Tidings Summer 2006 by University of King's College

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F K I N G ’ S CO L L E G E A LU M N I M AG A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 0 6

TIDI NGS

EXPANDING

THE CLASSROOM KING’S REACHES OUT TO THE COMMUNITY Also inside: alumni proﬁles on Anne West and Graeme Gillis SPECIAL PULL-OUT SECTION: 2006 STEWARDSHIP REPORT

ALUMNI MARKETPLACE 4 3 5 17

8 2 9 6 7

14 16 11

Ladies Full Zip Hooded $50 and Pullover Hooded $45 1 . Available in Navy, Grey, Light Blue & Red (Zip only). 1/4 Zip 2 $53, Crew Neck $42 and Men’s Hooded $50. Available in Navy and Grey.

embossed in gold at bottom: BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ & BJ Hons. from 1996, 15 ≈ 18 ($110). Italian wood frame, 4 triple blue matte with King’s crest embossed in gold at bottom: BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ & BJ Hons. from 1996, 15 ≈ 18 ($155).

DEGREE FRAMES

BACKPACKS

Gold metal frame, blue matte and King’s crest embossed in gold at the bottom: BJ, BJ Hons., BA, & BSc prior to 1994, 18 ≈ 24 ($75); BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ and BJH from 1996, 15 ≈ 18 ($65). Dark wood frame, blue and gold double matte and King’s crest embossed in gold at bottom: BA & BSc from 1995 and BJ & BJ Hons. from 1996, 15 ≈ 18 ($85). Cherry wood frame, 3 triple blue matte with King’s crest

$40 5 Navy only.

SWEATSHIRTS

SWEATPANTS

KING’S HATS

Navy or Grey with “KING’S” screened on the back (as shown) $42 11 .

Toques $15. Navy with White lettering only. Baseball Caps $15 Beige with Navy lettering or Navy with White Lettering 15 .

SHORTS

Grey with the logo screened on the front left leg (as shown) $23

12 .

T-SHIRTS

Screened University Logo full front $17.50. Ladies 9 and mens 10 available in a variety of colours.

PENS

Metal, $10

MINI PHOTO ALBUM

Navy with gold crest. $12 13 .

KING’S MUGS

Stainless Steel Travel Mug $18 6 Ceramic Coffee Mug $10 7 Ceramic Beer Stein $23 8 .

ALSO AVAILABLE

KEYCHAINS

Pewter with University Logo $12

KING’S SCARVES AND TIES

Ladies Scarf bearing the King’s crown and St. Andrew’s cross $19.50, silk/polyester tie with the same design $23 (not shown) & 100% Silk tie striped with King’s crest $43 14 .

Plus…lots of new items!

LAPEL PINS

University Crest $6 or Alumni $9 CAR DECALS

Clear with White writing $2.50 LIMITED EDITION PRINT

Peter Bresnen’s watercolour of the A&A Building $80.50. Also available as a Notecard $1.15 17

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to order any of the above items, contact Paula Johnson in the Alumni Ofﬁce at 422-1271 ext. 128. Cheque, VISA or MasterCard accepted. Cheques should be made payable to the Alumni Association, University of King’s College, Halifax, NS, B3H 2A1. Prices include HST. Shipping is extra.

Graduation Plates

Celebrate your son or daughter’s achievement with an elegant personalized plate. On this 12 inch porcelain plate, the graduate’s name is proudly displayed in the centre under a 14 ct gold King’s crest. Around the rim, in black, are the words “University of King’s College” and the degree your child has earned. The plates are wonderful to display in the library, on a mantel, in your ofﬁce or living room. They will be a reminder of your child’s achievement to be admired for many years to come. We can also do plates for King’s alumni, so whether you graduated in 2006 or 1946, we would be happy to make a truly unique heirloom for you. The plates are $225 (Canadian) plus applicable taxes and postage. The ﬁnished plate may be picked up at our studio in Mahone Bay or shipped anywhere in the world. Upon receipt of your order, a deposit of $100 will be charged to your credit card, the balance upon completion of the plate. Birdsall-Worthington Pottery Ltd., est. 1977, is owned and operated by Pam Birdsall and Tim Worthington who are proud parents of their own King’s graduate, Sam.

Birdsall-Worthington Pottery Ltd. 590 Main St.

Mahone Bay, N.S., B0J 2E0 1-902-624-9447 bwpot@eastlink.ca Visit us at www.pottery.ns.ca

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ATTENTION

VÉRIFIEZ ATTENTIVEMENT Page 1 Bien que tous les efforts aient été UNIVERSITY OF KING’S COLLEGE 6350 COBURG ROAD HALIFAX, NS mis en œuvre pour éviter toute erreur, S.V. P., vérifiez les films.

B3H 2A1

TIDINGS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Summer 2006

Letter from President, Alumni Association

Letter from Director, Development, Alumni & Public Relations

Letters to the Editor

Classic King’s Photos

Degrees of Influence Five Recent Grads Discuss What They’ve Done With Their Degrees

King’s in Europe

Alumni Profile: Anne West Dedicated to Halifax

Dr. Elizabeth Edwards Steps Down as Vice President

EDI TO R

Katie Rock (BAH ’99) EDITORIAL CO M M I T T E E

Sherri Aikenhead (BJH ’85) Tim Currie (BJ ’92) Kyle Shaw (BSc ’91, BJ ’92) Kara Holm DES I G N

Morgan Rogers Kate Sinclair www.coandco.ca POSTAL A D D R E SS

FYP Texts Column Lost in Translation

2006 Honorary Degree Recipients

Events at King’s

KING’S W E B S I T E S

The Talented Mr. Murphy A Chat with King’s Alumnus Matt Murphy

www.ukings.ca and www.ukcalumni.com

2005/2006 Sterwardship & Giving Report A Special Pull-out Section

King’s Alumni Association 2005—2006

Cover Story Reaching Beyond The Quad

Alumni Profile: Graeme Gillis Takes New York

Truly Interdisciplinary Sciences and the Humanities at King’s

Books I’m Reading Dr. Gordon McOuat

Changes at the Top Margo Pullen Sly Retires

Congratulations! Alumni Accomplishments

Music I’m Listening to Dr. Walter Kemp

AlumNotes/In Memoriam

Tidings c/o Alumni Association University of King’s College 6350 Coburg Road Halifax, NS B3H 2A1 (902) 422-1271

EM A I L

tidings@ukings.ns.ca * * * * Stories in this issue of Tidings were written by students and alumni of the School of Journalism. Submissions were also provided by faculty members. Tidings is produced on behalf of the University of King’s College Alumni Association. We welcome and encourage your feedback on each issue. Letters to the Editor should be signed. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. The views expressed in Tidings are those of the individual contributors or sources. Mailed under Publications Mail Sales Agreement # 40062749

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Fellow Alumni and Friends of King’s: This will be my last message to you as President of the University of King’s College Alumni Association. At the Alumni Association’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held on September 23 in Halifax, Steven Wilson (BA ’87) will take over as President, having served for the last two years as the Association’s Vice President. It has been a great honour to serve as the President and I’ve enjoyed the experience immensely. With your help we will continue moving forward to meet the needs of our growing membership. At the Annual General Meeting we will be reviewing an action plan for the Alumni Association prepared by the Alumni Future Planning Committee. In March, Alumni Association events were held in four major cities across Canada—Inglis Professor and former King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes delivered a lecture called “Prelude to FYP: Before Civilization”. From Ottawa to Vancouver this lecture drew crowds of alumni, parents, friends, and prospective students. The idea of a life-long community is gaining momentum. Alumni are connecting with students in a variety of ways. One example is the Wednesday afternoon teas at the Halifax home of Elizabeth Ryan (BA ’69) which are attracting a loyal following. Events that integrate students and alumni will be held this summer in major centres and elsewhere. The Toronto Branch is planning several panel discussions on careers for prospective students, current students and alumni. Alumni are helping the Registrar with recruiting efforts in Canada and in the United States. Long-standing events in Nova Scotia like the Alumni Annual Dinner and Alumni Annual Golf Tournament continue. By the end of this summer official branches will be established in Halifax, New Brunswick, Ottawa, Toronto, Montréal, New York, Calgary, Vancouver, and London, England. We are making progress but we have a long way to go before we have built the kind of community that truly reflects the long tradition of King’s. Steve and the other members of your Executive are going to need your help to continue this momentum. On a personal note, I want to extend my thanks to the fellow members of the Executive for their leadership and to Kara, Katie and Paula for their professionalism. It’s been a pleasure and I’m looking forward to continuing the work we are doing together. All the best,

Doug Hadley (BA ’92)

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

L E T T E R F R O M T H E D I R E C TO R

Hello Friends of King’s! Anyone attending Dr. Colin Starnes’ recent “Before Civilization” lectures or Dr. Neil Robertson’s (BAH ’85) discussion of the sacred and secular in the Harry Potter series expecting a light talk would have been in for a surprise. Anyone suggesting alumni of King’s would not be interested in discussions at this level about academic or popular topics would be incorrect. Last year we asked how you would like to be connected with King’s and your fellow alumni; we also asked specifically for feedback on the types of activities you would enjoy. We have now had the opportunity to meet hundreds of alumni representing the range of age, interests and locations. Through our conversations with you we are starting to get a sense of what would interest you. While there are common themes emerging, there are also distinct differences. Alumni have an interest in activities and communications that let you know what King’s is like now. Most alumni sense that King’s has changed in terms of its student composition and the programs it offers but don’t have a detailed sense of what that means. Related to this is an interest in our faculty—Who are they? What are their academic interests? What does this mean for the academic mission at King’s? In addition to an interest in King’s, alumni are interested in one another. This is not limited simply to people who studied here at the same time, it extends to a larger community. We were given a real-life example of the close King’s connection when Captain Trevor Greene (BJH ’88) was injured in Afghanistan and our office received an influx of goodwill from people who knew him at King’s and those who felt connected simply because of the shared King’s experience. The differences are more subtle. The age of alumni and their reasons for being in a place combine with local culture and values to create distinctive alumni communities. Vancouver has a different feel than Toronto or Halifax or New York. This has made a strong case for the need for branches composed of people from different ages and interests to represent the individuals living in these large population centres. For alumni who are not close enough to engage with a branch, we will be introducing a new program in the fall that will present opportunities for you to be involved. We are also introducing electronic Tidings supplements that will be sent to those on our email distribution list. If we don’t have your email address, contact the office and sign up today. We wish everyone an enjoyable summer and we hope to see you at an alumni event in your area.

Kara Holm, Director Development, Alumni & Public Relations

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

L E T T E R S TO T H E E D I TO R

HAVE TO CONFESS, I was amused by the “hacks” or “flacks” debate in your interesting and highly readable Winter 2005/2006 issue of Tidings (“PR Isn’t About Manipulation, It’s About Communication: Three King’s Journalism Grads Explain”, Winter 2005/2006). The premise was spun so rapidly that it was hard to stop laughing. I don’t believe many people deeply respect either hacks or flacks, but the latter get to dress better. When I started as a cub reporter in the late 1960s, the objective of good reporters was to be unbiased and to present the relevant facts as clearly as possible—a task best approached as an honest interpreter, not as someone with an axe to grind. Any journalist attempting to be objective in reporting events, of course, is limited by what they learn and by their own experience. The goal of objective reporting served me well. After two years at a newspaper covering three communities, I was recruited by a statewide newspaper to cover local, regional and national news. These days the objective approach, which calls upon the reader to do some thinking, is not as popular as stories showcasing reporters with extreme opinions. Sadly, that approach simply fuels our increasing polarization and leads us farther from the truth. I left journalism after about a decade for a chance to be on the inside—generating news instead of reporting it. I was recruited to work as a press secretary for an increasingly powerful and effective member of the U.S. Senate. At the time, I was torn because I might be co-opted by the enemy. What convinced me was the chance to enter the national arena as an advocate for a scrupulously honest man of unquestioned integrity and accomplishments. It was a good choice. I always told the truth in 20 years of service as press secretary, legislative assistant and federal project officer. That does not mean that I always tried to tell the whole truth, and that is the most important distinction between an honest reporter and an honest public relations person. In my experience, most reporters are

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

honest and reasonably accurate, although there are an increasing number driven by a political agenda. Unfortunately, many reporters are also lazy. It was not unusual to see my handouts printed in their entirety with someone else’s byline pasted under the headline. The reporters who I enjoyed and befriended were the hardworking ones who never took a story that I presented as more than a tip. They used me as a resource, but they did their own work and their own fact checking. In two decades, I could count only about two dozen who reached that level. My advice to UKC Journalism students is that if they want to be writing truths, they must be highly personable, extremely cynical and very hard-working reporters—working in journalism and not public relations. Even then, they can only hope their best work inspires others to take action. As I look back on four decades of experience, I can tell you that journalism can be fantastic fun. At its best reporting can be a force for positive change, uncovering the truth in the public interest. I was proud to expose everything from school board machinations to a scam by slum lords to avoid prosecution. I met and talked with fascinating people from all walks of life —ranging from mob figures to legendary entertainers and statesmen. On the other hand, working in public relations pays better and, at its best, involves telling the truth. Sadly, it almost never involves telling the whole truth. If you are working for honest men and women in a cause you support, you can accomplish wonderful things as an advocate. You should not forget, however, that you are devoting your efforts towards a narrowly defined goal and you are opposing others who are no more impartial than you. Truth is more than an advocate’s perspective. As Isabella says in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure: “Truth is truth to the end of reckoning”. And, as Theodore Roosevelt said in History as Literature: “This is true, although it does not contain by any means the whole truth”. Bill Bryant (BA ’67), West River, Maryland

WAS DELIGHTED to read about the long history of the King’s Theatrical Society in the last Tidings (“King’s Theatrical Society: 75 Years of ‘Magic’ on Stage”, Winter 2005/2006). As a KTS member in the 1980s, I am glad to see that the society is still alive. Gosh, if only there was a national organization that sought to preserve, explore and celebrate Canada’s performing arts heritage! If only its website was www.theatremuseumcanada.ca! (Come check us out—I have been the Executive Director since October and am eager to get feedback about our website and our organization). Mike Wallace (BA ’91), Toronto, Ontario

CORRECTION

Scott Inniss’ (BJ ‘90) name was misspelled in the Winter 2005/2006 issue of Tidings. Our apologies to Scott.

YO U ’ V E I D E N T I F I E D YO U R S E LV E S …

Haliburton Room, 1948 Seated at card table, clockwise: Gloria (Teed) Trivett (BA ’51) Tom Frazer (BA ’50) Donald Trivett (LTh ’52) Anne (Harrington) Disher (BA ’50) Seated on the couch, left to right: Frances (Twohig) Hansen (’49) Norah (Symonds) Prentice (BA ’50)

…C A N YO U I D E N T I F Y T H E S E A L U M N I ?

If you know who these alumni are, please contact us at alumni@ukcalumni.com.

Do you have photographs from your time at King’s that you would like us to have? Please send them to the Development, Alumni & Public Relations Office at King’s, 6350 Coburg Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 2A1. We’ll appreciate your contribution. TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

DEGREES OF INFLUENCE: Five Graduates From 2005 Explain What They’re Doing With Their Degrees and Offer Suggestions to the Class of 2006

photo: Chris Sheppard

Joanna Grossman (BAH ‘05)

Shannon Hines (BJH ‘05)

Chris Shepherd (BJ ‘05)

Alumna: Joanna Grossman Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts Year: 2005

When asked what she would say to students who are about to graduate, Grossman replies “Just appreciate what King’s gives you...the ability to apply critical thinking. King’s prepares you for anything. Use that education to your advantage.”

to offer this year’s graduates. “I guess it’s different for everyone, but some advice would be to get work experience where you can,” Hines suggests. “I worked for a small community newspaper last summer, and had feature articles in every week. When you’re part of a small team, it’s easier to have input and get your ideas across. Many journalists have their own blog; it’s a way to develop your writing, publish your work and get some feedback. But most importantly, keep in contact with your course mates from King’s. They’ll be your best contacts when you become a journalist.”

At the tender age of 22, Joanna Grossman (BAH ’05) already has one degree under her belt and is working away on her second in Montréal. Grossman earned her first piece of paper taking the Contemporary Studies Programme at the University of King’s College. These days you can find her walking the halls of McGill University, enjoying the first year of her law degree. “I really feel like I’m a step ahead of the other students because of my background at King’s,” Grossman comments. “I learned about critical thinking and creative thinking. Now that I’m in a class of 75 students, I really miss the intimacy of the King’s environment.” Grossman is in the law program with a few other King’s alumni. They always joke about the polar opposite reactions they get when they mention King’s College to other students. “People either have no idea what King’s is, or they say ‘Whoa. You went to King’s? That’s amazing. You must be brilliant,’” she laughs. 6

photo: Shannon Hines

photo: Joanna Grossman

by Meghan Stewart (BJH ‘02)

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

Alumna: Shannon Hines Degree: Honours Bachelor of Journalism Year: 2005

After getting her degree, alumna Shannon Hines (BJH ’05) left the country to pursue a Masters in International Journalism at Cardiff University in Wales. Hines became interested in the program when she discovered a King’s grad from a few years ago had enrolled in it and loved it. “Cardiff has an amazing reputation in the UK for its journalism programs, especially with the BBC,” Hines says. “I had applied to Masters programs in Canada, but figured the best way to learn ‘international’ journalism would be to experience it in another country. And it has been, especially since there are 76 students in our course from 25 different nationalities.” Despite being far away geographically, Hines does have some words of wisdom

Alumnus: Chris Shepherd Degree: Bachelor of Journalism Year: 2005

After Chris Shepherd (BJ ’05) earned a Psychology degree at the University of British Columbia, he realized through volunteering for the student newspaper that he had a passion for journalism. The oneyear Journalism programme King’s offers was the perfect bridge to get him qualified and working in the field as quickly as possible.

Today, Shepherd is running a oneperson newsroom in Fort St. James, BC. He is the reporter and the photographer. He proofs the paper and determines the layout. This year, Fort St. James is celebrating its 200th anniversary. There’s never a shortage of community events or news for Shepherd to cover. This is not your typical 9-to-5 job, but he welcomes the challenge. So what does Shepherd miss about life at the King’s School of Journalism? “I miss having people to consult with. It’s just me out here,” Shepherd says. “I wasn’t prepared for how personal this paper is to the community. It’s very important to them. I’m holding up this mirror to Fort St. James...people in the community want to see themselves reflected in that mirror.” Shepherd’s advice to graduating Journalism students, especially those taking on a new job in a different city, is to immerse yourself in the culture and learn about what’s important to that community as fast as you can. Discover what they want covered and, well, cover it. Alumnus: Colin Burn Degree: Honours Bachelor of Arts Year: 2005

Despite living in different cities, fellow King’s alumnus Colin Burn (BAH ’05) still keeps in touch with Joanna. 24-yearold Burn works as a Business Analyst for Public Works in Ottawa. His task: to work with five other people to help allocate a billion dollars in funding within

five years. As much as he loves finding internal business efficiencies and riding a sharp learning curve, Burn still thinks of life at King’s. “We all miss King’s,” he says. “It was a fantastic experience. It may sound cliché, but there were no limits to what you could achieve.” Burn graduated King’s with an Honours BA in Political Science. In his final year, he was President of the King’s Students’ Union. “King’s is a really fun place to be—it’s full of intelligent people with ambition. It’s refreshing. People are excited about learning, excited about their futures,” Burn points out. He plans to work as a Business Analyst until the end of his one-year program. Then he’ll be joining Grossman in the law program at McGill. In terms of advice to graduating students, Burn says, “It’s a good idea to spend your senior year researching your options job-wise. If you’re looking for a job in Halifax, drop off résumés everywhere in Halifax. If you want to work elsewhere, go there to find work. Either way, you’ve got a King’s degree, so you’ve got a great background.” Alumna: Mary Coll-Black Degree: Honours Bachelor of Science Year: 2005

Mary Coll-Black (BScH ’05), 23, graduated in 2005 with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree. She took a combined honours in Microbiology/Immunology and

Spanish. Next fall, she’s headed to medical school. She decided to take the year off after graduation to travel and volunteer. For Coll-Black, a highlight was the three months she spent as a volunteer in the Philippines.

“PEOPLE EITHER HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KING’S IS, OR THEY SAY ‘WHOA. YOU WENT TO KING’S? THAT’S AMAZING. YOU MUST BE BRILLIANT,’” —Joanna Grossman “I was an intern with the World Health Organization in Manila,” Coll-Black explains. “I helped conduct training for rapid diagnostic tests to help detect and diagnose cases of malaria in rural areas. It was an exciting experience. It’s amazing when you realize that most of the health care offered in the Philippines exists because of volunteer workers.” While attending King’s, Coll-Black played varsity soccer and basketball. She took the Foundation Year Programme in her first year at the College. Even though it had nothing to do with the degree she ended up pursuing, she misses King’s “because it teaches you how to think...we talked about broad ideas. It really kept my eyes open and exposed me to new things.” If there was something Coll-Black could say to the King’s grads of 2006, it would be, “After university, take your time, have some fun. Decide what you really want to do.” ∂

LONDON CALLING: KING’S CONQUERS EUROPE by Chris MacNeil (BA ‘94) What a fascinating continent Europe is! It is staggering how many possibilities exist to grow and prosper in ways that many of today’s alumni might never have imagined upon graduating from the safe conﬁnes of the College and Halifax. A move from Canada is an echo of the experience of moving to King’s: emerging from high school, we entered an exciting new community which gave us experiences to grow and shape who we would eventually become. King’s has a strong Alumni Branch in Europe, with over 100 members from

Aberdeen to Vienna. We can be proud of our Alumni “across the pond”: they’re in graduate studies, creative, sporting and legal ﬁelds; they’re consultants, entrepreneurs, health care specialists and more. Since the Branch was founded in 2001 there have been a variety of events including pub nights, walking tours, Christmas dinners, and a live football (soccer) match. Our events even grant special access to venues unavailable to members of the public, like the 2004 Christmas event held in Quebec House, the London “home” for the province.

This year promises to build on strong foundations. An event in London’s West End, celebrating 75 years of the King’s Theatrical Society, a September event with an academic twist and of course an Atlantic Canada Alumni Christmas—a ﬁxture headlined by King’s! Whether you live in Europe, or are travelling here, you can expect a warm greeting from your fellow alumni. Contact us at any time with an email to Chapter President Chris MacNeil (BA ’94) at chris@ebooster.co.uk.

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

ALUMNI PROFILE

Anne West:

Dedicated to Halifax by Clare O’Hara (BJ ‘05)

photo: Kerry Delorey

“I’d like to be a little less busy!”

Chris and Anne West

ONORARY DEGREES and fellowships are bestowed upon friends of the University for noteworthy services rendered on its behalf or as a mark of respect. King’s College has a tradition of selecting one local resident for this honour each year. In 1999, the University of King’s College presented an honorary Doctor of Canon Law degree to Anne West (DCnL ’99). West is hard to get in touch with these days. She not only continues her freelance journalism work but is also Acting Chair for Saint George’s YouthNet, a parish-based organization that works with youth in the north end of Halifax. On top of all of this, she recently accepted a position on the Point Pleasant Park Advisory Committee. Since immigrating to Canada from England in 1960, West has been an active citizen within the church and heritage communities and has managed to raise a family and fulfill her dream of becoming a writer at the same time. Today, West walks her dog once or twice a day in Point Pleasant Park. This park has become one of her main projects over the last year since she became involved in the International Design Competition that was run in 2005 by Southwest Properties Limited and the Halifax Regional 8

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

Municipality. In 2003, Point Pleasant Park was heavily damaged when Hurricane Juan ripped through the city destroying over 75,000 trees (85 percent of the park’s trees). The Competition was designed to help find the best ideas for rebuilding the park. West realizes that the park won’t come back completely in her lifetime, but she has faith that it will be restored. “I know that the park will slowly and steadily be restored in a natural way. It may take more than 50 years to see progress but it will start to regrow,” says West. “I feel I have a connection to the park, like many people in Halifax. I’m in it every day and after spending so much time with the Design Competition I realized I still wanted to be involved with the future of the park.” West sat on the steering committee for the International Design Competition which ended when the two winners were announced; NIP Paysages from Montréal for overall concept for the park and Ekistics Planning and Design from Dartmouth for their forest re-growth management plan for the park. The first project on the agenda for both teams is to plan forestry work and tree planting for Spring 2006.

“I WOULD DREAM ABOUT THIS BUILDING AND GET UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TO WORK ON PLANS” —Anne West “The two companies are now working as a team to prepare a detailed implementation plan,” says West. “I’m extremely happy that the city will be implementing these plans and that I will be able to stay involved with the Park and with the Advisory Committee.” West has been a mainstay of the heritage community in Halifax for quite some time. One of her first projects in the city occurred after tragedy struck the Saint

George’s Round Church in June, 1994, when a fire broke out destroying the entire building. West immediately became involved as a member of the Restoration Committee and eventually became Chair of the Campaign Committee as well as Public Relations Chair. “Out of any building in Halifax this is the one I feel I have left my mark on the most,” says West. “I would dream about this building and get up in the middle of the night to work on the plans. It was such a huge project that needed a lot of funding so it was a full time job.” West worked on this for five years and along with other committee members helped raise almost $4.7 million for the restoration. “This was such a massive project and I dedicated myself from morning ‘till night” says West. “I really don’t think I could see myself taking on another project like this one. One building is enough to work that hard on in one lifetime.” The honorary degree West received from King’s was given in recognition of her work on the restoration of Saint George’s, a church that has a close connection to King’s. “It’s an honour to receive such an award, especially since I don’t have any degrees from my own school years,” chuckles West. And what else—besides work on the steering committee for the Point Pleasant Park International Design competition —has West been up to since receiving her honorary degree from King’s? West remains actively involved in the Halifax community. She authored Saint Mary’s University: An Anniversary Portrait (Saint Mary’s University: 2001), a pictoral history of the University to commemorate its 200th anniversary; edited her husband’s memoirs, Down to the Sea in Ships (selfpublished: 2004) and in 2005 received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Saint Mary’s University. (continued on 32)

DR. ELIZABETH EDWARDS A Distinguished Faculty Member Steps Down as Vice President, but Remains as Involved as Ever

photo: Ronald Hubert

by Harris MacLeod

Dr. Elizabeth Edwards

ARTIN LUTHER is Dr. Elizabeth Edwards’ favourite Foundation Year Programme (FYP) author because she admires “the boldness of his stand.” During her 16 years at King’s she has taken some bold stands of her own, ranging from her quest to bring more financial aid to students, to her part in the creation of the Contemporary Studies Programme. Dr. Elizabeth Edwards became Vice President in 2001, taking over from Dr. Angus Johnston, who had held the position since 1988. After five years as Vice President of the College, Dr. Edwards will be stepping down from the position at the end of the 2005/2006 academic year. Dr. Edwards’ most recent achievement as Vice President was a complete revision of the complicated process of how faculty members are given tenure. The revision required logistical administrative work, but in order for it to be successful she had to get the faculty to agree to the new process. King’s President Dr. William Barker says one of the biggest challenges of the Vice President position is making difficult judgment calls that affect faculty, such as who gets promoted and the allotment of resources for programmes. “I do feel that the faculty had a really strong ally in that office...she’s helped shape the job into not just a straight sort of academic VP, but into a position that represents faculty rather than just runs faculty. It’s very important to have someone representing faculty interests and that’s what I am going to encourage her successor to do,” he says. Inglis Professor and former King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes

says that holding a senior administrative position at King’s is different than at other universities, in that King’s expects its faculty to take on administrative duties while continuing to teach and maintain their research. However, both he and Dr. Barker agree that she was able to make big contributions in both roles. “She was able to think up ingenious courses, one on homelessness and one on pain for instance, so she was able to do these really good courses while she was Vice President, which is entirely impressive,” says Dr. Barker. “She showed herself to be an excellent administrator. It’s all about judgment really...you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em and not every academic has that,” says Dr. Starnes. Dr. Edwards and Elizabeth Yeo, the Registrar of the College, put forth an elaborate report on scholarships and bursaries this year that will have a major impact on fundraising in the future. “My first priority for King’s is that it should remain available to those students who are drawn to come here,” says Edwards. “We have students who aspire to an intellectual life maybe more than other universities. I think we have students that are interested in education for its own sake.” Dr. Edwards obtained her first degrees from Dalhouise University, a BA in 1979 and an MA in 1986. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 1997, focusing her thesis on Malory’s Morte D’Arthur. She then later wrote a book on Malory, The Genesis of Narrative in Malory’s Morte D’Arthur (Boydell

“WE HAVE STUDENTS WHO ASPIRE TO AN INTELLECTUAL LIFE MAYBE MORE THAN OTHER UNIVERSITIES. I THINK WE HAVE STUDENTS THAT ARE INTERESTED IN EDUCATION FOR ITS OWN SAKE.” —Dr. Elizabeeth Edwards and Brewer: 2001). She came to King’s in 1990 as a Tutor in the Foundation Year Programme and later was one of the founding faculty members, as well as the first Director, of the Contemporary Studies Programme (CSP). (continued on 32) TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

FYP TEXTS COLUMN

Lost in Translation by Tom Curran, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Foundation Year Programme

HERE ARE SOME THINGS that just cannot be translated. One of the most famous works in all of literature is the dramatic tragedy by Sophocles, his Oedipus the King. This work was written “for the stage” over 2,400 years ago, but even now we have not found a way of referring to it that comes anywhere close to doing it justice. The actual Greek title of the work is Oidipous Tyrannos, and we mostly follow the ancient Latin practice of reproducing this title by the (more neutral) Oedipus Rex. This is a circumspect translation, since it goes out of its way not to mislead its audience. There is no attempt to fix in the mind of the reader (or spectator), in advance, a sense of Oedipus’ “tyrannical” monarchy, as would certainly happen if we were confronted with the more immediate transliteration of Oedipus the Tyrant. But in saving us from any predisposition, this neutral translation, sadly, simultaneously abandons some of the drama’s essential substance. Famously, it is the poetry that gets “lost” in translation, and in this title most of all. Certainly, in the history of Greek literature, the word “tyrant” comes to manifest all the negative characteristics which we associate with violent, oppressive, arbitrary and ruthless government; this evolution of the “tyrannical” disposition is already well underway during Sophocles’ lifetime. In Plato’s Republic, the despotic “tyrant” is taken for granted. The tyrannos, known for his crushing, brutal imposition of will, in its original Greek sense meant nothing more than a ruler who had come to occupy the monarchy by extra-constitutional means, that is, someone who had ascended to a throne which was not his by right of birth. This is pre-eminently the case in the fateful history of Oedipus, who slays the lawful monarch on the road to Thebes and then saves the city from the savage scourge of the Sphinx. In gratitude, kingship is literally thrust upon this alien from Corinth; Oedipus himself does not grasp power, so much as have it imposed upon him. Oedipus’ rule is benevolent, we are told, 10

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

since he “saved our city”. At the beginning of Sophocles’ play, the citizens of Thebes have assembled in the hope that he can do it again. In one very moving modernized translation, Oedipus is told appropriately: “You are the man!” But now, in the immense power, subtlety and majesty that is Greek tragedy, everything will be turned on its head: in the course of the drama, Oedipus loses hold of his famed power of judgment, he allows himself to fall subject to the most arbitrary, ill-informed and dubious of opinions, and his great knowledge, which saved Thebes once, is now unable to grasp even the most elementary aspects of ordinary human existence. Oedipus, “whom all men call the Great”, doesn’t even know who he is. One of the ways in which the spectator or reader is drawn so skillfully into the action is through Sophocles’ use of irony. In its fundamental sense irony is simply saying one thing when you mean another. In the tragedy, repeatedly, Oedipus says something confidently, which the audience understands in just its opposite sense; each statement becomes just one more glaring example of Oedipus’ total misconstruction of what is really going on. And all that irony is already perfectly conveyed in the two simple words of the

title. “Oedipus” is one half of the story: it means literally swollen-foot, since this infant was abandoned on a mountainside with his tiny feet pierced by a nail. This was his father’s futile effort to hasten his son’s demise by exposure to the elements. And then tyrannos: the noble, righteous and benevolent sovereign who achieved the government of Thebes, by his own prowess rather than any right of birth. But this affirmation of Oedipus has to be balanced by the fact that he is also, truly and actually, the son of Laius, the murdered King of Thebes, and therefore his rule of Thebes is entirely constitutional. The “lame” son of Laius thinks he has a right to rule, through his prudence; true enough, but the throne was his, by right, in any case—even if the throne is vacated by unwitting patricide. In the course of the play, Oedipus abandons his careful weighing of the facts, and it is his judgment that now becomes “lame”. This formerly benevolent monarch, who was given the throne (tyrannos), then actually confirms in his person the unhappy history of this term by way of his petulant judgment and arbitrary condemnation of others. Has a play ever been blessed with a more perfect title? If only we could translate it! ∂

2 0 0 6 H O N O R A RY D E G R E E S

above, from left to right: Honorary Degree recipients Dr. Gwendolyn Davies (DCL ‘06), Dr. John Godfrey (DCL ‘06), John Hobday (DCL ‘06), J. Christopher Wilcox (DCL ‘06), The Rev. Canon Eric Beresford (DD ‘06)

King’s alumna Gwendolyn Davies, MA, PhD, FRSC, (BA ‘63), received an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws in recognition of her scholarly research on the literature and culture of Atlantic Canada. Working with early records, diaries, material history, and literature of pre-World War I Maritime Canada, Dr. Davies has taught, lectured and published in Canada and abroad. Her academic career has taken her from the Université de Bordeaux, to Mount Allison University, to Acadia University, to the University of New Brunswick, where she is Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Vice President (Research). She is active in many professional associations, most recently serving on the executives of the Bibliographical Society of Canada and the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2004. The Honourable John Godfrey, PC, MP, D.Phil, received an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws in recognition of his service to King’s and country. Dr. Godfrey arrived in Halifax in the early 1970s as a History professor, having completed his studies at the University of Toronto and Oxford University. He became President of King’s in 1977, a post he held for ten years, during which King’s moved into the national spotlight. Following his departure from King’s he served as Editor of the Financial Post and Vice President of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Since

1993 he has served as the Member of Parliament for Don Valley West and Minister of State (Infrastructure and Communities). Dr. Godfrey is a lively figure in Canadian politics and public affairs. He has been published widely in the press and is the author of two books. An honorary Doctor of Civil Laws was also conferred upon John Hobday, C.M. Since immigrating to Canada in 1952, Mr. Hobday has become one of the most influential members of the arts and culture community in the country. Mr. Hobday began his Canadian career as a drama producer with CBC Radio in Halifax. Since that time he has been involved in theatre management, arts advocacy, foundation administration, as well as corporate philanthropy and sponsorship. His work on behalf of the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation has had a significant impact on the development of arts management training. He has championed the critically important role of management in sustaining the artistic excellence of arts organizations across the country. Most recently he served a three year term as the Director of the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Hobday plans to continue his relentless advocacy work to increase public understanding of the role and value of the arts to Canadian society and the necessity to place more emphasis on arts education.

J. Christopher Wilcox, founder and director of the Scotia Festival of Music and the Music Room, was the fourth recipient of an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws. Mr. Wilcox has been a leading figure in the Halifax music scene for over a quarter century. Through the Scotia Festival of Music and the extraordinary Music Room facility, Mr. Wilcox has brought the international music world to Halifax and created the opportunity for musicians in this community to develop their talent. His commitment to encouraging young musicians is matched by his interest in developing an audience for classical music through the creation of programs that provide young people from all walks of life access to classical concert experiences. The Reverend Canon Eric Beresford, President of the Atlantic School of Theology (AST), received an honorary Doctor of Divinity. Canon Beresford has explored timely and controversial issues in his academic work. His articles have discussed environmental issues, biotechnology issues such as cloning and genetic modification, and homosexuality, to name but a few, and all of which have a focus on ethics. Prior to his arrival at AST in 2004, he served as a consultant to both the Anglican Consultative Council on ethics and the Anglican Church of Canada on ethics and interfaith relations. He taught in McGill University’s Faculty of Religious Studies and has been Rector of a parish near Montréal. ∂ TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

EVENTS AT KING’S Once again, a ﬂurry of activities for alumni and friends of the College took place across Canada this past winter, and events continue to roll along into the spring and summer seasons. (Internationally too—be sure to read the message from the European Chapter Leader, Chris MacNeil, on page 7.) Alumni gathered in Toronto in December to constitute the Toronto Branch of the University of King’s College Alumni Association. By the end of the summer branches will be ofﬁcially constituted in Montréal, New Brunswick, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, New York, and London, England. We hope that you will participate in one of these important occasions that will determine the future of the Alumni Association.

Celebrations for the 75th Anniversary of the King’s Theatrical Society (KTS) continued throughout the winter. Students and alumni gathered in The Pit in January for “Emerging From The Pit: Working in Theatre” where alumni Kate Cayley (BAH ’01), Alex McLean (BAH ’96) and Michael Melski (BA ’91) spoke about their time in the KTS leading to their current careers in professional theatre, ﬁlm and television. Alumni, each representing a decade in the KTS from the 1960s to the present, regaled an interested audience with personal stories from their time in the Society during “Tales From The Pit” in February. KTS 75th Anniversary celebrations and performances continue—both on campus and off—throughout the spring and summer.

In March, Inglis Professor and former King’s President Dr. Colin Starnes brought his lecture “Prelude to FYP: Before Civilization” across the country to audiences of alumni, parents, friends, and prospective students and parents in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, and Vancouver. This thoughtful and provocative lecture entertained and challenged the King’s community nationwide. (To read a transcript of Dr. Starnes’ lecture, please visit http://www.ukings.ca/kings_3923.html.) Are you interested in participating in upcoming King’s events in your area? Watch for your email invitations, and be sure to visit www.ukings.ca and www.ukalumni.com for all the latest information. We look forward to seeing you there!

CELEBRATIONS FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF KING’S THEATRICAL SOCIETY top left: Micheal Melski (BA ‘91), Kate Cayley (BAH ‘01) and Alex McLean (BAH ‘96) speak at “Emerging From The Pit: Working in Theatre” bottom left: King’s students Jessie Fraser and Matt Hunt Gardner speak during “Tales From The Pit”

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Saturday, September 23, 2006. 3:00pm—5:00pm Alumni Hall, New Academic Building University of King’s College

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

Top left: Alumni gather at the Alumni College Christmas Party, December 2005. Top right: Anne Hare (BA ’70) and Andy Hare (BA ’70) with students (left to right) Dave Jerome, Stephanie Carver and Jodey Reeves at the Alumni College Christmas Party. Middle left: Dr. Colin Starnes in Vancouver. Middle centre: Dr. Colin Starnes in Ottawa. Middle right: Dr. Colin Starnes in Toronto. Bottom left: Matthew Tamsett (BA ‘00), Kelly Jeffreys (BA ‘00) and Chris MacNeil (BA ‘94). Bottom right: Toronto Branch Executive (left to right) Ken Dekker (BAH ‘92), Kim Manchester (BA ‘94), Laurelle LeVert (BAH ‘89), Bill Harris (BA ‘90) and Dan Logan (BAH ‘88). All photos left and above: University of King’s College.

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

THE TALENTED MR. MURPHY Matt Murphy Adds ‘Actor’ to his Rock-Star Résumé

photos: Alliance Atlantis Communications

by Andrew MacDonald (BJH ‘99)

above and right: Matt Murphy

LTHOUGH KING’S HAS an active music and theatre scene, most of us leave our rock and roll and movie star dreams in The Pit once we graduate and move on to work, travel or further education. Unless, of course, you’re one of the select few—like Matt Murphy (BJ ’94) who’s been able to turn an already-successful rock career into a starring movie role. Last year, the King’s alumnus had the title role in The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico—a film which, among others, won the CITY Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. Directed by fellow King’s alumnus Michael Mabbott (’97), this “honky tonk-umentary” tells the story of Guy Terrifico, a Canadian country music outlaw who enjoys a meteoric rise to fame only to burn out young and die under mysterious circumstances. Thirty years later, music legends like Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Ronnie Hawkins continue to sing his praises. The best part might be that despite drunken antics that make a rowdy night at the Wardroom look like a tea party, Guy manages to put on some amazing performances—a credit to Murphy’s musical talent. Long before he was on the big screen, however, Murphy studied Journalism at King’s and acted as the frontman for the Super Friendz—one of the most popular bands in the Canadian indie rock scene that also includes King’s alumni Charles Austin (BA ’93) and Drew Yamada (BAH ’93). However, it was a southern-fried side project called “Little Orton Hoggett and His Ten Cent Wings” that would help Murphy plant the seed for his future movie career. Performing on Dalhousie University radio station CKDU and stages around Halifax, Murphy and his outfit would put on cowboy hats and thick country accents and perform country rock in the tradition of idols like Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Gram Parsons. Murphy says Michael Mabbott probably didn’t realize he was looking at his future lead when he checked out a few Orton Hoggett shows during his own time at King’s. In fact, it wasn’t until years later when Mabbott was looking for songwriting talent for his movie that a mutual friend put him in touch with Murphy. “Michael wanted help writing the songs and he knew for 14

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

sure I could do that. So it started with a promise for the music and the possibility of a leading role,” remembers Murphy. “He knew what I did on stage is what he needed for his movie.” After four years of collaborating on the music that would make Guy Terrifico a legend on screen, it was time for Mabbott to start filming the movie. As the director explains in his production notes, they needed an actor that audiences would love as a person and as a musician, but who wasn’t well known enough to outshine the legend of Guy Terrifico. Murphy met the producers and had an audition and was quickly offered the part. Faced with his first-ever leading role, Murphy admits the challenge was a little terrifying. After all, the closest he ever got to acting was playing benefit concerts for the King’s Theatrical Society. “We were in the studio working on the music right up until they started the film, so when I came on I basically knew my lines and that’s it,” he admits.

“IN SOME WAYS I FELT AT HOME ON STAGE BEING FILMED. BUT WHEN IT CAME TO THE DIALOGUE, I WAS STRANGELY MUTE.” -Matt Murphy Filming Guy Terrifico’s musical performances wasn’t so hard for the seasoned rocker. “In some ways I felt at home on stage being filmed. But when it came to the dialogue, I was strangely mute.” To get into character, Muphy started using the southern accent he used in his Orton Hoggett shows, but he says Mabbott was looking for a more authentic Canadian twang. Fortunately, with help from an acting coach, he was able to develop a voice, and eventually become Guy Terrifico. He adds that shaping the character with Mabbott while they created the music together was an enormous help. After three intense weeks of shooting in Toronto, Murphy says his part was done. It wasn’t until almost a year later when the film hit the festival circuit that he was struck once again. Although he’s no stranger to live audiences, Murphy admits that is was a bit overwhelming to face media (continued on 32)

S T E WA R D S H I P & G I V I N G R E P O R T 2005/2006 Fiscal Year THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR PARTICIPATION Whether you supported the Annual Fund, completed your Campaign pledge, made a gift to King’s in honour of a special occasion or in memory of a friend, or if you decided to leave a gift to King’s in your will, your gift is essential to the continued health of King’s. Many people ask why the College, which receives government funding and charges its students tuition, needs to fundraise. To date, King’s has been able to survive on these revenue streams combined with income from its endowment and other fundraising. The future is not so promising. We are limited in our ability to increase tuition and we know that government support is decreasing.

Fundraising is increasingly important to King’s ability to maintain its current offering of programmes and services and to augment those in our increasingly competitive environment. What do we mean by competitive? Demographic shifts have created a new reality—there is a smaller number of students entering universities each year and the best of these students are in high demand. This reality combines with a variety of new undergraduate programmes being offered by other top universities like McGill and the University of Toronto that attempt to replicate King’s interdisciplinary approach. Students will make their decisions not just on the quality of

the experience they’re offered but by the cost of attending university relative to the scholarship offer they receive for their academic performance. Each dollar we receive from alumni and friends of King’s helps us immediately by increasing our revenues and in the long-term by allowing us to show other businesses and foundations that the people who know the College best support us and our academic mission. We know that there are a lot of worthy causes competing for your attention. This report is designed to help you understand how your gift has helped King’s this year and why your continued support is needed.

This year, donations: • Enabled a $75,000 increase in spending on scholarships and bursaries for the 2006/2007 academic year through the Annual Fund. An additional $36,000 for scholarships and bursaries was received through other channels. • Increased the endowment for student awards of varying types by $87,911.31 through several large and medium-sized gifts and a few pledge payments from the Campaign. A new endowed award was created and several existing named funds were augmented. A portion of income on endowed gifts is spent on the stated purpose, maintaining the value of the capital for future use. • Approximately $10,000 in Library funding was received through the Annual Fund, Campaign pledge payments and other channels.

King’s 2005/2006 Donations

SUMMARY Our fiscal year concluded March 31, 2006 and we are pleased to report significant developments in fundraising for the College. The University of King’s College is grateful for the support of alumni, faculty, parents, and other members of our community. King’s actively solicits donations through its Annual Fund (this year directed to Scholarships and Bursaries) and has been working to have people complete pledges made to the Building a Strong Foundation Capital Campaign. In addition, the College was the beneficiary of bequests, in memoriam donations, and other instances of generosity.

During 2005/2006 the College received a total of $313,080.61 in donations from all sources.

2004-05 Annual Fund

$ 6,461.00

2005-06 Annual Fund

$ 95,381.00

BSF Campaign

$ 51,825.00

Other Alumni Association

$ 154,372.00 $ 5,443.00

ANNUAL FUND Annual gifts from our community are of immediate beneﬁt to King’s and improve the College in ways that are very tangible to our students and faculty. This year money raised through the Annual Fund was directed to scholarships and bursaries, unless speciﬁed otherwise. The Annual Fund has been an area of considerable focus this year and the results show that alumni and other mem-

bers of our community are responding. There was a 54% increase in the dollars raised between the two time periods and funds will continue to arrive in this ﬁscal year that are credited to the 2005/2006 Annual Fund either through monthly donations or individual gifts. The College expects to reach its goal of $100,000 and 10% alumni participation for the 2005/2006 Annual Fund.

Annual Fund Comparison 2004/05—2005/06 2004/05 Annual Fund 2005/06 Annual Fund Increase

$ 61,695.90 $ 94,979.48 $ 33,283.58

T I D I N G S | 2 0 0 6 S T E WA R D S H I P R E P O R T

ANNUAL FUND

(cont’d)

For the 2005/2006 Annual Fund the College received gifts from alumni and friends who have supported the College in the past; as well, it received gifts from parents and alumni who have never given before. Annual Fund Summary Total Gifts $ 95,381.00 Total Donors in all categories: 563 Alumni Participation Rate: 9.65% Average Gift: $168

Participation rates—i.e. the number of people in a given community who participate in the Annual Fund—provide an important metric. The goal for alumni participation was 10%. As of March 31, 2006 we are very close to this goal with 9.65%. Alumni with a history of supporting King’s performed above this number at 47.75%. This includes people who have supported the Annual Fund in the past as well as the Building a Strong Foundation Campaign. Alumni without a recent

history of supporting King’s average only 3.27% participation. Participation rates are highest among alumni from the 1940s and 1950s. We see that the number of alumni has been increasing with each decade but that the participation has decreased. This is why alumni from the 1990s represent almost 25% of the total donors but only 5% of the alumni from this period have participated. King’s 2005/2006 Annual Fund Results by Donor Category

25%

20%

15%

10%

5% Alumni 0% 1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

% Participation Based on Total Number of Alumni

1990s

2000s

% Participation by Decade

$ 53,503.32

Current Parent Aquisition

$ 17,015.00

Faculty, BoG, Staff

$ 15,835.33

Parents & Friends

$ 11,357.80

Alumni Annual Fund Participation by Region PROVINCE/ REGION

Nova Scotia PEI New Brunswick Newfoundland Quebec Ontario Manitoba Saskatoon Alberta British Columbia Yukon Northwest Territories Nunavut United States United Kingdom Other

REGIONAL PARTICIPATION

10.2% 10.8% 11.2% 13.7% 7.8% 7.8% 13.2% 0.0% 9.7% 11.2% 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 13.2% 0.0% 5.9%

TOTAL RAISED

$ 23,573.68 $ 1,320.00 $ 3,065.00 $ 720.00 $ 480.00 $ 23,374.09 $ 185.00 $ 0.00 $ 2,304.00 $ 3,470.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 50.00 $ 1,767.36 $ 0.00 $ 1,650.00

Participation has been encouraging among faculty, staff, the Board of Governors and Alumni Executive. We are very pleased that the people closest to King’s have chosen to support the College. Alumni Association Executive 88% Board of Governors 82% Faculty 35% Staff 17%

T I D I N G S | 2 0 0 6 S T E WA R D S H I P R E P O R T

% OF TOTAL FUNDS

40.06% 2.24% 5.21% 1.22% 0.82% 39.72% 0.82% 0.00% 3.92% 5.90% 0.00% 0.00% 0.08% 3.00% 0.00% 2.80%

Nunavut has the highest participation rate of all regions with 50% of all alumni in the region making a gift (one of the two alumni in the province gave). Atlantic Canadian, Manitoban and American alumni have the highest participation rates. It is interesting to note that Nova Scotia and Ontario each contribute around 40% of the total donations from alumni. (Incidentally this is about the portion of students from each province at King’s today). The average gift from Nova Scotians was $115. The average gift from Ontarians was $260. It should be noted that participation rates are calculated based on the number of accurate addresses the College has in a given category.

While we have made improvements in many areas, clearly there is a lot of work to be done. Other universities that provide a strong undergraduate experience see much higher alumni participation in their Annual Fund. Princeton’s 2004/2005 Annual Fund had participation from 58.6% of its alumni. Small universities with small alumni communities do set higher goals. St. John’s College, a small humanities school with campuses in Maryland and New Mexico with about 900 students total, has an Annual Fund goal of $2.7 million USD.

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE The ﬁnal pledge payments are being made to the Building a Strong Foundation Campaign. Total pledged: Received to date:

$ 7,103,881.00 $ 6,959,037.00

There is still money coming in from the Campaign, some of which is past due. As is the case with other campaigns, a small portion of the total pledged has been written-off. At present this amount stands at $62,000.

Funds have been designated for Unrestricted Use $ 1,521,294.96 Building $ 3,745,212.12 Programs & Lectures $ 332,248.15 Library $ 183,504.86 Bursaries & Awards $ 547,463.55 Scholarships $ 1,147,808.11 Other $ 2,604.80 TOTAL $ 7,480,136.55

OTHER DONATIONS Throughout the year, King’s receives donations from a variety of sources, for reasons that are not connected with the Annual Fund or Capital Campaign. In 2005/2006 $154,372.08 was received from 50 donors. Estates and bequests account for a large portion of these funds. Much of the money received through estates is endowed for speciﬁc long-term purposes at King’s—often scholarships, bursaries

and student awards. King’s received signiﬁcant gifts from two individuals this year. These people had or wanted to establish funds at King’s to beneﬁt students and were able to do this in their lifetime and enjoy the opportunity to see the results of their generosity. Other existing funds were augmented as well. There are also funds established at the College that are supported by a number

of individuals and organizations. Often established in honour of past students or friends of the College, these memorials provide many people with tangible ways to memorialize someone they feel worthy of permanent recognition. Flow-through gifts are managed by an outside trustee but designated to King’s each year. Directed to a speciﬁc purpose, these donations help support the College and its students.

type of community that can develop on a small campus with small class sizes is an expensive proposition. We know that we will need to look outside our existing funding just to maintain our current position and most certainly to

offer the enhancements that are expected by students today. King’s looks to its alumni and friends to help us meet the challenges of the future in a variety of ways to ensure that King’s remains Canada’s leading interdisciplinary undergraduate institution.

THE FUTURE Through the Advancement Planning exercise now underway King’s is identifying the actions it must take to stay competitive and viable in the future while retaining the features that make the College uniquely King’s. Our continued commitment to the

RECOGNITION Ira Abraham Martin Adelaar Bob Aishford Joan Aitken Robert Allison Terri Lynn Almeda John Alward Melissa Andrew Dennis Andrews Annapolis Basin Conference Centre Barry Arbus Bruce Archibald & Martha Pratt Chris Archibald David & Robin Archibald Mary-Ann Archibald Cheryl Arkison Margaret Armstrong Matthew Aronson Kenneth Askew Robert & Nancy Assaly Paul Atanya Eleanor Austin Geoff Axell Kathleen Bain James Baker Jennifer Balfour Laura Ballem David Bancroft

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Nova Scotia Lachlan Barber Diane Barker Mary Barker William Barker & Elizabeth Church Margaret Barnard Keith Barrett John & Lorraine Baxter T. Fred Baxter Jonathan Bays David Beed Paul Bent Gilbert Berringer Les Berry Lewis Billard Oscar Bird Marcia Bishop William Bishop Anne Blakeney Laura Boast Nancy Boland Alberta Boswall Bernie & Jean Boudreau Hani & Anne Boulos Margaret Bourne Paul & Vicki Bowinkel James & Marion (Ware) Boyer

Malcolm Bradshaw Gord Brannen Rob Brison Stephen Brooke The Brookﬁeld Foundation Jane Brooks Christine Brophy Derek & Margaret (Burstall) Brown Brian Brownlee Rene Bruemmer Lorna (Surpless) Bryant Andrea Bryson Peter Bryson Mordy Bubis & Nina Stipich Donald & Joan (French) Buck Lawrence Buffett Cyril Bugden Elaine Burke Colin Burn Brian Burnell Steven Burns Cadogan Foundation Inc. Robin Calder Anne Cameron Drifﬁeld Cameron Gordon Cameron

James Carfra John Carr J. Lincoln Caylor Patricia Chalmers Alfred & Elizabeth Chanadi Elizabeth Chandler Donald & Jean (Kryszek) Chard Paul Charlebois Carolyn Chenhall Steve Chipman Dukhee Chon Fred Christie Garth & Carole (Cassidy) Christie Hugh Christie The Chronicle Herald Lyssa Clack Donald Clancy Dolda Clarke Elsie Clarke Mary L. Clarke Mille Clarkes Joan Clayton Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. Amanda Cleary Hope Clement James & Charlotte (Graven) Cochran

Robert & Elizabeth (Parsons) Colavecchia David Coleman Jean Coleno Steven Sutherland & Holly Conners Allan Conrod John Cook George & Tia Cooper H. Rhodes Cooper J. Gordie Cooper & Chere Ann Chapman John Cordes Brian Cormier Susan Cotter Armand Couture Kathleen Cox John & Pamela Scott Crace Robert Craig Alison Creech John Creelman Richard & Marilyn Cregan Hugh Crosthwait Thomas Crowther Thomas & Jane Curran Bertha Currie Donna Anderson Currie

Tim Currie & Christina Harnett David & Marilyn (Blunt) Curry Brian & Lindsay Cuthbertson Arthur Cuzner Ruth Davenport Gwendolyn Davies John Davies Jonathan Davies Douglas Davis Harry Davis Allison Davis Wendy Davis Joan Dawson Robert Dawson Peter & Taunya (Padley) Dawson Daniel de Munnik & Tasya Tymczyszyn Kerry DeLorey & Elizabeth Joyce Lisa Dennis John Densmore Ramsay Derry & Trisha Jackson Douglas Deruchie Jeanne Desveaux Kenneth Dewar

J.Mark & Rachel (Swetnam) DeWolf Darrell Dexter & Kelly Wilson Frances Dibblee Andrew Dick Carol Dicks Sarah Dingle Diocesan Synod of Nova Scotia Ian Johnson & Susan Dodd Paul Doucette Robert & Paula Dowling Robert Dunsmore Paula Dyke Corinne Earle Gordon Earle Ken Easterbrook Brian Edwards Elizabeth Edwards James & Heather Eisenhauer Thomas Eisenhauer Cynthia Eldridge C. William Eliot C. Russell Elliott Christopher Elson Samantha Eng Edward & Karen English

William English Estate of Kell Antoft* Estate of F.C. Manning* Estate of Susanna W.A. Almon* J. Trevor Eyton John Farmer Alexander Farrell Monica Farrell Mark Feldbauer Fergus&Barbara (Smith) Fergusson Peter Fillmore Andrew Firth Jessica Fitchette Stanley Fitzner Phillip Fleury Duncan Floyd Ian Folkins Robert Ford Stephen Forest Mark Forward Michael Fountain John Fowke Robert & Linda (Cruickshank) Fowler Janice Fralic-Brown Maria Franks J. Roderick Fraser Rowland Frazee

T I D I N G S | 2 0 0 6 S T E WA R D S H I P R E P O R T

RECOGNITION Paul Friedland Marion Fry Gillian Fullilove Richard Gallagher J.Fraser Gartside Laura (Auchincloss) Gatensby Monica George Punke Edward Gesner Lloyd Gesner Jack Gibbons & Mary Lovett Kevin Gibson Marie Gibson Steven Gibson Ed Gigg Todd Gillis Alfred Spurr Gilman Joan Gilroy Nicole Godbout Brian Gold Timna Gorber Peter & Sheila Gorman Bruce Gorrie John Gorrill Nicholas Graham William Graham Dwight & Star (Eagles) Grant Emily Gratton Roselle Green Bev Greenlaw & Sylvia Hamilton Anne Gregory Wayne Grigsby Emanuella Grinberg Catherine Gross David & Elizabeth (Stayner) Gruchy Charles & Anne Gunn Graeme Gunn Ernie & Barb Gutstein Earl Guy* Gregory Guy Douglas Hadley Cheri Haley G. Brenton Haliburton Dawn Hall Geraldine Hamm Wayne Hankey Glenna Hanley Elizabeth Hanton Andrew & Anne (Dorey) Hare Frank Harrington Benjamin Harris Mary Beth Harris Peter Harris Ronald Harris Walter Harris William Harris Harrison McCain Foundation David Hartry John & Faith (Brooks) Hatcher G.Keith Hatﬁeld Janet Hathaway Nicholas Hatt Kathryn Havercroft Marnie Hay E.Kitchener Hayman Annette Hayward James Hayward Mark & Shirley (Wall) Hazen Ross Hebb Ian Henderson Mary Henderson William & Anne Hepburn Oliver Herbst H. Douglas Hergett 18

Peter Herrndorf John Hibbitts Michael Hoare Paige Hochschild Barbara Hodkin Lois Hoegg Uta Hoeschele Margaret Hoffman Kara Holm Larry & Joan (Sellick) Holman Annemieke Holthuis Elizabeth Horlock James Houston John & Heather Houston Richard Howard Bruce Howe Caroline Hubbard Ronald Huebert Gregory Hughes Ian Hugill Jean Humphreys Gary Hunter Paul Hurwitz Robert Hyslop James & Nancy (Hyndman) Ibbott James Irvine Robert Jackson Kathleen Jaeger Leslie Jaeger James Jardine Peter Jelley Elizabeth Jenkins Paula Johnson David A. Jones David & Ena Gwen Jones Shauna Jones Heather Kearney John Keefe Edward Kelly Deborah Kempton Mary Kennedy Glen & Glenda (Cummings) Kent J. Kidd Kim Kierans Burns & Sarah (Teed) Kimball Stephen Kimber Katherine King Peter King John Kinley Margaret & W. J. Tory Kirby Mary Beth Knight Stephen Knowles Jeff & Sarah Koopus Eric Kushner Marguerite & Peter Kussmaul Jeannette Laba Lafarge Canada Inc. Andrew Laing Paulette Lambert Mary Lane Jack & Ferne Langer Patricia Langmaid Peter Lannan Robert & Lois LaRoche Caleb Lawrence Amanda Le Rougetel Claire LeBlanc-Spence Thomas & Barbara (Aikman) LeBrun Thomas Ledwell John & Nancy Leefe Sandi Leibovici

George Lemmon Richard Levangie Laurelle LeVert Crystal Levy-Bueno W.Ralph Lewis Catherine Lipa Raymond Litkenhaus F. Daniel Logan Ruth Loomer Bill & Stella Lord Richard Sean Lorway Iain Ronald Luke Sharon Lycett Alexander MacDonald David & Margaret (Currie) MacDonald Lesa MacDonald Margaret MacDonald Meagan MacDonald Ronald MacDonald Ronald C. MacDonald Jane MacDonald Spiteri Kevin MacDonell Mary MacDonell Daniel MacEachern Sara MacFarlane Cameron MacInnis Ken MacInnis David MacKay Eric MacKay Ian & Helen (Grant) MacKenzie John MacKenzie Mark MacKenzie Norman MacKenzie Lina MacKinnon Sine MacKinnon George MacLean Linda MacLean Judy MacLean Neil & Jean (Bird) MacLean Stephen & Julianne (Doucet) MacLean George MacLennan Andrew MacLeod Leslie MacLeod Rowena MacLeod Christina MacNaughton Marli MacNeil Donald MacQuarrie Heather MacQuarrie Gregory MacVicar Teena Mahoney Adrienne Malloy Peggy Mann Ronald Marks Roland Marshall William Marshall John Martin Mary Martin Rene Martin Keith Mason Arthur Matheson Lee Matheson Robi Matthews Emily Mawhinney Alison McCabe G.Wallace McCain Gillian McCain John McCamus Duncan Scott McCann Glendon McCormick Peter McCormick Duncan McCue Heather McEwan Anne McGaughey

T I D I N G S | 2 0 0 6 S T E WA R D S H I P R E P O R T

Jock McGregor Hugh (Monty) Mosher & Eileen McInnis Ian McKinnon Caldwell McMillan Christopher McNeely Judith McPhee Michael & Kelly Meighen Theodore Meighen Andrea Meyer F.David Millar Beverly Miller Claude Miller W. Michael Miller Christopher Mills Eric Mills Catherine Misener Christene Misener Joan Evans Miskelly Janet Mitchell Jeff Mitchell Jone Mitchell Terry Monaghan Melinda Montgomery Penny Frances MoodyCorbett Stuart Moore Barry Moores Graham Moores Brice Morash Andrew Morrison & Jennifer Morawiecki Christine Morris James Morris Robert Morris Lara Morrison George & Carolyn Mossman Nick Mount Susan Moxley Susan Munro David & Margaret (Harris) Myles Hilroy Nathanson Peter Nathanson Sarah Neale Donald Neish Jim Nelson Nancy Newcomb Susan Newhook Michael Nichol Jennifer Nicholls Kenneth Nickerson Terry Norman Nova Scotia Power Inc. Harold Nutter Raymond Oake Peter O’Brien Megan O’Brien Harrison Commodore Bruce S. Oland Debra O’Neil Heather Opseth Kyle Shaw & Christine Oreskovich Cheryl O’Shea Deborah Osmond Terrence O’Sullivan Jennifer Oussoren Sandra Oxner Robert Pace John Page Hugh Parker Jennifer Partridge Jack Pasht & Penelope Bell S.Stewart Payne Charlotte Peach LeRoy Peach

Anja Pearre Stuart Peddle Sandra Penney David & Tamara (Tyner) Perlmutter Arthur & Elizabeth (Baert) Peters Drake Petersen Mary Pheeney Bryan Phelan John Phillips George Phills Irene Phinney Charles Piercey Valerie Pike Judy Pinaud Brian Pitcairn Sally Pitt-Campbell Ann Pituley Frances Plaunt Wendy Posluns Colleen Poulain Helen Powell Peter Power Steven Power Morton Prager John Primrose Jenny Proudfoot Amy Pugsley Fraser Margo Pullen Sly Gordon Pyke Tina Quelch Thomas Raddall III Irene Randall Gordon Read Reader’s Digest Foundation of Canada Charles Reagh Elizabeth Reagh Kim & Mary Jane Rector Tracey Reeves Adrian & Pauline Reid Lindsay Reid Peter Rendek Iris Richards Blair Riddle Nancy Ring Rosemary Rippon Tim Rissesco Patrick Rivest Neil & Patricia Robertson Ron & Sheila Robertson Ted & Isabelle Robinson Katie Rock Doris Roe Suzanne Romeo Jennifer Roos Henry Roper Gillian Rose Amy Rosen Bala Jaison & Marc Rosen James Ross Jonathan & Emily (Hunter) Rowe Luana Royal Michael Rudderham David Ruggles Celia Russell Mervyn Russell Elizabeth Ryan Melvyn Sacks Diane Saibil Stanley Salsman Sadie Sassine Heather Saunders Judy Savoy

Barry Sawyer A.Winifred Scott Barbara Scott Douglas Scott Myra Scott Jill Sears David Secord Shelley Shea Bill Shead Jo-Anne Sheehan George Sheppard Brian Sherwell Clifford Shirley J. Shupac Sandra Simms Bishop Craig Simpson Douglas Simpson Paul Simpson G. Robert Sircom William Sitland William Skinner Antonia Sly Nichols & Cluny Nichols Barbara Smith Ben Smith Gerald Smith Joy H. Smith Douglas & Ruth Smith Ruth Smith M.Muriel Smyth Kathleen Soares Peter & Elizabeth (Bayne) Sodero Jack & Sharon (Green) Spence James Stacey Geoffrey & Jane (Sodero) Steele Arthur Steinberg Erin Steuter Donald Stevenson Ronald Stevenson Sarah Stevenson Jennifer Stewart Kevin Stockall Katherine Stoddard Peter Stoffer Mary Stokes Jay & Sandra Stone Geoffrey Strople & Margaret Dechman James Surrette Will Sutherland John Swain Mary Tasman John Taylor D.Lionel Teed Jerome Teitel Lhadon Tethong The Pepsi Bottling Group Katherine Therien Helen Thexton Allan Thomson Nicholas Thorne Roderick & Nancy Thornton Harry Thurlow Ted & Elodie Tichinoff Shirley Tillotson Keith Townley Randy & Deborah Townsend Donald & Gloria (Teed) Trivett Randolph & Judith (Banks) Tsang Catherine Tuck Sarah Turbitt

Nicholas Twyman Anthony Uy Ive Viksne Thomas & Nora (Dauphinee) Vincent Nancy Violi Linda Visser Charles Wainwright Isabel Wainwright Angela Walker Philip Walker Karen Walsh & David Roffey Stephen Warburton & Sherri Aikenhead Anne Weaver William Wells Victoria Welstead Richard Wenaus Joan Whalley Emily White Nancy White Suzanne White Jana Wieder William Williams Roy Willwerth Audrey Wilson David Wilson David K. Wilson Blair Wilson Steven Wilson Nina Winham Frank Winters J.Robert Winters Dorothy Wong James Wood Phyllis & Peter Wood Randolph Wood Stuart Wood Faye Woodman Brenda Woods Patricia Wren James Wright Des Writer Angela Yazbek Elizabeth Yeo Laura Young Zhimei Zhang Deborah Zinck-Gilbert and those donors who wish to remain anonymous * deceased in memory of George Bate Margaret Beckett Andrea Bronfman Lucy Cuthbertson Doreen DesLauriers Susan Williams Dexter George Earles Margaret Gilman William Arthurs Heaslip Ruth Hudson Sheila Jones Corinne MacKenzie Julia Ruby John Tasman Elizabeth Wainwright A. Stanley Walker Ian Wiseman a donation was also made in recognition of the Year of the Veteran

UNIVERSITY OF KING’S COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 2005—2006

Executive Members POSITION

NAME

TERM

President

Doug Hadley (BA ‘92)

2004-2006

Vice President

Steve Wilson (BA ‘87)

2004-2006

Treasurer

Andy Hare (BA ‘70)

2004-2006

Past President

Tim Rissesco (BA ‘93)

2004-2006

Secretary

Harry Thurlow (BA ’95)

2005-2007

Member at Large

Lara Morrison (BAH ‘95)

2005-2007

Member at Large

Elizabeth Ryan (BA ‘69)

2005-2007

Member at Large

Kyle Shaw (BSc ‘91, BJ ‘92)

2005-2007

Member at Large

Des Writer (BJ ‘02)

2004-2006

Member at Large

Sherri Aikenhead (BJH ‘85)

2004-2006

Member at Large

David Jones (BA ‘68)

2005-2007

Board of Gov.

John Stone (BAH ‘65)

2005-2007

Board of Gov.

Daniel de Munnik (BScH ‘02)

2004-2006

Board of Gov.

Daniel Logan (BAH ‘88)

2005-2007

University President (Ex-Ofﬁcio)

William Barker

Director, Development, Alumni & Public Relations (Ex-Ofﬁcio)

Kara Holm

Alumni Ofﬁcer (Ex-Ofﬁcio)

Katie Rock

Students’ Union President (Ex-Ofﬁcio)

Dave Jerome

Chapter Leaders PLACE

NAME

New Brunswick

Kathryn Collet (BSc ’87)

kathryn.collet@gnb.ca

Ottawa

David Jones (BA ’68)

commadore@sympatico.ca

Wendy Hepburn (BA ’05)

hepburn.wendy@tbs-sct.gc.ca

Montréal

Matthew Aronson (BAH ’01)

mattaronson@gmail.com

Toronto

Daniel Logan (BAH ’88)

dlogan@osler.com

Winnipeg

George MacLean (BAH ’90)

maclean@cc.umanitboa.ca

Edmonton

Jack Wenaus (BSc ’70)

jack.wenaus@clarica.com

Calgary

Nick Twyman (BA ‘87)

nick_twyman@hsbc.ca

Vancouver

Barbara Stegemann (BA ’91, BJ ’99)

bstegemann@shaw.ca

London, England

Chris MacNeil (BA ’94)

chris@ebooster.co.uk

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

COVER STORY

REACHING

Top left: Dr. Angus Johnston. Bottom, left to right: Andy Tyers, Helen Langille and Bonita Shepherd

ID JANE AUSTEN dream all this before she wrote the novel?” This question breaks through the general discussion going on among the ten students sitting at tables in The Halifax North Memorial Public Library, located in Halifax’s north end. They’re talking about Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and the “all this” the man refers to is the content of the lecture they’re hearing from Dr. Angus Johnston, Director of the Foundation Year Programme (FYP) and Associate Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of King’s College. Dr. Johnston began the lecture with the proposal that Jane Austen is “solving the problems of Europe,” bringing together rationalism and empiricism, reason and emotion—talking about how the action of a novel can be interpreted as the harmonization of disparate philosophical thoughts. The “dream” the man referred to in his question relates to Dante and his Divine Comedy, a work this class read in December. “Dante’s unusually well thought-out,” says Andy Tyers during 20

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

a break in Johnston’s lecture, explaining why the Divine Comedy has been a favourite of his among the texts covered by the course so far. “It’s something you don’t see a lot of these days. I can’t think of anyone to compare him with in the twentieth-century except perhaps Bob Dylan—there’s the same kind of attention to detail.” When Tyers saw a poster advertising the Halifax Humanities 101 course on the wall in the North End Public Library he decided to apply for the program, mainly because he thought the eight-month educational course in the Humanities looked interesting. He’s an avid reader with an interest in everything from Austen to quantum physics. “Oh, I’ll read labels on toothpaste tubes if I can’t get anything else,” he says. He also hoped the course would help him make a “re-entry” into society. He’s been on permanent disability for several years and doesn’t deal well with people in most situations, he says.

by Zoë Morawetz Illustration by Kate Sinclair

BEYOND THE QUAD “Basically, I’ve got to get grounded as a human being,” he says. “For years, I literally haven’t talked to anyone but government officials and shop clerks.” He mentions missed opportunities, things he never followed up on, starting with the best intentions. “A sense of derailment,” says Dr. Angus Johnston later on, after the lecture, making an attempt to describe the lives of people he sees as having a drive to study literature and philosophy but never having had the opportunity. Halifax Humanities 101 is an educational program offered to people who live in material poverty. Its inspiration is the Clemente program, a similar educational course started in New York in the mid-1990s. This is the first time a version of the course has been offered in Halifax. Support that makes the program possible comes from a number of sources: professors from universities in the Halifax area volunteer their time to lecture and coordinate the course sections; space is provided by the Library; fundraising and donations pay for books and bus tickets so the students can come to lectures; and a childcare service initiated by King’s President Dr. William Barker. King’s College students look after children at the Library while their parent attends a lecture. The lecture schedule for one week includes Laura Penny (BAH ’96) discussing Kant, Dr. Neil Robertson (BAH ’85) on Marx, and a workshop with Dr. Barker on essay writing. It becomes evident that much of the course content is similar to what’s taught in classrooms at King’s. King’s has “frankly dominated” the Halifax Humanities 101 curriculum, says Dr. Johnston, not in the least because in its pilot year the project was put together “on the fly.” Lecturers who were already familiar with one another’s work could easily provide a sense of continuity for the students (though all the educational institutions in the Halifax area have been big supporters of the project). And the Foundation Year Programme was a readily-available and suitable template for the Halifax Humanities 101 curriculum, which calls for a similar eightmonth survey of the Western philosophical canon. “If you think about it, there’s something kind of insane about FYP and taking all that material and teaching it to recent high school students,” says Dr. Neil Robertson. Besides lecturing for Halifax Humanities 101, he coordinated one of the course sections. “We extend that insanity into the Clemente program.” *

DR. TOM CURRAN, a Senior Fellow in the Foundation Year Programme—and “a true believer” in it, he adds—began to think, one day, about other ways to extend the Programme to the community when he happened to overhear a University staff member ask for a reading recommendation. The man wanted to read something from the FYP syllabus. “He had no idea, basically, after working here at least as long as I did, what students are thinking about,” says Dr. Curran. That formed part of the inspiration for Curran’s decision to start a lecture series that draws on topics from popular culture, which began this spring with a lecture on The Da Vinci Code (for the staff member, he recommended two novels from the FYP curriculum: Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther and Dostoevsky’s Death of Ivan Ilyich). About 120 people attended the lecture, which focussed on the history of Christian theology and renaissance art.

“IT’S WORTH HAVING A DISCUSSION AND EXPLORING WHY [THESE WORKS HAVE] SUCH A HOLD ON THE POPULAR IMAGINATION.” —Dr. Tom Curran “It’s coming at the same thing from different directions,” says Dr. Robertson, who is involved with the lecture series as well as with Halifax Humanities 101. While the Clemente program depends on the dedication of a small group of students who are eager to learn, the lecture series appeals to a broad section of the public whom educators can engage with philosophical topics. Ultimately, both end up “moving people to reflect a bit more.” Dr. Angus Johnston first heard about the Clemente program when he saw Earl Shorris lecture five years ago at a conference in San Francisco. Shorris (Founder and chairman of the advisory board of the Clemente Course in the Humanities) talked about meeting a woman in prison who spoke of missing out on “the music of downtown”—meaning the art, the culture, the philosophy of downtown New York. Shorris created the first Clemente program on Manhattan’s lower east side in 1995 and since then the program has spread across the U.S. and into Latin America and Canada, with another course in Vancouver. All these programs share the basic Clemente model: teaching TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

the Humanities to people who live below the poverty line in order to enrich their lives and help them break out of the cycle of poverty. In his new office at King’s College, University Chaplain The Rev. Canon Dr. Gary Thorne (DD ’04) pulls Shorris’ book, Riches for the Poor (W.W. Norton: 2000), from his shelf. “I remember photocopying 30 or 40 pages and going around and putting it through Neil Robertson’s door slot and Stephen Burns’,’” says Thorne, “just trying to get people excited about it.” Dr. Thorne chairs the St. George’s Friends of Clemente Society, the registered charity which administers the Halifax Humanities program and hired the program director, Bruce Russell. With the help of Susan Barthos, the woman who established the infrastructure for the program, the Society began the pilot Halifax Humanities 101 course with about 30 students in October, 2005. After a few dropouts (which administrators of other Clemente programs told the Society to expect), there are now usually between 15-20 students at the lectures.

“JUST BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE MONEY OR MEANS DOESN’T MEAN WE DON’T WANT TO THINK OR BE AWARE OF PHILOSOPHY” —Bonita Shepherd “University professors are enthused by it because they have a chance to teach people who want to learn,” says Dr. Thorne. “The students aren’t jumping through hoops in order to get something in the end—they’re not getting a piece of paper, a diploma.” Dr. Robertson finds the teaching experience powerful—for instance, lecturing on Karl Marx, a topic he has talked about for years, became a novel experience in the Halifax Humanities 101 program, where many of the students could draw on their experiences of living in poverty (and could also remember the communism of Soviet Russia). “It wasn’t just an academic exercise,” he says, “It’s the material coming alive. It made Marx speak to me.” Dr. Curran similarly reflects on the mature students who have enrolled in FYP 22

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

over the years and brought diverse perspectives to the Programme—those who were in the middle of their careers, who perhaps had dropped out of high school, or who were working journalists, all looking for what the Programme offers—a foundation in the Humanities. “They were the best students. I’m not saying they got the best marks, but they were the ones who really gave something,” he says. That was another source of inspiration for the lecture series. Dr. Robertson gave the second lecture in the series on April 4, speaking about the series of Harry Potter books in relation to the sacred and the secular in modern society. Curran knew Robertson had an interest in the series because he borrowed all of the books from Curran’s children. “Harry Potter has been very much in my thoughts, because we have three children and we’ve had difficulties at home because three people can’t read one book at the same time,” says Dr. Curran. The trends that these works have set off suggested to him the extent to which there is an appetite for the kinds of discussions that form the basis of FYP: dialogues about theology and art history and the role of the feminine in European culture, which make up the themes of The Da Vinci Code, or the depiction of good versus evil found in Harry Potter. “These are all topics that are absolutely central to what the teaching staff here know about,” says Dr. Curran. “It’s worth having a discussion and exploring why [these works have] such a hold on the popular imagination.” *

FOR BONITA SHEPHERD, a student in the Halifax Humanities 101 class, these topics have always been a source of fascination that she never had the means to explore in higher education. “Just because we don’t have money or means doesn’t mean we don’t want to think or be aware of philosophy,” she says. “I am incredibly interested in it. I would have cried if I hadn’t got into this course,” she laughs. Shepherd learned about the program from Dr. Thorne. They both sit on the board of the Metro Non-Profit Housing Association. “Improving people’s self-esteem, giving them confidence, giving them a desire

to do more with their lives. That’s what comes out of the program,” says Thorne. Drawing on his experience as Rector at

“IT’S REMARKABLE, SHE IS JUST LEARNING—AND THIS TOOK ME YEARS TO LEARN—THAT ROMANTIC LITERATURE CAN HAVE A DEPTH OF MEANING. HOW NOVELS CAN BE GREAT.” —Dr. Angus Johnston St. George’s Round Church in the north end for 16 years—working with people who live in poverty, who are involved in the sex trade, who are involved in drug abuse—he sees the Clemente program as a concrete way to improve lives. “The most difficult notion for people to understand,” he says, “is its practicality. We can’t get any government funding because the Department of Community Services says, ‘if you want to teach people how to work in a warehouse or how to do data-entry, we’ll give you money’ …. But not all the students are going to be working and off the dole right after the program ends. Well, the government then says, ‘We aren’t interested.’” The Halifax Humanities 101 program is funded entirely through donations from individuals and corporate sponsors. With enough funding, the Friends of Clemente Society hopes to continue the program next year and expand it with an additional course in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. “Is there a chance we can improve our lives by having more education?” Shepherd answers the question she has just posed: “I think so. Who knows where this kind of education can lead us?” Self-expression through writing and speaking, clarity of thought, learning to work under pressure—none of these are “somehow removed from real life,” says Dr. Curran, as he outlines what he sees as the practical benefit of FYPs course in the humanities. “The study of literature teaches you to think critically and go to the heart of things for yourself,” he says. He looks around his office for a copy of René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, but failing to spy it in the crowded room, summarizes the philosopher’s points in the dedicatory letter of the Meditations, in which Descartes defended his exercise (continued on 32)

ALUMNI PROFILE

Graeme Gillis

Takes New York by Falice Chin

ARK, DAMP and tucked away, the hidden Pit underneath the Chapel at the University of King’s College cultivates talent year after year. The particular year was 1992. The place that they call The Pit is where Graeme Gillis (BJH ’95) and his friends from the King’s Theatrical Society (KTS) spent many sunless hours acting out life on stage. The particular show required 25 actors and three hours in one sitting to be reenacted. The larger-than-life approach, from the man who penned the aforementioned ambitious play entitled Basement Valentines, would take him places. From his home town in Cape Breton to undergraduate studies at King’s, Gillis found himself in the Mediterranean —Malta, in fact, where he received his Masters degree in Media Studies. He knew he wanted to be a writer. Undecided between two professions, journalism or theatre, Gillis returned to Halifax after his degree to do what smart writers stuck in limbo do best: freelance. Between writing for the city’s two newspapers and The Coast, Gillis found time to get creative as a playwright at the Khyber Centre for the Arts, a historic building and arts centre in downtown Halifax. Slowly, the nights of writing drama began to eclipse the days of reporting. His newspaper stints would soon end when Marlon Brando lured the 24-year-old to New York City. “A friend of mine who subscribed to this New York magazine told me I should go to this theatre school in New York, where Marlon Brando went,” Gillis says. “He told me, ‘I think you should do this. You should go to New York.’” The trip to Hell’s Kitchen, where Gillis received world-class theatre training at the Actors Studio at New School University, proved to be the kind of life-changing experience only underdogs can fully appreciate.

The school has strong ties to the glamorous real world of staged drama, not unlike King’s in the way its Journalism program has strong ties to large news organizations. He became involved with Youngblood Theatre, a company that supports emerging playwrights like Gillis himself at the time. ”It was the best thing that happened to me,” he says. Gillis debuted New York in 2002 with a one-act play about teenagers caught in a love triangle. The New York Times theatre critic, Lawrence Van Gelder, wrote that The Moon Bath Girl “carved out a recognizable slice of life.” But that slice of life almost didn’t happen. Just days before the one-act marathon, it became clear that the lead actress of the play had missed all final rehearsals. A visit to the missing woman’s house turned into an amateur drug bust of sorts. Littered with cocaine, the home of the supposedly ‘next great actress’ looked like something straight out of a Hollywood film.

“I HAD THIS FEELING, THAT PERSEVERANCE CAN HELP YOU GO THROUGH ANYTHING.” —Graeme Gillis “There I was, my play was supposed to be on in a couple of days,” Gillis says. ”I called my parents, feeling I [didn’t] know what to do.” “My dad said, ‘Maybe you ought to come home. It’s really deep water you’re swimming in.’ And he was right.” Fortunately, a day after the woman’s arrest, Gillis found an ideal replacement. The show did go on, and it ended in whoops and cheers. “I had this feeling, that perseverance can help you go through anything.” The perseverance theme lingers in all of Gillis’ works. Another recent production, Charlie Blake’s Boat, tells a humourous story about a man who goes

photo: Graeme Gillis

“I’m lucky because my work is so much fun.”

Graeme Gillis

against conventional wisdom and braves the Atlantic Ocean in a boat he built for himself. Once again, Van Gelder praised Gillis’ work, describing it as “fast, funny, and emotionally powerful.” Gillis, now 32, enjoys acting as well as writing. Past roles include the fatalistic Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet, as well as an unusual, hip hop character from Buck Hunter, a rap opera. “Yes, I had to learn how to rap,” he says while laughing. A longtime member of the Actors Studio, Gillis continues to live in New York and is also the current head of a few theatre groups, including Youngblood, the very place he hailed from. He is also director of a $1.5 million project aimed at crafting scripts about science and technology. “I’m lucky because my work is so much fun,” he says. Many awards and many honourable mentions later (including the 2000 Raymond Simpson Award for Most Promising Artist from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust), Gillis is still a man of humility. He says his Canadian ways are found in the little things, like the fact that he rides his bike from his home in Brooklyn to work in Manhattan every day. Though the Big Apple may seem grandiose compared to Halifax in many ways, Gillis’ connection to the KTS hasn’t faded. Some of the people he has worked with through the years are King’s alumni, as is Julie McCarroll (BAH ’97), his girlfriend, whom he started dating after graduating from King’s. Ambition has clearly taken Gillis far, but not too far, from the basement of the King’s College Chapel. ∂ TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

TRULY INTERDISCIPLINARY: Sciences and the Humanities at King’s

photo: University of King’s College

by Greg Hughes (BJ ‘05)

ECOND-YEAR KING’S STUDENT Chris Parsons, a Dartmouth, Nova Scotia native and Vice President (External) of the King’s Students’ Union, is part of a unique academic group at King’s: those who participate in the History of Science and Technology (HOST) Programme, the only undergraduate programme of its kind in Canada. “I decided to take HOST because it asks questions about our everyday relationship to science and technology. I was also attracted to the way that HOST addresses the whole history of Western science and treats it as being a historical development that doesn’t privilege one time period over another but sees them as intertwined,” Parsons says. “The program is incredibly small and incredibly rigorous. It is also a great meeting ground for people from different academic backgrounds and from all kinds of different degree programs from philosophy, to math, to neurobiology, to English. The ability to study the social sciences with people who are training to be scientists as well as people who are training to be historians or philosophers is invaluable.” Parsons believes that HOST has provided him with the opportunity to see and recognize his intellectual assumptions. One assumption that many people have about King’s is the idea that the College is primarily a liberal arts university with little to no intellectual relationship with the sciences. Some professors and students wish to change that idea. Dr. Gordon McOuat, Associate Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences and Director of the History of Science and Technology Programme at King’s, says he’s a firm believer that the sciences and humanities have a unique and powerful relationship and that both academic cultures have much to learn from each other. Further, King’s benefits from having committed faculty and programs that encourage cross-pollination of academic values into both the humanities as well as the sciences. Dr. McOuat, a recipient of the Social Sciences and Humani24

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ties Research Council (SSHRC) Cluster Grant and President of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, explores the history, philosophy and politics of classification systems, logic and natural kinds, as well as general work in the culture of science. Besides writing, teaching and marking, he’s part of a unique partnership of minds. The Halifax-based Evolution Studies Group is a group of philosophers, sociologists, biologists, historians, anthropologists, psychologists and other academics from a variety of universities. The aim of the group? To study the broader question of the meaning of evolution in its modern and historical context, both from a biological perspective as well as its basis on theories presented in great literary works. “As you know, open any newspaper and one bumps into this continuously controversial issue—whether it is debates over evolution versus creationism in the U.S., whether it is ‘all in our genes’, whether it leads to atheism, or, somehow, to a moral nihilism, or is it indeed the ground of morality,” Dr. McOuat says. “All these kinds of issues lay at the ground of not only the popular mind, but are also issues of steaming hot academic interest.” The group studies and discusses some of the key insights in modern scientific thought, such as sociobiology, race and racism in science, systems theory and the end of genetic determinism. An entirely democratic operation, Dr. McOuat calls the group a “cozy think tank” where the group collectively picks a series of topics to discuss. Such casual, friendly intellectual relationships form the crux of the interdisciplinary culture at King’s. Dr. Stephen Snobelen is an Assistant Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of King’s College and is also a faculty member in the Contemporary Studies Programme, Early Modern Studies Programme and specifically in the History of Science and Technology Programme. His research primarily focuses on the relationship between science and religion. He also teaches a course on Science and the Media in HOST. Dr. Snobelen thinks it is unfortunate that some view King’s as unfriendly to science.

“THE ABILITY TO STUDY THE SOCIAL SCIENCES WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE TRAINING TO BE SCIENTISTS AS WELL AS PEOPLE WHO ARE TRAINING TO BE HISTORIANS OR PHILOSOPHERS IS INVALUABLE.” —Chris Parsons “At one level, this is an unfair thing to conclude about King’s, given that we have no science programmes ourselves and are meant to be a small liberal arts school. On the other hand, HOST does bridge the gap in various important ways. First, we offer two courses that are cross-listed with science programmes at Dalhousie, namely our History of Science survey course and our course on the History of Marine Sciences. There is also the science stream that FYP offers. The Foundation Year Programme

allows first-year students at King’s to take one credit in the sciences. Second, HOST draws science students from Dalhousie, both into our elective courses and into our Honours program,” Dr. Snobelen says. Dr. Snobelen is personally fascinated by the various ways in which sciences and the humanities overlap. “Some believe that science and the arts are completely separate, but this is not supported by the facts. For example, I teach two courses on the relationship between science and religion and it is clear that religion has served as a stimulus and a source of ideas for science, particularly during the medieval and early modern periods, but still to a certain extent today. Sometimes scientists will quote from or allude to literary works in their science publications. Sometimes astronomers will use their aesthetic sense to interpret and present astronomical images. Some artists and scientists are blending the fine arts and science in the production of artistic images that are informed by science. C.P. Snow in the early 1960s spoke of the danger of the arts and the sciences growing apart. This need not happen.” Mark Ulett, a fourth-year student at King’s, is completing a combined honours degree in Marine Biology (through Dalhousie University) and HOST. He says one of the reasons he took HOST is his enjoyment of learning how academic theories were developed and under what pretenses they are applicable. “Beyond the core courses for the History of Science and Technology, I took classes on Darwinism, an independent reading, and a fantastic class taught by Eric Mills [Inglis Professor] on the History of Marine Science—a wonderful blend of the two aspects of my degree. Having just completed my thesis on the history of punctuated equilibrium, a relatively new theory

in the evolutionary sciences, I am hoping to continue my study of evolution in my graduate studies.” Ulett says one of the most interesting aspects of science studies at King’s is how King’s programmes keep in mind the types of sciences being taught at Dalhousie University. “Having completed the programme here at King’s, I see historical and philosophical critiques of science to be essential to the further development of ethical and productive scientific studies. It has been said by many that the reason scientists have discovered so much is because they were standing on the shoulders of giants,” Ulett says. “If contemporary scientists are standing on the shoulders of their predecessors, then unless they know who these people were who ca me before them, and the reasoning behind the work in which they were engaged, then the scientists of today will unknowingly replicate and further entrench theoretical and/or practical errors into their own work.” Such ideas on the relationships between science, methodology and knowledge seemingly transcend faculty divisions and academic knowledge at King’s. Dr. McOuat says that the Evolution Studies Group—more broadly, science and the liberal arts as a whole—help inform the myriad of disciplines of academic study at King’s. “We have learned greatly from our dialogues, from a close engagement with listening, and conversing. It is where the two cultures between science and the humanities have really come together,” Dr. McOuat reckons. ∂ To listen to an interview with Dr. Stephen Snobelen, please visit www.ukings.ca/kings_2846.html.

BOOKS I’M READING

photo: University of King’s College

Dr. Gordon McOuat, Director, History of Science and Technology Programme and Associate Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr. Gordon McOuat I have way too many books on the go at once. I treat them a bit like hypertexts —which is not necessarily a good thing. One book I’ve been lugging around with me for the past month is the 1,000 page monstrosity, Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, edited by Peter Wiebel and Bruno Latour

(MIT Press: 2005). Assembling pieces from more than 100 writers, artists and philosophers, Making Things Public explores the notion of “Things” and their oft-neglected public place in democracy. (“Thing”, we learn at the very start, is the earliest word for parliament.) It’s a wild jumble of a book—arising out of a big public art exhibition at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), in Karlsruhe—and contains things from “the origin of the body politic” to elections in Papua New Guinea, to the life of inscriptions in laboratory, to critiques of Heidegger’s own knotty Things. I’m not sure that it all holds together, except by the gravity of the problem, but it’s sure fascinating, and dirt cheap at 39 bucks! Big things come up in Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn. After teaching this play in two classes this year, and watching the wonderful King’s Theatrical Society’s

production, I just can’t put it down. It is about indeterminacy, ethics, big science, phenomenology, and memory—plus the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Who could ask for anything more? I wish I could list some literature, but my reading in that area has been sadly deﬁcient recently (except for the poems of Berthold Brecht and Nazim Hikmet). It’s as if, following Darwin (as described in his Autobiography), my brain has atrophied into one big fact machine. That said, this summer I’m hoping to read Lynn Coady’s newly released Mean Boy (a novel about poetry, literature, gurulike professors,—and getting drunk—at the thinly-disguised Mount Allison of the 1970s—sort of like King’s). Lynn Coady and Christy Ann Conlin are certainly among the best new novelists in Canada —and they are both from out here! TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

CHANGES AT THE TOP Margo Pullen Sly Retires

photo: Dr. William Barker

by Laura Pellerine (BJH ‘04)

Students serenade Margo Pullen Sly during Big Night celebrations in March.

ARGO PULLEN SLY sat across the table from King’s President Dr. John Godfrey and tried to quiet the butterflies in her stomach as he perused her résumé. She had seen the ‘President’s Assistant’ posting while working as Secretary to the Director at the Law Alumni Office across campus at Dalhousie University. It was only a maternity leave contract, and after having her first taste of being back at work since her 10 and 8-year-olds were born, the decision to apply for the position in 1986 was an easy one. The questions Dr. Godfrey, the Vice President and Bursar were throwing at her weren’t too tough. She’d already worn a similar hat as Secretary for the President at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, while she and her family were living in Ontario. Pullen Sly knew she’d be a perfect fit; she had lived in Halifax as a child, was a practicing Anglican and several of her relatives were King’s alumni—her father, Rear Admiral Hugh Pullen (DCnL ’83) had even received an honorary Doctor of Canon Law degree posthumously from the University three years before. “What I didn’t know,” she says now, chuckling, “was that I’d be at it for 20 years.” At the end of June this year, Margo Pullen Sly will be retiring. Current University President Dr. William Barker says that this is a testament to Margo’s dedication. Dr. Barker is the fourth President Pullen Sly has worked 26

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with, though she worked only briefly with Godfrey during her first year at King’s. Working with someone for only one year is not enough time to truly get to know them, she says when asked what her thoughts on the former President are. Though she says she remembers having to get used to working with someone who was such a well-known figure in the city. She also had other things on her mind. She spent only three days with her predecessor, the Assistant to the President before her. “I remember being quite awestruck by the scope of the job,” she says.

“SHE MADE PEOPLE FEEL LIKE SHE WOULD ALWAYS DO WHATEVER SHE COULD FOR YOU. THAT’S QUITE STRONG.” —Dr. Colin Starnes Of the other Presidents, she worked with Dr. Marion Fry for six years, from 1987 to 1993. “We shared the same attention to details,” Pullen Sly says. For example, she remembers having to ensure that loose sugar was presented at organized events in the President’s Lodge, and not packaged. When Dr. Colin Starnes took over the position in 1993, Pullen Sly says that his laid-back personality was a bit of a shock.

photo: Kerry DeLorey

“Dr. Fry was very professional in how she presented herself. She always wore a suit or a dress, and then came Dr. Starnes in his coveralls after having ridden his bike in to work.” Pullen Sly laughs good-naturedly. “It got to the point where when he dressed in a suit and tie everyone commented on it. Now with Dr. Barker we’re back to a more formal style of dress.” After spending ten years with Dr. Starnes Pullen Sly says that they became very comfortable with one another, but she insists that she can’t name a favourite President. “They were all too different,” she says, “but they all had a great sense of humour,” she pauses, “and terrible handwriting!” Dr. Starnes says he always appreciated Pullen Sly’s sense of humour and friendliness. “My job was made tolerable because I’d get to see her every day,” Dr. Starnes says. “She’s got a dynamite smile.” He adds that Pullen Sly’s rock-solid work ethic also helped him do his job. Starnes knew he could count on her to effectively arrange his meetings, prioritize his tasks, and to organize events such as graduation, or “Encaenia” as she would correct. “She never gets it wrong,” he says. “Efficient,” echos Dr. Barker. “Just this morning she noticed that one of the flags was upside down and she immediately called Security and had them fix it.” On her way to school, the flags are the first thing Pullen Sly notices. “I’m a bit of a nag on the subject,” she confesses. “I have a passion for flags and it has always been very important to me that the three flags we fly at King’s are correctly and appropriately flown.”

At the end of the day Pullen Sly’s desk is covered with a never-ending pile of file folders, kept neatly in place with rocks she has collected on walks along South Shore beaches. “That way I’ll know if anything has been added to the desk in my absence—cunning, eh?” she says, adding that they’re also helpful as paperweights when her window is open. Wendy Hepburn (BA ’05) was amazed by the scope of her job when she filled in for Pullen Sly when her daughter got married. “There were so many constant requests,” Hepburn says. “I quickly learned how the centre of the University was there at her desk.” Hepburn got to know Pullen Sly well through Sunday services at the Chapel. As the warden for three years, Hepburn worked closely with her to organize weekly church events like coffee hour. She says that after the parishioners finished with their tea and snacks, Pullen Sly always made sure that the leftovers were given to students. “She was always checking up on everyone, and making sure you were okay. She’d ask, ‘Is this person sick? Do they have a cold?’” Hepburn says. Pullen Sly’s alertness and tact have also made her an invaluable asset to the school. Her coworkers all emphasize how steadfastly she gained and kept their trust. Dr. Barker states that you immediately feel that she holds what you say in the highest confidence, and that such a quality is necessary in such a small environment. It is part of the reason why replacing her will be such a challenge, and why Dr. Barker laughingly says that he is in denial that she will actually be leaving. “Dozens of people fell in love with her,” Dr. Starnes says. “She made an impression on people who you’d think would never remember the person that greeted them at the door, or spoke to them over the phone. Since I’ve retired there is no one I meet who doesn’t say to me, ‘Give my regards to Margo.’ She made people feel like she would always do whatever she could for you. That’s quite strong.” “The job’s a big responsibility, and it’s a lot to demand of somebody. The academic year offers a few breaks for most people working in it. Not her. There was always something to do. I heave a big sigh of relief for her.” Pullen Sly doesn’t have a definite plan for what she’ll do next. But she is enjoying the idea of having options. Travelling is definitely in the picture—she’s got a trip planned to Malta in September. “I’m going on a Mediterranean cruise—no, not a love boat one,” she laughs. “I’ve always been interested in that place. My parents were based there before the War.” Pullen Sly also looks forward to devoting more time to reading historical fiction, volunteering and perhaps even dropping in on a few FYP lectures. She says it will be difficult to let go of the environment and people that she has come to love, and who have, in return, come to love and depend on her. Her qualities read like powers of a tangible superhero: knowledgable, trustworthy, humourous, organized, dedicated, caring, and graceful. And, as with all legends, she has etched her spirit deep into the roots of our memory. ∂

Margo Pullen Sly

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AWA R D W I N N E R S

Congratulations! The University of King’s College and the Alumni Association would like to express its congratulations to the following alumni:

The Reverend Laish Boyd (BAH ’83), the Rector of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Nassau, was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Anglican Diocese of Nassau, The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands on February 24, 2006. He will succeed the present Bishop, Drexel Gomez, who is to retire in 2008. Stephen Cooke (BJH ’89) won the 2004 “Best Newspaper Writer Award” from The Coast. Former King’s President Dr. John Godfrey, MP won his fifth consecutive election as Liberal Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Don Valley West on January 23, 2006.

Stephanie Nolen (BJH ’93) has been appointed a Trudeau Foundation Mentor by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. Trudeau Mentors provide guidance to Trudeau Foundation Scholars, who are outstanding doctoral candidates in the social sciences and humanities. Stephanie Nolen is an award-winning journalist and Africa correspondent at The Globe and Mail.

him a sports question.” A native of Napanee, Ontario, Sager had internships with the sports departments of the Daily News and Halifax Herald. He then wrote for the Portage Daily Graphic in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, before moving to the Reformer in August 2004. The Best American series has existed since 1915 and is regarded as one of the country’s top annual showcases for short fiction and non-fiction.

Alumnus Neate Sager (BJ ’02) was one of only two writers from Canadian periodicals recognized in the “Notable Sports Writing of 2004” in The Best American Sports Writing 2005. Sager, sports editor of the Simcoe Reformer, was included for his December 3, 2004 column, “Jennings a genius? Ask

We Wish You All the Best! Did we miss you? Make sure you let us know of your achievements. Write alumni@ukcalumni.com with your personal and professional accomplishments. Or add an AlumNote at www.ukcalumni.com.

MUSIC I’M LISTENING TO

photo: University of King’s College

Dr. Walter Kemp, Inglis Professor, Chapel Music Director and Public Orator

Dr. Walter Kemp

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The musical world is well into the 2006 Mozart Anniversary Year, so it is not surprising that the works of Amadeus comprise much of my current listening. Top of the list has been “Bastien and Bastienne”, a pastoral miniature opera which the 12-year-old prodigy provided for a garden party of Dr. Mesmer: a charming delight which we chose for the Spring Production tribute from Opera Nova Scotia. The Symphonies No. 34, a gem worth discovering, and No. 35, the “Haffner’, make up my most frequently played Mozart CD (on Naxos), recorded live at the Cohn, with our beloved Dr. Tintner imparting to Symphony Nova Scotia and audience his unique insights into this music where, he would say, not one note is wasted. Not only is the “Haffner” my favourite Mozart, but I noted that the hotel where I stay in Vienna is

built on the site where he composed it! As an advocate for Canadian music I have been repeatedly playing this season at home, in class, and on CKDU the St. Lawrence String Quartet recording (on EMI) of the Quartet No. l by Toronto composer Christos Hatzis. Subtitled “The Awakening”, it combines electroacoustic tape manipulation of locomotive whistles and Inuit throat singing with the “live” strings to present a rumination on the effect of urban civilization’s encroachment on the traditional ways of the North, a challenging piece for our times which I was pleased to see won this year’s Juno for Best Classical Composition. Hear it! This season Dr. Kemp was appointed Artistic Director of Opera Nova Scotia. He continues as Choral Director of the Nova Scotia International Tattoo.

A L U M N OT E S / I N M E M O R I A M THE ‘40S John Ballem (BA ’46) Q.C., LL.D. was honoured recently by the Law Society of Alberta for 50 years of service to the legal profession. His latest book and 12th novel, A Victim of Convenience, will be released by Dundurn Press in July.

THE ‘50S Gerald Curnew (’58) recently retired from the position of Director, Labour Relations for the Newfoundland and Labrador School Association. His first grandchild, Tyler Curnew, was born in June 2005.

THE ‘60S Terry Harnish (’65) is a children’s storyteller in Nova Scotia with Terry Tales International, playing both Terry the Tooth Fairy and Terry the Pirate. She also runs a healing practice, Hands on Healing. Fellow alumni can contact Terry at 902-857-3191 or terryharnish@ca.inter.net. Cynthia Pilichos (BA ’68) retired in June 2005 from working as a principal. She is currently employed as an educational consultant. Leslie Shaw (BA ’64) is pleased to announce the birth of her new grandson, who is now four months old.

THE ‘70S Donald Lunn (BA ’78) is in touch with alumni and encourages any friends who are visiting Cape Cod, Massachusetts to visit.

THE ‘80S In September 2005 Allison Brewer (FYP ’84) became the Leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party (www.ndpnpd.nb.ca). Fellow alumni can contact Allison at allison@nb.sympatico.ca. Alan Doerksen (BJ ’88) is working with the Christian Aid Mission as the Publications Editor. He is also involved in publishing the Christian Aid magazine. Alan is currently living in St. Catherines, Ontario. Duncan Floyd (BA ’89) is pleased to announce the birth of Guthrie Floyd on July 31, 2005. James LeBlanc (BSc ’86) has recently joined the faculty of the Pathology De-

partment at the University of California at Los Angeles. After spending six years in the private sector, he has founded a proteomics facility in the medical school with the goal of discovering diagnostic protein markers for a variety of diseases. He and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Thompson, live outside of Los Angeles with their adopted ‘pound puppy’ Madison. Sine MacKinnon (BJH ’86) was married, August 11, 2001, to Fred Bever. Her daughter, Aela Grace Bever, was born on April 16, 2003. Since January 2006 Sine has been working as Director of Communications for the Health Council of Canada. Fellow alumni can reach Sine at smackinnon@healthcouncilcanada.ca. Judy MacLean (BA ’84) is the acting Director of Nashwaaksis Public School Library in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Mary MacLeod (BA ’85) received a PhD in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently teaching at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, with her husband and grad school sweetheart, Eric Rubenstein of Baltimore. James MacQueen (BA ’89) and his wife Rachel are very pleased to announce the birth of their first child Stella on November 25, 2005. The couple and their newborn reside in Toronto where James was recently appointed Vice President, Real Estate and Development with Cara Operations Limited. James completed his MBA at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management in the fall of 2004. Fellow alumni can contact James at contactjames@sympatico.ca. Anna McCarron (BA ’83) is studying her Masters in Urban and Rural Planning at Dalhousie University. She is married to Wilson Beaton. Together they have four children, three of whom are in university and one of whom is at King’s (Benjamin Beaton). Chris Mills (BAH ’88, BJ ’00) is currently working as a relief deckand on the Canadian Coast Guard Cutter Sambro, and part-time as a news announcer at the Metro Radio Group (Q104, 780 KIXX and KOOL 96.5). Chris’ second book, Lighthouse Legacies: Stories of Nova Scotia’s Lightkeeping Families will be published by Nimbus in April 2006. Fellow alumni can contact Chris at ketch@ns.sympatico.ca.

Robert Mills (BJ ’86) and Kelly Laurence (BSc ’84) live in Peterborough, Ontario. Kelly is a pathologist and Robert is writing freelance journalism from home while looking after Hannah (12) and Lydia (9). David Ruggles (BScH ’87) lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he specializes in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He has two children. Tomas Scura (BJ ’87) married Maria in 2003. Insomniac Press in Toronto will publish John Stiles’ (BA ’89) second book of poetry, Creamicle Stick Shivs, in April of 2006. The poetry chronicles John’s journey from the Annapolis Valley, to Toronto, to London, England. Erin Steuter (BJ ’85) is this year’s recipient of the Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award, one of the highest teaching awards given by Mount Allison University. Dr. Steuter is an associate professor of sociology, and has taught at Mount Allison for 11 years. She teaches courses in introductory sociology, gender relations, social order and change, sociological theory, media analysis, and popular culture. She has been widely recognized for her innovative teaching style, her research and publications in the field of media. Fellow alumni can contact Erin at esteuter@mta.ca.

THE ‘90S Mark Balodis (BA ’98) is still currently working on his airline. Mark continues to be involved in the restoration of a Beech 18. He is planning for his airline company to launch in 2010. For more information, please visit his website at www.timetravelair.com. David Bancroft (BJ ’95) has a 2 1 ⁄2 year hold son named Ethan. Crystal (Levy) Bueno (BJH ’96) and husband Luis are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Marcus Henry Bueno, on January 21, 2006. Crystal, Luis and Marcus live in Brooklyn, New York. Fellow alumni can contact Crystal at crystal@levy.net. Barb McCay Cashin (BJH ’94) and her husband Sean are pleased to announce the birth of Ryan Patrick, born August 2, 2005. Barb is the editor of the Nova Scotia Business Journal and husband Sean is a consultant at Keane. TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

Gord Cooper (BAH ’94) and Chere Chapman (BSc ’94) have recently moved back to Singapore after a stint living in Vietnam. They are pleased to announce the birth of their second son, Julian, on January 6th, 2006. Julian is younger brother to twoyear-old William. Gord is Visa’s country manager for Singapore and Brunei, and Chere expects to return to international development work later in 2006 after taking some time off with the two boys. Jeremy Copeland (BJ ’96) and his wife recently moved back to Toronto after two years in India and three years in London. In India Jeremy was working as a Video Journalist for CBC and BBC TV and filing reports for CBC and BBC radio. In London he was a producer at BBC World TV. Until a few months ago Jeremy was back at CBC TV in Toronto and doing freelance work for BBC World TV, a position he will return to in a few months. Jeremy is currently in Baghdad working as part of the UN’s International Election Advisory Team where he helps run the International Electoral Commission of Iraq’s media relations department. Nicole (McBride) Dermoudy (BJH ’93) and Julian welcomed James Halifax (Hal) to their family on June 8, 2005 in Hobart, Tasmania. Nicole can be contacted at variablex@hotmail.com. Kathryn Dundas (BA ’93) and Peter Jekill are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Charlotte Tara Brooklynn on September 14, 2005. A little sister for Brock (2001), and twins Trinity and Alexus (2003). Kathryn is practicing Integrative Medicine in Calgary, Alberta and still maintains a ranch in Sundre, Alberta where she and her husband breed horses. Fellow alumni can contact Kathryn at kdundas@primarymd.ca. Kelly (Goodyear) Foss (BJH ‘98) and husband, Jody, are pleased to announce the birth of their second child, a boy, on November 23, 2005. Liam Alexander weighed in at 8 pounds, 8.5 ounces. His proud big brother, Riley, is 3. Fellow alumni can reach Kelly at kfoss@nl.rogers.com. Pamela Gill (BJ ’94) is pleased to announce the birth of her son, Thomas Paul Bradbury, on February 4, 2005. Anna Gillis (FYP ’99) was married in August 2002. She is expecting a child on May 10, 2006. Amelia Hadfield (BAH ’96) has returned 30

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to Britain after five years in Brussels, where she worked as a researcher at the Energy Charter Secretariat, politics lecturer at ULB, Vesalius College and the University of Kent’s European campus, the Brussels School of International Studies. She completed her PhD in Politics/International Relations in 2004 (BSIS), moving on to a permanent position in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent (Canterbury) in September 2004 where she teaches European foreign policy. Amelia will be married to Professor Adnan Amkhan in Rochester Cathedral in December 2006. She would welcome contact from fellow alumni at aeah@kent.ac.uk. Lauren Haggerty (FYP ’99) lives in Aylesbury near Canterbury, United Kingdom, teaching Drama and English. Catherine Harris (BA ’92) and husband Aron Harris are proud to announce the birth of their son, Griffin Samuel Harris, on November 13, 2005. Jennifer Helsing (BA ’96) is married to Geoff Cooper. Jennifer works for the Canadian International Development Agency in Ottawa, Ontario. Sean Lawrence (BAH ’93) is pleased to announce the birth of his daughter born July 20, 2005. Sean is working as an Assistant Professor, Department of English at Oakanagan College in British Columbia. Christian Macfarlane (FYP ’96) became a daddy in April 2005 to a beautiful little girl, Aïla Marielle Macfarlane. Christian is currently enjoying being a stay-at-home daddy for a few months. Sarah MacFarlane (BA ’93) married Jeff Lu in August 2005. In June, Iona MacRitchie (BA ’92) will graduate with her MA from University of Toronto’s Health Administration program. Iona is currently working as an occupational therapist. Erin McNamara (BJ ’93) graduated from Queen’s Law School in 2001. She was called to the bar in 2002, and is now working as an Assistant Crown Attorney in downtown Toronto. Lisa Merrithew (BA ’95) has accepted the position of Deputy Chief of Staff, Responsible for Communications, in the New Brunswick Premier’s Office.

Mark Peebles’ (BJ ’98) first child was born June 25, 2005. His wife is currently pregnant with their second child, due in August. Jennifer Pellegrino (BJ ’96) is pleased to announce the birth of her son Leonardo, born December 21, 2004. Andrea Pilichos (BAH ’94) and Stephen Graham are pleased to announce the birth of their son and brother for Nicholas, Andrew Stephen Graham Pilichos on September 20, 2004 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nicole Porter (BSc ’91) has two young boys, Coleman (8) and Weston (6). Nicholas Pullen (BA ’90) finished his MBA at Saint Mary’s in 1993. He now lives in Truckee, California, north of Lake Tahoe. Nicholas married Buff Wendt in 1997; they have two children, Tommy (3 1⁄2 ) and Isabelle (6 months). Nicholas is currently employed as a Real Estate Broker in California. Jennifer Roos’ (BJ ’96) first book, a book of crafts based on her newspaper column in the New Brunswick Telegraph, will be published in May. Jonathan Rowe (BAH ’99) was inducted Rector of the Parish of Heart’s Delight on October 20, 2005. David Salter (BJ ’95) is pleased to announce the birth of his daughter, Madeline Bridget Salter, on May 20, 2005. Linda (Norman) Skinner (BJH ’92) and Randy Skinner are pleased to announce the birth of daughter Sarah Elizabeth Skinner on December 26, 2005. Sarah’s sister, Madeline, will be 4 in April. Linda is a communications specialist with the Western Newfoundland Model Forest Partnership in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Fellow alumni can contact Linda at lindaskinner@wnmf.com. Heather Smith (BA ’97) married Dr. Jason Yung at the King’s College Chapel on September 17, 2005. Alumni in attendance included Jamie Cochran (BComm ’63), Charlotte Cochran (BA ’63), John Leefe (BA ’66), Nancy Leefe (BA ’65), Barbara (Glendinning) Smith (BA ’64), Dianne Bell (BAH ’85), Lesley Kataric (FYP ’94), Natalie Bona (BJH ’88) and Jeanette Gushue (FYP ’95). Heather and Jason honeymooned in Tanzania where they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and explored the Serengeti.

Jason Swetnam (FYP ’92) is married. He and his wife are expecting a child.

Fellow alumni can contact Alison at alisonfburke@yahoo.ca.

Peter Taylor (BAH ’94) and Dr. Pamela Taylor are pleased to announce the birth of Emma Johanna on August 13, 2005. Emma is the little sister to Grace Carolyn. The Taylors live in the south of England, where Pamela is a general practitioner, and Peter wonders how he became the director of a computer company. Fellow alumni can contact Peter at pete@revengeo.plus.com.

Jon Paul Brooker (BAH ’05) lives in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China. He is working as an editor of English educational materials and as an English teacher to adults and children.

In October 2005, Michael Wallace (BA ’91) became the Executive Director of Theatre Museum Canada and became the husband of Sarah Rotering. Zachary Wells (BAH ’99) embarked this winter on a seven-week cross-Canada promotional reading tour in support of his first book, Unsettled. He also just published a chapbook of poems, Ludicrous People, with the Montréal micro-press Mercutio. He was recently made contributing editor to the critical journal Canadian Notes & Queries. Three poems from Unsettled, in Serbo-Croatian translation, will be included in an upcoming anthology of Canadian poets to be published in Bosnia. Amelia (Rzadki) Zimmer (BSc ’96) and her husband Greg are happy to announce the birth of their son John Edward. He was born on January 13, 2006 weighing in at 9 pounds 7 ounces.

THE ‘00S Matt Aronson (BAH ‘01) is completing his LLB/BCL degree at McGill University in Montréal. He has recently taken an articling position with the firm of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and, along with Giancarlo Salvo (BA ‘02), is actively organizing King’s alumni in the Montréal area. Ryan Auld (BAH ’03) has wrapped up “Kink”, a TV show that will air on Showcase on Friday nights starting in the fall. Kieva Bearden (BA ’00) spent time in Taiwan and France teaching English. She married Eli Diamond (BAH ’99) in 2003. Kieva and Eli are living in Chicago while Eli is working on his doctorate. Alison Bresver-Burke (BJH ’02) was married in June 2005 and is working as Manager, Marketing and Communications at Willow Breast Cancer Support & Resources Services in Toronto.

Tanya Campbell (BJH ’04) and Stephen Campbell are pleased to announce the birth of their first child, Ethan Matthew, who was born on February 15, 2006. Fellow alumni can contact Tanya at tanya.campbell@ns.sympatico.ca. Matthew Delong (BA ’02) is currently working towards his Masters in Divinity at Acadia University. Leah Fitzgerald (BJH ’02) and Bill Duncan are pleased to announce the arrival of their first child, Marah Lillian Duncan, on September 20, 2005. Leah and Bill were married in Las Vegas on July 21, 2004. Elvis presided over the ceremony at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. Michael Fountain (BAH ’03) is completing his Masters at the University of Guelph. He is engaged to be married. Kelly Hand (BAH ’01) is the team coach with the Canadian National Sailing Team. As well as being an athlete, Kelly works in advertising. Ian William Harrison (BA ’00) was ordained Minister at the United Church of Canada in May 2005. He married Mary Jo Van de Valk on June 11, 2005. Jennifer Hourihan (BJH ‘01) was a finalist for the 2005 Jack Webster Award for excellence in legal journalism. Jennifer is currently studying Law at the University of Calgary. Allison (Lynch) Kearley (BA ’00) is proud to announce the birth of her daughter, Jessica, on March 25, 2005. Heidi Laing (BAH ’04) is teaching in Corsica for a 10-month term. Meagan MacDonald (BA ’04) is going on a bike tour of New Zealand with her boyfriend. Robert Mann (BA ’01) graduated from law school in 2005. He is proud to announce the birth of his third son, Mark, also in 2005. Bob currently works at McInnes Cooper in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Emily Mawhinney (BAH ’03) is currently studying at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. She is doing her graduate degree in the “Great Books” program there. Rebekah (Sheppard) McCallum (BMus ’03) recently completed her MA in Musicology at the University of Victoria. Jennifer McCauley (BJH ’03) worked with CBC’s Olympic morning show during the Torino Olympics. Raegan Neville (BJ ’03) is in Tamale, Ghana with Journalists for Human Rights for six months. If anyone would like to know more email sugaraegan@yahoo.com. Katy Parsons (BJH ’00) is working as a researcher for Street Cents on CBC. Jeffrey Rader (BScH ’01) is now a doctor, completing his residency in Calgary, Alberta. Jeffrey Sunderland (BJH ’01) is expecting his first child at the end of June 2006. Kate Turner (BScH ’03) married David Turner in 2002. John-Alec Tynan (BScH ’04) is at the University of Sydney in Australia studying medicine. Any classmates passing through Sydney feel free to get in touch at johnalectynan@yahoo.ca. Did we miss you? Please add your AlumNote by writing to alumni@ukcalumni.com, or do it yourself on our website!

IN MEMORIAM George Bate (’42) passed away on December 2, 2005 at his home in Saint John, New Brunswick. The Rev. John Earle (LTh ’60) passed away on November 10, 2005 in The Church of The Holy Spirit, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Kira Epstein (BA ’92) passed away unexpectedly in 2004. Earl Guy (BA ’49) passed away on December 17, 2005 in the Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alberta. Leonard Kitz (DCL ’80) passed away on January 30, 2006 at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia. William Mingo, Q.C. passed away on November 25, 2005 in Halifax. ∂ TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

ANNE WEST cont’d from 9

West has also taken on the role of Acting Chair for Saint George’s YouthNet; an outreach program for youth in the north end of Halifax. She hasn’t forgotten about writing either. “Oh I have a new career these days —I’m writing magazine pieces on working Border Collies and their people,” says West. “It’s a subject that I adore.” With her schedule as busy as it is, it is amazing that West has time for her three sons and four grandchildren. As for what the future might hold, West doesn’t know what will be next. “I’m really too busy these days. I would like to be a little less busy,” she laughs. ∂ ELIZABETH EDWARDS cont’d from 8

She says that she spent most of her childhood reading, and that she wanted to be a writer, a doctor, or both. She says she originally wanted to be Vice President because she feels she owes a lot to King’s. “I’ve always been very grateful to have a job at King’s and I feel that people have to, you know, step-up and support that by doing the work,” she says. “My best moment at King’s overall was when I was offered a job teaching Contemporary Studies. I was a FYP Tutor at the time and I got a call in the middle of the summer from Ken Kierans asking if I wanted to do it. It was just fantastic to think that I could be a part of that,” says Edwards. Dr. Starnes says that there was a general agreement among the faculty of what direction they wanted CSP to go in, however the complexities of creating a new interdisciplinary programme to pick up where FYP left off was still a very difficult task. “The tone of the thing is set by the first director; it could have been different in a dozen ways, all of them I think would have been worse. She took this very, very subtle thing and got it right for all of us,” he says. Dr. Barker agrees that Dr. Edwards was instrumental in bringing Contemporary Studies to King’s. “It took them years to get that accepted, many tries to have that done, but once it took hold, then it needed people on the ground to make this thing work well and that’s her strength; getting right in there, mastering the details. She’s incredibly good with process and details and stuff like that, and giving leadership to people to make that [CSP] into a mature entity.” 32

TIDINGS | SUMMER 2006

Dr. Edwards says she is looking forward to returning to teaching for a year and then taking a sabbatical to concentrate on her research, which is currently focused on Chaucer and Derrida. ∂ MATT MURPHY cont’d from 14

and movie-goers at film festivals around North America, including busy stops in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax. However, when asked if he’d do it all again, Murphy’s answer is clear. “Absolutely. Love to. I had a great time.” He says he’s a musician first and foremost and will always enjoy the instant gratification he feels writing songs, performing live and recording. However, it seems that acting has given him a rush that he’s not quite through with. “The fear of falling on your face is terrifying.” But don’t expect to see him moving to L.A. and working the audition circuit. Murphy might go to a few calls, but ideally he’d prefer to collaborate with someone who enjoys what he did in Guy Terrifico and approaches him based on that. In the meantime, he’ll be working on music with the all-Canadian band City Field and releasing a new album with the Super Friendz in the fall. ∂ BEYOND THE QUAD cont’d from 22

of radical doubt against the threat of accusations of blasphemy and impiety. “The first reason is because it frees us from prejudices,” says Dr. Curran. “Prejudice, in the proper sense, at the origin of the whole idea, is opinion that you have received from others in an undigested form…opinions which we have absorbed without ever examining their roots. By understanding that we need to examine things according to doubt, we’re freeing ourselves from received opinion which governs our lives—I mean, it makes us free. I don’t see what could be more practical than that.” Helen Langille compares her studies in Halifax Humanities 101 to “opening up a closet that you haven’t opened in a long time.” Langille was enrolled at Mount Allison University a few years ago, but she became ill and it was too expensive for her to continue her education. She was referred to Halifax Humanities 101 by a counselor she was seeing because of abuse she suffered as a child. “It makes you feel more human,” she says. A large part of the benefit from the program for

her has been meeting a group of people who have learned to do the same thing she has—live without a lot of resources. She talks about the program with some of her fellow students after the conclusion of Dr. Johnston’s lecture on Sense and Sensibility, while around them others help Bruce Russell tidy the room for the next group who will use it, gather their jackets from a rack of hangers, or pour a glass of juice for themselves from some containers that sit on a counter at the front of the room. “I’ve got a better world-perspective, I think,” says Shepherd. “Just a sense of history. Where things come from. How things fit together.” “And it’s history that leads to everything else,” adds Andy Tyers, “Philosophy, customs, wars.” Across the table, Dr. Johnston speaks with another student about an analogy drawn between her own situation and that of Jane Eyre, where the student’s Rochester is her partner. He is caught up in a cycle of drug abuse, and she doesn’t know whether she can stand by him. “It’s remarkable,” says Dr. Johnston later. “She is just learning—and this took me years to learn—that romantic literature can have a depth of meaning. How novels can be great.” When the class first looked at the novel they would discuss this afternoon, there was some doubt about its seriousness, he says. “There were some comments that it might be like a Harlequin romance. Just fluff.” But as the group debate went on to cover the merits of Kant’s categorical versus hypothetical imperatives during the two-hour class, the student who asked if Austen dreamed the novel rendered the general verdict, with a comment that sounded over the volume of the discussion, that “there’s much more to it than a Harlequin romance.” Still, as much as he might enjoy Sense and Sensibility, Andy Tyers suggests an alternate reading. “We should have read Emma,” he says musingly, in the midst of talking about how it is possible to read Austen’s stories on many different levels. “It’s probably the best novel ever written. I’ve been trying to think of one better—I just can’t. If you’re ever stuck on a desert island, that’s the kind of book you’d want. Take Emma.” ∂ To donate to the Halifax Humanities 101 course, please visit www.halifaxhumanities101.ca