Student engangement loses its sex appeal

Student engagement is the no longer the two sexiest words in post-secondary vernacular. All too often bandied about as a reason to do this or that, to spend this money or not spend any at all, the idea behind ‘student engagement’ has become almost meaningless. With students expected to pull A’s, work part time to support their academic career, maintain a semblance of a social life, and get involved in school activities it is no wonder that dark shadows grace many an eye and stress is palpable in the hallways.

At an institution, Students’ Unions are based around the very idea of an active and engaged student body and without such, these bottom up organizations would be fairly inconsequential. It is no wonder then that our very own Students’ Union, the ULSU, constantly fights the good fight, proving that our UofL students are active and responsive. At the very least, page twelve of The Meliorist proves that there is somewhat of a Chuck Norris loving – classmate call out – disgruntled roommate student community here.

Recently, there have been grumblings about newly placed barriers the University administration and the various departments within have put up to discourage club activity on campus and over all students ‘good times’. There have been significant changes in the attitudes the ULSU has taken regarding clubs and their vigilance to ensure that rules and regulations are being followed. Observing the number of events and the outstanding attendance for club activities, this is not acting as a deterrent to event organizers.

Speaking to Alex Masse, Vice President Academic for the ULSU, he commented on club restrictions, “Everyone at the SU thinks that clubs should be able to go out and have dinner at a restaurant, or help promote a concert, for example like the Headbangers want to do. Everyone wants to make it happen, but it’s on our books that it can’t happen.”

Student events have been increasing by both the ULSU and clubs at large. As well, events and speakers being brought in by the University of Lethbridge to engage students and community members at a more visceral level, an education outside of the classroom, continue to be of excellent quality and well attended.

Student engagement is not a one sided issue. It is not just a matter of students not caring, or not being interested in exploring new idea’s and paradigms. In fact, to believe in true student apathy is a disregard for the sacrifice students make to continue their education at a post-secondary institution.

The reality is, students are no longer just students. Students hold part-time jobs alongside attending full time classes. Financial restrictions place a greater emphasis on success in academics as well as time spent working to ensure rent is paid, food can be eaten, and tuition is forked over.

Tuition in Alberta continues to rise, worrying many that it will soon reach unaffordable rates. Albertan students now pay the third highest tuition in the country. A province that can afford to promise two billion to a green washing initiative sadly does not prioritize education to the same extent.

Those who are involved, especially those who work to advocate changes to post-secondary education, understand the pressures many students are under. Masse, “I do see where students are coming from when they do come across as being disengaged. Quite frankly, we are dealing with a campus where so many people are spending so many of their waking hours just trying to do well in school and then dedicating the rest to work. I don’t think that it is so much that students don’t want to be engaged, I think that haven’t bothered to care because they are already hurting from all the other burdens placed on them, because of the amount of actual paid employment students need in order to get through a degree without having a crippling amount of debt. It’s really hard to find the time to come out to hear such and such person speak about whatever topic, regardless oh how important it is.”

Students are engaged, and they do care. The continuous efforts being put into their academics and into ensuring they are financially stable enough to remain in post-secondary education demonstrates that. It is our institutions and our governments that need to prove to students that they also care, that the work and effort is noticed. Lowering tuition rates, ensuring there is adequate on campus housing, and fiscally prioritizing funding to post-secondary education will have a lasting impact on students and on their communities. Students will give back in volunteer time, in student engagement, and in making this campus a better and more vibrant community for all.

Marriage in Canada: an equal opportunity institution?

The institution of marriage has long been a cultural and religious staple to celebrate both the union of two people, and the union of two families. Though public perceptions may have changed, marriage is still a way to ensure financial stability, successful reproduction, and a successful translation of cultural norms to future generations. Despite these favourable aspects, marriage has also allowed for the patriarchy to continue; privileging men as being the rightful and dominant member of the union, and denying women control over their own choices, at least for the great majority of history.

Sadly, and demonstrably, marriage has not been an equal opportunity institution for anyone outside of a patriarchal, hetero-normative relationship. It has institutionally subjugated women for most of its history, and has been exclusive to those who place religious values over civic values.

However, as our culture changes and adapts to an emphasis on inclusivity for all people within our nation’s borders, the institution of marriage is being called into question, with the principles of marriage coming up, and coming out. The basic principles of ‘marriage’ are simple a union of two people for mutual gain. Whether it be sexual, financial, reproductive, love, or partnership, that draws two people together, marriage is not defined by the genders of those partaking. Heterosexual couples adopt as often as same-sex couples do. Foster homes are far too prevalent in our society, and couples taking in five, six children at a time cannot provide as safe an environment as a loving – and, yes, even gay, – couple could.

The recent success of proposition no.1 in Maine, and the less recent but still poignant success of proposition no.8 in California, held congruently with the 2008 Presidential election period have caused activist groups and individuals both south and north of the 49th parallel great remorse. However, it is not just our southern brother exemplifying backward and stagnate cultural behavior. Canada herself still struggles to prove to our European cousins that not everywhere in this hemisphere is a legislative wasteland.

It is often said that Canadians define our identity in non-Americanisms. We are decidedly and proudly ‘not American’. We eat different food, we elect Liberals, not Democrats, we take a less abrasive stance on patriotism, and of course, we have public health care. While all of these have special Canadian exceptions – Twinkies, Ignatieff, Afghanistan, the recently passed Healthcare Bill – Canadians embrace cultural fluidity, far outstripping America in this regard.

Policy and legislative changes in Canada are subject to strong regional influences. That said, as a federation, there is still a strong nation wide acceptance of certain things and federal regulations that ensure certain prescriptive freedoms. Marijuana smoking is widely accepted and indulged in, Tim Horton’s and Robin’s Donuts are rural staples, and marriage in Canada is officially an equal opportunity institution.

On July 20th, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world, and the first country on this half of the globe to recognize the concept of ‘Civil Unions’, allowing same-sex couples the right to be recognized under the law as a unified couple, complete with the right of property sharing, inheritance, and divorce proceedings. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutional rights of same-sex marriages to be recognized as marriages and over the next three years, legal and political challenges to the institutionalization of same-sex unions in Canada have time and again been defeated by three consecutive federal governments.

Most provinces were supportive of this decision, submitting themselves willingly to the federal jurisdiction to which they belonged. To no one’s surprise, there was one province and one very ‘popular’ (or at least ‘populist’) leader who not only refused to support same-sex marriage but also called for a nation wide referendum. The very concept of a nation-wide referendum to settle a political and ideological dispute, which has entrenched and rather well-worded support within the Canadian Constitution and section two of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, signals a backward worldview that goes against our best principles as Canadians.

The oh-so clearly policy wise, and intellectual leader spoken of above was none other than King Ralph himself. Our former Premier did his very best to frighten Albertans, creating an environment where same-sex marriage was equated to polygamy, bestiality, and numerous other extrapolations which secreted less common sense than Glenn Beck.

Perhaps former Prime Minister Paul Martin said it most eloquently in a speech supporting same-sex marriage to the House of Commons in 2005, telling parliamentarians: “We would risk becoming a country in which the defense of rights is weighed, calculated, and debated based on electoral or other considerations. That would set us back decades as a nation. It would be wrong for the minorities of this country, it would be wrong for Canada.” Celebrating ignorance and fear is far from the Canadian ideal, and although I am not an American, I presume many Americans feel similarly.

The LGBT communities in both these countries are strong, and proud. The community and on-campus organizations that exist in many urban and even rural areas educate their communities and themselves on the ongoing challenges to acceptance people face due to their sexuality and their lifestyle.

Albertans on the whole are a fairly tolerant and just people. Our provincial culture was founded on a spirit of adventure, of breaking barriers, and demanding recognition. While these Northwest Territories were once wild land, settlers came to build homes and communities and create a safe environment for the future generations to grow up in.

Is this the environment we want our children to be subject too? The success of both Proposition 1 in Maine, and Proposition 8 in California speaks to several faults in the mindset of policy makers in America, but also speaks to a fear of change by the public that voted. Recognizing the right of same-sex marriage by no means lowers the value of a heterosexual marriage license. It does nothing to the religious values that shroud marriages of faith, as they have their own rules of engagement.

Sadly, Alberta has seemed to have progressed little in the last half decade. Our legislative assembly still seems to believe that the hearts and minds of Albertans are stuck in an archaic and ignorant stronghold of beliefs. How else does one explain the passing of Bill 44, a bill that simultaneously upholds sexual orientation hate crimes as a violation of human rights – as the Supreme Court ruled ELEVEN YEARS AGO – while disallowing sexual orientation, or sexuality as a whole to be taught, discussed, entertained, or even questioned in Alberta’s education system.

Teachers now have to write out their curriculums, explicitly defining when and how they plan to approach the topic of sexuality within any subject. Biology, English, Social Studies, and yes, Sexual Education will now be under close eyes of a few hard line parents, who now have the right to drag a teacher before the Human Rights Commission for entertaining the thought experiment that children might be curious.

Alberta is still a province when the GBLT community faces violent action against them, where law enforcement do little to ensure future safety, and where respected members of academic communities face a genuine threat to their family’s safety. It is every persons responsibility to communicate to our legislative members, our representatives, those who are supposed to reflect the true hearts and minds of Albertans, that we as a province are open minded, we respect equality, and that we believe marriage should be an equal opportunity institution. For better or for worse.

Liberal Education IV, or: conflict as context for artistic expression

Liberal Education 3010

A topics course

Instructor: Dr. Bruce McKay

“This course will consider the problem of genocide from a number of perspectives through a number of theoretical frameworks. We shall ask such questions as: Can we more fully define genocide? Why, in particular, is genocide a problem? Is it a solely modern phenomenon or do other aggressive acts in history constitute genocide? Why is it so difficult to take action when we know that it is occurring? What can we do about it? How can people bring themselves to enact such crimes against fellow humans? What should the role of the arts be in understanding genocide? How can we remember genocide while at the same time reconciling the events of the past with the necessities of the present and future?”

I grew up in a rather arts oriented family. While my direct authority figures all chose responsible paths of stable careers in finance or… um, ok, really just finance; creativity and artistic expression have always been highly valued. Dance, vocal lessons, violin, theater, painting… my three sisters and I have experienced a smattering of all. The annual tradition of the Nutcracker ballet is a cherished memory for me. Pouring over sheet music as I practice holding notes in tune for hours, running through pages of lines with various family members filling in for whatever parts I was not, concerts, rehearsals, costumes, and performance anxiety. This was my childhood.

As a small kid I have done theatre daycamp’s, choir with The Calgary Girls Choir, enrolled in an Elementary Fine Arts School and pursued theatre and choir semi – seriously in High School. Feeding my passion for art has been a constant and pleasurable pursuit. My classical background informs my appreciation for theater and music now. I listen for complexity and depth, I hear significance in time signature and key changes.

Further, I truly believe in how art can not just reflect present situations, but inform responses to them. Society uses artistic expression as a way to inform the world of context, as well as a way to express complex and often intangible emotions and thoughts in ways that can be consumed and internalized by others. Art is merely a response, to one thing or another. Dadaism was a response to Modernism, today’s contemporary artists use both as inspiration to inform their work. Artists such as Philip Glass exemplify this melting pot of artistic movements.

This is especially poignant in times of high emotional crisis. No better exemplified than the art that came out of crisis of genocide. The Holocaust is very well-known for this. The quality and intensity of artistic expression that evolved and came out of Theresienstadt was/is breathtaking. Pieces of music that express the range between trying to survive and outrage at circumstance, the simplistic perspective of children’s art, and the complete farce that was the camp by construction.

The stage for the Holocaust was set here, a wooden face of supposed ‘humane’ living conditions so the international bodies could be trot around to ensure that Nazi Germany was maintaining a level of decency. In hindsight it is easy to be sick over this systematic and morally reprehensible level of deception. Of the 140 000 prisoners, 90 000 were sent to death chambers across the Third Reich and 33 000 died in the camp itself.

Out of this, prisoners, many of them accomplished and brilliant musicians whose contribution to the world had been cut short or marred by these conditions, did achieve a level of emotive expression which speaks to the need and responsiveness of art itself. The inherent quality of artistic expression ensure no bonds are placed and that structure, medium, choice, and subject are flexible; allowing the artists to do what is best for the needs of themselves and their audience. It allows those using the holocaust as their context to express their perceptions, their experiences, and their emotions.

Each piece of music, writing, painting, drawing etc… is the strongest piece of history, we as a post Holocaust society, could ask for. It speaks louder than any of the statistics ever can.

Today, genocides and ethnic violence continues to bread a distinctive artist class. Those who use their mediums as a social means express their _____ in pieces that were meant for the world to see. To see and to understand, because it is as real as a history book. It is written by the victims, without inhibitions and intact with its original intent.

Video can’t kill the radio star

“There is a sense of value attached to being played on the radio, and there is also a sense of value for a volunteer that is on the radio. Being on the radio is still considered a privileged position.”

Media in Canada has undergone a substantial cultural shift in the past two years. The combination of a serious economic crisis, combined with a revolution in media consumption has informed an ever-growing critical base of citizens. Media has been an influential medium depended on for a non-partisan and impartial reflection of world, and local events since the advent of the printing press.

Despite the perception that media is unbiased, multi perspective, and transparent; the truth is media is rarely any of these things. Every writer, television news anchor, radio personality, and production manager has an opinion, a perspective, and a bias that will undoubtedly be present in his or her work. Selecting what story to run with, who to speak too, and what ‘experts’ to qualify their angle all contribute to ensuring that the story told is the ‘right’ one.

This is inescapable, it is impossible to divorce. All media operates this way and as such, many are turning to more and more specialized media. Blogs, twitter streams, personalized news feeds all are symptoms of this incurable illness: flash media consumption. As media becomes increasingly diversified, traditional media sources are becoming less and less relied upon and thus less and less valued within our communities.

One such medium that has faced significant challenges to its very existence is radio. Both mainstream and campus-community (or any independent radio station, be it formalized or pirate) are often under attack for no longer being relevant to their direct audience or to boarder audiences.

Govern this…

The Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commissions (CRTC) is the governing and policy creating body that regulates all media in Canada. The body that sets Canadian content regulations, gives licensing to media outlets, and takes those licenses away. Radio is one of the most contested media outlets as far as licensing renewals go. As much attention as the closing (or amalgamation) of local television stations have gotten, local campus-community stations have been under fire due to the lack of support given to these organizations by both their community and national bodies at large.

Campus-community radio exists solely under the good will of the community it serves and reflects. Without community support, whether that be the campus community, or the community at large, it would just not be possible to maintain a media outlet this complex. No campus-community radio station is in operation to make money, or even to act as a significant industry to be employed in. Often, campus-community radio employees are underpaid, and over worked. The minutia of running a media outlet, especially an outlet as diverse and loosely structured as campus-community radio stations are inherently is time consuming and an organizational nightmare. Volunteer bases upwards of several hundred people to manage, staff, ensuring the regulations of the Broadcasting act are being observed, and first and foremost ensuring that the content being broadcasted is both of a quality nature, but also that is reflects the community they serve to represent.

Reactive radio rest stops…

The CRTC Broadcasting act maintains that campus-community radio is “an important element of the Canadian broadcasting system”. Stipulating the primary purpose as “offer(ing) programming that is different in style and substance from the programming offered by other types of radio stations”.

The recent debates about open and accessible content and information is ever more pertinent as there is a noticeable decline of support for campus-community radio stations. One of the greatest strengths of this form of media is that programmers, almost exclusively volunteer based, are held to no corporate interests and are able to accurately and truthfully reflect their community. Publicly funded media, such as the oft-hailed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is another example of ensuring that public interest is held above that of corporate interest. Martine Menard, long time volunteer for the University of Lethbridge based CKXU radio station and Vice-President of the CKXU Board of Directors, commented that campus-community radio stations in Canada are held to a higher level of accountability. “With the CRTC policy, if someone doesn’t agree with what they hear, it is much more easily contested. (Campus-community radio) is more accountable on a higher level than mainstream media, because mainstream has the help of the corporate conglomerate, whereas campus-community radio stations are non-profit entities onto themselves.”

As for the programmers themselves, and their ability to impact what is reflected in their local media, the open and diverse nature of campus-community radio means that programmers have few regulations, outside those that all Canadian citizens must abide by, regarding their on-air content. Avenues explored in the on-air programming of CKXU are as diverse are the members of our community. Our own on-campus radio station has ran the gauntlet in the past six years, since being granted an FM license by the CRTC, with the nature of its programming. Music shows explore every genre and represent almost every cultural subset in Lethbridge. CKXU has broadcasted vintage radio dramas, sexual education programs, peace and conflict programs, LBGT oriented programming, and local poetry.

Radio nerd conventions

Aside from our own local base, there is an organization designed to support campus-community radio stations that allow radio stations to branch out to explore and broadcast programming of a national interest. One such program is the twenty-four hour Homelessness Marathon, which broadcasts yearly around Canada on campus-community stations and pulls stories and ground level interviews from sea to sea to sea. This is only one example, programming sharing is prevalent amongst stations, and great programming is recognized as such and given the air plan nationally it deserves. Menard hails radio as a necessary outlet for both local and national programming, “while there are some restrictions on what you can do, and based on the broadcasting act of Canada, but that doesn’t hinder you from providing your own point of view that is misrepresented in mainstream media. It’s a perfect venue for activists.”

Money, money, money, money

As independent media maintains a policy of little to no corporate stake holding, it also means funding to maintain operations is inconsistent and based on the goodwill of the community it serves. Last year, CKXU received a $2.00 increase to their student levy, bringing the per-student, semester fee to $5.00. While this $2.00 is negligible to the majority of the campus population, the increase in funding has ensured that CKXU can continue to operate with a consistent level of quality and stability.

All independent media preservers in its goals while balancing on the head of a top. While it spins in perfect rotation, order is maintained, programming is the first and foremost concern, and the public that the media is subject too embraces and participates in the act. A vestige of non-corporative content that is volunteer driven, and democratically organized. It provides an example to all of us of what we can do in our communities, and how important the public is to the health of our communities. However, the winds of change are fierce and change comes in many forms for independent media. Funding pulls from the federal and provincial government. Lack of space granted from the campus needed to operate out of. The worst challenge is an ever-growing lack of interest and engagement by the populations which independent media caters too.

We <3 independent media

As independent media is concerned with content over profit, it is able to reflect perspective and does not benefit from sensitization or thinly veiled ad campaigns. Without these forms of media, Canadian’s would rely even more so on Canwest and Global to provide all news and public information. While Toronto is a rather hip city, I still prefer to be informed on events and news stories from Lethbridge. I want to know what is happening in my direct community, alongside national events. I want to be able to contextualize the bigger picture by placing it in my community and deciphering the potential or actual effects.

Campus-community radio serves this purpose admirable. As radio once replaced personal ownership of music, the Internet is now having the same impact on radio. Menard recognizes this as a challenge to overcome, a challenge manifested in both listener and volunteer engagement. “This internet and the download ability of music have become so prevalent. It is something that our generation has internalized, you can so easily access whatever music that you want, why would you want to tune into a radio station and be subjected to someone else playlist?”

However, campus-community radio is much more that being subjected to someone else’s playlist. It is about the accessible nature of media and its ability to transform culture into a tangible community ideal. The ideal that our community is one that wants, no, needs, a media outlet that exists to reflect relatable and relevant perspectives and progress. While national interests must be maintained, campus-community radio is dependent not on Ottawa or national media conglomerates, but on the population that chooses these lush coulee valleys and small city charm as a home.

Whether it be for a year or for a lifetime, this is our community and independent media is an integral component. Further, we are integral to independent media remaining as such. Without a community present, CKXU, like all independent media, means as much as an empty room with a few microphones. Instead, Lethbridge has continued to embrace CKXU and the other independent media outlets offered. Both through time and money, this community reaches out, and shows to all that we value of freedom of speech and believe in the importance of accessible and inclusive media.

CKXU’s annual FUNdrive takes place October 30th – November 6th. Go to an event, eat some cupcakes and phone into pledge. Keep your local radio station alive, and gain some pretty excellent CKXU gear in exchange. CKXU can be found at 88.3 on your FM dial or at www.ckxu.com. Support independent media.

Bibliophile or: academics and counter culture exude sex.

On recommendation this week: Power Misses: Essays across (un)popular culture, David E. James, Verso (1996)

FTWL: counter culture, sociology, punk rock, post-modernism, fashion, change, progress, academia, nerds.

“The stance that began as a rejection of rhetoric and artifice, an attempt to affirm the sufficiency of plain speech and the everyday situation, itself became conventionalized. The anti-poem became the poem, the ordinary guy became a role.”

This is neither the first, nor the last time I will proclaim this: academics are sexy. Even sexier: academics writing about the socialization methods and outputs in popular – or unpopular – culture throughout the 1970’s to the mid 1990’s.

James’ anthology of essays about the power that counter-culture had on mainstream influences explores the many facets of counter culture, what informed the streams, and just how far it struggled itself into the mainstream. Taking   a    broad perspective encompassing art, literature, music, and the cultural style choices which had informed and are informed by these passions; James’ touches on everything from Andy Warhol, the early stages of the punk culture, how rock and roll was represented in ‘Nam, the Avant Garde movement, and my personal favourite: postmodernism in literature.

Media has grown and changed dramatically over the last four decades. Tapes had replaced vinyl, and radio became more and more prevalent as an open source for information and music. Radio and television allowed culture to be transformed, and transplanted at a rate unseen before. As FM became popular and artists vied for spots on countdown charts, a consumer no longer had to ensure they had spending fortitude to enjoy and consume the culture they desired. Instead, it was brought into hearts and minds across the world, easily and with low effort expended on behalf of the consumer.

Even though the Internet has become our society’s main aggregation of all things consumable, the old culture shifts still hold true. Switch mediums, and the use of Internet and radio become almost synonymous.

‘Power Misses’ is a collection that examines just this idea. Revolutions are cultural, as is the explosion of music as a commodity. This collection provides an insight that is more than a comment on society. It looks at the wheels of a media revolution from a cultural standpoint that is as relevant in today’s world as it was in 1989.

 

Our Truth and Effort

My first stab at The Meliorist’s opinion piece:

Political change in Alberta tends to reflect the open expanse of land and the spread too thin homesteads that dominate our prairie province. Pockets of individuals alienated and disaffected by the central government, afraid the brave the harsh climate they perceive. Coupled with groups of elites, people in small and shaky compartments, lifted away from the groundswell, and isolated from each other.

These past six months have seen the political landscape in Alberta shift. It may be small and it may be that only the most hard core of political pundits have followed the minutia of our political landscape, but this shift is cataclysmic in terms of Alberta politics.

With another provincial election still three years away, voters are already questioning what their elected officials are doing to reflect their voice, in the legislature and in policy decisions. Albertan’s expressing dissidence have evolved past letter writing and direct engagement with MLA’s through town halls and the like. The calls for change are progressively more vocal and more public.

Pieces of legislation, such as Bill 44, are debated in the streets, in cafés, on Twitter, blogs, and through mainstream media. Daily newspapers now have blogging added to their web content to allow their journalists to be ever more present in Alberta and ever more relevant, and these journalists are using that to express and reflect Albertan’s dissatisfaction with their governments.

The Wildrose Alliance Party, a party that few Albertans took note of a mere 4 months ago, now has over 11 000 members, a seat in the Legislature, and more media coverage for their leadership convention than the opposition parties could muster for town hall on health care.

The visible advantage the WAP has gained is in large part due to their vocal criticisms of the Stelmach-led government. While the current opposition seems content to rest on their laurels and travel the province speaking to small groups of disenchanted Albertan’s, the WAP was aggregating legions of Albertan’s frustrated with the lack of responsiveness by their MLA’s and channeling that desire to “send Ed a message.” The Glenmore by-election win was the first public clue that we are indeed in the midst of a fundamental shift in the way Albertan’s are participating in their provincial democracy.

Progressives are seeing this, and noting the advantage it presents. Split the right to strengthen the left is a historically oft-used tactic, though in Alberta, changes in government rarely go left but they do always go big.

Events like ChangeCamp, and other grassroots movements do what the WAP has done already. They bring people together and work to unite them around a common cause. For the WAP it was to “send Ed a message”, which its new leader, Danielle Smith, seems to have taken up as her personal war cry. For the progressives, the rallying cry seems still unclear.

The problems with genocide IIII: Shoah

Liberal Education 3010

A topics course

Instructor: Dr. Bruce McKay

“This course will consider the problem of genocide from a number of perspectives through a number of theoretical frameworks. We shall ask such questions as: Can we more fully define genocide? Why, in particular, is genocide a problem? Is it a solely modern phenomenon or do other aggressive acts in history constitute genocide? Why is it so difficult to take action when we know that it is occurring? What can we do about it? How can people bring themselves to enact such crimes against fellow humans? What should the role of the arts be in understanding genocide? How can we remember genocide while at the same time reconciling the events of the past with the necessities of the present and future?”

Topics: Holocaust,  Shoah, Yiddish Literature, pogroms, Persecution.

The Yiddish language is being lost in the midst of generational changes.

Through the Shoah/Holocaust many of the Eastern European Jews who spoke Yiddish as thier primary lanagage were killed. Genocide not only destroys lives, but also culture. While genocide is unable to eradicate every person of a certain ethnicity, it does destroy culture, and aids in wiping out an entire generation of citizens. There is a great deal of community culture that is dependent on the passing down norms and values by the generation preceding.

I have learnt most of my social cues from my parents,  and my grandparents. The mentorship that happens in every community is integral, but as in all ethnic wars, that is torn away with the destruction bestowed.

Jewish people have been marginalized and persecuted for their culture and their region since the Roman empire made Christianity the only allowable region. While the Holocaust was unthinkable, it was truly the cumulation of the centuries long persecution. From the Roman empire, to Catherine the Great, the isolation and anti-Semitism has created a culture defined by persecution.

Lectures given from Philosophy, History, and English; the lens the Holocaust and Jewish history is studied from are varied and defined. The studies undercurrents are still shared though, and one runs parallel to the next.

Institutionally, I understand the mechanisms. I can theorize the strategy of certain decisions and certain schemes. There is always an underlying methodology to certain types of madness.

To understand that genocide is a bigger picture using Philosophical rhetoric, and to read primary sources, readings that are from the same mind that the eyes and ears are governed by. Fiction, which retells horrors some people are incapable of speaking about.

How do you connect with people who have been through hell?

To study theory and outcomes does not impart any understanding of the emotional turmoil people went through,but first hand accounts give qualitative evidence that resonates. The imagery of intense acts of violence and hate are profound and so very human.

Raised in a family who had deep ties to the allies in World War II, Nazi and Holocaust history has been fairly prevalent. When I was nine, I saw Schindler’s List for the first time, and while it wasn’t the first history lesson I had regarding the second world war and the Holocaust, it was the first to be truly profound.

When we speak of genocide, or the commiting of ethnic atrocities,  the Holocaust is the example most used. The killing of millions of people from the Jewish community,as well as other marginalized and suppressed groups is a blight on human history. To imagine the suffering that occurred at the hands, literally, of other human beings.

The Nazi regime created impossible situations, pitting people, neighbours, friends against each other, creating Kappos to divide and conquer.

It is frightening to think that it happened, that millions of people were wiped out in a few years only. To read survivor memoirs, knowing this is a direct history of people only two generations preceding.

I still grapple with the question: how do you respond to genocide?

Suffrage in the Kitchen

Feminism is no passing fad. I am sure that has been established, but just in case, do indulge me by letting it ring loud and clear. Fire up the ovens, bring out the saucepans, and bust out with the measuring cups. Feminism is raging again in the form of cupcakes, phyllo pastry and perfectly done steaks.

Over the past fifty years, appliance manufacturers have created new ways to make a woman’s work easier. I am sure we have all seen through the gender-biased guise by now. Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and anything else Kenmore can make electric have been touted as time saving and labor reducing and marketed towards women as illustrious machines that will ensure they can “do it all.”

Now, instead of spending hours doing laundry and raising children, a woman can easily do laundry, raise children, have a full time job, and still put the required effort in for her husband when he gets home.

Sounds quite awful, doesn’t it? Truth is, some families do indeed still operate this way and many people see this as a way of life. Does this mean these women are not feminists? Does this mean these women are degrading the very ideal of equality amongst all? Some would say yes. Some would say that by donning a pencil skirt, a pair of heels, and an apron, a woman is giving in to subservient lifestyle expected of her after generations of patriarchy.

I just don’t know if I agree.

This twenty something generation, the “Z’ers” as we are called, have had the great fortune to be raised by women who fought hard for their right to be called equals, even so far as to be the bread winner in the family. Great strides have been made: there is now maternity leave for fathers, open acceptance of day cares for working families, universities ensuring that child services are available for student mothers and fathers, and a greater encouragement for the “man of the household” to take a larger role in the domestic duties.

This is still not enough, as we all know. Misogyny is still commonplace in our society and women are much more at risk for domestic violence, marginalization. They battle inequity daily in the workplace and the grocery store. Women are still not paid as much as men in many industries and despite projects to encourage women to participate in trades, the culture is not nearly as accepting as the government funding.

This constant struggle to assert independence from the hearth has created an unfortunate backlash; making women who enjoy cooking, baking, staying at home with their children and yes, even getting married, feel inferior or like bad feminists. A woman proud of her skills on a gas stove, or her ability to make a perfect piecrust is often scoffed at. Women just do not cook anymore.

This is absurd. Do you truly think that while your grandmother was off bra burning she was also letting that pork roast go to pot? No. She was bra burning and then creating a meal with her own two hands because one can be as empowering as another. Cooking, baking, and cleaning, these are not things done because men need them to be done. Single women everywhere do these things, for themselves, because one has to eat, one has to eat delicious foods, and one should clean occasionally to ensure that the rustling noises are the cat and not the cat eating mice.

The Tyee’s writer, Vanessa Richards wrote, “In short, men come across as evolved, sexy and creative when they mix things up in the kitchen. But women seem stuck in Leave-it-to-Beaver-land when they step in front of the stove: domestic suckers who aren’t paying enough attention to their ambition or their libidos.” Yes, stepping away from the domestic duties and pushing for an equal responsibility in completing these tasks was necessary. Everyday I thank my foremothers for their actions. Attending a university, where men and women are treated equal – in an institutional sense – is not something I take lightly. I value the advances women before me made on my behalf and couldn’t imagine what my twenties would have been spent doing if I had been born seventy years earlier.

The strongest feminist I know, my grandmother, still cooks thanksgiving dinner every year. She taught me how to bake, and cook. She is no Julia Child, but she recognized the value of knowing how to make sourdough starter, and what a perfect cheese sauce can do in covering overcooked broccoli.

Michael Pollan, worldwide foodie superstar, said a brilliant thing when he came out with seven simple words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Cooking isn’t about women’s liberation, cooking is about feeding oneself. It is sexy when a man can cook, is it not the same for a woman?

I have recently conquered my own fear of the kitchen, and after years of defending my right to sit in the living room and talk politics while my aunts and cousins would make a lavish meal, I realize that I am missing out. Proving myself to be as argumentative as my male relatives was not nearly as satisfying as reclaiming the grill from my Uncle and serving up some vegetarian delights. Hosting dinners for my friends is as satisfying some days as defending neo-liberal institutionalism to a small “c” conservative realist.

There is great honour in being able to provide for oneself. There is nothing un-feminist about loving to cook or bake. Women’s liberation should not be threatened by a home cooked meal. Women’s rights are threatened by a lack of strong representation in our governments, by the continued battle for equal pay, and by the fight against the right for a woman to choose. Those are the battles we should still be fighting, but the battle of the kitchen should be an easy draw. Partnership’s work on respect and like any battleground, territory is hard fought for but once its won, it seems less important that it did before.

Yes, supermarkets have a bevy of pre-cooked, ready to heat and serve options at anyone’s disposal, but that is not how women were liberated. Those cheap and easy options are unhealthy and antisocial. Sharing and learning takes place through doing. How does a child learn how to cook if they only see pizza boxes and sushi take-out? My grandmother is as feminist as they come, the examples are many, but one thing she insisted on was family dinners: dinners that she cooked. We spent many hours in the kitchen helping, hindering, but most importantly learning. Stories were shared and wisdom was imparted to our young minds and I would say all four of her grandchildren are better off for it.

We can all create meals that are the envy of others. We all enjoy cooking and baking and feel no shame in coming home from our jobs, our classes, or our dates and rifling through the recipe box, looking for a way to relax and create something enjoyable.

Denying something so fundamental to life is not liberating, it is shackling. Who doesn’t enjoy eating? Why would a woman, or anyone, not acknowledge the simple goodness of home cooked food. It is healthier, is cheaper, most importantly, it is a simple way to regain an iota of control in this crazy, mixed-up world.

I would rather spend my time learning from, than fighting with a partner over who is going to cook that night’s dinner. I have no shame in bringing freshly baked muffins to a meeting, because it was done out of a desire for community, not a sense of expectancy.

Not everyone likes to cook, and thankfully the options to skate around that task are many, but for those who do, relish in your hobby. Women and men, if Nigella Lawson’s piecrust recipe is better than porn for you – and believe me, it is – then kick off those Birkenstocks, slip on an apron and make something fattening. It is more liberating than you think.

Originally published in The Meliorist. Volume 43, Issue 06, October 8th, 2009.

Art, with the lovely Jane Edmundson

Jane Edmundson is a Lethbian through and through. Born and raised in Lethbridge, Alberta, a graduate of the UofL with a BFA in Studio Art, and currently working at the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, she is a staple in the Lethbridge music and arts scene as well as a supporter of local artistry and artist community groups. Nourishing a serious crush for typefaces, shiny dance pants and shoes, she knows good looking when she sees it. Just ask Lethbridge based musician Paul Lawton.

I spoke to Jane in mid October about what “art” means to Lethbridge, how funding cuts have affected the University of Lethbridge gallery and why we are truly much more cultured than the rest of Alberta.

JE: Well, in my 3rd year, I started as a student employee at the Gallery which ended up parlaying into a full time position working on the database and while I was doing that, I was also helping out the Preparator with exhibition installation so when he went on leave, I ended up filling in for him and I’ve been doing a mixture of the prep job and curatorial assistant duties for two years. I suppose I stayed because I couldn’t turn down such an amazing experience in my field getting work in the museum/gallery field right out of school is pretty amazing.

JP: Is this fairly typical of Lethbridge? Hiring gallery staff from the bottom up?

JE: Since the University Gallery encourages student volunteerism, often those volunteer positions can parlay into paid positions. The SAAG also has employed many University [of Lethbridge] graduates. It is a good pool to hire from.

JP: Many people view Lethbridge/Southern Alberta as fairly uncultured, yet those who know, know that Lethbridge boasts a tremendous art collection and devoted art scene. In your experience here, do you feel there is a thriving art culture?

JE: I think it is definitely thriving. Having a university here really facilitates the community by providing young artists and museum studies students that are interested in creating work and mounting exhibitions. Also the University promotes cultural education, which means there are lots of professors and staff that are interested in supporting local artists and exhibitions.

The University of Lethbridge Art Society (ULAS) maintains various displays of student art all over the city that Lethbridge residents can encounter in non-traditional venues, The Penny Coffee House, for example.

The SAAG brings critically acclaimed up and coming, and established artists to town for exhibitions because the community is smaller than those in Vancouver or Toronto. Students and Lethbridge citizens can interact directly with the artists when they come to town to install their exhibitions or when they are visiting as lecturers for the Art NOW course at the University.

There are also various independent artists studios all around downtown giving professional artists living in town a framework of support and the Bowman Arts Centre and Trianon Gallery provide even more opportunities for exhibitions and cultural experiences.

Really, the opportunities for artists and art supporters just keep growing.

Oh! And Trap\door artist run centre; they are a great support network for local artists, and they bring international up and coming artists to town for exhibitions and residencies.

JP: You mention Art NOW, which brings in a variety of artists to educate the UofL student community. Does this do a lot to benefit the UofL art gallery as well?

JE: I think the two go hand in hand very well. Visiting artists are drawn to the University because of its great reputation as a cultural institution, which comes from having a strong Fine Arts Faculty and the extensive art collection and any artists that are hosted by the Gallery to install contemporary exhibitions (such as Allyson Mitchell, who was recently here to install her Ladies Sasquatch exhibition) are also featured in Art NOW, which helps bring students that are enrolled in the class to visit the Gallery.

JP: What does the UofL gallery have to offer to the Lethbridge community that is unique? Why the need for an on-campus gallery when we have 5 or 6 others in a small city with a variable population?

JE: The students and staff/faculty on campus can have easy, direct access to art and research materials, and even those in the campus community who wouldn’t normally search out those cultural experiences can easily wander into the Gallery (or walk through the Helen Christou Gallery).

The Uni Gallery programming features both exhibitions from the collection, as well as contemporary exhibitions. The Gallery has also developed an online database of all the works in the collection. So, students, faculty, Lethbridge citizens, artists and researchers can learn from the collection first hand, or through the database, or through the contemporary art that the Gallery brings to Lethbridge

The integration with visiting artist lectures and the Uni Gallery gives students and community members an opportunity to learn in the lectures, and then go and view the art directly.

The Gallery and art collection allows Museum Studies/Art History students to learn directly from the collection and exhibition programming/installation techniques directly from Gallery staff. Having this type of hands-on education is extremely rare in an undergrad setting.

The 3000 level Museum Studies students are now curating one exhibition a year for the Helen Christou Gallery, which is an amazing opportunity for undergrad students who are hoping to go on to graduate school in the field

Basically, education.

JP: Helen Christou Gallery. What is, where is it, and what purpose does it fulfill?

JE: The HCG is our satellite space, it is on Level 9 of the LINC building, right beside the Security Offices. Essentially, it is a corridor space which we have adopted for exhibitions and the space is programmed along with our Main Gallery space so sometimes the two shows relate to each other, and other times they are independent of each other. We utilize the space as another way to reach students and staff/faculty who may not normally visit the Main Gallery space

Generally the shows featured in the HCG are eye catching, and accessible to people of a variety of cultural and art appreciation backgrounds.

JP: You have done some curating for the UofL galleries, what has been your favorite exhibit been to put together?

JE: My first exhibition, Tasty Treats, which was in the HCG, featured works from the collection that depict various food. It was really fun and I had a great opportunity to make awesome posters and a great brochure with my curatorial text.

JP: I have buttons from that show! They are adorable.

JE: This past summer I got to curate my first Main Gallery exhibition, and I chose to display some of the large scale, photographic pieces from the collection that examine depictions of the human body, which I thought ended up being really understated and lovely, and the Gallery felt really peaceful. It was nice to get to do something more serious after the first, more carefree show. (The Main Gallery show was called “The Body Multiple”)

JP: Has there been any affect on the UofL Gallery with arts funding cuts? Also, do you anticipate any impact from upcoming University wide budget cuts?

JE: We were affected most by Harper’s decision to cut the Exhibition Transport Service, a national shipping network for artwork and art exhibitions. It was subsidized by the government, which meant artworks and full travelling exhibitions could be shipped between galleries and museums for an affordable price.

Most of the public galleries in Canada are not-for-profit, so they can’t afford astronomical costs of shipping. When the Conservatives [government] cancelled the program, it had the University of Lethbridge Gallery and galleries all across Canada scrambling to meet shipping costs for planned exhibitions. We had to adjust some of our planning for an artist’s project coming up this November when the shipping costs proved to be prohibitive.

However, we are luckier than a lot of other galleries in Canada that don’t have the other sources of funding we have. We are supported by both the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. We are lucky to have a great Director/Curator that earns us grant funding also because we have the support of the University, and the forethought of the people that first began the art collection, the Gallery also has funding via an endowment so we are doing better than a lot of places.

JP: Is it a curator’s primary role to secure funding now, in a [sic] economically frustrated world?

JE: It is a huge part of their role, yes

JP: Lastly… Which Lethbridge gallery is your favourite, and why?

JE: (laughs) I can’t answer that! (more charming laughter) I am biased, the University Gallery has given me so many opportunities; I am indebted

JP: Fine, which Gallery in the WORLD is your favourite?

JE: The time I spent in the Musee d’Art Contemporain in Montreal was absolutely fantastic

If you want to see a sample of Jane Edmundson’s curating skills, Head Shots is the featured exhibit at the Helen Christou Gallery until October 23rd, 2009.

Article first published in The Meliorist, Volume 43, Issue 7 on Ovtober 8th, 2009.

Moral war: Canadian and American forces help or hinder?

The imagery of military in Canada is rich with Tim Horton’s commercials, blue helmets, and foreign wars in far off countries. Canadian borders are far too large to protect, and national defense has never been a major priority in our country. Our efforts have stood for keeping peace in unstable regions around the world. Classic chapter six missions from the UN Declaration of Human Rights have been the name of the game for most of Canada’s recent military history, and with the exception of the world wars, we have been a country involved little in active warfare. Canadians make peace, not war.

We so easily climb onto our pedestal to look down at our neighbors south of the 49th, not realizing how shaky the foundation of our moral snobbery is. While Canadian’s have conducted themselves admirably in conflicts and deployments abroad, there is still a nagging doubt about whether there needs to be intervention or at least education, in other military actors immoral behaviors.

An American war resister, Joshua Key, spoke to pitifully small crowd last week at the University of Lethbridge. The seventeen people who attended likely found their ideas on conflict, the military, and Canada’s refugee system shaken and Key touched every heart with his personal account of warfare and bloodlust. Where was the rest of the University? Yes, it was not a Canadian solider but nonetheless, what happens down there in the States very much affects Canada. Our military policies are increasingly reflective of American values and military practices. Our commitment to certain missions comes with a politically fueled motivation. We very much want America to be our friend.

Canada is not dependent on America for economic or national security, although that is not the popular opinion at this time. The operative word here being dependent. While we are not dependent, we are influenced by our supermodel neighbor. Their actions inform our decisions and despite our refusal to join the Coalition of the Willing, you will notice that we do have Canadian troops in Iraq as well as in America’s other colony hopefully, Afghanistan.

Moral integrity and warfare, thought to be mutually exclusive. Military exercises are a practice in sacrificing personal choice for the greater good. We ask our men and women to put themselves in great physical discomfort and mortal peril on a regular basis to serve a higher purpose, whatever that higher purpose is. It is the responsibility of their state to ensure that the higher purpose, the greater good, the justification required to sacrifice lives is sound, real and above all, moral.

Moral, yes. It was a moral action to intervene in the Holocaust and the invasion of Nazi Germany. It was moral action to send NATO and UN forces into the Balkan arena. Inhumane and senseless slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people is not something the rest of the world should tolerate. It should be ended, and with a sustainable future in sight. So what happens when the heroes become the terrorists? When the North American armed forces, known for their protecting nature and belief in democracy, and safety, are the new threat.

Key pointed out often that it was no longer America against the terrorists in Iraq. America had become the terrorists. House raids, arbitrary arrests, checkpoint shootings, and indiscriminate gunfire; the innocent lives lost did not die defending their country or an ideal or a fundamentalist regime. They died because they lived in an area that was violate and dangerous. They died at the hands of the people sent in to protect them from their own government. If a government was doing this to their own people, you can be sure one of the Security Council members would stand up to say that was unacceptable. In fact, that is exactly what happened. So why is it fine for America to put these unstable regions under siege with no accountability to the rest of the world or to their own citizens?

Joshua Key no longer believed in what he was fighting for. He no longer believed that his reason for being in Iraq was just. He was an American citizen and regardless of social status, economic status, or age, he believed to be free to exercise his right as an American citizen and was willing to be held accountable for his own actions but not the actions of the United States armed forces.

The rungs of the military ladder are slippery and often caked with the arbitrary rulings of the one higher above you. At all times, subordination is the rule. You do not question your commanding officer, you do not threaten the veneer of respect of a commanding officer, and you never question the ethics or justification of the United States military. You stay put, keep your head down, and do what you’re told, even if that means the slaughter of innocents. Even if that means taking no direct action when you know the life of someone else is at risk.

Where do we draw the line between personal accountability and state accountability? A Belgian commanding officer in the United Nations mission to Rwanda was court marshaled for six of his men dying while on-duty in Rwanda when the genocide started. Yet, NATO forces in the Middle East are ransacking the homes of citizens with no repercussions. Some of the greatest human rights atrocities of the last fifty years are being committed on quasi-American soil, again with no repercussions.

It is true, the victor will write the history book, but that does not mean the rest of us should forget to read between the lines.

Originally appears in The Meliorist Independent paper, Volume 43, Issue 05. October 8th, 2009.