As it turned out, the two offerings at the Presenting the Presenters Fall Forum were surprisingly complementary. Barrie Wilson’s discussion of the film, Profile, and Don Plumb’s explanation of non-fungible tokens both dealt with the mystery of human desire.
The topic of the Fall Forum #4 is “Enriching Communities With Public Art” presented by Alexis Kane Speer and Anjuli Solanki. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequalities that exist in cities, particularly in public spaces. STEPS Public Art envisions…
Are we in the midst of a new Cold War, or did the old one never really end? Although academics love to debate such matters, suggests Arne Kislenko, the question of the proper label is peripheral to the fact that people are dying right now as a result of great power rivalries.
One of the foremost experts on Canada’s constitutional, aboriginal and judicial politics, Peter Russell has had a distinguished career as a political scientist and prolific author. Russell was chair of the Research Advisory Committee for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and presently serves as Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Innis College, University of Toronto. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Ken Greenberg, urban designer, active city-building advocate, author and teacher, is the former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto. He gave an information-packed presentation that was overflowing with thought-provoking ideas.
John Sewell is a well-known Toronto activist. He was a member of Toronto City Council 1969 -1984 and Mayor of Toronto 1979-1980. John has strong opinions about policing. He began his talk by giving us some data about policing in general across Canada.
Dr. Mike Daley is a musician, musicologist, writer and freelance lecturer based in Toronto. He is writing a history of live music in the Yorkville district of Toronto in the 1950s and 60s. Joseph Bloor founded Yorkville Village, an independent village from 1853-1888, which was then annexed to Toronto in 1889.
The last forum of the season was introduced by Thea Herman; Thea correctly said that Presenting the Presenters is always a very special event. We were not disappointed. The talks committee chose to highlight just two of our excellent presentations…
How are Cheerios, jello and Harry Potter relevant to democracy? A lively presentation by Dave Meslin at an Academy forum in March provided some answers. Dave is a seasoned social activist, self-described as a “political biologist”, who is the Creative…
The Gender Lady, a film biography of Dr. May Cohen, is a truly inspiring tribute to a pioneer of women’s health. When Dr. Cohen entered medical school at the University of Toronto in the 1950s, the concept of women’s health did not exist. Indeed, the presence of female students, who comprised only ten percent of her cohort, was barely acknowledged by the faculty. As the product of left-wing, working-class Jewish parents, she was not intimidated by this stodgy conservatism. She and her future husband, Dr. Gerry Cohen, graduated at the very top of their class.