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Month: February 2018

Quest to document Indigenous youth suffering through art

Quest to document Indigenous youth suffering through art

For the estimated 150,000 Indigenous youth trapped in Canada’s residential schools, art was a salvation. Under that system, Indigenous youth were removed from their families, isolated and often endured physical, mental and sexual abuse, hunger and dis …

Study shakes up quake, fracking connections

Study shakes up quake, fracking connections

Oil and gas companies can influence the number of fracking-related earthquakes they may unintentionally generate by changing the volume of fluids injected during the extraction process, a study by Western seismic expert Gail Atkinson shows. The volume of material used...

Russian doping about more than one Olympic Games

Russian doping about more than one Olympic Games

When you talk about the Russian doping scandal, it is a mistake to insist on speaking solely about the 2014 Sochi Olympics. That is, when the KGB – now named the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) – worked to allow dirty athletes to compete by...

Chair sees health literacy as social justice issue

Chair sees health literacy as social justice issue

Lorie Donelle knows we are becoming increasingly dependent on modern technologies. She doesn’t want to constrain those uses – she wants to understand and maximize their benefits to improve health care.

Frankenstein and his monster – two centuries later

Frankenstein and his monster – two centuries later

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus still haunts conversations of scientific progress, ethics and human vanity. Today, we celebrate its 200th anniversary with insights from faculty across disciplines.

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Cannot help but remain a text for our time

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Cannot help but remain a text for our time

I cannot think of any film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that would pass the Bechdel test. Most have few women characters, women rarely talk to each other and, when they do, it’s invariably about men – or at least about males, if we count Victor Frankenstein’s creation.

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Of ‘Frankenstein’ and the White House

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Of ‘Frankenstein’ and the White House

To read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at 200 is also, coincidentally, to read it one year into Donald Trump’s presidency. The novel’s subtitle, The Modern Prometheus, indicates the folly of a human who steals fire from the gods and assumes for himself divine power, just as Victor Frankenstein attempts to replace God by creating human life from an act of solitary will rather than the natural means of sexual congress.

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Mary Shelley warned me there’d be days like this

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Mary Shelley warned me there’d be days like this

As I stood with my arm hooked around a nearby support, lurching with the train, the pre-recorded male announcer’s voice on the intercom gave the usual orders: “Move over, make room at the doors.” Nobody shifted, except one teen who exhaled a bored “Whatever,” dragging out the ‘r’ for a few heartbeats.

Read. Watch. Listen. with John Hatch

Read. Watch. Listen. with John Hatch

Read. Watch. Listen. introduces you the personal side of our faculty, staff and alumni. Participants are asked to answer three simple questions about their reading, viewing and listening habits.

‘Launch’ catapults grad’s career to new level

‘Launch’ catapults grad’s career to new level

Sarah Botelho didn’t see it coming. As an undergraduate at Western studying English and Creative Writing, she had dabbled in the music scene. She won Western Voice in her first year, recorded an EP at CHRW and played some shows. And then she withdrew. “I had drifted...

Study shakes up quake, fracking connections

Study shakes up quake, fracking connections

Oil and gas companies can influence the number of fracking-related earthquakes they may unintentionally generate by changing the volume of fluids injected during the extraction process, a study by Western seismic expert Gail Atkinson shows. The volume of material used...

Russian doping about more than one Olympic Games

Russian doping about more than one Olympic Games

When you talk about the Russian doping scandal, it is a mistake to insist on speaking solely about the 2014 Sochi Olympics. That is, when the KGB – now named the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) – worked to allow dirty athletes to compete by...

Chair sees health literacy as social justice issue

Chair sees health literacy as social justice issue

Lorie Donelle knows we are becoming increasingly dependent on modern technologies. She doesn’t want to constrain those uses – she wants to understand and maximize their benefits to improve health care.

Frankenstein and his monster – two centuries later

Frankenstein and his monster – two centuries later

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus still haunts conversations of scientific progress, ethics and human vanity. Today, we celebrate its 200th anniversary with insights from faculty across disciplines.

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Cannot help but remain a text for our time

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Cannot help but remain a text for our time

I cannot think of any film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that would pass the Bechdel test. Most have few women characters, women rarely talk to each other and, when they do, it’s invariably about men – or at least about males, if we count Victor Frankenstein’s creation.

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Of ‘Frankenstein’ and the White House

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Of ‘Frankenstein’ and the White House

To read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at 200 is also, coincidentally, to read it one year into Donald Trump’s presidency. The novel’s subtitle, The Modern Prometheus, indicates the folly of a human who steals fire from the gods and assumes for himself divine power, just as Victor Frankenstein attempts to replace God by creating human life from an act of solitary will rather than the natural means of sexual congress.

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Mary Shelley warned me there’d be days like this

FRANKENSTEIN 200: Mary Shelley warned me there’d be days like this

As I stood with my arm hooked around a nearby support, lurching with the train, the pre-recorded male announcer’s voice on the intercom gave the usual orders: “Move over, make room at the doors.” Nobody shifted, except one teen who exhaled a bored “Whatever,” dragging out the ‘r’ for a few heartbeats.

Read. Watch. Listen. with John Hatch

Read. Watch. Listen. with John Hatch

Read. Watch. Listen. introduces you the personal side of our faculty, staff and alumni. Participants are asked to answer three simple questions about their reading, viewing and listening habits.

‘Launch’ catapults grad’s career to new level

‘Launch’ catapults grad’s career to new level

Sarah Botelho didn’t see it coming. As an undergraduate at Western studying English and Creative Writing, she had dabbled in the music scene. She won Western Voice in her first year, recorded an EP at CHRW and played some shows. And then she withdrew. “I had drifted...