% "^*r* .-r / The Magazine of the University ofT^Jsfi^o1*ni%i< <, ■^ % •• • <• Nature's Way ■ / V*. r»V> r«n i 3 noz aa iivw sndwvc 3an 11VW NIVW 956L SNOU33T103 ~!VI33dS Aavaan 3an ZS££9H # 1N3W33HDV SNOUVOIiand L-L 28 i The Inanimate World A Short Story. By Robert Strandquist 34 ! Hopwood's List An English 101 suggested reading list that lasted a lifetime. By Leonard Graholm 37 I The Travels of Doctor Qayumi From the mountains of Afghanistan to the corridors of vgh, Dr. Qayumi has kept his focus. By Bruce Mason 39 i Precious Medals Why doesn't Canada produce more medals at the Olympics? Should we even try? By Don Wells FEATURES 16 ! Art for Whose Sake? The Belkin Gallery has great admirers and strong critics. What's up? By Robin Laurence 23 i Breakfast of Champions Frankenfoods or the solution to world hunger: gmos are on your table. By Scott Yates 2 Trek Summer 2001 5 Research News 22 i Letters 43 i Chronicle Alumni news and events 44 ' The Arts 46 ! Books 48 I Alumni News 51 i Reunion Weekend 52 ! Class Acts 54 ! In Memoriam Trek SUMMER ZOO ' The Magazine ofthe University of British Columbia Editor Christopher Petty mfa'86 Designer Chris Dahl Assistant Editor Vanessa Clarke Board of Directors President Gregory Clark bcom'86, LLB'89 Senior VP Jane Hungerford bed'67 Past President Linda Thorstad Bsc'77, MSc'84 Treasurer Tammie Mark bcom'88 Members at Large '00 - John Grunau ba'67 Darlene Marzari msw'68 02 03 Members at Large '01 Martin Ertl Bsc'93 Paul Rosenau BLA'87, MA'87 Billy Wan bcom'82 Executive Director Agnes Papke bsc(agr)'66 Editorial Committee Janet Ansell Vanessa Clarke Sid Katz Scott Macrae Christopher Petty Herbert Rosengarten Trek (formerly the UBC Alumni Chronicle) is published three times a year by the UBC Alumni Association and distributed free of charge to UBC alumni and friends. Opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the Alumni Association or the university. Letters to the editor are welcome. Address correspondence to: Christopher Petty, Editor UBC Alumni Association, 6251 Cecil Green Park Road, Vancouver, bc, Canada v6t tzi or send e-mail to cpetty@alumni.ubc.ca. Letters will be published at the editor's discretion and may be edited for space. For advertising rates and information, contact the editor at 604-822-8914. Contact Numbers at UBC Address Changes Alumni Association 822-8921 822-3313 toll free 800 883-3088 Trek Editor 822-8914 UBC Tnfo Line 822-4636 Alma Mater Society 822-9098 Campus Tours 822-8687 Continuing Studies 822-1444 Development Office 822-8900 Library 822-6375 Registrar 822-3014 Belkin Gallery 822-2759 Chan Centre 822-2697 Frederic Wood Theatre 822-2678 Museum of Anthropology 822-5087 Volume 55, Number 2 Printed in Canada by Mitchell Press ISSN 0824-1:279 Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement # 40063528 Cover photograph: Photonics Summer 2001 Trek 3 what is nature's way? about this issue The more we examine our universe, the more we realize how little we know about it. New information comes along daily to suggest that another absolute certainty is under question. It's been happening for a long time: the comfortable surety of the sun revolving around the earth gives way to the notion that the earth is actually not the centre of the universe at all, and humanity goes through an identity crisis. There are few areas as fraught with doubt as the sciences, which is odd, since scientific practitioners like to say they deal only in observable fact. In spite of it, science has become the faith of our age. Where once humanity turned to deities to explain the unknowable, we now turn to science. But our confidence is being shaken, and nowhere more alarmingly than in the field of biotechnology. Our understanding of genetics has increased to the point where we can mix the genes of one organism with another's, and end up with something that didn't exist before. The result has been a redefinition of nature. What's natural and what isn't? Gregor Mendel was looked on askance for tinkering with the order of things to produce new strains of peas, but he, at least, was using the same tools nature might use to do the same thing. Is the new genetic science pushing nature aside and playing God? Many argue that we are courting disaster with genetic modification of plants, while others claim we are just doing what Mendel did, but with more sophistication. Breakfast of (genetically altered) Champions in this issue takes a look at some of those arguments and the role of nature in the mix. But clay-footed surety isn't just the bane of science. This issue of Trek includes an article on the new Belkin Gallery (Art for Whose Sake?) that challenges our attitudes concerning what is or isn't 'art.' We also present a clearheaded look at how our expectations of Olympic glory (Precious Medals) aren't being met, even though we send large teams to the field. We used to do better. What's changed? And, as a Trek first, we feature a short story (The Inanimate World) that will challenge your ideas of love, loyalty and desire and turn them on their collective heads. What is nature's way? It's clear we don't know. Research has a way of destroying verities. What we do know, and why we need universities like UBC now more than ever, is that exploration is our only hope. Fortunately, it's what we do best. - Christopher Petty, Editor contributors STRANDQUIST Robert Strandquist's work has been published in a number of literary journals across the country. He has received several writing awards, including the Canadian Authors' Association Award for Poetry, and has a Master's Degree in Fine Arts from UBC. He lives in Vancouver, and is currently working on a novel and a second collection of short stories. Scott Yates MFA'86 works as a reporter for Capital Press, an agricultural weekly that serves the farming industry in the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Idaho and Montana. He lives in Spokane, Washington with his three daughters. Robin Laurence is an award winning writer and art critic based in Vancouver. Recently, she contributed the lead essay to Gathie Falk, a major publication accompanying the retrospective exhibition now touring Canada. Her writing appears in the Georgia Straight, the Vancouver Sun and many art publications. Don Wells BA'89 was manager, Marketing and Communications, in the athletic department for many years. He is currently a communications coordinator with the university's Public Affairs office, and a principal of Archer Strategies, a communications company. 4 Trek Summer 2001 RESEARCH NEWS Genome Research: from Tree Breeding to Salmon Immune Systems ■ Genome Canada has recently announced a $35 million grant for bc's genome scientists as part of a national investment totalling $136 million and spanning 22 projects. Genome bc — a regional partner of the federal agency — will administer five of the projects, which together represent one of bc's largest and most diverse public biological research initiatives. Marco Marra, director of the Genome Sequence Centre at bcca, heads the expansion of the centre's technological infrastructure for genomic sequencing and mapping to accommodate large-scale projects. The projects fall into the areas of health, forestry, fisheries and the environment: • Victor Ling, UBC assistant dean, Research, and vice-president, Research, at bc Cancer Agency (bcca) will track how normal cells change into malignancies in the early stages of cancer. • Microbiology and Immunology Professor Emeritus Julian Davies' goal is to improve researchers' understanding about the diversity of micro-organisms and the way they interact with their environment. • Zoology Associate Professor Don Moerman's research focuses on a transparent worm and its relationship to humans, to create a better understanding of genetic mutations, which can then be applied to human health issues. • Joerg Bohlmann, an assistant professor of Biotechnology; Carl Douglas, head of the Botany department, Agricultural Sciences Professor Brian Ellis and Forest Sciences Professor Kermit Ritland will study the genes of wood tissues to identify genetic markers in a variety of trees to inform tree breeding programs. • Researchers at sfu and the University of Green Genes Brian Ellis is part of the UBC team involved in genome research. Victoria will use genomic research on Atlantic salmon to learn more about the structure and function of the salmon immune system. For more information, check out: www.genomecanada.ca Paying Attention to the Girls ■ Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (adhd ) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children. Sufferers are at higher risk of failing or dropping out of school, adolescent parenthood, driving accidents and arrest. Despite this potential for negative social fallout, UBC research reveals that many girls with the condition aren't being treated because the criteria for diagnosis are biased towards boys. "For every six to nine boys referred to services for adhd, only one girl is referred — but studies indicate that the actual gender ratio of the disorder is closer to two or three boys to every girl," says Jeneva Ohan, a phd student in Psychology who is currently investigating this discrepancy with Psychology Professor Charlotte Johnston. adhd is characterized by inappropriate levels of attention. Children with the condition may be prone to distraction, daydreams, and in some cases hyperactivity. Typically, they experience trouble staying seated or waiting their turn. However, Ohan points out those criteria don't necessarily identify how the disorder is manifested in girls. During tests conducted by Ohan and Johnston, mothers of adhd sufferers agreed that traits such as fidgeting or squirming (which are readily included as part of the criteria for diagnosis of adhd) are more appropriate descriptors for boys, and that whispering to classmates and doodling instead of doing work are more likely indicators of adhd in girls. This inequity in diagnosis may also lead to inequity in treatment. For example, boys with adhd often have trouble forming relationships, and treatment plans reflect this phenomenon, but the same treatment wouldn't necessarily be appropriate for girls. Ohan believes it makes sense that boys and girls with adhd have different social strengths and weaknesses. "We need to know what these are," she says. "It is crucial to identify girls with adhd early on so that we can help them develop to the best of their abilities." Ellen Neel Totem Pole Vandalized * The totem pole that symbolized First Nations approval of UBC's use of the Thunderbird name for its sporting teams was vandalized recently and removed from its site just north of sub. The damage to Summer 2001 Trek 5 RESEARCH NEWS Wilde About Oscar Oscar Wilde's memory lives on in an exhibit entitled Oscar Wilde — the Apostle of Beauty (Special Collections, eighth floor of Main Library). Sarika Bose, sessional instructor in English, is curator of the exhibit which showcases such rare items as a signed first edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray. It draws primarily on the vast collection donated to the UBC library by Norman Colbeck in 1967. "Wilde's active career only spanned about 10 years from 1880, so his lasting cultural dominance and enduring universal appeal is extraordinary," says Bose. "His philosophy of joy and pleasure continues to resonate with readers and theatre-goers." Despite this enduring popularity, Wilde died penniless and exiled in Paris on November 30, 1900, at age 46. Bose and dozens of others at UBC paid homage and marked the centennial of his death by reading aloud letters and excerpts of his work at Cecil Green Park. She also organized the conference Wilde 2000, with English colleague and sessional lecturer Wilhelm Emilsson in December. "Remembered as an aesthete, a fop and a dandy, a witty and decadent writer, whose homosexuality had tragic consequences, he declared that he put his talent into his art and his genius into his life," says Bose of the writer she finds so fascinating. The exhibition will be on display until the end of the summer. Hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, and noon to 5 pm on Saturday. Wilde Exhibitions Sarika Bose, English sessional instructor and curator of the Oscar Wilde exhibit. the totem pole is compounded by years of exposure to the elements, and is probably irreparable. Those who noticed and enjoyed the fine example of Native carving may still not have realized the totem pole's symbolism and its significance for UBC. Ellen Neel — one of the first women accorded the right to be a Native carver — gave the totem pole to the university. It was carved to commemorate the official sanctioning (by the Kwicksutaineuk people) of UBC's use of the name Thunderbird for UBC sports teams. The Thunderbird is a mythical creature that forms an important part of the Kwicksutaineuk's culture and folklore. It has many attributes and powers with which any sports team would want to associate: peace, goodwill and a sense of camaraderie, determination and a fighting spirit. The carving on the totem pole depicts the artist's ancestry, but it is also imbued with a theme of competition and good sporting etiquette. Chief William Scow granted UBC the use of the Thunderbird in a half-time ceremony during the 1948 UBC Homecoming football game in the old Varsity Stadium. In 1993, his son Alfred — UBC Law alumnus, judge and now chief of the Kwicksutaineuk — attended UBC's first induction ceremony for the Sports Hall of Fame and re-dedicated the Thunderbird name to the university on behalf of his late father and his people. The Urban Kwakiutl Dancers performed the Peace Dance to protect all those associated with the Thunderbird name. The Museum of Anthropology is concerned about the vandalization of the Ellen Neel totem pole and is pondering the commission of a new one, lest the history of the Thunderbird name be forgotten. - with files from Fred Hume. Surgeon Boosts Diabetes Research * Diabetes affects more than two million Canadians and is caused by insufficient secretion of insulin by the pancreas. Sufferers must compensate for this lack through controlled diet, daily insulin injections, or (more rarely) pancreas transplant. Thanks to the work of leading diabetes researcher and surgeon Garth Warnock, however, diabetics may soon have an alternative. Warnock's was the first diabetes research team in Canada to transplant healthy insulin-producing cells into a diabetic patient. A recognized world leader in diabetes research, Warnock has joined the faculty of Medicine as head of the department of Surgery at UBC and Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre. Previously director of the division of Surgical Research at Alberta's university hospital, Warnock led the clinical islet transplant program there. In 1989, program researchers performed Canada's first islet cell transplant, taking healthy clusters of insulin- producing cells, or islets, from the pancreas and transplanting them 6 Trek Summer 2001 into a diabetic patient. The procedure can be done by injection and provides a viable alternative to pancreas transplant. Warnock was the attending surgeon for the first patient in the world to live injection- free more than two years following islet cell transplantation. Warnock, who assumes the cn Woodward Chair in Surgery, also has clinical interests in endocrine, pancreatic, gastro-intcstinal disease and surgical breast diseases. An accomplished instructor, he has earned many honours for his teaching. UBC Physicist Probes Mysteries of the Cosmos \t Physics and Astronomy Associate Professor Mark Halpern is the lone Canadian on a 13-member scientific team supervising a NASA satellite mission that hopes to answer fundamental questions about the origin, content and fate of the universe. This summer, the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (map) satellite will begin its three-month, 1.5 million kilometre journey into orbit. It will remain there for two years measuring the properties of cosmic background radiation. Astronomers believe that cosmic background radiation — the faint glow The Lone Canadian Mark Halpern, with the probe's receiver, wants to unlock the mysteries of the universe. that bathes the universe — was emitted 300,000 years after the Big Bang, map will look back in time as it measures conditions in this light, which has taken 13 billion years to reach Earth. (To compare, light emitted from the sun reaches Earth in about eight minutes.) The map project, led by nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in partnership with Princeton University, follows an earlier nasa mission, which discovered subtle variations in the otherwise remarkably uniform early universe and provided clues about its origin, map's ability to measure temperature variations more precisely will enable it to produce a more detailed picture of the early universe. The probe will reach deep into space and record temperature variations so small that, if expressed as a height variation, would be UBC Graduating Athletes of the Year The Big Block Club welcomed 130 new members into its ranks during an award ceremony at the Hyatt Regency in March. Most notable among the newcomers were Mark Versfeld and Jennifer Dowdeswell, UBC's graduating athletes of the year and recipients of the Bobby Gaul Memorial Trophy and the Marilyn Pomfret Trophy, respectively. Versfeld leaves UBC with no less than 26 ciau medals — two short of the record set by Sarah Evanetz ('28). He is record holder for the Canada West 100m butterfly, holds the school record in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke and shares the same honours with teammates in the zoom and 400m medley relays. He was named ciau outstanding male swimmer of the year in 1998, and Swimming Canada's male swimmer of the year after securing two gold medals and setting a new 200m backstroke record at the '98 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. At last year's winter and spring nationals he won six gold medals for backstroke and was named swimmer of the meet on both occasions. Versfeld is the Canadian record holder for the 200m backstroke and was a member of the millennium Olympics team. Jennifer Dowdeswell, too, is an accomplished athlete and a vital team member. She shared in the success of UBC's women's field hockey team when it won two Canada West championships and ciau titles in 1998 and 1999. As co-captain of the team, she led her players to a conference title in 2000, and narrowly missed a third ciau gold medal. This season, Dowdeswell has been a strong player in the midfield position, scoring 5 goals over the season, a personal best and second highest score in the team. Over 15 years, Dowdeswell has represented her province and country at various levels, including a run with the senior national team until 1998. She was named Canada West Rookie of the Year in 1996 and has been a conference all-star award recipient every year since. She has been named a ciau first team All-Canadian twice and has been named to ciau Tournament xi team four times. She has managed to achieve all this while maintaining a high academic standing. She is a three-time Royal Bank Academic All-Canadian, and this season she was one of 20 students to be named a Wesbrook scholar, in recognition of her ability to combine high academic performance with leadership and service. Summer 2001 Trek 7 I UBC CONTINUING STUDIES M: TECHNOLOGY e-Career Challenges? UBC Solutions! Transforming your career for the networked economy starts with innovative programs from UBC. "My employer took one look at the Internet marketing plan I had developed through the program and said, 'You're hired1.'" Larry Colcy, Internet Marketing Strategist In partnership with the UBC Centre for Management Development IP* UBC Certificate in eBusiness Learn how to transform the buy-side, sell-side and inside of your organization with e-business strategies and technologies. Ca ailajC", In partnership with the UBC Centre for Management Development UBC Certificate in Internet Marketing Develop Internet strategies with this award- winning six-month part-time program for marketing professionals and entrepreneurs. UBC Award of Achievement \cj*j"«* Internet Connected Economy Learn the essentials of Internet technologies and e-business in this three-month part-time program for recent post-secondary graduates and entrepreneurs. www.tech.ubc.ca a division of UBC Continuing Studies 604-822-1420 THE GREAT TREK - DOWNTOWN I'*.**Jv'>-',«^~ It might strike some of our Great t Trekkers as mildly ironic when they v«$. -flf Point Grey in 1922 to persuade the A • ' J provincial government of the day to K jM complete the construction ot UBC B\ fl wanted to see the university grow and ^^" ^^^^^ prosper away from the crowded city. Now, nearly 80 years later, we're ready to take UBC back downtown to a new campus at Robson Square. One of the key strategies for UBC at this time is to establish a strong downtown presence, one that builds on our current involvement in the area and complements the work being done by our sister institutions. It is a big challenge, but our dedicated faculty and staff are working to ensure that we provide adequate and appropriate responses to our community's changing needs. The move downtown has two primary components. First is the physical renovation of space, some 66,000 square feet spread over two levels of the former conference centre at Robson Square. The UBC campus will contain classrooms, computer labs, board and seminar rooms, and space for theatrical performances, offices and meetings. The campus will be ready in the fall of this year. The second is the development of programs and services to meet the increasing demand for lifelong learning from people who live or work in the downtown core and surrounding areas. Continuing Studies has developed a diverse program of courses and public forums that will address complex social issues such as biotechnology and resource sustainability, as well as a part-time certificate program in Liberal Studies made up of evening and day courses in history, literature and the arts. A similar program in the sciences is in the planning stage. Students will also find language programs, technology courses and a lecture series that draws from academics working in the more than 4,000 research projects currently under way at UBC. The faculty of Commerce has also developed extensive programs for the Robson Square campus, including management development seminars, professional and certification programs, public forums and high-tech training programs. I extend a warm invitation to all to visit our new home at Robson Square when it opens in the fall. This urban gateway to bc's largest and oldest university will offer new opportunities for learning to alumni (Great Trekkers included!) and new students alike. — Martha Piper, President, University of British Columbia Trek Summer 2001 » RESEARCH NEWS equivalent to under an inch on a mile-high plateau. The information will assist the researchers in determining the shape of the universe, how and when galaxies were formed and if the universe will expand forever or collapse. A third possibility for its future, and the one most widely supported by astronomers, is that the universe will remain in a state of delicate balance, on a cusp between expanding forever and collapsing. "Not only will we be able to tell which of these theories is true, but we will also learn about the underlying physics that caused our universe to expand the way it has," says Halpern. Animal Abuse an Indicator for Family Violence According to Statistics Canada, more than 50 children and 100 women die each year in this country as a direct result of family violence. UBC researchers are examining links between animal abuse and family violence, in the hope that new understanding will provide accurate indicators for predicting and preventing violence against women and children. Assistant Professor of Nursing Janet Ericksen and Social Work Professor Mary Russell work in collaboration with academic colleagues and community-based animal welfare agencies to explore connections between different types of violence and to encourage cooperative working practices. The connections between animal UBC AT ROBSON SQUARE — SPACE PLANNING NOW COMPLETE With program and space planning now complete, the University of British Columbia's new downtown campus at Robson Square is a step closer to reality. The university is developing 20,400 square metres on two levels of Robson Square located in the 800-block of Robson Street between Hornby and Howe Streets. The faculty of Commerce and Business Administration and UBC Continuing Studies, which will provide the bulk of programming, have been working with other units at UBC to develop innovative educational programs designed for the thousands of people who live or work in the downtown core. In addition to specialized programs, UBC at Robson Square will offer a variety of services, including the UBC Bookstore and UBC Library, life and career planning, fine arts exhibits and performances, as well as a wide range of public lectures. The Alumni Association will also have office space at Robson Square, and we look forward to extending alumni services to our members who live and work downtown and in the surrounding communities. www. robsonsquare. ubc. ca 604-UBC-4YOU (604.822.4968) UBC m ROBSON SQUARE abuse and family violence are startling. An Ontario study showed that more than 60% of women seeking refuge from violence in a shelter reported that their partners were also responsible for abusing or killing the family pet. Researchers estimate that the overlap between the two types of violence is more than 50%. In bc last year, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals dealt with more than 7,000 cases of animal abuse. Russell and Ericksen are designing work practices that will allow professionals to share information when dealing with violent cases. They are also involved in developing a distance education course (to be offered in January 2002) that explores family violence from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Collaborating on this latter project are Women's Studies Assistant Professor Sunera Thobani and school of Nursing Associate Professor Angela Henderson. For more information, call 604 822- 6593 or visit the website at www. edu.ubc. cal research Icbildandfamily Engineers' Winnings Cast in Concrete fil A team of 14 UBC engineering students displayed skill, camaradarie, and determination to clinch first place in the 27th annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (gnctr), Canada's largest civil engineering student competition. Fourth-year students Brad Tangjerd, Radya Rifaat and Mana Arabi co- captained UBC's team in its efforts to construct a toboggan with a concrete bottom weighing less than 135 kilograms, with operating brakes and the ability to carry five students twice down the course. "UBC finished last in 2000 and we were determined to improve, despite our limited experience with snow and competing with teams of 50 students," explains Tangjerd. In the end, the team won awards for Top Speed of the Day (46 kph) and Most Improved Team, as well as the overall trophy. As well as being judged for design, Summer 2001 Trek 9 RESEARCH NEWS safety and ingenuity, the teams were also judged on aesthetics, theme and team spirit. "We showed a lot of spirit and cooperation while we were there," says Arabi, who says the thrill has still not gone. "The Fugitives," named after the infamous Kingston Penitentiary, wore orange coveralls emblazoned with "UBC Pen" on the back. They also wore handcuffs and shackles and regularly broke into songs and chants made up for the occasion. Alan Russell, professor and head of the Civil Engineering department, says "We're delighted, not only with the results, but also with the enthusiasm and camaraderie [the UBC team] brought to a major competition." Online Learning Flourishes The potential of Canada's high-tech infrastructure for supporting online learning is being explored in a $3.4 million, nationwide test project. Dubbed belle for Broadband Enabled Lifelong Learning Environment, the project makes peer reviewed multimedia learning resources (such as video, still images, three-dimensional models, and virtual environments) at participating universities and colleges available to a broader audience. UBC is one of 10 post-secondary institutions involved. Each school will digitize and classify learning materials and make them available online. Each will install and run a workstation connected to the national high-speed research network, CA*net3, to facilitate accessibility. Jim Tom, director, Networks, UBC's IT Services, says UBC has spent a year developing and building a system to store materials. "We want to share these learning materials from one institution to another for greater efficiency between universities," he says. Other participating schools include Bone Health Heather McKay of Human Kinetics, part of the team of bone health investigators. the Banff Centre for the Arts, McGill University, Northern Alberta Institute for Technology, Seneca@York, Sheridan College, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge, and the Vancouver Film School. The project is supported by a $1.7 million grant from canarie Inc., Canada's advanced Internet development organization, with matching funds from the participating schools. The test project is due to wrap up in February 2002. Girls Avoid High-Tech Fields fl The continued lack of interest in the high-tech world among young women remains a mystery. Despite the fact that applied technology fields ate the fastest growing economic sectors, the numbers of girls enrolled in technology-intensive courses in bc's secondary schools over the past to years has not increased. This fact was a major finding of the Gender and Technology in bc Schools Study and the researchers say it should herald a major reform in curricula. The fact that it is now mandatory for both genders to take one applied skills course is a milestone in bc education history. However, more boys choose high- tech courses, while girls tend to favour business education or home economics, says Education Associate Professor Mary Bryson, one of the research team. In senior secondary courses, the current percentage of girls enrolled in technology-intensive courses remains extremely low, with no sign of change. But it's not a question of technophobia: on average, girls in technology courses continue to earn more a's and b's than their male peers, say researchers Suzanne de Castell, sfu Education professor, Stephen Petrina, UBC Curriculum Studies associate professor, and Marcia Braundy, a graduate student in UBC's Centre for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction. In computer science and information technology courses, the participation of female students is significantly below 50 percent, declining even more by Grade 12, when the average is only 20 percent. While total enrolments in the most popular technology courses have dropped by 13 percent since 1987-88, the percentage of girls increased by just over two. Boning up on Safety and Prevention ■ Stumbling and falling is serious business if you are a senior with poor bone strength. Fractures in the elderly result not only in physical and emotional hardship, but also in considerable financial cost. According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the annual cost of treatment for hip fractures alone is $280 million. Nearly 25,000 of these fractures are related to osteoporosis, and many of them are the result of falls. To reduce the physical, financial and emotional burden incurred by fractures, investigators at UBC and bc Women's Hospital and Health Centre are conducting research that will help prevent such injury in the elderly. Fracture Free bc is a four-year program that focuses its efforts on building bone strength and preventing falls. Investigators will study 300 women aged 75 years and older who are at a 10 Trek Summer 2001 major risk for falls and fractures. Risk factors include muscle weakness, joint stiffness, abnormal blood pressure, vision problems, medications that impair balance, and environmental hazards. But the number one risk factor, of course, is osteoporosis. "Ours is the first prevention research program to work with such a high-risk group and take a holistic view of this health problem," says Assistant Professor Karim Khan of the department of Family Practice and the school of Human Kinetics. The multi-disciplinary team includes Associate Professor Heather McKay of the school of Human Kinetics, Assistant Professor Janice Eng of the school of Rehabilitation Sciences and Tom Oxland, associate professor of Orthopedics. Starting next year, the subjects, identified in cooperation with bc Women's Hospital and Health Centre, will be referred for testing at the UBC Bone Health Laboratory in the school of Human Kinetics. Physiotherapists will provide them with home instruction on exercise, occupational therapists will offer tips in making the home fall-proof, and family practice physicians will help minimize use of medications associated with falling. Depending on the study's results, the program may expand to include all seniors at risk. As baby boomers age, treating fractures in elderly people represents an enormous economic burden, says Khan. "We're fighting a war against physical inactivity and a lifespan approach to better bone health is a powerful weapon," he says. Winning Law Teams Make Their Case Heard P UBC's Law faculty has plenty to celebrate. Not only did students scoop three of six national moot competitions this year, they also won numerous individual honours. UBC teams took first place in the Corporate/Securities competition and the Wilson and Jessup National Moot Competitions in February. Two of the teams went on to compete internationally in Washington, dc, and New Zealand. The Client Counselling team came an impressive second to a team ti om Queen's University, Ireland, but UBC has won this category more often than any other university in the history of the competition. The Jessop team placed in the top eight. For the members of the Wilson team, it was well worth the effort. Named for Baby Talk Not for Everyone Researchers are now taking cultural background into account when they listen to how adults communicate to children. A survey of 97 Chinese-Canadian and western mothers in Vancouver conducted by UBC's school of Audiology and Speech Sciences uncovered different beliefs and practices for language interactions with children. "Cultural differences become particularly important when children have learning disorders," says Prof. Judith Johnston who conducted the study with phd student Mei Yin Wong. Speech language pathologists work with parents on interaction patterns that foster language learning with their children. To date, advice to parents has largely been based on research with western families, which ignores cultural influences. Chinese- speaking Canadians are the second-largest client base for speech language pathologists in Vancouver after English speakers. The survey's researchers found that more Chinese-Canadian parents believe that young children learn best with instruction and they should be encouraged to communicate with words rather than Babies Talk Culture Judith Johnston Audiology and Speech Sciences, studies infant needs. gestures. Western mothers, on the other hand, felt using baby talk can hamper a child's language learning and that children should be included in conversations with adults outside the family. Picture books or flash cards are favoured among Chinese- Canadian mothers. Western practices include reading a storybook at bedtime, talking about what happened during the day and repeating what the child says while adding new words to build language skills. "This information has real clinical implications," says Johnston, a developmental psychologist as well as a speech language pathologist. "We can help Chinese-Canadian families find practices from within their culture that will have the same effects." For example, storytelling in a Chinese-Canadian family might replace book reading in a Western family. Johnston and Wong consulted with child language scholars, speech language pathologists and social workers from both cultural groups. The survey was developed in both languages. According to a recent study, about three to five percent of young Canadian children have language learning difficulties. Summer 2001 Trek 11 pjiMt FFiftT""»N<; «VORiPWir"= RESEARCH NEWS Welcome to our second issue of Trek Magazine. As your new Alumni Association President, I am excited about the coming year. Having served as chair of our Branches committee over the past two years, I have been fortunate to meet many of our alumni, and I look forward to meeting as many of our members as possible over my term. Together with our dedicated team of board members and staff, I am committed to supporting our university and providing enhanced services to our members. One of the current hot-button issues at universities all over North America is "alumni relations." It refers to the cultivation of a university's graduates for reasons of fundraising, volunteer support, community involvement, student recruitment and good will. Successful alumni relations is an essential part of a successful university. At UBC, the Alumni Association has been the traditional leader in cultivating the university's graduates. We have offered and organized the majority of reunions on campus, provided leadership in developing branches across Canada and around the world, and made sure graduates far and wide were kept up to date on developments at their alma mater. We still do all those things, and more. As our graduate base has grown (we now have upwards of 200,000 living members), it has become common for some of our larger faculties (Medicine and Commerce, for example) to develop specific services for their alumni. Many faculties now send out their own newsletters, and many have become very proactive in reunion planning, volunteer recruitment and developing relationships with government and community institutions. This has been a big change in alumni relations at UBC, and has opened many opportunities for the Alumni Association to develop strong collaborations with those faculties. As experts in alumni relations, we are helping faculties deliver professional services to their alumni. We recently initiated a professional practices group made up of development and alumni officers from various faculties and units on campus. We organize workshops and training sessions for this group to help them deal with the challenges of alumni relations. We have joined forces with the President's Office and International Relations to enhance UBC's branches around the world. These collaborations have resulted in tremendous advances in Hong Kong, China and Japan, and in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. Our Hong Kong branch recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and is so active that the Association, along with the faculty of Commerce, supports a full- time office there. All our other services, including the new online community, which has been established in collaboration with the Vice President, Students' Office, and this magazine which is produced by us to show alumni and friends the vast research energy being generated by our university, are geared to enhance UBC, inform our members, and involve them in the life of the university. I hope you enjoy this issue of Trek Magazine. We welcome your comments and suggestions for future issues. - Greg Clark bcom'86, LLB'89, President, UBC Alumni Association Justice Bertha Wilson, the competition revolves around charter issues of equality. In the final, the team argued against the University of Toronto before Supreme Court Justice Louis Lebel on criminal code provision for the protection of private records. Team members (affectionately know as the Wilson Mooters,) say winning both the oral and written competitions was a real bonus. They stayed up for three and four days at a time and gave up December break. Students Take Pharmacy Counselling To Patients #1 As part of the practical component of their course, undergraduates in the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences are conducting a communications project that provides pharmaceutical and health care information to the community. Students liaise with disease support societies, businesses and pharmacies to provide health-care information in the form of reference guides, booklets, videos or workshops. "This is the first time students engage in hands-on pharmacy counselling work," says Pharmaceutical Sciences Lecturer Colleen Brady, who instructs the professional practice course. "The profession is changing to include more consultation with patients," she says. "Being in a dispensary counting out pills is only part of the job. Community groups are hungry for accessible advice." One group of students recently gave a presentation to about 25 seniors with diabetes. The students, who dubbed themselves the Diabetics Consulting Group, engaged the audience with a diabetes trivia game and also created a video on new diabetes research. According to group members Kal Biling, Jessie Lau and Jenn Stotyn, the project's highlights were talking directly to people and feeling helpful. Students repeat their presentations to classmates at the end of the course. ♦ 12 Trek Summer 2001 ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2001 Alumni Award of Distinction Beverley McLachlin LLD'90, Supreme Court Judge and author of numerous legal publications. Beverley McLachlin brought her expertise and wisdom back to the classroom at UBC's faculty of Law. She is being recognized for her contributions to society through the justice system and her contribution to UBC and the university's law students. Rill Millerd cm, BA'65, Managing Director of the Arts Club Theatre for 28 seasons. Bill Millerd established the Mainstage and Revue theatres on Granville Island and produced and directed more than 300 plays, many of which were premieres of new Canadian works. Outstanding Young Alumnus Award Dorothy C. Fairholm BA'85, msc'88, Chair, BC Association of Speech-Language Pathology. Ms. Fairholm helped establish a program for people with ochlear implants, and set up the first assisted hearing device centre. She has received many awards for her work in the field. Each year the UBC Alumni Association recognizes graduates and others associated with the university who have distinguished themselves through personal accomplishment and volunteer activity. This year, award recipients will be honoured at a gala dinner at the Waterfront Centre on September z8, 2001. The Association is proud to acknowledge those men and women who have contributed so much to our society and used their time and talents to further the interests of the university. Lifetime Achievement Award Russell Ewen "Doc" Nicoll bsc(agr)'3 8, entrepreneur, inventor, administrator and philanthropist. A bona fide polymath, Doc Nicoll invented powdered eggs, served as head of Agriculture Canada, wrote for the Nanaimo Times for io years, represented Canada (twice) on the National Lacrosse Team and continues to be a leading authority on real property taxation. Outstanding Student Award Katharine Smart BA'96, md'oi Katharine Smart has achieved high academic success and shown strong leadership skills during her time as a UBC student. She focuses much of her effort on issues of international health care. She was a summer research student with the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in South Africa, coordinated Project Guatemala, and is a member of the Medical Outreach Research Elective program. She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, and has presented at eight conferences in Canada and abroad. Alumni Award for Research Robert W. McGraw md'6o, Professor of Orthopaedics, UBC. Dr. McGraw teaches Surgery of Arthritis, Hand Surgery and Joint Replacement Surgery. Summer 2001 Trek 13 Youlre invited to the? 7th Annual AUummas AckLurws I (ZB^Lumni ^Achievement innex (September 28, 2001, (tdtfiaimiont QtHatevfttont fables ofj 8 at $1,000 c~y)ndwi$ual tickets at $125 Call 604 8ZZ 3313 for more information on- ticketing und sponsorship opportunities. Ticket prices include QST. Net proceeds will be used to support UBC students. uv The men und women are have chosen to recoanvze this year are aood examples ofthe calibre of UBC aroAuates and our friend* in the comnuuuty. They are high achievers diverse fields, dedicated volunteers, inspired teachers, aoocl citizens. We are proud to present thewb to you- at the seventh annual celebration of alumni achievement. The dinner brings alumni, students, faculty and community leaders together to toast UBC, its graduates and its supporters. It's an evening well spent. Thanhs to all our sponsors for their continued support. You invested in your future at UBC. Let your Alumni Association help protect your investment. • Member and Spouse Term Life Insurance * • Income Protection Disability Insurance • • Major Accident Protection * • Child Life & Accident Insurance • ...all specially-priced for UBC alumni Call toll-free for your enrolment kit today! 1 888 913-6333 or e-mail am_service@manulife.com or contact Bruce McRae, your UBC Alumni Association Insurance Consultant at: 1 604 734-2732 Underwritten by: UB Manulife Financial The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company c t i o n Your participation helps support: [Jg£ University of P~tv~i British Columbia \g/k) Alumni Association Affo rd a b The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company TUUM It'c vour Recapture the glory of your days at the University of British Columbia witli ihe UBC Alumni Association Platinum Plus'" or Preferred MasterCard* credit cards. They're the only credit cards that support the University of British Columbia Alumni Association. Every time you use your card to make a purchase, you help generate funding for alumni programs—at no additional cost co you! Plus, with No Annual Fee and a low introductory annual interest rate on cash advance cheques and balance transfers, if you make your minimum monthly payments on time, your UBC Aiumni credit card can even save you money! Choose the card that's good for you and for the University. Request your University of British Columb Alumni Association Platinum Plus or Preferred MasterCard today. UBC 1-800-416-6345 Quote Priority Code AOAZ 14 Trek Summer 2001 ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2001 Chuck Slonecker j (with wife Jan) : mI' ^^^L ^ * W**^ '"is' ^B FT F •«* Ji ^ J r ™ tfl ' ^r r -J ^ L c He introduced total hip replacement surgery at VGH in 1967 and was first to use silicone implant arthroplasty for the hand. He developed the world's first computerized tourniquet system and the first voice-intelligent limb manipulator for the operating room. He has presented 85 papers in Canada and abroad, and has received many awards. Honorary Alumnus Award Charles E. Slonecker Chuck started teaching at UBC in 1968 as an assistant professor in Dentistry and became head of Anatomy in 1981. He was honoured for his excellence as a teacher in 1996 with the Killam Prize. He has been prominent on many university boards and committees, and served on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association for many years. He also served as Director of Ceremonies for more than 10 years, presiding over countless university functions including every graduation ceremony since 1990. Dagmar Kalousek, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dagmar Kalousek has been an associate member of the department of Medical Genetics since ^77. She is director of the Embryofeto-pathology lab at Children's Hospital, and has maintained an active research and teaching schedule for 22 years. Her work in prenatal diagnosis and perinatal medicine has led to new developments in diagnosis and treatment. Branch Volunteer Service Award Eddy Su-Whay Ng BCOM'94, currently a PHD student at McMaster. Ed took command of revitalizing the Toronto branch of the Alumni Association. Under his leadership, the branch became one of the most active in the organization. He directed the renewal of the membership database and created a branch web site. Faculty Citation Community Service Award Roopchand Seebaran ba'6o, Bsw'63, Msw'65, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work. As a pioneer of social work education, Roopchand introduced Social Development Studies as a graduate program at UBC, and furthered the cause of social work education across the country. Blythe Eagles Volunteer Leadership Award Martin Zlotnik bcom'66, LLB'69, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Martin brought the PGA tour to Vancouver, a non-profit tournament which helps raise millions of dollars for various charities, and features some of the world's outstanding professional golfers. He volunteered and was accepted by UBC's president to serve on various athletic committees. Martin also works with the annual UBC Thunderbird Golf Society, now a popular invitational tournament. He was a driving force behind the Millennium Breakfast, which raises money to support student athletes. Martin is chair of the Thunderbird Council and a member of the Advisory Board to the Wesbrook Society. Summer 2001 Trek 15 LOVE IT ART FOR WHOSE SAKE? HATE IT In June 1995, amid much media interest and public celebration, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery opened on the Main Mall at the University of British Columbia. Designed by Peter Cardew and built with a donation from Helen Belkin and a matching grant from the province, the sleek, white, modernist building began attracting architectural awards even before its opening. With its soaring walls, high windows tilted skyward, arching metal ceiling (industrial chic meets medieval cathedral — asymmetrically), expansive exhibition space, commodious administrative offices, meeting rooms, reading room, archives, art storage, and preparation areas, the 1,300-square-metre building was a beyond-quantum leap from the old UBC Fine Arts Gallery. Remember that dark, difficult and bunker-like space in the basement of Main Library that housed the gallery since 1949? Remember those low ceilings? Remember that peek-a-boo viewing experience through the forest of metal girders? For decades, curators had been struggling to mount exhibitions within those oppressive walls, and with nearly no operating budget. Nevertheless, under the successive visions of Alvin Balkind, Ann Pollock, Glenn Allison, and Scott Watson (who was hired as curator in 1989 and became director/curator in 1990), the UBC Fine Arts Gallery had built a reputation for experimentation and innovation, although on a modest scale. The new gallery allowed for the launch of a much more ambitious exhibition program. The last show in the old facility, a survey of drawings by the great West Coast modernist, Jack Shadbolt (1909-1998), gave a melancholy farewell to a place and an era. The opening exhibition in the new Belkin Gallery (contemporary paintings, drawings and prints by First Nations artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun) was more confrontational, an aggressive hello to a contemporary space and time. Yuxweluptun represents a new generation of artists, both political and uncompromising. His work deals with issues of land claims, Native spirituality, fishing and hunting rights, logging practices and environmental degradation. It challenges our attitudes toward both art and culture. Perhaps that challenge and discomfort set the tone for the Belkin's exhibition program. The gallery has given us very little in the way of glib, slick or facile viewing — nor, considering its mandate, should it be expected to. "The mandate of the gallery is to research, exhibit, collect, publish and educate in the field of contemporary art," says Watson, who participated in the planning of the new facility, and is responsible for its exhibition program. He has produced shows of cutting-edge art by local, Emily Carr: Reforestation The Belkin Art Gallery has been praised as a promoter and interpreter of contemporary artistic expressio. 16 Trek Summer 2001 . ^ - ■ ■ "... . ■ 1 w ^—W m- *i" . _„ ~ 3nes Martin: Untitled # 51985 The Innocence of Trees, a 1995 exhibition, focused on the similarities between the art of Emily Carr (opposite page) and the art of Agnes Martin (above), whose abstract works depict fine, faint, repetitive lines and grids. and criticized as an academic, elitist purveyor of inaccessible modern art. BY ROBIN LAURENCE Summer 2001 Trek 17 ART FOR WHOSE SAKE? national and international artists, from Vancouverites Kelly Wood, Ron T'erada and Rodney Graham to Montreal artist Genevieve Cadicux, American Ed Ruscha and Cuban Tonel. Those who saw the Belkin's 1997 show of prints, drawings and water colours by the 19th- century French artist Theodore Gericault, subtitled The Alien Body: Tradition in Chaos, might wonder how historic art fits into the gallery's contemporary program. "There's another clause in the mandate that includes new or innovative approaches to art's historical issues," Watson explains. Gericault had a powerful influence on the development of European Romanticism. His scenes of war, social injustice and political scandal often employed human figures and horses in scenes of violent struggle as symbols of his tumultuous times. Co- curated by Watson and UBC art historians Serge Guilbaut and Maureen Ryan, and accompanied by a major catalogue, the exhibition viewed his life and work through a contemporary lens. Rather than focusing on aesthetic or stylistic developments, the curators and essayists looked at Gericault's work as social history, and used current-day cultural theory to comment on colonialism, industrialization and the representation of the human body. These are familiar themes in the theory-driven and issue-oriented world of contemporary art, though they're often couched in terms the non-professional is unlikely to understand. Whatever the impact of its post-modern positioning, however, the Gericault show was one of the most popular in the Relkin's history. Watson adds, with an ironic chuckle, that there is another aspect to the gallery's mandate: "We are to avoid the known and the fashionable." There's certainly ample space for interpretation in that little clause. Known by whom? Fashionable according to whose standards? "I like it there," says Watson of the wording. "I think it's very eccentric." Eccentric or not, nowhere is it mandated that curators and guest curators at the Belkin are obliged to please viewers, or to attract a wide audience by showing popular or accessible art, or to make tough art comprehensible or even palatable to a non-academic public. Contemporary art is often predicated on theory or on the impulse to provoke and unsettle, and sometimes uses unusual tools — from videotape to popsicle sticks — and may not meet popular expectations of what visual art ought to be. Not surprisingly, there have been complaints and grumblings about the Belkin's exhibition program. The art is too difficult, some gallery-goers claim, and the ideas proposed are too arcane. There aren't enough explanatory labels or panels to help viewers understand the work, add some critics. The essays accompanying the exhibitions are couched in obscure cultural theory and written in impenetrable jargon, others charge. "Too damn bad," say the Belkin's defenders — or words to thai effect. Vancouver Art Gallery senior curator Ian Thorn lauds the Belkin for presenting "challenging exhibitions that address both interesting historical and contemporary issues." He's quite aware that these shows "have been done from a more academic and intellectual position than from a populist position," but comments that favouring the academic over the popular makes sense in the gallery's university setting. "The Belkin has always been considered a centre for study," he says. Still, he qualifies this remark with the dry observation that some of the exhibitions "haven't worked as well as you might have liked." He cites particularly The Innocence of Trees, a 1995 exhibition, The collection's here not just for the interest of scholars and researchers. It is to animate and edify the 18 Trek Summer 2001 Theodore Gericault (1791-1824): Cavalry Battle 181t The curators and essayists looked at Gericault's work as social history, and used current-day cultural theory to comment on colonialism, industrialization and the representation of the human body. guest curated by David Bellman, that tried to point out the similarities between the art of Emily Carr, whose emphatic and expressive depictions of the West Coast rain forest are familiar to many, and the art of Agnes Martin, whose abstract works depict very fine, faint, repetitive lines and grids. "I think in the final analysis, it wasn't convincing," Thorn says. "But on the other hand, it was interesting to have a space where you could put this work together." Elizabeth Kidd, former chief curator of the Edmonton Art Gallery and now a community art specialist at the Roundhouse Community Centre, has also found some of the Belkin's shows perplexing. She notes, though, that different institutions use art in different ways, to achieve different ends and to reach different audiences. "The Belkin Gallery has a very particular target audience of art students, artists and others who are familiar with the language of contemporary art." As a result there's no effort to do much explaining of the work on display. Watson confirms that the university campus is the Belkin's primary public, followed by the local art community. "And there's a national and international audience who follows what we do," he says, in reference to the Belkin's touring exhibitions. As an award-winning example of contemporary West Coast architecture, the Belkin Gallery also attracts design-minded tourists and visitors. And as for the art's being difficult, well, Watson says he hopes it is. He admits, however, that he's conflicted about the value of instructional panels as viewing aids. "I've moved from the position that I once held, that there shouldn't be any didactics in a gallery space at all," he says. "My reasoning was that the texts you read in galleries are usually not very helpful, and that they offer an e campus, Scott Watson explains, paraphrasing former UBC Fine Arts department head B.C. Binning. Summer 2001 Trek 1 > ART FOR WHOSE SAKE? unnecessary, interfering mediation between the work of art and the audience. "When we did the Gericault show, I didn't want any text in the space," Watson recalls. However, at the insistence of Serge Guilbaut, he says, each work had an extensive label, setting forth a social, cultural and political context. "It keyed you into what it was you were looking at, and then left you on your own, aesthetically," he says, adding that he learned a lot from that strategy. With the Belkin's contemporary program, however, he believes that the essays the gallery publishes (available as handouts at the reception desk) are sufficient background to the art. He cautions, perhaps a bit sardonically, that "an essay may not be an adequate vehicle, because it requires that the person read it." And he reiterates his feelings about instructional panels: "Contemporary works tend to incorporate the space they're in as a part of the work. They're installations. And if you start putting texts in there, you're defacing the work." "If the gallery's mandate is to do research, to explore new avenues, to publish and, as a side product, do exhibitions, then fine," says Kidd. Still, she adds, the Belkin's visitors may well wonder what the purpose of the place and its exhibitions might be. Perhaps the gallery's mandate should be posted in a conspicuous spot in the facility, she says, such as in the reception area (not, heaven forbid, in the exhibition area). Another part of the mandate is collecting, an area in which the Belkin, through Watson, is exerting its own peculiar aims and sensibilities. The gallery is responsible for the university's collection of more than 2,000 art works, many of them currently on rental or loan to offices and meeting places throughout the university. "The collection's here not just for the interest of scholars and researchers. It is to animate and edify the campus," he explains, paraphrasing former Fine Arts department head B.C. Binning (1909-1976). Until the 1970s the collection was built primarily through gifts from faculty, alumni and others who had an affiliation with UBC. "It grew through donations, much like that of other university collections, until very recently," he says. "It grew without a professional body monitoring what was being accepted, until some time in the '70s." As a result, the collection is very diverse, including significant and highly relevant works by outstanding West Coast modernists such as Carr, Lawren Harris, Jock Macdonald and Binning. It also includes amateur drawings and watercolours, mediocre examples of art from Europe and Great Britain, odd pieces of furniture, fabric, maps, scrolls, armour, brass rubbings — and a painted plaster bust of the young Abraham Lincoln. Watson looks at the Lincoln bust, stored in the Belkin's art vault, and sighs. "We've got some deaccessioning to do." During his tenure Watson has developed a more coherent collection policy, and seen the expansion of the acquisitions budget from nearly nothing to $100,000 annually. Although the collection mandate is broadly one of acquiring contemporary art, the focus is post-war art of this region. Gifts are still an essential part of the acquisitions process. The Belkin has the best Jack Shadbolt collection of any institution as a result of two big donations. The first was a gift of 180 drawings (virtually the whole 1995 drawing show) from Shadbolt's widow, Doris Shadbolt. The second was a bequest from the estate of writers Wilfred and Sheila Watson. Amateur drawings and watercolours, mediocre examples of art from Europe and Great Britain, pieces of furniture, fa 10 Trek Summer 2001 _awrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Untitled, 1997 Yuxweluptun represents a new generation of artists, both political and uncompromising. His work deals with issues of land claims, Native spirituality, fishing and hunting rights, logging practices and environmental degradation. Among Scott Watson's particular interests is a history of Vancouver's avant-garde, including performance art, mail art, installation and video from the 1960s, with national and international acquisitions that relate to it. The Belkin's burgeoning archival collection also contributes to the history of the avant-garde, including a collection of concrete poetry put together by the late Toronto curator Peter Day, and papers and artworks from the estate of the noted art historian and cultural theorist Kenneth Coutts-Smith. The Belkin also houses the Morris/Trasov Archive, which contains the largest collection of mail art and related correspondence in Canada. It is made up of more than 10,000 papers, artifacts, correspondence and artists' ephemera of former Western Front artists Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov and documents their activities between 1968 and 1980. The archive is both a work of art and a tool for research. Currently, plans are afoot to open an exhibition site in downtown Vancouver. The university has laid claim to gallery space at 555 Hamilton Street, recently vacated by the Contemporary Art Gallery. Once downtown, the Belkin could expand its collaborations with other galleries and artist-run centres, attract a larger public, and accommodate projects arising from the university's new curatorial studies program (scheduled to begin in September 2001). Watson speculates that the Belkin's university facility could become a centre for researching and exhibiting the collection, revealing its many stories. The Belkin is also poised to launch a newspaper- format magazine of critical writing, edited by Watson and poet Deanna Fergusson and titled Last Call. It would contain reviews of shows and commentaries about the visual art scene in Vancouver and elsewhere. Perhaps the new magazine will be as challenging in its content as the Belkin's exhibition program. And perhaps viewers will learn to love that challenge. ♦ e, fabric, maps, scrolls, armour, brass rubbings — and a painted plaster bust of the young Abraham Lincoln. Summer 2001 Trek 21 letters The first issue of Trek generated a mostly positive response from readers, who gave a thumbs up for the new design and increased content. We welcome your comments, and may print your letters unless you ask us not to. Please note that letters may be edited for length. Dear Editor: Congratulations on your excellent new magazine Trek. The information on current academic thought and research is just what we retired alumni appreciate. I found your first issue to be interesting and enjoyable. Phoebe Hamilton bed'66 Dear Editor: Congratulations on Trek. I like the new look and content and (for the first time) I read every page. I was particularly interested in "The Striptease Project" about Becki Ross' our readers writ research. I met her several years ago when my daughter-in-law was studying women's studies and I sat in on one of her classes. I look forward to your next issue. Dale Brandt BED'67, dip(ed)'87 Dear Editor: In the first edition of Trek the president notes that research drives UBC. She also St a 1 work . . and play Conferences and Accommodation UBC o at The University of British Columbia A DIVISION OF HOUSING AND CONFERENCES In our forest by the sea. We offer the best range of affordable accommodation, meeting space and conference services in the Lower Mainland. Come find out why. www.ubcconferences.com ■,961 Student Jnion Boulevard Vancouver BC V6T 2C9 Reservations Tel 604 822 1000 Fax 604 822 1001 WfcSt COAST SUITES THE GAGE TOWERS I THE RESIDENCES I PACIFIC SPIRIT HOSTEL I CONFERENCE SERVICES notes that UBC attracts more funding than any other university in Western Canada. Considering recent revelations about how the federal government indiscriminately distributes our tax dollars this seems a hollow boast — especially so when a lead article in Trek notes that a rant for $51,000 was received for research into the history of burlesque and stripping. It makes one wonder how many other grants that UBC receives are for similar purposes, and what potential donors think of grant funds being used in this way. I recall that UBC used to be more discriminating about the research that it backed. I must admit however that if I were an engineering student at the present time I would be an enthusiastic applicant to be a research assistant in this project. Norman Goode BASC'41 Dear Editor: I was very interested in the article on the Great Trek, which appeared in the Spring 2000 edition of Trek. I am the widow of Ab Richards (leader of the "Build the University" campaign) and often visited the campus with him for UBC anniversary celebrations. I heard his recollections of the Great Trek many times and he made a recording for the oral history of the university, which may have been used in the preparation of the article. I also have a replica of the cairn, which was given to my husband when he received the Great Trekker award in 1963. Margaret Richards Dear Editor: Congratulations on Trek — both the idea and the execution are great! When it first arrived I was a bit concerned at the apparent disappearance of The Chronicle, but its incorporation into Trek is very clever. The university now has an organ and the alumni will receive more information about the present role of the university. Long may Trek and its editor flourish! Beryl March BA'42, msc(agr)'6z, dsc'88 22 Trek Summer 200' a 2 BREAKFAST OF: CHAMPIONS S5iiaf(s HUMAN LOBSTER" i fed my nine year old a genetically modified organism for breakfast this morning. Frosted Flakes, her favourite cereal, is made from corn and also includes traces of soybean. Significant portions of both crops in North America are planted in genetically modified varieties to aid in weed and insect control. There's nothing on the package indicating the contents contain a gm foodstuff and even if there were, I doubt I would have read it. When you're buying Frosted Flakes, nutritional information is hardly your top priority. It's not that I'm uninformed when it comes to the subject of biotechnology. As an agricultural reporter, I've interviewed some of its top cheerleaders and chief critics, attended scientific seminars that made my head ache and written dozens of stories. What I haven't done is take sides. That has less to do with any journalistic credo of objectivity than the fact each side of the debate has important points to make. But after reading the 285-page Royal Society of Canada report on the regulation of food biotechnology, I'm more willing to take a position. Theirs. Brian Ellis, co-chair of the panel and a professor in the faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the Biotechnology Laboratory at UBC, supports the science, but says it needs to be examined more carefully and brought forward more cautiously. He disagrees with those who argue it is simply an extension of conventional plant and animal breeding. "Genetic engineering has the potential to transform the face of the planet in ways that we probably haven't seen from a single technology except the internal combustion engine," he says. If that's true, you might wonder why it took more than a decade (and upwards of 70 percent of grocery store products containing GM The Royal Society of Canada recently convened an expert panel to examine the future of food biotechnology, better known as genetically modified organisms, or GMO. Their report, released in February of this year, says, in essence, that the cow has already left the barn, so we might as well carry on with GMO development. But it also says, in strong terms, that proper testing procedures are not in place to ensure the safety of consumers or the environment. Industry and government must move on these safety issues to avoid disaster. BY SCOTT YATES ingredients) before a group of Canadian scientists was called upon to produce such a report. Ellis calls it the sober second thought syndrome and suggests that, like nuclear power, the enormous benefits predicted from genetic engineering at first concealed its potential pitfalls. "There wasn't a great deal of thought turned to the secondary implications, both in a biological and socio-economic sense. It was only when the technology got well entrenched and particularly when the products penetrated the food supply system at such speed, that there started to be ripples of concern," he says. CAUGHT OFF GUARD I Canada is the world's third largest producer of GM crops following Argentina and the United States. And the number of different plant-transgene combinations tested in Canada continues to rise, from 40 in 1990 to 178 in 2000. Although genetically engineered crops are the focus of the debate today, the rsc report pre- Summer 2001 Trek 23 > BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS diets it won't be long before genetically altered dairy, swine, poultry and fish will be commercially available. The report, which endorses the continued development of gmos, criticized the lack of adequate testing on these organisms before they are used in the agricultural industry. With additional examination, which would include more thorough testing, the report gives its conditional blessing to gm products. According to BioteCanada, an industry organization representing both pharmaceutical and agricultural biotechnology companies, the next big leap will blur the line between agriculture and health as plants are used to manufacture drugs and proteins. For the record, BioteCanada was not pleased by the Royal Society report. Eileen Inrig, director of communications for the industry group, says the panel misinterpreted its mandate and implied changes were needed to a system that already includes many of its recommendations. "We already have a system in place that thoroughly assesses food product safety, nutritional quality and also looks at health and environmental safety," she says. Canada's federal government wasn't all that delighted by the report, either. What bothered them most, Ellis says, is the implication the regulatory system is nonrigorous and not sufficiently cautionary. "They were very much caught off guard," he says. "They weren't expecting such a critical treatment of the technology-" Academics have also come out swinging. Douglas Powell, assistant professor and director of the Food Safety Network at Guelph, focused largely on reference omissions, but his criticism also reflects comments from other scientists, mostly in the fish-farming field, who question the RCS's scientific approach. But it is not surprising that those with ties to companies or agencies actively funding research into gm products would launch defensive salvoes against any government document that threatened their economic health. In fact, environmental groups, which have been waging a relentless battle against gmos, had expected the 15-member panel of scientists to whitewash the technology. In general, they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw its conclusions. Pat Mooney is executive director of the Winnipeg-based Rural Advancement Foundation International, a group campaigning to slow the genetic engineering revolution. Opposed to the current genera- TOP 4 COUNTRIES PRODUCING GM CROPS Country Area planted in 2000 Crops Grown U—————— [millions of acres] USA 74.8 soybean, corn, cotton, canola Argentina 24.7 soybean, corn, cotton Canada 7.4 soybean, corn, canola China 1.2 cotton tion of gmos in the field, he says the rsc report was much better than he had expected. I met Mooney when he spoke to a group of North American agricultural journalists who gathered in Winnipeg two years ago. No Ludditc, Mooney finds the technology itself fascinating. His opposition is largely based on the fact it is being controlled by a handful of companies interested in improving their bottom line. That's not safe, he says. "We expected (the rsc panel) to give their blessings to gmos with a few notes of caution, but to say it was pretty good science. The amount of reservations and doubts expressed were a shock," he says, adding that it went a long way towards restoring his confidence in scientific integrity. FISHY STRAWBERRIES I For those still confused over the issue of gm foods, you're not alone. Carl Douglas, a faculty member and chair of the UBC's Botany department, says he'd be confused, too, if all he received was the fragmentary, highly politicized information apportioned to the public. "The people who argue in favour of the technology are viewed as having a vested interest and shouldn't be trusted, versus those who argue against it, who are seen as having a very narrow view and don't understand or choose not to understand it," he says. What are gmos? They are living organisms — bacteria, plants or animals — which have been genetically engineered by the insertion of a foreign gene. The science is controversial because these genes can be transferred across what many believe are unnatural boundaries, producing organisms not possible through conventional means. For example, scientists can put a gene that allows a fish to endure extremely cold ocean temperatures, into a strawberry plant, theoretically making the plant less susceptible to frost. You haven't eaten a fish-aided, frost resistant strawberry, but unless you have been living alone in the woods, you have consumed a gm food. Even those who only buy organic produce are unlikely to be exempt from the Brave New World of gmos. Besides the likelihood of having sipped a latte made with milk produced from cows injected with bovine growth hormone, North Americans have been eating cheese made with genetically altered bacteria, called chymosin, for 10 years. Rennet, an enzyme which aids the clotting process of cheese production, used to be derived by scraping the inside of calves stomachs. In the 1980s, however, scientists inserted the gene for rennet production into bacteria. Today, that bacteria, chymosin, churns out the vast majority of rennet necessary for the manufacture of cheese. It is microbiologically cleaner, 24 Trek Summer 2001 has a higher activity and its supply is not dependent on the slaughter of calves in the beef industry. Furthermore, Jewish rabbis have approved cheese made with chymosin as kosher, something that could never have happened under ordinary circumstances, given prohibitions against the intermingling of milk and meat. RISK PART OF SYSTEM I The Royal Society of Canada panel identified three areas of concern with gmos. They include: • The potential risk to human, animal and environmental health; • The likelihood of concentrating the seed industry into the hands of a few multinational companies resulting in rural farm community dislocation and impacts to developing world populations; • A metaphysical debate that genetic engineering gives human beings power over nature and is deeply unethical. ing, what it calls a "safety standard," which grants substantial equivalence only if the organism is subjected to rigorous scientific testing. That's the sort of approach it hopes regulators will take, but it was clear that safety standard is not being met today. Partly, that's due to the nature of the regulatory system, but it also is the result of our superficial understanding of the way genetic systems interact. Put another way, just because it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, doesn't make it a duck. As a result of this observation, the report urges far more scientific inquiry than is currently conducted. UBC's Douglas agrees science is a long way from understanding biological you should stay forever on the curb. There is risk in everything. But we are a risk-taking species, and part of our progress stems from dealing with the problems previous technologies have created, not avoiding the initial exposures. Consider cars. They have created untold problems, smog and traffic fatalities among them. Technology, however, has created parallel solutions: the catalytic converter and air bags. Risk, however, is as much about choice as anything else. As Michael McDonald, director of the Centre for Applied Ethics at UBC says, it's one thing to take a risk when you have some idea of the possible outcome, entirely another when you don't. Referring to settlers who braved untold risks to settle the West, he says, "They knew what they were dealing with. The evidence was there. They brought their guns and protected their livestock against challenges they thought they could foresee. It's much harder to gauge the risks when you don't know Genetic engineering has the potential to transform the face of the planet in ways that we probably haven't seen from a single technology except the internal combustion engine. These issues can be addressed by what is referred to as the precautionary principle. The io-page glossary that accompanies the panel's report defines the precautionary principle thus: "A regulatory mechanism for managing environmental and health risks arising from incomplete scientific knowledge of a proposed activity's or technology's impact." Most of us know it better as the advice we received from our parents: "Better safe than sorry." A great part of the RSC report is given over to discussion of the precautionary principle versus substantial equivalence, the regulatory litmus test now in place for the current generation of gmos. Substantial equivalence means if a food is judged to pose no more risk than its non- gm counterpart, it is considered safe. The panel, however, introduced another mean- complexity. It's true scientists can't predict how an organism will change at the cellular level when it's genetically altered. On the other hand, he continues, that's really not so new. "Risk is constantly introduced into the system," he says. "The question is, to what extent is the risk additional or different by applying these targeted genetic engineering approaches." Douglas leans to a substantial equivalence approach. "It boils down to what level of risk one is willing to take. If one prefers zero risk, then you shouldn't be doing these things. But you shouldn't be breeding plants either in that case." He's right. The problem with a better- safe-than-sorry approach is that safety is never assured. If you need to be ioo percent sure of safety before crossing a street, what the heck you're dealing with." COLLATERAL DAMAGE I Perhaps the public would have been more willing to assume the risk of gmos were it not for the arrogance and incompetence of one particular biotech company. Although other companies have made great errors in judgment and execution, notably Avcntis CropScience with its Starlink corn, no article on gmos would be complete without mentioning Monsanto. A January 25, 2001 story in the New York Times suggested problems over genetic engineering began when Monsanto abandoned its go-slow strategy of gm food introduction. This approach, devised in the early 1980s, involved dialogue with opponents and other stakeholders. Instead, as a result of its executive's devout sense of Summer 2001 Trek 25 BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS mission that Monsanto could change the world while turning in stellar profits, the company changed course. Monsanto's introduction of the bovine growth hormone to improve milk production in 1986 was a public relations nightmare. One scientist suggested it was the equivalent of Thomas Edison demonstrating electricity by using it to power an electric chair instead of lighting the first night baseball game. Robert Shapiro, then head of Monsanto's agricultural division, urged faster progress and has since written that the company learned there was a fine line between "scientific confidence on the one hand and corporate arrogance on the other." In an essay published by Washington University in St. Louis, he wrote, "It was natural for us to see this as a scientific issue. We didn't listen very well to people who insisted that there were relevant ethical, religious, cultural, social and economic issues as well." TRAITS TO COME I gm crops being produced by farmers today all over the world have one thing in common. They directly benefit the companies that manufacture them and the farmers who use them. As the rsc report put it: "Because the first generation of gm foods has been aimed largely at producing food industry benefits (e.g., increased yields, lower production costs), consumers have yet to perceive direct benefits to them from biotechnology in food production. This has contributed to the perception that gmos benefit large corporations that bear few of the risks while providing little or no benefits to consumers." That's soon to change. In the pipeline are food crops with controlled ripening, altered flower colour, increased protein content, reduced allergenicity, non-bruising properties and higher vitamin and mineral content. A recent example is golden rice. Created by splicing a gene from daffodils into rice plants, golden rice produces carotene, the precursor of vitamin A. The deficiency of vitamin A in Third World countries is a direct cause of blindness for hundreds of thousands of children each year. If you think of the gm debate as a football game, the golden rice advance was a pass interception returned for a touchdown by a 14-point underdog. The momentum shifted from the opponents of the technology to its adherents. Environmental organizations, however, quickly mounted their own offensive. They pointed out that to get the full benefit of golden rice, a malnourished child would have to eat seven pounds of it (dry weight) a day. Greenpeace went so far as to file suit with Advertising Standards Canada against a commercial that trumpeted golden rice as the answer for blindness for millions of children. Greenpeace was able to score points because the technology had been oversold. Golden rice was never meant to solve the vitamin A deficiency on its own. That would be like getting all our nutritional requirements from bananas. As a supplement, however, it is an important piece of the nutritional puzzle, and as science, it points out what's possible. DEATH BY BT I This strike/counterstrike action is characteristic of the gm debate, and is shown again in the controversy surrounding the monarch butterfly. Some corn and cotton varieties have had the gene for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) introduced into them. Bt is an insecticidal toxin derived from a soil micro-organism deemed safe to mammals and birds. The monarch butterfly, which migrates from central Mexico into the American midwest and southern Canada, feeds on milkweed which grows adjacent to corn fields. Corn pollen can blow to these nearby milkweed plants, coating their leaves. Research at Cornell University indicated that caterpillars fed a diet of milkweed coated with Bt corn pollen die. News of the Bt pollen/caterpillar deaths made headlines. Since then, other just-as-credible scientists have argued that cutting back the use of broad spectrum insecticides as a result of incorporating Bt into corn actual ly decreases butterfly mortality. They argue that mortality can be even further reduced by farmers planting borders and end rows of non-GM corn to prevent drift onto adjacent milkweed. It cannot be denied, however, that companies selling Bt corn seed failed in their scientific mission. Released under the rubric of substantial equivalency, it is obviously not. Had companies conducted the simple Cornell research, they would have known it. Anyone observing these skirmishes thinking they portend the direction of the war, are mistaken. Evaluating gm foods on a case by case basis is like hoping to understand the plot of a Russian novel by arbitrarily picking pages to read. The issues surrounding the technology are huge, much more nuanced and complicated than I had appreciated prior to reading the rsc report. Because I focused on the farmer's struggle, I failed to consider nature's struggle, except as it impacted the farmer. The threat to biodiversity as a result of the superior weed eradication techniques, for instance, could affect bird populations that survive by eating the weed seeds. Or as the report put it: "The widespread use of broad spectrum herbicides associated with herbicide resistant crops could potentially reduce plant biodiversity with direct and indirect influences on vertebrate and invertebrate species." The report clearly sounds the alarm that the quality and quantity of current research is not sufficient to address these questions. Detailed studies, it says, are urgently needed to assess the impact of large scale gm crops on the maintenance of biodiversity in agricultural systems. Ellis also argues that much more research must take place to assess the impact of gmos on the structure of the soil, what scientists call the rhizosphere. It is perhaps the planet's most complex habitat, but is not well understood. There is a question, however, of whether there is the will or the money to do the research required. One of the reasons Mooney was surprised by the report's conclusions is that he believes funding 26 Trek Summer 2001 methods have conditioned a whole generation of scientists to think that getting tax dollars must be tied to industry objectives. But research funding must come from somewhere. Ellis believes because the ultimate aim of genetic engineering is to make money, "risk generators," otherwise known as biotech companies, should bc bearing the cost of assessing the scale and implication of the risk. Industry funded research, however, creates built-in bias. Studies have already shown that scientists tend to favour the people who pay their bills. IS THERE A WRONG AND WRONG? 1 Because humans have been engineering crops for thousands of years (about the last ioo using scientific methods discovered by Gregor Mendel), it is easier to accept genetic manipulation of plants than it is to accept moving genes from animals into plants. The idea of transferring a fish gene into a strawberry plant is fascinating from a scientific perspective, but it's a harder sell from a purely much about biotechnology as they are about certain implementations of it. Many people object, in principle, to such interventions as the cloning of human beings or animals, the engineering of cross-species chimeras (cat-rabbits, pigs used to grow human organs for xenotransplantation, etc.). They would not argue that all uses of biotechnology are unnatural but would view these kinds of uses as crossing fundamental lines of moral acceptability." Early on in the debate over genetic ALU CftTQRfl SKIN Cfffi for products that pose health and safety concerns. But labelling, as the report says, is also a socio-economic and political issue having to do with the alleged right of consumers to participate intelligently in the marketplace and to exercise their purchasing power to support technologies and industries they prefer. The absence of labelling of gm products has reinforced the perception that companies are hiding information from the public, but the panel nevertheless refused to endorse a mandatory labelling scheme, strongly supporting instead a voluntary one. Ellis says there is a compelling need for voluntary labelling focused on the public's need to know, not on safety issues. In essence, if all of the recommendations made by the panel were implemented, there would be no need for mandatory labelling because safety risks would have been dealt with earlier in the process. Ethics professor McDonald commended much of the panel's finding, but felt, on labelling, they missed the How can we condone altering what only God has created? But as a scientist said to me, such belief raises the question: Who has seen God's plan? personal point of view. Aside from the possible allergenicity component, there is also a religious question. If a gene from an animal prohibited by a certain religious group is added to a plant, how can the individual follow his religious doctrine, especially since foods are not now labelled? Engineering animals is more problematic still. Mankind may have domesticated goats to serve our needs for meat and milk, but does the world need genetically altered goats that can excrete the protein to make spider silk, a very strong lightweight fibre? Just because we can do these things, does it mean we should? Or if we accept the first rung on the ladder of genetic engineering must we climb all the rest? The panel put these misgivings this way: "There is also a set of philosophical and metaphysical concerns that are not so engineering, the idea of playing God came up frequently in meetings I attended. How can we condone altering what only God has created? But as a scientist said to me, such belief raises the question: Who has seen God's plan? While the Catholic Church has had a positive reaction to biotechnology, a group of religious leaders including several rabbis, a Buddhist and an Eastern Orthodox cleric have begun a lawsuit in us courts to require labels on any genetically engineered food in order to avoid breaking the dietary restrictions imposed by their religions. MAKING CHOICE IMPOSSIBLE I Which brings us to the issue of labelling. Although other countries, including the eu and Japan, have implemented mandatory labelling of gm foods, the us and Canada currently require labelling only target. One of the reasons there is widespread approval of genetically engineered medical therapies, he explains, is that patients have some choice. When it comes to gm food, that choice isn't available. "If we were meeting the conditions they prescribe in the report, I'd be happy with their stance on labelling. Since we are not, I would rather see it," he says. "I think the industry has blown it on the labelling issue." I agree with McDonald. Labelling and the controversy surrounding it has obscured the science. But I also applaud most of the panel's other 52 recommendations. Food — even Frosted Flakes — is not just what fuels our bodies, it is who we are. To treat it with any less respect than we would want to be treated ourselves is an arrogance we shouldn't accept. ♦ • imer 2001 Trek 27 fiction THE INANIMATE WORLD To get an idea of the room's antiquity, examine the moulding around the door - the edges softened by coats of gray and yellow and blue, and eggshell freshly laid - exposed where I bumped it with a speaker cabinet yesterday. And see where the steep roof slices through a corner of the L-shaped room to create a slope in the ceiling and a shorter wall, where behind the tasteful Christmas tree a truncated door conceals Lucille's romance novels and my Castanedas and Steinbecks. Over the fireplace we display our first edition Updikes, antiquarian oddities and a signed A Spaniard in the Works. That Francis Rattenbury built the house for his mistress and was murdered in one of the bedrooms gives the house verve and depth, and adds ambiance to our parties. We feel lucky to have it, the top floor, and we feel blessed indeed to live in Victoria on its sunny promontory by the sea. Lucille has a T-shirt that says I live here, a pre-emptive reaction to the pushy operators of horse- drawn tours and the Queen Elizabeths handing out butterflies and tiny monkey BY ROBERT STRANDQUIST brochures. Lucille is disdainful of the tourists and their flypaper experiences, yet she's employed in the industry herself. It's a paradox not lost on her. Genius is the ability to hold contradictions in the same embrace. I don't know who said that first but Lucille says it often enough. She has a Master of Arts and is a receptionist at the wax museum. Sometimes she'll sit perfectly still as the wary sightseer approaches, not knowing what to expect or sure of what's real. They go into a trance that slows time, and are startled and relieved when she smiles at them. We're all like that, we citizens of the capital, superior to the gaudy visitor and his fat camera. My contribution to the guest list tonight is Elmer and Elvis, students like myself, though younger, expert beer guzzlers who like Johnny Rotten and Ionesco's Rhinoceros, though most of the guests are Lucille's friends, writers with day jobs, editors, curators, a professor. And a woman I don't know, who is the Trek Summer 2001 Photograph by Chris Dah ' JP *U^J>" ^HT ^PW" v* Abfj^^ji^,;, **£ ^ Summer 2001 Trek 29 THE INANIMATE WORLD most striking individual I have ever seen. I try to watch her without being obvious, noticing the remarkable effect she has on men, and matter. The chameleon walls blush and armchairs quiver like compass needles. A loose, sandy braid dangles down the swell of her behind, and interesting most of all is that her face isn't pretty, but complex and magnetic. She would have been a gangly stick of a child, unaffected. Maturing, she would have been distressed by her power to turn men into stone. My chance comes when I see her alone and absorbed in one of my e.e. cummings, but something stops me from going over, one too many beer perhaps, though that wouldn't normally stop me. It's that she's reading the book with the tips of her fingers. Her eyes closed. I get a beer and stand in the hall conversing with my cigarette. Her name, Susan Henry, I learn from another of Lucille's new friends, an "out" socialist and nondrinker, the one who brought the Perrier. I glance around for Elvis, wanting to tell him I found the culprit and that he's pretty much as we speculated: shoulder length curls and a bar mustache that hides a serious lack of imagination. I nod and encourage him to keep talking. Being a rare good listener I make people interesting to themselves. Partway through his story about meeting Lucille he bends over to pick up a cigarette, which he hands to me, apologetically, and I see the one I'm smoking isn't where it was supposed to be. Did I drop that? Clownish gravity to cover my drunkenness, I urge him to continue, but he can see that I despise him. Lucille's and my records are blended, with two of many, and of John Lennon's first solo album three, as I've just discovered, wondering who it belongs to, with its impressed initials that point to a precedent male. Lennon's solo stuff was never uplifting and now that he's dead, it impoverishes, hangs you up. I'm almost tempted to put it on to see the effect, but I'm caught by the pictures, the frightened child Lennon and the unhappy leaning-on- a-woman man, and I wonder why I know more about him than I do about myself. It's been two weeks since his slaying and concussion still rings in our ears. Lucille's best friend, Gillian, stoops beside me and I can smell her workout, her Martha Graham devotion, her lacking dancer's body hanging over my shoulder; tactfully she says, I love that one too, but maybe we better not play it. I might cry. What she means is that Lucille might cry, or worse. It was a night like this when news of the killing arrived like a drunk at a children's party. The air became chilly and smelled faintly of garbage, as though the walls had vanished. Someone turned on the TV for confirmation and an excitement began to grow. Loss can be strangely invigorating. Lucille was disgusted with her friends and told them they had to leave, even though it wasn't our party. We agree on Joni Mitchell and with my graphite brush I drag the slit for dust, which is pretty much mostly human skin, so they say. In spite of my skill at balancing a turntable, and my steady hand, the needle zippers over the first song and halfway through the second. I find Susan Henry leaning on the fridge, chatting in blank verse. I induce her to move the few inches I need to reach in for a beer, plant myself in listening range and nod when I detect a topic. Quite drunk, I watch her finger orbit the rim of her wine glass and listen to the tone. Waves thrash and withdraw. Gaze into the trough between strokes, see with a painter's eye the emerald serpent, cold and pentimento, the under drawing of hewn blocks like giant steps of lost Atlantis. The curved breakwater points a quarter mile finger, though at what it aims can't be known. Lucille shows me a joint, a question to which I nod. Messed with by the wind, we huddle and blow and I become aware of my thoughts as we stroll towards the light at the end, enjoying the sensation of intelligence, though it doesn't last. Collapsing into anxiety I wonder why I smoke the shit. For some reason it's essential. It strips from reality its covering of sentimental aggravations and comfortable blindness, letting you see more clearly a deeper blindness, exhilarating and nightmarish. Steadily the gray range across the strait and the grim whitecaps march in. Have we decided then? She asks. Yes, I say, John, trying to wrench myself out of the anodyne gloom. We are not alone out here and I'm forced to adjust my mask. I study them study me, a trespasser in their thoughts. The concrete base of the light provides a poor shelter. The wind off the end of the jetty clashes with the outgoing tide over the privilege of being first, or last. And if it's a girl, joni, I say, as I discover my nose bleeding, which I dab with the balled up tissue I find in my pocket. The idea of having a child with Lucille was sexy until it exploded like a suicide bomber into untenable reality. But acceptance poured into the crater and my doubts became transparencies, adding up to a kind of skin. But I shouldn't have smoked that joint; cold wisdom returns: Will I be able to keep writing my futile poetry? And my not-yet-ex-wife, how will it sit with her and my first-born? Is it a betrayal to them? If it is should I care? I swore I'd never bc like my father and yet who am I? I'm thinking too much. Anticipating baby packs and diapers alarms me. I don't want to be one of those lugs you see in the supermarket. A new father is a pack animal. Fear breaks over me. I have barely self-esteem to get myself through a day let alone two of us. John or Joni it is, I say, bravely going on fumes, just needing definition from Lucille, some determination. If you decide we keep it, she says, stopping to look into my face, something I realize she doesn't often do. I thought it was decided, I say. I want you to decide, she says. Me? You want me to decide? I'm shocked and I feel betrayed. Why? 30 Trek Summer 2001 J want you to be sure that this is what you want. But sometimes what I want isn't what I want, I try to explain. You'd better figure it out. Damn it, I gently say, meaning that only a woman has those tools, or a soldier, and I'm only a skillful fool that maneuvered himself to no choice. Please don't take that away. Twist and turn through neighbourhoods ablaze with children, race along like a couple of mice on a greeting card, quiet mice, sad mice. It's early December and a twelve-mile journey in my cartoon blue vw Beetle that leaks carbon monoxide through the heating vents to our new place at Lost Lake. The abortion sits between us like an extortionist; our objectivity withers. On the outskirts of the city we stop at the iga and push it around in a shopping cart; and in Brentwood we go to the liquor store for beer and wine and at the last corner, on the edge of forest that time forgot, I buy cigarettes and remember to get plenty of ice. Gliding past the few neighbours, we pull up on our designated patch and step into the quiet air, smiling at each other. This is good, the country is a balm to our mutual detachment; though late at night when local clatter settles, the city burbles clearly in the distance, not escaped at all but only shelved. Lucille fills bowls with snacks and I stack the beer in the fridge. She dresses like a vamp and I put on my lumberjack shirt. Among the regulars tonight the personal friend of a Nobel laureate is coming and a woman who was briefly lovers with Trudeau. It's my job to keep fire in the grare. And to not drink too much. Though I am watching for her, I don't see Susan Henry arrive. She just materializes a piece at a time, first her voice, then her body a few minutes later. I work a nice dry piece of cherry into the flame. It was one of our reasons for moving, a real hearth, making all the difference to our imperturbable love. I get some beer and head out under the deck where Elmer and Elvis are hovering and give them each one, leaving two for me, one which I down and the other drink quickly. She's here, I tell them. This party reminds me of Pinter, Elmer says. There's no one, says Elvis, spraying beer, I repeat, no one, not in this country at any rate, who knows more about the Pinter pause than I do. Pausing, he finishes, Seriously. Three-point-two seconds, Elmer says. I want female companionship, so I hunt down Gillian and take her to the yard to see my newly sprouted pot plant. But the porch light doesn't reach that far so we go up on the landlord's deck and stare at the black lake. I banter easily, surprising myself with unlocking, like an actor on speed, these past grim months parting for this unconcerned nonsense. My hand on the hard small of her back, I show her around the suite and steer her to the unfinished part of the basement to show her the old furnace with its Shiva robot arms. And I start kissing her. She moves backwards to the wall pulling me with her, elevating her centre of gravity by standing on ductwork. Unfurling my kite string she lifts me up to her rain, where I tremble and thunder and she contracts and expands, satisfying the both of us well and quick. To cheat on a wife is one thing, but to betray a girlfriend .... Husbands who do it follow a biological thread, behaving in a manner consistent with nature. They obey a higher nagging and act out of a sense of responsibility, a solemn doom, protecting their families from the harsher expressions of selection, defusing oblivion's need to dance. But to cheat on a girlfriend breaks a whole other ethic involving higher promises and delicate compromises with trust, and is proof you will never be more than what you are. My thoughts generate cold. Intellectual and guilty, I splash down a beer to loosen the feeling, more complicated than that, ranging to panic. I pick at the stubby bottle's label, tearing away small strips. Lucille comes over, touching bases. She doesn't believe me when I tell her I'm having a good time. She kindly and firmly asks me to not drink anymore, this being where I'm supposed to surrender to better judgement. But I hate her for pretending everything's okay. Susan Henry comes outside and wanders through the garden down to the tiny dock that stepping onto sends goose bumps over the lake. I'd follow her and be boyishly charming. I would, but I feel like dirt. I lean against the linden tree and stare at her hourglass figure and see how much of my soul has turned to sand. I'm meeting Lucille for lunch and she's late. The clock above the bar says quarter after. We've been marking the days in mental ink and today she's supposed to get her test results. Why do beer parlours smell so bad? I go outside and lean on the fence. Examining my mood, I find impatience. Cranky is not the face I need her to see right now. She appears at the other end of the block, but I can't read her. She exudes quixotic self-confidence, same as usual. I meet her at the corner and we go down a lane so I can light up a joint. Have you heard? I don't need to ask. 1 hold down a toke. No, she says. I pose the joint but she declines. There's something you should know. She stops me with a hard compassionate look. It wasn't the first abortion and I have no intention of having another. It was your idea to give me the choice ... I say, foolishly. We stop beside a patch of desert flowers in a vacant lot. It was stupid to name it first. We walk in silence for a while. It's so much easier accepting a thing than trying to deal with it. We get sandwiches from a take-out and eat walking back to the wax museum. On her desk is a message to call her doctor. I stand aside to make room for a few couples bumping the counter. She holds them off with a raised hand when someone starts speaking to her on the line. They look at each other with irritated Summer 2001 Trek 31 THE INANIMATE WORLD patience, jingling radioactive coins over their gene pools. Putting the receiver down Lucille catches her breath, and speaking to them not me, says, I'm pregnant. She wants witnesses, to help fix the fetus in her, so nature won't dislodge it, so I can't. I'll pick you up at five, I tell her. She smiles, in love with herself again. I decide to go through the gallery. I love Queen Victoria's face. Though she won't look directly back, she is flattered. Ugly women aren't ugly at all, but lovers incognito, their uncompromising lusts meant to attract men with x-ray vision and loose egos. Einstein here, whose eyes I want to touch to see if he blinks, is an even better listener than me. If it takes the greatest thinker in history to see your genius, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Lucille pregnant, I feel barenaked and light as crepe, the baby an orthotic for my heart; its recognizable imperative of burden is at least something, rails through the flux and flounder of my moods. My sins are absorbed by the figures, it's what they breathe, what nourishes them, gives them their pallor. I come to the dungeon and see the torture of wax men still goes on to this day. Deplorable and hokey, the two sides of the meat, solar powered and born to die, which makes everything frivolous and revelations bitter. If people would just stop striving so hard for peace there would be no wars. I walk home with new muscle, censor my thoughts with a joint. I'm face down on a table while my doctor sprays aerosol Novocain on a cyst on my neck. When it became infected, young Frankenstein tried to treat it with oral antibiotics. I went in yesterday afternoon much worse, and a disconcerting alarm registered on his blank chart face. This is going to be a bit uncomfortable, he says, weighing the lance in his fingers, his voice uneasy. I don't feel anything at first, a tentative cut, an eerie silence. But then he uses his thumbs to squeeze out the pus and pushes me down to molten core, where I recite poltergeist and flail. That he's capable of causing such suffering ravages him by its unwelcome pleasure. Flustered, he leaves as soon as the procedure is done. My head spins like a gyroscope on a wire and my heart has a dream of falling. Standing before me is Lucille's doctor. Where am I? Did anyone else survive? Has he dropped in to visit? Why does that sound so stupid? Lucille has miscarried. She's one corridor over. I put on my shirt and wander in a daze until I find her, pale and still. I'm saddened by her luck and anesthetized by familiar loss. Redemption would have been too much of a burden anyway. Lucille stares past me. She has that look. The inanimate world. Elvis keeps his thermostat set at "abandoned building." A stack of empty beer cans can topple if you don't hold it when you're in his fridge, which he demonstrates for us, handing us a cold one. I look around for a place to sit but the couch is scaly with textbooks and laundry. He brought us up to hear the new stereo his student loan bought him, on which he plays nothing but hardcore punk, which makes the room even colder. Its churning chaos is like a skinned animal, all tendon and rage. What's the point of playing that kind of music on such a nice system? I ask him. He gives me a blank stare and smiles. He thinks I'm kidding. It would be better on a cheap one, I say, unintentionally shooting down his taste in music, his ignorance of form, his ability to make choices. Was Hamlet really indecisive or just sadistic? Elmer asks, to ease the tension. A brilliant man doesn't belong to other men, says Elvis morosely. If Shakespeare was so precise how come no one can agree on what he was talking about? Me. He layered opposites on opposites, Elvis. So he only appears insane? Elmer. He's dead, like the rest of us, I say. Elvis turns on me, nearly shouting, He hath born me on his back a thousand times, alas! Lucille is having a party tonight that I wasn't invited to, showing off her new husband, a well-known naturalist credited with uncovering the last lost tribe of the Amazon. He just hiked into the wax museum one afternoon and there was the motionless Lucille. Apparently he'd never seen anything so beautiful. I'm kneeling over Elvis' turntable with a large pair of pliers intending to replace the cartridge with another he claims is designed for punk. He was going to have a technician do it but I insist on saving him some money, to make up for the insults. He stands over me in the watery light, his anxiety getting to me. When I've gotten the original cartridge amputated and disconnected, I stop. Don't they ever heat this fucking place? I ask. You're not stopping? I'm afraid of wrecking it. What about my music? You can't seriously call that music. What would you call it? Graffiti. Asshole. Standing in the lane I listen to laughter and music radiating from Lucille's top- floor windows. We talked about staying together when she found this place. It was tempting for us to try again, talking about the abandonment of hope and us leading semi-separate lives together. In the huge apartment we could each have had a study, one being unpleasantly large and overlooking road hockey, while the other had a hardwood floor and windows on three sides. A craving for a beer and vaguer urgencies around Lucille's friends pulls me up. I greet a few faces and listen to the surf sound of many conversations, where big island bobs like a bleach bottle, Lucille having earned a standing invitation to use the house's owners' condo in Kona. Our discussion about staying together centred on who got the good study, an idea Lucille found slightly repugnant, though she 32 Trek Summer 2001 wouldn't relent either. So I settled in a cheap room around my boxes of records and books and she went out and married the first Ph.D. off the boat. She's in the crowded big room, happy as a toucan. I don't know what I expected him to be like, at least magnetic and articulate, but her groom, I realize, standing off to the side, is at a loss for words. I return to the kitchen where someone is passing a joint around. After I've had a hit and offered it back I realize no one is paying attention so I squeeze it dead and pocket it. No beer in the fridge but bottles of wine everywhere. I kidnap a litre of Kressman and take my leave just as Susan Henry is coming up the stairs. She smiles at me. But voices in the kitchen tell me I'm being pursued by the owner of the wine and all I can do is nod, escape. I'm sitting in the last row of folding chairs, easiest to escape from should I decide to bolt before they do the serenity prayer. I'm twenty-five minutes early having forgotten this meeting starts at eight-thirty instead of eight like most of them. Eagerness blows into the room with members shucking their burdens at the door and scanning the room for their supporters. A tough chick in leopard skin tights sits down in my row, between an old man and a fine-boned rich girl. I'm wondering how identity chooses one person over another. It's your weakest link, your name, the sack you're born in and what they'll carry you out with. It's better to have an alias, several of them, free from baptisms and brass plates. And if you can't do that, admit to a room full of people that you're an alcoholic. Someone says a few words of welcome. Others read routine steps and promises, comforting in their imperfections. The unskilled newcomers and the farthest fallen are who I come for, their clanking tirades and hopeless hope, its blunt assurance of liberation. But the first speaker is an old hand whose terrors he's honed into a landscape of generalities. This is not helping. Next up is a thirty- year chippee who tells a convoluted patronizing parable. I want it to end and glance towards the exit. The chair asks, Does anybody need to share? I should, and occasionally do, but my story involves too much overwriting in empty rooms, and I can see their eyes glaze over when I tell it and their skin softens under the lights. I was walking on Jericho Beach this morning, with acrid Vancouver dampness in my craw, searching English Bay for the inspiration I believe it owes me, when I saw Susan Henry coming down the path the other way. Even though she's changed, I recognized her objective eyes do their familiar, succinct double-take on me. It was cool and windy and the waves were running at the shore to the end of their chains. She and her companion leaned into each other's voices, worn smooth under the ceaseless rolling. And it gave me a lift to see her, but soon after brought me down hard and I wanted to get drunk. The suddenly ending meeting has cut off my escape, chairs are being scraped aside and a circle of bodies forms, all around the mulberry bush .... I hate this, holding hands. The prayer I've memorized, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change .... California rolls, egg rolls, chicken wingettes and teriyaki salmon; there are bean salads, potato salads, Caesar salad, four different breads, including the French loaf I brought, and a quarter pound of garlic butter. There are crackers with exotic dips, oysters on the half shell and Rice Crispy squares, Nanaimo bars and a box of chocolates. Entrees, hors d'oeuvres and desserts, all laid out at once, so democratic, so fattening. I make my way around the table, sampling and filling my plate, and then make for an empty chair. Parties are sober torture and I don't know a soul. The friends I'm supposed to meet are fashionably late, which I always forget to be. I make my way through a hatch of women, clustered around the kitchen entrance, and locate my non-alcoholic beverage, unopened among more seductive bottles. I pour myself a glass. Then she walks in and for a second something is naked between us, terrifying the both of us with its touching disregard for the passing of time. To throw something on it she says, We've been running into each other at parties for years, haven't we? Brilliantly obtuse by stating the obvious. And I say, Yes we have, sharing this with her, making contact. You know Lucille .... Yes, I tell her, awed by how arbitrary the meanings we assign things are. Isn't that great about her having twins again? Yes . . . indeed, I say, though I don't know anything, and before I can think of something to hold her, she escapes to the other room. I follow with my fruit juice and find a chair where I can keep an eye on her. When I look more closely I don't understand why I recognize her, so different from memory she is. I organize a few conversations in my head, how Vancouver compares with Victoria, Lucille's children. But before I can approach her, something comes into the room, a Shockwave or a trapped bird, I'm not sure which, and hard rumour becomes soft fact, Princess Diana is what? Somebody turns on the tv, and so much for talk. Later, conversation returns to original sin, and I'm back to grazing at the table when Susan Henry appears beside me, picking up a grape and a cube of cheese, and offering me the weakest of smiles, which I try and capture with clumsy words. You must be tired after all this, I say, I know I am. For a heartbeat she blushes. Now she has to say something real. No small talk exists between us. But the hostess appears and draws her away, Susan Henry, reluctantly eager, my poor fugitive breathless me. ♦ Summer 2001 Trek 33 retrospective ! changes HOPWOOD'S LIST An engineer, an English professor, and a life reading list, by Leonard graholm Forty-five years ago I took a literature class for first year engineering students at UBC. It was compulsory because, at least in those days, engineers wouldn't otherwise have taken it. It was the last English class I thought I would ever take. The lecturer was a young man called V. G. Hopwood. I suppose he was given the class because of his lack of seniority. I remember little about him, but he changed my life. There was required reading: novels like Bread and Wine and Germinal, and short stories like The Secret Sharer and The Life and Death of Gentleman Brown. And Mr. Hopwood made us write. I remember that last story because I wrote an essay on it even though I hadn't read it. Students like to do that. In our last class for the year Mr. Hopwood said, "I know that most of the time during your careers you will be involved with science, and so you won't have much time for outside reading. (He said that rather sadly.) But whatever you do, you should take time to read the io books on the list I'm handing out." I thought of the handout as a contract between Mr. Hopwood and me, and the list like a batting order. In my mind I moved the books I thought would interest me least, the nonfiction, to the tail end of the order. In the next five years I read seven of the books and thought they were wonderful. Because I knew the list by heart, I took no special care of the written list, and I don't know when it was lost. Nor do I remember the titles of the seven books. I didn't know about the tricks memory has in store for us all. But I remember the other three titles, because those books, the non fiction ones, were the best. Two of them I read in the following eight years: Red Star over China, and To the Finland Station. The former thrilled me, and the latter made me cry. I cried for the human race. Those two books made me think back to the time I was seven years old and living 40 miles from Vancouver. There was a war on then. Walking home alone from school, I heard an airplane flying overhead. I knew exactly what to do because my parents had 34 Trek Summer 2001 Mr. Hopwood was trying to give us a big-league social conscience. He was trying to produce engineers like Robert Oppenheimer, engineers most politicians hate. told me. I jumped into the ditch and lay flat. After the airplane had passed and as I was getting out of the ditch, I said to myself, "When I grow up I'm never going to fight with anyone." I believed that then with all my heart, but I was only in the minors, and I was wrong. Those books taught me, among other things, that a time comes when one must fight. It was while reading those books that I began to realize what Mr. Hopwood was trying to do: he was trying to give us a big- league social conscience. He was trying to produce engineers like Robert Oppenheimer, engineers most politicians hate. About io years later I read the last book on the list, just to get it off my mind. It was Gods, Graves and Scholars, about something I had no interest in: archeology. But it, too, turned out to be a heavy hitter. Soon after, I enrolled in a night class in archeology at our local university. I took many such classes, as did my wife. On our holidays we travelled the world to see archeological sites. Now, 45 years after Mr. Hopwood's class, I'm taking another English class, on writing. This time though, I'm not thinking it will be my last. And I will continue reading and trying to write until the big hand comes across the sky, sweeps away the stars and says, "The game is now over, and you must all go home." I hope you will read this story somewhere, Mr. Hopwood. I think you will have enjoyed life, because you understood it so early. You did an excellent job editing David Thompson's travel writing. Did you ever finish writing his biography? I never spoke to you privately, but your list managed my life very well, and I'm still on a winning streak. By the way, would you happen to have a copy of the list? I want to pass it on to my children. ♦ Leonard Graholm bsc'6o, worked for an oil company in Alberta for two years, then went to law school in Saskatoon. After graduation he practised with the Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto for 25 years. Now he does a little private practice, and writes. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Toronto. Victor Hopwood earned his phd at the U of T and taught at UBC from 195j to 1984. He wrote some chapters on Canadian travel for the Literary History of Canada, and is still working on the biography of David Thompson. He, too, has lost the list. Spring 2001 Trek 35 lands and buildings The Walter C. Koerner Library The Koerner Library, described by architect Arthur Erickson as the 'green jewel' of the UBC campus, became an instant landmark when it opened in March 1997. Directly across Main Mall from the original library building, the Koerner is the first stage of a long-term redevelopment plan for the library system. It features wired study spaces, 50 on-line catalogues and a student computer lab. 36 Trek Summer 2001 Photograph by Elizabeth Minish making it happen When Dr. Karim Qayumi arrived in Canada in 1983, unable to speak either official language but eager to work at UBC, the immigration office told him English lessons wouldn't be available for 18 months. Rather than wait, he went to the public library 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and taught himself. F H E T R AV ELS OF DOCTOR QAYUMI FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF AFGHANISTAN TO THE CORRIDORS OF VGH, KARIM QAYUMI HAS KEPT HIS FOCUS BY BRUCE MASON "the immigration people were very surprised when I returned six months later and asked them how I could apply for a job at the university," Qayumi recalls. He was soon hired as a researcher at UBC and able to take up his twin passions for teaching and surgery. Qayumi arrived in Canada from Afghanistan when the war with the Soviet Union was at its height. He had avoided capture by the secret police, who wanted to question him about the three years he spent providing medical care and training for Afghan civilians and Mujahideen guerillas. Conquering the English language seemed a minor challenge after that. Today, he is director of the Centre of Excellence for Surgical Education currently under construction at VGH. He looks forward to the project's completion. "The centre will be a state-of-the-art place to teach and learn," he says of the facility, dedicated to providing training in the latest surgical techniques. These techniques have introduced a high level of new technology to the operating room and they hold great potential. But they are also having a profound effect on traditional surgical practice. As well as teaching the new technology, Qayumi is helping to drive it. With the expert help of his son, Tarique, he is developing a software program called Cyberpatient. With it, students can examine, diagnose and treat patients in cyberspace. Tarique, with the help of a $3,000 grant, spent a summer developing Cyperpatient. The resulting prototype — the centre of attention at a UBC Open House — was picked up by the Industry Liaison Office. With Tarique at the helm, the software was developed into a complex, Internet-friendly Summer 2001 Trek 37 DR. QAYUMI model and is now being assessed at 15 major universities before being made commercially available. Dr. Qayumi has also applied this creative ability as a writer. Only several months after its publication, his most recent book — an interactive, introductory text on surgical technique — is being translated for international markets. Qayumi believes his book holds a unique niche. "All of the previous introductory books were based on information taken from materials published by medical companies," he says. "They overwhelmed students with useless information and commercialization. I wanted to teach students how to hold instruments, tie knots and excel at the operating table. The cd- rom that accompanies the book is essential. Techniques can be practised 10, 20, or 100 times." And then, of course, there's his research into how to keep transplant organs alive for longer periods of time than is currently possible. He's excited by the progress his team has made towards realizing this goal. "As a child I wanted to be a pilot, but tests indicated an aptitude for medicine," says the son of the head of Civil Aviation, responsible for Afghanistan's airports and airlines, tourism and meteorology. Aside from his abilities as a physician, teacher, administrator and software developer, perhaps the most intriguing aspect about Qayumi is the path he had to negotiate during the earlier years of his career. He started out life in Kabul, Afghanistan, and completed his medical training in Kiev. "During medical rounds at the University of Kiev, I became fascinated with surgery," he recalls. "I was spending every waking moment in the hospital so the doctors all knew me. Very early — in my third and fourth year — I began operating independently and developing new treatments, such as compounds for treating infected surgical wounds. I still hold patents in Russia." When the university offered him a position, he refused. "I told them I didn't need a government post to heal and to teach people," he says, punctuating the story with laughter and gesturing with elegant hands. By the time he returned to Kabul, Afghanistan was under a full Soviet invasion. His mother had arranged a party to welcome him home, but his extended family and friends refused any food she offered until Dr. Qayumi declared his loyalty to his people. "I am with you," said Qayumi. He began teaching at the local hospital, spending much of his time removing shrapnel and limbs from civilians who were caught in massive artillery fire or who had stepped on one of five million land mines. "Few rebels were killed or wounded. It "My bodyguards threw me Qayumi recalls. "Later they flee, because animals hear was civilians who suffered," he reports. "Soviets mistakenly bombed villages that the rebels had fled. In the carnage, I learned sobering things. For instance, I soon realized that those who were not screaming were the casualties that needed immediate attention. Later, I shared all I could of these experiences in my first book." Within a year the Soviet-controlled secret police, perceiving Qayumi a threat, decided it would be simpler to kill him than to imprison him, and then they could blame their actions on the Afghans, who distrusted his pasr. Warned by some students who overheard the assassins' plot, the doctor contacted Mujahideen rebel forces to arrange a rendezvous. But he looked into his waiting room and saw the lineup of people waiting for him, so he finshed treating them. A few hours later, he was taken away from Kabul by the Mujahideen. But he wasn't only leaving Kabul. By this time he had met and married Shauna, whom he describes as "the best friend I've ever had." His son, Tarique, had also arrived in his life. He wouldn't see his family again for three years. The day after he joined the rebel group, Soviet planes bombed his group at prayer time. "My bodyguards threw me to the ground and piled on top of me," Qayumi recalls. "Later they advised me to notice when dogs and cats flee, because animals hear the planes first." Life was difficult. "Bread and milk were a luxury. We lived off what we could salvage from abandoned orchards and gardens and when enemy planes flew over, we crouched still like stones on the ground, covering ourselves with cloaks so that enemy planes couldn't detect us from the reflection of our eyes or fingernails." For the three years he was there, Dr. Qayumi was treated with great respect. Under the constant pro- to the ground and piled on top of me," advised me to notice when dogs and cats the planes first." tection of bodyguards, he trained 560 people in emergency procedures and conducted countless operations before receiving word that his wife and six-year-old son were in grave danger. Rebels collected up his family and brought them to where he was. They fled on foot across treacherous terrain to the Pakistani border. As they passed villages on the way, people lined up outside to receive medical attention. He obliged them, sterilizing a knife in a campfire and dressings in a pressure cooker. He and his family eventually made their way to Portugal and from there, applied for immigration to Canada. Dr. Karim Qayumi, who has travelled from carnage to calm, has found the "best possible home" in Canada. Here, he can thrive. "I'm a triple-A personality, I suppose, but surgery and teaching provide all the challenges I require," he says. "I love my students. It would be difficult to get out of bed in the morning if I just had to do another surgery to pay my mortgage. Discovering and passing on knowledge brings a peace which I have learned is much more satisfying than power or money." ♦ Trek Summer 2001 PRECIOUS MEDALS the right thing UBC alumna Tricia Smith in training for the silver medal she won in Pairs Rowing at the '84 games. 'There aren't any secrets anymore.' For many Canadians, Toronto's recent loss to Beijing for the rights to host the 2008 Olympic Games evoked another bout of Olympic letdown. It was only a year ago that we witnessed disappointing results in Sydney; the prospect of hosting the games represented renewed hope for our Olympic and national team programs. I must confess that I, too, was mildly disappointed that Canada's medal count at the 2000 Olympics fell short of expectations. I don't know what it is, but there's something about an amateur athlete from Caroline, Alberta, or Dryden, Ontario, struggling for composure on the podium during the opening bars of Oh Canada. Gets me every time. 8 Y P r* • "4f Summer 2001 Trek 39 PRECIOUS MEDALS I'm not alone. Most of us feel at least some measure of pride when Canada scores big on the world stage. Don't we love to remind ourselves that a Canadian company built the robotic arm on the space shuttle, or about Best and Banting's discovery, or the role of Canadian forces in the liberation of Europe? Our showing of 14 medals last summer wasn't exactly horrendous, but it was only one better than Bulgaria, 15 worse than Cuba, and down considerably from the 22 won at Atlanta in 1996. As Vancouver-Whistler assumes the position of front runner to host the 2010 winter games, there is another opportunity for Canada to sharpen its focus and its involvement in the unique form of diplomacy represented by the Olympic Games. First, though, we need to take another look at our declining reputation as one of the great sporting nations of the world. This is a story about what went wrong in Sydney from the perspective of UBC people who were there, what needs to change in order to improve our results, and why it is absolutely the right thing to do. The first UBC student to go to the Olympics was the late Professor Emeritus Harry Warren, who went to Amsterdam in 1928 as a sprinter. The first medal won by a UBC student was in 1932, when Ned Pratt, an aspiring architect, stroked to a bronze medal in Double Sculls. In 1948, Canada's Olympic basketball team consisted largely of UBC players and was coached by Bob Osborne. In 1954, a crew of UBC rowers beat heavily favoured England in the British Empire Games on the Vedder Canal, followed by medal performances by other UBC rowers in the '56, '60 and '64 Olympics. With all that history and more, it's no wonder that UBC was again well represented in 2000. In fact, a total of 28 UBC coaches, athletes, alumni and medical staff were accredited in Sydney. But in spite of that, our medal count remained low. Many experts within the amateur sport system feel the time is right for a complete re-evaluation of sport delivery programs and athlete development in Canada. Going for the Bronze One UBC coach who did not take part in the Sydney games was women's volleyball coach Doug Reimer, who was seconded by the national program in 1997 to coach Canada to the Olympics. "If you asked people in the sports system, they were not surprised with our results," said Reimer, whose charges failed to qualify for Sydney. "To be the best in the world at anything isn't easy, and if you're going to do it in sport, you're going to need a lot of raw talent and tools." The deck appears to have been stacked against Reimer well before the national program came looking for him. Most coaches agree that athlete development takes time — anywhere from 7-10 years — therefore, an injection of cash and commitment a year or two before the games rarely accomplishes much of anything. "We have enough kids in Canada to do it, but we need to be able to identify the very best at a younger age, and then be able to supplement their training with junior national team programs with full-time coaches," he says. UBC women's basketball coach and national team assistant coach Deb Huband agrees, adding that funding for Canada's women's program has declined significantly since her days as a national team player in the late '70s. "Each summer we would have three segments of training followed by international competition," says Huband. "Now we have one or two. We also had a development team, so we had two teams every summer. Now we have one. So the number of people we have playing has dropped. The number of opportunities to gain experience in international competition has dropped, and so performance has dropped as well. "For a country that has a good-sized population, we're not developing the base of talent. We need national programs starting at about age 15. The Americans run four teams in the summer, so by the time someone gets on the senior team, they've had years and years of experience and they immediately fit right in." It's difficult not to have sympathy for coaches of team sports in particular. While there are 32 different events in swimming, there is only one gold medal match in the team sports. Lack of sufficient funds isn't always the first thing that comes to mind when the experts are asked about performance. Alumna Tricia Smith rowed for Canada for well over a decade, and went to the Olympics in '76, '84 and '88. A silver medallist in 1984, she now serves on the Executive Committee of the International Rowing Federation. Her take on Canada's solitary bronze-medal performance in rowing last year is simply that the field of upper echelon competitors has grown significantly. "There aren't any secrets any more," says Smith. "The teams have all seen each other train, the coaches have shared information and techniques, and the result is that many more countries are now competing at the top." In most cases, though, coaches claim that insufficient resources are a major part of the problem, but they don't always agree on what the fiscal priorities should be. The most common refrains are the need for program development for earlier- stage athletes, full-time coaches within all elite age groups, and better financial 40 Trek Summer 2001 support for athletes. But the concept that is discussed most often is the expansion of opportunities at the grassroots level. The theory is quite simple: the more kids competing at the base of the system means a larger pool of talent at the top. In other words, the main ingredient for success is a major societal commitment to restructure the sport system from the ground up, investing heavily in enhancing opportunities for kids. Although such a holistic approach has its appeal, it's not certain that Canadian taxpayers would be willing to support it. But the idea is receiving support from an unexpected source: health care experts concerned about the staggering costs of treating illness associated with obesity. Don McKenzie, an exercise physiologist and sports medicine physician in UBC's Family Practice Unit, points to a recent report on the economic burden of physical inactivity in Canada. The report states that $2.1 billion of Canada's direct health care costs in 1999 were attributed to physical inactivity. It further suggests that if only 10 percent of Canadians attained a marginal increase in fitness, the estimated savings would amount to roughly $150 million per year. "It's a pretty good argument for exercise," says McKenzie, who has been to five Olympics, both as a physician and as a coach of Canada's flat-water canoe team. "We could save a substantial amount of money just by imposing health and fitness programs to improve the general health of the population. And a by-product would be that you would eventually end up, a generation from now, with some better athletes at the top of the pyramid." If such an investment in recreation would result in downstream savings in health care expenditures, then common sense would dictate that governments already facing a mounting health care crisis should act swiftly. The obvious Marianne Limpert takes off as Jessica Daglau touches the wall at the 4x100 womens' relay at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships. They won bronze. Photo Greg Kinch solution is to use the school system and minor sport organizations to educate and encourage children to be more active by expanding their opportunities in sport. But even if such a move produced the desired by-product — more talent at the top — it still wouldn't necessarily vault Canada into the top echelon of international sport. "In the schools, kids compete against kids their own age all the time," says Reimer. "In other countries, the base system is supplemented with opportunities for the half a percentage point of kids who are especially talented to compete against older and more skilled opponents in a club system. Right now, there are too many gaps and breakdowns in Canada, and the rest of the world doesn't have them. I've emerged from this experience thinking more about the systems themselves, rather than my particular team." "We don't have the cultural mindset that understands the continuum from the beginner to the first-time Olympian," said UBC swim coach Tom Johnson. One of the most respected coaches in Canadian sport, Johnson has more than 25 years of international coaching experience, and the program he established at UBC serves as a model for athlete development. UBC's program joined forces with the Pacific Dolphins Swim Club and national and federal sport governing bodies to create a national training centre that offers swimmers a seamless training regimen right through their university years and into international competition. It is the sort of continuum that is seen as vital by most coaches, including Reimer and Huband, and there is ample evidence that it works. Canada qualified 39 swimmers for Sydney, up from 21 in 1996. Johnson and co-coach Randy Bennett produced n of them. "These were excellent Olympics," said Johnson. "We improved our results across the board. We broke three Commonwealth records, 14 national records, and a lot of personal bests, but the bottom line is that we weren't good enough going into the competition. We got really close to the podium, but we didn't get on the podium." Summer 2001 Trek 41 PRECIOUS SVJEDALS Case in point: Marianne Limpert, a UBC student and one of Canada's best hopes for a medal in the pool, finished 12 one-hundredths of a second out of third place in zoo metre individual medley. The Price of Gold There is no mistaking that UBC's program is within a hair's breadth of staging a performance breakthrough in world and Olympic championships. But what else is required to close that final miniscule gap between the student-athletes who train daily at UBC and the best in the world? Johnson offers a one-word answer: incentives. "The United States and Australia recognize that swimmers need to be supported just as if they are professional athletes," said Johnson. "Australia supports athletes based on international performance. It's a graded system in which the top athletes earn enough money to enable them to train the following year. Canada still has a welfare state mentality, where everybody gets a little bit." "A little bit" is $1,100 a month from the federal government, and very little in the way of performance bonuses. Johnson points out that Romania, meanwhile, offered $10,000 us for a gold medal performance in Sydney, and the United States has committed $374,000 for coaching incentives for the 2001 World Swim Championships, in addition to $750,000 for athlete incentives. Not everyone, however, agrees with his incentive theory. While Smith admits that prevailing attitudes may have changed in recent years, she cites a case in which one well- known Olympic rower from the early nineties once stated that she would be insulted if someone offered her money to win a gold medal. Still, the United States and Australia utterly dominated the field of swimmers in Sydney with a combined total of 51 medals. By way of comparison, the Netherlands finished third with eight. Canada was well down the list with a single bronze medal going to Calgary's Curtis Meyden. Back to the Starting Line While the issue of performance incentives is likely to be a controversial topic on this side of the border, the time may be right for a complete re-evaluation of sport delivery systems and athlete development programs in Canada. With Beijing hosting the 2008 games, many Canadian Olympic insiders feel that Whistler will be a shoo-in for the 2010 winter games. Public and private sector entities within Canada will soon be sharpening their focus on Olympic sport. The experience in Sydney clearly demonstrated to an aghast nation that Canada's grip on the rings is slipping. Not only is the medal count in sharp decline, but many of the 14 medals in Sydney were in sports new to the games, and if history is any indication, we'll lose them once other countries start training for them. Such a re-evaluation must begin at the grassroots level, with much thought being given to a major investment in amateur sport on the part of all levels of government and the private sector. And if we do in fact make a social commitment to this model, and more young Canadians spend twenty-odd years of their lives pursuing the Olympic dream, why not pull out all the stops to close the minute gap between first and fourth place? If the savings in health care expenditures are real, then it would only take a fraction of those recovered funds to provide the expertise required to identify, train and support our very best amateur athletes. Like all countries, Canada needs its heroes. We need heroes to inculcate the sense of bullish pride we haven't seen in this country since the 1972 Canada-Soviet hockey series. We need heroes to serve as a fresh set of role models, a healthier alternative to the increasingly non- Canadian, non-performing millionaires from the professional leagues, whose stats in the police logs are occasionally more impressive than those on the score sheet. But maybe the biggest score for Canada in committing to high achievement in international sport is the opportunity it presents for promoting cultural understanding and international cooperation in an era of rapid globalization. True, the Olympic Games are an extravaganza of corporate branding and imaging, and sadly, they remain an international playground of chemists and cheats. But we shouldn't lose sight of what the Olympic Games represent more than anything else: the world's most visible symbol of an enduring will among nations to understand and cooperate with one another. Did the 1980 Olympic boycott have any effect on the Soviet Union's decisions concerning Afghanistan? Did it hasten the eventual withdrawal? Or did our athletes miss out on taking part in a courageous and historical act of diplomacy to boot? We'll never know for certain, but history has yet to produce a better medium than sport to bring hostile nations together. Canada should move quickly to re-establish itself as a nation of champions in international competition, and as a leader among nations in the Olympic movement. The initial return on investment is superb, as are the dividends, including those indelible images, beamed around the world, of thousands of athletes from all corners of the globe gathered together in a stadium taking part in the opening ceremonies of the world's premier festival of peace. And my personal favourite — the images of athletes from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, or Lac Beauport, Quebec, struggling for composure on the podium while flags are raised and the anthem played. I can't explain why that has such an effect on people like me. It just does. ,: 42 Trek Summer 2001 " #i* .;«*>,. 4*: *T -' ' f*'*tot0£* *-y-^m , U British Columbia Alummftews I Swilrtfer 2001 C h ro n i cIe ¥. * '> f -:'• *■■>: & ■'<^' ^^" f' * U ;■# *'■ ft *■ f St »•> * | ♦ bIiJW 1 ••■ THE ARTS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY ONGOING EXHIBITIONS Two Case Studies Through August 31, 2001 Corridor n Turn-of-the-century paddles and selections from a recent bequest of remarkable Northwest materials collected by Tom and Frances Richardson. Attributed to Edenshaw: Identifying the Hand of the Artist Through August 31, 2001 Corridor Case ■ Basketry and gold, silver, argillite and wood carvings by Haida artists Charles and Isabella Edenshaw. Conversations: The Teeson Philippine Collection Through September 3, 2001 Gallery 10 II Students' exhibition of Philippine pottery, textiles, and other materials collected and donated by Dr. Miguel and Mrs. Julia Teeson. A Connoisseur's Collection: Chinese Ceramics from the Victor Shaw Donation Through October 30, 2001 Gallery 5 Gala Opening, Tuesday May 29, 2001, 7-9 pm, FREE P More than 70 ceramics from a much larger collection of Chinese antiquities. Anthropology 432 Student Projects Through December 31, 2001 Throughout the galleries ■ Student projects including several cases that address the question "What is Missing?" in the Visible Storage area; reconfigured labels, graphics and signage in the ceramics gallery; and questions raised by images used in a provocative series of "Colors of Benetton" posters. These are shown in the Theatre Gallery. Continuing Traditions Through April 30, 2002 Gallery 3 ■ A new exhibit module featuring 50 Salish Basket (left), Haida Houses (above), Museum of Anthropology. years of Coast Salish basketry opens on April t7 in Gallery 3. Prepared by ma candidate Sharon Fortney, with museum staff and representatives from the Squamish, Klahoose, Stl'atl'imx, and Nlaka'pamux First Nations. The West Coast Heritage Tour Through September 30, 2001 ' ' This 4V4 hour tour includes a stop at the moa and the historic fishing village of Steveston. There are two departures a day with pick-up points at downtown hotels. Adults - $48, Seniors/students - $45, youth (13-18) - $41, kids (6-12) - $27, kids under six free UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS The Spirit of Islam: Experiencing Islam Through Calligraphy Opening October 20, 2001 Galleries 8, 9, 10 21 The exhibition will present a selection of outstanding examples of Islamic art and calligraphy from different historical periods. Includes two interconnected galleries housing a prayer space and an educational space. BELKIN ART GALLERY NEW AND ONGOING EXHIBITIONS Recent Acquisitions to the Collection June i-August 26, 2001 ■ Over the past several years, the gallery has acquired many significant works through donation and purchase. The strength of the collection continues to be in contemporary Canadian art. UBC Masters of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition September 14-30, 2001 View a new generation of artists and see work in a wide array of media including video, mixed media sculpture, photography, and drawing. 44 Trek Summer 2001 Previous page: rhe Waterfall at First Nations House of Learning photo by Elizabeth Minish; Houses and Basket photos: Bill McLennan UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS Chago: A Cuban Revolutionary Artist ■ Chago was a political cartoonist who fought alongside Castro during the Cuban Revolution. By the 1960s, the artist had grown disillusioned with the new regime. His drawings became more existential and erotic and were often subjected to censorship. The Conceptual Document 1968-1972 si This exhibit (from the Norwich Gallery in England) focuses on the key years of the development of Conceptual Art, now recognized as one of the most critical developments in the globalization of contemporary art. The exhibit will be augmented with work by the N.E. Thing Co. from the Belkin Art Gallery Archives. Chago Con un solo ojo The Belkin Gallery UBC SCHOOL OF MUSIC THE CHAN CENTRE Wednesday September 19, 2001 Terence Dawson (piano), Schubert, Janacek & Stewart, 12:00 pm, Recital Hall, $4.00 Wednesday September 26, 2001 Hard Rubber Orchestra, 12:00 pm, Recital Hall, $4.00 Thursday September 27, 2001 Borealis String Quartet, Jane Coop (piano), Beethoven & Dohnanyi, 8:00 pm, Recital Hall, $20/$10 at the door Sunday September 30, 2001 Andrew Dawes (violin), Jane Coop (piano), Beethoven Violin Sonata Cycle Pt 7, 3:00 pm, The Chan Centre. Tickets available through Ticketmaster or in person at the Chan Centre Ticket Office. Wednesday October 3, 2001 Camille Churchfield (flute), Christopher Millard (bassoon), Kenneth Broadway (piano), Beethoven, Gauhert & Doppler 12:00 pm, Recital Hall, $4.00 at the door Thursday October 4, 2001 UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 12:00 pm.The Chan Centre, FREE Friday October 5, 2001 Gypsy Music, 12:00 pm, Main Library, Rm 502, FREE UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 8:00 pm, The Chan Centre, FREE Sunday October 7, 2001 Monteverdi to Verdi, Ensemble II Ruggiero, UBC Opera Ensemble and instrumentalists, 8:00 pm, The Chan Centre, $20/$14 Call the School of Music for more listings: 604 822 0182 See UBC School of Music for some listings. Vancouver Symphony Orchestra July 27, 28, 29, August 3 & 4 —8 pm Music Director Bramwell Tovey and the vso present The Mozart Connection, a five-concert tribute to the great composer. Vancouver Symphony Orchestra October 26 & 27 — 8 pm Handel and Gluck featuring Paul McCreesh, conductor, and Ewa Podles, contralto. Kronos Quartet October 28 — 8 pm They combine a unique musical vision with a fearless dedication to experimentation. A "Music at the Chan" series presentation. Emanuel Ax & Yefim Bronfman, Duo Piano Sunday November 4 — 3 pm Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano November 25 — 3 pm Call the Chan Centre for more listings: 604 822 9197 Summer 2001 Trek 45 ■m% 4bv^ assfe m^ ^» North River Muriel PouKon Dunford Raising Happy, Healthy, Weight-wise Kids by Judy Toews bhe'68, Msc'74 and Nicole Parton. Key Porter, $21.95 II Many of the bad habits we develop around food can be traced back to childhood experiences. Parents are just as likely to pass their own bad habits on to their kids, or help them build brand new ones. This book, full of advice, information and great ideas, presents a common-sense approach to help parents and children develop positive eating habits. Written by a professional nutritionist and a best- selling author, the book is funny and insightful, and will be a boon to parents of children from infancy to the teen years. Furry Creek by Keith Harrison BA'67 Oolichan - Harrison has taken an odd collection of real documents, fictional characters and poetry to create a "non fiction novel" on the life and death of poet Pat Lowther. Her death, though tragic, was a pivotal point in Canadian literature, and her poetry, like that of Sylvia Plath, has taken on a new life since her death. This novel is illuminating, challenging and fascinating. It has its own lyric quality, its own sense of itself. Blue in this Country by Zoe Landale Ronsdale Press, $13.95 II Poetry, sometimes, makes as much sense read backwards as forwards, impenetrable as a text on post-modern art. Accessibility, a well known poet once said, is the kiss of death. But obscure metaphors and wonky language don't make for good communication or, even, good poetry. Landale's new book of poetry is accessible, but not because it's simple or banal. It's because the experiential corners she looks around are ones you and I have looked around, too. Her talent is to light them up in ways you and I couldn't. We've been there, or dreamt that, or heard about it. Good poetry makes the everyday resonate. This is good poetry. The Perfect Little Street Car System by Henry Ewert BA'58 North Shore Museum and Archives • This is the third "rail" book by Ewert, following The Story of the BC Electric Railway System, and Victoria's Streetcar Era. This book, like the other two, is a wonderful example of local history well made. The prose is engaging, and the photography evocative. Ewert's research has unearthed the politics and personalities of the day, and gives us a remarkable sense of time and place. Railway buffs and anyone interested in bc history will enjoy Ewert's latest effort. The Inanimate World by Robert Strandquist mfa'86 Anvil Press, $16.95 % This is the first collection of short stories from a writer who has been published in a number of Canadian literary magazines. The stories are tough and unsparing in their view of the struggle, mostly by semi-dysfunctional individuals, to get along in a hostile world. The writing is tight, oddly lyrical and surprising. Some of his observations on character or situation are so powerful they stop the reader in his tracks. They're thrown off with such casual aplomb that you want to go back and re-read the section just to revel in the brilliance of the fine tuning. Democratic Rules of Order by Fred Francis BA'50, med'66 and Peg Francis, $8.95 ■ Now in its seventh edition, Rules of Order is a complete, easy-to-use parliamentary guide for governing meetings of any size. It covers the same ground as older rules-of-order books (such as Robert's), but does so in plain language. Many rules have been streamlined for use in the modern context, and others have been adapted or eliminated. Motions, for example, have been standardized to eliminate confusion. This book also ensures that no one participant can take advantage of others because he or she has greater knowledge of arcane rules. 46 Trek Summer 2001 A Narrative of War ■Jkn Raising Happy, Healthy, Weight-wise Kids I Damocvalic 1 tides of Order North River: The Story of BC's North Thompson Valley & Yellowhead Highway by Muriel Poulton Dunford BA'83 Sonotek Publishing, $19.95 I This history of bc's south-central interior covers two centuries and the area from Kamloops to the Yellowhead Pass. Full of personal stories, photographs and a wealth of information, the book mixes the tradition of oral history with thorough research to bring this area and the period alive. A Narrative of War by Robert L. McDougall BA'39 Golden Dog Press ■ Long-time Carlton English Prof. McDougall was a pioneer of Canadian studies programs in Canada. This book, started in i960 and finished nearly 30 years later, traces the battles of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada from their landing on the beaches of Sicily in July, 1943, to their advance to the Hitler line, south of Rome, in June, 1944. Using firsthand reports, letters, diaries and interviews, McDougall gives a close-up view of the horror and complexity of war, complete with the casual heroism of normal people forced to perform in battle. Charlotte Diamond's World (cd) by Charlotte Diamond BED'69 Hug Bug Records II Charlotte Diamond has been winning awards and children's hearts for many years. Her mix of humour, hummability and good story-telling makes her music timeless and endlessly entertaining. This, her latest CD, is filled with adventure and instruction, and is a wonderful addition to her catalogue. Visit Charlotte Diamond's website, www.charlottediamond.com, for information on availability and ordering. Starshine and the Fanged Vampire Spider by Ellen Schwartz mfa'88 Polestar, $8.95 ■ This is the fourth of the Starshine series of books for adolescents. Starshine is the kind of iz-year-old we all recognize: a little too sensitive, a lot too headstrong and just about too smart for her own good. Her parents are more than a bit odd, and her little sister is, well, a little sister. In each book in the series, Starshine tries to balance the pressures of parents, friends and school, all the while practising her own peculiar brand of right and wrong in a world full of compromises. Starshine is pretty sure she's right about things, but finds herself in trouble when her stubbornness gets in the way. In Fanged Vampire, Starshine, who is a dedicated arachnophile, discovers that British Columbia does not have a provincial spider, and decides to launch a campaign to have the Araneus vampiricus so named. She needs 3,000 signatures to win the day, but soon runs into difficulties. She counted on her best friend to help, but they have a fight and aren't speaking. Then, she discovers The Society for the Preservation of Slugs, and realizes she has a real fight on her hands: the slug is the main food source for the Fanged Vampire. How she solves her problem and works out issues with her friend keeps readers focused and entertained. The Starshine series is effective and popular with its pre- pubescent readership because the heroine deals with the kinds of real problems kids that age face every day. She's authentic and, ultimately, true to herself. Summer 2001 Trek 47 ALUMNI NEWS FEAST OF FIELDS Agricultural Sciences — Farm Folk/City Folk's Feast of Fields on Sunday, September 9th from 1-5 pm, at the UBC South Campus Farm. This special annual harvest festival is combined with the 80th Anniversary of the first Agricultural Sciences graduating class of 1921. Advance tickets can be bought through FarmFolk/CityFolk at: 604 730- 0450, or at the door. agsci alumni can request ticket packages for a Botanical Gardens tour, tea with Dean Moura Quayle and/or tickets to the Feast of Fields. Call the UBC South Campus Farm at 604 822-5092 to make arrangements. ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT DINNER The Alumni Association's annual recognition of alumni and friends of UBC. September 28, Waterfront Centre. For information call 604 822-3313. YOUNG ALUMNI Young alumni programs and events include networking, financial planning and career seminars, as well as social, outdoor and university-related activities. For more information or to receive our monthly e-mail newsletter, contact Tanya Walker, Alumni Programs Officer, at: 604 822-8643 or twalker@alumni.ubc.ca The Applied Science reunion for classes '31-'35 was held on June 12, 2001, at Cecil Green Park House. L-R: Don Smith BA'31, BASc'32, MASc'33, Robert Ellison BASc'33, Micky Thomas BASc'31, Dean Michael Isaacson, Florence Graham BASc'35, Alan Webster BASc'33 Martha Piper meets Tokyo branch rep Jay Magee BA'97 at the April 26th reception UBC Young Alumni monthly networking socials and meetings: Successful Entrepreneur Speaker Series Second Tuesday of every month at Legends Bar & Grill, 608 Dunsmuir Street (Private room, downstairs). Networking 5:30-6:30 pm, Speaker 6:30-7:45 pm. Register by e-mail costello@axion.net or call 604 931-3932 Cost: $5 YA Monthly Meeting & POITS Social Third Thursday of every month at Sandbar (on Granville Island). The meeting is at 5:30-6:30 pm, with networking between 6:30-8:00 pm. Free Career Seminar "Networking and the Hidden Job Market" 5:30-7:30, November 15, ywca Downtown, 535 Hornby St. BRANCHES Continuing Events Hong Kong - Valerie Tse BA'94 ls tne new branch program manager. Watch for career workshops, hikes, corporate lunches and happy hours on the hk website: www.ubcalumni.com.hk. Toronto - Check out the website at www.geocitics.com/ubctoralum for the eclectic list of upcoming events. The legendary Sunday brunches continue. PAST EVENTS Los Angeles - Los Angeles alumni and friends of UBC gathered at the residence of Consul General Colin Robertson and his wife, Maureen Boyd ba(hon)'75 May 19th for a garden lunch. Departing Arts Dean Alan Tully gave some inspiring words about UBC's US Studies program and grads shared experiences from both sides of the border. Michael Chang bcom'oo is the new branch representative. Contact him at: mcachang@yahoo.com. Portland -Jacqueline Chu bcom'88 got branch events rolling in Portland, Oregon. She started regular pub nights, organized UBC's participation in the Earth Day hike, 48 Trek Summer 2001 Piper / Magee photograph by Christopher Domitter BCorr UPC0MWI6 REUNIO and came up with Canadiana-theme events. Portland grads can contact her at: chujacqueline@hotmail.com or 503 605-1438. Tokyo - Tokyo alumni and friends had a great time at the April 26th Keio Plaza hotel soiree on April 26th. Martha Piper was in town to recognize UBC Professor Timothy Parsons, recipient of the prestigious Japan Prize. She and Association President Gregory Clark bcom'86 LLB'89 hosted the event. UBC's Tokyo branch representatives, Robin Mah ba'8i and Jay Magee BA'97, are planning a family-style barbecue near the end of the summer. Contact Jay at jay.magee@jp.sony.com ior more details. New York - Watch for networking events beginning in late summer. Our new executive members are: Jennifer Chuppe ba'oo, Maili Wong bcom'oi, Philip Liu BCOM'95, llb'oo and Mike Warner bcom'oi. Shanghai - We have established a new branch in Shanghai. Branch rep Gregory Guo mba'oo invites UBC grads in the area to contact him at gregoryguo@yahoo.com regarding the next alumni gathering. UPCOMING EVENTS For information about all upcoming events, consult the Association's website at: www.alumni.ubc.ca or contact Janis Connolly, Manager, Branches, at janisc@alumni.ubc.ca or 800 883- 3088 in North America. September: Nanaimo - Alumni reception with Martha Piper, September 11 Prince George - Alumni reception with Martha Piper, September 17 I Rehab Medicine '91 August 4, Lower Mainland location TBC Elec Eng '91 -'00 August 11, University Golf Club brunch Ritsumekan '91 August 13-15, Homecoming for Japanese students Forestry '71 August 17-19, Coast Whistler Hotel Commerce '91 September 21-22 POITS, Colin Gourlay Lounge/Diner, Marine Dr. Golf Club Nursing '66 September 7-8, Victoria Civil Eng '51 September 19-20, Harrison Hotsprings Applied sciences '61 October 1, Cecil Green Park Reception Applied Sciences '71 October S, Cecil Green Park Reception/dinner Medicine '81 October 5-7, Manteo Resort Friends of Thunderbird Baseball October 11, Golf Tournament, Mayfair Lakes. Info: Terry Burns 813-3170 Nursing '71 November 1, trip to Club Med Class of '41 November 23, graduation ceremony Forestry and Forest Eng'52 May 14-16, 2002 Mech Eng '76 TBC Comp Sci/Math '72 TBC Commerce '76 September 28, Royal Vancouver Yacht Club The Law Class of '51 held their 5oth year reunion at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club in June. The party was a great success, l-r: Margie Daniels, Professor Charles B. Bourne, Marie Legg and Dean Emeritus George F. Curtis. MBA '71 September 7/8, Vancouver Club and Royal Hudson Calling all DMD grads: Want to get together and see what everyone has been up to? Let us know if we can assist in organizing your 10th reunion Contact Jane Merling at 604 822-8918 Summer 2001 Trek 49 Murder on The Ranch Wednesday, October 31, 2001 7:30 PM 6251 Cecil Green Park Road $20 per person, desserts & no-host bar. Call 822-3313 to RSVP or email: alu minfo@alumni. ubc.ca Special thanks to Roger Haskett BA'86, BFA'91, MA'92 and Murder Unlimited for staging and sponsoring this event for the past seven years ALUMNI NEWS Volunteers Needed There's more than one way to give back to your university . . . We need volunteers to help with this year's reunion weekend, graduation ceremonies, award dinner and mentoring programs. These are fun activities that give you a chance to meet other grads and today's students. If you would like to get involved in alumni activities, please contact Jane Merling at 604 822 8918 or merling@alumni. ubc.ca UBC Aiumni are invited to attend UBC Alumni Association Annual General Meeting September 12, 2001 11:30 for 12 noon Main floor, Cecil Green Park 6251 Cecil Green Park Road Vancouver, BC Luncheon provided to the first 50 alumni who RSVP Call 604 822 3313 to make your reservation. Victoria - Alumni reception with Martha Piper, September 21 October: Seattle - Canadian Consulate Thanksgiving Gala, October 5 Washington, DC - Canadian Embassy Tour, October 18 New York - Canadian Club of New York Canadian Alumni Reception, October 18 Ottawa - Alumni reception with Martha Piper, October 23 or 24 Calgary - Alumni breakfast with Martha Piper, October 29 November: San Jose - Canucks/Sharks Hockey event, November 3 Toronto - Alumni reception with Martha Piper, November 20. December: Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan - Alumni receptions with Martha Piper, December Canada Day in London: Grads gather outside Canada House on July 1. Association board member Tammie Mark is at left and Brenda Arbuckle, Commerce business manager, stands beside her. Chemical Engineering '75 held their 25th reunion this past year. The first part was held in Las Vegas, where everyone enjoyed the sights and made donations to local "charities." The second took place during Alumni weekend in October. The group enjoyed golfing and dinner, a tour of Triumf, the Chemical Engineering Building, and the rest of the campus. After 25 years not one person had changed. Well, maybe a few more grey hairs! Hong Kong Rendezvous: L-R: Diana Mah, Tien- May Lau, Richard Poon, Andrea Eng, Albert Au. All graduated with a Commerce degree in 1978. Nearly 25 years later, they met up in a Hong Kong restaurant to exchange success stories. UBC Online Community E-mail forwarding ■■ Mentoring Class notes Bulletin Boards Career Services Relocation advice www.alumni.ubc.ca then dick on the on-line community button Network 50 Trek Summer 2001 ALUMNI REUNION WEEKEND AT A GLANCE Welcome to Reunion Weekend, 2001 I am delighted to invite you back to UBC for the Alumni Reunion Weekend, Thursday September 27-Sunday September 30, 2001. For some, reunion weekend will be their first chance to revisit UBC since graduating. For others, returning to campus is a tradition and a promise to catch up with old friends they only see once a year. For many, the weekend will provide an opportunity to show off their alma mater to family and friends. For everyone, reunion weekend is a chance to reminisce, visit old haunts, take part in a variety of events and see how much UBC has changed. Our reunion committee has been working for nearly a year to plan a full and memorable weekend. We have added a reunion weekend section to our website at www.alum- ni.ubc.ca. Browse our weekend calendar of events, check out the reunion schedule and take advantage of what the campus has to offer. Those who have not set foot on campus for many years will marvel at the changes. If your reunion class is not listed and you are interested in being a part of the planning, please call Jane Merling, Program Coordinator, at 604 822 8918, or e-mail her at merling@alumni.ubc.ca. Or, call the Alumni Association toll free at 1-800-883-3088. I look forward to seeing you and hope the weekend will rekindle old friendships, spark fond memories and provide many new ones to enjoy in the future. Tuum est. Darlene Marzari MSW'68, Chair Thursday, September 27 Hall of Fame Thunderbird Football Dinner at the University Golf Club to celebrate first inductees into the T-bird Football Hall of Fame. Includes celebrity auction. Call Jerome at 604 822 3874 for info. Friday, September 28 UBC Alumni Achievement Dinner at the Waterfront Centre Hotel. Dinner honouring the 2001 award recipients. Call 604 822 3313, or contact aluminfo@alumni.ubc.ca for info and tickets. Salute to Thunderbird Football Alumni Tailgate party, BBQ, live music and awards ceremony at the Thunderbird stadium, 4 pm. Game: 'Birds vs. U of M Bisons, 7:30 pm. Call 604 822 3874 for info. UBC Ladybirds Dance Team, Cheerleaders and Booster Club Wine & cheese social at St. James' College, UBC campus. Former cheerleaders, majorettes, and Booster Club members can contact Jo-Ann Chiu at jsnchiu@hot- mail.com for info. 'O-Year' Reunion at the Thunderbird Stadium to welcome back latest 2001 grads. Tailgate party, live band, BBQ, prizes, football game. Call Tanya Walker, 604 822 8643 for info. Law students' Bzzr Up Official opening of the Career Development Centre. With a live band. All alumni are invited to attend. From 3 pm at the Law School (sponsored by the law firm of Fasken, Martineau & DuMoulin) Commerce '76 POITS, Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, contact Catherine Newlands at 604 822 6068 for info. Applied Science '51 Luncheon at UBC Asian Centre Mech Eng '51 Dinner at University Golf Club Pharmacy '76 Wine & Cheese reception at Cecil Green Park House Saturday, September 29 Alumni Reunion Weekend Kick Off Class reunion check-in at the Chan Centre, 9:30 am. Coffee & cinnamon buns, welcome by President Martha Piper. Free parking at the Rose Garden. Pharmacy Practice Centre Laboratory Visits from 11 am - 4pm at the George Cunningham Building. Student displays, research posters, etc. Coffee & cinnamon buns. Fort Camp Residence Did you ever live at Fort Camp? Come visit with your old neighbours. Lunch at Green College Reception Room. Walking tour of campus, Salmon BBQ & evening program at the Botanical Gardens. For more information contact Jane Merling at: 604 822 8918, or mer- ling@alumni. ubc. ca. UBC Nursing Alumni & Friends Luncheon All grads invited. Years to note: 76, '81, '86, '91, '96. Lunch at UBC Botanical Gardens, 12:30 pm. $10 mem bers, $15 non-members and guests. Includes entry to Gardens. Recognition awards with speaker Lenore Riddell CNS, Specialized Women's Health, Children's & Women's Health Centre of BC. Call Jane for info & tickets 604 822 8918, toll free: 800 883 3088. Check out the website: www.nursing.ubc.ca/docs/Alumni.htm Baseball Alumni Division Golf at Eaglequest (Musqueam), 9:30 am. "Past vs. Present" game at the Nat Bailey Stadium. Features Alumni Recognition "Over the Years" 1949-1964 vs 1997-2001. BBQ & Bzzr Garden, at the Bullpen, 4 pm For more information, contact Gary Sinclair at 604 684 6192, or sinc@humanperformance.ca Alumni & Friends Luncheon Green College. Guest Speaker Dr. Charles E. Slonecker "Human Evolution: Why Are There Six Billion of Us?" $20 per person. RSVP & tickets, call 604 822-3313 Major Entrance Scholarship Reception By invitation only Pharmacy '76 Dinner at University Golf Club Applied Sciences '51 Lunch at CEME Bldg., & tour Commerce '51 Lunch at the David Lam Management Research Centre Civil Eng '61 Dinner at Cecil Green Park Class of'36 Luncheon at the Dodson Heritage Room, Main Library Dentistry '76 Reunion at the Terminal City Club Physical Education '51 BBQ at Ross's home. Education '76 & '91 Lunch with the Dean, Scarfe Bldg. Social Work '76 TBC Agricultural Sciences & Home Economics 1951- 1954 Reunion Luncheon at Cecil Green Park House Architecture '51-'64 Reception & dinner at University Centre t Sunday, September 30 AIOO 75th Anniversary High Tea at The Secret Garden, 5559 West Boulevard, Vancouver, 2 pm. ^B^ $17.95 per person. Seating limited.^^^^^ Contact Carolyn Rhee-Thompson, 609-7828, or Marjorie Stevens at: stevema@axionet.com Visit www.alumni.ubc.ca for Reunion Weekend updates. Alur Weekend Summer 2001 Trek 51 LLAbb A\. I 3 Find out who's doing what and where they're doing it . . . 40S R.G. Rogers BCOM'49 and wife were pleased to welcome their first great grandson, Luke Brian Lovercheck, on July 14, 2000, in Corvallis, or. 50S H. Peter Oberlander, professor emeritus, Community & Regional Planning, has been appointed a judge in Canada's Citizenship Court for the British Columbia and Yukon Circuit. This is Oberlander's fourth year as judge, with special responsibilities for impending new Federal Citizenship legislation and its urban impact. 60: The venerable Ronald Harrison ba'68 has moved from parish work into the diocesan offices of the Anglican Church as the executive archdeacon ... Gary Rupert ba'68 has joined the UBC faculty of Education as a program coordinator in the Teacher Education Office. Prior to this appointment, he was a teacher and administrator in a number of bc school districts as well as the first executive director of the bc Festival of the Arts and an executive member of various provincial and national arts education organizations ... The Society of Automotive Engineers has awarded Michael Seal BA'63, founder and director of the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University, its prestigious Excellence in Engineering (Triple "e") Award. The only nominee of nearly 60,000 engineers, business executives, educators and students, Seal was honoured for his outstanding contributions made to Engineering Education Board activities ... Dr. Gerry Staley bed'6i has just published a book called Just Walk It!, a guide for self-directed walking vacations in Britain. Haig Farris ba'6o has been awarded the Bill Thompson Award by the BC Technology Industries Association. The award recognizes his contribution to the BC technology industry. After UBC, Haig earned his lld from the University of Pennsylvania and practised law in Vancouver from 1963-1968. He co-founded Ventures West in 1972., at the time the largest venture capital pool in Western Canada. He is currently president of Fractal Corp., a company that finances high-tech startups and resource service technology companies. He is also an adjunct professor at UBC, teaching a course on entrepre- neurship and financing high-tech companies. He is a well-respected volunteer in Vancouver, serving on a number of boards including the Vancouver Foundation, Science World, the Vancouver Opera, Waterfront Theatre, Playhouse Theatre and many more. He served as President of the Alumni Association from 1997 to 1999. UBC awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws degree in 1997. It's based on 30 years of long distance walks in England, Scotland and Wales. Check out: http://www.justwalkit.com for more details ... Shannon Purves-Smith BMus'71, recorders and viols, along with Anne McKenzie, viola de gamba, and Magdalena Tomsinksa, lute, has released a cd called Greensleaves, also the name of their Renaissance ensemble. The album has been aired on cbc, and is available at mpurvess@wlu.com 70S Nicola Cavendish BA'76 continues her successful career as one of Canada's best- known actors. Cavendish has performed in most major Canadian theatre venues, and her film credits include 1992 Cannes winner The Grocer's Wife. She recently played Nana in Michel Tremblay's For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, in Washington, DC ... Earlier this year, tenor Ben Heppner BA'79, lld'97 became one of the last recipients of a Judith Chalmers award. The prestigious cultural awards — worth $25,000 apiece — have gone to 13 artists each year since 1973. Chalmers prefers to see the awards terminated, and the same sum of money split among a greater number of artists ... Patricia Jones BED'74 will receive an ma in Personal Counselling from City University in Seattle. Patricia has a counselling practice in Duncan and her husband, Don Jones BSF'74, is now stationed at Holberg with Western Forest Products. 8O: Cathy (Brister) Abercrombie BED'83 completed an med in Curriculum and Instruction — Understanding Second Language Learning at Simon Fraser University last October ... Dan Graham llb'88 and wife Cindy Liboiron went on a five-month 26,000 km motorcycle trek around Australia. They are now enjoying 52 Trek Summer 2001 ORIAM being at home in Victoria, but are missing the desert heat ... Michael Klassen BA'85 and wife Stacey Fruin celebrated the arrival of their daughter, Sophie Elizabeth, on March 17, 2001. Michael and family live in Vancouver where he runs Thinking Cap Media, an Internet services company ... Herb Ono llb'86 has been made a partner with Clark, Wilson. He joined the law firm in 1996 and is a member in the firm's business law department, in the area of corporate finance and securities ... James A. Speakman LLB'85 also joins Clark, Wilson, as a partner in the Business Law Department. He has held senior executive positions in real estate and investment companies for the past decade. 90S Ian Baird BSC'94, PHD'99 and Kerry Baird BSc'94 are proud to announce the birth of their first baby, Sadie Caroline, born April 26, 2000, in Vancouver. Ian is a senior scientist at a local pharmaceutical company, and Kerry is with the Salmonid Renewal Program of Fisheries Renewal bc ... Linda Campbell BCOM'95 is now finance director with eBay (United Kingdom) Ltd. The role is a challenging one but having been vice president scholarship in her collegiate sorority chapter, Campbell already has experience in a senior role and is used to public speaking ... It's a boy for Shawn Corbishley BA'90 and wife Ileen. Ashton arrived on March 14, 2001 ... Dafna Eylon PHD'93, a Richmond University professor, is among the ti recipients of the 2001 Outstanding Faculty Awards, the Commonwealth's highest honour for faculty members of Virginia colleges and universities ... Lisa Freeman-Grant BA'97, a paralegal with the nonprofit Bet Tzedek Legal Services in la's Fairfax district, is one of the nation's leading experts on Holocaust reparations. She spends much of her time holding workshops in Southern California for Holocaust survivors. She also worked as a researcher for Canadian children's author Carol Matas' book War Within ... After working for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Philip Morris Asia Limited, and the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong King, William Fung BCOM'93 joined Hong Kong Hostels Association as general manager last October ... Jamie Hunter BA'95 recently celebrated his first anniversary of employment with I.Tel Corporation. He is taking care of business in Asia, and welcomes calls from friends passing through the area: 2520-6290 ... Del Elgersma LLB'91 was elected president of the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce for 2001. Del is a partner in a business and estate planning law practice. Karen (Jonasson) Elgersma BFA'91 is a tv reporter in Victoria. They live in Sidney with their 6 year old daughter Charlotte ... Paul Lawrence MFA'96 has been appointed director of Yale's Center for Media Initiatives ... John Mundie MLs'94, his wife, Catherine Lawrence, and daughter Jessica are happy to welcome Jackson James (April 23, 2001) to their family (UBC, 2021?) They live and work in Ottawa ... Linda Ong BA'94 nas joined Volunteer Vancouver as communications manager. Her non-profit background includes working with Apparel bc, the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, and serving as a board member for the Vancouver chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals. Ong was previously communications coordinator for fored bc, an environmental education association ... Rebecca Walters BFA'92 played the role of Alizon Eliot in the Vagabond Players production of Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not for Burning, which ran last March at the Bernie Legge Theatre, in New Westminster ... Arthur Wolak ba'90, dip(art hist)'94 received his mba from the University of Colorado last May and was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honour Society for high scholastic achievement in business studies. Dr. Philip Akrigg BA'37 of Calgary, February 8, 2001 ... John Neil Murdoch Allan BA'49 of Vancouver, March 22, 2001 ... Elsie Laura Anderson (nee Smellie) BA'45 ofVancouver, March T9, 2001 ... William Charles Brown bsc(agr)'28, December 18, 2000 ... James D. Burwell bsc(agr)'49 of Scarborough, on ... Elaine Chu (nee Kim) BSN'79 of Richmond, bc, February 25, 2000 ... Murray Elliott, associate dean, Teacher Education, March, 2001 ... Ewald Friedrich ofVancouver, February 20, 2001 ... Clotilde Gibson (wife of Dr. William Gibson), February 4, 2001 ... M.M. "Mac" Gilchrist bsc(agr)'48 ofVictoria, bc, February 13, 2001 ... William Hooson msw'53 of West Vancouver, May 18, 2001 ... George Robert Alexander Howey BASC'49, MASC'51, peng, fcns of Deep River, on, on May 2, 2001. He was retired executive director of Ontario Hydro, Nuclear Division, and was also founding member and first president of the Canadian Nuclear Society ... Howard Earl Johnston RA'57, BED'58, MED'6r of Salmon Arm, bc, June 5, 2001 ... Talis E. Kalnins BSc'64, PENG'75 of North Vancouver, December 19, 2000 ... Theodore (Ted) Koelewyn bsc(pharm)'79 of Williams Lake, bc, February 10, 2001 ... Eileen Koerner BA'41 ofVancouver, March 24, 2001 ... William H. Montgomery BA'58, LLB'59 died in London, England, in April 2001. He was deputy secretary-general of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Department of Foreign Affairs ... Ernest Moon bsc(pharm)'6i of Duncan, bc ... Mike Potkonjak ba'9t ofVancouver, June 19, 2000 ... Otto B. Smith BCOM'48, February 19, 2001 ... Walter David Touzeau bsc(agr)'34 of Delta, bc, November 27, 2000 ... Christopher Michael Evelyn West BA'52 of Cowichan Bay, bc, March 16, 2001 ... Peter D. Wildsmith dip(urban land econom- ics)'66 of St. Catharines, on ... George Alexander Wilson basc(elec eng)'57 of Vancouver, February r4, 2001. Summer 2001 Trek 53 IN MEMORIAM Harry Weiner (1922-2000) basc (chem eng)'43 Harry was an international business consultant for nearly 20 years, establishing joint-venture international operations for us corporations. He established n overseas corporations covering operational territories in 28 countries. Prior to this, he worked for Diamond Shamrock Corporation in a number of positions, including manager of International Operations. Under his management, the International Division grew from one operation in Mexico to 21 operating companies in 14 countries, with sales of approximately $500 million. From 1943-48, Harry was an officer with the Royal Canadian Engineers. He lived in the US, France, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil and Mexico and was fluent in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Hebrew. He also majored in Advanced Management at the Columbia University School of Business. Stanley Nash (1916-2001) Professor Emeritus, Statistics. Stanley Nash came to UBC in 1950 as assistant professor of Mathematics and research consultant after completing his phd at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the only statistician in the department at the time and for many years later. Before friendly statistical software, his services as a consultant were much sought after, providing help with a very large electrical calculator. He also created the first statistics courses in Mathematics and taught them until he retired in 1981. Stanley's position of professor emeritus was transferred to the department of Statistics shortly after it was created in 1983. There he continued his scholarly activities, remaining active throughout his retirement. He was dedicated to learning and maintained an active interest in a great variety of fields. Mohammed "Mo" Auyuab (1928-2001) phd(elec eng)'65 Born in San Fernando, Trinidad, Mohammed came to Canada in 1949. He earned his BSC and msc at the University of Manitoba before coming to UBC to complete his PHD in electrical engineering. Mo joined the Department of National Defence's Naval Research Establishment, later called the Defence Research Establishment Atlantic, Dartmouth, in 1954. He worked as a defence scientist in acoustics, signal processing, and applied mathematics. He later managed the Applied Math Section and was also responsible for central computer facilities. He retired in 1988. Mo was the father of table tennis in Nova Scotia. He was on the executive committee of the Nova Scotia Table Tennis Association from 1971 until the mid 1990s, and was president for many of those years. He played a key role in coordinating the National Championships in Halifax in 1971 and 198T. As National Officials chairman, he created the program that produces many top Canadian international officials. He received numerous national and provincial awards. Mo's ethics, organizational skills and friendship set an enduring example for the table tennis community. He was one of the patriarchs of the West Indian community and a mentor to many. Mo's words of wisdom and sound advice were deeply appreciated, his thoughtfulness and kindness were renowned. He was a man respected by all. David G.H. Frood (1924-2001) BA'48, MA'51 David was founding chairman of Physics at Lakehead University. He enrolled in mathematics at UBC in 1942, but discontinued studies the following year to join the war effort. He served in the Royal Canadian Engineers as a Sapper until October, T945. He returned to UBC to complete his degree, and in T949 became a research scientist with the Aeronautics Department of the National Research Council (nrc) in Ottawa. After earning his masters, David resumed his research career in Ottawa with NRC, and later transferred to the Defence Research Board. In 1955, he studied for his phd at the University of Liverpool, England. For the next two decades, David worked as a scientist on several classified research projects. In T966, he accepted a post as full professor and chairman of Physics at the then brand new Lakehead University. David was active in the community, serving on the Board of Directors of St. Joseph's General Hospital and the founding Board of Directors of St. Joseph's Heritage. During his second sabbatical at Trinity College, he met and eventually married his second wife, Sheelagh McGowan. He retired in 1989. His love of nature was expressed through gardening, landscaping and hiking. David enjoyed manual work, his last project a perfect one-sixteenth-scale replica of a clinker-built boat. Richard (Richie) Deane basc(elec ENGC34 (1912 -2001) and Fiona Deane (nee Sutherland) BA'33 (1911-2001) Richie was from a large pioneering family on Kootenay Lake near Riondel, bc. During his time at UBC, he was active in the Varsity Outdoor Club, where he met Fiona. After graduating, Richie was employed at Trail, bc, by Cominco and its subsidiary West Kootenay Power. During a 43-year career, he became chief electrical engineer and senior consulting engineer, playing important roles in Cominco's major expansion of large industrial facilities, including those at Trail, Kimberley, Pine Point Mines and their associated power systems — especially the transmission line to Kimberley with its two-mile crossing over Kootenay Lake. Richie was respected for his broad technical knowledge and many innovative designs. Two of Richie's sons and three of his grandsons followed in his footsteps as engineering students at UBC and the University of Calgary As well as his professional endeavours, Richie was a founding member and first president of the Red Mountain Ski Club. He presented papers on the Columbia River Treaty projects in 1964 in an effort to reduce flooding in the Arrow Lakes Valley. Richie maintained all interests until his peaceful passing at home on April 12, 2001. Fiona ("Pony") was raised in Nelson, bc, and Vancouver. She and Richie were married in 1938 and resided in the Kootenays for 63 years, raising three children and later enjoying nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Fiona became the centre of this extended family and well known in the wider Kootenay community through her interest in people, painting, poetry and literature and her participation in many outdoor activities. Fiona had an exceptional range of friends of all ages who shared her curiosity and appreciation of good conversation, adventure and a spirited approach to life. She and Richie travelled extensively. Fiona passed away peacefully at home following a brief illness, seven weeks after losing Richie. 54 Trek Summer 2001 Bernard George Webber (19J4-2000) ba'sjo, MA'62 Born in Winnipeg, Bernard attended the University of Manitoba until lack of money during the depression forced his withdrawal. He served as secretary to J.S. Woodsworth, who later became the first leader of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (ccf), forerunner of the ndp. Bernard was a delegate to the 1933 founding convention of the CCF, pursuing improved social conditions for the economically disadvantaged. He moved to Vancouver Island in 1935 where he met his wife, Jean, and graduated in 1938 with first class honours from Provincial Normal School in Victoria. Bernard was elected to the bc Legislature as the representative for Similkameen, and was the youngest sitting MLA between 1941-45. He returned to teaching, earned his UBC degrees, and then became principal of Richmond High School. In 1965, Bernard was director of Instruction in Vernon, and then moved on to become district superintendent in Kitimat, the South Okanagan and Keremeos School Districts. He was seconded to the Ministry of Education in Victoria as superintendent of Special Services in 1977, and retired in 1979. Bernard had a life-long interest in learning. He promoted the development and maintenance of libraries. While a superintendent in 1979, the Canadian Association of School Librarians named him "Administrator of the Year.'' Bernard encouraged the development of courses in First Nations languages and cultures during his time in Kitimat, and later Victoria. William Alexander Bruce Ewen (1917-2000) BASc'52, edcert'62 Bruce Ewen was born in Waldeck, Saskatchewan. His father was blacksmith Tom Ewen, who later became Tom McEwen, labour organizer and Communist Party leader. Bruce left school in grade 10, and worked as a machinist for an elevator company. He fought with the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, met Hemingway and Bethune, heard Paul Robeson sing "Old Man River" in a bombed- out church, was buried alive in a trench when a bomb exploded nearby, and survived a bout of typhus. Only a few days before his death, Bruce received a citation and a commemorative medal from Spain in gratitude for his fight against facism. In 1939 he returned to Canada, and got a job as a linotype operator in Val d'Or, Quebec. He was promptly fired for refusing to set into print an editorial that applauded Chamberlain and Hitler as peacemakers. He enlisted in the Signal Corps of the Canadian Army in Italy and in Holland, and was decorated five times for his Bruce never used his engineering degree professionally, but instead earned a teacher's certificate. His children have established a scholarship for excellence in Mathematics at Carson Graham School in North Vancouver, where he was head of the Mathematics Department from 1965-77. Bruce will be remembered for his teaching of life and love, and for his high ideals, which remained untarnished by life. Dr. Paul Trussell bsc(agr)'38 Paul graduated in agriculture in 1938 and was awarded a phd in Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin in 1943. Working in Montreal, he contributed substantially to the development of early antibiotics. In 1947 he was appointed head of Applied Biology in the bc Research Council and succeeded Dr. Gordon Shrum as director of the council in 1961. In a few years, by aggressive leadership, he developed the council significantly and before his retirement in 1980 had secured a fine new building on the south campus. Dr. Trussell was very active in promoting industrial research in underdeveloped countries for the United Nations. He was the dynamo behind the formation of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (waitro) and was the first secretary general from 1970 to 1978. In 1972, he received the waitro Award of Honour for his outstanding contribution to the association. Paul and his wife Helen established a substantial university scholarship to assist students from the West Kootenay area in studying at Simon Fraser University and UBC. Dr. Gordon Thomas Filmer-Bennett (1914-2001) BA'41, MA'46 Gordon was born in New Westminster on June 4, 1914. During his time at UBC, he earned a degree in English Literature and Philosophy, followed by a Masters in Psychology and Philosophy. He received his phd in Clinical Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1951. He was on the faculty of universities in Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin, and served with the Wisconsin department of Health & Social Services' Division of Corrections, as well as the Wisconsin Bureau of Clinical Services. He was awarded the title "Diplomate in Clinical Psychology" from the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology, and was a life member of the Canadian Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, Society for Personality Assessment, and Society of the Sigma Xi. From 1989, he resided with his wife, Arjean, on Orcas Island in Washington. Marian Williams (1912-2000) Born in Regina to Welsh immigrants, Marian Williams moved with her parents and two younger siblings to Vancouver in 1918. After high school, she left bc to attend the University of Manitoba, but returned two years later and graduated from St. Paul's School of Nursing in 1936. The Second World War prompted Marian to join the South African Military Nursing Service and she spent three years nursing wounded allies in Pretoria and Durban. After the war, Marian continued her career in the health field by taking a public health course at UBC, then nursing for another three years at the United Church Hospital in Bella Coola. In the early '50s, Marian moved to Alert Bay, bc, to become the federal government's Indian Health Services nurse. She joined in with the community's activities by playing the organ at church and also provided musical accompaniment for the local Glee Club. A few years after arriving at Alert Bay, she was transferred north to care for Native communities around the Prince Rupert area. By the mid '50s, Marian had moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where she earned a bsc in nursing from UC Berkeley. In the early '60s, she returned to UBC for further training before becoming a government social worker and later on, an adoptions officer in Surrey. After her retirement, Marian cared for her aging mother, and later lived in White Rock and Richmond. She remained an active member of her ex-service and nursing associations, the University Women's Club, and various choral groups. Dr. Maury Van Vliet, UBC Co-Director of Intramurals and Physical Education (1936-1945) Maury Van Vliet showed early promise in his athletics career at the University of Oregon, before moving north to join UBC at the age of 22. For nearly 10 years, he served alongside Gertrude Moore as co-director of intramurals and physical education. Van Vliet was a source of inspiration for the new intramural program and he helped to elevate the status of athletics at the university — initiating the idea for a degree program in physical education (which eventually came to fruition under the direction of Bob Osborne). He was also a gifted coach for UBC's football, basketball, track and boxing teams. Under Van VHet's leadership, notable UBC successes include a provincial football championship in 1939 and two Canadian basketball championships. Later, he moved on to the University of Alberta where he continued to excel as a basketball coach and was a major player behind the decision to hold the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. Van Vliet was inducted into the UBC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. He died shortly after returning home from the University of Alberta's annual Sports Wall of Fame ceremony. ♦ Summer 2001 Trek 55 11 E UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH C O L I) M B 1 A alumni ALUMNI ASSOCIATION *. The Benefits of Membership Whaf can the Alumni Association do for you? As one of 200,000 graduates of the University of British Columbia worldwide, you and UBC are partners for life. The Alumni Association keeps vou in touch with vour alma - mater hy developing interesting activities for you to become involved in. and by offering you goods and services at attractive rates. Our reunions, student events, programs for graduates of specific faculties and branch events for far-flung alumni serve our members around the world. You can visit our Web site [ more information, or call ou offices at 604 822 33 13 or, toll free, 800 883 3088. Reunions - We help you organize a great reunion with the old gang. - 43 reunions in 2000/01 Young Alumni Social, financial and networking activities for young grads, Murder Mystery parties, mentoring. Branches - With 21 international branches, and more across Canada, there's a UBC connection where you are. itudent Services We partner with other UBC units for Imagine UBC, mentoring programs and career networking. - We generate scholarships, bursaries and financial aid for special irojects. Trek Magazine \lews, profiles of your peers, thought-provoking ideas and articles ill about UBC, three times a year. Member Services - Merchandise, travel programs, MBNA MasterCard, insurance, frames, e-mail newsletter UBC Online Community - E-mail forwarding Mentoring - Class notes - Bulletin Boards Career Sei vices - Relocation advice have its privileges.The Alum www.alumni.ubc.ca click on the on-line community button S25+ GST, is worth its weight in g UBC Library borrowing card ($100 value). - Trek Magazine, three times a year. - Discounts on Internet access. - 2 for 1 admission to the I - "Music at the Chan" series special prices. - Discounts on Media Services printing. - UBC Fitness discounts. . . and much more.