latest salacious political scandal was best discussed as part of a heated partisan debate after class at the local campus coffee shop or pub

As a politics professor I nonetheless understand that part of the reason that students decide to take my courses beyond the vagaries

of timetable requirements is that they want a greater understanding of everyday politics In order to achieve that end I believe it is important to step back from everyday politics and introduce them to the behind

the scenes mechanics of our political system(s) My goal as a politics professor is to get students used to

the idea that the world around them is not made up of random events but of underlying structures that pattern everyday life I have learned however that students best understand an abstract concept via metaphors that can be applied to their own lives For example when teaching the concept of a constitutional convention I often have students think of the different conventions that shape their everyday lives Similarly the politics that make up the headlines each day can be used as palpable examples to illustrate a difficult concept As all FHASS professors understand even the most abstract concept can be taught if it can be broken down into its most basic and relatable elements I

think this is what we do best as FHASS professors We help to enchant the worlds of our students by making them more understandable

Now over the years I have often heard the comment that it must be interesting to teach politics during an election campaign It certainly is but

perhaps not in the way I imagine some people might expect it to be Yes student interest in politics is certainly heightened during election campaigns and yes there are more fresh empirical examples to draw on to illustrate concepts Nevertheless it is important to persist in teaching concepts at one remove from the headlines and polls released on a daily basis as I believe they are of more lasting value for students A criticism often levelled at the mediarsquos coverage of elections is that it frames them as lsquohorse racesrsquo between parties and leaders at the expense of discussing broader

political and societal issues Therefore I try to do the latter as much as possible in my classes That being said it is a lot easier to teach students about the importance of the King-Byng Affair in a Canadian Politics course during a campaign where the likely outcome is a hung parliament than it is during the second year of a majority governmentrsquos mandate

Lastly I will let you all in on a little secret I kind of like discussing politics and election

Photo Creative Commons

Image 1891 John A Macdonald

Election Poster Creative Commons

Alchemy fall 2015

8

campaigns with my students It provides me with insight on what is going on out there in the world

beyond the debates we political scientists get into Yes one can learn a lot of things from onersquos students But that is between you all and me

Pulling Together in the

Same Direction By Anna Bartosik

Sheridan sits on the Territorial Lands of the

Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation

Paula Laing Student Success and Transition

Advisor from Sheridanrsquos Aboriginal Initiatives Office creates a lasting impression with those who meet her I was first drawn into her office by the magnificent thunderbird hanging over it

Spend some time with Paula and her visiting students and you feel a connection with our Aboriginal Initiatives Office If you have only smelled the smudging in the morning in the B wing at Trafalgar follow your nose and take advantage of Paularsquos open door policy Everyone is greeted and welcomed to join the conversation

One thing that is

terribly important to me is cultural awareness in the classroom Among all the outcomes we have to meet in our ESL program it is easy to dismiss the importance of situating our students culturally within the

Canadian educational framework Tied by my course and program outcomes I seek creative ways to incorporate social commentary in my ESL classes Positioning discussions in a Canadian context provides students with a taste of that framework Giving them a taste of the context outside of the classroom doesnrsquot happen often

From our position as educators we can all

use a refresher course on what the Aboriginal

community brings to us Paula Laing is willing to edify and makes the experience both unique and

unapologetically educational Wersquove chatted about students making connections at Sheridan but Paula and I also believe in initiatives and reaching out to faculty and departments to make connections where none exist Letrsquos take those ESL students of yours canoeing she said

Photo Ready to paddle (Anna Bartosik)

She arranged an outrigger canoe outing

with Wendy Perkins owner of Wai Nui o Kanaka Canoeing Club located under the Rebecca Street Bridge on Water Street in Oakville We were all greeted warmly by Terry Wendy and her husband at the dock Paularsquos goal was to make new

associations for my students but I certainly became aware of my relationship with my class that day Sitting in the stroking position gave me a perspective on leadership that most of us should take None of us leading a classroom is any less or more important when we are working together ndash my going faster was not going to help my 12 member team paddle better Being cognizant of my counterpart paddling next to me and behind me tempered my tempo to the callerrsquos voice I was at the front so that everyone could see me stroke but we all maintained the same pace ndash I matched myself to them and vice versa

My class and I enjoyed our afternoon together paddling in unison and turning the outrigger canoe 180 degrees on several occasions to seat the rest of our team and backing up when we got caught in the reeds or braking suddenly but quietly to watch the blue heron at the end of a dock He gave us a chance for rest (finally) and contemplation Ever the teacher Paula from her paddleboard told us the heron is a blessing and we should give thanks to the creator for this blessing The bonds my class made on this end-of-semester

Photo Paula on her paddleboard

(Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

9

outing were wonderful of course but the ties the students made to the larger context were touching

to observe I really feel that this is a very Canadian experience one student remarked Everyone should do this to see what is hidden from us in Oakville someone else said

So pop in and

exchange a few words with Paula Laing and Meagan Byrne in the Aboriginal Initiatives space at Trafalgar this autumn We could all learn a few things Onahgeyah (See you

in good health)

Student reflections

Wenqi Zhao Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI often took pictures of Lake Ontario when I came to Canada I always looked at other people boating on the lake I never thought I would have the opportunity to boat especially with my classmates and my professor Anna I love the collective activities (please look at the photos) ldquoThe boat is called a canoe itrsquos also called the Canada boatrdquo Wendy said She is the owner at the club and gave us a special journeyrdquo

Junyi Li Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoOn August 20 Anna who is our ESL teacher at Sheridan College took us canoeing That was my first time canoeing and it was so exciting Even though I canrsquot swim Paula promised we wouldnrsquot fall into the water That day was cloudy but it wasnrsquot raining and we could still go canoeing When we got there Paula and Wendy were friendly and they taught us

how to paddle I think canoeing requires cooperation and following directions well We spent two hours together and it was such a great timerdquo

Lirong Xu Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI had a great time on the canoeing trip It was amazing that we went canoeing on the lake with a lot of waves just

like an adventure on the ocean It was my first time to go canoeing and it is a fantastic idea to go canoeing in the summer I saw the beautiful views around the lake In addition I tried Paularsquos paddleboard which you have to stand on and keep your balance First you need to kneel on the board and lay the paddle in front of you to keep balance Then you stand up slowly That feels more like surfing actually I think I did a good job Even though I can swim I still felt a little bit scaredrdquo

Milestones

FHASS professor Claire Meldrum successfully completed her Specialty Area Exam in September

2015 She is now an ABD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Department of English and Film Her dissertation project is Detecting Domesticity Victorian Material Culture and Domestic Ideology in the Detective Fiction of Anna Katharine

Green She recently attended the Mid-West Popular

Culture Associations annual conference in Cincinnati OH where she discussed her recent discovery of the earliest known example of a female sleuth in American detective fiction Well done Claire

Photo Jennifer Chambers

Congratulations to FHASS professor Jennifer

Chambers who presented her paper A Womans Will May Agnes Flemings Cross-Border Publishing at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA) conference held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on May 1 2015 The paper considered nineteenth-century Canadian

Photo Turning as one (Anna Bartosik)

Photo Heron on dock (Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

10

writer May Agnes Flemings publishing career of serialized domestic fiction in story papers in the

US as well as the material and social conditions of her move to Brooklyn NY to be nearer her publishers Married women in New York could own property at the time and Fleming enjoyed a lucrative career that enabled her to support her four small children and to become estranged from her neer-do-well husband The plot of her fiction often mimicked the story of her life and Fleming profited from her ability to frame it into popular fiction Her life ended due to illness at the age of 39 but not without her leaving a will that speaks volumes beyond the grave by securing fortunes for her children with specific instructions that the bequest to her daughters be left

in their names only never to be usurped by their potential male partners

On October 21 2105 the Roots of Freedom

Festival was held at Sheridan Put on annually by the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum the purpose of the festival is to foster an understanding of local Black history ndash both past and present The keynote address was

given by York University professor Michele A

Johnson who spoke about the history of slavery in

Canada dub poet Michael St George concluded the evening with a memorable musical

performance FHASS professor Alia Somani gave a short paper that addressed the theme of the festival freedom In her paper Alia considered the role that Caribbean writers have played in the fight for freedom and justice Well done all

Student Spotlight

A ldquoTallrdquo Achievement

ESL Students Reach New Heights

From Professor Violet Funk ldquoWalking is a pleasure but taking the stairs from the basement of the B building to the 3rd floor is sometimes challenging While explaining differences in grammar patterns to my ESL EAP students I brought up climbing the 1776 steps of the CN Tower versus walking about 14 kilometers as an example and went on to tell them about the CN Tower challenge for United Way It led on to suggesting that they should get a team together and

try the climb On Thursday November 5th they surprised me when they said they had a teamrdquo

From Professor Anna Bartosik ldquoI was honoured to be invited by Sharon to join the Legendary Sheridan team for the CN Tower climb on November 7th The enthusiasm and determination of the students impressed me Stickers with wwwmakethemonthca were handed out after the climb The link provides a small glimpse into the lives of people who rely on support from charities like the United Way As I clicked my way through the difficult decisions a mother or father must make when living below the poverty line the $750 our team raised seemed paltry Our teams achievement although

commendable is not enough to help a family of four living in Brampton meet shortfalls when life deals a bad card like a family vehicle breaking down Please consider the real choices people have to make when you see our colleagues fundraising for the United Way this fallrdquo

Started from the bottom now theyre here

Photo Anna Bartosik and Violet Funk

Climbing the CN Tower By Sharon (Xuelun Yang) Bright (Xiuyuan Chen)

Keno (Weili) Hedy (Ruoxi Xu) and Daniel

(Shougang Deng)

We never thought we could experience such a

wonderful event climbing the CN Tower It was unbelievable that we successfully climbed the 1776 steps 144 flights of stairs at an average time of just under 30 minutes We were also able to raise $750 for charity For international students climbing the CN Tower was an amazing experience because we could stand on the CN Tower not only as tourists

The first time we heard of the opportunity to climb

the CN Tower on November 7th was from our EAP

Alchemy fall 2015

8

campaigns with my students It provides me with insight on what is going on out there in the world

beyond the debates we political scientists get into Yes one can learn a lot of things from onersquos students But that is between you all and me

Pulling Together in the

Same Direction By Anna Bartosik

Sheridan sits on the Territorial Lands of the

Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation

Paula Laing Student Success and Transition

Advisor from Sheridanrsquos Aboriginal Initiatives Office creates a lasting impression with those who meet her I was first drawn into her office by the magnificent thunderbird hanging over it

Spend some time with Paula and her visiting students and you feel a connection with our Aboriginal Initiatives Office If you have only smelled the smudging in the morning in the B wing at Trafalgar follow your nose and take advantage of Paularsquos open door policy Everyone is greeted and welcomed to join the conversation

One thing that is

terribly important to me is cultural awareness in the classroom Among all the outcomes we have to meet in our ESL program it is easy to dismiss the importance of situating our students culturally within the

Canadian educational framework Tied by my course and program outcomes I seek creative ways to incorporate social commentary in my ESL classes Positioning discussions in a Canadian context provides students with a taste of that framework Giving them a taste of the context outside of the classroom doesnrsquot happen often

From our position as educators we can all

use a refresher course on what the Aboriginal

community brings to us Paula Laing is willing to edify and makes the experience both unique and

unapologetically educational Wersquove chatted about students making connections at Sheridan but Paula and I also believe in initiatives and reaching out to faculty and departments to make connections where none exist Letrsquos take those ESL students of yours canoeing she said

Photo Ready to paddle (Anna Bartosik)

She arranged an outrigger canoe outing

with Wendy Perkins owner of Wai Nui o Kanaka Canoeing Club located under the Rebecca Street Bridge on Water Street in Oakville We were all greeted warmly by Terry Wendy and her husband at the dock Paularsquos goal was to make new

associations for my students but I certainly became aware of my relationship with my class that day Sitting in the stroking position gave me a perspective on leadership that most of us should take None of us leading a classroom is any less or more important when we are working together ndash my going faster was not going to help my 12 member team paddle better Being cognizant of my counterpart paddling next to me and behind me tempered my tempo to the callerrsquos voice I was at the front so that everyone could see me stroke but we all maintained the same pace ndash I matched myself to them and vice versa

My class and I enjoyed our afternoon together paddling in unison and turning the outrigger canoe 180 degrees on several occasions to seat the rest of our team and backing up when we got caught in the reeds or braking suddenly but quietly to watch the blue heron at the end of a dock He gave us a chance for rest (finally) and contemplation Ever the teacher Paula from her paddleboard told us the heron is a blessing and we should give thanks to the creator for this blessing The bonds my class made on this end-of-semester

Photo Paula on her paddleboard

(Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

9

outing were wonderful of course but the ties the students made to the larger context were touching

to observe I really feel that this is a very Canadian experience one student remarked Everyone should do this to see what is hidden from us in Oakville someone else said

So pop in and

exchange a few words with Paula Laing and Meagan Byrne in the Aboriginal Initiatives space at Trafalgar this autumn We could all learn a few things Onahgeyah (See you

in good health)

Student reflections

Wenqi Zhao Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI often took pictures of Lake Ontario when I came to Canada I always looked at other people boating on the lake I never thought I would have the opportunity to boat especially with my classmates and my professor Anna I love the collective activities (please look at the photos) ldquoThe boat is called a canoe itrsquos also called the Canada boatrdquo Wendy said She is the owner at the club and gave us a special journeyrdquo

Junyi Li Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoOn August 20 Anna who is our ESL teacher at Sheridan College took us canoeing That was my first time canoeing and it was so exciting Even though I canrsquot swim Paula promised we wouldnrsquot fall into the water That day was cloudy but it wasnrsquot raining and we could still go canoeing When we got there Paula and Wendy were friendly and they taught us

how to paddle I think canoeing requires cooperation and following directions well We spent two hours together and it was such a great timerdquo

Lirong Xu Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI had a great time on the canoeing trip It was amazing that we went canoeing on the lake with a lot of waves just

like an adventure on the ocean It was my first time to go canoeing and it is a fantastic idea to go canoeing in the summer I saw the beautiful views around the lake In addition I tried Paularsquos paddleboard which you have to stand on and keep your balance First you need to kneel on the board and lay the paddle in front of you to keep balance Then you stand up slowly That feels more like surfing actually I think I did a good job Even though I can swim I still felt a little bit scaredrdquo

Milestones

FHASS professor Claire Meldrum successfully completed her Specialty Area Exam in September

2015 She is now an ABD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Department of English and Film Her dissertation project is Detecting Domesticity Victorian Material Culture and Domestic Ideology in the Detective Fiction of Anna Katharine

Green She recently attended the Mid-West Popular

Culture Associations annual conference in Cincinnati OH where she discussed her recent discovery of the earliest known example of a female sleuth in American detective fiction Well done Claire

Photo Jennifer Chambers

Congratulations to FHASS professor Jennifer

Chambers who presented her paper A Womans Will May Agnes Flemings Cross-Border Publishing at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA) conference held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on May 1 2015 The paper considered nineteenth-century Canadian

Photo Turning as one (Anna Bartosik)

Photo Heron on dock (Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

10

writer May Agnes Flemings publishing career of serialized domestic fiction in story papers in the

US as well as the material and social conditions of her move to Brooklyn NY to be nearer her publishers Married women in New York could own property at the time and Fleming enjoyed a lucrative career that enabled her to support her four small children and to become estranged from her neer-do-well husband The plot of her fiction often mimicked the story of her life and Fleming profited from her ability to frame it into popular fiction Her life ended due to illness at the age of 39 but not without her leaving a will that speaks volumes beyond the grave by securing fortunes for her children with specific instructions that the bequest to her daughters be left

in their names only never to be usurped by their potential male partners

On October 21 2105 the Roots of Freedom

Festival was held at Sheridan Put on annually by the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum the purpose of the festival is to foster an understanding of local Black history ndash both past and present The keynote address was

given by York University professor Michele A

Johnson who spoke about the history of slavery in

Canada dub poet Michael St George concluded the evening with a memorable musical

performance FHASS professor Alia Somani gave a short paper that addressed the theme of the festival freedom In her paper Alia considered the role that Caribbean writers have played in the fight for freedom and justice Well done all

Student Spotlight

A ldquoTallrdquo Achievement

ESL Students Reach New Heights

From Professor Violet Funk ldquoWalking is a pleasure but taking the stairs from the basement of the B building to the 3rd floor is sometimes challenging While explaining differences in grammar patterns to my ESL EAP students I brought up climbing the 1776 steps of the CN Tower versus walking about 14 kilometers as an example and went on to tell them about the CN Tower challenge for United Way It led on to suggesting that they should get a team together and

try the climb On Thursday November 5th they surprised me when they said they had a teamrdquo

From Professor Anna Bartosik ldquoI was honoured to be invited by Sharon to join the Legendary Sheridan team for the CN Tower climb on November 7th The enthusiasm and determination of the students impressed me Stickers with wwwmakethemonthca were handed out after the climb The link provides a small glimpse into the lives of people who rely on support from charities like the United Way As I clicked my way through the difficult decisions a mother or father must make when living below the poverty line the $750 our team raised seemed paltry Our teams achievement although

commendable is not enough to help a family of four living in Brampton meet shortfalls when life deals a bad card like a family vehicle breaking down Please consider the real choices people have to make when you see our colleagues fundraising for the United Way this fallrdquo

Started from the bottom now theyre here

Photo Anna Bartosik and Violet Funk

Climbing the CN Tower By Sharon (Xuelun Yang) Bright (Xiuyuan Chen)

Keno (Weili) Hedy (Ruoxi Xu) and Daniel

(Shougang Deng)

We never thought we could experience such a

wonderful event climbing the CN Tower It was unbelievable that we successfully climbed the 1776 steps 144 flights of stairs at an average time of just under 30 minutes We were also able to raise $750 for charity For international students climbing the CN Tower was an amazing experience because we could stand on the CN Tower not only as tourists

The first time we heard of the opportunity to climb

the CN Tower on November 7th was from our EAP

Alchemy fall 2015

9

outing were wonderful of course but the ties the students made to the larger context were touching

to observe I really feel that this is a very Canadian experience one student remarked Everyone should do this to see what is hidden from us in Oakville someone else said

So pop in and

exchange a few words with Paula Laing and Meagan Byrne in the Aboriginal Initiatives space at Trafalgar this autumn We could all learn a few things Onahgeyah (See you

in good health)

Student reflections

Wenqi Zhao Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI often took pictures of Lake Ontario when I came to Canada I always looked at other people boating on the lake I never thought I would have the opportunity to boat especially with my classmates and my professor Anna I love the collective activities (please look at the photos) ldquoThe boat is called a canoe itrsquos also called the Canada boatrdquo Wendy said She is the owner at the club and gave us a special journeyrdquo

Junyi Li Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoOn August 20 Anna who is our ESL teacher at Sheridan College took us canoeing That was my first time canoeing and it was so exciting Even though I canrsquot swim Paula promised we wouldnrsquot fall into the water That day was cloudy but it wasnrsquot raining and we could still go canoeing When we got there Paula and Wendy were friendly and they taught us

how to paddle I think canoeing requires cooperation and following directions well We spent two hours together and it was such a great timerdquo

Lirong Xu Advanced Level ESL Student ldquoI had a great time on the canoeing trip It was amazing that we went canoeing on the lake with a lot of waves just

like an adventure on the ocean It was my first time to go canoeing and it is a fantastic idea to go canoeing in the summer I saw the beautiful views around the lake In addition I tried Paularsquos paddleboard which you have to stand on and keep your balance First you need to kneel on the board and lay the paddle in front of you to keep balance Then you stand up slowly That feels more like surfing actually I think I did a good job Even though I can swim I still felt a little bit scaredrdquo

Milestones

FHASS professor Claire Meldrum successfully completed her Specialty Area Exam in September

2015 She is now an ABD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Department of English and Film Her dissertation project is Detecting Domesticity Victorian Material Culture and Domestic Ideology in the Detective Fiction of Anna Katharine

Green She recently attended the Mid-West Popular

Culture Associations annual conference in Cincinnati OH where she discussed her recent discovery of the earliest known example of a female sleuth in American detective fiction Well done Claire

Photo Jennifer Chambers

Congratulations to FHASS professor Jennifer

Chambers who presented her paper A Womans Will May Agnes Flemings Cross-Border Publishing at the Northeast Modern Languages Association (NEMLA) conference held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on May 1 2015 The paper considered nineteenth-century Canadian

Photo Turning as one (Anna Bartosik)

Photo Heron on dock (Anna Bartosik)

Alchemy fall 2015

10

writer May Agnes Flemings publishing career of serialized domestic fiction in story papers in the

US as well as the material and social conditions of her move to Brooklyn NY to be nearer her publishers Married women in New York could own property at the time and Fleming enjoyed a lucrative career that enabled her to support her four small children and to become estranged from her neer-do-well husband The plot of her fiction often mimicked the story of her life and Fleming profited from her ability to frame it into popular fiction Her life ended due to illness at the age of 39 but not without her leaving a will that speaks volumes beyond the grave by securing fortunes for her children with specific instructions that the bequest to her daughters be left

in their names only never to be usurped by their potential male partners

On October 21 2105 the Roots of Freedom

Festival was held at Sheridan Put on annually by the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum the purpose of the festival is to foster an understanding of local Black history ndash both past and present The keynote address was

given by York University professor Michele A

Johnson who spoke about the history of slavery in

Canada dub poet Michael St George concluded the evening with a memorable musical

performance FHASS professor Alia Somani gave a short paper that addressed the theme of the festival freedom In her paper Alia considered the role that Caribbean writers have played in the fight for freedom and justice Well done all

Student Spotlight

A ldquoTallrdquo Achievement

ESL Students Reach New Heights

From Professor Violet Funk ldquoWalking is a pleasure but taking the stairs from the basement of the B building to the 3rd floor is sometimes challenging While explaining differences in grammar patterns to my ESL EAP students I brought up climbing the 1776 steps of the CN Tower versus walking about 14 kilometers as an example and went on to tell them about the CN Tower challenge for United Way It led on to suggesting that they should get a team together and

try the climb On Thursday November 5th they surprised me when they said they had a teamrdquo

From Professor Anna Bartosik ldquoI was honoured to be invited by Sharon to join the Legendary Sheridan team for the CN Tower climb on November 7th The enthusiasm and determination of the students impressed me Stickers with wwwmakethemonthca were handed out after the climb The link provides a small glimpse into the lives of people who rely on support from charities like the United Way As I clicked my way through the difficult decisions a mother or father must make when living below the poverty line the $750 our team raised seemed paltry Our teams achievement although

commendable is not enough to help a family of four living in Brampton meet shortfalls when life deals a bad card like a family vehicle breaking down Please consider the real choices people have to make when you see our colleagues fundraising for the United Way this fallrdquo

Started from the bottom now theyre here

Photo Anna Bartosik and Violet Funk

Climbing the CN Tower By Sharon (Xuelun Yang) Bright (Xiuyuan Chen)

Keno (Weili) Hedy (Ruoxi Xu) and Daniel

(Shougang Deng)

We never thought we could experience such a

wonderful event climbing the CN Tower It was unbelievable that we successfully climbed the 1776 steps 144 flights of stairs at an average time of just under 30 minutes We were also able to raise $750 for charity For international students climbing the CN Tower was an amazing experience because we could stand on the CN Tower not only as tourists

The first time we heard of the opportunity to climb

the CN Tower on November 7th was from our EAP

Alchemy fall 2015

10

writer May Agnes Flemings publishing career of serialized domestic fiction in story papers in the

US as well as the material and social conditions of her move to Brooklyn NY to be nearer her publishers Married women in New York could own property at the time and Fleming enjoyed a lucrative career that enabled her to support her four small children and to become estranged from her neer-do-well husband The plot of her fiction often mimicked the story of her life and Fleming profited from her ability to frame it into popular fiction Her life ended due to illness at the age of 39 but not without her leaving a will that speaks volumes beyond the grave by securing fortunes for her children with specific instructions that the bequest to her daughters be left

in their names only never to be usurped by their potential male partners

On October 21 2105 the Roots of Freedom

Festival was held at Sheridan Put on annually by the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton and the Oakville Museum the purpose of the festival is to foster an understanding of local Black history ndash both past and present The keynote address was

given by York University professor Michele A

Johnson who spoke about the history of slavery in

Canada dub poet Michael St George concluded the evening with a memorable musical

performance FHASS professor Alia Somani gave a short paper that addressed the theme of the festival freedom In her paper Alia considered the role that Caribbean writers have played in the fight for freedom and justice Well done all

Student Spotlight

A ldquoTallrdquo Achievement

ESL Students Reach New Heights

From Professor Violet Funk ldquoWalking is a pleasure but taking the stairs from the basement of the B building to the 3rd floor is sometimes challenging While explaining differences in grammar patterns to my ESL EAP students I brought up climbing the 1776 steps of the CN Tower versus walking about 14 kilometers as an example and went on to tell them about the CN Tower challenge for United Way It led on to suggesting that they should get a team together and

try the climb On Thursday November 5th they surprised me when they said they had a teamrdquo

From Professor Anna Bartosik ldquoI was honoured to be invited by Sharon to join the Legendary Sheridan team for the CN Tower climb on November 7th The enthusiasm and determination of the students impressed me Stickers with wwwmakethemonthca were handed out after the climb The link provides a small glimpse into the lives of people who rely on support from charities like the United Way As I clicked my way through the difficult decisions a mother or father must make when living below the poverty line the $750 our team raised seemed paltry Our teams achievement although

commendable is not enough to help a family of four living in Brampton meet shortfalls when life deals a bad card like a family vehicle breaking down Please consider the real choices people have to make when you see our colleagues fundraising for the United Way this fallrdquo

Started from the bottom now theyre here

Photo Anna Bartosik and Violet Funk

Climbing the CN Tower By Sharon (Xuelun Yang) Bright (Xiuyuan Chen)

Keno (Weili) Hedy (Ruoxi Xu) and Daniel

(Shougang Deng)

We never thought we could experience such a

wonderful event climbing the CN Tower It was unbelievable that we successfully climbed the 1776 steps 144 flights of stairs at an average time of just under 30 minutes We were also able to raise $750 for charity For international students climbing the CN Tower was an amazing experience because we could stand on the CN Tower not only as tourists

The first time we heard of the opportunity to climb

the CN Tower on November 7th was from our EAP

Alchemy fall 2015

11

ReadingWriting Professor Violet Funk At the beginning of the EAP class Violet told us the excellent news From then on because we had no idea about this event we did some research and spread the news to our friends To be honest due to lack of experience and language we rushed into everything such as registering our team online raising fundraising doing enough exercise Fortunately we invited Anna Bartosik who was our ReadingWriting teacher in the Advanced level to be one of our team members and she gave us tremendous help We realized this was not a simple task and it taught us to do better next time Except for getting more people to sponsor us through Facebook and wechat doing more practice was the most important thing for us as well

The day before we went to CN Tower we had set a

bunch of alarms to go off in case we could not wake up at 430 in the morning Fortunately we made it which is the first step for achieving the CN Tower Climb We wrapped up warmly and stepped out from the house to grab some food to eat Everything was so peaceful and quiet that we felt like we were the only persons awake in the world at that moment

We arrived at the large hall of the CN Tower at 6

orsquoclock and it seemed we suddenly stepped into a totally different world - the place was brightly lit the atmosphere was lively and the hall was filled with excited ambitious people (We did not see any other students from Sheridan College although we actually found out there was a Sheridan Business team when we registered online) After all the members met up and checked in we took off all the bulky outerwear to gear up for the climb Before entering the tower we put on the wristbands and electronic timing chips It was about a 5- minute walk from the hall to the starting point With the first rays of sunlight creeping through the buildings we all felt cheerful and confident to conquer the tough climb

After we climbed to the 144th floor I believed that

everyonersquos tiredness was replaced by excitement and physical strength was recovered immediately We felt we had experienced a long battle and eventually won the

victory Everyone had a smile on his or her face We can still remember the amazing view from the top then followed by a full sense of achievement At that moment we all forgot the fatigue and harvested our individual feelings

We then decided to eat something good to reward

ourselves because we did not have time to eat a good breakfast since we arrived there before dawn At our next class our Reading and Writing Professor Violet Funk gave each of us a Sheridan mugpen for our achievement

After this activity we decided if there were an event just like this one we would attend without hesitation

Climbing the CN Tower was a precious experience

for everyone Firstly it was organized by charity to help those who really have difficulties in life Therefore as social beings we deemed it an honor to have shared in this event to help these people through our efforts Although we paid little money and time it might be a life-saving straw for them Additionally paying and receiving is equal We also gained Canadian knowledge team partners sincere hearts and personal satisfaction What we got was much more than what we paid Because of this we will cherish this personal experience

A 5-Star Achievement By Violet Funk

You have to admire those who say ldquoI can do thisrdquo

Meet Lissette Morelos an ESL EAP student from Venezuela She delivered puppies in her home This was not an emergency delivery ndash it was planned Whelping the canine birth process is usually handled by someone with prior experience Prior to coming to Canada Lissette never had a

dog ndash her mom would not have it

During a visit in April 2014 she met Sheba

a 6-year old Chocolate Labrador the only female pointer Labrador who was a 4x Grand Master Field Trial Champion in Canada and the USA It was unconditional love at first sight So strong was the attachment that Shebarsquos owner made her a co-owner when Lissette came to study in Canada in December 2014

In mid-April 2015 Lissette took Sheba to Indianapolis to mate with Cruz another 4x Grand Master Champion Chocolate Labrador In June 2015 an ultrasound showed that Sheba was going to have four puppies and surprisingly the vet

encouraged her to deliver the pups at home

This is an amended version of what Lissette did

In her first two years Sheba had trained in Michigan to win the Grand Master Champion title 4 times Many Labrador owners breeders and kennels noticed Shebarsquos staunch point and natural retrieving abilities This spring after the advertisement of her litter the phone never stopped ringing Deposits were received months before the pups were born

Alchemy fall 2015

12

At 630 in the morning Sheba was in full labour In the living room we had bought a whelping box where she had made her home At 815 am the first female pup came into this world Two hours later the second arrived A very large and plump female pup came twenty minutes later Sheba went on to deliver a third female pup Sheba now exhausted was having difficulty with the birth of the fourth pup

The fourth female pup finally came into the world assisted by the veterinarian after one hour of further induced labor Then another problem started The veterinarian stated he could feel three paws in the birth canal meaning there was another pup and that the pup was breached We now had to work quickly Legal documents had to be signed fees discussed and Sheba prepared for a C-section

to save the life of this pup All this seemed to take only minutes but in fact it took over thirty minutes during which time Sheba went into one last natural induced labour cramp The veterinarian made one final attempt to help Sheba and in the end the beautiful pup repositioned himself and came out naturally

Photo NStar Statue of Liberty (Lisette Morelos)

Where are they now As the pups reached eight weeks the first pup Blu was driven to Buffalo New York to meet her new owners from Scottsdale Arizona The family have continuously kept in touch updating us on the training progress of their new family addition One of the first training requirements for

this pup living in the desert will be to stay away from poisonous snakes

Riva Ridge Princess will be going to a family living near Chicago who travel every weekend to their 1500-acre ranch in Wyoming What a lucky dog

Pup number 3 named Northern Renegade will go to a well-known kennel in Michigan where Sheba came from

The last female pup named NStar Statue of Liberty will make her home in Minnesota in another kennel well known for their dog and field trial training This will be where Bruno will commence his training next spring

Shebarsquos only son Bruno is mine I picked his name derived from the Germanic word Brun meaning brown shield or armor and his second name is Mattithiah which means gift from the Lord As I mentioned before he was the one having birth difficulties but survived

Lissette was so well organized She had different coloured collars to put on the pups right away so she could identify whorsquos who Despite all Lissette had to go through she passed all her courses This was certainly a 5-Star Achievement Anyone who has ever had a puppy will appreciate Lissettersquos workload looking after 5 puppies Letrsquos have a round of applause for Lissy

Faculty amp Staff Spotlight

Professor Michelle Szabo

(Environmental Studies and Sociology)

Michelle Szabo

is a Professor of

Environmental

Studies and

Sociology in the

Faculty of

Humanities and

Social Sciences

at Sheridan She

received her

PhD in

Environmental

Studies from

York University

and was

subsequently a

SSHRC

Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at the University

of Toronto She has published and taught on

masculinities and cooking consumer culture and

sustainability gender theory the sociology of food

and issues of health sustainability and social justice

in the food system She is the head co-editor of the

Photo Matthew Devine

Alchemy fall 2015

13

forthcoming book Food Masculinities and Home

Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Bloomsbury 2016)

which brings together scholarly work from around

the world In 2014 she was commissioned by

Ryerson University to conduct comparative

research on sustainable campus food practices in

North America which contributed to the recent

overhaul of Ryerson food services Outside of

academia Michelle has been a member of the

Toronto community food co-op Karma Co-op

since 2004 She is a long time dancer cyclist and

lover of stand-up comedy and a more recent

podcast enthusiast

Michelle Szabo answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Perfection

Most important lesson I learned in kindergarten

Everyone should take time in the day to dance

My idea of perfect happiness A path through an

ancient redwood forest and all the time in the

world

My idea of complete misery A life without real

connection risk and vulnerability

In my opinion the secret to success is Getting out

of your own way

My favourite word Fierce

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A psychologist or

neuroscientist

Language Irsquod love to be able to speak Latin

My favourite foodmeal Sushi right off the boat

on Tokyo harbour

My favourite singermusician and song

Favourite is hard Imogen Heaprsquos ldquoThe Moment I

Said Itrdquo is definitely high on the list

Professor Alia Somani (English and Postcolonial Literature)

Photo Alia Somani

Alia Somani is delighted to join Sheridan College as a Professor of English and Postcolonial Literature Before coming to Sheridan Alia taught at various colleges and universities including Trent University Centennial College and the University of Toronto Alia holds a PhD from the University of Western Ontario where she specialized in Postcolonial and World Literature and Diaspora Studies Her doctoral research focused on the intersections between memory trauma and literary fictions and looked specifically at instances of trauma experienced by diasporic groups in Canada

In addition to her academic research Alia enjoys creative and journalistic writing After she completed her Masterrsquos degree Alia spent time in India where she worked in Mumbai at a local NGO called the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism and wrote about the 2002 Gujarat riots More recently Alia had the opportunity to work with local actors in Toronto and to write and direct her own play Aliarsquos publications have appeared in

various journals such as South Asian Diaspora

Postcolonial Text and Topic Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies

Alchemy fall 2015

14

Alia Somani answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Idealism

My favourite qualities in a student Flexible curious and unafraid

My favourite qualities in a teacher Flexible curious and unafraid

My idea of perfect happiness Sitting in my parentsrsquo living room and chatting with the family It sounds mundane but it really is my idea of perfect happiness

My least favourite word Random

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoTo speak a language is to take on a world a culturerdquo ndash Frantz Fanon Black Skin White Masks

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be An investigative journalist

The talent or skill I wish I had The ability to sing and act

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Noor Jahan 17th Century Empress of the Mughal Empire

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure Law and

Order reruns Or Criminal Minds (Definitely a guilty

pleasure)

Professor Tania Iveson (ESL)

Tania started her teaching career at the age of six when she mastered the ability to prop up all her stuffed animals and hold classes where each furry

friend had its own task With many informal years under her belt she started her official teaching career in Taiwan in 1990 shortly after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Psychology She has taught ESL as well as teacher education courses in Canada Spain England Brazil and Myanmar (Burma) She has an MA in TESOL from the University of Sheffield Hallam in the UK and University of Cambridge CELTA and DELTA ESL teaching qualifications She has been a Cambridge accredited CELTA

Teacher Trainer since 1998 and a Cambridge CELTA Centre Assessor since 2001

Photo Tania Iveson

She has been teaching at Sheridan for four years and was recently hired as a full-time professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences She currently teaches a variety of ESL courses and loves being able to connect with people from a wide range of cultural linguistic and national backgrounds Her role as CELTA course and centre assessor takes her all over world but most recently to New York Mexico and Montreal She finds these visits a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow teacher trainers and to

exchange ideas and best practices Her commitment to ongoing development is also evident through her roles as Communications Officer and Spring Conference Chair on the TESL Toronto Executive Board

One of her greatest joys in teaching and life in general is found in the stories we share She believes that the most profound and powerful truths are held in metaphor myth and the sharing of personal experience She is in awe of great stories and would love to write one of her own one day

Tania Iveson answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Selflessness

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity and

a willingness to sit with uncertainty

Alchemy fall 2015

15

My favourite qualities in a teacher Depth of

knowledge + Humility + Compassion

My idea of perfect happiness Getting lost in

laughter stories and inquiry with good friends

My idea of complete misery Trying to eat a

delicious ice cream on a hot windy beach

My favourite word Murmuration

My least favourite word Puce

My favourite quotation motto or phrase When

Frances Harwood anthropologist asked a Sioux

elder why people tell stories he answered ldquoIn

order to become human beingsrdquo She asked

ldquoArenrsquot we all human beings alreadyrdquo He smiled

ldquoNot everyone makes itrdquo (Laura Simms)

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be Unfulfilled but free

on evenings and weekends

The talent or skill I wish I had Equanimity

A countryplace Irsquod like to visit The Aran

Islands

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Carl Jung

My least favourite historical literary or

cinematic character(s) The Muppets ndash all of them

Never been a fan of any kind of puppet

My favourite foodmeal Anything someone else

cooks

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure What Not to

Wear

Professor Nathaniel Barr (Creativity and Creative Thinking)

Nathaniel Barr is a Professor of Creativity and Creative Thinking specializing in cognitive

psychology who is excited at the prospect of understanding and enhancing creativity at Sheridan

and beyond through cross-disciplinary collaboration Prior to joining Sheridan he earned his BA MA and PhD and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo (UW)

Nathaniel teaches courses on creativity psychology cognition memory and neuroscience and won faculty and institutional teaching awards at UW for his ability to connect psychological theory to life Outside of the classroom he gives talks and workshops for diverse audiences on the nature of our minds and how to make the most of them

An accomplished researcher Nathaniel has published articles on the psychology of creativity morality belief and the intersection of thinking and technology His research on the relation between thinking styles and search engine use appeared in over 700 media outlets around the world including The New York Times The

Washington Post CBC and NPR During his post-

doc he conducted applied research for the Bank of Canada aimed at understanding the perceptual and decision processes involved in authentication of currency He also has researched whether applying cognitive psychological principles in online courses can enhance learning Other interests include collecting old books animal cognition trees how we find meaning in our lives and most things in the universe

Photo Nathaniel Barr

Alchemy fall 2015

16

Nathaniel is a happily married father of two (with one more on the way) who considers family the

most important part of his life He was born and raised near London ON so is grateful to be able to stay close to home and to spend his days sharing what he learns about creativity thinking and culture

Nathaniel Barr answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtues Kindness and the willingness to change onersquos opinion in the face of new evidence

Most important lesson Irsquove learned this year That sometimes things work out despite difficulties

and doubts Not always but just enough to convince me to always keep trying

My favourite qualities in a student An ability to appreciate the intricacy and depth of any area of knowledge and the intellectual curiosity to attempt to acquire knowledge about that area

My idea of perfect happiness Being able to support my family while still having intellectual freedom and the ability to read widely Drinking beer is also pretty great

In my opinion the secret to success is Viktor Frankl in his book Manrsquos Search for Meaning had it

figured out ldquosuccess like happiness cannot be pursued it must ensue and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of ones surrender to a person other than oneselfrdquo

My favourite word Meliorism (The belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoNothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a

precious and fragile giftrdquo ndash Steven Pinker ldquoSo it goesrdquo ndash Kurt Vonnegut Jr

On my bucket list To make the most of the many gifts I have been given in life by in turn helping whomever I can however I can

My favourite historical character Pete Seeger

My favourite paintingsartists Albert Bierstadts Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

(1868) Reneacute Magrittes The Treachery of Images (1928)

My favourite singermusician and song The Flaming Lipsrsquo ldquoDo You Realizerdquo Howlinrsquo Wolfrsquos ldquoSmokestack Lightningrdquo Richard and Mimi Farinarsquos ldquoBold Marauderrdquo The Bandrsquos ldquoIt Makes No Differencerdquo

Professor Jessica Carey (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Jessica is thrilled

to be making her home at Sheridan after several years of being an itinerant teacher and scholar in English and Cultural Studies Since receiving her doctorate from McMaster University in 2011 her career

has included a two-year term teaching in the

Cultural Studies Program at UBC Okanagan a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and short-term teaching appointments at Guelph and Laurier During this time she has also enjoyed singular experiences such as being invited to give a guest lecture on Temple Grandinrsquos animal-oriented rhetoric to a humanities seminar at UC Davis in Spring 2015 and presenting her work analyzing Paul McCartneyrsquos public vegetarian persona at the Minding Animals conference in Utrecht in 2012 Jessicarsquos research focuses primarily on food cultures and contemporary discourses of human-animal relationships but her teaching focus remains on inspiring students to develop and nurture their communicative potential and their love of the humanities

Jessica loves to cook and has moved the same blender across the country three times The blenderrsquos used to it but her ever-growing cookbook

Photo Jessica Carey

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

12

At 630 in the morning Sheba was in full labour In the living room we had bought a whelping box where she had made her home At 815 am the first female pup came into this world Two hours later the second arrived A very large and plump female pup came twenty minutes later Sheba went on to deliver a third female pup Sheba now exhausted was having difficulty with the birth of the fourth pup

The fourth female pup finally came into the world assisted by the veterinarian after one hour of further induced labor Then another problem started The veterinarian stated he could feel three paws in the birth canal meaning there was another pup and that the pup was breached We now had to work quickly Legal documents had to be signed fees discussed and Sheba prepared for a C-section

to save the life of this pup All this seemed to take only minutes but in fact it took over thirty minutes during which time Sheba went into one last natural induced labour cramp The veterinarian made one final attempt to help Sheba and in the end the beautiful pup repositioned himself and came out naturally

Photo NStar Statue of Liberty (Lisette Morelos)

Where are they now As the pups reached eight weeks the first pup Blu was driven to Buffalo New York to meet her new owners from Scottsdale Arizona The family have continuously kept in touch updating us on the training progress of their new family addition One of the first training requirements for

this pup living in the desert will be to stay away from poisonous snakes

Riva Ridge Princess will be going to a family living near Chicago who travel every weekend to their 1500-acre ranch in Wyoming What a lucky dog

Pup number 3 named Northern Renegade will go to a well-known kennel in Michigan where Sheba came from

The last female pup named NStar Statue of Liberty will make her home in Minnesota in another kennel well known for their dog and field trial training This will be where Bruno will commence his training next spring

Shebarsquos only son Bruno is mine I picked his name derived from the Germanic word Brun meaning brown shield or armor and his second name is Mattithiah which means gift from the Lord As I mentioned before he was the one having birth difficulties but survived

Lissette was so well organized She had different coloured collars to put on the pups right away so she could identify whorsquos who Despite all Lissette had to go through she passed all her courses This was certainly a 5-Star Achievement Anyone who has ever had a puppy will appreciate Lissettersquos workload looking after 5 puppies Letrsquos have a round of applause for Lissy

Faculty amp Staff Spotlight

Professor Michelle Szabo

(Environmental Studies and Sociology)

Michelle Szabo

is a Professor of

Environmental

Studies and

Sociology in the

Faculty of

Humanities and

Social Sciences

at Sheridan She

received her

PhD in

Environmental

Studies from

York University

and was

subsequently a

SSHRC

Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at the University

of Toronto She has published and taught on

masculinities and cooking consumer culture and

sustainability gender theory the sociology of food

and issues of health sustainability and social justice

in the food system She is the head co-editor of the

Photo Matthew Devine

Alchemy fall 2015

13

forthcoming book Food Masculinities and Home

Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Bloomsbury 2016)

which brings together scholarly work from around

the world In 2014 she was commissioned by

Ryerson University to conduct comparative

research on sustainable campus food practices in

North America which contributed to the recent

overhaul of Ryerson food services Outside of

academia Michelle has been a member of the

Toronto community food co-op Karma Co-op

since 2004 She is a long time dancer cyclist and

lover of stand-up comedy and a more recent

podcast enthusiast

Michelle Szabo answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Perfection

Most important lesson I learned in kindergarten

Everyone should take time in the day to dance

My idea of perfect happiness A path through an

ancient redwood forest and all the time in the

world

My idea of complete misery A life without real

connection risk and vulnerability

In my opinion the secret to success is Getting out

of your own way

My favourite word Fierce

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A psychologist or

neuroscientist

Language Irsquod love to be able to speak Latin

My favourite foodmeal Sushi right off the boat

on Tokyo harbour

My favourite singermusician and song

Favourite is hard Imogen Heaprsquos ldquoThe Moment I

Said Itrdquo is definitely high on the list

Professor Alia Somani (English and Postcolonial Literature)

Photo Alia Somani

Alia Somani is delighted to join Sheridan College as a Professor of English and Postcolonial Literature Before coming to Sheridan Alia taught at various colleges and universities including Trent University Centennial College and the University of Toronto Alia holds a PhD from the University of Western Ontario where she specialized in Postcolonial and World Literature and Diaspora Studies Her doctoral research focused on the intersections between memory trauma and literary fictions and looked specifically at instances of trauma experienced by diasporic groups in Canada

In addition to her academic research Alia enjoys creative and journalistic writing After she completed her Masterrsquos degree Alia spent time in India where she worked in Mumbai at a local NGO called the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism and wrote about the 2002 Gujarat riots More recently Alia had the opportunity to work with local actors in Toronto and to write and direct her own play Aliarsquos publications have appeared in

various journals such as South Asian Diaspora

Postcolonial Text and Topic Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies

Alchemy fall 2015

14

Alia Somani answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Idealism

My favourite qualities in a student Flexible curious and unafraid

My favourite qualities in a teacher Flexible curious and unafraid

My idea of perfect happiness Sitting in my parentsrsquo living room and chatting with the family It sounds mundane but it really is my idea of perfect happiness

My least favourite word Random

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoTo speak a language is to take on a world a culturerdquo ndash Frantz Fanon Black Skin White Masks

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be An investigative journalist

The talent or skill I wish I had The ability to sing and act

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Noor Jahan 17th Century Empress of the Mughal Empire

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure Law and

Order reruns Or Criminal Minds (Definitely a guilty

pleasure)

Professor Tania Iveson (ESL)

Tania started her teaching career at the age of six when she mastered the ability to prop up all her stuffed animals and hold classes where each furry

friend had its own task With many informal years under her belt she started her official teaching career in Taiwan in 1990 shortly after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Psychology She has taught ESL as well as teacher education courses in Canada Spain England Brazil and Myanmar (Burma) She has an MA in TESOL from the University of Sheffield Hallam in the UK and University of Cambridge CELTA and DELTA ESL teaching qualifications She has been a Cambridge accredited CELTA

Teacher Trainer since 1998 and a Cambridge CELTA Centre Assessor since 2001

Photo Tania Iveson

She has been teaching at Sheridan for four years and was recently hired as a full-time professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences She currently teaches a variety of ESL courses and loves being able to connect with people from a wide range of cultural linguistic and national backgrounds Her role as CELTA course and centre assessor takes her all over world but most recently to New York Mexico and Montreal She finds these visits a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow teacher trainers and to

exchange ideas and best practices Her commitment to ongoing development is also evident through her roles as Communications Officer and Spring Conference Chair on the TESL Toronto Executive Board

One of her greatest joys in teaching and life in general is found in the stories we share She believes that the most profound and powerful truths are held in metaphor myth and the sharing of personal experience She is in awe of great stories and would love to write one of her own one day

Tania Iveson answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Selflessness

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity and

a willingness to sit with uncertainty

Alchemy fall 2015

15

My favourite qualities in a teacher Depth of

knowledge + Humility + Compassion

My idea of perfect happiness Getting lost in

laughter stories and inquiry with good friends

My idea of complete misery Trying to eat a

delicious ice cream on a hot windy beach

My favourite word Murmuration

My least favourite word Puce

My favourite quotation motto or phrase When

Frances Harwood anthropologist asked a Sioux

elder why people tell stories he answered ldquoIn

order to become human beingsrdquo She asked

ldquoArenrsquot we all human beings alreadyrdquo He smiled

ldquoNot everyone makes itrdquo (Laura Simms)

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be Unfulfilled but free

on evenings and weekends

The talent or skill I wish I had Equanimity

A countryplace Irsquod like to visit The Aran

Islands

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Carl Jung

My least favourite historical literary or

cinematic character(s) The Muppets ndash all of them

Never been a fan of any kind of puppet

My favourite foodmeal Anything someone else

cooks

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure What Not to

Wear

Professor Nathaniel Barr (Creativity and Creative Thinking)

Nathaniel Barr is a Professor of Creativity and Creative Thinking specializing in cognitive

psychology who is excited at the prospect of understanding and enhancing creativity at Sheridan

and beyond through cross-disciplinary collaboration Prior to joining Sheridan he earned his BA MA and PhD and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo (UW)

Nathaniel teaches courses on creativity psychology cognition memory and neuroscience and won faculty and institutional teaching awards at UW for his ability to connect psychological theory to life Outside of the classroom he gives talks and workshops for diverse audiences on the nature of our minds and how to make the most of them

An accomplished researcher Nathaniel has published articles on the psychology of creativity morality belief and the intersection of thinking and technology His research on the relation between thinking styles and search engine use appeared in over 700 media outlets around the world including The New York Times The

Washington Post CBC and NPR During his post-

doc he conducted applied research for the Bank of Canada aimed at understanding the perceptual and decision processes involved in authentication of currency He also has researched whether applying cognitive psychological principles in online courses can enhance learning Other interests include collecting old books animal cognition trees how we find meaning in our lives and most things in the universe

Photo Nathaniel Barr

Alchemy fall 2015

16

Nathaniel is a happily married father of two (with one more on the way) who considers family the

most important part of his life He was born and raised near London ON so is grateful to be able to stay close to home and to spend his days sharing what he learns about creativity thinking and culture

Nathaniel Barr answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtues Kindness and the willingness to change onersquos opinion in the face of new evidence

Most important lesson Irsquove learned this year That sometimes things work out despite difficulties

and doubts Not always but just enough to convince me to always keep trying

My favourite qualities in a student An ability to appreciate the intricacy and depth of any area of knowledge and the intellectual curiosity to attempt to acquire knowledge about that area

My idea of perfect happiness Being able to support my family while still having intellectual freedom and the ability to read widely Drinking beer is also pretty great

In my opinion the secret to success is Viktor Frankl in his book Manrsquos Search for Meaning had it

figured out ldquosuccess like happiness cannot be pursued it must ensue and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of ones surrender to a person other than oneselfrdquo

My favourite word Meliorism (The belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoNothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a

precious and fragile giftrdquo ndash Steven Pinker ldquoSo it goesrdquo ndash Kurt Vonnegut Jr

On my bucket list To make the most of the many gifts I have been given in life by in turn helping whomever I can however I can

My favourite historical character Pete Seeger

My favourite paintingsartists Albert Bierstadts Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

(1868) Reneacute Magrittes The Treachery of Images (1928)

My favourite singermusician and song The Flaming Lipsrsquo ldquoDo You Realizerdquo Howlinrsquo Wolfrsquos ldquoSmokestack Lightningrdquo Richard and Mimi Farinarsquos ldquoBold Marauderrdquo The Bandrsquos ldquoIt Makes No Differencerdquo

Professor Jessica Carey (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Jessica is thrilled

to be making her home at Sheridan after several years of being an itinerant teacher and scholar in English and Cultural Studies Since receiving her doctorate from McMaster University in 2011 her career

has included a two-year term teaching in the

Cultural Studies Program at UBC Okanagan a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and short-term teaching appointments at Guelph and Laurier During this time she has also enjoyed singular experiences such as being invited to give a guest lecture on Temple Grandinrsquos animal-oriented rhetoric to a humanities seminar at UC Davis in Spring 2015 and presenting her work analyzing Paul McCartneyrsquos public vegetarian persona at the Minding Animals conference in Utrecht in 2012 Jessicarsquos research focuses primarily on food cultures and contemporary discourses of human-animal relationships but her teaching focus remains on inspiring students to develop and nurture their communicative potential and their love of the humanities

Jessica loves to cook and has moved the same blender across the country three times The blenderrsquos used to it but her ever-growing cookbook

Photo Jessica Carey

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

13

forthcoming book Food Masculinities and Home

Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Bloomsbury 2016)

which brings together scholarly work from around

the world In 2014 she was commissioned by

Ryerson University to conduct comparative

research on sustainable campus food practices in

North America which contributed to the recent

overhaul of Ryerson food services Outside of

academia Michelle has been a member of the

Toronto community food co-op Karma Co-op

since 2004 She is a long time dancer cyclist and

lover of stand-up comedy and a more recent

podcast enthusiast

Michelle Szabo answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Perfection

Most important lesson I learned in kindergarten

Everyone should take time in the day to dance

My idea of perfect happiness A path through an

ancient redwood forest and all the time in the

world

My idea of complete misery A life without real

connection risk and vulnerability

In my opinion the secret to success is Getting out

of your own way

My favourite word Fierce

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A psychologist or

neuroscientist

Language Irsquod love to be able to speak Latin

My favourite foodmeal Sushi right off the boat

on Tokyo harbour

My favourite singermusician and song

Favourite is hard Imogen Heaprsquos ldquoThe Moment I

Said Itrdquo is definitely high on the list

Professor Alia Somani (English and Postcolonial Literature)

Photo Alia Somani

Alia Somani is delighted to join Sheridan College as a Professor of English and Postcolonial Literature Before coming to Sheridan Alia taught at various colleges and universities including Trent University Centennial College and the University of Toronto Alia holds a PhD from the University of Western Ontario where she specialized in Postcolonial and World Literature and Diaspora Studies Her doctoral research focused on the intersections between memory trauma and literary fictions and looked specifically at instances of trauma experienced by diasporic groups in Canada

In addition to her academic research Alia enjoys creative and journalistic writing After she completed her Masterrsquos degree Alia spent time in India where she worked in Mumbai at a local NGO called the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism and wrote about the 2002 Gujarat riots More recently Alia had the opportunity to work with local actors in Toronto and to write and direct her own play Aliarsquos publications have appeared in

various journals such as South Asian Diaspora

Postcolonial Text and Topic Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies

Alchemy fall 2015

14

Alia Somani answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Idealism

My favourite qualities in a student Flexible curious and unafraid

My favourite qualities in a teacher Flexible curious and unafraid

My idea of perfect happiness Sitting in my parentsrsquo living room and chatting with the family It sounds mundane but it really is my idea of perfect happiness

My least favourite word Random

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoTo speak a language is to take on a world a culturerdquo ndash Frantz Fanon Black Skin White Masks

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be An investigative journalist

The talent or skill I wish I had The ability to sing and act

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Noor Jahan 17th Century Empress of the Mughal Empire

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure Law and

Order reruns Or Criminal Minds (Definitely a guilty

pleasure)

Professor Tania Iveson (ESL)

Tania started her teaching career at the age of six when she mastered the ability to prop up all her stuffed animals and hold classes where each furry

friend had its own task With many informal years under her belt she started her official teaching career in Taiwan in 1990 shortly after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Psychology She has taught ESL as well as teacher education courses in Canada Spain England Brazil and Myanmar (Burma) She has an MA in TESOL from the University of Sheffield Hallam in the UK and University of Cambridge CELTA and DELTA ESL teaching qualifications She has been a Cambridge accredited CELTA

Teacher Trainer since 1998 and a Cambridge CELTA Centre Assessor since 2001

Photo Tania Iveson

She has been teaching at Sheridan for four years and was recently hired as a full-time professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences She currently teaches a variety of ESL courses and loves being able to connect with people from a wide range of cultural linguistic and national backgrounds Her role as CELTA course and centre assessor takes her all over world but most recently to New York Mexico and Montreal She finds these visits a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow teacher trainers and to

exchange ideas and best practices Her commitment to ongoing development is also evident through her roles as Communications Officer and Spring Conference Chair on the TESL Toronto Executive Board

One of her greatest joys in teaching and life in general is found in the stories we share She believes that the most profound and powerful truths are held in metaphor myth and the sharing of personal experience She is in awe of great stories and would love to write one of her own one day

Tania Iveson answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Selflessness

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity and

a willingness to sit with uncertainty

Alchemy fall 2015

15

My favourite qualities in a teacher Depth of

knowledge + Humility + Compassion

My idea of perfect happiness Getting lost in

laughter stories and inquiry with good friends

My idea of complete misery Trying to eat a

delicious ice cream on a hot windy beach

My favourite word Murmuration

My least favourite word Puce

My favourite quotation motto or phrase When

Frances Harwood anthropologist asked a Sioux

elder why people tell stories he answered ldquoIn

order to become human beingsrdquo She asked

ldquoArenrsquot we all human beings alreadyrdquo He smiled

ldquoNot everyone makes itrdquo (Laura Simms)

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be Unfulfilled but free

on evenings and weekends

The talent or skill I wish I had Equanimity

A countryplace Irsquod like to visit The Aran

Islands

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Carl Jung

My least favourite historical literary or

cinematic character(s) The Muppets ndash all of them

Never been a fan of any kind of puppet

My favourite foodmeal Anything someone else

cooks

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure What Not to

Wear

Professor Nathaniel Barr (Creativity and Creative Thinking)

Nathaniel Barr is a Professor of Creativity and Creative Thinking specializing in cognitive

psychology who is excited at the prospect of understanding and enhancing creativity at Sheridan

and beyond through cross-disciplinary collaboration Prior to joining Sheridan he earned his BA MA and PhD and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo (UW)

Nathaniel teaches courses on creativity psychology cognition memory and neuroscience and won faculty and institutional teaching awards at UW for his ability to connect psychological theory to life Outside of the classroom he gives talks and workshops for diverse audiences on the nature of our minds and how to make the most of them

An accomplished researcher Nathaniel has published articles on the psychology of creativity morality belief and the intersection of thinking and technology His research on the relation between thinking styles and search engine use appeared in over 700 media outlets around the world including The New York Times The

Washington Post CBC and NPR During his post-

doc he conducted applied research for the Bank of Canada aimed at understanding the perceptual and decision processes involved in authentication of currency He also has researched whether applying cognitive psychological principles in online courses can enhance learning Other interests include collecting old books animal cognition trees how we find meaning in our lives and most things in the universe

Photo Nathaniel Barr

Alchemy fall 2015

16

Nathaniel is a happily married father of two (with one more on the way) who considers family the

most important part of his life He was born and raised near London ON so is grateful to be able to stay close to home and to spend his days sharing what he learns about creativity thinking and culture

Nathaniel Barr answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtues Kindness and the willingness to change onersquos opinion in the face of new evidence

Most important lesson Irsquove learned this year That sometimes things work out despite difficulties

and doubts Not always but just enough to convince me to always keep trying

My favourite qualities in a student An ability to appreciate the intricacy and depth of any area of knowledge and the intellectual curiosity to attempt to acquire knowledge about that area

My idea of perfect happiness Being able to support my family while still having intellectual freedom and the ability to read widely Drinking beer is also pretty great

In my opinion the secret to success is Viktor Frankl in his book Manrsquos Search for Meaning had it

figured out ldquosuccess like happiness cannot be pursued it must ensue and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of ones surrender to a person other than oneselfrdquo

My favourite word Meliorism (The belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoNothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a

precious and fragile giftrdquo ndash Steven Pinker ldquoSo it goesrdquo ndash Kurt Vonnegut Jr

On my bucket list To make the most of the many gifts I have been given in life by in turn helping whomever I can however I can

My favourite historical character Pete Seeger

My favourite paintingsartists Albert Bierstadts Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

(1868) Reneacute Magrittes The Treachery of Images (1928)

My favourite singermusician and song The Flaming Lipsrsquo ldquoDo You Realizerdquo Howlinrsquo Wolfrsquos ldquoSmokestack Lightningrdquo Richard and Mimi Farinarsquos ldquoBold Marauderrdquo The Bandrsquos ldquoIt Makes No Differencerdquo

Professor Jessica Carey (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Jessica is thrilled

to be making her home at Sheridan after several years of being an itinerant teacher and scholar in English and Cultural Studies Since receiving her doctorate from McMaster University in 2011 her career

has included a two-year term teaching in the

Cultural Studies Program at UBC Okanagan a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and short-term teaching appointments at Guelph and Laurier During this time she has also enjoyed singular experiences such as being invited to give a guest lecture on Temple Grandinrsquos animal-oriented rhetoric to a humanities seminar at UC Davis in Spring 2015 and presenting her work analyzing Paul McCartneyrsquos public vegetarian persona at the Minding Animals conference in Utrecht in 2012 Jessicarsquos research focuses primarily on food cultures and contemporary discourses of human-animal relationships but her teaching focus remains on inspiring students to develop and nurture their communicative potential and their love of the humanities

Jessica loves to cook and has moved the same blender across the country three times The blenderrsquos used to it but her ever-growing cookbook

Photo Jessica Carey

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

14

Alia Somani answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Idealism

My favourite qualities in a student Flexible curious and unafraid

My favourite qualities in a teacher Flexible curious and unafraid

My idea of perfect happiness Sitting in my parentsrsquo living room and chatting with the family It sounds mundane but it really is my idea of perfect happiness

My least favourite word Random

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoTo speak a language is to take on a world a culturerdquo ndash Frantz Fanon Black Skin White Masks

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be An investigative journalist

The talent or skill I wish I had The ability to sing and act

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Noor Jahan 17th Century Empress of the Mughal Empire

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure Law and

Order reruns Or Criminal Minds (Definitely a guilty

pleasure)

Professor Tania Iveson (ESL)

Tania started her teaching career at the age of six when she mastered the ability to prop up all her stuffed animals and hold classes where each furry

friend had its own task With many informal years under her belt she started her official teaching career in Taiwan in 1990 shortly after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Psychology She has taught ESL as well as teacher education courses in Canada Spain England Brazil and Myanmar (Burma) She has an MA in TESOL from the University of Sheffield Hallam in the UK and University of Cambridge CELTA and DELTA ESL teaching qualifications She has been a Cambridge accredited CELTA

Teacher Trainer since 1998 and a Cambridge CELTA Centre Assessor since 2001

Photo Tania Iveson

She has been teaching at Sheridan for four years and was recently hired as a full-time professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences She currently teaches a variety of ESL courses and loves being able to connect with people from a wide range of cultural linguistic and national backgrounds Her role as CELTA course and centre assessor takes her all over world but most recently to New York Mexico and Montreal She finds these visits a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow teacher trainers and to

exchange ideas and best practices Her commitment to ongoing development is also evident through her roles as Communications Officer and Spring Conference Chair on the TESL Toronto Executive Board

One of her greatest joys in teaching and life in general is found in the stories we share She believes that the most profound and powerful truths are held in metaphor myth and the sharing of personal experience She is in awe of great stories and would love to write one of her own one day

Tania Iveson answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Authenticity

Most overrated virtue Selflessness

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity and

a willingness to sit with uncertainty

Alchemy fall 2015

15

My favourite qualities in a teacher Depth of

knowledge + Humility + Compassion

My idea of perfect happiness Getting lost in

laughter stories and inquiry with good friends

My idea of complete misery Trying to eat a

delicious ice cream on a hot windy beach

My favourite word Murmuration

My least favourite word Puce

My favourite quotation motto or phrase When

Frances Harwood anthropologist asked a Sioux

elder why people tell stories he answered ldquoIn

order to become human beingsrdquo She asked

ldquoArenrsquot we all human beings alreadyrdquo He smiled

ldquoNot everyone makes itrdquo (Laura Simms)

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be Unfulfilled but free

on evenings and weekends

The talent or skill I wish I had Equanimity

A countryplace Irsquod like to visit The Aran

Islands

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Carl Jung

My least favourite historical literary or

cinematic character(s) The Muppets ndash all of them

Never been a fan of any kind of puppet

My favourite foodmeal Anything someone else

cooks

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure What Not to

Wear

Professor Nathaniel Barr (Creativity and Creative Thinking)

Nathaniel Barr is a Professor of Creativity and Creative Thinking specializing in cognitive

psychology who is excited at the prospect of understanding and enhancing creativity at Sheridan

and beyond through cross-disciplinary collaboration Prior to joining Sheridan he earned his BA MA and PhD and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo (UW)

Nathaniel teaches courses on creativity psychology cognition memory and neuroscience and won faculty and institutional teaching awards at UW for his ability to connect psychological theory to life Outside of the classroom he gives talks and workshops for diverse audiences on the nature of our minds and how to make the most of them

An accomplished researcher Nathaniel has published articles on the psychology of creativity morality belief and the intersection of thinking and technology His research on the relation between thinking styles and search engine use appeared in over 700 media outlets around the world including The New York Times The

Washington Post CBC and NPR During his post-

doc he conducted applied research for the Bank of Canada aimed at understanding the perceptual and decision processes involved in authentication of currency He also has researched whether applying cognitive psychological principles in online courses can enhance learning Other interests include collecting old books animal cognition trees how we find meaning in our lives and most things in the universe

Photo Nathaniel Barr

Alchemy fall 2015

16

Nathaniel is a happily married father of two (with one more on the way) who considers family the

most important part of his life He was born and raised near London ON so is grateful to be able to stay close to home and to spend his days sharing what he learns about creativity thinking and culture

Nathaniel Barr answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtues Kindness and the willingness to change onersquos opinion in the face of new evidence

Most important lesson Irsquove learned this year That sometimes things work out despite difficulties

and doubts Not always but just enough to convince me to always keep trying

My favourite qualities in a student An ability to appreciate the intricacy and depth of any area of knowledge and the intellectual curiosity to attempt to acquire knowledge about that area

My idea of perfect happiness Being able to support my family while still having intellectual freedom and the ability to read widely Drinking beer is also pretty great

In my opinion the secret to success is Viktor Frankl in his book Manrsquos Search for Meaning had it

figured out ldquosuccess like happiness cannot be pursued it must ensue and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of ones surrender to a person other than oneselfrdquo

My favourite word Meliorism (The belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoNothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a

precious and fragile giftrdquo ndash Steven Pinker ldquoSo it goesrdquo ndash Kurt Vonnegut Jr

On my bucket list To make the most of the many gifts I have been given in life by in turn helping whomever I can however I can

My favourite historical character Pete Seeger

My favourite paintingsartists Albert Bierstadts Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

(1868) Reneacute Magrittes The Treachery of Images (1928)

My favourite singermusician and song The Flaming Lipsrsquo ldquoDo You Realizerdquo Howlinrsquo Wolfrsquos ldquoSmokestack Lightningrdquo Richard and Mimi Farinarsquos ldquoBold Marauderrdquo The Bandrsquos ldquoIt Makes No Differencerdquo

Professor Jessica Carey (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Jessica is thrilled

to be making her home at Sheridan after several years of being an itinerant teacher and scholar in English and Cultural Studies Since receiving her doctorate from McMaster University in 2011 her career

has included a two-year term teaching in the

Cultural Studies Program at UBC Okanagan a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and short-term teaching appointments at Guelph and Laurier During this time she has also enjoyed singular experiences such as being invited to give a guest lecture on Temple Grandinrsquos animal-oriented rhetoric to a humanities seminar at UC Davis in Spring 2015 and presenting her work analyzing Paul McCartneyrsquos public vegetarian persona at the Minding Animals conference in Utrecht in 2012 Jessicarsquos research focuses primarily on food cultures and contemporary discourses of human-animal relationships but her teaching focus remains on inspiring students to develop and nurture their communicative potential and their love of the humanities

Jessica loves to cook and has moved the same blender across the country three times The blenderrsquos used to it but her ever-growing cookbook

Photo Jessica Carey

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

15

My favourite qualities in a teacher Depth of

knowledge + Humility + Compassion

My idea of perfect happiness Getting lost in

laughter stories and inquiry with good friends

My idea of complete misery Trying to eat a

delicious ice cream on a hot windy beach

My favourite word Murmuration

My least favourite word Puce

My favourite quotation motto or phrase When

Frances Harwood anthropologist asked a Sioux

elder why people tell stories he answered ldquoIn

order to become human beingsrdquo She asked

ldquoArenrsquot we all human beings alreadyrdquo He smiled

ldquoNot everyone makes itrdquo (Laura Simms)

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be Unfulfilled but free

on evenings and weekends

The talent or skill I wish I had Equanimity

A countryplace Irsquod like to visit The Aran

Islands

My favourite historical literary or cinematic

character(s) Carl Jung

My least favourite historical literary or

cinematic character(s) The Muppets ndash all of them

Never been a fan of any kind of puppet

My favourite foodmeal Anything someone else

cooks

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure What Not to

Wear

Professor Nathaniel Barr (Creativity and Creative Thinking)

Nathaniel Barr is a Professor of Creativity and Creative Thinking specializing in cognitive

psychology who is excited at the prospect of understanding and enhancing creativity at Sheridan

and beyond through cross-disciplinary collaboration Prior to joining Sheridan he earned his BA MA and PhD and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo (UW)

Nathaniel teaches courses on creativity psychology cognition memory and neuroscience and won faculty and institutional teaching awards at UW for his ability to connect psychological theory to life Outside of the classroom he gives talks and workshops for diverse audiences on the nature of our minds and how to make the most of them

An accomplished researcher Nathaniel has published articles on the psychology of creativity morality belief and the intersection of thinking and technology His research on the relation between thinking styles and search engine use appeared in over 700 media outlets around the world including The New York Times The

Washington Post CBC and NPR During his post-

doc he conducted applied research for the Bank of Canada aimed at understanding the perceptual and decision processes involved in authentication of currency He also has researched whether applying cognitive psychological principles in online courses can enhance learning Other interests include collecting old books animal cognition trees how we find meaning in our lives and most things in the universe

Photo Nathaniel Barr

Alchemy fall 2015

16

Nathaniel is a happily married father of two (with one more on the way) who considers family the

most important part of his life He was born and raised near London ON so is grateful to be able to stay close to home and to spend his days sharing what he learns about creativity thinking and culture

Nathaniel Barr answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtues Kindness and the willingness to change onersquos opinion in the face of new evidence

Most important lesson Irsquove learned this year That sometimes things work out despite difficulties

and doubts Not always but just enough to convince me to always keep trying

My favourite qualities in a student An ability to appreciate the intricacy and depth of any area of knowledge and the intellectual curiosity to attempt to acquire knowledge about that area

My idea of perfect happiness Being able to support my family while still having intellectual freedom and the ability to read widely Drinking beer is also pretty great

In my opinion the secret to success is Viktor Frankl in his book Manrsquos Search for Meaning had it

figured out ldquosuccess like happiness cannot be pursued it must ensue and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of ones surrender to a person other than oneselfrdquo

My favourite word Meliorism (The belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoNothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a

precious and fragile giftrdquo ndash Steven Pinker ldquoSo it goesrdquo ndash Kurt Vonnegut Jr

On my bucket list To make the most of the many gifts I have been given in life by in turn helping whomever I can however I can

My favourite historical character Pete Seeger

My favourite paintingsartists Albert Bierstadts Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

(1868) Reneacute Magrittes The Treachery of Images (1928)

My favourite singermusician and song The Flaming Lipsrsquo ldquoDo You Realizerdquo Howlinrsquo Wolfrsquos ldquoSmokestack Lightningrdquo Richard and Mimi Farinarsquos ldquoBold Marauderrdquo The Bandrsquos ldquoIt Makes No Differencerdquo

Professor Jessica Carey (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Jessica is thrilled

to be making her home at Sheridan after several years of being an itinerant teacher and scholar in English and Cultural Studies Since receiving her doctorate from McMaster University in 2011 her career

has included a two-year term teaching in the

Cultural Studies Program at UBC Okanagan a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and short-term teaching appointments at Guelph and Laurier During this time she has also enjoyed singular experiences such as being invited to give a guest lecture on Temple Grandinrsquos animal-oriented rhetoric to a humanities seminar at UC Davis in Spring 2015 and presenting her work analyzing Paul McCartneyrsquos public vegetarian persona at the Minding Animals conference in Utrecht in 2012 Jessicarsquos research focuses primarily on food cultures and contemporary discourses of human-animal relationships but her teaching focus remains on inspiring students to develop and nurture their communicative potential and their love of the humanities

Jessica loves to cook and has moved the same blender across the country three times The blenderrsquos used to it but her ever-growing cookbook

Photo Jessica Carey

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

16

Nathaniel is a happily married father of two (with one more on the way) who considers family the

most important part of his life He was born and raised near London ON so is grateful to be able to stay close to home and to spend his days sharing what he learns about creativity thinking and culture

Nathaniel Barr answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtues Kindness and the willingness to change onersquos opinion in the face of new evidence

Most important lesson Irsquove learned this year That sometimes things work out despite difficulties

and doubts Not always but just enough to convince me to always keep trying

My favourite qualities in a student An ability to appreciate the intricacy and depth of any area of knowledge and the intellectual curiosity to attempt to acquire knowledge about that area

My idea of perfect happiness Being able to support my family while still having intellectual freedom and the ability to read widely Drinking beer is also pretty great

In my opinion the secret to success is Viktor Frankl in his book Manrsquos Search for Meaning had it

figured out ldquosuccess like happiness cannot be pursued it must ensue and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of ones personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of ones surrender to a person other than oneselfrdquo

My favourite word Meliorism (The belief that the world can be made better by human effort)

My favourite quotation motto or phrase ldquoNothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a

precious and fragile giftrdquo ndash Steven Pinker ldquoSo it goesrdquo ndash Kurt Vonnegut Jr

On my bucket list To make the most of the many gifts I have been given in life by in turn helping whomever I can however I can

My favourite historical character Pete Seeger

My favourite paintingsartists Albert Bierstadts Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

(1868) Reneacute Magrittes The Treachery of Images (1928)

My favourite singermusician and song The Flaming Lipsrsquo ldquoDo You Realizerdquo Howlinrsquo Wolfrsquos ldquoSmokestack Lightningrdquo Richard and Mimi Farinarsquos ldquoBold Marauderrdquo The Bandrsquos ldquoIt Makes No Differencerdquo

Professor Jessica Carey (Literary and Cultural Studies)

Jessica is thrilled

to be making her home at Sheridan after several years of being an itinerant teacher and scholar in English and Cultural Studies Since receiving her doctorate from McMaster University in 2011 her career

has included a two-year term teaching in the

Cultural Studies Program at UBC Okanagan a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and short-term teaching appointments at Guelph and Laurier During this time she has also enjoyed singular experiences such as being invited to give a guest lecture on Temple Grandinrsquos animal-oriented rhetoric to a humanities seminar at UC Davis in Spring 2015 and presenting her work analyzing Paul McCartneyrsquos public vegetarian persona at the Minding Animals conference in Utrecht in 2012 Jessicarsquos research focuses primarily on food cultures and contemporary discourses of human-animal relationships but her teaching focus remains on inspiring students to develop and nurture their communicative potential and their love of the humanities

Jessica loves to cook and has moved the same blender across the country three times The blenderrsquos used to it but her ever-growing cookbook

Photo Jessica Carey

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

17

collection has put its foot down and is extra happy that no cross-country moves are on the horizon

Jessica Carey answers Alchemyrsquos

Proust Questionnaire

Favourite virtue Attentiveness

Most overrated virtue Endless energy (though maybe Irsquom just envious)

My favourite qualities in a student Curiosity worry (I relate to students who worry) and humour

My favourite qualities in a teacher The ability to

tell a good story a wide range of interests and empathy

My idea of perfect happiness Moving into a little house that would accommodate a drum set and turning it into a cheery little enclave of sunshine and plants and good food

My favourite word Egregious

The wordphraseexpression I overuse in the

classroom Itrsquos actually a gesture mdash a butterflyhinge-like motion I do with my hands

that usually means ldquointersectionrdquo

If I werenrsquot a teacher Irsquod be A drummersinger Not eitheror mdash both together like Karen Carpenter or Phil Collins

The talent or skill I wish I had Growing vegetables

My favourite foodmeal and drink Prosecco and French fries Or a well-constructed sandwich olives and a cup of coffee

My guilty TVfilmgaming pleasure All kinds of

celebrity gossipmdashsince Irsquom a Cultural Studies prof I like to say itrsquos for work

Cool Stuff

FHASS professor and playwright Taylor Graham recently had the pleasure of seeing her MFA thesis mdash a play called Cottage Radio mdash come to fruition

on stage in a full production by the Alumnae Theatre Company in downtown Toronto You can read more about the production here or by heading to httpwwwalumnaetheatrecomcottage-radiohtml Congratulations to Taylor

FHASS professor Shoilee Khan extends an invitation to a themed reading series she has

organized called the Bluegate Reading Collective which is set to take place at Studio 89 in Mississauga Shoilee is curating and hosting the event in hopes of providing an avenue for writers to share their work with a diverse demographic and in turn providing an opportunity for the reading public to engage with ideas and issues through discussion and conversation The first event is taking place on November 21st and the hope is for this to become a regular series More on the Collective The Bluegate Reading Collective presents compelling public readings by emerging and established writers of poetry and prose We aim to create memorable reading experiences for the public through the moving power of conversation Together readers and writers explore what it takes to be human Join us at 730 PM on November 21st at Studio 89 in Mississauga for our inaugural event Writers Adam Giles Andrea Gunraj Allison LaSorda and Hollay Ghadery read selections from their work that investigate this months theme Failure to Thrive As we tread into the winter months our writers grapple with questions of what it means to thrive in the face of defeat how failure can cultivate life and how if

you stay still long enough you might see patterns of light Readings will be followed by a discussion with our writers on their work and issues pertaining to the writing life Audience members are welcome to participate in this open mic discussion Contact Shoilee at bluegatereadingcollective[at]gmailcom or shoileekhan[at]sheridancollegeca for more information or if youd like to be a future participant Visit our Facebook page at httpswwwfacebookcomBluegateReadingCollective

Alchemy fall 2015

18

Mirjana Cutura an ESL partial load professor in

FHASS recently entered the Discover Your Creek photo contest organized by the Oakvillegreen Conservation Association She was awarded the third prize and her photo along with other winning photos was displayed at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts on November 7th during the talk by the internationally acclaimed Canadian painter author and naturalist Robert Bateman Congratulations Mirjana See her photo below

Photo Mirjana Cutura

The 905 Road Show A Creativity Cabaret is coming

to Davis Campus as part of a three-city tour of the 905 region Markham Mississauga and Brampton A mash-up of readings art music and drama by Sheridan students faculty and community writers and artists the 905 Road Show is presented by

Diaspora Dialogues in collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences with the aim to use the power of narratives to forge through creative dialogue a collective sense of identity that simultaneously recognizes and respectfully explores

our differences Performers include Anna Yin Mississaugarsquos inaugural poet laureate

Jennifer Chambers Sheridan professor and writer

Lalo Moreno sound engineer and recording artist

Shaista Latif playwright

The Real Sun singer songwriter and performer

ANDhellipSheridan students

The event will take place on Wednesday

November 25 at the Lounge outside of Union

Coffee (near the Den) at Sheridanrsquos Davis

Campus Doors open at 600 pm Admission is

free and open to the public

Diaspora Dialogues supports the creation and presentation of new fiction poetry and drama that reflect the complexity of the city through the eyes of its richly diverse writers Publishing and mentoring activities as well as a multidisciplinary performance festival help encourage the creation of a literature that is vibrant and inclusive while bringing these works to a wide audience We hope you can join us for this entertaining evening of creative cultural exchange

Alchemy fall 2015

19

The Hub (work + play)

Still image from Ape Eustace Ng and Anita Yen

This semesterrsquos amazing Hub piece comes from

two of FHASS professor Jaime Ginterrsquos former

students Eustace Ng and Anita Yen who made a brief stop-motion film inspired by one of Jaimersquos courses

From Eustace and Anita

We took a breadth elective in Physical Anthropology with Prof Jaime Ginter and worked with her as research students throughout the last school year It was she who notified us of an ldquoEvolution Video Contestrdquo and we thought it was the perfect chance to combine the two things we love mdash stop-motion animation and anthropology mdash and make a short film

In the film we wanted to show a theory of how change occurred as early hominins evolved into modern humans That is how the lower body changed first to allow bipedal locomotion to having a diet that allowed our brains to develop into its current capacity It was challenging to fit all the information into a simple story So we learned that we had to simplify many aspects of the film especially with the limitations of our medium

Prof Ginter acted as our science advisor

and provided us with a lot of research and information We really learned a lot from her In fact if we could make it again we would aim to do her more justice by making our puppets and models more scientifically accurate In the Animation Department Prof Chris Walsh and Aldines Zapparoli

also gave us a lot of support They helped provide space and equipment for this project and gave us a lot of insight on stop-motion animation production and the filmmaking process

Overall it was a great experience making this

film

The very short film ldquoAperdquo can be viewed here or by heading to Eustacersquos Vimeo page at httpsvimeocom132998530 See more of Eustacersquos and Anitarsquos art by clicking on their names

Still image from Ape Eustace Ng and

Anita Yen

Alchemy fall 2015

19

The Hub (work + play)

Still image from Ape Eustace Ng and Anita Yen

This semesterrsquos amazing Hub piece comes from

two of FHASS professor Jaime Ginterrsquos former

students Eustace Ng and Anita Yen who made a brief stop-motion film inspired by one of Jaimersquos courses

From Eustace and Anita

We took a breadth elective in Physical Anthropology with Prof Jaime Ginter and worked with her as research students throughout the last school year It was she who notified us of an ldquoEvolution Video Contestrdquo and we thought it was the perfect chance to combine the two things we love mdash stop-motion animation and anthropology mdash and make a short film

In the film we wanted to show a theory of how change occurred as early hominins evolved into modern humans That is how the lower body changed first to allow bipedal locomotion to having a diet that allowed our brains to develop into its current capacity It was challenging to fit all the information into a simple story So we learned that we had to simplify many aspects of the film especially with the limitations of our medium

Prof Ginter acted as our science advisor

and provided us with a lot of research and information We really learned a lot from her In fact if we could make it again we would aim to do her more justice by making our puppets and models more scientifically accurate In the Animation Department Prof Chris Walsh and Aldines Zapparoli

also gave us a lot of support They helped provide space and equipment for this project and gave us a lot of insight on stop-motion animation production and the filmmaking process

Overall it was a great experience making this

film

The very short film ldquoAperdquo can be viewed here or by heading to Eustacersquos Vimeo page at httpsvimeocom132998530 See more of Eustacersquos and Anitarsquos art by clicking on their names

Still image from Ape Eustace Ng and

Anita Yen