The launch of Here We Are Among the Living (Tightrope Books) will take place Wednesday, June 20 at 7:30pm at Revival, 783 College St. in Toronto.�� A second launch will take place July 8 at 5pm in Dufferin Grove Park.

An inter-generational story, the book documents the first��years of the 21st century, beginning with a conflict between Bernstein and her mother over the meaning of 9-11 and their responses to it. In another early scene, Bernstein finds a letter from her father to her mother written after their divorce in which he rails against flower child hypocrisy. Here We Are Among the Living is in part about our attempts to reconcile ourselves to history, both familial and cultural.

Samantha Bernstein

The epistolary form has for over 200 years been an outlet for social criticism and an expression of engagement, especially for young people.�� Bernstein’s memoir in e-mails captures both her generation’s political sensibilities and desire for instant communication.��

Bernstein started writing it while completing her master’s degree��thesis in Interdisciplinary Studies��in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Graduate Studies,��and the story ��includes her time as an undergraduate student in the University’s Creative Writing Program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Her poetry and prose has appeared in various publications, including Exile Literary Quarterly, Books in Canada, The Fiddlehead and the anthology TOK 3: Writing the New Toronto.��

In addition, Bernstein received federal funding for her dissertation this year, which considers some of the central questions about ethics and aesthetics posed in Here We Are Among the Living.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The history of Vietnam lies in this bowl, for it is in Hanoi, the Vietnamese heart, that pho was born, a combination of the rice noodles that predominated after a thousand years of Chinese occupation and the taste for beef the Vietnamese acquired under the French, who turned their cows away from ploughs and into bifteck and pot-au-feu.��The name of their national soup is pronounced like this French word for fire, as Hung’s Uncle Chien explained to him long ago…��

from The Beauty of Humanity Movement
by Camilla Gibb

While most people come home from vacations with inspiring photographs, writers often return with the inspiration for their next novel.��This is what happened to Camilla Gibb (right)��when she traveled to North Vietnam for a much-needed holiday. The result was The Beauty of Humanity Movement, a novel that was on the short list for the Giller Award.��Gibb recently shared her thoughts on this book and the writing experience at the Canadian Writers in Person series.

Gibb��said she��was initially "blown away" by the youth culture of Vietnam.��Her first point of contact was a young man named Phuong who became her tour guide and friend.��In some ways, she said,��he was not much different than a North American person in his mid-20s: he wore Nikes, watched MTV, and was up to date on Western pop culture.��Unlike those of previous generations, he had grown up with a different frame of reference, one based not on war but on consumer desire and entrepreneurial spirit.��As one of her characters states, "we’re not looking for forgiveness, we’re looking for a way forward."

Gibb said that Phuong was nonetheless aware that many Western visitors come with expectations based on the war of��40 years ago.��As a tour guide, he had to take the resulting feelings of guilt and discomfort and make his guests feel at ease.��In fact, Vietnam has a thriving war tour industry, where one can visit old battlegrounds, fire an old Kalashnikov rifle, or even crawl through the same tunnels the Vietnamese soldiers had used.��Gibb recounted to students with some amusement that the tunnels are not exactly the same because they have since been widened to accommodate the North American posterior.

When Gibb began to write her novel, she deliberately didn’t make it about the war: "When you set aside the war, you realize you know nothing. I wanted to start from nothing because then opportunities for other stories open up,"��she said. One of these stories is about Hung, an elderly pho-maker who bridges the gap between the present and the past.��Through his eyes, the reader experiences the vibrant cafe culture of 1950's Hanoi where artists and intellectuals discussed art and politics.��Because of the lack of resource material, Gibb found herself liberated to explore and imagine how this world was rendered.����

Gibb nonetheless had to do some research on the traumatizing land reforms that affected village life in North Vietnam.��She did this because she said that she��"needed Hung to go back, to witness the aftermath.��Otherwise, it would read like a news story and I needed to personalize the history and politics by putting him there."��By doing this, the reader also feels the impact and the story is not felt from the "top down but from character out."

The story has a reasonably happy ending as does the real-life friendship between Gibb and her tour guide Phuong who became the template for a similar character in her book.��As he consulted on the details of her novel, she helped him fulfill his dream of opening his own family pho restaurant.��When he had his first child, he asked Gibb for an English name and he likewise offered a Gibb a Vietnamese name when her child was born, cementing the link between their two cultures.

Through this friendship and the process of writing her novel, Viet Nam became for Gibb��“a country I love.��I can’t claim to know it or its history but I know the characters very well, my ultimate defense as a novelist.��They feel very, very real to me.��Hung in particular is a man I love.��I hope he’s still there, doing what he does, and serving pho.��He feels like everyman to me, every man who has a right to have a story.”

The Canadian Writers in Person series of public readings at 91��ɫ, which are free and open to the public, is also part of an introductory course on Canadian literature. It is sponsored in part by the Canada Council for the Arts.��Readings take place on Tuesdays at 7pm in Room 206 of the Accolade West Building.��On Feb. 7, poet and author Sheniz Janmohamed will read from her first book Bleeding Light (TSAR Publications, 2010).

For more information and a detailed schedule, visit the Canadian Writers in Person website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The exhibition Will Munro: History, Glamour, Magic is about the history that Toronto artist based his work on and the history he was��–��his glam subjects and the glamorous one he was – and��the magic dimension of his last work. Munro, who was a DJ, music promoter, activist,��queer community catalyst, and visual artist, died in 2010 of cancer. He was just��35 years old.

To celebrate his legacy, the��AGYU opens a major retrospective exhibition this evening from 6 to 9pm with a celebration in the gallery space. All are welcome.��The exhibition continues until March 11.

Above: Will Munro: History, Magic, Glamour, installation view,��AGYU. Photograph by Cheryl O'Brien, courtesy��Art Gallery of 91��ɫ

Will Munro: History, Glamour, Magic ��concentrates on the multi-media work Munro produced after graduating from the Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCADU)��in 2000, from his first exhibition Boys Do First Aid (2000) to his last, Inside the Solar Temple of the Cosmic Leather Daddy (2010).

It also captures his various signature underwear work (his handcrafted underwear made from heavy metal concert T-shirts); the banners of legendary queer performers such as Klaus Nomi and Leigh Bowery; his stitching collaborations with West Side Stitches Couture Club, Jeremy Laing, and others (which includes the restaging of The Pavilion of Virginia Puff-Paint, his collaboration with Laing made for the AGYU in 2004); his experimental films; the multitude of hand-made silkscreen posters that accompanied his DJ’ing and music promotions at his nightclub venues Vazaleen, Peroxide, No T.O., and Moustache. The dynamic exhibition will be punctuated by a collection of never before seen ephemera and archival material that stitches together the many vibrant activities of this non-stop artist. The exhibition is generously sponsored by Salah Bachir and Jacob Yerex.

Above: Will Munro: History, Glamour, Magic, installation view, AGYU. Photograph by Michael Maranda,��courtesy��Art Gallery of 91��ɫ

In conjunction with Will Munro: History, Glamour, Magic, AGYU continues to celebrate the legacy of Toronto’s feminist and queer communities��with a series of collaborations, specifically commissioned projects and new alliances.

Get on the AGYU Performance Bus

Artist and DJ Syrus Marcus Ware turns the AGYU's Performance Bus into his memory of a circa 2001-2002 Friday night Vazaleen party that was hosted by Munro��and artists Miss Barbrafisch and Rawbrt at the Elmocambo. Tonight, gallery guests can ride to the AGYU for the opening reception on a free��performance bus departing OCADU at 6pm.

AGYU and the Feminist Art Gallery

An initiative between AGYU, Feminist Art Gallery (FAG) and The Power Plant, CInenova: All Hands on the Archive develops a dialogue between the work in the London-based feminist CInenova film and video collection and Toronto’s long-rooted feminist and queer histories as a means to access, activate and animate.Visit website for more information on the month-long project including: opening night screening on��Feb.��3 at The Department, 1389 Dundas Street West at 7pm that has been��curated by CInenova Working Group member Emma Hedditch; An Audience of Enablers Cannot Fail sessions at FAG 25 Seaforth Avenue, side gate, on Feb. 4, 11, 18, and 25; and the closing party featuring a commissioned performance by Sharlene Bamboat, and special screening curated by artists GB Jones, Alex McClelland, Leila Pourtavaf, and Lex Vaughn on March 4 in the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West) starting at 8pm.

People, Power, Magic

In this AGYU “in-reach” project, Toronto artist John Caffery engages queer and trans youth through a direct dialogue with��Munro’s ideas and artwork.��Caffery was close to the source as a friend and collaborator in the West Side Stitches Couture Club and, like Munro,��his practice moves across multiple communities and media, locating his aesthetics and politics in textiles, film, and music (his band is Kids on TV).

This collective, multi-disciplinary program features��Caffery working with many members of Munro’s army of lovers – frequent collaborators and friends – including artists Scott Miller Berry, Lorraine Hewitt (aka Coco La Crème), Luis Jacob, Jeremy Laing, and Zavisha, as well as the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance, the recipients of the first annual Spirit of Will Munro Award. People, Power, Magic is dedicated to creating real opportunities for self-expression in order to provide a space for outcasts and freaks to thrive without fear. Program presented in collaboration with Supporting Our Youth (SOY).

The Art Gallery of 91��ɫ is a university-affiliated public non-profit contemporary art gallery supported by 91��ɫ, The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, and��its membership.

The AGYU is located in the Accolade East Building, 4700 Keele Street Toronto. Gallery hours are: Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm; Wednesday, 10am to��8pm; Sunday from noon–5pm; and closed Saturday. AGYU promotes LGBT positive spaces and experiences and all events are free and open to everyone.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The event, Queering Theatre in Toronto, will take place Thursday, Jan 5, 2012, from 2 to 4pm in Winters Senior Common Room, 021 Winters College, Keele campus.

Right: Marie Rickard

Newton, a recently appointed Winters College Fellow, is the founding artistic director of Ecce Homo Theatre. His newest musical, , is scheduled to run from Jan. 5 to 15, 2012, as part of the 2012 Next Stage Theatre Festival at the Factory Theatre in Toronto.

Written and directed by Newton, Loving the Stranger or How to Recognize an Invert, introduces the audience to Montreal’s Peter Flinsch, a theatre designer, visual artist and gay survivor of Nazi Germany, who was arrested in 1942 for kissing a friend at a Luftwaffe Christmas party. It takes in everything from the cabarets of 1920s Berlin and the battle over gay marriage to the office of the Prime Minister, and is billed as a provocative expressionist cabaret.

“The goal of my work is to balance politics and entertainment, to combine dance, music, text and design into a total theatrical experience in the hopes of challenging my audience intellectually and emotionally,” says Newton.

“I agree with Schiller's notion of the stage as a moral institution and I endeavor to create work on big themes for troubled times. My output as a playwright and director with Ecce Homo Theatre seeks to achieve intimacy through artifice using a queer aesthetic as a tool for destabilization, to draw attention to hypocrisy and deflate the un-ironic. As one of my former teachers, Charles Marowitz, once said, “Laughter can be a hammer-stroke in the hands of deft satirists.”

Newton��is��a contributor to the forthcoming collection,��TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault: An Unreasonable Body of Work (Intellect Ltd.), edited by 91��ɫ theatre Professor��Judith Rudakoff.

His previous work includes three consecutive productions for the SummerWorks Theatre Festival in which he was playwright and director of The Pastor Phelps Project: a fundamentalist cabaret, The Ecstasy of Mother Teresa or Agnes Bojaxhiu Superstar and Loving the Stranger or How to Recognize an Invert. Newton’s work has also been performed at the Rhubarb Festival – Leni Riefenstahl vs the 20th Century – and the Victoria Fringe Festival – Woyzeck Songspiel.

In addition, Newton was a participant in the inaugural presentation of The Ark at The National Arts Centre English Theatre in 2006, and is a past member of the��BASH! Emerging Artist Program at the Canadian Stage Company, the Ante Chamber Creator’s Unit with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and the Director’s Lab of the Lincoln Center Theater.

He has also served as apprentice director for the Ensemble Studio of the Canadian Opera Company for its 2009-2010 season, where he directed a production of Pergolisi’s La Serva Padonra. Newton’s recent work includes a stint as director/dramaturge for Bella: The Color of Love with Teresa Tova and Mary Kerr at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. It was a commission for the 2011 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.

The show is being supported by the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Next Stage Theatre Festival and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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A new book by Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Stepan Wood (LLB '92) and University of Toronto political economist Stephen Clarkson has been nominated for the 's prestigious for the best book on Canadian politics.

Examining Canadians’ complicated roles as agents and objects of global forces, shines an urgent light on the dangerous imbalances in contemporary forms of globalized law and governance. From French and British colonial politics to the SARS epidemic, Canadians have long known how it feels to be objects of global forces. But they are also agents who have helped build structures of global governance that have highly uneven impacts on prosperity, human security and the environment.

Right: Stepan Wood

The winner of the 2011 Smiley Prize will be announced at the Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference in Waterloo, Ontario, on May 17.

A Perilous Imbalance examines Canada's experience of globalization in the context of three interlinked trends: the emergence of a neoconservative global “supra-constitution”, the paradoxical retreat and expansion of the Canadian nation-state and the growth of unconventional forms of governance beyond the state. It advocates a revitalization of the state as a vehicle for pursuing human security, ecological integrity and social emancipation, and for creating spaces in which progressive, alternative forms of law and governance can unfold.

With its critical analysis of the challenges faced by middle powers such as Canada in a globalizing world, A Perilous Imbalance further cements Osgoode's pre-eminence in the study of international and transnational legal issues, says Wood. The book has been very well received. Reviewers have praised it as “sophisticated, bold and accessible,” “important reading for anyone seeking to assess Canada’s legal and political engagement with globalization” and “a comprehensive account of Canada’s entanglement with globalization’s legal rules and institutions.”

The Smiley Prize honours the life and work of the late Donald V. Smiley (1921-1990), a leading Canadian political scientist and former Professor Emeritus at 91��ɫ. It is awarded each year to the best book published on Canadian government and politics��– one award for an English-language book, one for French.

“I took an advanced seminar with Professor Smiley when I was an undergraduate political science major at 91��ɫ in the 1980s,” recalls Wood. “He fostered a challenging yet friendly atmosphere that brought out the best in his students. I feel particularly honoured to be associated with his name again after so many years.”

The book was the fruit of a cross-disciplinary collaboration that began when Wood and Clarkson were both virtual scholars in residence at the now defunct Law Commission of Canada. Working with Clarkson, whose contribution to the study of Canadian and North American political economy was recently recognized with the Order of Canada, was a highly rewarding experience for Wood.

“Collaborating with Stephen was a pleasure from start to finish,” says Wood. “Our very different knowledge and expertise complemented each other nicely and Stephen has been an exceptionally generous and supportive colleague and friend.”

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The Ontario Legal Philosophy Partnership (OLPP), which��celebrates its founding with a launch reception��on Friday, May 13 in the Great Hall of McMaster’s University Club, is the brainchild of three internationally recognized legal philosophy professors who will be the partnership’s administrators. (Osgoode); Michael Giudice (91��ɫ Philosophy); and Wil Waluchow (McMaster Philosophy and the��Senator William McMaster Chair in Constitutional Studies) are the brain trust behind the partnership.

Above: From left, OLPP founders and administrators Michael Giudice (91��ɫ), Wil Waluchow (McMaster) and François Tanguay-Renaud (Osgoode)

"Through the OLPP, Osgoode, as well as McMaster's and 91��ɫ's departments of philosophy confirm their status as international leaders in legal philosophy and associated dimensions of political and moral philosophy,” said Tanguay-Renaud, co-director with Giudice of the new combined Juris Doctor/Master of Arts in Philosophy (JD/MA) program offered by Osgoode and 91��ɫ’s philosophy department, and acting director of the at Osgoode.

“This collective effort, which builds on solid pre-existing relations between the partners, promises to enable new ambitious research collaborations and grant applications, allow for the development of cutting-edge opportunities for our JD and graduate students, and project even further the partners' already well-established reputations in the field."

Tanguay-Renaud said the OLPP formalizes existing links between the three partners that have become increasingly solid and fruitful since the beginning of the millennium.

“The OLPP will create even further opportunities for each institution and their students,” said Tanguay-Renaud, noting that it has already helped to inspire and dynamize the Nathanson Centre’s Legal Philosophy between State and Transnationalism international seminar series, Osgoode’s ’Or ’Emet annual public lecture, the Transnational Legal Theory Journal, the McMaster visiting speakers series, Osgoode’s recent criminal law theory international conference, and other prominent legal philosophy initiatives at McMaster and 91��ɫ.

The OLPP’s latest initiative sees McMaster’s philosophy department, under the leadership of Waluchow and fellow OLPP member Professor Stefan Sciaraffa, hosting an international conference on “The Nature of Law: Contemporary Perspectives”��May 11 to 15, with most of the biggest names in general analytical jurisprudence present.

The OLPP, which is also composed of a large contingent of faculty members from the three partner institutions, will be strongly represented in the conference program with Giudice delivering one of the keynote addresses. One of Osgoode’s newest hires, Professor l (hired from the University of Warwick in the UK), and Distinguished Research Professor (now serving as acting dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Graduate Studies) will also be presenting papers.

Suzanne Crosta, dean of McMaster’s Faculty of Humanities, and Osgoode Hall Law School Dean both have high praise for the OLPP. “We look forward with great anticipation to the rich intellectual synergies that will result from the new partnership,” Crosta said.

“The partnership brings together internationally recognized scholars to explore a shared passion for the philosophy of law and will provide a unique experience for the law and philosophy graduate students involved,” noted Sossin.

What’s more, Brian Leiter, professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago and one of the most eminent legal philosophers of our day, has written glowingly about the OLPP on his philosophy . "This will be of interest to students of legal philosophy, involving 91��ɫ, Toronto (and its law school, Osgoode) and McMaster University," writes Leiter,����"which, together, comprise probably the strongest legal philosophy cohort in Canada and one of the best ones in North America."

For more information, visit the�� website.

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Considered one of the most vulnerable Liberal incumbents heading into the federal election, Dryden was defeated by Conservative challenger Mark Adler in the north Toronto riding. He becomes the first Tory to win the 91��ɫ Centre seat since Fred C. Stinson occupied it from 1957 to ’62.

. . .

But the Conservative government’s support for Israel was a key factor among Jewish voters in the riding, pundits said.

Adler is an active member of the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre and well known in the riding’s large Jewish community.

“Kaplan held the riding for years and he was a member of the Jewish community and the Liberal party tended to take a kind of centrist position on Israel,” said 91��ɫ political science professor Robert MacDermid. “(Prime Minister Stephen Harper) and the Conservatives have taken a much more pro-Israel stance on many issues and attracted many Jewish voters in that and surrounding ridings.”

Fellow 91��ɫ professor agreed. “Nobody is unsupportive of Israel,” said Drummond. “But I think some voters have found the Harper government rather less critical of Israel than perhaps some of the Liberals have been willing to be and that may have shifted some people’s support.”

Adler founded and is president and CEO of The Economic Club of Canada which has drawn such speakers as Harper, Canadian premiers, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

91��ɫ Centre is a diverse riding that includes low-income residents and a fair number of immigrants, said MacDermid.

“They have all been hotly contested by the Conservatives’ attempt to win over new Canadian groupings,” MacDermid said.

MacDermid didn’t think the fact that Toronto voters had elected right-leaning mayor Rob Ford was a major factor in swinging 91��ɫ Centre to the Tories. Ford endorsed Harper last week.

Some voters routinely shift between the Liberals and Conservatives, and they may have been more willing to vote Conservative this time, said Drummond.

“There’s been a bit of a shift towards the Conservatives in the last few elections of voters who may have been willing to go back and forth between the Liberals and Conservatives and decided they’re more supportive of the Conservatives,” he said.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Anyone transmitting the results of a poll has to include the name of the sponsor and the company that did the poll, which will help readers determine if the poll is objective.

Readers should also have access to the date when the poll was conducted and the size of the sample that was consulted to test reliability.

Finally, organizations have to disclose the margin of error, one of the most important pieces of information, according to Robert MacDermid, a political science professor at 91��ɫ.

If a poll says Jack Layton has 20 per cent of Canadians supporting him, but there is a margin of error of +/- 3 per cent, that means the support is actually between 23 and 17 per cent, he explained.

. . .

Polls aren’t the only way to gauge progress, according to MacDermid, who uses Layton’s recent rise in Quebec as an example.

“There are all sorts of evidence that people, especially in Quebec, are considering voting for Jack,” he said. “You’d report these other things; that he is spending all his time there; that 1000 people showed up at a rally; and that other political parties are attacking him.”

And polls aren’t the only way to determine how you want to vote, MacDermid says. Voters should consider the party platforms and what the leaders say about the issues that matter to the individual voter.

MacDermid was also in the media concerning his research on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's election fundraising drives and the upcoming sale of the City of Toronto's waterfront assets; the :

Mayor Rob Ford’s administration is preparing to hang a huge for-sale sign on the city’s waterfront real estate assets and is now in the process of auctioning off the first parcel – the new Corus Entertainment building, as well as the land it sits on at the foot of Jarvis Street, just south of Queen’s Quay East.

. . .

An influential Vaughan developer, who donated generously to Mayor Rob Ford's pre- and post-election fundraising drives, controls a long-term lease on the Port Lands' Hearn Generating Station, which has been proposed as a site for an NFL stadium by the mayor's brother Doug.

Developer Mario Cortellucci, together with various relatives and individuals who listed his company's premises on their donor forms, contributed $30,000 to the mayor's campaign, about half of which was raised following the election as part of a multi-candidate effort to eliminate campaign deficits. He also secured a private meeting with Rob Ford, according to scheduling documents released under access to information laws.

The figures, based on election contribution filings, were compiled by 91��ɫ political scientist Robert MacDermid [Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies].

"The important point here is that when a councillor or mayor runs a deficit and wins, every person seeking influence crowds into the subsequent fundraising events," [said MacDermid].

While Cortellucci's development companies in the past have pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to right-of-centre municipal and provincial candidates, MacDermid's analysis shows the 2010 race was his first serious foray into Toronto politics. In 2006, Cortellucci and another relative gave just $2,500 to Jane Pitfield's mayoral campaign. In 2010, he donated $4,000 and $2,000 to George Smitherman and Joe Pantalone respectively.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Known as the "kid from Cowichan Lake, British Columbia", Prof. Saywell arrived at the University of Toronto in 1954. Throughout the long��and distinguished career that followed, Prof. Saywell��took many roads less travelled. In the process, he deepened Canada’s knowledge and understanding of itself, from the constitution and federalism to the offices of the lieutenant-governor and the governor-general. He also chronicled Canadian history, economics, politics, culture and society as editor of the Canadian Historical Review from 1957 to 1963, and as editor of the Canadian Annual Review from 1960 to 1979, reviving and revitalizing these two journals.

Right: Professor John "Jack" Saywell in earlier years

Prof. Saywell was the founding dean of 91��ɫ's Faculty of Arts & Science, serving in this formative role from 1964 to 1973. As well, his thoughts and direction helped found 91��ɫ's Faculties of Fine Arts and Education. In 1970,��he was shortlisted as a candidate to succeed founding President Murray Ross, a much-chronicled episode in 91��ɫ's history (the ultimate choice was David Slater, who later resigned amid��deep controversy). Prof. Saywell, by all accounts, had strong support among faculty members.

In 1980, 91��ɫ conferred on��Prof. Saywell��its inaugural University Professorship for both service and scholarly achievement. The citation read: "Your imprint was present in every major undertaking pursued by the University during its crucial, formative years… Few people have ever so shaped any institution". It concluded by saying that "The Faculty of Arts, and to a great extent, 91��ɫ, remains ‘the house that Jack built.’” In 1999, during 91��ɫ’s 40th anniversary year, he was inducted into the Founders Society for contributions to 91��ɫ during its formative years.

Prof. Saywell’s ground-breaking scholarship was recognized through a number of major awards. His 1957 book, The Office of Lieutenant-Governor: A Study in Canadian Government and Politics, won the Delancey K. Jay Prize at Harvard University. Another, the 1991 "Just Call Me Mitch": The Life of Mitchell F. Hepburn, won the Floyd Chalmers Award for the best book on Ontario history. His 2002 study of the Supreme Court of Canada, titled The Lawmakers: Judicial Power and the Shaping of Canadian Federalism, won the John W. Dafoe Prize for "distinguished writing on Canada and/or Canada’s place in the world." He also interpreted Canadian, British and European history for thousands of Ontario high-school students through close to a dozen textbooks written between 1959 and 1969 with friend and colleague John Ricker.

As a teacher of undergraduate and graduate history and political science, Prof. Saywell excelled. His lectures and seminars were known across the University for their engagement and rigour. From 1987 to 1998, he was director of the Graduate Program in History. He was especially proud of his role in helping to shape a generation of scholars. 91��ɫ PhD graduates from this period now staff history departments in virtually every major Canadian university. In 2009, two of these graduates edited ��Framing Canadian Federalism: Historical Essays in Honour of John T. Saywell, a Festschrift (see YFile, June 17, 2009).

His work in the media included roles as actor, narrator and consultant in a series of CBC TV historical dramas; as host of the CBC TV newsmagazine "The Way It Is"; as host of "Options" for TVO; and as Tokyo correspondent for CTV National News.

Prof. Saywell consulted for USAID, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program,��the Harvard Institute for International Development and the��governments of Ontario and Canada, among others. From 1974 to 1980, he was director of the 91��ɫ Kenya Project in Nairobi. From 1979 to 1981, he was visiting professor at the Universities of Tokyo, Keio and Tskuba in Japan.

In 2008, he published , part history, part memoir of 91��ɫ’s early days. In it, Prof. Saywell documented the development of the college system, the creation of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education, the student revolt of the late 1960s and the controversy over hiring American professors to teach in Canadian universities, an issue he remembers debating in 1969 on CBC TV’s "The Way It Is". He also��wrote about his part in the presidential��struggles of the early 1970s.

Prof. Saywell will be remembered by his many friends and colleagues at 91��ɫ. He will be missed by the family whose lives he shaped as patriarch. He leaves his wife Suzanne Firth, his dog "Mist"; his four children, 12 grandchildren and his brother William Saywell and his family.

A private family��service was held on April 23. Friends and colleagues of Prof. Saywell are invited to "The Way It Was: Remembering Jack", a celebration of his life, to be held on��Sunday, June 19 (Father’s Day) from 11:30am, at the Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court (off Wynford Drive, west of the Don Valley Parkway) in North 91��ɫ. For more information or directions to the location, call 416-441-2345.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation in��Prof. Saywell’s memory be made to the John T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Legal History, c/o the , to the , or to a charity of choice.

His is available online.

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A��catalyst for dialogue and healing is 91��ɫ film Professor Colleen Wagner’s Governor General’s Award-winning play . This electrifying drama was the inaugural production of Rwanda’s ISÔKO Theatre in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide (see YFile, June 27, 2008).

Left: Actress��Jacqueline Umubyeyi, as Mejra in Colleen Wagner's The Monument. Photo by Nick Zajicek.

Translated into the local Kinyarwanda dialect and directed by , a former student in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Theatre and the founding artistic director of ISÔKO, the play premiered in Kigali and toured throughout Rwanda. Harbourfront Centre’s presents the North American premiere of ISÔKO’s production (with English surtitles) at 91��ɫ Quay Centre in Toronto April 27 to May 1.

Intimately staged and accompanied by song and African drumming, The Monument tells the story of a young soldier who has been convicted of war crimes committed during a genocide. Just as he is about to be executed, a mysterious woman who is both his saviour and tormentor offers him freedom − at a price. Billed as a “profound excavation into the nature of forgiveness”, this highly physical and imagistic production paints a contemporary portrait of a country whose resilient voice continues to be a beacon of hope and reconciliation.

Shortly before The Monument opens at Harbourfront, a second play penned by Wagner – this one a very topical, made-in-the-moment riff on Canadian politics – hits another Toronto stage. Wrecking Ball 12: Are You Dying to Vote? swings into the electoral debate tonight��at Toronto’s Theatre Centre – exactly one week before Canadians head to the polls.

is a fast and furious compendium of short works of political theatre. Playwrights hand over scripts to the directors and performers for rehearsal a mere week before the show, which is performed for one night only – usually to a fully-packed house. Founded in Toronto in 2004, The Wrecking Ball went national in 2008 when it was adopted in cities coast to coast.

Wagner is one of six writers contributing works “both strategically and from their hearts” to the current Toronto edition. The details of her piece have not yet been announced, but if The Wrecking Ball’s track record is any indication, it will be a part of a theatrical romp long remembered.

Showtime is 8pm. The Theatre Centre is located at 1087 Queen St. West at Dovercourt. Tickets are pay-what-you-can at the door.

Another catalyst for political dialogue is the��latest��work by 91��ɫ theatre professor and playwright Judith Rudakoff, which opened in Whitehorse on April 21. The River offers a vivid, poetic and unflinching glimpse into the intersecting lives of marginalized people in the community where it was created. Directed by Rudakoff’s colleague, Professor Michael Greyeyes, the production runs to May 1 at the Yukon Arts Centre Studio theatre.

Above: A map of Whitehorse drawn by Joseph Fish Tisiga, for the "Ashley Cycle" that inspired The River

The River was born out of Rudakoff’s ongoing -supported project Common Plants: Cross Pollinations in Hybrid Reality. In 2008, Rudakoff visited Whitehorse twice to lead her "Ashley Plays" workshop, in which participants collectively devise a cycle of short, site-specific performances that share a character named Ashley and��a common theme – in this case, the theme of "home".

The material developed in those workshops was so compelling that the collaboration continued into subsequent years. Rudakoff worked with local artist Joseph Tisiga and David Skelton, artistic director of Whitehorse’s , a professional company dedicated to the development of live theatre relevant to northern audience��to write the play. Nakai is producing it in partnership with the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition (YAPC).

The three artists drew inspiration for The River from both the extreme natural beauty of the Yukon and the ugliness that beauty can mask. Episodic and non-linear, the narrative is told by members of the largely untraceable "ghost population" of Whitehorse: a derelict vagrant, a missing high-school girl, a Tilley hat-wearing tourist, a transient worker and even an alien abductee.��These disparate voices take the audience on an unbridled journey through a world of longing and belonging that is both real and imagined.

The production aims to promote conversation and action in the community. YAPC is actively inviting and offering free tickets to individuals who might never otherwise attend a production at the Yukon Arts Centre, as well as arranging a special invitational matinee performance at the local Salvation Army shelter. At the end of the run, YAPC and Nakai are co-hosting a community conversation to discuss the issues brought up in the play.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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