By Nishat Karim

Professor Rob Bowman, a leader in popular music studies at York, has been busy adding more 'notes' to his portfolio - liner notes, that is. And it's paying off. This January, he received his fourth Grammy nomination in the category "Best Album Notes" for his co-produced title, The Malaco Records Story: The Last Soul Company.

Bowman received the nomination for writing a 44,000 word monograph to accompany the six-CD box set, celebrating Malaco's 30th anniversary. Performing artists on the CD include Bobby Blue Bland, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, ZZ Hill, and Denise LaSalle. Bowman also received a Fine Arts Minor Research Grant for help in transcribing interviews and library research required for the project.

Bowman shares his knowledge in ethnomusicology with the York community teaching since 1987. The York alumnus currently serves as director of the Graduate Program in Music, maintaining his strong connection with the University.

Having written liner notes for dozens of recordings, as well as having lectured and published in various areas of popular music including rap, reggae, R & B and country, it is no wonder he is the man behind the establishment of popular music studies at York. His extensive work includes broadcasts such as a five-part series on the history of Canadian popular music and a program on Christmas music in a multicultural setting for the CBC.

In 1996, Bowman won a Grammy for the Best Album Notes prize for his 47,000 monograph accompanying a 10-CD boxed set of The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972-1975.

Previously, Bowman was nominated in 1988, in the Best Historical Reissue Category for The Otis Redding Story, and in 1992 for the first volume of the Complete Stax Singles 1959-1968.

By Susan Scott

Starting in September, 2000, York's Schulich School of Business plans to launch a new undergraduate business administration program with an international focus.

The International Business Administration Program (IBBA) is a four-year honours undergraduate degree program that combines traditional business courses with an arts and language component, in conjunction with the University's Faculty of Arts, and an overseas exchange and study tour. Schulich already offers a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program and an international MBA degree.

"Business and international programming are both priorities for York and this new program is a natural extension of what Schulich is already doing," said Tom Beechy, Schulich's IBBA-BBA program director. "Schulich has an excellent international reputation. We're confident the IBBA program will enhance our prominence as one of the pre-eminent business schools in Canada, and will offer new opportunities to our students interested in international business careers."

Initially, 60 students will enrol and Beechy said there won't be a problem filling that quota. There are already more applicants for the BBA program than can be accommodated. Interest in the IBBA program will likely increase once the program is established, he added. Cornerstones of the curriculum include:

NOMAD, a 1,600-pound robotic rover designed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, discovered a meteorite lying on an Antarctic ice field. What makes the discovery unique is that NOMAD was operating entirely on its own, rather than under the direction of human operators. Source: chronicle.com/daily/2000/01/2000012701t.htm

BOOKS AT RISK: The decrepit Russian State Library is desperate to protect its enormous, irreplaceable collection from the ravages of time - and to begin sharing it widely with the rest of the world. Source: chronicle.com/weekly/ v46/i21/21b00401.htm

GIVING ONLINE: The Internet will play a growing role in the future of philanthropy, even as it threatens donor privacy, according to the results of a nationwide survey of non-profit executives. The survey was prepared by The Chronicle of Philanthropy and sent to chief executives and top officials of foundations, charities and other groups that are involved in philanthropy. Respondents estimated that in the next 10 years, 25 per cent of private charitable contributions will be donated online. But one third of respondents say they are strongly concerned about technology's impact on the ability of non-profit groups to protect donor privacy.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Web sites allow consumers to donate to their local public elementary and secondary schools, reports USA Today. At least a dozen sites allow online shoppers to have a portion of their receipts sent to the school of their choice. Source: www.philanthropy.com; USA Today, 1/25/00, www.usatoday.com.

AS MORE AND MORE colleges outsource their bookstores to corporations, opponents and supporters of such steps question whether independence can be a match for cost efficiencies. http://www.chronicle.com/weekly/v46/i22/22a04101.htm.

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT MAY COVER STUDENT LOAN DEFAULTS: Canada's federal government is considering a plan to pay three major banks more than $100 million to compensate for defaults on student loans, prompting outrage from education and finance experts, reports The Globe and Mail. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia each signed an agreement with Ottawa four years ago that gave them responsibility for collecting on Canada's $1 billion student loan program. While the federal government sets loan-qualification standards and limits the interest rates the banks can charge, Ottawa also pays a five per cent risk premium (worth $50 million per year) to compensate for defaults on student loans. The three banks each had a profit of more than $1 billion in 1999.

In the new agreement that is being negotiated, the Canadian government would not only compensate the banks with $100 million, but also pay a seven per cent risk premium on most student loans and a 23 per cent premium on loans to students at private vocational schools, where default rates are high. Source: www.globeandmail.com,1/25/00.

CHINA: US-BASED LIBRARIAN ARRESTED: Chinese authorities who arrested a Pennsylvania-based librarian in Beijing as he collected documents from the Maoist era now say their captive has confessed to taking classified documents out of the country illegally, reports The Washington Post. Song Yongyi, a Dickinson College librarian and widely recognized expert on China's 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, has been detained since Aug. 7. He was charged in December with buying and supplying intelligence for people overseas.

His wife, Helen Yao, told the Post in a telephone interview from Pennsylvania that she does not believe her husband confessed because "he didn't do anything wrong."

Western scholars are concerned that the arrest imperils academic research and exchanges with China, reports The New York Times. Earlier this month, more than 100 China scholars from colleges and universities around the world released a letter to President Jiang Zemin calling for Song's immediate release.

Dickinson College, where Song is based, is mounting an international campaign to protest his arrest. For more information, go to http://www.dickinson.edu/action.Source: The New York Times, 1/13/00, http://www.nytimes.com; The Washington Post, 1/26/00, http://www.washington post.com.

By Michael Todd

The truism "appearances are deceiving" might be a cliché, but when it comes to how we see the world around us, it can be too often accurate.

Although we possess highly developed ways of understanding and processing visual information, we can be grossly misled. For instance, what's perceived as "up" can really be down, or "in" can be out. We usually make pretty good judgements about our physical world, says Ian Howard, but sometimes we're dead wrong. Howard, a psychology professor affiliated with the Human Performance Laboratory/CRESTech at York University, spoke Feb.1 at the Brownbag Luncheon Series on the topic of "implicit physics" where he illustrated how people's "implicit concepts of everyday physical events" - such as the time taken for objects differing in mass to fall, or the paths of moving objects like cannonballs - could be absolutely erroneous.

"Non-verbal procedures have been devised to reveal the underlying implicit assumptions people make about such events [as the ones above]," said Howard. "We can compare these implicit assumptions with explicit verbal statements people make about the same events. The results are relevant to teaching basic scientific principles regardless of age group."

Indeed, during his talk Howard noted many times that university physics students themselves would make implicit assumptions about a perceived physical phenomena that common (and scientific sense) told them could not be possible (water flowing "uphill" out of a jug, for example).

"How does it come about that we make such cognitive errors?" asked Howard. He suggested it sometimes is a war between one's motor and sensory side. "Ouija boards are a good example of motor error," he noted.

"Cognitive errors fall into the category of believing in such things as astrology or that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones. All these things are easily tested. For instance, what falls faster? A pound of lead or a pound of feathers?" Howard noted that the feathers/lead problem deals with a relational problem between size and weight and density. Density tells us what something is, whereas weight does not.

Optical illusion - or visual illusions - are what happens when the brain "fails". For example, Howard showed a clear plastic mask of Albert Einstein's face. With both eyes open, viewers saw it as concave, but close one eye and suddenly the face pops out. Why? "The assumption is that faces 'stick out'," said Howard. "And because that's an assumption based on perceptual experience and is embedded in us, our brain interprets the visual data in that way.

"Many of these illusions do not involve conscious knowledge, and generally that's OK. It's not just that people have the wrong idea, it's that they don't know [the actual laws of physics governing phenomena] AND they have the wrong idea which they firmly believe [for example, that a pound of lead would fall faster than a pound of feathers]."

Howard noted that visual artists, to their credit, had discovered and used perceptual illusions in their work long before scientists began looking at the problem in any seriousness.

"Artists used their conscious knowledge of these perceptual principles. Whereas all we have is the unconscious knowledge."

In or Out?

Examine the two navel-like dots above. The right has been shaded so that it appears concave, and the left, convex. Turn the page upside down however and they appear to have switched. Why? Answer: Our brain uses shading as cues to an up and down world. (Light normally comes from above, so we are programmed to interpret shading as indicating the bottom or underside of an object.) Shading also helps us determine the shape of an object. But what happens to orientation (up, down) in a world where it is not clearly defined as in outer space? Scientists now believe that lack of a perceived up and down, for instance, may be one cause of what is known as "space sickness".

by Kyle Byron

Before Mr. Wizard brought science tricks to the mass media there was Richard Proctor, founder of Knowledge, a Victorian periodical dedicated to popularizing science. On Feb. 8, York University Professor Bernard Lightman gave a lecture titled "Knowledge Confronts Nature: Richard Proctor and Popular Victorian Science Periodicals". Lightman discussed Proctor's desire to popularize science with Knowledge and the animosity between Proctor and science elitists like Norman Lockyer, editor of Nature.

Lockyer's Nature, the dominant science periodical of the late 19th century, was aimed at science professionals and intellectuals, preposterously obscure in its verbosity. Sensing that the public wanted science presented to them without being patronized, Proctor created Knowledge. It focused on science but not its practical applications like The English Mechanic.

Proctor claimed that Knowledge was not an imitation of Nature even though it showcased a similar cover, header and layout. As Proctor and Lockyer fought their war in the public realm, Proctor editorialized, "Our magazines are not in a battle, that's why we set our price so low." Knowledge was half the cost of Lockyer's Nature, which already ran below the average magazine price.

Proctor also exposed Lockyer as the author of an anonymous letter that credited Lockyer with all the recent advancements in astronomy.

Knowledge's success went only as far as Proctor could take it. 125 years ahead of the Internet, Proctor linked up with interactive media. Knowledge printed reader responses containing discussions that ran for weeks. The magazine even had a games section with chess and math problems.

Knowledge was notorious for its unknown contributors. While Lockyer's Nature published scholars and eminent scientists, Proctor hired light and entertaining writers. Knowledge featured bizarre but relevant stories on household insects, the chemistry of cooking, the philosophy of clothing and the comma. Serious pieces featured human physiology, the eye, weather forecasts, magnets and lightning. Proctor himself wrote many articles on his field of astronomy.

Unable to keep up with the vast correspondences, Proctor slowed Knowledge down to a monthly periodical. Professor Lightman believes that Proctor's demise in 1888 was due to the workload of the periodical coupled with fighting the scientific elite. Knowledge survived Proctor's death, and continued publishing until 1917.

Lightman summarized that Proctor's periodical Knowledge was a vehicle to popularize science in spite of the closed and rigid science elite. Does an elitism in science exist today? Lightman says, "yes", but it is not the segregated knowledge-hoarding clique of the Victorian age. With today's magazines like Equinox, and television shows like "Bill Nye the Science Guy", it is clear that Proctor's mission is accomplished.

By Nishat Karim

On Friday Feb. 4, approximately 75 people gathered in the East Bear Pit to watch a hair raising event.

Jim Streb, York University Staff Association's (YUSA) president had issued a challenge - if the University raised $2000 towards United Way he would cut off his ponytail. For $3000 he was willing to cut off his ponytail and beard. For $4000, he would shave his ponytail, beard and his head.

In the end, Streb both won and lost - he helped to raise $4,100 for the York University United Way Campaign, but in the process lost his ponytail, his beard and yes, all the hair on his head.

According to Gillian Sewell, coordinator of the United Way Campaign, Streb seemed quite confident prior to the cut that he would only loose his ponytail. "Post-cut I'd say he was in a bit of a shock, but Jim is a great sport and was very happy to be helping out such a worth-while cause," said Sewell.

Several people helped to make the event a success. Mike Cvitkovic from Sport and Recreation York did a brilliant job as MC, while barber Brian Nugent, who moonlights as an All-Canadian wide-receiver for the Yeomen Football Team gave Streb a nice clean, bald look. Special thanks goes out to the organizers as well as all the students, faculty and staff who donated to the charitable cause and of course, Streb - who was so willing to part with his hair.

By Cathy Carlyle

Bonnie Kettel preparing to speak at a Brownbag seminar

UNCSTD - United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

ICSU - International Council of Scientific Unions

UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women

There has been a "blossoming of interest" in the international arena in issues of gender inequality in science and technology, says York Professor of environmental studies Bonnie Kettel. In the last seven years, these matters have been recognized as important global issues and, in fact, were the subject of a thematic meeting at a world conference in Budapest last June.

Entitled "Gender Maintstreaming in Science and Technology", the meeting was part of the UNESCO/ICSU World Conference on Science, said Kettel at a Brownbag Research Seminar in January. An international panel of scientists and policy analysts discussed reports received from six regional meetings of representatives from Africa, Arab countries, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Mediterranean. According to the rapporteur's report, the panellists agreed upon several issues arising from the regions, she said.

"They saw that in many countries, fewer girls than boys have access to primary education and, for those with access, fewer girls than boys learn about science, especially at the secondary or tertiary level," said Kettel. "They also recognized that, in many countries fewer women than men pursue scientific or technological careers and not as many reach the top positions in those fields; that men and women are repositories of different components of indigenous knowledge; and that technological change, particularly that which is designed to improve the quality of life in developing countries, has been directed more toward tasks performed by men than to those performed by women. They saw that development programs often have not taken this gender dimension into account."

She said among the many reasons given why the participants wanted the inequities addressed were their concerns about human rights and social justice and the encouragement of scientific creativity. They saw that encouraging females in science and technology might "serve the needs of all humanity".

Another positive outcome of the world conference was a set of proposed changes in a Budapest Declaration and Framework for Action, adopted by the governmental representatives who had attended. Kettel was pleased that the Budapest conference delegates not only recognized these issues, "but agreed that they mattered and should be addressed by national and international policies and programs. They recommended that governments create mechanisms to propose and monitor the introduction of policy changes."

Conference delegates stressed that "special efforts should be made by governments, educational institutions, scientific communities, non-governmental organizations and civil society to ensure the full participation of women and girls in all aspects of science and technology," she added. To achieve this, they pledged to promote the access of girls and women to scientific education at all levels; to undertake research documenting constraints and progress in the expanding role of women in science and technology; to raise the awareness of women's contributions in those fields; to ensure that women are appropriately represented in policy-making bodies at all levels; and to establish an international network of women scientists.

"The Declaration on Science and the Science Agenda adopted at the conference in Budapest are remarkable for the detailed comments and specific recommendations they make concerning the participation of women and the eradication of gender inequities in science and technology education, policy and decision-making," said Kettel.

The focus on such gender issues resulted from the international collaboration and networking that have taken place over the last two decades, in particular in the last seven years, she said. Her personal involvement in the issues began at about the time world interest started to expand, in 1993. At that juncture, she began working on policy formation with the Gender Working Group of UNCSTD. The idea for the formation of such a group, of which eventually she became coordinator, was proposed in 1993 by the commissioner from the United Kingdom, a man in UNCSTD, and strongly supported by the male commissioner from the Netherlands.

In the past decade, Kettel has witnessed the emerging interest of many countries on the issues. Third World scientists and engineers used to be unaware and even disinterested in the subject, she said. "As a result, science and technology policy formulation and decision-making in the developing countries have indeed been part of the problem of maldevelopment and...have served to undermine women's well-being and, through them, the well-being of other members of their households.

"Viewed from this perspective, the detailed commentary and specific recommendations in the Budapest Framework of Action are a considerable leap forward for gender-sensitive science and technology planning and decision-making," she said.

At present, there is ongoing collaboration between the Gender Advisory Board (GAB), which is part of UNCSTD, UNESCO, UNIFEM, and various other agencies and national governments to address concerns in this area. Sophia Huyer, a doctoral candidate in environmental studies at York, is now the executive director of GAB.

by Kyle Byron

York President Lorna Marsden receives Inukshuk as student Diane Dias receives scholarship.

Diane Dias, a concurrent education student at York University, recently received a $1,000 bursary from the Boys and Girls Clubs in York President Lorna Marsden's name.

Marsden was chosen as the honourary donor thanks to her recent personal development seminars given to club members. Talks are currently underway to make this an annual award, "The Marsden Award".

Diane Dias' credentials with the Boys and Girls Clubs are outstanding. She has volunteered for the Clubs' Dovercourt chapter since 1994. Even when the organization hired her last summer, she continued to work overtime hours on a volunteer basis.

Dias works as a mentor for disadvantaged youth, specializing in arts and crafts. While enjoyable, these activities are more importantly a forum for Dias to share her maturity and guidance with the children. Dias also conducts outreach programs that expand her leadership into the community.

Tony Papalo, Dovercourt administrator, has worked with Dias for years. "The kids really look up to her and respect her," describes Papalo, "she really makes a difference, the kids do change."

The Boys and Girls Clubs, now celebrating their centennial, have been awarding Canadian scholarships since 1992. They have already given out 200 awards totaling $160,000.

As a token of gratitude to Marsden, Dias presented her with an Inukshuk. These Inuit monuments have stood in the Arctic for centuries, acting as signposts to guide travelers. They are symbolic of helping others, embodying the importance of making an effort today that will make a difference tomorrow.

By Cathy Carlyle

While Lisa Goos peers into the tachistoscope looking at facial expressions, Irwin Silverman monitors her responses.

(Note: The term 'posers' refers to the pictures of facial expressions that participants viewed.)

Women often feel that their mates pay little heed to their moods. Surely, they reason, they ought to know by looking at us that we are angry; it's so obvious! They may have to revise that thought after they read about a study undertaken by York PhD student in psychology Lisa Goos, who was a master's student at the time, and psychology Professor Irwin Silverman.

Their findings seem to indicate that a special mechanism in the brains of males and females has evolved over time to enable them to perceive specific facial expressions - especially the dangerous ones. However, the study shows marked differences between the way men pick up on (or don't!) the expression of anger on the faces of men and of women, and the way women tune in to the same expressions.

There are fewer differences in perception when it comes to the sexes correctly identifying disgust - though both sexes scored right only 33 per cent of the time. However, data indicated sex differences in the perception of fear and sadness, as well as of anger. Female posers showing fear were correctly perceived more often than were male posers, by men and women alike. For expressions of sadness, female posers also were correctly identified more often than male posers. In addition to that, women participants were better at perceiving sadness than were men, scoring right about 67 per cent of the time when men were correct 61 per cent of the time. For fear both sexes were correct in about 60 per cent of the instances.

When Goos and Silverman tabulated the data for anger, they found that this is where the women diverge markedly from the men. "Male and female participants were equally good at perceiving male anger," Goos summarized, "but female participants were much better than male participants at perceiving female anger." The facts showed that in perceiving anger, whereas men correctly perceived expressions of anger on female faces only about 31 per cent of the time, women correctly identified male anger 44 per cent of the time. As well, women recognized other females' anger 39 per cent of the time and men spotted male anger correctly 40 per cent of the time.

The study was conducted on 58 female and 56 male students at York, ranging in age from 18 to 45, with an average age of 22. Each participant was tested twice in one day, at about 8am and again around noon. While sitting at a machine called a tachistoscope, they viewed different sets of 60 photographs on each occasion. First, they looked at a white screen with a black 'x' on it for two to three seconds, to help their eyes focus in readiness for seeing a face. Then a picture was flashed at them for 30 milliseconds, followed by a white screen. During that time, they were asked what facial expression they had seen, and were given as much time as they needed to choose.

"We tested them twice because testosterone levels in men and women show a daily cycle, varying by as much as 80 per cent over the course of the day," explained Goos. "Concentration is highest in the morning and lowest in the evening, with the greatest change taking place over the course of the morning. Both sexes have testosterone, but it's much higher in men than women. We wanted to see if an individual's ability to correctly perceive anger would vary as his or her testosterone levels varied. Levels of this hormone have been correlated with multiple measures of aggression in humans and other animals, according to numerous past studies conducted by other researchers."

Goos said she and Silverman speculate that the disparity between the way the sexes notice facial expressions of anger is due to primitive survival mechanisms. It is of vital importance for males and females to be aware of anger that could lead to aggression. "Male anger and aggression is dangerous for both sexes because it tends to be more perilous, more injurious," she said. "As evolutionary psychologists we were most interested in cognitive mechanisms that have evolved to perceive danger. An angry face may signal that aggression is to follow, so an evolved means of perceiving that expression quickly would be very beneficial. In many primates, male aggression toward other males is the most serious form of aggression: males injure each other more often and more severely."

She added, "Females try to avoid male aggression because it would have serious reproductive consequences, since often they are carrying or caring for offspring. Female aggression toward their own sex is pretty common and chronic, but not very dangerous. Females are known to be aggressive toward males, but it's less serious, because males tend to be larger and stronger."

According to Silverman, however, their predictions about testosterone level were not generally supported, "which may be because testosterone measurements were confounded with time-of-day effects. We are looking forward to repeating the study with direct measurements of testosterone levels using salivary assays."

As an adjunct to the facial expression study, Goos and Silverman administered a mating strategy questionnaire to the subjects. They wanted to see if the males who would be more likely to mate often and with multiple partners would have better anger perception scores. The questionnaire asked about behaviours and preferences for mating strategies which might indicate which one a person was using. "Our hypothesis was those who pursue a 'mating investment' strategy - that is, more offspring, less parenting - would be better at perceiving male anger. Why? Because they would encounter more aggression from other males in the competition of finding and mating with numerous mates."

However, they didn't find that to be true. Instead, they noted a correlation in women with anger and choice of mating strategy. "This was an interesting finding," said Goos. "It emerged during the analysis of the data while we were trying to address the hypothesis about males and their behaviour. What we found was that females who had high family inclinations - based on the questionnaires that indicated a more 'parental investment' strategy - had higher anger perception scores than females whose questionnaires indicated a more 'mating investment' and low 'parental investment' strategy. With males, there were no factors consistent with our hypothesis."

Goos said that a number of clinical psychologists have expressed interest in their findings because they are aware that poor detection and recognition of anger often play a role in difficult relationships. "They are interested in using the information for counselling people who may be having trouble realizing when their partner is angry; and, on the flipside, for helping people who are upset because they feel their partner is ignoring their 'perfectly clearly displayed' anger."

In the future, she and Silverman would like to see additional studies of the perception of aggression undertaken, as well as further validation of the mating strategy questionnaire for use in other evolutionary investigations.

By Michael Todd

If all goes well, 10 years of "dialectical" research by York theatre professor David Smukler, and his colleague, David Ferry, will result in a book that could set tongues a-wagging, around the theatre scene anyway.

Smukler has just finished a book-length manuscript titled, Canajun, eh?, that catalogues 42 different national dialects from across the country. It's primarily for actors, but Smukler says he'd be happy if it found other uses.

"We've grown up with the myth that there are no Canadian dialects," he says. "Or, if we did think of ourselves as having dialects, they were limited to the Ottawa Valley or something. This book shows that isn't the case."

Canajun, eh? will include an audio tape or a CD of interviews with real-life Canadians from Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland, to Sointulan Island, BC. There are also transcripts with phonetic breakdowns of the material. He says that while some actors learn a dialect totally through ear training, others need to be able to read the dialect (hence the transcripts).

"What's unusual about this collection is that the subjects are home in their worlds. So they speak with all the variables that happen in normal conversation."

Smukler, who's a voice coach for student and professional actors, says there is currently no other book like it available. "When I started coaching film and theatre actors I discovered I didn't have any speech or sound material that was geared to Canadians. It started as a handout and it's evolved into something bigger. Perhaps it's part of the consciousness now of what it means to sound like, and be, a Canadian."

By Sean Smith

Jason Sherman receiving his award from Governor General Romeo LeBlanc

For Jason Sherman, graduate of York's Creative Writing Program in 1985 and one of the foremost playwrights of his generation, a keen appreciation of history has become one of the staples of his craft. Whether he is commenting on Canada's racist immigration policies or on Israeli-Palestinian relations, the concrete events of history form the subtext for many of his works. In Patience, his most recent effort, though, it is the personal history of Reuben, the play's main protagonist, which is explored.

"I think we often forget that we are a product of the forces of history," says Sherman. "If you want to figure out why we work in certain ways, you could do worse than looking back. The play makes Reuben look back at the forces that made him. He is part of the continuum of history."

Perhaps it is fitting then that Sherman himself has recently given into the 'continuum of history' by donating his papers to York University Archives and Special Collections. In addition to offering drafts and production notes for his plays including Three in the Back, Two in the Head and The League of Nathans for which he was awarded the Governor General's Literary Award in Drama (1995) and the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Awards (1993) respectively, he has donated the entire archives for the literary magazine What which he co-founded in 1985 and co-edited until 1990. For those curious about how he fared as a student though, he has donated copies of his essays from his years at York as well as clippings of all the articles he wrote while he was the arts editor at excalibur.

"It was kind of flattering that both U of T and York were interested (in my papers) but being at York is like coming full circle," muses Sherman. "It's kind of great that I don't have to carry thirty boxes to my new house. It makes me feel old though."

Sherman's contributions to York University Archives and Special Collections make a fine addition to what is already a rich resource for the study of Canadian theatre. Sherman's work will be preserved next to the papers of Mavor Moore, Roy Matthews Mitchell, Rick Salutin, Robert Christie, Richard Courtney, Herbert Whittaker and Herman Voaden. Although Sherman contends that donating his papers carries about as much bearing on his writing as conducting interviews or winning another Governor-General's Award, future generations looking back on Canadian play writing in the present era will undoubtedly find Sherman's paper trail invaluable.

"I see them being used by eager young bunnies who are interested in writing papers or essays on Canadian playwrights," he reflects. "I suppose someone will find it interesting to go over drafts of one of my plays to find if I changed a sentence here or there. Some people get off on all that forensic stuff. I used to."

In addition to seeing two of his plays staged in Toronto over the last year, Sherman has been writing book reviews for The Globe and Mail and other publications since his graduation from York. He also writes a monthly column for CBC's National Affairs and works as a screen writer for the television series Hoop Life presently running on Showcase in the US. It might seem like a frantic pace for most but Sherman does not intend to slow down any time soon. He intends to start a screen play, adapt a novel for stage and to eventually work his radio spot onto TV over the next year.

"I'll be continuing with the full range - radio, TV, theatre," contends Sherman. "It's a job. One day I work on TV and the next day I work on film. You have a deadline and you get it done. The busier I am, the better. If I've got three of four things running that's fine. I can keep a pretty large stable of characters in my head. If there's only one thing on the go, I tend to procrastinate."

All this of course means that one can expect more material to slide off of Sherman's desk into York University Archives in the future. In the meantime, the faculty, staff and students of York University can make use of Sherman's papers to examine recent developments in Canadian theatre or simply to learn how one can turn an arts degree into a successful career.

Sean Smith is archivist assistant with York University Archives and Special Collections.

By Nishat Karim

Vari Hall

Although to many, Vari Hall seems like it's been here for a lifetime, those who have been at York for over 10 years remember the infamous ramp in front of the Ross Building leading up to its second floor. Considered a landmark for the York Community, the common phrase was "lets meet under the ramp". York's post office was situated under the ramp, along with a small parking lot, and convocation was held at the top of the ramp on the second floor, rather than in the open area in front of the Fine Arts Building where it is held now.

When Vari Hall was built in 1991, the ramp came down, and pieces of it were given to members of the York community as a nostalgic reminder. Vari Hall, one of the newer buildings on the block was named in 1992 to honour a benefaction from the Honourable George W. Vari, a construction entrepreneur, and his wife Helen Vari. Mrs. Vari became a member of the York Board of Governors in 1990, and continues to serve the University as a board member today.

By Cathy Carlyle

Elio Costa, Mariano A. Elia Chair program director and professor of Italian studies at York

When York Professor of Italian studies Elio Costa first conceived of this year's Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies lecture series, he saw it as a venue for writers to speak of their own lives and simultaneously present a picture of Italian immigrants.

"I wanted the speakers to talk about themselves and how their craft is not only autobiographical but also a collective history. We get stories that take different forms through each individual experience," he said.

As Chair program director, Costa chose as the main theme for the series, "Narrating the Self: Italian Canadians Between History and Myth" and lined up six prominent and engaging personalities in the Ontario, Quebec and New York Italian community. The free, public York University-sponsored series began in January and runs until March 15.

"The series opened with Bruno Ramirez, a well-known and respected screenwriter and historian [professor of American history at McGill]," he said. "He was ideal to start up the lectures because his topic was 'Italian Immigration to Canada: Between History and Fiction'. He talked about the latter half of the 19th century when Canadian Pacific Railway hired Italian workers through an intermediary called a 'padrone', in the days when immigration was not as prevalent. He acted as an agent between CP and the workers but, as Bruno said, the system was exploitative. Basically, the workers were chattels. They didn't speak the language and they had to rely on the infamous padrone system."

Ramirez illustrated his talk with excerpts from his films, Caffé Italia, Montreal and La Sarrazine. Costa praised the latter as "one of the best Canadian films I have seen. I was interested in the fact that he talked of how Italian history in this country could be conveyed not just through historial documents and publications, but through film."

On Feb. 23 Joe Fiorito, author and National Post columnist, will read from his latest book, The Closer We Are to Dying. "His grandparents came here from Italy," said Costa. "He is a typical Canadian who feels compelled to explore his Italian roots in his story. His latest book is non fiction, a memoir about his father dying." As a child, Fiorito had a poor relationship with his father and shunned his reminiscences. Later he was reconciled with him. In the book, spanning a period of 20 days, he listens carefully to tales he once rejected.

"The book is a very evocative way for him to reveal stories that he had always heard from the past, but now feels a great need to understand because he realizes, upon his father's death, another break will occur with the past. The story is always an attempt to speak of history.

"Italian immigrants historically have had a marginal experience, like all immigrants," continued Costa. "There is a need to belong somewhere. They feel a marginality because they are not part of mainstream culture - which itself is not always bad."

He said, "We wanted to see a comparison of the American experience with the Canadian one, so we invited Peter Carravetta, who will bring his American-Italian experience to the lecture series on March 8 in his talk, 'Myth, History and Silence in Italian American Fiction'." Carravetta is a professor of comparative literature at Queen's College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and is himself a poet and fiction writer.

"We are ending on March 15 with Charlie Chiarelli and his stories of a Sicilian family, a one-man biographical comedy in narration and song." Chiarelli, a Sicilian-Canadian actor, blues harpist, storyteller, librettist and playwright, will perform from his comedy, Cu' fu, Sicilian for Who Did It?

"The work deals with the absurd situation of a Sicilian family in Hamilton where he grew up, but includes the serious side of his father's death. The subject of his mother and father arises and how they dealt with the trauma of immigration, which is what many immigrants have to contend with," said Costa.

Other presenters have been Nino Ricci, a writer-in-residence under the auspices of the Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies at York and author of the award-winning book Lives of the Saints, which is the first in a trilogy. In his talk, "Remaking the Self Through Fiction", he examined the roots of his career as a novelist and his relationship to his Italian heritage. Isabella Colalillo Katz, writer, poet and storyteller, spoke of "The Creative Self: Culture, Gender and Writing. Author of Tasting Fire, she discussed how she defines herself as a woman and a writer through reconstructing memory and gender and cultural experience.

Presentations are at 7:30pm at the Columbus Centre, 901 Lawrence Avenue West.

The Mariano A. Elia Chair at York is in its 15th year. It aims to promote knowledge of the Canadian-Italian experience and how it has contributed to the development of this country through research, teaching and public forums.