Just like Canada, baseball has a way of bringing diverse groups together
The Toronto Blue Jays are often referred to as Canada’s team because they’re the only Major League Baseball organization in the country. This season they’re playing the most exciting baseball we’ve seen in years, and even though their ranks don’t include many Canadian players, they certainly look a lot like Canada. There are as many…
Designation signifies late U of A professor’s importance to the Canadian cultural landscape as a renowned classical music composer
An archival collection documenting the life and accomplishments of a University of Alberta music professor has struck a high note by earning a world-class designation. The Violet Archer fonds at the U of A has been accepted into the Canada Memory of the World Register, part of a UNESCO program that showcases the most meaningful documents in humanity’s…
Is this what life is all about?
I am a middle-aged man. There, I have said it. I have alluded to the not-so-stealthy approach of decrepitude, laughed (ha!) about my declining years, but never actually admitted the awful truth. I don't feel particularly different, except perhaps to feel more isolated than ever . . . and don't get me wrong . .…
Januel Ibasco kept his goals in sight despite the deaths of his mother and grandmother, and was inspired to explore his Filipino roots
The traditional Indigenous game of Back Push sees two competitors seated on the ground back-to-back with their arms locked. The object is to stand up together but push your opponent out of a designated area. The goal of a children’s version of the contest is to simply communicate and lean on each other so that,…
For Alicia Cardinal, attending the U of A was the fulfilment of a childhood ambition and a way to honour her dad’s memory
Many educators say they knew from an early age what they’d be when they grew up, but Alicia Cardinal says she knew from age four where she would go to school to become a teacher. Her father, a University of Alberta graduate, teacher and principal at First Nation schools around Alberta, would bring her to…
So culture lobby can rake in more dough
The Trudeau government is throwing freedom of expression under the bus so the entertainment and culture lobby can pocket more dough. The proposed law, Bill C-10, opens the door for unelected bureaucrats to put online content under their microscope. These ramifications led Peter Menzies, former vice-chair of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications, to refer to the…
Iman Mersal won the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Book Award for her creative non-fiction novel recounting the life of a gifted young author
As a young poet cutting her teeth in Cairo, Iman Mersal randomly picked up a novel she’d never heard of in a discount book market in 1993. She was immediately struck by the narrator’s voice, and the mystery surrounding a gifted but virtually unknown author who struggled to be an artist during the political turbulence of 1960s…
After finding few digital resources available, Delaney Lothian decided to create a game and app for learning Cree language
Delaney Lothian jumped at the chance to take an introductory Cree language course – an opportunity to expand beyond the programming languages of her computing science major at the University of Alberta. Like any 21st-century student, she turned to the internet for help. To her surprise, she found very few digital resources for Cree. “The…
Project will provide training and mentorship to help emerging scholars from Canada and Africa diversify their knowledge and skills
The University of Alberta is partnering with three West African universities to mentor and build tomorrow’s diverse community leaders and global intellectuals through a new project. Powered by a $300,000 grant from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (QES) Advanced Scholars West Africa program, the initiative supports research-focused exchanges for doctoral researchers, post-doctoral fellows and early career academics…
Archeologist believes unearthing evidence is the best way to change public perceptions – and public policy
Maggie Spivey-Faulkner lives to shatter misconceptions of Indigenous people with the power of science. “As an undergrad, I saw that a lot of American public policy was built on incorrect ideas of native cultures,” said the American archeologist, who joined the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Arts this fall after a stint as a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of…