September 19, 2009
Joseph Boyden to read at UVM on Sept 25
The author of a short story collection Born With a Tooth , novels Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce , and his recent biography of Métis leaders Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont, Joseph Boyden has quickly ascended the ranks to be one of Canada's most widely read writers working today. His novel Three Day Road (2005) won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the CBA Libris Fiction Book of the Year, the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and in the US was also featured as a pick on the Today Show book club. In 2008, his second novel, Through Black Spruce, won the Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious fiction prize.
Born and raised in Toronto, Boyden completed an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of New Orleans and then returned to the northernmost regions of Ontario where he worked for two years in the James Bay region as a Professor of Aboriginal Programs. His time there working with the Mushkegowuk Cree, not to mention his own Métis ancestry, have made the land and people of this region his "muse and obsession" and the setting for much of his work. Today he divides his time between Northern Ontario and New Orleans where he and his wife, novelist Amanda Boyden, are currently Writers in Residence.
Joseph and Amanda will both be reading at the Burlington Book Festival on September 26th, but I've managed to arrange for Joseph to do a reading at UVM at 4 pm at the Memorial Lounge. I've taught his novel Three Day Road to hundreds of students over the last three years in courses ranging from English 180 and 182 to my TAP class. It's an extraordinary book and I think this will be a great opportunity for students to hear him read and to ask him questions about his work.
For more information on Joseph Boyden and his work, see his website at http://josephboyden.com.
Reviews of Through Black Spruce:
"Powerful and powerfully told. . .Much of this novel reflects its crisp, poetic title…Will speaks with the straight-faced good humor of Louise Erdrich's Nanapush…in the novel's most moving section, Will flees to live along in wilderness few people ever even see. It's an experience beautifully rendered in the raw poetry of Boyden's prose."
—The Washington Post
“Anguished, angry Uncle Will’s revenge drama is almost perfect in pitch and execution. Tragedy and comedy unspool together in a startlingly casual manner when Will speaks, they way they do in life. When Boyden is at his best, as he often is here, he is matchless.”
—The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Reviews of Three Day Road: "Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road is a brilliant novel. You will suffer a bit, but it's overwhelmingly worth the voyage."
—Jim Harrison
"Three Day Road is a devastatingly truthful work of fiction, and a masterful account of hell and healing. This is a grave, grand, and passionate book."
—Louise Erdrich
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July 26, 2009
The Tragically Hip at Shelburne Museum
All four Martins had a great time at Shelburne Museum this evening. The Tragically Hip were excellent, as usual, and the setting was a wonderful place to see a concert. It's always kind of a surreal experience seeing The Hip here in Vermont because, although tonight's gig was sold out, the venues and crowds are vastly smaller than what one would find in Canada. So, it always feels like a special treat getting to see them in such an intimate venue.
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April 20, 2009
Great events this week of interest to Canadians and Canadianists in Vermont
Wednesday, April 22
DONALD R. BROWN MEMORIAL LECTURE IN POLITICAL THEORY: "THE ESSENTIALIST CRITIQUE OF MULTICULTURALISM." Will Kymlicka, Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy, Queen's University, Canada and senior research fellow, Nuffield College, Oxford.
Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building. 3:30 p.m.
A BECKONING COUNTRY OPENING RECEPTION
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. — Marble Court at the Fleming Museum
Hosted by President Daniel Mark Fogel and Rachel Kahn-Fogel. In celebration of the quadricentennial anniversary of French explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlains travels to the lake that bears his name, this exhibit examines the features of the Champlain Valley landscape through the objects and art created from and inspired by them. University Concert Choir performs. Exhibit continues through Sept. 20.
Admission Fee: Regular Admission at the door. Free to UVM.
Thursday, April 23
"Reforming Health Care: A Single Payer or Consumer Driven Solution," a debate featuring Arnold Kling, Cato Institute, and Robert Kuttner, editor of The American Prospect. Moderated by Emerson Lynn, editor of the St. Albans Messenger. A reception follows immediately. ADA accommodations: 656-5665.
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. — Davis Student Center - The Grand Maple Ballroom
Friday, April 24
k.d. lang, "The Watershed Tour"Flynn TheatreFriday, April 24 at 8 pm
Tickets still available
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February 16, 2009
Where I am speaking today
Speaking today on "Canada's Literary Landscape" for the Elder Education Enrichment group in South Burlington today. Should be about 100-125 people there to listen. Looking forward to it.
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March 13, 2008
Champlain was here (second)
(The first part of my new series on why Canadian Studies is an important part of the University of Vermont)
2009 marks the quadracentennial of the arrival of Samuel de Champlain in our area. A new exhibit at the Boston Public Library entitled "Champlain's America: New England and New France" will be traveling to Vermont next year as part of these celebrations. As this article from the Boston Globe points out, the legacy of the French exploration of this part of North America is often overlooked and overwritten by the dominant mythology of the Pilgrims' "founding" of New England.
Our own André Senécal is an expert in the life of Samuel de Champlain and will be one of our faculty in high demand throughout 2009.
Here's an interesting excerpt from the Globe article:
NEW ENGLANDERS GROW up imbibing certain creation myths, most of which relate to how unbelievably historic we are. It all started here, and entire businesses -- the vending of tricorne hats, for example -- depend on the tight control of information relating to the beginnings of America -- the Revolution, and the Salem witch trials before that, and at the dawn of time, the Pilgrims, hacking their way into the forest primeval. Everything trails in their wake; or so we like to believe.
But is it possible that New England trails in someone else's wake? As in, the dreaded French? These disorienting thoughts will become harder to push away in 2008, as Quebec celebrates the 400th anniversary of its founding by Samuel de Champlain -- the explorer who found not only New France, but much of New England as well. Indeed, if a few things had turned out differently, we might all be bundled up in scarves and hats bearing the fleur-de-lys insignia of the New France Patriots.By 1620, when the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower, Champlain had accomplished nearly everything for which he is famous. He had crisscrossed the Atlantic dozens of times (29 times before his death in 1635), he had penetrated deeply into the hinterland, and he had glimpsed -- and named -- most of the harbors, rivers, and capes that we rediscover every weekend of the summer. It is startling to return to his maps, and see the familiar contours of Cape Cod, Cape Ann, and Boston Harbor, all included as part of an American region that was anything but "New England." Given his natural inclination to roam, there is every reason to believe that Champlain might have started French settlements hundreds of miles to the south if he had been given more support from the French crown. As it was, he did a great deal more than most Americans realize to delineate the coastlines of Maine and Massachusetts, along with huge swaths of Vermont and New York.
[. . .] One of the great myths of American history is that the earliest settlers of New England came here by accident, not knowing where they were, and built a new society, far from anyone else. Champlain's map gives the lie to that legend. We cannot know exactly what they knew, but it does not seem implausible that copies would have reached the Pilgrims in their sanctuary in Leiden, not too far from Paris. William Bradford, the great Pilgrim chronicler, nearly gives away the secret when he first describes Cape Cod, and admits that "ye French & Dutch to this day call it Malabarr."
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December 16, 2007
Vermont Ballet Theatre's production of The Nutcracker
One of my great pleasures of the last couple of months has been watching my eight-year-old daughter participate in the Vermont Ballet Theater's production of The Nutcracker. This year she's playing the part of an Angel. It's been a long process of rehearsals which culminates in two performances in at the Dibden Center for the Arts at Johnson State College on Dec. 8 and three shows at the gorgeous, historic Flynn Theater in Burlington this coming weekend. (Here's a link for tickets if you're interested.)
Although I helped out backstage at last year's performances, I've been watching the whole process a lot more closely this year. In fact, I'm actually part of this season's production. I'm one of the "party parents" attending the Christmas party in the first act. My role involves a bit of dancing, but it's mainly acting and sees me standing around chatting with other guests and wrangling the three rather unruly sons I have with me on stage. So, for the last six weeks or so I've not only been ferrying my daughter to and from rehearsals in Essex but I've been attending my own rehearsals as well. This is not always an easy thing to do at one of the busiest times of year for parents ad professors. Nevertheless, it's been an enormous pleasure to watch my daughter participate in this and to watch such a talented group of children and young adults pull off such a huge endeavour under the guidance of the highly dedicated and gifted adults who teach at the Vermont Ballet Theater School.
For me, this experience is also a pretty serious flashback to the days of my youth. As a kid, I took ballet for many years, and pursued that pretty seriously until I was 17. Out with an injury for a while, I turned my attention to one of my other passions, music. Discovering that playing in a band was less painful, less time consuming (I was dancing about 15 hours a week in the Alberta Ballet School's Professional Program at that point) and, for me, more creatively fulfilling, I quit ballet for good. Whether you're a dancer, an athlete, or a musician, if you've ever performed at an elite level at something about which you are completely passionate, I don't think you can ever fully leave that behind with no regrets or what ifs. That said, I don't think I've ever imagined at any point over the last couple of decades that I would once again be on stage in this capacity--if anything, my recent dreams have been of playing in a band again (post-tenure, if any of my colleagues or family are reading this!). 27 years ago (!!!) I played a party child in the Nutcracker, the first production created by the late Brydon Paige for the now internationally renowned Alberta Ballet Company. To be a "Party Parent" nearly three decades later in a such a fine production of the Nutcracker has been a lot of fun.
I'm happy to report, though, that my greatest joy in this experience, that far, far outweigh any nostalgia for days long gone by has been watching my daughter not only being thrilled at her chance to dance on the Flynn stage but to witness with wide-eyed awe the passion and dedication of all the older dancers as they work tirelessly preparing for the performance. Quite honestly, I never anticipated that this would be one of the fantastic opportunities she would have here in Vermont. Whether she goes any further than this in ballet or not, this is a valuable example as to what one can achieve when one combines desire and lots of hard work. That on its own is a pretty fine Christmas gift for all of the children (and parents) involved.
At last weekend's performance in Johnson, Eva Sollberger was there filming an episode for her great videoblog (or vlog) "Stuck in Vermont." She interviewed a lot of the kids and, if you watch very, very closely you'll see both my daughter and me (hint: I'm walking behind the Nutcracker as Ms. Sollberger is talking to him). Ms. Sollberger captures remarkably well the spirit and devotion that has gone into this production from every person involved.
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September 19, 2007
James B. Douglas performance 9/25
SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS: AN AFTERNOON WITH STEPHEN LEACOCK
Performed by James B. DouglasTUESDAY, SEPT. 25th, 4:00 PMMann Auditorium, Trinity Campus, University of Vermont"the most vivid recreation of Stephen Leacock we have seen... hilariously funny... captures the essence of Leacock's razor sharp wit"
The renowned Canadian actor James B. Douglas will be coming to the University of Vermont to perform an abbreviated version of his one-man play based on the life and work of the Canadian writer Stephen Leacock (1869-1944). Douglas has performed Sunshine and Shadows to rave reviews in Canada earlier this fall and takes the production to England in October. In his play we see the many sides of Stephen Leacock, who remains one of Canada's best-known writers and humorists. Following the one-hour performance, Mr. Douglas will be answering questions about his play and his own thoughts on Leacock and his work.
During Stephen Leacock's lifetime, works like Literary Lapses (1910), Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912), and Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914) were international bestsellers and remain in print to this day. A famed and much-loved professor of Political Economy at McGill University, Leacock wrote over 50 books, including many collections of humorous stories, biographies of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, treatises on Canadian history and politics, and several textbooks on economics. Since 1947, The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humor (which also includes a $10 000 prize) has been awarded annually to the best Canadian literary work of humor.
For more info on the location of the Mann Auditorium, read the full entry below:
Mann Auditorium is in Mann Hall on UVM's Trinity Campus.
Here's a map of the location (Mann Hall is the building with the yellow dot), followed by pictures of Mann Hall and the Mann Auditorium.
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August 20, 2007
Reasons that Vermont is cool #17: Patrick Leahy
Part of my ongoing series of reasons that I love being in Vermont.
Patrick Leahy makes the list for more than just helping get me into the US one night after I was refused entry into the US. It's a long story, but I was headed here on a brief visit a few months before my job started in order to get a place to live lined up for my family and me. Needless to say, one can understand why a soon-to-be professor crossing the border to inject money into the local economy by buying a house might seem to be highly suspicious. Right? :)
From his work in Washington to his work supporting things like banning landmines and being very proactive about border issues, the guy is a truly admirable guy. And then I saw this! How can you not like the guy even more?! When was the last time we saw a Canadian politician in a Batman film, eh? Don't worry, I do remember the issue of the X-Men comic book (in fact I have it at home) where Pierre Trudeau makes an appearance.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt., who once one re-election against a cult movie star, has a role of his own in the next Batman movie, "The Dark Knight."
"I don't wear tights," Leahy said. "I think I'm referred to as the 'distinguished gentleman.'"
Leahy said he was reading at 4, and enjoyed reading comic books. He's a longtime Batman fan who has done voice-overs on Batman cartoons and wrote the preface for a Batman book.
"I like the fact that he's standing up for people who didn't have anyone standing up for them," Leahy said.
Leahy had small roles in the last two Batman features, according to his press secretary, David Carle. The earnings from these projects and other artistic endeavors, including his published photographs, all go to the Montpelier library, Leahy said.
In "The Dark Knight," which is scheduled for release next summer, Leahy is in a scene that involves Batman (Christian Bale), The Joker (Heath Ledger) and Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine.)
Not only does the guy appear in the movie, he's a Batman fan. He's even WRITTEN about Batman! He'd have my vote if I were able to vote.
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July 18, 2007
This I Believe, by Michelle Gardner-Quinn
The power of this caught me a bit off-guard this morning. I was thinking about Michelle just yesterday as I walked past the fountain on the college green and saw her picture and fresh flowers there for her. She will not soon be forgotten here at UVM. It is inspiring to see the words of this remarkable young woman reaching a much, much larger audience through this moving short film shown at LiveEarth. It's also a great reminder of how some of our students may well go on to change the world, as Michelle continues to do.
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June 6, 2007
UVM Canadian Studies program featured in upcoming documentary
Earlier this year, a crew from Vermont Public Television came to film my English 182 class. Afterwards, they spoke with me and one of our Canadian Studies majors, Laura Pedro. They were filming a segment for part of a larger documentary on the connections today between Vermont and the province of Quebec.
The documentary is set to air on June 14 at 7:30 PM on VPT.
Here's the press release from VPT:
PRESS RELEASE
For release 6/6/07
Contact: Ann Curran at (802) 655-8059, acurran@vpt.org
or Jeff Vande Griek at (802) 655-8062, jeffv@vpt.org
Vermont-Quebec Relations on June 14 VPT Program
Vermont Public Television looks at life on both sides of the border
between Vermont and Quebec in “Good Fences, Good Neighbors,” a new
documentary followed by a live discussion Thursday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Stories and interviews about everyday life, trade and tourism highlight
the documentary, and the challenges in all these areas since Sept. 11,
2001 are a common theme. Even viewers familiar with the issues may find
some of the information surprising.
(continue reading for more details)
The documentary begins in the border towns of Derby Line, Vt., and
Stanstead, Que. The girls hockey team from Vermont’s North Country Union
High School has its home ice in Stanstead. The Haskell Free Library and
manufacturer Tivoly Inc. literally straddle the border. Fire departments
from both sides of the border frequently help each other out.
Trade in hard goods is an engine of the relationship between Vermont and
Quebec, and IBM of Essex, Vt., is Vermont’s largest exporter, sending more
than a billion dollars’ worth of chips north to a sister factory in
Bromont, Que. In Bristol, Vt., a visit to the A. Johnson Company
illustrates the state’s second-largest export, wood products. An official
with the customs broker A.N. Deringer describes how the company keeps
goods moving across the borders amid tight security. The program looks at
resources for Americans who want to do business in Canada.
Energy is one of Quebec’s largest exports to Vermont. A third of the
state’s electricity and all its natural gas come from across the border.
The head of Vermont’s Public Service Department talks about the recent
sale of Vermont’s Green Mountain Power to the Canadian company that also
owns Vermont Gas. A segment from a forum of New England governors and
eastern Canadian premiers held recently in Quebec City illustrates the
importance of cooperation on energy and environmental issues.
Tourism is another major focus of the documentary. Quebecers travel to
Vermont to ski at Jay Peak, shop in Burlington and fly out of Burlington
International Airport. Vermonters head north for vacations. The program
looks at the impact on tourism of the U.S. government’s efforts to require
passports for Canadians crossing into the U.S. U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy
has worked to postpone implementation. France Dionne, the Quebec
government’s delegate to New England, notes that it would be a challenge
for teenagers in border towns to carry passports with them as they travel
back and forth for hockey games.
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont Brian Dubie, who has been working to
improve relations with Canada, notes the importance of building
relationships for cross-border security and disaster preparedness. At the
University of Vermont, Paul Martin, head of the Canadian Studies Program,
notes that when his students study Canada, they also learn a lot about
their own country.
For the follow-up discussion, host Stewart Ledbetter will welcome France
Dionne, as well as Michael Quinn, commissioner of the Vermont Department
of Economic Development, and Tim Shea, vice president of the Lake
Champlain Chamber of Commerce, as studio panelists. A group of local
Vermont and Quebec residents will be linked via satellite to the
discussion from The Goodrich Memorial Library in Newport, Vt. Viewers
will be invited to call in or email with their comments during the show.
There will also be a live web chat.
The producer of “Good Fences, Good Neighbors” is Catherine Hughes.
Executive producer of the program is Joe Merone. Production funding is
provided by USDA Rural Development.
# # #
Vermont ETV Inc. is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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