FALL 2017
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The Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
T.S. ELIOT’S
MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL — Cameron VanBuskirk’s experience, page 12; Rev’d Dr Robert D. Crouse’s Commentary, page 15.
INSIDE: BEFORE ALL ELSE, BE ARMED ∙ POETRY BY ERIN APPELBE AND ATA ZARGAROF ∙ CLASSICS IN THE QUAD 2017: ANTIGONE ∙ ON GREAT BOOKS ∙ ON THE ROAD WITH ODYSSEUS ∙ PLAYING AT MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL ∙ MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, COMMENTARY ∙ EVAN KING AND EARLY MODERN PLATONISM ∙ CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP! ∙ REFLECTIONS ON THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION ∙ THE DUOMO AS YOUR CLASSROOM ∙ HYP: HUMANITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ∙ GOOD END OF TERM, HUMANS! ∙ FACE TO FACE NOT FACEBOOK ∙ BOOK AND MUSIC ANNOUNCEMENTS ∙ PLUS NEWS, PHOTOS & MORE!
FALL 2017
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The Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
CONTENTS Editors:
1 “Before all else, be armed.” Dr. Susan Dodd
Duncan McCue (FYP 1989–90)
16 Commentary on Murder in the Cathedral, by T.S. Eliot Gary Thorne, 2017
3 Untitled
Ata Zargarof (FYP 2017–18)
18 Evan King in Classics
Alan Rempel (FYP 2014–15)
4 Classics in the Quad 2017: Antigone Hayley Frail
Dr. Susan Dodd (FYP 1983–84)
Judyta Frodyma
6 Jane Breakell Fulbright Scholar on King’s Treasures
20 Dreams of the Wilderness
7 On the Road With Odysseus
20 The Renaissance and Reformation
9 Evermore
21 The Duomo as your Classroom
10 Reflections on Burnside Humanities
24 HYP: Humanities for Young People
Jane Breakell
Design: Co. & Co.
19 Creative Writing
Neil Robertson (FYP 1981–82) Erin Appelbe (FYP 2017–18) Ethan Speigel (FYP 2015–16)
11 Listening to Ted Fontaine (Residential School Survivor) Leith Johnson (FYP 2017–18)
12 Playing at Murder in the Cathedral
Cameron VanBuskirk (FYP 2017–18)
14 Commentary on Murder in the Cathedral, by T.S. Eliot Robert D. Crouse, 1999
Ata Zargarof
Roberta Barker (FYP 1992–93) Jannette Vusich
aura Penny (FYP 1992–93) L and Sarah Clift
25 Day Students trying to get past Leopard, Lion, Wolf Mary Campbell (FYP 1983–84)
26 Face to Face NOT Facebook
homas Curran (Certified Social T Media Therapist)
27 Accomplishments
Welcome to FYP News Have a FYP story to tell? Spot something that you think missed this edition? Please contact us with your ideas for the next issue. Email: susan.dodd@ukings.ca
“BEFORE ALL ELSE, BE ARMED.” BY DUNCAN M C CUE, FYP 89–90 When you work in a newsroom that’s always fixated on what’s happening right now, you rarely have need to dig into the texts of ancient thinkers. In my home, however, there’s a special place on my bookshelf for many of the great works I discovered during the Foundation Year at King’s. My copies may be nearly three decades old and gathering dust, but from time to time, I refer back to my favourites. As a teenager with a political agenda, Niccolò Machiavelli’s guile spoke to me. Today, flipping through dog-eared pages of The Prince, his counsel still rings true. “Before all else, be armed.” When I was eighteen years old, I didn’t choose the Foundation Year because I had ambitions for a career in philosophy or classics. Not in the least. I wanted something else out of FYP. As a young Anishinaabe man, I wanted insight into the mind of the colonizer. There is no doubt that portions of the Americas were settled using brute force: guns, germs and steel. But the acquisition of Indigenous lands in Canada was as much accomplished with the deft use of laws, legislation and literature. Those
razor-sharp instruments of colonialism had roots in Western thinking and philosophies— and I wanted to dig deep. From the beginning, FYP didn’t fail to ignite my intellect. I fondly remember Dr. Angus Johnson passionately lecturing on Plato’s ideal Forms. Later, in tutorial, Dr. Henry Roper playfully laid on the giant wooden table and asked: “Does this table exist?” We debated that for two hours. It was heady stuff. What disappointed me, though, was the uniformity of the King’s student body. Each morning, I sat down for lecture, surrounded by mostly white faces. I decided to vent in the student newspaper, The Watch. In what would be my first published piece of journalism, I argued that King’s was guilty of systemic racism. The headline was brief and bold. “King’s: White Wash” I remember walking into the Quad, amazed to see students debating my article. It inspired a group of students to sit outside Prince Hall, gathering signatures on a petition. We eventually presented that petition to the President. We asked the administration to acknowledge systemic racism was barring diverse students from pursuing an education at King’s. We hoped for change.
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
As the year progressed, I took from the Foundation Year what I needed.
With care and great passion, professors at King’s taught me about the Enlightenment and ideals of human equality.
Plunging into the Bible and St. Augustine and Dante exposed me to Judeo-Christian concepts of God, so vastly different from Indigenous spirituality. In Rousseau’s The Social Contract, I encountered the notion of the ‘Noble Savage’ that influenced the newcomers to Turtle Island in their written and artistic representations of Apparently, I was once quoted as saying, “King’s the first peoples. In Darwin’s On the Origin of was great. It taught me the enemy.” Species, I got a glimpse of why my people were once considered ‘inferior.’ My older self shakes my head at the brashness of youth. I’m not sure such binary and adverWith care and great passion, professors at King’s sarial thinking is true to my ancestors’ vision, taught me about the Enlightenment and ideals when they signed treaty with the newcomers. of human equality. It helped me understand the But make no mistake: that relationship is now intellectual hypocrisy of Canada’s ‘founding broken and reconciliation will never happen if fathers,’ whose own brand of colonialism lead Canadians don’t understand and change the to Indian residential schools and the Indian Act. colonial mindset that got us to this place. I was at King’s in the late 1980s. The syllabus of 2017–2018 looks much like it did then, with notable additions. This year’s students will be treated to an evening lecture by Catherine Martin on storytelling in Mi’kmaq territory and a lunch session with Ted Fontaine from Winnipeg on the Residential Schools. Award-winning journalist Duncan McCue is the host of CBC Radio One Cross Country Checkup. McCue was a reporter for CBC News in Vancouver for over 15 years. Now based in Toronto, his news and current affairs pieces continue to be featured on CBC’s flagship news show, The National. McCue’s work has garnered several RTNDA and Jack Webster Awards. He was part of a CBC Aboriginal investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women that won numerous honours including the Hillman Award for Investigative Journalism. McCue has spent years teaching journalism at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism and was recognized by the Canadian Ethnic Media Association with an Innovation Award for developing curriculum on
FYP News – Spring 2017
These are welcome improvements to the curriculum, minor as they may be. FYP’s promise—to explore “fundamental texts from the ancient to the contemporary world”—remains an unabashed exploration of Western thought. In no way is it a comprehensive history of human knowledge. For that, a seeker must go far beyond the King’s Quad.
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For me, King’s Foundation Year was an essential step toward that understanding. Miigwechwendam—I am grateful. ❧
Indigenous issues. He’s also an author: his book The Shoe Boy: A Trapline Memoir recounts a season he spent in a hunting camp with a Cree family in northern Quebec as a teenager. He was awarded a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University in 2011, where he created an online guide for journalists called Reporting in Indigenous Communities (riic.ca). Before becoming a journalist, McCue studied English at the University of King’s College, then Law at UBC. He was called to the bar in British Columbia in 1998. McCue is Anishinaabe, a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation in southern Ontario, and proud father of two children.
UNTITLED BY ATA ZARGAROF, CURRENT FYP STUDENT See us gathered here in the lofty air, piercing at shadows with dim light, rejoicing in reunion with the One, whatever that may mean. Each follows the long road into Paradise one cruel or kind step at a time. Perhaps, by putting pen to paper and scraping eternity, Write! Now. This term, Luke Franklin (FYP 1999–00), Don, and Susan Dodd, Associate Director, hosted silent writing gatherings in the New Academic Building on the night before the night before FYP essays were due. Here is Susan’s work station, looking over the 50 odd students who attended the first Write! Now of the term, on a beautiful evening in September. Join us next term! It’s strangely fun.
we just might quicken the voyage and return home at last, philosopher-kings and -queens of our own designs.
In the next FYP News: Dr. Mark Burke our new FYP Writing Coach will consider the joys of helping students to approach your FYP essays, and the joys of working together to improve our writing and argumentation.
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
CLASSICS IN THE QUAD 2017: ANTIGONE DR. SUSAN DODD, FYP TUTOR This year we were treated to a vigorous production of Sophocles’ Antigone: a tragic conflict between two profoundly righteous characters. Each is destroyed by a devotion so pure that it self-destructs in a paradoxical negation of the pure devotion of the other. For some thinkers, the Antigone epitomizes emerging “Western” technological attitudes. For others, the play expresses the highest and most profound desire for reconciliation between the natural goods of the body and family, and the rational goods of the mind and will. Staged on the steps of the library in the fading light of late afternoon, this riveting production brought Christian Laroche’s powerful and raging Kreon into catastrophic conflict with Georgia Noble Irwin’s unbending and defiant Antigone. Ezra Tennen was downright uncanny as Tiresias, in their fluttering dress, with its thin fabric sliding to expose fragile flesh, and FYP News – Spring 2017
their weeping blindness revealing the vision of the god. As Ismene, Antigone’s loyal sister, Emma Steinke evoked helpless rejection. As Haemon, Dylan Jackson moved from hopeful filial persuasion into wounded fury against his father, the king, Kreon. The Messenger, Ella MacDonald simpered and joked—delighting the audience and enraging Kreon—delivering truths that were as unwelcomed as they were misunderstood. Eurydice, played by Chloe Kaulbach, defeated by the contradictions of the gods’ demands, completed Kreon’s destruction in inexorable self-violence. The Chorus were utterly disconcerting—engaged through their expressive voices, and detached through their porcelain-like masks. It is rare in this life to receive a gift as pure and lasting as this memorable performance of Sophocles’ devastating and life-affirming play. ❧
CLASSICS IN THE QUAD: SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE Kreon: Christian Laroche, Antigone: Georgia Noble Irwin. Tiresias: Ezra Tennen, Ismene: Emma Steinke. Haemon: Dylan Jackson, Eurydice: Chloe Kaulbach, Watchman/Messenger: Ella MacDonald (FYP 2016–17). Chorus Leaders: Bella Larsen and Samantha Machado. Chorus: Emma Doig, Katie Clarke, Abiezer ‘Eddy’ Cuevas, Nelly Bateman, and Adrianna Vanos. Music by: Edie Reaney-Chunn and Jessica MacIsaac. Directors: Ethan J. Speigel and David Woroner (FYP 2015/16). (All cast members are current FYP students except Ella).
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“ODE TO MAN,” SOPHOCLES, ANTIGONE Numberless wonders Terrible wonders walk the world but none the match for man— That great wonder crossing the heaving gray sea, driven on by the blasts of winter on through breakers crashing left and right, holds his steady course and the oldest of the gods he wears away— the Earth, the immortal, the inexhaustible— as his plows go back and forth, year in, year out with the breed of stallions turning up the furrows. And the blithe, lightheaded race of birds he snares, the tribes of savage beasts, the life that swarms the depths— with one fling of his nets woven and coiled tight, he takes them all, man the skilled, the brilliant! He conquers all, taming with his techniques the prey that roams the cliffs and wild lairs, training the stallion, clamping the yoke across his shaggy neck, and the tireless mountain bull
Christian Laroche and Georgia Noble Irwin
And speech and thought, quick as the wind and the mood and mind for law that rules the city— all these he has taught himself and shelter from the arrows of the frost when there’s rough lodging under the cold clear sky and the shafts of lashing rain— ready, resourceful man! Never without resources Never an impasse as he marches on the future— only Death, from Death alone he will find no rescue but from desperate plagues he has plotted his escapes.
Ezra Tennen
Man the master, ingenious past all measure Past all dreams, the skills within his grasp— He forges on, now to destruction now again to greatness. When he weaves in the laws of the land, and the justice of the gods that binds his oaths together he and his city rise high— but the city casts out that man who weds himself to inhumanity thanks to reckless daring. Never share my hearth never think my thoughts, whoever does such things. ——— Robert Fagles, translation.
Emma Steinke and Georgia Noble Irwin
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
THE TREASURE ROOM JANE BREAKELL
Leafing through, you can feel the weave of the paper, and the imprint of the typeface on reverse pages.
On the first cold day in November, I had lunch with K ing’s librar ian Pat r icia Chalmers to talk about the school’s first Great Books — the library’s original collection. In 1800, John Inglis, then about 25 years old, undertook a holy mission: he was given a small fortune and sent to England to buy books. In the end, he returned with a collection worth far more than the budget he’d been given. Major donors included, among others, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Oxford University, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Trustees of the British Museum. In other words, John Inglis was a talented schmoozer, and would be a credit to any modern-day fundraising office.
addition to knowing his scripture. But what about the Asylum, and other impractical works I saw down there — plays, verse, travelogues? Why drag these frivolous bricks that great distance back across the Atlantic? The short answer is, liberal arts had never gone out of fashion, so the clerical curriculum included humanities and applied science. But having been a buyer of books myself, on a smaller scale, and having bought many that are not strictly pertinent to educational goals, I allow myself to speculate another reason, to do with a newly urgent need for a religion, a mythology, of home.
Jane Breakell
This year the library has provided special tutorials on the rare books collection for FYP students, so that they can directly experience the history of the books they are reading in the programme.
The books acquired by young Mr. Inglis were works of craftsmanship, a pleasure to hold, and they were holy tools, intended to educate of a new generation of Anglican clergy in Nova Scotia. In those days what we might now call a Great Books program was standard fare for higher education. Latin, Greek and Hebrew language learning were included (the better to get into esoteric theological arguments with one’s peers), as were classical philosophy works familiar to today’s FYP student. But Inglis did not limit himself to classics and philosophical works. A catalogue, hand-scribed and illustrated by the first official librarian appointed to care for this collection, includes under “A” such titles as Anecdotes of Henry the 4th, Agricultural Reports, Aldrick’s Architecture, a collection of verse cutely titled, Asylum for Fugitive Pieces. Why would the provincial clergy need to know about Agricultural Reports, or Architecture, or “fugitive pieces”? Perhaps because, at the time, Nova Scotia was something of a frontier, and any man might find himself responsible for building his own house and growing his own food, in
FYP News – Spring 2017
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Jane Breakell
A few days after my lunch with Patricia, I visited what is known as the Treasure Room of the King’s library, guided and supervised by the archivist, Janet Hathaway. I wandered up and down aisles lined with gilt-imprinted calfskin spines. Some of these books are results of that first campaign, others later acquisitions. Leafing through, you can feel the weave of the paper, and the imprint of the typeface on reverse pages. In the wake of the American Revolutionary War, Nova Scotians became in a new way isolated. Some, notably a group of about 9,000 from Rhode Island and Connecticut, had moved prior to the war, drawn away from crowded towns by the availability of good land further north. Others, like Inglis and his family, had been evacuated from the newly independent United States after the war. In their lifetimes, their first home, the place they were born, became a foreign country. They were left to lean into a distant England, a place which some of them had never seen. The religion of home required a good deal of magical thinking, and props — texts and talismans — were helpful. In those fractured, uncertain years, Inglis’s books were a twofold act of piety. They prepared students to serve the Church, and more importantly, they enabled them — as Great Books still do today — to imagine a world which made sense, and where they belonged. ❧ Jane Breakell is a Fulbright scholar and author who is attached to the Foundation Year Programme and the Nova Scotia Archives for 2017–18.
ON THE ROAD WITH ODYSSEUS BY DR. NEIL G. ROBERTSON, FYP DIRECTOR This fall Professor Tim Curry, Director of the School of Journalism, Tara Wigglesworth-Hines and Kimberly Gosse, both from the Registrar’s Office and I took Homer’s Odyssey on the road. In Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto we met more than 300 prospective students and their parents and tried to get them to think of King’s and of FYP as the place for their intellectual and educational odyssey. Tim Curry wove from this ancient text a wonderful way to approach and think about our contemporary world and how the Odyssey might be seen as opening a sense of the kind of storytelling that is at the heart of an education in Journalism. Below are some remarks that I made for the graduates of May this year and which formed the basis of my talk on our “road trip”. I began this after dinner talk, by citing the wonderful teaching of Angus Johnston, whom we lost this April and whom we will remember in a special issue of FYP News. Angus Johnston lectured in the Foundation Year this February, beautifully and movingly, on Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. As part of that lecture, he presented us with an image from the New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman. Friedman compares our age to a hurricane: a whirling, disturbing, disrupting hurricane of globalization and cultural transformation and uncertainty. We are all facing this, we are all in this hurricane. Friedman suggests two basic responses. One we could call the liberal or progressive response — that we should in some way try to go with, or ride, the hurricane, even seek to master it, if only temporarily. The other response would be to build walls of protection against the hurricane — and this would be the conservative or reactionary response. There is truth and strength in both these responses. But, building on Friedman’s image, Angus suggested that there is a third way to relate to the hurricane, the storm of our time: to try to find a way to the “eye,” to find a place
of quiet or calm reflection from which we can see the whole thing. That would be to find the centre of the circle. Angus argued that this was the essential work of the Foundation Year Programme — and I think it is also what is at work in what the School of Journalism means by “balanced story telling.” Finding our way to the centre of the circle — the eye of the storm — means finding a place where we are both in the midst of the storm and yet at the same time out of the storm—and thus able to contemplate the storm.
Angus suggested that there is a third way to relate to the hurricane, the storm of our time…
The centre and the circle. In a collection of essays celebrating Halifax Humanities’ tenth anniversary, Each Book A Drum, Angus quotes one of his own teachers, Robert Crouse: “Teaching is not showing students what sun they should orbit, but rather what sun they are orbiting.” Teaching is not about what we should be, but about seeing what we actually are. This is not because there isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a “should.” But the “should” is for you — for each person — to discover, from that still centre, the eye
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
of the hurricane. There are so many shoulds in our world, both practical and moral: shoulds of success and shoulds of justice. But these “shoulds” are the hurricane itself, or perhaps the walls we build to stand against the hurricane. What we are striving to do at King’s is to find a third way, a standpoint not outside of, but at the heart of, these “shoulds.” The centre and the circle.
Curriculum is rather the effort of both students and teachers to let the Muse sing, and to hear her song.
This was especially an image Angus used to talk about Homer’s Odyssey, a work many of you read at the very start of FYP. Right from the beginning—“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story”—there is singing at the centre of this poem, a goddess, a Muse around whom the whole thing circles. The song, you will remember, is about Odysseus, “the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy.” Odysseus wandered the earth for ten years trying to return to his home. He wandered out in the circle of life: but home, at the centre, was wise Penelope keeping that centre timeless and true, even as Odysseus circled around and around. If we see the Odyssey as offering us a pedagogical vision, I want to suggest that it is in this image of “singing.” One of the things that characterizes the Foundation Year Programme is that it has pretty much a fixed curriculum. And that curriculum
is established not by the students, nor—I would argue—really by the faculty either. Curriculum is rather the effort of both students and teachers to let the Muse sing, and to hear her song. Now, curriculum can all seem like so much rote learning or perhaps a kind of brainwashing. But I want to suggest that the freedom, the transformation of students in a curriculum, is that they are coming to hear a song, and a song not foreign to them. So the first task is a kind of listening to a song—a listening that discloses the suns around which we are orbiting, that lets us glimpse the eye of the whirlwind. The Odyssey also shows us a second moment of singing. Just before returning to his home on Ithaca, Odysseus spends time with the Phaiakians, the wondrously civilized and urbane children of Poseidon, to whom Odysseus in his suffering and sorrows stands in such contrast. At dinner a harper sings, and Odysseus, who has not revealed his identity, asks the harper to recount the war at Troy, the war and anguish he himself knew. Odysseus weeps quietly as the harper sings. His host, the king of the Phaiakians, says to Odysseus: Tell me why you should grieve so terribly Over the Argives and the fall of Troy That was all gods’ work, weaving ruin there So it should make a song for men to come! The song which should bring a kind of joy, for Odysseus—who knew the suffering, the circle around the events of the song—brings grief. But there is more: what Odysseus’ weeping reveals is that this stranger himself bears a tale, which he is then asked to recount. So Odysseus sings his own song, his travels and travails since Troy. And this is the second moment of learning: beyond hearing the song of the curriculum (if I can put it that way), we are called to sing our own song. Or, better, within that curriculum we are to sing our own song. It seems to me that within FYP this is what happens in a tutorial or in an essay, or perhaps it is what an upper-year class is about. For a journalist, this may be an editorial or an internship or a work of investigative reporting. We must first hear the song, and then we must ourselves sing within that song.
BEATIFIC SWINEHERD Asha Jeffers plays the Swineherd from Homer’s Odyssey in the Halifax Humanities 24 hour reading of the entire text on November 24-25. Halifax Humanities is a great books programme for Halifax’s inner city. It is modelled on the Foundation Year Programme, and draws on volunteer professors from across Halifax and beyond. You can donate to the Halifax Humanities through CanadaHelps.org
FYP News – Spring 2017
But there is a third moment—and it seems to me that here we are approaching what graduation is all about. Odysseus returns finally to Ithaca, his home which was preserved by and through [ 8 ]
But in the end, Odysseus reveals himself with a kind of poetic perfection. Penelope has said she will wed any who can string Odysseus’ massive bow and shoot through a line of axe handles. The suitors display their moral corruption in their physical incapacity to meet the challenge: they cannot even string the bow. But then Odysseus comes forward: But the man skilled in all ways of contending, satisfied by the great bow’s look and heft, like a musician, like a harper, when with quiet hand upon his instrument he draws between his thumb and forefinger a sweet new string upon a peg: so effortlessly Odysseus in one motion strung the bow. Then slid his right hand down the cord and plucked it, so the taut gut vibrating hummed and sang a swallow’s note. In the hushed hall it smote the suitors and all their faces changed.
EVERMORE BY ERIN APPELBE, CURRENT FYP STUDENT
Whispers, among the trees Water, caressing the rocks The further down I go more leaves fall by my toes The water as I walk Picks up with great force Yet, its grace is not forgotten Clouds twist and curl as dancers do Rain falls in puddles and pools Candles flicker against the lake stars shine above the bank The peace and calm Shall evermore remain Yet, I must go on and away
Photos by Erin Appelbe
Penelope in her weaving and unweaving, ravaged by the predations of the suitors who have taken advantage of her vulnerability. Warned by Athena, Odysseus realizes that he cannot come to his home directly. So he must take on a disguise. He must appear as the most outcast, suffering being—a beggar. In his return, he is recognized only by his faithful dog, Argus.
Here the song and the singing have become one. Odysseus enters the whirlwind, but he has within him the centre, the still eye of the storm. It seems to me this is what graduation is. This is where you are each given your bow and asked to string it. So let your bow sing, let the circle and the centre come together in your lives. It is both your deepest duty, what you have been formed for and, I hope, your deepest joy. Sing only this for me, sing me this well, and I shall say at once before the world the grace of heaven has given us a song. ❧ Max at his post
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
REFLECTIONS ON BURNSIDE HUMANITIES:
ILIADIC VENGEANCE AND COSMIC MEANING BY ETHAN SPEIGEL
Achilles, above; Achilles and Hector, right.
“Sorry, I just forgot…I forgot I was in prison, all this talking about Achilles and everything”
FYP News – Spring 2017
I started volunteering with Burnside Humanities over a year ago. In the spring of 2016, Harry Critchley, creator of the program, spoke at my final FYP lecture on how studying the humanities can enable an individual to rise above and beyond the oppressive shackles of the incarceration system. Harry’s vision for Burnside Humanities is to offer structured courses that can enable inmates to gain this contemplative power and thereby be able to go beyond their marginalized situation and enter a new world of knowledge. When I met Harry after the lecture, I desperately tried to get involved in any way, shape, or form with this program. Last week I lead a class at Burnside with a group of inmates on Books XVI – XVIII of Homer’s Iliad. The group and I focused primarily on the volatile nature of rage and the profound power of one’s inner passions within Homer’s epic. We thought about whether there is a change in the moral value of Achilles’ vengeance when he redirects his rage from Agamemnon onto Hector. I got to ask them if they think there is a presence or lack of meaning with respect to the tragic casualties of the Trojan War, and war in general. The group also reflected on the question of whether or not an individual can establish and maintain personal meaning amidst an ostensible void of cosmic meaning. The lesson ended with a conversation on the significance of the divine design of Achilles’ shield. One of the inmates concluded the class with this profound insight: on a literal level, Achilles physically wields a divine depiction of the cosmos upon a single piece of armour, [ 10 ]
which he literally uses to protect himself by standing strong in the face of danger. The inmate continued by saying that the shield illuminates the place of humans within the cosmic intermingling of strife and harmony. The shield depicts how all the negative experiences we must endure in life, even though they may seem devoid of meaning, are necessary to experience life in its totality. When the class finished, this inmate, in a mesmerized daze, began to wander off down the hall without the guard, who immediately called him back and chastised him for wandering off. When he mentally returned from this contemplative trance, he apologized to the guard, saying, “Sorry, I just forgot…I forgot I was in prison, all this talking about Achilles and everything”. The humanities gave him the ability to rise, albeit momentarily, beyond the walls of the prison. This was Harry’s vision. It came alive right before my eyes. ❧ Burnside Humanities prison education initiative is now organized by Don of Radical Bay, Andrew Griffin. Susan Dodd is the course director for this year’s class on “Blood Money and Reconciliation.” Neil Robertson, Simon Kow, Judyta Frodyma, Evan King and Maria Joy Bartholomew are also volunteering in this year’s class. Ethan Speigel (FYP 2014–15) is a third year Classics and CSP student and a longstanding volunteer with the Burnside Humanities prison initiative.
LISTENING: A TALK WITH TED FONTAINE, AUTHOR AND RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS SURVIVOR BY LEITH JOHNSON, CURRENT FYP STUDENT On Monday, October 30, King’s students and faculty, alike, flooded into the Peter Wilson Room over lunch, and moved about quickly in order to claim their seats on chairs, sofas, and, finally, the floor. Before long, only standing room remained available for a few last-minute stragglers. The reason for such a wall-to-wall draw? All were gathered to listen to and converse with Mr. Theodore (Ted) Fontaine, a member and former chief of the Sagkeeng Ojibway First Nation in Manitoba. Ted is also the author of Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools, a memoir that recounts his experiences while attending the Fort Alexander and Assiniboia Indian Residential School. After acknowledging that King’s is situated on unceded land of the Mi’kmaq people, the session began. With his wife, Morgan, at his side, Ted was friendly and affable—and, as it turns out, also quick to crack a joke. He began by sharing a few anecdotes from his youth, growing up in his First Nations community, but his story soon took a dark turn when, he told us, at seven years old, he was forced to attend a residential school. Ted described the dark, robed figures that flirted about the bedsides of the First Nations children at night, to pick and pry away their under-aged prey, and the muffled cries, emanating from the shadowy corners, that followed. Ted’s tale was raw and impactful, and it was understandable why these experiences continue to disturb his sleep, and, for many residential school survivors, result in
post-traumatic stress disorders, or worse. Yet, it soon became apparent that the real theme of Ted’s talk was not the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse that he and other First Nations children endured at the hands of their “caregivers,” but, rather, his ongoing reconciliation with those same events. For Ted, healing is a life-long process. By resolving to confront the terrors of his past—psychologically, if not literally—Ted has also discovered that he is even capable of forgiveness.
For Ted, healing is a life-long process.
Moreover, by sharing his experiences with others, Ted’s recovery has moved beyond an individual journey, to become a communal effort, in which he encourages and helps other survivors of childhood trauma to emerge from their own painful pasts in order to effect positive change, together. ❧
Sammy the cat, speaking truth to power (aka Dean Hatt)
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
Jen Hall, Jamie Whitely, Keely Olstad, Hilary Allister
PLAYING AT MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL BY CAMERON VANBUSKIRK, CURRENT FYP STUDENT
There was a purpose to every word, and that purpose was not just to entertain, but to inspire thought.
FYP News – Spring 2017
As a student in their first year, it was certainly intimidating stepping into that audition and seeing eight or nine pairs of eyes staring at me, but the payoff of being in the King’s Theatrical Society’s production of Murder in the Cathedral was well worth it. It served as both an aid in the transition into university life as well as an activity to take my mind off the constant intellectual assaults of FYP. Yet, while rehearsing for this play, I realized that it was less like a step away from FYP, and more like a step into FYP. At the time of rehearsal, FYP was in the middle of Section Two, essentially covering the middle ages. Murder in the Cathedral for those who don’t know, takes place in the medieval times. At first, I didn’t make any connection further than that. However, through constantly listening and hearing lines in the play I began to understand that there was more at work than just the commonality of the period. [ 12 ]
Now, I’m not a model FYP student, I am a J-school kid first and foremost, so I won’t wax poetic about the different nuances at play in the script and in the performance, itself. But, the director Vicky Coo undoubtedly put an obscene (from my perspective) amount of time into figuring out each and every little thing that the author, T.S Elliot, wrote into the script. At one of the first talkbacks (the event held after the play where the cast and audience discuss and analyze the production) Tom Curran, one of the FYP tutors, led the discussion. I remember Tom praising the interpretation of the text through the way in which characters were placed and stood/seated. For example, he praised the fact that during the Fourth Tempter’s speech with Thomas Becket, Thomas turns away from the tempter at one point, but ends up staring at it face-to-face in the end. This (apparently) being a representation of Thomas at first rejecting martyrdom for glory, but because there is a seductive nature to it,
Thomas ends by intensely considering the idea of glory through martyrdom. This sort of thing is something that I am too dense to even notice. But, after it was initially brought up, the play began to take on a new light, where I saw it as very FYPish (if I can use that term)—in the way that every sentence and stage direction had this underlying meaning. There was a purpose to every word, and that purpose was not just to entertain, but to inspire thought. And god damn did it hurt my brain.
(A man I have a personal disdain towards). Nevertheless, in talking about Anselm’s Proslogion, it was mentioned that there could be a connection drawn between the mental journey that Anselm takes in the Proslogion and the journey that Thomas undergoes in Murder in the Cathedral. Now I can’t remember exactly what was said (because I’m not a robot that is able to remember everything) but, it did inspire me to make a connection between Anselm and Plotinus (another figure whom I spectacularly loathe). The connection being
CAST, T.S. ELIOT’S MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury: Keely Olstad (FYP 2015–16) First Tempter/Knight: Frances Grace Fyfe (‘16–17) Second Tempter/Knight: Susannah Rebar Third Tempter/Knight: Robbie Dryer (‘16–17) Fourth Tempter/Knight: Ruth Ballard (‘16–17) First Priest: Noah Harrison Second Priest: Hilary Allister (‘15–16) Third Priest: Caleb Sher (‘16–17) Messenger: Katie Lawrence (‘17–18) The people of Canterbury: Erin Appelbe (‘17–18), Jacob Hermant (‘16–17), Meghan Kitt (‘13–14), Chloe Matamoros (‘16–17), Alex Retzer (‘17–18), Jasmine Shenandoah, Molly Somers (‘17–18), and Cameron VanBuskirk (‘17–18) Choir: Jen Hall (‘13–14), Alan Rempel (‘14–15), and Jamie Whitley (‘14–15)
Robbie Dryer
It was also at these talkbacks that I became aware of just how bloody smart all King’s students are. At one of the talkbacks, led by Roberta Barker, there was this back and forth between a few second-year students that had me in awe. Their conversation began with a connection with Murder in the Cathedral, to Saint Augustine, to Anselm and god knows what else. The way that they found connections from this play to so many historical and philosophical texts was astounding. The discussion even inspired my Section Two, Paper One, thesis. As I mentioned, at one point these students touched on the subject of Anselm
Alex Retzer
that Anselm’s Proslogion is a first-person account of the journey of the Neo-Platonic Line, as laid out by Plotinus. The point of all this being, that FYP is an all-encompassing mental state. It pervades everything, you cannot escape it, and you certainly cannot hide from it. From here on, I am convinced that we, as FYP students, will see FYPish things in everything. Some will relish this thought. Others, like myself, may find it alarming that face-value may never be enough for us anymore. But, if we fully embrace this, we may end up all the better for it. ❧ [ 13 ]
Director: Vicky Coo (‘14–15) Producers: Nicholas Harrison (‘14–15) and Daniel Halpern (‘16–17) Stage Manager: Gill Gawron (‘16–17) Assistant Stage Managers: Ian Sifton (‘14–15) and Katie Lawrence (‘17–18) Dramaturge: Jacob Millar Light Technician: Katrina Jones (‘16–17) Makeup: Miranda Rizsanyi (‘16–17) Fight Choreography: Chris Tully (‘15–16) and Nicholas Harrison (‘14–15) Poster Design: Megan Krempa (‘17–18) Photographer: Hayley Frail (‘17–18)
Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, COMMENTARY BY THE REV’D DR ROBERT D. CROUSE, 1999
“And, Even in the sordid particular The eternal design may appear”
The Rev’d Doctor Robert Crouse taught Dante’s Divine Comedy in the Foundation Year Programme for decades. His influence in our approach to the Middle Ages, and to the relation of spirit to world generally, cannot be overstated.
But it was not just a matter of missing literary allusions; it was a matter of missing the conceptions and arguments, for which those literary allusions served as a kind of shorthand. I was charmed by Eliot’s language about time— I’m delighted to have this opportunity of intro- about the “the still point of the turning world” ducing Murder in the Cathedral. About fifty years (“Burnt Norton”): but because I had never read ago—it must have been about 1949—King’s Aristotle’s Metaphysics, or Book xi of Augustine’s students produced the play here in Halifax in Confessions, or Book v of Boethius’ Consolation of All Saints’ Cathedral. I myself played the role of Philosophy or Dante’s Paradiso, I had really no way one of the priests, and also prepared the bits of of grasping what the image was meant to convey. liturgical music involved. Still, I loved the poetry, at least on an aesthetic level, and that love moved me to follow a road of I loved the play, and I loved the poetry of Eliot in education which would help me to make sense general, but I think it was really only the melan- of the metaphysical and theological essence of choly music of the words that moved me: I had the poetry. very little possibility of getting at the meaning of the poetry. That would have required a kind […] of knowledge I did not possess. Eliot’s poetry is full of literary allusions which escaped me Now, just a few remarks about the subject of the altogether. Unlike today’s undergraduates at play, and Eliot’s interpretation of that subject. King’s, I had not read St. Augustine’s Confessions, The subject is, of course, an event in medieval or Virgil’s Aeneid, or much of Shakespeare— European history—the Martyrdom of Thomas among the constant reference points for Eliot. a Becket, in 1170. And it was an event of mythic Above all, I had never read the Divine Comedy, proportions. Still today, if you go browsing a work, which beyond all others was Eliot’s among European antiquities, you will run inspiration. across echoes of it. Thomas was canonized in
Jacob Hermant, Alex Retzer, Chloe Matamoros, Erin Appelbe
FYP News – Spring 2017
Ruth Ballard
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Keely Olstad (kneeling), Ruth Ballard
1173, and almost immediately, Thomas the martyr of Canterbury was represented in the glorious mosaics of the great Norman Abbey Church in Monreale, in Sicily, while the mother church in nearby Marsala was dedicated to his honour. In Spoleto, in Umbria, in the little Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, you will find a fresco, contemporary, depicting the event; in Fermo, in the Marche, the sacristy of the Cathedral displays a XIIth century chasuble depicting the martyrdom, etc.
The Chorus, and by implication, the audience, are to witness the martyrdom, and to be transformed by what they witness. In that sense, the drama would have a liturgical character, analogous to the liturgy of the mass, and the representation, the recollection of the martyrdom would be analogous to the liturgical representation of the sacrifice of Christ. […]
Thus the play finishes with the dialectic of But what was it all about? Conventional modern thanksgiving and penitence, rejoicing and history has treated it simply as an incident in mourning at once—underlining precisely the a long history of political conflict between theological preoccupation of Eliot throughout the play, Church and State. And that’s the way that and throughout this period of his life: the relaTennyson, for instance, in his play about Becket, tion between eternity and time, “the still point looks at the matter. Eliot sees it in much broader and the turning wheel”. In Eliot’s Aristotelian terms: the political conflict is only one aspect and Dantean perspective, the only meaning of an ambiguity which lies much deeper: Eliot in the changing particulars of temporal life is understands Dante very thoroughly, and sees to be found by reference to the still point, the that the conflict between spiritual and temporal unmoving centre of the turning wheel of time, powers in medieval culture is part of a more the ratio within intelligentia of Boethius. general ambiguity between philosophy and theology, between action and contemplation, Certain lines considered unsuitable for the stage between profane and sacred loves, between were excised from the first draft of Murder in the the temporal and the eternal—conflicts and Cathedral, and formed the basis for the first of the tensions which are not only medieval but uni- Four Quartets, “Burnt Norton”, finished in 1935, versal: In that broad perspective, Eliot gives the where the conflict and reconciliation of Murder event trans-historical significance. His purpose in the Cathedral are most precisely expressed: will be to show that Thomas’s struggle for orthodoxy—doing the right thing for the right And hear upon the sodden floor reason—bears on the spiritual well-being of the Below, the boarhound and the boar chorus of uneducated women of Canterbury in Pursue their pattern as before the same way that the Greek tragic hero’s moral But reconciled among the stars. disposition affects the health of the polis. ❧ [ 15 ]
I loved the poetry of Eliot in general, but I think it was really only the melancholy music of the words that moved me…
Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, COMMENTARY BY THE REV’D DR GARY THORNE, 2017 In his splendid introductory notes to the last production of Murder in the Cathedral in the King’s Chapel almost twenty years ago, Dr Robert Crouse stated that Eliot’s purpose was
Only by opening itself to these strange worlds will the 21st century secular audience be captured by the profundity of Eliot’s play.
to show that Thomas’ struggle for orthodoxy—doing the right thing for the right reason—bears on the spiritual well-being of the chorus of uneducated women of Canterbury in the same way that the Greek tragic hero’s moral disposition affects the health of the polis. In keeping with the character of Greek tragedy, the chorus and the audience who witness Thomas’ martyrdom are to be ‘transformed by what we witness.’ As the play develops, Thomas’ spiritual and ethical struggle becomes the struggle of the “uneducated women of Canterbury” and our own struggle. Underlying his dilemma is a spiritual and ethical crisis that is common to all of us.
14th century depiction of Becket with King Henry II. (Liber Legum Antiquorum Regum, British Library Cotton MS)
Eliot models Murder in the Cathedral not only on Greek Tragedy, but also on the Christian liturgy of the Mass which has two distinct parts bridged by a sermon exactly as Eliot structures Murder in the Cathedral. The first half of the Mass presents the sacred scriptures that are given a definitive interpretation in the sermon in a way that clarifies and gives meaning to the ‘sacrifice’ that is enacted in the second half of the Mass. Murder in the Cathedral takes the audience to the ambiance of Greek Tragedy, the age of martyrdom in the 2nd and 3rd century CE, the liturgical form of the Mass developed in the early Middle Ages, a 12th century conflict between Church and State, and the late nineteenth century philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Only by opening itself to these strange worlds will the 21st century secular audience be captured by the profundity of Eliot’s play. Eliot’s genius will make this journey possible for you: you need only be open and receptive to the movement of the play itself. ❧
Altarpiece depicting the assassination of Thomas Becket, Meister Francke, 1424. Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
FYP News – Spring 2017
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“Argh, someone has looped their bike lock through my brake line…” Elisabeth Stones, FYP Administrative Assistant posted in frustration on Instagram this Fall. “Someone” it turns out, was Dr. Eli Diamond. Dr. Diamond accidentally locked Elisabeth’s bike and then went away for a few days. Dr. Daniel Brandes (FYP 1989–90) and Sally, his editor-puppy
PAT DIXON ASSISTANTSHIP Maxwell Tal is this year’s FYP Technical Assistant, receiving the Pat Dixon Assistantship (which is named after our long-term FYP Secretary who retired two years ago).
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
EVAN KING (FYP 2006–07) AND EARLY MODERN PLATONISM BY ALAN REMPEL, FYP 2014–15 something of what Dr. King had to say about the ambition of Berthold’s project, what made it unique, and what circumstances made it possible—this thanks to Dr. King’s lucidity more than to my own wits. After a couple of professors had asked questions, the evening continued with a reception, which I was not able to stay for.
ABBIE HOURIGAN FYP STUDENT, ROOKIE PLAYER FOR THE KING’S WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM
One of the brightest lights for King’s Athletics and in particular, Women’s Volleyball, is the addition of a talented FYP student named Abbie Hourigan from Burlington, Ontario. Abbie has made an immediate impact as a strong-hitting game-changer for the Blue Devils. As a rookie she has been a starter in every game and provided spark to the offense every time she is needed. Abbie was heavily recruited in Ontario and in the United States but chose King’s over these schools. She was a High School and club All-Star and in Club Volleyball played for the Lakeshore Volleyball Club out of Oakville, Ontario. Abbie is a quiet person who leads by example with big-game performances. She is one of the main reasons for her team’s 3–1 start to what could be a very promising season. Her coaches are thrilled with her performance so far.
Neil Hooper
Dr. Evan King, FYP Tutor, with Silas and bunny
It is the custom of the graduate students of the Dalhousie Classics department a few times each term to invite a classics scholar to give a lecture on a topic of their expertise. Following in this tradition, on Tuesday 14 November, Dr. Evan King, an alumnus of King’s and of the Classics department who has returned this year to King’s as a FYP tutor, lectured on Berthold of Moosburg, a 13th-century German Dominican who produced a commentary on Proclus’s Elements of Theology. (Proclus (5th century) was an influential philosophical theologian in the Platonic tradition). Dr. King spoke clearly and comprehensibly, revealing tendrils of knowledge stretching throughout antiquity and the late middle ages. Despite my own rather sketchy knowledge of the classical and late medieval world, I found that I was still able to receive
Dr. Roberta Barker considers the musical structure of the cosmos, while the King’s Chapel Choir sings early modern polyphony during the Renaissance Music FYP Night.
DIRECTOR KING’S ATHLETICS
FYP News – Spring 2017
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Berthold’s commentary on Proclus, Dr. King explained, was encyclopedic in scope: it comprised about 70% quotations, and so was as much compilation as commentary. King’s argument concerned how Berthold took up his sources, which naturally enough made all the difference for him: in particular, his project might have been philosophically infeasible from the start, had not four of his sources been misattributed! I don’t know if others did too, but I found this quite funny. I found this lecture, just as previous ones—and I think this has been the experience of others as well—to be a valuable point of connection for me to the classics department. These lectures are places to hear about the ideas that others have devoted much time and thought to, but also to connect socially with students and professors alike, and not necessarily just through academic concerns. For my part, it is no less because of the community of the classics department than because of my own intellectual interests (which are largely fleeting in any case) that I continue to attend them. Many thanks to Dr. King and to Kylix (the graduate student society of the classics department) for putting this event together. ❧
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP! WITH DR. JUDYTA FRODYMA, FYP TUTOR AND JANE BREAKELL, FULBRIGHT FELLOW NOAH LAWLESS FYP STUDENT, ROOKIE PLAYER FOR KING’S MEN’S RUGBY TEAM
King’s Rugby was pleased to have FYP student Noah Lawless on board, as he made an impact right away with a young King’s squad. He hails from Ottawa, where he comes from an excellent rugby background. Coach Rory MacLellan (FYP 2005–06) had this to say about Noah’s impact on his team, “Noah Lawless was a key addition for men’s rugby this year. A very technical tackler, Noah was a strong presence at Open Side Flanker, and moved the ball well in attack. He capped off his first season as a Blue Devil by scoring his first try against Acadia. It sure won’t be his last!” Players like Noah do not come around very often, and the Blue Devils will look to strong play and leadership from him in the future. His pleasant demeanor and respect for his teammates also made him one of the most well-liked players on the team.
One of my fondest memories of Oxford were spending wet, dark autumn evenings (not unlike the ones here in Halifax) in one of the English don’s rooms in college, sitting on the floor, talking about poetry. A professor and poet put on these evenings bi-weekly, and we would crowd in her rooms no different from the books crowding her walls. The premise, as with any workshop, was simple: bring a poem or a page of written work, make ten or so copies, and read it before a group of peers. The results were various, but their purpose was not so much to produce great poetry, as to produce discerning critics. The test of form— punctuation—alliteration—rhyme—word choice became more apparent when the work was not one’s own. The practise yielded some great pieces, and some memorable performances (a poem about masticating springs to mind), but what was uniformly being cultivated was the art of judgment. This fall, finding myself with an ample office, access to the SCR, a meager but promising collection of books (hardly enough to line the walls) and a free weeknight, I convened with the creative writer at King’s (Fulbright Fellow Jane Breakell), and we decided to host a similar event for FYP students. I know from tutorials that many students write outside of FYP essays, and thought that a workshop could simultaneously give them a venue to share their work and to practicing their role as critics, the ability to discern whether one’s own words are comprehendible, concise, and perhaps even enjoyable to read. ❧
Dr. Judyta Frodyma, FYP Tutor
Neil Hooper
DIRECTOR KING’S ATHLETICS
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
DREAMS OF THE WILDERNESS BY ATA ZARGAROF, CURRENT FYP STUDENT
I have dreams of the wilderness. I do. My arms sprout branches, twigs emerge from these: my body begins to embody the rich eternity of the tree. I become something void of the hoarse call of steel bombards me every day with promises that these clamps are good for me, my health; that this is worth it, this sparkling vacuum: I am starving for air. Believe me, I have tried to buy into the trade. But, you see, I have dreams— I really do—of something becoming me like the wilderness, her singsong voice like a resistless stream: utterance unshaken, wake of a faithful thing—I wait to become my dreams like this. ❧ Ata read this at the Chapel Vigil for the Suffering World, on November 20, 2017. At that gathering, called “in the uncertain hour,” students, faculty, and friends spoke, played, and sang about the climate crisis, and the impending death of the world. We then kept a vigil until dawn, when a bag piper greeted the new day. Read more of Ata’s poetry at: https://www.endlesswriter.com
FYP News – Spring 2017
REFLECTIONS ON THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION BY DR. ROBERTA BARKER, COORDINATOR OF SECTION THREE When I think of the European Renaissance, I always think first of the cities: Florence, Venice, Rome, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, London. The streets and sites that are now tourist meccas were then thronged with people flooding into them from the country, looking to make their fortunes—or just to make a living—in the era’s burgeoning merchant economies. I think of the ships coming into the great ports from all over the world; the artists and craftsmen seeking commissions; the actors and musicians offering entertainment for citizens of all classes; and the everpresent violence of public executions, animal fights, and civil strife. In this heady setting, scholars, theologians, politicians, and artists built on the ideas and innovations of the Middle Ages while also rediscovering many aspects of ancient philosophy, art, and literature. In the process, they dared to advance new ways of thinking that have shaped the modern world: Luther’s 95 Theses, which shook the foundations of Christendom; Machiavelli’s proposal that a Prince would do better to be cunning than to be virtuous; Pico della Mirandola’s claim that human beings were defined by their ability to choose the nature of their own beings. All this sounds thrilling—and it clearly was. But it was also terrifying for the generations who lived through the massive social and religious upheavals of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and who watched as the old certainties of the feudal order and the unified Roman Catholic church were swept away. It was even more terrifying for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose lives and ancient cultures were radically transformed— and in many cases deeply harmed—within the space of a few generations by the onslaught of European settlement. The same ideas that fed religious reformation, social mobility, and scholarly enthusiasm in Europe also nourished the growth of global colonialism, capitalism, and human-led climate change. Without the intellectual and social history of Europe in this period, our own world would look radically different. So many of the glories and horrors of modernity have roots in this period that we simply must grapple with the Renaissance if we are to have any hope of grappling with ourselves. ❧
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CONTINUE YOUR FYP JOURNEY THE DUOMO AS YOUR CLASSROOM: STUDY ART IN ITALY WITH DR. JANNETTE VUSICH For the past three years, many F Y P students have seized the opportunity to continue the learning they begin in Sections II and III by travelling to Florence, Italy to take the Early Modern Studies Programme’s study abroad course on early modern art, literature, and politics. For the month of May, students live in a 14th century palace-turned-pensione and spend their days discussing the writing of Dante, Boccaccio, and Machiavelli and analyzing art by Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Getting to study
the work of these masters in person, in the places where their theories were written and their paintings created, is a gift and a joy. Our classrooms are the city’s churches, museums, galleries, and town hall; every day is a new adventure. Highlights from 2017’s class included climbing Brunelleschi’s dome after learning about its engineering in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo; a day trip to Lucca, where we cycled the city’s medieval walls; and an impassioned debate about the role of humour in Boccaccio’s Decameron over a picnic in the Boboli Gardens. The next Florence trip will take place in May 2019. ❧
BERLIN: A CLASSROOM WITH A VIEW MAY 1–31, 2018
This month-long class provides students with a chance to study intensively with Dr. Sarah Clift in a city she knows well, both in its historical ethical, aesthetic and political struggles to take responsibility for history, and in its living potential. Join Dr. Clift in exploring collective memory, public space, and historical trauma in Germany’s capital city. Dr. Sarah Clift, “Memory, Politics, Place: Berlin’s 20th Century” CTMP 3610.06/Ger 3610.06
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
HYP student mentor, Will Vibert, and one of our students, Celeste Syliboy
Alan Syliboy, Sea Turtle Drum
HYP:
HUMANITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
DR. LAURA PENNY AND DR. SARAH CLIFT
Even though the material HYPsters were engaging with was difficult, the class also had a lot of fun.
This summer the College hosted the second session of Humanities for Young People, our program for high-school students. This year’s theme was “The Challenges of Reconciliation”. 27 students from across Canada—and one intrepid student from Vermont!—learned about Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices, the history of Canada’s residential school system, and the concept of reconciliation from Western and Indigenous perspectives. Even though the material HYPsters were engaging with was difficult, the class also had a lot of fun, enjoying an artists’ talk from Alan Syliboy, making medicine pouches with Elder Geri Musqua-Leblanc, and spending an evening at Shakespeare by the Sea. Registration is now open for HYP 2018, which will focus on the theme of Migration. This year’s class of HYPsters will grapple with issues such as belonging, home, and what it means to
FYP News – Spring 2017
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be “Canadian”. HYP is delighted to have the support of Halifax’s Central Library, which will host our Public Symposium on July 14th, featuring celebrated Canadian author Lawrence Hill. HYP is also very grateful for the support of Pier 21, Canada’s immigration museum, where HYPsters will spend the day touring the archives and exhibits, and enjoy a talk from their artist-in-residence. For more information about HYP 2018, please check out our website at http://hyp.ukings.ca ❧ Dr. Laura Penny and Dr. Sarah Clift are the Directors of Humanities for Young People (HYP)
If you know a young person who might love FYP, tell them about HYP!
Day Students face a Leopard, Lion and Wolf at Metro Transit on their way into FYP lecture. (Mary Campbell, FYP 1983)
Asha Jeffers, FYP Tutor, with Saint Augustine
GOOD END OF TERM, HUMANS! The DSS’s traditional first year study snacks, hosted only a couple of days ago, has brought the society’s activity to a close for this 2017 fall term. Our exec is now turning its attention to the planning for the Winter term, and there is much to look forward to. In the past, we have brought students on trips to Sugarmoon farms and to watch Moosehead hockey games, and it is our hope to do this again this Winter term. More details on the dates and times of these events will be announced as classes resume in February, so stay tuned for more! In the meantime, you can always email us at daystudentssociety@gmail.com if you have any questions, or message us on Facebook. Love,
c e x E S S D e h T (Cédric, Charlotte, Kayleigh, Libby and Paige) Michelle Wilband, FYP Tutor, assisting Baker Stella with an apple crumble
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Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
FACE TO FACE NOT FACEBOOK: A DAILY FYP CLINIC THOMAS CURRAN (CERTIFIED SOCIAL MEDIA THERAPIST) 1. A re you having trouble concentrating on your studies?
7. How “to peek” at a post,
2. N ot sure what happened in lecture, because you had to attend to your “wall”?
a. while sincerely listening to a conversation,
b. o r receiving essay advice from an overly zealous tutor;
3. T rouble sleeping at night? 4. N ot enough time for sports or socializing?
8. How to hide “shaking hand syndrome” during tutorial, when separated from your device;
5. D ifficulty in expanding your excellent ideas beyond 140/280 characters?
9. How to postpone that “hilarious” post until after 10am on Sunday morning?
6. O bsessed with “emojis”? Trouble expressing emotions face-to-face?
10. W hat to do if the post slipped through “by accident” at 11:45pm on Saturday night?
Let me help:
11. Simple techniques for effective walking and texting,
•N on-Judgmental, compassionate listening
a. how to enter crosswalks safely while texting;
•S tudent Support Groups
b. how to maximize your mobile posts and tweets while waiting at a red light;
c. t he etiquette of elevator entry and exit while scrolling down the screen.
•A bsolute Confidentiality; No retweeting! •P roven Track Record Measurable progress is possible with a commitment of less than one hour a week!
Private, supportive sessions between 4 to 5pm each weekday during term.
Easily applicable techniques and tricks
Learn useful, easy techniques to ease your addiction; no need to go “cold turkey”.
For instance:
•M ondays: iPhones
1. W here do I find the “off” button?
• Tuesdays: Androids & Tablets
2. H ow to overcome anxiety when the battery fails;
•W ednesday: Facebook
3. H ow to unfriend a “redundant” correspondent;
•T hursdays: Twitter & Snapchat
4. H ow to exclude parents from tracking your device;
• Fridays: Tumblr, Instagram, eBay, Kijiji, AshleyMadison, Craigslist, CliffsNotes &c
5. H ow to resist the impulse to take a “selfie” during lecture; 6. H ow to enjoy a meal without posting a photograph of the cuisine on Snapchat;
I can help you transfigure those “shrill” tweets into full-throated and harmonious birdsong! FYP News – Spring 2017
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Asher Border Collie and Dr. Angus Johnston, painting by Anne Barrett in the FYP Office, on loan from Susan Dodd.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Music
Performance
www.bandcamp.com/ Msaikaley
Ben Caplan’s Holiday Classics with Symphony NS, December 1st and 2nd.
BELLA LARSEN (FYP 2017–18)
BEN CAPLAN (FYP 2005–06)
Book Announcement
Treats
The Halifax Explosion: The Apocalypse of Samuel H. Prince
Last summer, Saf Haq (FYP 2005–06) opened this lovely café across from King’s in Coburg Place.
SUSAN DODD
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TART AND SOUL CAFÉ
Foundation Year Programme: in itself and for itself.
Meme by Anonymous Current FYP Students
FYP: POINTING TO THE GOOD FOR 45 YEARS.
Over a hundred students, faculty and Prince Hall staff hiked out to Cape Split in the wonderful day organized by the King’s College Chapel on September 23, 2017.