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REPORTING IN MI'KMA'KI
Offered in person for the first time, Reporting in Mi’kma’ki is a collaboration with Eskasoni First Nation that will teach students what it means to report Indigenous stories ethically
By Jessica Casey
IN MAY OF 2022, a group of King’s journalism students will take on the singular experience of moving from the classroom to a Mi'kmaw community.
“Reporting in Mi'kma'ki” is an on-theground, immersive course that teaches students how to report on Indigenous stories responsibly.
After instructing last year’s course virtually, Rogers Chair in Journalism Trina Roache, BJ’00, is looking forward to bringing this experiential learning opportunity to King’s in person, for the first time.
Roache is the primary instructor for this course, working with Associate Professor Terra Tailleur and Instructor Erin Moore. According to Roache, the course was Tailleur’s brainchild and they built the course collaboratively.
Over the four-week intensive program, students will spend time in Eskasoni, a
Jessica Casey is a second-year Bachelor of Arts student in the Contemporary Studies Program
vibrant community with a rich history. According to Eskasoni First Nation’s website, it has 4,000 members, making it the largest Mi'kmaw community in the world.
Working in small teams, students will create a multimedia project, presenting their stories to community members during a special thank-you luncheon when the course comes to a close. This year’s theme is conservation.
“You learn more by doing it,” says Roache. The course gives students a basic foundation in Mi'kmaw history and understanding, while emphasizing experiential learning through conversation. “It’s really geared toward allowing the students to learn, allowing the community to share stories that they want told and to shine a light on aspects and voices in the community, on the ground.”
The course is open to graduate students and undergraduate students taking journalism as either a major or a minor.
Roache borrows a phrase from journalist and King’s alum Duncan McCue, BA’92, DCL’18, when she says, “We don’t want to be story-takers versus storytellers.” King’s intends to be part of a relationship of mutual gain with Eskasoni, which involves supporting local businesses and sharing knowledge about media literacy. “There has to be a benefit to community, so there’s this reciprocity.”
Roache says they also plan to engage with high school students in the community.
Among the 94 Calls to Action published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, #86 states that all journalism students across Turtle Island [the name used by many Indigenous Peoples for North America] should graduate with an understanding of Indigenous history and Peoples, including the legacy of residential schools, treaties, and Aboriginal rights.
This course is an excellent step toward this goal, but as an elective available to only twelve students at a time, it is not the end of the conversation. “It doesn’t check the box, and we don’t want to think of it in that way, of checking a box.”
Roache believes that there is more work to be done. “The curriculum itself is the larger goal. To add Indigenous content throughout the overall curriculum.”
Roache is a Mi'kmaw woman from Glooscap First Nation and she is keenly aware of the deficiencies in the media’s reporting of Indigenous stories.
“I challenge you to find a story about an Indigenous person … that’s not about an ‘Indigenous issue,’” Roache says.
Her challenge reminded me of a poster on her office door. It was a bingo card with Indigenous stereotypes in each square: violence, warriors, spirits, addiction. The poster was from the Native American Journalist Association and advised that if your story gets bingo—kill the story.
Taking the time to speak with Roache brought to life the poster’s simple message: the importance of resisting stereotypes and seeing the person. As an Indigenous student at King’s, I found hearing this passion and understanding from a professor energizing.
“We always talk about Indigenous stories as laden with … trauma; and trauma across generations and poverty and incarceration, missing and murdered Indigenous women and residential schools … but there’s also a lot of joy and a lot of humor and a lot of love.”
Roache is a genuine and funny woman with an infectious laugh—and it’s impossible to understand what that is like without meeting her and having a conversation. This course will allow participating students to get those one-on-one opportunities to encounter Mi'kmaw people as they are—as real people.
“Good stories are always nuanced. And I think that that’s what we really want the students to understand—it’s that Mi'kmaw people are people.”
With thanks to Kathy Pratt LeGrow, BA’70, who generously made a gift to King’s in 2020 that continues to provide funding for this course.
TOP LEFT: Rogers Chair in Journalism Trina Roache TOP RIGHT: Students in the upcoming Reporting in Mi'kma'ki course will work with Allison McIsaac, senior biologist with Eskasoni Fish & Wildlife Commision. Here an intern with the commission is seen identifying aquatic bugs. Photo courtesy Allison McIssac
Michael Basque (centre) is the community liaison for the Potlotek fishery. Photo courtesy Michael Basque and The Signal In June of 2021, students from the first Reporting in Mi'kma'ki course published “Netukulimk: Our Way Forward” on The Signal. It is a story that weaves together personal accounts shared by Mi'kmaw fishers, hunters and community organizers who are fighting for their treaty rights to be recognized. At the same time, it reveals the important role of Netukulimk—a concept of hunting and harvesting that prioritizes conservation and sustainability central to their approach. Read the full story and watch the video at signalhfx.ca/ netukulimk-our-way-forward/.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: WORKING WITH ALUMNI, STUDENTS TAKE NEXT STEPS
ASK A KING’S ALUM if the education they received has played a role in their career, and you’re likely to get the same emphatic answer—“Yes!” A liberal arts education shapes individuals for a lifetime. But for King’s students, it isn’t always obvious where their degrees will take them. Alumni are a critical piece of this puzzle.
In 2020, Joanna Sheridan, BA(Hons)’07, assumed the position of assistant to the vice-president and coordinator of public humanities and experiential learning. It is a new role at King’s, as Sheridan describes, “intended to nurture and grow the academics-adjacent areas of the college, such as student employment, experiential learning, academic outreach and research services...” Since her arrival, Sheridan has been helping students to explore what their future path could look like.
“Our goal is to help students to understand their strengths and values,” says Sheridan. “King’s has a special regard for the way education shapes personal development. An arts degree is not about job training; we’re here to help students understand the many ways they can contribute to the world and how to further develop their competencies.”
Sheridan has gathered up existing experiential learning opportunities into her portfolio and added new ones: opportunities for applied research, career services tailored to students in the liberal arts and an internship program for the innovation space. The result is a suite of programs and opportunities that help King’s students to better understand how to apply their strengths and interests outside the classroom.
Sheridan adds that now, in addition to presenting positive examples of career outcomes, King’s alumni are taking a more active role, offering direct workplace experiences for students.
One of the programs Sheridan oversees is the Undergraduate Fellowships in Public Humanities, now entering its third session. The fellowships are open to students of all years who have completed the Foundation Year Program. In 2021, eight participating organizations hosted eight King’s students in varying roles. Seven of those eight host organizations involved alumni. Examples include: Patrick Blenkarn, BA(Hons)’13, is co-founder and project lead for videocan, an open access archive for video documentation of Canadian theatre and dance performance. It is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts’ Digital Strategy Fund and operates in partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Institute of Performance Studies. Blenkarn hired fourth-year student Nathan Ferguson for a fellowship as researcher and archivist. He explains Ferguson “... drew extensively on his superb writing skills to craft articles and notes for both public and private use… [he] was diligent in his work, communicative in his activities and frequently drew important connections between theory and practice that will serve the organization for years to come.”
Ferguson describes the work as demonstrating to him the viability of “... a kind of self-employment I had never considered previously. As someone who is interested in pursuing work in library sciences, it has enabled me to develop experience working in an alternative archival setting. The diligence and work ethic that I honed as a student at King’s were also assets—if less immediately relevant ones—in every aspect of my employment...”
After completing the Foundation Year Program (FYP), Aidan Rawding completed a fellowship as marketing/communications intern for Barb Stegemann, BA’91, BJ’99, at The 7 Virtues Beauty Inc. She says, “Working with The 7 Virtues has deeply inspired me to explore new career paths that I hadn’t considered before, like graphic design or social entrepreneurship. I also came to know more about my learning habits through this
DATA SHOWS THAT while nearly one quarter of undergraduate students in the province are in the arts, this category of students has been underserved by formal experiential learning opportunities. A new initiative funded by the Nova Scotia provincial government and overseen by King’s will try to change that. “Art of the Pos-
sible: Envisioning a bright future for entrepreneurship & experiential learning programming for NS students in the humanities, social sciences, languages and
performing/creative arts” is a year-long, provincial capacity-building project. Its goal is to create resources institutions can use to make their own decisions about how experiential learning and entrepreneurship could be expanded and enhanced for arts students.
fellowship, for example, that I like being given a set number of tasks to complete independently, then checking in with my supervisor throughout the process if I need guidance or have questions. I can now better communicate my opinions and visions and feel comfortable pitching ideas to my coworkers and supervisor. This fellowship opportunity has given me a lot of confidence in the degree I have chosen to pursue at King’s. I know I will be able to apply the many skills I’ve learned ...”
Sarah Cooper, BA’96, co-founder and owner of UK-based Little Black Book, a digital business-to-business publication for the global advertising and production industry, offered a fellowship to third-year student Joshua Neufeldt as editorial intern/staff writing intern. Neufeld’s supervisor Laura Swinton, head of the editorial team says, “Josh’s studies in journalism had prepared him well for this internship. He was able to get to grips with a complex industry quickly. He was confident and extremely competent in his ability to research and write articles. His eye for detail when it came to style certainly came to the fore.”
About his experience, Neufeldt writes, “From a very early point, they emphasized that they wanted me to get something I enjoyed out of the work experience as well. In terms of how this experience impacted me, there is no doubt that this was the best job I ever had. I loved the team and the opportunities given to me and I learned so much… It’s not an exaggeration to say that this job removed a good amount of my cynicism about working in the journalism industry. At the start of the year, I wanted to just find some casual work after graduating while thinking about what I wanted to do, but I realized from this experience that this specific style of journalism is for me. I’m also grateful for my journalism education and how it prepared me for this job… With that said, I have no doubt that without the opportunity, my life would be very different right now ... Not only was this far more academically stimulating, but I genuinely had a passion for the work and the craft.”
First-year student Rachel Kimmelman took a fellowship as development coordinator
INVITATION TO ALUMNI
Are you looking for ways to be involved with King’s? Do you own or work for a business or organization that could benefit from the skills humanities students possess? We would love to hear from you. joanna.sheridan@ukings.ca
Learn more at ukings.ca/programs/experiential-learning/
at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, a large teaching hospital and Level 1 trauma centre affiliated with Dalhousie University. Under the supervision of Dr. Gabrielle Horne, MFA’19, Kimmelman worked on a project called “Books by Heart: Using Technology to Humanize Care in Heart Health.” The project makes local e-books accessible to cardiology in-patients. She writes, “This experience [helped] me decide which lines of work I want to pursue more in the future… My previous social sciences education came in handy the most, as there is a psychology focus to this project, and a small research component involved in the grant writing. The placement developed my research skills, creative problem solving and independent and initiative-dependent work.”
King’s is working to expand and enhance the supports we provide to students who wish to gain professional experience and build networks that will help them achieve their goals. While the programs Sheridan is nurturing are not exclusively offered through alumni, through the programs, alumni are working to deepen their engagement with King’s by offering new, mutually beneficial opportunities for current students to explore their future.
Undergraduate Fellowships in Public Humanities are made possible in part by a gift from BMO Financial Group.
TALES FROM THE QUAD
CLASSICS IN THE QUAD
One of King’s best-loved traditions, Classics in the Quad returned in October after nearly two years spent ‘waiting in the wings.’ Directed by third-year student Tessa Hill, the cast of primarily first and second-year students dazzled the audience on a chilly fall evening with their performance of Antigone.
MICHENER AWARDS
Top journalists from across Canada, comprising winners and nominees of the Michener Awards, came to King’s in November to discuss public service journalism. Day-long programming for students in the School of Journalism was followed by an evening panel discussion with the public. The laureates debated subjects ranging from sustainable media funding models to the existence of journalistic objectivity. Watch the panel on King’s YouTube channel.
KING’S INAUGURAL SUMMER BOOK CLUB
All summer long, alumni and friends, faculty and staff gathered online once a month and got into the nitty gritty of some of the faculty’s favorite books. With a different title selected by a faculty champion each month and online discussions that echoed FYP tutorials, the first edition of King’s Summer Book Club was a page-turning success! Stay tuned to King’s social media channels for the announcement of our 2022 lineup!.
KING’S CO-OP BOOKSTORE NEW SWAG
With snazzy new swag designed by King’s Co-op Bookstore Manager Paul MacKay and artist Kevin Curran, you can now bring a little corner of campus with you wherever you go and support an independent bookstore while you’re at it! Stock up on merch and books at kingscoopbookstore.ca.
WOMEN’S RUGBY
In their most successful season ever, the women’s rugby team, led by Head Coach Lysa McGrath, won a silver medal at the 2021-22 Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association conference finals against the University of New Brunswick. Congratulations to the team! We look forward to watching them build on their success next season!
FORMAL MEAL
Led by the music of bagpipes and wearing the robes that identify them as scholars from matriculation onward, a new generation of students entered Prince Hall to celebrate their first Formal Meal. As excited students took their seats and the dining services team laid out the first course of a tempting meal, the hall glowed with the warmth and energy of the occasion and the liveliness of community.
PRESIDENT LAHEY’S HOT CHOCOLATE SOCIAL
‘Twas early December and classes were done, the students were stirring and ready to run. So President Bill invited the lot: “Come quick to the Quad, the chocolate is hot!” When what to their wondering ears was then heard, but the sounds of the choir like the song of a bird! The beverage was sweet but the song it was sweeter, surrounded by friends but spaced by one meter.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
Since 2019 nearly 150 writers, representing all levels of experience have participated in King’s non-credit writing workshops. Organized by Executive Director of the MFA in Creative Nonfiction Program Kim Pittaway, each online workshop is led by an experienced writer who guides participants on an in-depth exploration of a specific skill or genre over eight weeks. Topics have included memoir, sensory description, fiction and creative nonfiction and writing effectively about emotional pain. Look for details of the next round of workshops in the April alumni newsletter.
MFA PODCAST / FURTHER READING
Two seasons in, Further Reading, the podcast launched by the MFA in Creative Nonfiction, continues to grow in scope and subscribers. If you haven’t heard it yet, this is your chance to join MFA Mentor and host Gillian Turnbull, MFA’17, along with guests including Eternity Martis, Jordan Abel and
Jenn Thornhill Verma, BJ(Hons)’02,
MFA’19, as they sit down and talk process. From research and revision to writing habits, Further Reading is a celebration of the writer’s craft. Listen on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud.
CHAPEL CHOIR: REFRAMED
Faced with tough pandemic restrictions in early 2022, Garth MacPhee, King’s Chapel Choir’s interim director of music, wanted a way to keep choristers “connected with one another and to reach deeper into the college community and beyond.” The result was Chapel Choir: Reframed. It’s a series of videos featuring members of the choir discussing things they’re passionate about that connect to music. MacPhee compares the videos to “the windows in an Advent calendar,” offering insight, like an unexpected gift, into the talent each chorister brings to their role in the choir.
“You lift and you see ‘Wow, this person— besides singing in the chapel choir—they also have this amazing knowledge of architecture and they can relate it back to music.’ Or maybe somebody is a fantastic folk guitar player, or [plays] mandolin….” says MacPhee. “It’s really an effort to communicate and reach out to people. I think one of the very simple ways of doing this is just to say, ‘Here’s something I’m very interested in and maybe you would like to know something about it.’” Explore Chapel Choir: Reframed at kingschapel.ca/chapel-choir-reframed
LUNCHES IN THE BOARDROOM
Inspired by his experience studying at Exeter College, Oxford, President Lahey initiated Lunches in the Boardroom, a series bringing students together in conversation with an alum over lunch. Since resuming the series last fall, President Lahey has hosted students alongside alumni such as playwright, screenwriter and producer Hannah Rittner, BA(Hons)’11, epidemiologist and CEO Chère Chapman, BSc(Hons)’94, Kathryn Morse, BJ’89, and publicist and musician Trevor Murphy, BJ(Hons)’06.
WARDROOM FUNDRAISER
Alumni came out in person and online to show their support for King’s students and the Wardy last November. Organized by the KSU and Wardroom staff to raise money for a new sound system and featuring a performance by Terra Spencer, ’99, Alumni Night in the Wardroom brought together old friends, faculty and President Lahey in shared cause to ensure the next generation of students keep the party going. Thanks to all who donated, the event exceeded its $1,200 goal, raising just over $2,000 total!
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
SAMUEL GOLDBERG WINS THE SACKNOFF PRIZE FOR SPACE HISTORY
En route back to King’s from his hometown of Philadelphia, Pa., Samuel Goldberg had just stepped off a plane in Toronto. The fifth-year student, who will graduate this spring with a combined honours in History of Science and Technology (HOST) and philosophy, learned about King’s and the HOST program by virtue of its successful alumni, like space flight historian and HOST graduate, Amy Shira Teitel, BA(Hons)’08. Goldberg sat down in the airport and checked his email. It was then that he learned he had accomplished something few undergraduate students have achieved; Goldberg had won the Sacknoff Prize in Space History.
Since 2011, the Sacknoff Prize has been awarded each year by Space 3.0, a nonprofit organization in the United States that “aims to preserve space history, empower entrepreneurs, and secure the future.” Students submit a long-form essay dealing with a topic in space history and the winner’s essay is subsequently published in Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly. The award also comes with an invitation to present at the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).
Goldberg’s winning essay is titled “Falling with Style: Zero-Gravity in Early Spaceflight Thought.” Explaining how he got the idea, he says, “I had this intuition that weightlessness itself, the phenomenon, was not sufficiently discussed in early space flight thoughts.”
Professor Stephen Snobelen, Goldberg’s thesis advisor, puts the student’s success into context. “One reason why I was gratified to hear that Samuel had won the Sacknoff Prize was that his paper would be published. I must stress that it is very, very rare for an undergraduate to publish in a mainstream journal.”
After he graduates this spring, Goldberg plans to take a year off and then resume his studies. “I have two areas that I’m really interested in. One is early spaceflight history, that is, before the space race,” he says. “…and I think space medicine is really interesting.”
For this King’s student, not even the sky is the limit.
LESLIE AMMINSON AND LANE HARRISON AWARDED JOAN DONALDSON CBC NEWS SCHOLARSHIPS
Every year, graduating students from 16 journalism programs from across Canada apply for the Joan Donaldson CBC News Scholarship. In the spring of 2022, two graduates of King’s School of Journalism, Leslie Amminson and Lane Harrison, will be among the select few students beginning the four months-long, paid CBC internships that come with the scholarship.
Over the course of the internship, students complete two separate placements at the national broadcast centre in Toronto and one in a regional station. The application process is described as highly competitive by Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism Terra Tailleur BJ’97, MJ’13. She adds “For many it’s a gateway into regular work at the CBC.”
Both Amminson and Harrison gravitated toward writing and journalism at a young age. For Amminson, who will graduate this spring with a Master of Journalism, the excitement she feels for her burgeoning career nevertheless surprises her. “I didn’t expect to be quite so enamored of the work,” she observes. “Writing can feel solitary, but journalism feels connected. It’s a lovely balance of talking to people and coming back to your desk and writing about it, making something special out of it.”
Harrison, meanwhile, is in the final weeks of the Bachelor of Journalism (Honours). He says he loves information—researching it, gathering it, writing it, sharing it. Throughout his studies he has been active with the Dalhousie Gazette, first writing stories, then as news editor and now in his final year as editor-in-chief. The challenges facing a small campus newspaper echo those of much larger publications. “We’re trying to meet people where they are,” Harrison explains, “putting more stories on Instagram and other social media platforms.”
Amminson and Harrison share a drive to succeed in the field, but they are motivated by different things. “I want to learn how to think about stories as national,” says Harrison, “and how to take local stories and learn to make them matter to all Canadians.” For Amminson, it’s injustice that moves her. “I’m drawn to stories where I feel there is some harm being done and we need to look at why that’s happening… the things that aren’t being talked about enough.”
Amanda Leslie, MFA’17, was awarded the 2021 Penguin Random House Canada Prize for best MFA nonfiction book proposal.
Diane Turbide, Penguin Canada’s publishing director and one of the judges for the annual award, said that the Halifax-based journalist’s proposal for Wild Places: Exploring Our Connection to Canada’s National Parks, “invites readers to follow her as she uncovers parts of the country that remain unknown to so many of us.”
“Her work synthesizes elements of settler and Indigenous history, geology and public policy into an entertaining, informative and rewarding read,” said Turbide.
Leslie’s submission, a proposal that includes sample chapters and sections describing the book’s marketability, was chosen from among five shortlisted finalists, including Gloria Blizzard’s, MFA’21, Black Cake, Turtle Soup and Other Dilemmas, Virginia Heffernan’s, MFA’21, Settlers in the Wetlands: The Story of the Ring of Fire Discovery, Melinda Jacobs’, MFA’20, Out of Office and Aaron Williams’, BJ’13, MFA’17, On the Hillside: Working with the Last Loggers.
“I’m delighted to see the strength of our graduates’ projects shine through in these proposals,” noted Kim Pittaway, the executive director of the MFA program.
The award was established by the generosity of Penguin Random House Canada in partnership with Westwood Creative Artists literary agency. It celebrates excellence in creative nonfiction and is awarded for the best nonfiction book proposal prepared by a student in their graduating year, or by an alumnus. The prize is $2,500 and a consultation with a Penguin Random House editor, as well as an offer by Westwood to represent the author.
FACULTY HONOURS
Professor of Humanities and Director of the Contemporary Studies Program, Dr. Dorota Glowacka is part of a research network that has been awarded a seven-year, $2.5 million Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The research network, Thinking Through the Museum, comprises an international group of scholars, museum professionals and graduate students who are working to bring underrepresented perspectives to greater prominence in the museum world. Inglis Professor Kim Kierans, BA(Hons)’83 was named a senior fellow of Massey College in Toronto, Ont., a three-year, renewable appointment. In September, Kierans further joined Massey College as a senior resident for a one-year term. During her appointment as resident, Kim is leading programs for the junior fellows in building communications skills, teaching them how to communicate about their research and work succinctly and accessibly.
At a ceremony in May, the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) honoured Fred Vallance-Jones, BA(Hons)’67, associate professor in the School of Journalism, with the 2020 Charles Bury Award. Vallance-Jones and Instructor David McKie were recognized for what the CAJ described as “their pioneering work in the field of computer assisted reporting/ data journalism in Canada over the past several decades in both newsrooms and classrooms across the country.” The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer, the latest work of historical nonfiction by Professor Dean Jobb, member of faculty in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program, was longlisted for the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Additionally, it received an honourable mention in the Chicago Writers Association’s Book of the Year Awards and was a Washington Post pick as one of the Top 50 Nonfiction Books of 2021.
Photo by Adams Photography
EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE WITH
NICK HARRIS
IF YOU WANT SOMEBODY at the table who can beat the odds, invite Nick Harris.
Harris is in his fourth year at King’s, studying political science and Law, Justice and Society. He is also a newly-minted Rhodes Scholar—the 33rd King’s student to receive one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world.
And the odds? Well, each year students in countries from around the globe—from Australia to Zimbabwe—apply for a Rhodes Scholarship. Thousands apply. Thousands of the best and brightest. Only a tiny percentage, around a hundred students, are successful. They will be Harris’s classmates
at Oxford University when he begins his courses there next fall.
If you get to know Nick Harris though, that he beat the odds is not much of a surprise. He’s done it a few other times. And he has always done it with a belief that the impossible is absolutely possible.
“I would describe myself as someone with wonder in my eyes,” he explains. “That means that despite the challenges or the circumstance, I believe in possibility, in limitless possibility, even when we are constrained by whatever external factors.”
In his teenage years those “external factors” were more than a little constraining.
“We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up in Windsor across the river from Detroit. We weren’t poor, but both my parents worked minimum wage jobs their entire lives. I knew very early on that education was my way out. But then I got sick and I wasn’t sure I would even finish high school.”
In his personal statement submission, part of his application for the Rhodes Scholarship, Harris explains his illness.
“I was fourteen, sitting in my doctor’s office, when she accidentally wrote down an extra zero on my prescription. That was the day I began poisoning myself with nearly three times the maximum dosage of a medication intended for acne.”
Harris’s vision and hearing deteriorated. He had seizures. He had to resort to home schooling. For almost a year he lived in the dark because of his extreme sensitivity to light. Odds upon odds stacked up against him. But for Harris, it was an opportunity, a gift.
“It’s in this darkness where I learned many lessons: chief among them, to look up and count the stars.”
Harris also learned the value of community from the people who supported him during this wretched time. He learned that working together made for a better world.
Harris clung to those lessons and they served him well. He recovered enough to return to high school. Post-secondary schooling loomed but choice was limited as money was an issue. He applied for a Loran Award. It’s the big one. A four-year undergraduate award worth around $100k and given out on the basis of “character, service and the promise of leadership.”
Harris was one of 30 students from across Canada to win the award.
When the Loran folks called to let him know the first thing Harris said to them was, “You just made everything possible.”
With the money situation resolved Harris had the luxury of choosing pretty much any university in the country. He chose King’s and dove in, always looking up to count the stars and always looking to find or create community. That led him to become a motivational speaker at high schools and conferences during his reading weeks. The goal was always to bring people together to donate and help local food banks. It got him thinking about what else he could do.
“I was always politically inclined but I didn’t know that would be my career path. When I got sick I saw a community of people rally around me. I thought, these people make my life just a little bit better, so what can I do at a higher level to make others’ lives just that much better?”
The answer? Student politics to start. Harris became King’s Students' Union (KSU) vice president financial. After two years of that he was elected president in March 2021. He works tirelessly to make life better for the community of students at King’s.
But Harris also has a rich and a just so Kingsian social life.
“For my 19th birthday, I didn’t go drinking, I organized, like, a Plato symposium on the definition of happiness. About 35 people showed up in my tiny dorm room. We all gave speeches about happiness.”
Harris’s speech focused on sunsets. “I would describe myself as someone with wonder in my eyes. That means that despite the challenges or the circumstance, I believe in possibility, in limitless possibility, even when we are constrained by whatever external factors.”
“I talked about the term carpe diem which most people understand to mean ‘seize the day.’ I had spoken to a Latin professor though who says it actually means something closer to ‘hold on to that which is fleeting.’ So I talked about sunrise and sunset and how beautiful they are but they are moments that are fleeting. It’s the same as happiness. You see it. You recognize it. But it is fleeting. But then you just have to wait for the next sunrise or sunset.”
As he entered his last year at King’s, Harris began thinking about the next chapter of his life. Money for postgrad work was an issue. So he applied for the Rhodes Scholarship. His application got him to the final selection round—a two-day event with other Maritime applicants held on PEI. The first day included a dinner party.
“The first hour was brutal,” Harris recalls. “I sat there. I overanalyzed myself. I didn’t eat any of the first two courses, barely touched the wine.”
But then the talk around the table turned to a debate about, of all things, the plight of adjunct faculty. Harris squared off against the Rhodes judges.
“The judges, the people who would interview me the next day, just piled on me on that one. But I stuck to my guns. And they kept coming after me. It felt afterwards like it was a test. That was my favourite part of the day.”
The next day was the formal interview. Then it was the long drive back to Halifax.
“I was almost home. We were inching along over the bridge. The sun was setting and there were these beautiful blues and purples and reds and yellows. Lindsay Cameron Wilson, [BA’95, BJ’99], she’s my Loran mentor, she’s driving and she asks me if I’d like a little quiet time. Not 20 seconds into that silence and I get the call. They said, ‘Nick we have you on speakerphone.’ There is only one reason they would have me on speaker phone and I choked out, ‘Oh my goodness.’ They said, ‘We think you are deserving and worthy and that you would bring so much if you had a seat at our table. And we’d like to offer you one through a Rhodes Scholarship.’ I then choked out, ‘You just made everything possible.’”
What are the odds? Pretty good if you are Nick Harris.
OPPOSITE: Nick Harris with King’s President William Lahey BELOW: Nick Harris with alum Lindsay Cameron Wilson, his Loran Award mentor
SCHOLARS ROUND-UP
Meet a few of this year’s major scholarship recipients, who express excitement and gratitude
JOHN AND JUDY BRAGG FAMILY FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP
Hillary MacInnis of Bay Bulls, Nfld., is the second student to receive the $6000 John and Judy Bragg Family Foundation Journalism Scholarship. Created in 2020, the award is given annually to a student in the School of Journalism.
A first-year Master of Journalism student, MacInnis, described how the scholarship has impacted her graduate studies, saying, “I am so grateful to be a recipient of this scholarship. Not only has it given me the financial freedom to focus on my studies, but it’s the best motivation. It's pushing me to do my best.”
SYLVIA D. HAMILTON AWARDS
The Sylvia D. Hamilton Awards launched in 2020 in honour of Inglis Professor Sylvia Hamilton’s retirement year. Open to African Canadian students, the award is worth $2020 per year and is renewable for the standard duration of the student’s degree. We spoke with some of the 2021 Sylvia D. Hamilton Award recipients.
Avery Stewart is an accomplished poet and short story author pursuing the Master of Journalism. She explains, “When I think about journalism and writing I think, for example, about the work of Truman Capote. Concise, conversational writing is often overlooked in literature. It’s a style to which I aspire.” Stewart says she never pursued scholarships in her undergraduate studies, so when she learned she was one of the 2021 Sylvia D. Hamilton Award recipients, it was “a new and exciting experience.”
“The award going a long way to make the MFA possible and it gives me peace of mind,” says fellow 2021 recipient Valerie Chelangat. As a student in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction, Valerie Chelangat is in the midst of writing a book about intentional reading. “It’s reading selectively and widely,” she explains, “reading books by different kinds of authors to diversify your experience.”
Third-year Bachelor of Arts student Jayden Nordin also received a Sylvia D. Hamilton Award in 2021. Nordin plans to study social work, saying “I want to help kids with a similar background to mine and show them there are things they can do, things they can be a part of,” he says. When he’s not studying, or leading the men’s basketball team as point guard, Nordin works two part-time jobs and spends time with his son. Recalling the moment he learned he was the recipient of the award he says simply, “It made for a very good day.”
LEFT TO RIGHT: Avery Stewart; Jayden Nordin; Valerie Chelangat;
DONALD R. SOBEY FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP
Since 2014, the Donald R. Sobey Family Scholarship, worth $50,000 over four years, has been awarded to 21 students entering the Foundation Year Program (FYP) at King’s. Meet the newest Sobey Scholars.
Zoe Schacter-Beiles, a student in the Foundation Year Program (FYP), says she knew that King’s was right for her when she realized it was a place where students read Dante and Saint Augustine and, what’s more, “where people want to talk about these things.” Receiving a 2021 Sobey Scholarship has helped her to realize what she has to offer. “I had no expectation when I applied… It’s making me recognize that I’ve accomplished things.”
Since starting FYP in September 2021, Olivia Piercey has particularly enjoyed the chance to study early feminist texts. “I’ve been reading excerpts from Christine de Pizan’s City of Ladies. She was a medieval scholar and one of the earliest feminists. There was so much slander of women at the time and she fought back to prove that women were as capable as men.” She says the Sobey Scholarship motivates her. “I really didn’t think I would get it and it’s added to my motivation to do well. I have to live up to it!”
The Debra Deane Little and Robert Little Academic Scholarships for Varsity Athletes recognize students who combine scholastic excellence with athletic skill and dedication. In 2021, 11 first-year students received the four-year, renewable scholarship, worth up to $20,000. In 2021/22 there are a total of 41 Deane Little Scholars at King’s. We spoke with four of the 11 students who started at King’s in 2021 as Deane Little Scholars.
First-year student Liam Bendsza is a forward on the men’s basketball team who was drawn to the Foundation Year Program (FYP) after taking a high school philosophy course. Being named a Deane Little Scholar meant a lot to Bendsza. “It kind of solidified for me that ‘You’ve made it.’”
Fellow FYP student Maria Collins came to King’s to study journalism and to be part of the women’s rugby team, where she plays wing. She says the Deane Little Scholarship affirms the work she has invested toward her goals. “When I was in high school, there was nothing I wanted more than to play varsity rugby in university. It just kind of confirmed my hard work in the classroom and on the field.”
Like Collins, Deane Little Scholar Elena Neufeld also plans to study journalism. The volleyball player was excited to find a university with an esteemed School of Journalism and strong athletics programming. She describes the moment when she was awarded the Deane Little Scholarship as “overwhelming.”
Like his fellow Deane Little Scholars, men’s basketball centre Ethan Brownsey is grateful for being recognized with the scholarship. “It means the most because my five years of hard work paid off.” During that time, Brownsey continued to practice shooting free throws, even when injuries prevented him from running. Alongside basketball, Brownsey is at the start of an academic career that he hopes will lead to law school.
TOP TO BOTTOM: Alp Ozgoren; Shana Jardine
HARRISON MCCAIN SCHOLARSHIP
The Harrison McCain Scholarship is worth $16,000 over four years. During the 2021/22 academic year, there are eight Harrison McCain Scholars studying at King’s.
First-year Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) student Shana Jardine says she “wanted both a small university and a bigger city experience and King’s, with its amazing journalism program, was perfect.” She has vivid memories of the moment she learned she was a Harrison McCain Scholar. “I’d been checking my emails nonstop once I knew I’d been short-listed. My parents had gone to pick up my sister from a volleyball game when the email came in. I literally shrieked and I completely terrified our dogs. Then I called my mom.”
First-year Bachelor of Arts student and basketball player Alp Ozgoren began to look at King’s after meeting the Blue Devils basketball coach. He’s enjoying the opportunity to explore different courses. “For me the university environment is a place to discover things I wasn’t aware of that I might want to pursue.” Being a Harrison McCain Scholar keeps him focused. “The Harrison McCain Scholarship makes my university experience easier, for sure. But it’s also a way for me to keep myself on track… set a standard for myself, keep improving.”
DR. CARRIE BEST SCHOLARSHIP
The Dr. Carrie Best Scholarship is named after the acclaimed Nova Scotian journalist, author and broadcaster, Dr. Carrie Best, DCL’92. This renewable entrance award is worth up to $20,000 and is open to Black and Indigenous students.
“From what I know of Best’s legacy, she strikes me as an incredible educator through her advocacy,” says Catherine St-Jean, the 2021 Dr. Carrie Best Scholar. “I hope throughout my time at King’s I can follow her example to listen and learn from the people around me, as well as share my own limited experiences and advocate where I can for Indigenous, among other, communities.”
TOP TO BOTTOM: Kendra Gannon Sneddon; Monique Nguilibet
THE PRINCE SCHOLARSHIP
Worth up to $24,000, the Prince Scholarship is uniquely available to African Nova Scotian students entering the Foundation Year Program (FYP) at King’s. Meet the two newest recipients.
Kendra Gannon Sneddon was driving when she received a call from President Lahey telling her she was one of the 2021 Prince Scholars. “I can remember everything I did before that conversation, but I have no idea what I said to the president.” Now at King’s, she plans to study journalism. “There aren’t enough people on air who look like me. I want to change that.”
Monique Nguilibet remembers how surprised she was to receive the call from President Lahey. “I was really shocked,” Nguilibet says. “He introduced himself and told me I had won. I ran out to the living room to tell my parents.” She recalls her first FYP lecture, on The Epic of Gilgamesh. “I looked around me and there was everyone else in the lecture hall making notes and listening so carefully, just like I was. It calmed me down and made me feel that I had made the right choice.”
THE CARRIE AND RALPH WRIGHT MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
The Carrie and Ralph Wright Memorial Scholarship was established by Judith Kaye Wright, BA’64, in honour of her parents. A four-year, renewable award, it is valued at up to $39,000.
Maggie Fyfe is the 2021 Carrie and Ralph Wright Scholar. During her last year in high school, she wrote an essay on Antigone that was one of two winners of King’s inaugural essay-writing contest for high school students. Soon after arriving at King’s, she had the opportunity to be part of a production of that very play, with Classics in the Quad. It’s no wonder she calls King’s “a great fit for me as a student and a person.” She says the scholarship allows her to focus on her studies and that she hopes to honour the Wrights’ memory. “I feel so grateful for this amazing gift from Judith and her parents and King’s.”
ARRIVALS
GARTH MACPHEE
Discussing his appointment as interim director of the University of King’s College Chapel Choir, Garth MacPhee notes that given his background in the Anglo-Catholic liturgical tradition, the chapel choir is “very much my ‘home key.’” A native of Dartmouth, N.S., MacPhee holds a Master’s of Music (Organ and Church Music) from McGill and is past music director of churches in Montreal and Victoria. He currently holds a simultaneous appointment as director of music at St. George’s Round Church in Halifax.
But MacPhee’s enthusiasm for the position goes beyond musical compatibility.
“I relish the opportunity to work with young singers…. To me, this interim role is so much about providing some support and encouragement to [the choristers] … and to keep them making music, hopefully at as high a level as we can.”
Since starting in January when tough pandemic restrictions remained, MacPhee has focused on helping the choristers “stay connected with one another and also, to reach deeper into the college community and beyond.” That goal is what led to Chapel Choir: Reframed, a series of videos featuring members of the choir discussing something music related that excites them (read about the series on pg. 11). Meanwhile, as Nova Scotia’s pandemic restrictions are again relaxed, he looks forward to slowly resuming the activity that lies at the heart of any choir—singing.
RHEMA FERGUSON
“One of the things I want to do … is create spaces for people that allow them to bring their whole selves to King’s,” says Equity Officer Rhema Ferguson. “People should feel comfortable being their complete selves wherever they go. But unfortunately that is not the case for a lot of places. With the help of faculty and the administration and the students, I want to create an environment that allows people to be who they are.”
Ferguson joined King’s in July from a role at the University of Saskatchewan, but she was already based in Nova Scotia. From the Bahamas originally, she graduated from the Environment and Sustainability program at Acadia. She then spent six years living and working in Saskatchewan, but she missed the ocean and so moved back to Nova Scotia, continuing in her job remotely. “Then a friend of mine heard about the job at King’s as equity officer,” she explains, “and she said—‘Oh this would be perfect for you!’ So when I looked at the posting I went—Yes! This is exactly what I want to do!”
Among other initiatives, with the help of the university’s EDI Working Group, she is currently drafting an equity, diversity and inclusion action plan. The plan will help the King's community take key steps, together, on the path to becoming a more inclusive and welcoming environment.
“My ideal campus would be an incubator for personal growth. Students need a place where they are comfortable enough to learn. People, who come here, come here for growth. So we need to have a safe environment, a place where you can explore all different aspects of who you are.”
TRACY LENFESTY
Tracy Lenfesty joined King’s as university librarian in November, following 25 years as the head librarian at the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Though one might imagine that the records, reference books and reports that fill the library at DNR are a world away from the reading material at King’s, Lenfesty has uncovered a lot of common ground. On her first walk-through of the library, she recalls finding “a display of natural history by Professor Henry How, who I knew about from my geosciences work.” How taught at King’s and Lenfesty says that his book, The Minerology of Nova Scotia, was a work she often referenced at DNR.
Lenfesty was a founding board member of Halifax Humanities and worked with St. George’s YouthNet, both organizations with strong ties to King’s.
And those connections to the Quad go deeper still: alumni who attended King’s in the ‘90s may recall Lenfesty from her days as a senior don in Cochran Bay while studying for a Masters in Library and Information Studies at Dalhousie. Asked if she sees a difference between the students she worked with back then and students today, she says “I think that the people who come here, come here very deliberately. There’s something different and special here that they want and that’s why they come. And I don’t think that’s different—King’s has always been small and a bit different and you know we probably always will be and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
ASHLEY NIXON
Ashley Nixon is King’s new assistant dean of students. Their background blends past experience in residence support with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) from Dalhousie that included a placement with the university’s Social Work Community Clinic.
“There’s a continuity between social work and student support because I can provide educational programs about gender identity, LGBTQ+ issues and anti-racism,” they explain. “In social work, the anti-oppressive [social work practice] approach means implementing different critical social theories and recognizing systemic inequalities—and those things can help in my role here at King’s.”
Growing up in a military family, Nixon’s childhood was spent in Greenwood, N.S. and Edmonton, Alta. Since returning to Nova Scotia during high school, they’ve grown to love the local music scene, saying that despite the fact that “not a lot of big-ticket musical acts come through … you get to dive into local music, whether in Halifax or the rest of the Maritimes.”
Since joining King’s in December, Nixon has quickly integrated into life on the Quad. “I’m starting to understand what King’s small, tight-knit community means for different folks and different types of students. The community is so collaborative and unique and supportive.
“One of the things I really like is when the lights on the trees in the Quad come on. I thinks it’s such a warm, inviting light that illuminates this beautiful area where a lot of people run into each other and have conversations.”
Q&A WITH THE PRESIDENT OF KING’S
Bill Lahey talks about the future and his second term
By Elizabeth Foster
Fourth-year Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) student Elizabeth Foster sat down with President William Lahey to reflect on his time as King’s president and outline his future goals.
Hello President Bill, and congratulations on your reappointment as president and vice-chancellor! Was there something in particular that made you want a second term?
It’s pretty straightforward; I’ve fallen in love with the University of King’s College. My partner Kathryn and I and our kids… King’s has become our home…
Beyond that, we’ve made very encouraging progress over five years on the objectives that were set before me when I started… it’s not that we still don’t have challenging work to do, but we’re also in a period of time where we are getting to see the benefits and the outcomes of [that work] … I want to be around for some of that.
What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about this role since you first took office in 2016?
I didn’t expect to be changed as much by King's, as I have been. What I have learned here has made me a better human being in ways I hope are reflected in the job I am doing as president, and for that matter in the work I’ve done at the same time, such as my work on forestry for the province.
Before I came to King’s, I had an outsider's view of its uniqueness and success, but now… I believe I have a deeper understanding of what truly does make King's unique… There’s a sense here that we don’t simply have an academic learning experience and a good community experience beside it as an add on—we’ve integrated those two aspects… We build community inside our academic programs and our academic programs, at the same time, benefit from the community that happens around them.
When Board of Governors Chair Douglas Ruck, [BA’72], announced your reappointment in January 2021, he praised your stewardship of the university during the pandemic. Were there past experiences for you to draw on in your decision-making?
I've learned through my experiences over a diverse career that collective objectives are best achieved when people are not being told what to do, but when they have the organization that allows them to do what they know how to do…
I think of how our faculty, with student interns, reimagined our programs not just as online programs but as King’s online programs, or of how the Day Students’ Society supported students in isolation, or of how all our safety plans were developed by our Occupational Health and Safety Committee… in a very collegial process of discussion, taking everyone’s point of view seriously. I could give many other examples and we should never forget the assistance we have received from our Dalhousie colleagues and the province. The point is that it has all come together over and over to meet the challenges we faced as best we could. I hope it’s true that I played some role in creating the framework for all of that, but it really was done by the whole institution…
You’re known as a president who takes the time to get to know his students, soliciting their insight on the ways the university can improve, encouraging open dialogue. How are you hoping to engage students in your second term?
I came to King’s because I am a university professor who wanted this additional way to contribute to the success of students. I became a professor because of the opportunity that gave me, yes, to teach students, but also to learn from students. I feel the same way about being president of King’s.
I plan to continue to be accessible… for example, I plan to continue to host lunches for bringing alumni and students together and to have students in the Lodge for supper. I’m looking forward to once again having president's skating parties. I have a whole great big bag of kings skating scarves that I’m looking forward to seeing on students as they skate around the Oval.
Then there’s the formal relationship with King’s Students’ Union, which played a critical role during not just the pandemic, but also in the progress we’ve made on sexualized violence and equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion. I’m looking forward to continuing that relationship…
Being open, not just to knowing students and being known by them, but to learning from students, it’s one of the things that is most remarkable about being privileged to have a career in higher education. And it actually gets more important and more valuable the older you get in that career—you certainly learn to appreciate it more—the opportunity it gives you to see the world and the future from the perspective of young people.
Speaking of your teaching, you continue to teach at Dalhousie Schulich School of Law. Can you tell us more about how this informs your presidency?
Sure, I think it’s very important that someone in university administration keep in touch with the academic mission of universities, which is to teach and to learn. So yes, my continued teaching, including the lecture I give in FYP, informs my work as president. But it also works the other way. The course I teach at Dalhousie is Canadian Legal History and it deals with many heavy topics in the injustice of our law… I teach it in a more robust way because of what I’ve learned about equity, diversity and inclusion from my colleagues at King’s and by being part of our work making King’s a more equitable, diverse, accessible and inclusive community.
You’ve said that you accepted the Board of Governors’ offer to become president in 2016, based on the understanding you developed that King’s wanted to address its “diversity deficits.” What does this look like one term in? How will you continue to address this?
We’ve done some important things, like scholarships for Black and Indigenous students. We’ve taken some big steps in deliberately hiring for diversity and creating a full-time equity officer position. We’ve taken the name Haliburton off a classroom and we have or are working on making other spaces more inclusive… We’re offering a very exciting course called Reporting in Mi'kma'ki, in partnership with Eskasoni First Nation… and we are working with Mi'kmaw Kina'Matnewey to create a program for Mi'kmaw students studying journalism at King’s.
What we really need to do is to take our separate initiatives, and bring them together under the framework of an action plan that includes a robust academic plan… At the core of that action plan there must be a level of commitment that requires us to stop thinking of diversity and inclusion as solely areas of improvement… and to instead start thinking about [these] as central dimensions of our mission…
With equity, diversity and inclusion a big part of your second mandate, how are you communicating to the communities you're looking to attract? What kind of outreach is King’s doing?
Relationship to community is vitally important… I’ve been told repeatedly by members of the Mi'kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities that if a university doesn’t have a relationship with the community that it seeks to attract students from, it’s not going to attract [them]… And it must be a symmetrical relationship that includes the contributions we can make to those communities, not only the students they can send to us.
Before the pandemic, the board chair and I were having very good conversations with leaders from the African Nova Scotian community based on the research that was done through our scholarly inquiry… which showed that King’s had significant connections to the enslavement of Black peoples, and the profits that institution generated…
I believe very strongly that there is a debt that we owe to Black people for the ways in which their ancestors contributed to this university and in an unacknowledged way, during its first 50 years of existence. Likewise, our acknowledgements that we live on unceded Mi'kmaw land have to be put into actions that create opportunity for Mi'kmaw students and their communities.
What are some of the goals for accessibility?
We have to address accessibility holistically, including but not limited to the parts of it concerning the rights of people with disabilities. Economic accessibility is also crucial and something that I know about as a first-generation university student myself.
We have a comprehensive process underway to develop the accessibility plan we are required to have under the Accessibility Act… This summer, we’re going to take the first step in making Alex Hall a residence that is accessible. We’re installing an accessible elevator… we’re changing the entrance way into the building so there won’t be any steps… and creating the first of a number of accessible rooms and washrooms. We have to go beyond making our buildings as accessible as we can… we have to build accessibility into teaching and learning and into all the services we provide to everyone at King’s and our many visitors. This is the law but also the right thing to do.
And overall, what priorities or objectives would you like to see the university accomplish in the next four years?
We need to continue to make progress across the many priorities we have been working on. I’ll simply list some of them: strengthening relationships between the
college and alumni, increasing funding and supports for students; advancing equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion; supporting our faculty and staff; adding to our academic programs, including through deeper collaboration with Dalhousie; completing the improvement of residences by making Alex Hall accessible—as previously discussed—and restoring Cochran Bay as we have the other bays. And we are in the early stages of a fundraising campaign that will focus on supporting students, our academic mission and our campus.
An important emerging priority is a new space for the School of Journalism that reflects the evolution happening in the practice of journalism and also what’s happening at King’s with the addition of the MFA degree, of which—spoiler alert—there will soon be two… We’ve also added a number of people whose main job is to support students; a sexual health and safety officer, an equity officer, a student support advisor and I hope we soon have an accessibility officer, all of whom need space to conduct their work… there is also need for more space for student societies and activities. And finally, we have a thriving athletics program at King’s and a lovely but antiquated gymnasium. A large dream is a new building that addresses all these different needs.
King’s is known for its journalism school, FYP, humanities courses, and MFA programs. What goals are there for these programs as King’s approaches its 100th year of association with Dal?
The academic programs are the heart and soul of the university. The university must be encouraging, enabling and supportive of those programs in charting their futures. Faculty renewal is also very important… That includes creating new tenure-track positions for professors from underrepresented communities in ways that contribute to an academic plan that sets a course for our future… Collaboration with Dalhousie is a very important part of this because there are opportunities for both universities—and the students of each—in combining our respective strengths. I would like to see the 100th anniversary be more than a celebration of the past. It should also be a new launch for the association, which is truly unique.
During your first term, you made it a priority to strengthen the ties between King’s and its alumni. How are you going to continue this work in your next term?
I’m looking forward to getting on the road again. My first year, I had a lot of fun going across the country meeting with groups of alumni… I think the alumni have become a more significant source of advice for the university through the alumni association and alumni representatives on the board and I hope that can grow and develop.
The other thing we’ve made some progress on is increasing alumni involvement in helping our students be successful at and beyond King’s… We’ve done that through making more information about our alumni and their inspiring stories after King’s available to our students. The Undergraduate Fellowships in Public Humanities program involves students working for organizations that allow the students to put their education to work, always with an alumni as the primary host of the student… I host lunches for students and an alumni guest that give them a real opportunity to get to know each other. I’m looking forward to doing more of those. I would like to see a greater role for alumni in preparing new students for life at King’s and in mentoring them at King’s. The stories our graduates tell me about how they found themselves at King’s—I’d like more of our students to hear those stories.
By now you’ve met plenty of alumni and worked closely with today’s students. In your opinion, is there a through line that connects King’s students today with its alumni over several generations?
I was once told by a grad (Dan de Munnik, BSc(Hons)’02) that it was this: from here (King’s) you can go anywhere. I think there is a lot of truth in that. It is more than that our graduates are found everywhere and in every possible line of work but that there is something in the King’s experience that finds and nurtures that self-confidence and curiosity that motivates our students to dream and to follow their dreams, confident they can accomplish what they want to accomplish.
I also have to say that I find our students and our graduates remarkably similar in their dedication to living for others—for the world, in fact—and not only for themselves. It has led me to believe that the words in our Matriculation Oath that I love so much, the ones that promise fidelity to the “precepts of communal life and learning,” capture something foundational about what has always been true of King’s and that must always continue to guide us.
LEARNING TO UNLEARN WITH KENNY FRIES
As King’s works toward accessibility, a guest lecture provides valuable insight about what is truly required to accomplish this goal
ACCLAIMED WRITER KENNY FRIES has spent his career searching for language to express experiences that he hadn’t read about before. As a writer with a disability who sometimes takes this experience as his subject, Fries’ writing offers valuable perspective at a time when improved accessibility standards are increasingly demanded but often, remain poorly understood.
In January, Fries spoke to the King’s community during a virtual event organized by the Contemporary Studies Program (CSP) entitled “Disability Can Save Your Life: Queering the Crip and Cripping the Queer.” The title is derived from the titles of two of Fries’ recent projects and it captures Fries’ associative approach to his creative writing. Fries’ writing career began in the early 90’s, with the publication of groundbreaking, highly acclaimed works of both fiction and nonfiction. Since then, he has also led various curatorial projects. Over the hour of his presentation, Fries brought
us through excerpts from his published work, following threads of thought that run through his work. From his first book to his recent work, Fries’ writing is connected by a common goal: to find political power in the creative spirit.
Disability is often associated with a story, says Fries, but it is one society demands from the individual as a form of explanation. Questions like, “what happened to you?” and, “why do you look like that?” haunt daily life for disabled people. “What is actually a physical fact becomes a story with a hero or a victim,” he explains. “Disability becomes divorced from cultural context and becomes the problem of the individual, not a category defined by a society.”
Through creative nonfiction, however, Fries has created the space to write what had yet to be written. As a man living at the intersections of disabled, queer, and Jewish identities, Fries seeks to express his identity through the intimacy of self-defined storytelling. Although his work is set against the questions forced onto disabled people, he strives to write beyond the cultural myths of disability. Fries has also been critical in constructing a new canon of disabled artists through projects like the Staring Back anthology and his current curation at the Schwules Museum in Berlin. He has even created his own test of disability representation in media (aptly named the Fries Test) that highlights the lack of real representation in media as much as it does the works that pass.
Among the questions asked by the students who attended, one stood out to me: what can we do to unlearn our internalized ableism? I’ve heard this kind of question in many spaces, often arising in discussions about oppression—many people attend with a willingness to learn while also hoping they might find concrete answers about change. “That’s a very good question,” Fries chuckles, considering the weight of his response. “I think that [ableism is] probably one of the most difficult things to unlearn.” He explained that unlearning requires learning about disabled lives and examining how we are each situated within an ableist culture.
Fries’ response touched on a key shift in how we seek to unlearn as individuals and as a community. Speaking personally, as I finish my third year of studies in CSP, I have learned that I must stop asking about what I can do and start looking at how I listen. This year, I’ve been able to contribute to King’s Accessibility Planning as a student representative. The King’s Accessibility Plan will address long-ignored accessibility issues and institute significant changes required by the provincial government of Nova Scotia of all businesses, organizations and government offices by 2030. Guided by a sub-plan, the college will work in a cumulative threephase approach, addressing six key focus areas.
The work King’s is undertaking begins with the process of unlearning that Fries described. In our work, we use the term “first voice” to describe the centering of disabled folks’ experiences in policy creation. A core part of our sub-plan’s first phase is changing the climate of ableism and building community capacity through a range of programming that centres disabled voices. Kenny Fries’ insightful work shows us that listening closely to the creative expression and lived experiences of disabled folks must be the foundation to real institutional change. His lecture represents a hopeful beginning in a journey for the King’s community—a journey of listening and action, one that starts with unlearning.
LEFT: Kenny Fries. Photo by Michael R. Dekker RIGHT: Tessa Hill, a third-year student with a combined honours in Contemporary Studies and English
Most Rev. Mark MacDonald delivers the 2022 Robert Crouse Memorial Lecture
KING’S WAS FORTUNATE to be joined by Most Rev. Mark MacDonald, who spoke about Maximus the Confessor for the 2022 Robert Crouse Memorial Lecture, delivered online in January.
Admittedly, I had never heard of this historical figure before attending the lecture, but I was immediately drawn to the way our lecturer spoke about him. I could tell by the way he was speaking that Maximus’ teachings were not a mere academic interest to him, but actively impacted the way he lives. MacDonald began by saying that he “came
to know” Maximus forty years ago. Rather than claiming to be an expert, he said humbly that he has “walked with Maximus a long time.”
MacDonald became the National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop in 2007, meaning he represents the interests of Indigenous Anglicans in Canada. He is the World Council of Churches president for North America and has held ministry in a variety of positions across Turtle Island [the name used by many Indigenous peoples for North America].
MacDonald is a charismatic speaker about Indigenous and environmental issues and as I found out after a few Google searches, he really knows his way around an acoustic guitar. Through the lecture, MacDonald used his unique position as an Indigenous Anglican to present his perspective on the life and teachings of Maximus and liturgy itself.
The desire to link the practices and values of the church with the Indigenous past and present is a challenging and sensitive thing. The cultural genocide and traumatic relationship between the church and Indigenous peoples were very much alive in my mind as I listened.
Maximus, sometimes known as Maximus the Confessor, was a theologian from AD 580-662. He was born into the aristocracy of Constantinople before becoming a monk. He opposed Monothelitism, the idea that there is one will in Christ. As he stood by his belief that Christ had both human and divine wills, he was convicted of heresy.
Maximus was venerated as a saint shortly after his death.
MacDonald walked us through some ideas including the belief that human beings are bodies and souls working together. For Maximus, he described, “the goal of spiritual practice is not union with God, but love.” These complex ideas were a lot to fathom, but MacDonald unpacked them with enthusiasm and care.
He also presented some of his Indigenous perspective, discussing compatibilities he sees between Anglican and Indigenous spiritual practices. Speaking as an Inuk woman, many of our lecturer’s beliefs did not personally align with my own. Indigenous perspectives are diverse, and MacDonald’s perspective has a unique context as he represents Indigenous Anglicans.
When attending an “Indigenous perspective” lecture, we must remember that no one Indigenous person can speak on behalf of all Indigenous people. I resonated with one of the attendees who questioned the appropriateness of MacDonald’s homogenization of Indigenous peoples in his lecture. Indigenous peoples are a vast population across Turtle Island, each community with a rich and diverse culture and set of spiritual practices.
I always enjoy seeing people who are energized by their work. The archbishop’s bright enthusiasm shone through in the spirited Q-and-A section of the lecture, where many listeners delved deeper into the speaker’s knowledge.
When a member of the chapel community asked about where to start when reading Maximus, MacDonald listed a few texts that he described as his “greatest hits!” He ended by confidently pronouncing “Maximus is in!”
It was illuminating to hear MacDonald’s lecture and to join together as a community of learners to share these important and complex conversations. The spirit of Truth and Reconciliation demands that we keep these conversations at the forefront, both as we navigate Indigenous relations and as we take up space day-to-day in settler institutions.
Bishop Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop. Michael Hudson for General Synod Communications
