Good news in the battle for women’s rights
Posted on Monday, April 29, 2013 at 4:06 pmAuthor Sally Armstrong, BEd’66, DLitt’02, has shone a light on the horrors inflicted on women throughout the world. Her new book offers an optimistic update on how women are spurring global change.
Her majesty and her would-be assassins
Posted on Friday, November 30, 2012 at 3:23 pmby Daniel McCabe, BA’89 It’s 19th century London and excited crowds are lining the street, cheering loudly as the royal carriage carrying their queen makes its way past them. Suddenly, a lone figure emerges from the shadows, brandishing a pistol. A shot rings out. Enraged onlookers grab hold of the gunman, while the startled crowd [...]
Recommended Reading and Listening – Fall-Winter 2012
Posted on Friday, November 30, 2012 at 3:22 pmThe Western Light by Susan Swan, BA’67 The Western Light is a highly evocative novel, conjuring up mid-century Canada in a coming of age story that’s also a rollicking yarn with a nail-biting conclusion. The book’s narrator is 12-year-old Mary “Mouse” Bradford, a favourite character of Swan’s who previously appeared as an older adolescent in [...]
The Brighter Side of Recessions
Posted on Monday, June 11, 2012 at 2:38 pmIs economic growth sustainable in an era of rocketing fuel prices? Economist Jeff Rubin, MA’82, says no. But that might not be so bad, he adds. The environment could certainly use the break.
Keeping track of every bit of you
Posted on Monday, June 11, 2012 at 2:33 pmby Patrick Lejtenyi, BA’97 Who cares about you? Who cares about what you eat, what you wear, what you buy, what you do and how often you do it? Besides your mom, lots of people, it turns out. And we as a society are increasingly willing to share every little detail of our lives with [...]
Recommended reading and listening – Spring-Summer 2012
Posted on Monday, June 11, 2012 at 2:01 pmWhat We Talk About When We Talk About War by Noah Richler, BA’83 National myths are curious things, muses Noah Richler, vulnerable to manipulation. Are the sacrifices made by Canadian troops during the First World War a symbol of Canuck toughness or a cautionary tale about the madness of war? For Richler, the fact that [...]
Recounting a Royal Metamorphosis
Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 2:04 pmNovelist Eva Stachniak, PhD’88, offers up her own best-selling take on how an unhappily married young foreign-born princess became Russia’s transformative Catherine the Great.
Not such a violent world after all
Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 12:52 pmPick up a newspaper and you can be forgiven for thinking that acts of violence are on the rise. Celebrated psychologist Steven Pinker, BA’76, DSc’99, says it just isn’t so.
Recommended reading and listening – Fall-Winter 2011
Posted on Monday, December 5, 2011 at 11:41 amThe Long Way Back by Chris Alexander, BA’89 Few westerners have a better grasp of the steep challenges that stand in the way of a stable, peaceful Afghanistan than Chris Alexander. The recently elected Conservative MP spent six years in that country, first as Canada’s ambassador, then as a senior UN representative. In his new [...]
Out to change the world? Think it through first
Posted on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 3:23 pmYouthful idealists traveling abroad to improve the lives of others should carefully evaluate what they can realistically accomplish, caution a pair of seasoned vets.
