On Thursday, Ewa Modlinska, an MES student in environmental studies, and Alex Todd, an MA candidate in geography, will share their observations on the panel, in 120E Stedman Lecture Hall from 3 to 5pm.聽

Right: 91亚色 delegates, from left, MES student Ewa Modlinska, Curtis Kuunuaq Konek and Jordan Konek from the Arviat Youth Project, and MA student Alex Todd

The COP 17 Debrief panel is hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 , which, as a non-government organization, successfully applied for delegate status to the conference, and sponsored Modlinska and Todd.聽

Modlinska will speak about the importance of listening at international climate change conferences. It is the topic of her fourth and final posted about the conference.聽

is short for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Established in 1992, it meets annually to set intergovernmental frameworks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change. COP 17 took place from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.

Modlinska went back and forth between the official conference inside聽and meetings organized by聽NGOs and other interest groups outside. She heard 鈥渁 plurality of voices bringing different perspectives to the issue of climate change.鈥� Official delegates focused on equity and development rights, while the protesters stressed climate justice, she said. 鈥淭he biggest problem,鈥� she told YFile, 鈥渨as that there was not enough interaction between inside and outside.鈥� Inside, they were proposing market-based mechanisms to mitigate climate change, profit-based solutions opposed by those outside.

Todd spent most of his time with protesters, so will have a different perspective on the conference, says Modlinska.

On the panel with her and Todd will be three others. Youth delegate April Dutheil attended the conference to set up a booth about how climate change is affecting Arviat, her home on the shores of Hudson Bay. From the Faculty of Environmental Studies, Professor Ellie Perkins specializes in globalization and the environment, and postdoctoral fellow Rachel Hirsch, in climate change and food insecurity in the North.

If you cannot attend the panel discussion, join the conversation聽.

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There are three launches scheduled for Keeney's new books,聽First Woman (Inanna Publications) and You Bring Me Wings (ANTARES Publishing House of Spanish Culture). The first is Tuesday, Nov. 8 at The Art Bar at 8pm, second floor of the Paupers Pub, 539 Bloor St. W. in Toronto.

The second will聽be at 91亚色 on聽Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 3 to 4:30pm, as part of the Canadian Studies Speaker Series, in the Senior Common Room, 010 Vanier College, Keele campus, where she鈥檒l also read and discuss her creative work and research. The third launch by Inanna Publications听蹿辞谤听First Woman will聽take place Thursday, Nov. 24, from 6 to 8pm, at the聽College Street United Church, 452 College St. in Toronto.聽

Keeney draws her greatest inspiration from the intersection of cultures, whether between members of one family, intimate friends聽or peoples around the world. She is a constant traveller.聽This academic year alone, she was involved in conferences and arts festivals from Russia to Slovenia to Iran. As Keeney puts it, "I'm a wanderer...more of a cultural explorer than a tourist." And it is those wanderings that seep deep into聽the聽layers聽of her work, emerging as poems that often express a different way of seeing the world.

Left: Patricia Keeney

For You Bring Me Wings, Keeney travelled to Mexico City for a summer of imaginative conversation with Mexican poet Ethel Krauze that spilled onto the pages of their new book.聽This bilingual (English and Spanish) collection聽is infused with what 聽identifies as "poems and conversations around love, the creative process, the conditions of womanhood and the marginalization of two distinct cultures co-existing along the American border.鈥� The conversations explore approaches to writing poetry and living life fully. As聽writer Eva Tihanyi puts it in聽her introduction: 鈥淔inally a book that presents talking and poetry as a partnership, that dares to embrace its own 蝉耻产箩别肠迟颈惫颈迟测.鈥�

Keeney was one of the first Canadian writers to be given a grant under the North American Free Trade Agreement to open up areas of cultural exchange with Mexico.

Keeney's聽poems have been hailed as lyric and political, ranging from sexual love to individual relations, to confrontations with power and profound meditations on life and culture. In her First Woman collection of poems, she聽examines, at a "deeply personal level, the richly ambivalent experience of living in South Africa, for instance, and it explores the聽dynamics of family. So, the interior life is both personal and political, local and global.聽For me, there is no discrepancy in this," says the author of nine books of poetry and a聽novel.聽"The way we see things and the weight we give them determines their importance in our sense of who we are."聽

Keeney continued her investigation of cultural borders in Iran recently where it is mandatory for women, including foreign visitors, to wear a hijab. "The ambivalence I felt about this was echoed in some extraordinary conversations with women in academia and the arts around various kinds of repression in a society that is deeply divided. I am writing about it already," she says.

Left: Patricia Keeney sharing a traditional meal in Iran with her husband, 91亚色 theatre Professor Don Rubin, and a friend (left)

Her聽poetry has been translated into French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Chinese and Hindi. As a book and theatre reviewer, and an arts journalist for over 20 years, Keeney has written extensively in various Canadian and international publications, including The Canadian Forum, Maclean's magazine, Canadian Literature, Canadian Woman Studies, Arc Poetry Magazine, New Theatre Quarterly, based in London, England, South African Theatre Journal and Critical Stages, a web journal.

Some of Keeney鈥檚 previous work includes her first collection of poetry Swimming Alone (Oberon Press, 1988); a post-feminist novel,聽The Incredible Shrinking Wife (Black Moss Press, 1995); and Selected Poems of Patricia Keeney (Oberon Press, 2002). She is currently working on new fiction.

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The more proficient you become, the better, but "every little bit helps," said Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at 91亚色 [Faculty of Health].

Much of the study of bilingualism has centered on babies, as scientists wondered why simply speaking to infants in two languages allows them to learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. Their brains seem to become more flexible, better able to multi-task. As they grow up, their brains show better "executive control," a system key to higher functioning 鈥� as Bialystok puts it, "the most important part of your mind."

Bialystok studied 450 Alzheimer's patients, all of whom showed the same degree of impairment at the time of diagnosis. Half are bilingual 鈥� they've spoken two languages regularly for most of their lives. The rest are monolingual.

The bilingual patients had Alzheimer's symptoms and were diagnosed between four and five years later than the patients who spoke only one language, she told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Being bilingual does nothing to prevent Alzheimer's disease from striking. But once the disease does begin its silent attack, those years of robust executive control provide a buffer so that symptoms don't become apparent as quickly, Bialystok said. "They've been able to cope with the disease," she said.

Her work supports an earlier study from other researchers that also found a protective effect.

But people don't have to master a new language to benefit some, Bialystok said. Exercising your brain throughout life contributes to what's called "cognitive reserve", the overall ability to withstand the declines of aging and disease. That's the basis of the use-it-or-lose-it advice from aging experts, who also recommend such things as crossword puzzles to keep your brain nimble. "If you start to learn at 40, 50, 60, you are certainly keeping your brain active," she said.

Newspapers and online news sites around the world reported on Bialystok鈥檚 lecture remarks, including media across Canada, the US, Australia, Bangladesh, China, England, Iran, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, South Africa, Scotland and Wales.

Bialystok鈥檚 study was also features in stories on radio and television stations around the world, including major networks in the US and Canada.

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Parekh is the winner of the inaugural Human Rights Prize for Master of Arts (MA) Major Research Paper in the Critical Disabilities Studies Program聽for her paper, "How Neoliberalism Impacts the Realization of Inclusive Education Both Internationally and Locally: A Study of Inclusive and Equitable Education Opportunities Within the Toronto District School Board". The award, created through donations from 91亚色 Professors Marcia Rioux and Geoffrey Reaume of the School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health, was presented to Parekh on Tuesday. "It was an interesting paper to research," says Parekh.

Parekh earned her MA from 91亚色's Critical Disabilities Studies Program with an interest in international development and disability, as well as education.

Right: Gillian Parekh (left) being presented the 2010 Human Rights Prize

For her paper, Parekh initially looked at the connection between government prioritization of market ideologies and the subsequent waning commitment to inclusive practices, homing in on inclusive education policies under varying governments in South Africa. Although South Africa boasts of having highly progressive disability policies, over time the push for economic returns聽has taken聽precedence over the protection of the rights of students with disabilities, and segregated learning centres聽have been聽maintained and expanded.

"An analysis of the evolution of inclusive education policies from South Africa is documented to encapsulate a clear example of the hegemonic relationship between rights and market principles while the right to quality education for many hangs in the balance," says Parekh.

She then turned to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to see if the same was true here. She examined student demographics at 85 secondary schools and whether they correlated with the availability of specific programs and services. "Social factors such as poverty, disability, language and parental education are compared to increased or decreased access to programming and services that lead to future enhanced marketability for the student," she writes.

Although Parekh taught special education for several years at schools within the TDSB, the fourth-largest school district in North America, she was surprised by what she found. "Overall, the higher percentage of parents with a university education, the higher the likelihood their children would have access to elite programs within their public school. The higher the percentage of students from low income housing, as well as the higher the percentage of students using special education services, the fewer programs were offered at their school," says Parekh. She knows the TDSB has attempted to address issues of equity and continuously works to offer equitable services and programming to all students, however, the current state speaks to a much more powerful force at work.

In comparing demographics between schools offering French immersion programs, what Parekh calls one of the board's most elite programs, and those schools providing vocational training, she found the difference in incidence of low income, special education and parental education staggering. When she looked at where schools providing vocational training were located, she discovered that they were largely running in Toronto's lowest income neighbourhoods, she says. Whereas French immersion programs were more likely to be found within schools in more affluent areas with greater numbers of parents having been to university.

Access to some programming was definitely related to geography, says Parekh. "The education system continues to sustain inequitable learning opportunities between social groups. Policies addressing the issues of inequity have not yet achieved fully inclusive or equitable educational opportunities for all." And that is true in both Toronto and South Africa.

Parekh largely holds the government accountable for continuing to move towards a private model of market ideology within its public school systems in which more advantaged students are met with greater opportunity

"What bothers me the most is that this disparity is often normalized. Not enough people think significant change is required," says Parekh. It comes down to erroneous thinking that certain people in society are more deserving of academic opportunities than others, she says.

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Right: Sathima Bea Benjamin

Sathima鈥檚 Windsong traces Benjamin鈥檚 story as it unfolds through her own reflections and reminiscence and is woven together with the music she has created. It also includes the reflections of five people who know her work and the milieu which shaped it.

In her flat in the Chelsea Hotel in New 91亚色, where she has lived for 32 years, Benjamin patches together her journeys, both聽literal and figurative. Those journeys have taken her from apartheid South Africa and 鈥渢he pattern of brokenness鈥� she grew up in聽to Europe where a chance meeting and recording with Duke Ellington took place. From there, she was on to New 91亚色 where she started afresh and set up her own record company.

Left: Daniel Yon

鈥淎s it moves back and forth between Cape Town and New 91亚色, to the lyrics and rhythm of her music, it becomes, much like the title of her haunting song Windsong, a reflection on history, time and place, on apartheid, anti-apartheid and their legacies, as well as the passionate questions of memory, displacement and belonging,鈥� says Yon.

This is not Yon鈥檚 first effort at making an ethnographic film. 鈥淚n fact, it continues some of the themes and concerns of an earlier film, (2007), to do with memory, place, belonging, travel, identity. The qualities of Sathima Benjamin's music attracted my attention and my conversations with her revealed a fascinating history of 鈥榡ourneys',鈥� he says.

Right: Sathima Bea Benjamin performing

The film will screen from 3:30 to 5:30pm at the Nat Taylor Cinema, N102 Ross Building., Keele campus. After the preview screening, a wine and cheese reception will follow in the Founders Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College, Keele campus. Admission to the film is free.

RSVP by Tuesday, April 20, to Emily Tjimos, administrative assistant in the Faculty of Education,聽at etjimos@edu.yorku.ca or at 416-736-2100 ext. 66301.

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91亚色 film Professor Colleen Wagner鈥檚 current project, 鈥淭heatre of the Wounded鈥�, places women at the centre of heroic myths, a space they have not traditionally occupied. Wagner's creative undertaking,聽which is funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, seeks to give women and girls a new role and voice, something that no longer characterizes them as diminished or victimized.

Right: Colleen Wagner

Often typecast as temptresses, stoic wives or the spoils of war, women have been overshadowed in myths by the male protagonist.聽Wagner's project, which includes the writing of a play, the film documentation of the research process and the preservation of oral traditions, will be developed in post-genocide Rwanda and post-apartheid, AIDS-plagued South Africa.

Wagner says she is interested in 鈥渉ow trauma and atrocity impacts upon the ways that women in particular come to understand their affiliations and notions of community, responsibility and citizenship and how these might give shape to a new female-centred mythology.鈥�

She considers post-genocide Rwanda a site where women鈥檚 roles are changing, since their traditional ones are no longer sustainable in the post-traumatic climate. Wagner says that Rwanda聽offers an ideal setting for an exploration into how聽these changes may inform a new female-centred mythology.

Her multi-faceted and collaborative project will bring together artists, women鈥檚 organizations, the local community and other professionals.聽During the first phase of the project, Wagner will travel to Rwanda and South Africa to lead workshops with women鈥檚 organizations, students, teachers and artists. With the help of a cinematographer, she will capture the process and make it available as a documentary.聽She will also be travelling to various memorial sites, prisons and throughout聽the countryside to record traditional oral myths. This essential component of her project, she says, will ensure that聽the oral stories and discussions can be made available as archival records that聽will be聽submitted to various libraries and universities in both Canada and South Africa. Following the completion of this research, Wagner will mount an initial sketch in Rwanda, Cape Town and Johannesburg of a play that will bring her research and oral traditions together.

The final play will be performed in Toronto, Rwanda, South Africa and as a 91亚色 student theatre production. Though the play itself will be a fictional narrative, Wagner places great importance on the research potion of the project 鈥渋n order to let the women鈥檚 voices speak to their particular environment鈥nd give the play a base in reality.鈥�

The stories portrayed in the play will rise out of the actual experiences of women who survived horrific political events, coped with troubled realities and went on to rebuild their lives and the lives of their families. For Wagner, 鈥淎 new female-centred myth, is timely鈥� in light of the ongoing bloody civil wars, genocides and rapes.

Wagner is a professional playwright, film script and short fiction writer. Her first stage play, Sand, was shortlisted for best international play at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England, in 1989. She won the 1996 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama for her play The Monument, which was also nominated for a Dora Award. The Monument has been translated into French, German, Romanian and Mandarin, and has been produced across North America and in Australia, Europe and Beijing聽鈥� the first commercial production of a Canadian play to be produced in China. In 2006, The Monument became the first production by a non-black writer to be presented by Toronto's Obsidian Theatre Company.

Wagner's other stage credits include Eclipsed and The Morning Bird, which premiered at the in Fredericton, NB in 2005. Her other current projects include a new play titled Home, a screenplay adaptation of The Monument, and the story-editing of a documentary film, Hallowed be thy Name.

Submitted to YFile by聽Vivian-Sofia Mora, a fourth-year visual arts student in 91亚色's Faculty of Fine Arts.

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