Forty Minute Forum » Winter 2012JANUARY 8 DAVID STAINESProfessor of English, University of Ottawa; author and/or editor of over 15 books on medieval and Canadian literature and culture; general editor, the New Canadian Library series; editor, Journal of Canadian Poetry; awarded Order of Canada, Order of Ontario, and membership in the European Academy of Arts and Science Appreciating Our Own Literature Tracing the history of Canada's own approach to its literature is singularly revealing. For too long, we sat beside the United States, emulating and being dependent upon it. When the literary explosion began in the nineteen-sixties, many of us were still behind the times, failing to see the sheer grandeur of our literature. Why do we shy away from celebrating our own?
JANUARY 15 NORA YOUNGHost and creator of “Spark”, CBC Radio’s show about technology and culture; original host of “Definitely Not the Opera”; journalist, author and speaker on issues related to new technologies and their social impact. Digital Bodies, Digital Citizens: The Coming Age of the Data Map From tracking our jogs on training devices, to updating our status on Facebook, we’re becoming a culture of self-trackers. The more we use digital devices that “know” how they’re being used, the more information we’re generating about our movements, behaviours and preferences. We are creating a Data Map, a digital doppelganger of our real lives. That data can be used to create smarter, more sustainable cities, but it also poses serious privacy questions. Nora explores the challenges and opportunities for us as individuals and as citizens. JANUARY 22 NICK SAULFood activist; Executive Director of the pioneering food organization The Stop Community Food Centre; Commonwealth Scholar; Jane Jacobs Award and Queen’s Jubilee Medal winner. Food Fight: Challenging the Two-tiered Food System It is said that the rich get local and organic while the poor get diabetes. In this view from the front lines of our two-tiered food system, Nick Saul will speak about his twenty years of working in low-income communities and the role food can play in building a healthy, fair and inclusive city. He’ll challenge assumptions about the role of charity, make the case for viewing food as a public good and suggest ways we can all participate in creating a truly sustainable and just food system.
JANUARY 29 BRIAN STEWARTFormer senior correspondent for CBC TV News; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Munk School for International Studies, U of T; covered nine war zones and helped break the Ethiopian Famine story of 1984; winner of many journalistic awards including Gemini Award for "Best Overall Broadcast Journalist", 1996. Inside the Vortex: Media in Time of Crisis Governments and the media are both being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of information overload and crisis news. As one of Canada's most prominent foreign correspondents, Brian Stewart has reported on countless international crises. Having been the first western journalist to report on the Ethiopian famine of 1984-85, he brings his insights today to the current catastrophe in the Horn of Africa, and the world’s failure to anticipate it.
FEBRUARY 5 DAVID MILLERCounsel, International Business & Sustainability at Aird & Berlis LLP; Future of Cities Global Fellow at Polytechnic Institute of New York University; former Mayor of Toronto; former Chair of the C40 Climate Leadership Group. We Can Fight Climate Change and Create Jobs: Here’s How The effects of climate change are being felt world- wide, and are having a dramatic impact on cities. As a result, city governments are actively working to implement programs which will both reduce carbon emissions and create green jobs for the benefit of all. David Miller will share what he has learned about what is being done in cities around the world, with a special focus on what is happening here in Toronto.
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