Over the past three years project leads, Mark Robertson, associate university librarian, information services, Sarah Coysh, head, Frost Library, and Adam Taves, reference and instruction librarian, along with a steering committee and advisory board comprised of the Libraries, Learning Skills Services and the Writing Department, have developed SPARK’s 12 online modules.

“We actually started considering the concept of a virtual learning commons, that could be accessed anytime and anywhere, more than five years ago,” explains Robertson. “We had the Learning Commons at Scott Library but we wanted to recreate that ‘space’ online knowing that many 91��ɫ students study at home, or while commuting to and from campus.”

“We had the idea – the framework for SPARK – but we didn’t have the funding until the was created three years ago,” Coysh continues. “SPARK is an initiative that we’re very passionate about and have spent years developing. Launching SPARK, and evaluating the effect the modules have on further developing students’ academic literacy competencies, will be extremely rewarding for us.”

Capturing the recursive nature of research and writing, and how various aspects of these activities are intimately tied together, was one of the team’s top priorities.

The SPARK modules are organized into three categories, “Getting Started,” “Exploring” and “Pulling it Together,” and focus on key academic literacy skills such as: time management, research strategies, essay structure, essay editing and creating bibliographies. The SPARK modules consist of interactive components including test-your-knowledge quizzes, videos, and printable worksheets that are designed to enhance academic literacies while empowering students to take greater ownership in developing these skills.

It was that theme of empowerment that became the foundation of the SPARK awareness campaign, which was developed by the steering committee in partnership with the communications and design agency, 12Thirteen.

“The students that we spoke to both in focus groups and through concept testing revealed that they appreciated that SPARK allowed them to choose when, and how, they wanted to learn. From those consultations the theme of empowerment emerged,” explains Taves.

Sobia Ali, a second-year student in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, had an early introduction to SPARK as a focus group participant. “All the students in the focus group noted that SPARK will make a significant difference in their academic careers.  The modules are intuitive, helpful, and easy to navigate,” explains Ali. “Perhaps best of all, the modules encouraged me to be reflective and ask myself different, more deductive questions.”

The focus group participants’ feedback became the basis of, “The power of SPARK” awareness campaign, which illustrates how SPARK can transform any student into an empowered “super-student.” Featured in the campaign are Ali, along with Drew Pinkerton, a fourth-year student at Glendon, and Tristian Reid, a recent graduate (’13) from the Faculty of Health.

To celebrate the official launch of SPARK today (Oct. 16) students, faculty and staff are encouraged to come by the atrium in Scott Library from 11am to 3pm for SPARK demonstrations and giveaways.

Similar launch events will occur at the Bronfman Business Library on Oct. 17 from 11am to 1pm, the Steacie Science and Engineering Library on Oct. 18 from 11am to 1pm and the Frost Library at Glendon Campus on Oct. 21 from 1pm to 3pm.

For more information about SPARK, questions about integrating specific modules into courses, or to provide general feedback, please contact askspark@yorku.ca.

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Oscar-nominated screenwriter and accomplished American playwright Bruce Jay Friedman has a new collection of selected works coming out, and it’s being published by 91��ɫ’s Leaping Lion Books, which is run by students in the Professional Writing Program.

The launch of 3.1 Plays will take place Thursday, March 1, from noon to 3pm, at the Eleanor Winters Art Gallery, 129 Winters College, Keele campus. Friedman won’t be in attendance, but there will be a video message from him specially created for the occasion and 91��ɫ theatre students will perform excerpts from his book.

“Publishing an accomplished writer like Bruce Jay Friedman raises the profile of Leaping Lion Books,” says Alan Borenstein, Leaping Lion Books publisher and fourth-year professional writing student. “We’ve proven that we can work with any calibre of author, and put out a product worthy of your bookshelf.”

�������峾����’s four works in 3.1 Plays are known for their sharp, black comedy and a punch of wit, and include the Obie award-winning play Scuba Duba: A Tense Comedy and Steambath. Both were off-Broadway hits. The other two plays in the collection are Sardines and The Trial. The plays are billed as capturing the surreal with a flair that is uncompromised by �������峾����’s ability to write real and flawed characters. His plays have delighted audiences since the 1960s and earned him rave reviews from The New 91��ɫ Times and The New 91��ɫer.

In addition to playwriting, Friedman has published six collections of stories, several novels, as well as a nonfiction collection. His novels include Stern (1962), A Mother’s Kisses (1964), The Dick (1970), The Current Climate (1989) and Violencia! (2002). A couple of his stories were also adapted for film – The Heartbreak Kid and The Lonely Guy.

Fourth-year students in the book stream of the Professional Writing Program of the Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, are required to take the Book Publishing Practicum course and participate in the publication of a real manuscript, such as �������峾����’s 3.1 Plays.

Bruce Jay Friedman

Just how the opportunity to publish �������峾����’s work came about was serendipitous. “When I was an editor at the University of Chicago Press, I published a collection of Bruce �������峾����’s essays titled Even the Rhinos Were Nymphos. We had been talking about another book, a collection of his plays, when I left Chicago in 2001,” says 91��ɫ English Professor Geoffrey Huck. “When a few years ago I put together Leaping Lion Books for the Book Publishing Practicum at 91��ɫ, I resurrected the idea with him, and he graciously agreed to let us publish.”

Friedman sent several plays and Huck chose four. “I wish we could have included more in the collection, but length – and hence cost – were considerations,” he says. “The students, along with course director Mike O’Connor, have done the rest. I hope other readers will find these plays as delightful as I have found them to be.”

Borenstein says the experience the publishing practicum provides is invaluable. “As jobs have become scarce for graduates in all fields, students are eager for a hands-on education and applicable skills. 91��ɫ’s publishing program simulates a professional working environment, in a program unique to Canada. With changes in how we read and receive information, the publishing industry is asking itself a lot of questions. We are the group of individuals who will provide the answers. That’s exciting.”

Having the opportunity to published �������峾����’s book means a lot, says Huck. “What I think Bruce’s and our other books prove is that the students in the Book Publishing Practicum are highly competent publishers. They are the future of book publishing, and they’re already showing their stripes.”

Everyone is invited to attend the launch. Refreshments will be provided and copies of the book will be available. There will also be a raffle courtesy of Leaping Lion Books sponsors for a chance to win gift certificates to the 91��ɫ Bookstore, gift certificates and merchandise from the Hard Rock Café, sunglasses from Anders & Flynt, tickets from Stage West Mississauga and a makeover from Kliks Beauty Centre. Sponsors also include the 91��ɫ Writing Department, Z-teca Gourmet Burritos, Blueberry Hill, ASRock America Inc. and NZXT Crafted Gaming Armor.

�������峾����’s 3.1 Plays is available in print and in e-book format through Kobo Inc.

For more information about Leaping Lion Books, 3.1 Plays or Friedman, visit the Leaping Lion Books �ɱ�������ٱ�.��

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Notable Canadian environmental poets , and are the keynote speakers for the public forum, which will take place Friday, Oct. 21, from 6 to 8pm, at the Gladstone Hotel, North Ballroom, 1415 Queen St. W., Toronto. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited.

Right: Brian Bartlett

Each of the authors will read from their work and discuss the socio-political responsibility of writers in modern, ecologically precarious times during the public forum. Bartlett is the author of five collections of poetry, including The Watchmaker’s Table, as well as Wanting the Day: Selected Poems, which won the 2004 Atlantic Poetry Prize. Ruffo, whose work is influenced by his Ojibwe heritage, is the author of At Geronimo’s Grave and Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney. He has also penned plays, works of nonfiction and was the writer and director for the film, A Windigo Tale, which won best picture at the American Indian Film Festival last year in San Francisco.

Wong's work looks at the relations among contemporary poetics, social justice, ecology and decolonization. She is the author of poetry collections Forage and Monkeypuzzle and co-author of Sybil Unrest.

The academic conference will be held the next day on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Gladstone Hotel, from 9am to 7:30pm. Paid registration for the conference is required before Oct. 14. Although admission for 91��ɫ students is free, they still must register in advance.

Left: Rita Wong

The conference will feature scholarly discussions and include diverse panels of academics, graduate students and writers presenting their own work on topics, such as ecopoetics, environmental literatures, indigenous politics, writing and more. Molly Wallace of Queen’s University will offer the closing keynote address, “Averting Environmental Catastrophe in Time: Speculations on Temporality, Risk and Representation”.

Some of the questions the event will probe include: How do literary works – poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction – make a unique contribution to Canadians’ understanding of, and responses to, environmental issues? How does the history of Canadian literature suggest a history of environmental activism, and vice versa? Why does poetry matter for nature? And, how does fiction incite and influence actions in the more-than-human world?

Environmental literatures engage the world differently than do environmental policies and ecopoetry embodies and inspires different modes of action, says FES Professor Catriona Sandilands, Canada Research Chair in Sustainability & Culture and the event’s co-organizer with Ella Soper, FES postdoctoral Fellow.

Right: Armand Garnet Ruffo

The question then becomes, says Sandilands, what does this reflection and action add to environmental politics in Canada? How, for example, do indigenous peoples’ struggles over the materiality and meaning of land suggest different kinds of environmental stories to underpin an ecological public culture? How can a regional or national ecopolitics benefit from closer attention to diasporic literatures? How are ecological literatures and politics jointly embedded in globalizing relations of race, gender, class, colonialism, sexuality and ability?

Writing workshops will take place Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Gladstone Hotel, from 9:30 to 11:30am. It will be a day of hands-on writing activities led by Bartlett, Ruffo and Wong, as well as FES doctoral candidate Amanda Di Battista. At the workshops, participants will be encouraged to create their own pieces of poetry or prose that might contribute to a politics of voice locally, nationally and/or globally. Participation is included in advance conference registration or contact Green Worlds for alternate arrangements.

The event is sponsored by 91��ɫ’s Sustainable Writing Laboratory and the Faculty of Environmental Studies with the support of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada.

For more information, for a full schedule of events, or to register, e-mail grnwrlds@yorku.ca.

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

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Professor Mary Jane Warner (left) in the Faculty of Fine Arts is a noted historian of modern dance and has worked extensively to document the Canada’s choreographic heritage through videography, notation and writing. In addition to her Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada-supported research, dedicated to the preservation of the masterworks of iconic Canadian choreographers, she currently serves as president of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Heritage Dance collective.

The collective, which has a mission to celebrate the work of Toronto’s senior choreographers, presents its inaugural, self-titled show at the Winchester Street Theatre Sept. 15 through 18. Six award-winning choreographers who have spearheaded the development of modern dance in Canada will gather to share world premieres and revivals in this evening of chamber dance. 91��ɫ faculty member Terrill Maguire joins Adjunct Professor Danny Grossman, Patricia Beatty and Laurence Gradus in showcasing new work, while David Earle and Peter Randazzo remount signature dances from past years.

The Winchester Street location is a fitting venue for the event, as it is the home of Toronto Dance Theatre, the groundbreaking company Beatty, Earle and Randazzo founded in 1968.

“Bringing the three co-founders of TDT together again in the space where the company they started continues to thrive, alongside some of their influential peers, is a poetic and perfect way to launch the performance component of Toronto Heritage Dance,” said Warner.

The combination of historical and new works on the program, created by some of the city’s leading choreographers, reflects both the rich legacy and current vibrancy of Toronto’s modern dance scene.

Maguire will perform her solo Pond Life II to live piano accompaniment by internationally acclaimed pianist, 91��ɫ music Professor Christina Petrowska Quilico. Pond Life II is a reworking of a commission by the late composer Ann Southam that Maguire and Petrowska Quillico premiered at the 2008 Sound Symposium in St. John's, Nfld. Southam wrote the music for Maguire and dedicated it to Petrowska Quilico, who recorded it in 2009 (see YFile, May 5, 2009).

Above: A performance of Pond Life, featuring faculty member Terrill Maguire (left) and Professor Christina Petrowska Quilico at the piano. Photo by Greg Locke

91��ɫ dance alumnus Michael Sean Marye (MA ‘03) is featured in Earle’s Miserere (1971) along with incoming dance graduate student Danielle Baskerville, who also performs in Beatty’s premiere The High Heart. Having danced with Earle’s company, Dancetheatre David Earle, for over a decade, Baskerville has interpreted works by many of Canada’s finest creators and has performed across Canada and Europe. Marye likewise has an impressive performance record, having danced with and for the vast majority of Toronto’s influential dance artists.

Baskerville was among the dancers whom Earle brought to 91��ɫ in 2008 as part of Warner’s research (see YFile, May 23, 2008). During their residency in the Department of Dance, the company reconstructed two of Earle’s iconic works and taught them to the young dancers in the program. Working under Warner’s direction, the students documented the reconstruction and teaching process in video, interviews and written observations, helping to ensure that these masterworks will never be forgotten.����

“My SSHRC research directly feeds into a treasury of works collected under the Toronto Heritage Dance umbrella,” said Warner. “One of our goals is to have these works performed in repertory. Toronto’s rich history of original choreography needs to be more than history: the works need to be seen by today’s audiences and by the next generation of choreographers and dancers.

“Ballet is still enjoying success in our society because it respects its own history; this is our effort to do the same for modern dance,” Warner said. “We believe that engagement with senior artists is of critical importance for our future in so many ways. No community is whole if any generation has been left out.”

Tickets to the Toronto Heritage Dance show may be reserved by calling 416-204-1082. Admission is $25, students and seniors $20, cash only at the door. Winchester Street Theatre is located at 80 Winchester Street, Toronto.

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

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