Thoughts on culture, education, and having been a Canadian in the US

Group of Seven

with Professor William Tortolano

Pickering Room

Fletcher Free Library

October 18th at 7PM

“Inspired by Thom Thomson, Canada’s unique artists (know as The Group of Seven) felt that Canadians would recognize themselves if they saw the beauty of their landscape. This program presents their works with many slides, video clips, and commentaries.”

Found this online: Weird Al Yankovic’s version of Green Day’s American Idiot: Canadian Idiot. Hmmmm….

Just about to send out essay topics for my Can Lit course. Then I saw this…. I feel the same sometimes 🙂

(via Steven D. Krause)

I’m thrilled to announce here that we’ll be welcoming Eden Robinson to the University of Vermont from October 3-5. She’ll be visiting my Canadian literature classes, Jamie Williamson’s Native American lit classes and giving a public reading on the afternoon of October 4th.

Please join us on October 4th if you can to hear one of Canada’s most exciting young writers.

Public reading by novelist Eden Robinson

Date and time: Wednesday October 4, 4:30 pm

University of Vermont, 315 Commons, Living/Learning Center

Open to all members of the public

Robinson’s first collection of stories, Traplines, won the Winifred Holtby Prize for the best first work of fiction by a Commonwealth writer and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Notable Book of the Year. Her first novel, Monkey Beach, won the B.C. Book Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the 2000 Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award and was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her latest work of fiction, the Canadian best-seller Blood Sports (2006), has been described as “A gripping page-turner of a tale that should have Quentin Tarantino knocking down her door.”

Writes The National Post, “Eden Robinson writes with the violent beauty of a seasoned knifefighter…She writes with a cool economy, a parsed precision; no wasted words, no wasted motion. In her hands, language is a weapon that can leave you bleeding, unsure of just how you were cut.”

Eden Robinson’s visit to the University of Vermont is co-sponsored by the University of Vermont’s Department of English, Canadian Studies Program, Global Village Residential Learning Community, and The James and Mary Brigham Buckham Fund.

Take a look at George II singing “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a clip on Google Video which is making the rounds on some very fine blogs.

Thanks to Nancy Welch for pointing out this terrific (and lengthy!) review of our colleague John Gennari’s great new book, Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics. Critical acclaim does not get much better than this:

And so Gennari’s book does for jazz critics what most of them were unable to do for themselves, but with a postmodern twist: The scholar demystifies and historicizes the journalists. The first sustained scholarly book exclusively about jazz criticism–and, not least, about the passions that have driven and surrounded it–Blowin’ Hot and Cool is thorough, absorbing and original, an obsessive study of professional obsessives that will circumvent the need for any other.

I have to add this one to my list of books to read…. Seriously, I could spend an entire year just focusing on all the great books written by people in my department.

There I am, in the news again…. As I don’t have anything better to do.

Harper lashes out at Martin for criticizing Afghan mission:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper slammed Paul Martin on Tuesday for saying there’s too much of a military emphasis on the current mission in Afghanistan.

Below you’ll find a note from Eric Wright from English 180B inviting you to be part of a great event. I’m going to up the ante a bit here and offer to cover the $50 registration fee for the first team from English 180 and/or English 005 who signs up for this tournament. Paul.

Student Athletes For Equity (SAFE), an officially recognized club here at at UVM, is hosting an event on Thursday, October 5. They are bringing sit-down volleyball Paralympic champion Matt Glowacki to campus, who will be giving a talk entitled “Walking is Overrated” at the Patrick Gym from 6-7 PM.

Following the talk, SAFE is hosting a wheelchair basketball tournament as a fundraiser for the Northeast Disabled Athletic Association (NDAA). The NDAA is a non-profit organization that provides resources and opportunities for players of all ages and abilities to engage in various adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, sled hockey, handcycling, and adaptive sailing.

The registration fee for the tournament is $50 for a team of five, + $5 per person after that. I’d love to see a team of Canadian Lit students win this tournament. You don’t have to be a super athlete in order to play. All you have to be is willing to spare some time and energy.

You can get a group together and register as team, or individual students can respond to the blog posting to form a Canadian Lit All-Star team.



For more information on SAFE and the tournament, you can contact Lindsey.Carfagna@uvm.edu. For more information about the NDAA, check out its Web site at www.disabledathletics.org.

This story on NPR yesterday highlights the massive oil boom Alberta’s north is experiencing. 60 Minutes also ran an interesting story on the oilsands earlier this year.

I’m glad to see the Maher Arar case getting the international attention it deserves. This should have never happened and the Canadian government needs to be held accountable.