MEDIA

That Woodbridge accent won’t make it in Hollywood
(unless you really are Rocky...)
A column in the Sept. 6 Toronto Star took up a different kind of language debate. Yes, fellow northerners, there is a Canadian accent, wrote Star feature writer and York alumnus Oakland Ross (BA ’74). In fact, there are several. They include, for example, a southern Ontario accent. There is even a Woodbridge accent. But Eric Armstrong, for one, isn't sure that the Woodbridge sub-dialect of Canadian English is entirely a good thing, at least for those in the acting field. A professor of voice and speech in York’s Department of Theatre, Faculty of Fine Arts, Armstrong is one of about two dozen professional voice coaches who ply their trade in Toronto. Like other practitioners of the craft, he is keenly attuned to the infinite variety of the human voice. He also spends a lot of his time working with actors and aspiring actors.

"We definitely hear a Woodbridge sound," he says, referring to the suburban community just north of Toronto. "They don't sound like your typical Canadian. They sound like Sylvester Stallone (pictured above) in Rocky." For one thing, Woodbridge speakers tend to put a hard "g" sound at the end of words such as "sing." Among actors, this is not generally regarded as a plus, unless of course you happen to be Sylvester Stallone in Rocky. "Those are the students whose regional accents get them the most negative responses from casting agents," says Armstrong. The good news is that Armstrong – or someone like him – can help. That's what voice coaches do.

Subway extension only a matter of time, says Sorbara
It's only a matter of time before the Toronto Transit Commission gets the green light to build its long-awaited subway to York University, says Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, reported the Toronto Star Sept. 7. "The question is when we're going to start," Sorbara said in an interview. "My preference would be earlier rather than later. We're working on financial issues with other levels of government, notably the TTC and the federal government."

Sorbara said the provincial Liberals would be financial partners in the York University subway line – estimated to cost $1.5 billion – and York Region's 15-year, $1.6 billion plan to widen Highway 7 and Yonge Street to create bus-only lanes. "Certainly, we will be partners in the next phase of this and obviously in the subway," Sorbara said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony hailing the arrival of Viva, York Region's new bus rapid transit system, which began operating Sunday. "The subway linkage is critical to making not just the city of Toronto's transit system move more effectively, but Viva as well. It [the York campus] will become one of the major hubs for a better GTA transit system."

Sorbara, a York alumnus (BA '78, Glendon and LLB '81, Osgoode), has long supported expanding the Spadina line north through the University to Steeles Ave., although these were his clearest public statements on the issue since he became finance minister in 2003, said the Star.

TTC deputy chair Olivia Chow said it's up to the provincial and federal governments to pay for expansion. By the end of November, she said, the TTC will have a better idea whether an extension is feasible – after it sorts out the income figures, including new gas-tax revenues.

Meanwhile, the city is building a $30-million, bus-only route between Downsview station and the University, which should be ready next year. And an environmental assessment for subway continues, with the TTC expected to announce its preferred route in October. The subway route will include stops near the University commons and north of Steeles Avenue, where York Region plans to build a major Viva station and 3,000-space parking lot.

Jobs young people get tend to be in non-union sectors
A Statistics Canada report in August cited in the Toronto Star Sept. 5, found the union density - the number of employees who are union members compared to all employees - for youth between 15 and 24 was 14.1 per cent, compared to those 25 and 44 years old at 29.7 per cent, those 45 to 54 years old at 39.7 per cent and those over 55 years old at 35.1 per cent. "There are two competing reasons why youth are under-represented in unions," explains Rafael Gomez, economics professor at York’s Glendon College. "One is youth are less interested in unions. And the other is they are less likely to work in a unionized environment." Youth tend to be employed in the largely non-unionized service sector and "new economy" jobs, such as those in information technology, that don't have unions in place.

‘Naked Archaeologist’ interviews York profs
In the first episode of Vision TV’s "The Naked Archaeologist" Toronto curiosity seeker and documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici quizzes some passers-by on a wintry Toronto street about what they know about Biblical history (not too much, as it turns out) then heads to Israel, where he buttonholes university professors, museum curators and other assorted pointy heads about truth and fiction, fact and legend. Featured York experts on the light-hearted and jovial show, reported the CanWest News Service on Sept. 6, include humanities professors Carl Ehrlich, coordinator of the division’s religious studies program, and Steve Mason, Canada Research Chair in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction. CanWest’s Fine Tuning columnist Alex Strachan was likely referring to Ehrlich when he wrote: A learned professor from York University likens people's attitudes about "Bible people" to circus people [in the first episode], and it's all very jovial and warm-spirited.

The benefits of grad school
Beth Palmer, 22, is starting graduate studies in history at York to focus on women's and gender history and history of sexuality, reported the Toronto Star on Sept. 6 in a story about the pros and cons of graduate school. She's already looking into PhD programs. "I found research areas that I really wanted to learn more about, and grad school seemed like the way to pursue these interests," she says. And like most grad students, Palmer is prepared to defend the criticism that the more educated you get, the more out of touch with reality you become. To avoid getting lost in a bubble of theory, Palmer spent her undergrad volunteering at a feminist anti-violence organization and the on-campus sexual education centre. "It helped me keep focused and realize the practical applications of theory," she says. The reporter who wrote the story, Nicole Cohen, is also beginning graduate studies, in political science, at York.

York student scored highest marks in Brant County
First-year York student Jessica Lubrick is excited but remains the picture of poise while sitting on the couch of the family's comfortable home, reported The Expositor (Brantford) Sept. 6. At 18, Jessica's future is filled with promise, driven by the accolades of academic, cultural and social success. Today, her parents Liann and Michael will contemplate with a proud eye her departure to begin the next phase of her life: an international studies program at York University's Glendon College, a bilingual institution where she will take her place as the winner of a president's scholarship for first-year students with the highest marks. That award is the latest jump in a hopscotch of distinction. Jessica is the secondary student who graduated with the highest marks in Brant County, with a stunning 97.17 per cent. Her straight A performance was capped with a 97 in Italian, 98 in French and 100 per cent in English.

Reigning over Earth
York continuing studies student Katie McClure, the reigning Miss Georgina Township, has added another crown to her collection, reported York Region's Georgina Advocate, Sept. 7. McClure, 24, won the Miss Earth Canada competition in Montreal last week. Miss Earth brings an environmental focus to the international competition, McClure said. "I'm very excited about this. It combines what I'm studying at York - environmental studies – with a traditional pageant. It's a perfect match," she said. In addition to the environmental element, the pageant included judging for the traditional talent, interview, swimsuit and evening gown portions. She was first runner-up last year, winning the talent portion of the pageant.

New soccer stadium comes to Downsview
Downsview Park has been chosen as the site for a 20,000-seat soccer stadium, and its main tenants could be Canada's first Major League Soccer franchise, reported Canadian Press Sept. 7. After months of uncertainty over where the $60 million stadium should be built – and with the 2007 FIFA world youth championships looming – the Canadian Soccer Association has decided to focus its efforts on the site at Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue West in Toronto. The soccer association had been looking for a site since previous deals to build at the old site of Varsity Stadium and at York University fell through.

Gadgets help students survive
Portability is key for students such as Brian Gair of Port Dover, said the Simcoe Reformer in a Sept. 2 story about gadgetry students employ. Gair, 23, is a graduate music student at York University. "I do a lot of work in the lab at school, but you can't stay in there forever so you need to take your work home and finish it," he says. Instead of using a laptop or burning his large digital music files onto several CDs, Gair purchased a 512-megabyte portable USB drive, or JumpDrive as it's sometimes called, for around $60. A JumpDrive is a device you insert into a computer's USB port, then drag and drop files onto it. Once the files have transferred, you take the JumpDrive out and plug it into your own computer. Gair notes that an MP3 player with a lot of space – such as an iPod – can also be used this way "like a portable hard drive."

Waxing poetic about York in the summer
During the summer, noted the National Post Sept. 2, "we've been excerpting the daily diaries of creative types across Canada. Our final correspondent is a Toronto writer, playwright and performer whose work can be found at www.marikotamaki.com." Here are excerpts from the excerpt by Mariko Tamaki, a women's studies student at York:

In the summer, from what I've seen, York University is comparatively deserted, an ocean of calm as opposed to the site of a dramatic upriver swim. At 9am there are only a few random souls sleepwalking through the halls in a kind of daze. There's almost no one in the library. In fact, it's so empty that for the first time I notice that there is art on the walls and am startled. All the computer stations are free, and I can sit at whatever table I want (the good table even). It's kind of Twilight Zone-ish and kind of fabulous. I spread out all my notebooks and bask in the power of solitude for a bit.

I get all my last minute graduate student chores done early (a graduate student's work is never done, no matter what they tell you). I had this idea that I would read everything Judith Butler ever wrote this summer, which didn't happen. I've settled on a list of articles that directly relate to my final research paper instead. The sound of one set of sneakers shuffling two stacks over as I comb the shelves for the right issue of Discourse & Society is kind of creepy.

Of course, in less than a week, all this quiet is finished. Students will pour in by the busloads, with new binders, that new binder smell, and more iPods than you can shake a stick at.

It's a very New Year's Eve kind of feeling, knowing that I will be back at school so soon. Knowing that, in less than a week, I will be part of the herd, trading in my green monster bike (with matching knitted pouch), for a bus pass and a backpack that weighs in at about 10 pounds on a good day.

I'm not really all that sad to see summer gone, to be frank. It's been pretty wonderful but also hectic, and I'm personally not a big fan of summer (my Goth roots showing). I dig fall. I guess, at the same time, I just don't really believe that fall is on its way. A feeling echoed in York's uncomfortably hushed halls.