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Names in the News

Compiled by Barbara Black

Concordia faculty, staff and alumni/æ pop up in the media more often than you might think!

Dennis Murphy (Communication Studies) was interviewed several times on the subject of propaganda, on which he teaches a course, à propos of the war in Kosovo. He was on La Fin du monde est à sept heures (TQS), Daybreak and Breakaway (both on CBC Radio).

Two excellent articles about Music Professor Andrew Homzy's expertise on the music of Duke Ellington appeared in April, one by Paul Wells in the National Post, and another by Irwin Block in TheGazette. The articles marked the 100th anniversary of Ellington's birth.

Concordia's English profs are in print everywhere. Carol Margaret Davison wrote a full-page review for the National Post of a book about the Marquis de Sade. There have been a spate of articles about the success of Trevor Ferguson's thriller set in Montreal, City of Ice, including an article and big photo in Maclean's: (Ferguson, who has lectured in English, wrote this book under a nom de plume, John Farrow.) Catherine Bush had a profile of playwright Tomson Highway in En Route magazine.

An article appeared in the February issue of QuŽbec Science about the work of Wagdi Habashi (CFDL) in testing and perfecting aerodynamic design through computational simulation.

Anne Whitelaw (Communication Studies) was quoted in Marketing magazine on the controversial ads published by the Quebec government after the last federal budget. She admitted that the ads, which showed blood-transfusion bags, among other things, were "visually stunning," and certainly got the attention of the feds, who responded in kind.

A large painting by Guido Molinari (Studio Arts, retired) was purchased by the new Beaverbrook Art Gallery, of Saint John, N.B., and according to the Telegraph-Journal, provoked some comment for its non-objective style. Bi-serial bleu-orange, shown at the 1968 Venice Biennial, is a series of bold vertical stripes. To those who mutter, "I could do that," curator Curtis Collins responds, "No, you can't. You have to have some serious background in colour theory, and these are very exacting paintings to create."

Lawrence Kryzanowski (Finance) was quoted in the National Post when former Montreal Exchange chair Dominik Dlouhy sharply criticized the Exchange's decision to concentrate on trading derivatives. Kryzanowski agreed on many points, but said the trend is irreversible.

Several newspapers, starting with TheGazette, reported that Sean McEvenue (Theological Studies) has deduced that the writer of part of the Old Testament of the Bible was a woman. The second part of the Book of Isaiah, chapters 40 to 55, is already held by many scholars to have been written by another person 150 years after the prophet. McEvenue's analysis of the Hebrew text indicates that it includes feminine forms of verbs that have been mistranslated through the centuries.

The Toronto Star reviewed The Mountain is Moving: Japanese Women's Lives, a recent book by Patricia Morley (English, retired). Reviewer Judy Stoffman found that its strongest element was the close attention given to little-known novels by Japanese women.

Cathy Busby and Kim Sawchuk (Communication Studies) were interviewed by alumna Shelley Pomerance on Art Talks (CBC Radio One, Saturdays at 5 p.m.) about their book When Pain Strikes.

Ira Robinson (Religion) was quoted in Hour about the growing interest in Kabbalah, or mystical Judaism. He said that Montreal Jews are fairly conservative, and while the movement is flourishing here, it is less evident than in Toronto.

Patsy Lightbown (TESL) was quoted in articles recently in TheGazette ("French immersion at the crossroads") and Le Devoir ("Les parents sont nombreux ˆ rŽclamer plus de cours d'anglais.") She said that results are excellent both for early-immersion and submersion (bain linguistique) in the second language.

Catherine Kidd (English) was praised to the skies by Hour, which called her "one of the genuine stars of the spoken-word and literary scenes." She mounts the stage "in a bloody butcher's apron, wielding a large knife and a stuffed bunny. The audience stares, almost frightened, as this powerful performer delivers dense, textured metaphors."

Hard Right Turn: The New Face of Neo-conservatism in Canada, a book by Brooke Jeffrey (Political Science) was reviewed on the editorial page of the National Post on May 4 by Barbara Yaffe.


Copyright 1999 Concordia's Thursday Report.