MEDIA

TV's truest teens are creations
of two former York students
Amid a programming block brimming with uncommonly attractive and quick-witted teens, Nickelodeon's hit Teen Nick show “Mr. Meaty” is a fresh serving of Canadian realism, wrote the National Post March 5. Never mind that its stars are a couple of pimply faced puppets.

Mr. Meaty's star puppets

"There's nothing like puppets to help you figure out and tell emotional stories," said one-time York student Jamie Shannon, Mr. Meaty's co-creator with fellow former student Jason Hopley. "They're the meaty heart of a shallow, very fake sort of mall, [with] fake plants and fake people and fake stores." Hopley says the characters were inspired by real people he and Shannon observed. "New undiscovered archetypes – that's what we're doing," Shannon said.

The show is produced in Toronto and airs on the CBC but Hopley and Shannon recently spent a couple of days at the Nick on Sunset studios in Hollywood, shooting cut-ins for the network's "Mr. Meaty Takes Over Nick" day, set for April 28.

MacCallum leads York hoops team
Paris, Ont., resident Laura MacCallum led the York University Lions to the Ontario University Athletic's women's basketball championship on the weekend, wrote the Brantford Expositor March 6. MacCallum, a third-year guard on the team, poured in 25 points in York's 87-79 win over McMaster University on Sunday. The Lions trailed 66-64 heading into the fourth quarter. York's win was an upset as McMaster has been ranked third or higher in the country for most of the season.

Medal eludes Brown at nationals
York student Lisa Brown and her Ontario White teammates came within minutes of earning a medal at the Canadian Under-19 Indoor Field Hockey Championships in Calgary, wrote the Milton Canadian Champion March 2. Ontario White had led British Columbia 3-2 with three minutes remaining before losing 4-3. Brown, a first-year forward at York University, was adjusting to a new position at the national tournament, shifting back to play defence.

Petrou helps Ontario to field hockey gold
Oakville's Jenna Bull and Effie Petrou, a member of the York Lions field hockey team, helped Ontario Red win the gold medal at the Canadian Under-19 Indoor National Field Hockey Championships, wrote the Oakville Beaver March 2. The Ontario Red team defeated British Columbia 7-2 in the championship game Sunday in Calgary. It was the second straight gold medal for Petrou, who was the Canadian university rookie of the year in 2006.

Maggs moves for 'Wilkinsons'
Former York student Adriana Maggs describes herself as a writer-for-hire who loves to act, wrote The Telegram (St. John's) March 8. It's a skill set that landed her a gig writing the original TV series, "The Wilkinsons." The show's second season returned to CMT March 7, premiering with two back-to-back episodes. Maggs and her partner, actor/comedian Steve Cochrane, packed up their two sons, ages 2 and 5, and moved to Toronto in June when she landed the job. A native of Corner Brook, Nfld., she studied screenwriting at York and had lived in St. John's since 1999.

Busy legal aid clinic runs 'on shoestring'
A devout Muslim, Amir prays five times a day. But that practice got him into trouble with new management at his factory job and he was suspended for insubordination, for taking too long on breaks to worship, wrote the Toronto Star March 6. That's when he turned to the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, where lawyer Anita Balakrishna (LLB ’03) is helping him negotiate with his employer on accommodating his religious needs.

"My caseload is huge, but because of our funding situation I'm not taking on any new clients right now," explains Balakrishna, a fluent Tamil speaker who graduated from York’s Osgoode Hall Law School. She fears the clinic may be forced to shut for good this fall.

Osgoode alumnus misses music in the oil patch
For all its wealth, Calgary is not a destination for indie rock tours, wrote the Toronto Star March 3 in a feature on young Ontarians who have moved to Alberta in search of jobs. The scene is decent but York alumnus and corporate lawyer Evan Hillman (left) (MBA/LLB ‘03), 30, can't find quite as many concerts as he's used to, having grown up in North Toronto. But "there's a nice old theatre on 8th Street where they show independent films,” he says.

A graduate of York's joint MBA/LLB program at Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business, Hillman passed the bar exam, completed his time as an articling student and searched for a job in corporate and securities law for about a year. Sure, he found positions in litigation and in insurance law but nothing in the field he wanted to pursue.

He wasn't in the right networks and hadn't made enough contacts to edge his way into a law firm that specialized in finance – his passion. Then he ran across a newspaper article. Calgary's booming, it said. On a whim, he went online and landed a job in the Calgary office of Blake Cassels & Graydon, one of Canada's largest law firms. Alberta is a province where, unlike Toronto, the job you get is commensurate with the one you're trained to do – rather than the people you know, he says.

More York grad students share their Deep Thoughts
Two students in York’s Faculty of Graduate Studies were featured in the ongoing series on research, Deep Thoughts, in the Toronto Star March 6.

Michael Miceli, 26, is in the second year of his MA program in critical disability studies. His thesis: Disability prenatal testing and genetic testing: irreconcilable differences? The main thought: As women have children later in life, more are likely to get tested for genetic defects in the early stages of pregnancy, says Miceli. He's looking at both the social and ethical implications of the technologies that allow this testing.

Carolyn James, 26, is in the first year of her PhD studies in clinical psychology. Her thesis: Child sex abuse and sexual risk among child welfare youth. The general idea: Teenage girls and boys who were sexually assaulted as children are more likely to have risky sex, she says. This includes having sex with a stranger, engaging in sex earlier and having multiple partners in a short time period.

Glendon graduate Hébert writes about Harper's Quebec comeback
English-speaking viewers of the CBC will know Glendon alumna Chantal Hébert (left) (BA ‘76) as the woman on the right side of their screens when the Corp. trots out its political panel, At Issue, wrote former editor Norman Webster in The Gazette (Montreal) March 3. Her mission most weeks seems to be to talk sense while her co-panelists let themselves get mad, posit dark conspiracies or spin off on flights of fancy. Peter Mansbridge likes to use her to bring the discussion back to ground level, particularly where Quebec is concerned. Almost always, she obliges.

And why not? A francophone journalist, national affairs writer for the almighty Toronto Star, weekly columnist for Le Devoir, Montreal resident, graduate of York University, her credentials for the mission are impeccable. Hébert holds senior standing among a new breed of Canadian journalists able to work in both official languages, understand both cultures and explain one to the other as if it were the most natural thing in the world – which perhaps it always should have been, but rarely was.

Now we have her book, French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec. What made it possible, of course, was Harper's surprising showing in Quebec in the last federal election, in January of 2006.

Trainer measures up as my mentor
Former York student Steve Couto, a trainer at the Kingston Family YMCA who checks in at five-foot-eight and 155 pounds, is certainly qualified to be my weight-loss mentor, wrote 300-pound Jan Murphy, editor of the Kingston Whig-Standard, on March 5. Besides being a workout nut and an avid soccer fan, he brings a wealth of education and experience to the Y. He spent two years at York University, where he studied in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health. "Working with athletes is what I've wanted to do since high school," he said. "In hindsight, I should have finished university, but instead I'm taking the long route. I guess if you can't be a pro, then working with them is the next best thing."

Delaney explains and entertains on CTV's national morning show
Paul Delaney, professor of physics & astronomy in York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, provided lively commentary on the latest astronomical discoveries for Seamus O’Regan, host of CTV’s “Canada AM”, on March 5. Below is an edited transcript.

Delaney: Lunar eclipses happen twice a year. You've got to be in the right place at the right time. They're not always twice a year in Toronto. And, as you said, it's been three years since we had a good show here. But we'll get another show later this year.
O'Regan: You always have the answers for the really important questions. Thank you. I've always wondered that.
Delaney: No problem.
[Delaney responds to another question about another NASA mission.] The Cassini orbiter has revolutionized our understanding of Saturn and its entire satellite entourage. The ring system we are now observing in a way that we've never before – ever, ever – seen.
O'Regan: Just step back. How are the rings created?
Delaney: The short, 15-second answer –
O'Regan: Yeah, which is exactly what I have to have.
Delaney: Okay. You've got a very large object – let's say, a minor planet – which has been crushed by the tidal force of Saturn. And then the debris settles into the equatorial plane. If you will, a little bit like stirring up material – it sort of spins into one flattened disk. And that disk thins out to nearly 300,000 kilometres in diameter. The stuff bounces and bumps into each other and grinds down and eventually drifts into the upper atmosphere. And the ring system will disappear if you want to wait a few tens of millions of years.
O'Regan: I don't have that time.
Delaney: No, I'm sorry.

Government will have to defend this decision, says McKellar
The two banks that advised the federal government to sell nine of its best buildings were put in charge yesterday of scouring the Earth for investors interested in buying the prime real estate, reported The Globe and Mail March 6. The situation led to allegations that the government has placed units of the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada in a potential conflict.

"Quite often, if you advise someone on setting up something, you have to excuse yourself from the work, so that your opinions are very objective. Obviously, that's an area [the government is] going to have to defend," said James McKellar, professor of real property in York’s Schulich School of Business.

'Paradox of inequality' remains, says former York historian
Former York professor Michael Katz (left) has established himself as one of the United States' pre-eminent historians of social change, delving into education, urbanization, family life, and poverty in a distinguished career at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote the Ottawa Citizen March 6. Katz co-wrote the 2006 book One Nation Indivisible: What America Was and What It Is Becoming. In the book, he and Mark Stern discuss his country's demographic, social and geographic trends over the past 100 years, with a focus on city life.

'Zero tolerance' gets failing grade
With a provincial election looming, it's time for the Liberal government to repeal Ontario's controversial Safe Schools Act, according to the group behind the Safer Schools Campaign, wrote the Toronto Star March 5. The group says the so-called "zero tolerance," tough discipline law is still being used arbitrarily to push kids, particularly minorities, out of school and into the criminal justice system.

Lora Patton, review counsel for the Community & Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP) at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, said "there's no question in my mind (the Safe Schools Act) is discriminatory. A lot of it is class as much as race. The way it's applied in schools from poorer areas, what we see is, kids who are part of a group of friends are seen as gangs," she said before dropping off the group's report for Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Forces to issue guerrilla war manual
The Canadian Forces will for the first time publish a counter-insurgency manual to give troops and their commanders insight into how to fight guerrilla wars and win hearts and minds, wrote the National Post March 5. Defence analyst Martin Shadwick said considering Canada's ongoing involvement in Afghanistan the development of a counter-insurgency manual makes sense. Shadwick, a strategic studies professor in the York Centre for International & Security Studies, said it would also be valuable for Canada to study Australian efforts in counter-insurgency operations.

But he noted it is important the military doesn't just focus on counter-insurgency missions. He pointed out that Arctic warfare expertise, which has been lacking in the past several years, will also be important in the future because the Harper government has highlighted its intention of expanding the military presence in the north as a top priority.

Legal aid rules shut out thousands
Ontario's legal aid plan, established 40 years ago with the promise of ensuring justice for all, is struggling to serve even the poor, wrote the Toronto Star March 3. It's the richest legal aid program in the country with an annual budget of $309 million, yet is turning away people in record numbers. Legal aid lawyers continue to be paid modestly – $73.87 to $92.34 an hour, depending on their experience. Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant recently asked Professor John McCamus of York’s Osgoode Hall Law School to look at alternatives to the current fee system and administration of legal aid.

York emergencies expert says judgment calls are part of the job
Mayor David Miller rejected suggestions the city overreacted to the latest winter storm, after a senior fire official told Torontonians to stay indoors even as neighbouring municipalities mostly shrugged off the weather, wrote the National Post March 3.

Emergency preparedness experts say managing emergencies requires officials to make judgment calls. "They can be really tough calls, especially when you have to make it ahead of time, based on what might happen," said David Etkin (right), who teaches courses in emergency management in York’s Atkinson School of Administrative Studies. "[Officials] are in a position of having to trade off protecting public safety on one side and on the other side inconveniencing people by being too risk averse. You're never going to make everybody happy. So there is no rule, every situation is unique."

Sodexho lauded for Aboriginal relations
A local food services and facilities management company, which also serves York’s Keele campus, has received a top ranking for its business dealings with the Canada's Aboriginal Peoples, reported the Burlington Post March 2. The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business has named Sodexho as an industry leader in accessing and working with the fast-growing Aboriginal sector of the Canadian economy by re-confirming its status as a gold level achiever. It received the gold certification under the Progressive Aboriginal Relations program through the council.

York mathematician applauds Marxist lawyer’s contributions
Defence counsel Peter Rosenthal’s legal triumphs have not detracted from his initial calling, said Lee Lorch, a mathematics professor in Yorks' Faculty of AR, in a story about the Marxist lawyer in The Globe and Mail March 3. "He makes valuable contributions to Canada through his excellent mathematical research, his training of students and, perhaps most notably, by his passionate volunteer work for social justice," Lorch said. "His clear insights, personal courage, unbounded energy and determination combine to help us understand the need to be ever-vigilant for justice – and the importance of constant struggle to achieve it."

Teen's death a wake-up call for parents
In a story about the apparent murder of an 18-year-old Calgary woman, the Calgary Herald wrote March 3 that Jennifer Connolly (right), director of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution at York’s Keele campus, has devoted the last several years to expanding our knowledge and understanding of violence and conflict in the lives of teens. She got interested in dating violence, she says, while researching the phenomenon of bullying.

"As a society, we've tended to ignore teenage relationships, or seen them as trivial," says Connolly. "But we need to pay a lot more attention to them, and the possibility that many of these young people can get into relationships where there is aggression and violence." According to Connolly, recent research shows that a shocking 30 per cent of teens report at least one instance of aggression and physical violence in their romantic relationships. "This isn't just a Canadian phenomenon," she says. "We've seen evidence that this is going on everywhere." Connolly says that while abuse leading to murder is a mercifully rare occurrence, we need to keep in mind that it's a slippery slope.

Citzens' assembly confronts true art of politics
After devoting six months to the abstract study of electoral systems around the world, the 103 members of Ontario's "citizens' assembly" are now discovering what real politics is all about: compromise, wrote the Toronto Star in its editorial of March 5. And they are finding that often the trade-offs involved are not between desirable choices but between the least undesirable.

The assembly broke into small groups Saturday and seemed to arrive at a consensus to increase the size of the legislature by 26 to 46 seats and keep the number of ridings roughly the same as today (in the range of 100 to 107). But in the plenary session yesterday at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, that consensus began to fall apart. Some assembly members worried that increasing the number of politicians in the legislature would be hard to sell to the general public, which will be asked to approve the new electoral system in a fall referendum.

Runaway success of self-help DVD, book a lesson in savvy marketing
The phenomenal success of runaway best seller DVD and book, The Secret, says as much about the power of conspiracy in marketing as it does about people's endless desire to achieve health, wealth and happiness, wrote the National Post March 5. "In popular culture, you get one big hit and everyone tries to replicate it," said Alan Middleton, a professor of marketing in York's Schulich School of Business.

Brubeck’s cello playing called innovative
Friday's concert the Registry Theatre in Kitchener featured Kevin Breit and York music instructor Matt Brubeck, reported The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo) March 5. Brubeck, who teaches in York’s Faculty of Fine Arts, was as innovative on cello as Breit was on guitar. He often plucked his instrument like a bass guitarist, creating all manner of unusual and evocative sounds.

The life of John Daddy Hall headlines annual black history event
The afternoon panel discussion at the sixth annual black history event in Durham on April 28 is being moderated by Naomi Norquay, professor in York’s Faculty of Education, and will focus on how to make black history relevant to a broader community, wrote the Owen Sound Sun Times March 5.

Gifted students think globally
Gifted junior and intermediate students from throughout the Simcoe County District School Board were invited to tackle the challenging issues facing the global environment at the Earthlings Without Borders conference held earlier this week at Georgian College, wrote the Barrie Examiner March 3. The session was led by 46 teaching candidates from York University, who were doing placements at schools throughout the board. Teacher Karen McGregor says the conference has been a benefit to the youngsters and student teachers. The candidates were are able to gain valuable knowledge about teaching gifted students, while the kids learn about environmental issues and participating in a conference setting.

York's Drummond comments on Rae's election chances
Bob Rae said Wednesday he will seek the Liberal nomination for a riding in downtown Toronto, a fourth political incarnation for the former NDP MP, Ontario premier and Liberal leadership candidate, wrote CanWest News Service March 8. Rae, 58, is likely to suffer from his past NDP affiliation, said Bob Drummond, political science professor and dean of York’s Faculty of Arts.

"It won't be an advantage to have had an NDP background because I think some Liberals will not vote for him on that basis and some New Democrats will not switch to vote for him on that basis," he said. "I think (Rae) drew reasonably good support in Ontario for his (Liberal) leadership (campaign) so certainly some Liberals in the province were prepared to overlook the years of the Rae government, recognizing he was a different party then, I guess."

Sex attack re-enactment on YouTube
Toronto police have posted a video re-enactment of a violent sex assault in North York on YouTube in an effort to catch a dangerous predator and prevent further attacks, wrote The Toronto Sun March 9. Investigators believe the man, who may be in his 20s, is responsible for assaulting at least two young women as they walked in the area of Sentinel Road and Murray Ross Parkway, just south of York’s Keele campus late last year

"We wanted to make sure that all of the young women who attend that school have knowledge of this," Det. Larry Straver said yesterday of the decision to turn to the video file-sharing web site.

• The National Post (March 9), Global TV and City/CP24-TV (March 8) also reported on the Crimestoppers video posting.

Libby vs. Fitzgerald vs. Black
Terry Heinrichs, political science professor at York’s Glendon College, wrote to the National Post March 9 responding to an earlier letter about the Lewis Libby trial that suggested the verdict casts a pall over the White House.

The only "pall" cast by the Lewis Libby trial is the one cast by Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, and the three-ring circus he has just concluded. Fitzgerald's mandate was to determine who outed [former CIA undercover officer] Valerie Plame. He knew from the outset of his investigation that Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's deputy secretary of state and no friend of the White House, was the culprit, not Libby. So unless he had some other purpose in mind, why did he draw out his investigation?

The Unknown Student
Robert Fothergill, professor in the theatre department of York’s Faculty of Fine Arts, wrote a letter to The Globe and Mail March 9 on the issue of awarding a Victoria Cross to the Unknown Soldier. Following last year's rather moving ceremony, at which a set of old lecture notes was deposited in the Locker of the Unknown Student, Fothergill wrote, York University is planning, at a special convocation this summer – which we hope will be attended by Mr. Teletubby himself – to confer on the anonymous representative of so many thousands of missing scholars an honorary PhD.

The transit debate
Host Rosemary Thompson interviewed federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon about the funding announcement for the Spadina subway extension on CTV’s “Mike Duffy Live” March 6. From the transcript:

Cannon: Well, I think what it means, basically for all those people in the GTA who have to travel to work and are caught in gridlock; I think this is a godsend in many respects. It brings together three essential components. One, the health component…. The second one, of course, is the economy and Jim Flaherty stressed that. Ontario, the GTA particularly, is the hub of Canada's economic well-being. So by accelerating the construction of roads and making sure that public transit is there, that is an important component. And, of course, finally the environmental file.

• Consider, for starters, the highlight of the Toronto [transportation funding] announcement, extension of the city's subway line another 8.7 kilometres north of the city, wrote Terence Corcoran in his column for the the National Post March 8. While the extension will pass through York University and make it easier for some students to get to class, where they can protest their subsidized tuition fees, the major objective is to hook the existing subway system up with suburban car culture and major real estate plays.

The extension will come to an end smack in the middle of what is known as Vaughan Corporate Centre. While it is theoretically possible that people who now live in Vaughan would abandon their cars and take the subway to downtown Toronto, thus curbing auto use and ending what Harper considers a scourge – gridlock – the reality is likely to be somewhat different, even the opposite.

IRIS director speaks in Shades of Green
The effort to create "greener" cities will get a big boost at a symposium on urban green space being held at Royal Botanical Gardens March 8, wrote the Burlington Post March 7. Shades Of Green: Exploring Biodiversity, Human Values And Urban Planning, runs from 1 to 5pm. Speakers include Dawn Bazely, director of York's Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability.

Schulich School of Business featured among top MBA schools
The National Post featured York’s Schulich School of Business in its annual section on MBA schools in Canada. Below is a selection of stories from the March 1 issue.

• Most MBA programs in Canada have consulting projects, which offer students experience and job opportunities in exchange for giving free advice to the business, wrote the Post. For many participants, it's their first chance to apply the skills they've acquired in their MBA program to the real world. The Strategy Field Study is mandatory for all MBA students at York’s Schulich School of Business. The research is conducted in the second year of the program over an eight-month period. Teams can either find their own projects or work with the school to find appropriate ones. Students can choose to consult at companies abroad or in the non-profit sector.
  
• The role of the business school dean has never been as important as it is today, the Post said in a story that included a profile of Dezsö J. Horváth, dean of York’s Schulich School of Business.

WHO: Dezsö J. Horváth, Schulich School of Business

QUICK FACTS: Horváth, 63, was born in Hungary. He earned an MBA and doctorate in electrical engineering while studying in Sweden. He joined the Schulich faculty in 1977 as an associate professor and was named dean in 1988.

ACHIEVEMENTS: In 2004, Horvath was the first dean of a Canadian school ever to be named Dean of the Year by the Academy of International Business. He led Schulich to the No. 18 spot in the 2006 Financial Times Global MBA Rankings – six spots ahead of Rotman, the perennial top Canadian school.

• With a gold nose ring, untucked shirt over faded jeans and a yarmulke covering his curly black hair, David Weitzner looks more like a dot-com guru than an MBA ethics professor., said the Post in another story. Or maybe an indie record producer, which he once was. Still, on this cold Monday night in January, Weitzner stands before about 30 students at York's Schulich School of Business in Toronto, teaching a class called Ethics and Social Responsibility in Management. It's an elective course but a popular one. Its aim is to examine the role of ethics and social responsibility in business, combining both theory and case studies direct from the business world.

The important thing, Weitzner says, is that students are talking about the issues. "If the students end up understanding that there is a realm called the ethical, that there is this realm called social responsibility, and they use that sort of language, then I'm happy."

• Meet Manny Wong, a 35-year-old MBA student in his fourth year at York’s Schulich School of Business. Like many of his colleagues, Wong is studying part-time, squeezing evening classes and homework in between his schedule at his day job as development officer at the Child Development Institute, a not-for-profit children's organization in Toronto.

But here's where Wong differs from your average MBA student: He's completing Schulich's specialization in non-profit management. And when he graduates from Schulich, he has no plans to leave the non-profit sector, though he could make significantly more money in the corporate world. "People in the non-profit stream at Schulich are not in it for the money," he says. "We're really in it to empower ourselves, to make a difference. The non-profits are lifers."