My second home these days...Brock University

Now that I have moved well past the half-way mark of my time with the Brock radio station, CFBU-FM, which ends late May, by the way, I took note this week of just how much time I have been spending up at Brock University as of late.  Just this week alone, I have had or will have at least five trips up the hill to be on campus for various activities.

Truth be told, I had hoped to spend more time up at the university since I have always found my time there to be well spent and the conversation - no matter what the topic - always to be very stimulating indeed.  I just didn't know going in what form the time up there would take, but it has been wonderfully varied and rewarding.

One of the joys of doing my job at CFBU-FM is on my show, Inquisitive Minds, I interview Brock professors and grad students about some of the work they have been doing on research projects of every description.  So three times in that hour, Wednesdays at 11, I basically get a 20 minute lecture on topics ranging from new cancer research to Arctic exploration to the development of a video game to teach math skills to schoolchildren.  And I get paid for this!

Without exception, I find the people I interview to be accessible, very knowledgeable, and able to bring the subject matter down to a level the ordinary person on the street - like myself - can understand.  That is what I wanted to achieve going into this project back in September:  take complex subject matter and make it accessible to a wider audience.

The trips up the hill have taken many forms over the past several months, from lunches and meetings with people I depend on to help coordinate interviews for the show to actually recording those interviews on location to just hanging out up there on my own time soaking up the information.

The last couple of days I was doing just that, in fact.  I had Dr. Karen Fricker in the studio for last week's show talking about the colloquium she organized called The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age, which ran Friday and Saturday.  I attended most of the sessions both days and would love to have been there for all of them, but other commitments took me away later Friday afternoon.

The panels proved interesting and the conversations on all levels were extremely stimulating.  In particular the panel Saturday morning with three heavyweight participants, J. Kelly Nestruck of The Globe & Mail, Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star, and Princeton University Professor of English and Theatre, and ardent blogger Jill Dolan, with the topic of the discussion entitled Bloggers, critics and cultural legitimation.

Being a casual theatre reviewer myself in the past, I was particularly interested in the comments of all the participants, and the rise of social media as a vehicle for offering theatre criticism in new digital forums.

Congratulations to Karen Fricker and the rest of her team for all the hard work producing and presenting an intellectually stimulating dialogue that I am sure will continue long after the colloquium has ended.

This afternoon, I am back up at Brock for the Niagara Symphony Pops! 3 presentation "Shakin', Not Stirred!" devoted to the music of James Bond films.  Maestro Bradley Thachuk leads the NSO and the Jeans 'n Classics Band for the afternoon performance at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre, Centre for the Arts, and tickets should still be available for the concert at the box office prior to the 2:30 show.

Unfortunately I won't be selling music at this concert due to space restrictions, but I do have some of the great music from James Bond films available through my website, by going to www.finemusic.ca or emailing me directly at music@vaxxine.com.

Also over the past week I have undertaken another freelance project on behalf of Dr. Lisa Barrow, one of Brock's bullying experts, as we have been in studio recording an audiobook version of her book, In Darkness Light Dawns:  Exposing Workplace Bullying, published by Purple Crown Publishing.  Monday morning I begin editing the audio files and making them ready for public consumption, which should happen sometime later this year.

On Tuesday of this week, I head up the hill once again for the Celebration of Brock University Research event to be held from 2:30 to 4:30 in the Guernsey Market at Brock.  I hope to make some valuable connections for future interviews on the show while there, and learn more about some of the great research projects underway at Brock.  But right afterwards, I have an important job do do myself while there.

Last month, I interviewed John McNamara, Professor of Child and Youth Studies at Brock about the upcoming Three-Minute Thesis event, or 3MT for short.   Basically, the competition began in Australia in 2008 at the University of Queensland and has grown to a global competition ever since.  In the competition, graduate students compete to present their thesis in only three minutes, in the process making it succinct, funny, interesting and relevant to those in attendance who might not necessarily know all that much about their subject matter.

There will be the preliminary rounds this Tuesday, and the Brock finals come up April 7 during the 9th Annual Mapping the New Knowledges Graduate Student Research Conference.  The winner of that competition goes on to the 2014 provincial competition at McMaster University on April 24th.

But back to this week, and the preliminary competition Tuesday afternoon.  I have been invited to be a judge for this event, and I am thrilled to be a part of it!  This should be both fun and educational for both the judges and the audience members alike, and probably very nerve-wracking for the participants.

I'm not sure how much of a contribution I can make but I am ready to give it a go and see how much I can absorb of the ten presentations in the preliminary round.  It runs from 4:30 onwards at Pond Inlet, and I would imagine anyone who wants to attend can if they wish.

Finally, I head back up to the Centre for the Arts Wednesday evening for the performance by Measha Brueggergosman, the absolutely astounding Canadian soprano performing in recital.  I had a chance to interview Measha back in the fall in order to write the article that appears on the front cover of the present issue of Centrestage Experience magazine, by the way, and she was a joy to talk to.  I can hardly wait for that performance this week!

So there you go...do you think I am a member of the Brock community by now?  Not directly, mind you, but indirectly I feel I am very much a part of the knowledge network that makes up the university experience, and I must say, I am loving every minute of it.

Here's to more great experiences in the future!

February 23rd, 2014.