Daily Bulletin

Miniature art works are on sale this weekend as the fine arts department holds its third annual open house. The event highlights work by fine arts faculty, staff, students and alumni; hundreds of little (postcard-sized) works will be for sale "at affordable prices". "Proceeds will go," a flyer says, "towards drywalling the Artspace Gallery." The event runs from 4 to 7 this evening, 1 to 5 on Saturday afternoon, and 9 to 4 on Monday and Tuesday. At previews earlier this week, Paula Poch, fourth-year fine arts student, had a chance to check out the miniature art.

Today's urging: buy nothing

If you do spend Organizers of the annual staff association craft sale are hoping people don't take Buy Nothing Day too literally. The sale, which started yesterday, runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1301, and 10 per cent of the proceeds go to the Senate Scholarship Fund and the Staff Association Bursary. Last year, more than $1,300 was raised. For sale: knitted and crocheted items, pottery, candles, stained glass, chocolates, quilts, wreaths, and the inevitable "much more", made by current and retired staff members.

WPIRG volunteers are organizing videos, workshops, events, and actions to help mark Buy Nothing Day, scheduled for today -- it's held on the day after American Thanksgiving each year.

"As we reach the Christmas season," says co-organizer Paul Baines, "it's time to question what our consumer lifestyle is doing to us, the rest of the world, and the planet we depend on to live. Once, we shopped to buy what we needed, period, Now that we don't need much, we shop for other reasons: to impress each other, to fill a void, to kill time. A mere 20% of the earth's population uses 86% of its natural resources. Our over-consumption is killing the planet."

A WPIRG announcement talks about "how our Vodoo economic system benefits from disease, divorce, and deforestation" and "how advertising and commercial media fabricate desire, legitimize greed, and ignore externalities such as social and environmental decay". At Buy Nothing Day observations in the Student Life Centre, people "will be introduced to Simple Living, a growing movement with millions of North Americans working and living for a more sustainable and compassionate future.

"Finally, participants will have the chance to express their own dissent with consumer culture, They will act, paint, drum, dance, march, and surprise a local mall with their non-commercial messages."

Last year, WPIRG says, an estimated one million people "made a pact with themselves and joined the consumer fast for 24 hours".

WPIRG adds: "Buy Nothing Day events at the University also include a World Trade Organization (WTO) send-off. Twenty students will board vans headed for the Seattle trade talks running from November 30 to December 3. Popular dissent is rising among students and thousands of others since trade representatives ignore the stunning contradiction of economic progress and a dying plant. The send off is scheduled for 3 p.m."

'Music that makes a difference'

Using musical excerpts to illustrate his points, he will discuss the Consort Caritatis, a uniquely Canadian musical group with a humanitarian focus. The lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. in Siegfried Hall at St. Jerome's. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Dyck is conductor and artistic director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir and Chamber Singers as well as the Consort Caritatis Choir and Orchestra. He will play samples from two CDs that the Consort Caritatis produced for charity: an all-Canadian production of Handel's "Messiah" released in 1995, and the 1998 recording of Verdi's "Messa da Requiem" featuring the Consort Caritatis and Virtuosi di Praga under his direction. The proceeds of the "Messiah" CD went to the Mennonite Central Committee and Habitat for Humanity; proceeds from the Requiem CD went to help victims of land mines around the world.

Known across Canada as the host of CBC Radio Two's "Choral Concert" and "Saturday Afternoon at the Opera", Dyck is the 1990 winner of the Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Award (Music) and the winner of the 1996 Ontario Choral Federation Distinguished Service Award.

His musical recordings include a 1985 release of J.S. Bach's "Missa Brevis" in G Minor with London Pro Musica and the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, which was named "Best Choral Recording of the Year" by Music Magazine. In 1999 Dyck was appointed artistic director (classical music) of the International Festival of the Arts held in Kunming in the People's Republic of China. The Consort Caritatis performed "Messiah" at the festival -- only the second performance of the Baroque masterpiece ever to be held in China.

The 17th season of free public lectures offered by the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience will continue through the winter. The Centre for Catholic Experience is jointly sponsored by St. Jerome's University, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamilton, and the Congregation of the Resurrection.

Memos from here and there

Jason MacIntyre, marketing coordinator in the retail services department: "Today is the last day for faculty and staff to RSVP to attend the first annual Holiday Celebration at the Bookstore and UW Shop on Thursday, December 2. The event, which runs from 5 to 7 p.m., will feature guest author Rienzi Crusz, reading from his new book, Lord of the Mountain: The Sardiel Poems. Holiday refreshments will be served, and invited guests will receive a special holiday discount of 25% off general books, clothing and giftware. RSVPs should be sent by e-mail to mjmacint@uwaterloo.ca."

Math student Glen McMillan: "BUDS is a UW group made up of tutors who assist students in local secondary schools. As you can imagine, tutors are in high demand in January since secondary school students need help right before final exams. In order to prepare for the rush, BUDS is looking for winter term volunteers who like working with students and will be able to give two or three hours per week throughout the term. BUDS is offering tutor training now so that you can begin your tutoring right away in January. If this interests you, contact uofw@canada.com and attend our training session on Tuesday, November 30, from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. in B1-266; food will be provided. There will also be tutor training in January for those who cannot attend on Tuesday evening, but the earlier we have tutors trained, the sooner we can help students!" McMillan can be reached at ggmcmill@undergrad.math.

Charlene Schumm, head of the staff association nominating committee: "The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) is seeking applications for three staff representatives on the UWSA Nominating Committee. The terms for these three positions are two years, beginning January 1, 2000. The UWSA Nominating Committee nominates and/or appoints regular full-time and part-time UWSA members as representatives to university or UWSA standing committees or ad hoc committees requiring staff representation. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please forward the following information: Name, department, extension, email address, years of service at UW, any relevant information you would like the committee to consider and the reasons why you'd like to serve on this committee. The information that you provide will be a key factor in the final selection of the three representatives. Please send this information to Charlene Schumm at cschumm@admmail by December 7. We want to encourage all staff members from across campus to consider this opportunity and submit their application. Individuals interested in providing representation who are not members of the University of Waterloo Staff Association may join by contacting Barb Yantha (ext. 3566 or email staffasc@mc1adm)."

The last weekend of November

"Touring Players" will bring the children's show "Charlotte's Web" to the Humanities Theatre at 10:00, 11:45 and 1:30 today; watch for school buses on the ring road.

The department of combinatorics and optimization presents a colloquium today by Tomasz Luczak of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland. He'll speak on "Games on Graphs and the Probabilistic Method", at 3:30 in Math and Computer room 5158.

The UW stage band presents its end-of-term concert at 8:00 this evening in the great hall of Conrad Grebel College. The theme: "Fascinating Rhythm -- A Tribute to the Jazz Greats". Admission is $8, students $5.

CTRL-A, the Club That Really Likes Anime, holds its final Japanese animation show of the term, today and Saturday. Word is that "we'll be finishing off two of our long-running TV series, and showing three movies with an end-of-the-millennium atmosphere: 'X', 'Spriggan', and 'Nadesico: Prince of Darkness'. The fun takes place in Engineering Lecture Hall 201, starting at 4:30 p.m. and continuing Saturday at noon."

"Show your child that you care, by FESKing them!" said the newsletter sent to hundreds of parents of UW students. FESK is the Final Exam Survival Kit that includes such products as raisins, pop tarts, apples, shaving cream, soup and chocolate bars. Oh, plus "study tips, important phone numbers, and a supportive special message from you". The kits are distributed as a fund-raiser by the Student Ambassador Association, which will be holding a "stuffing party" tomorrow to put the kits together. They'll be distributed in the Student Life Centre next week to students whose parents chose to order them.

Sports this weekend: the men's basketball Warriors host Mohawk College for an exhibition game tonight at 8:00 in the PAC. The women's team hosts Lakehead on Sunday at 1 p.m. The hockey team faces Laurier at 2:00 on Sunday at the Columbia Icefield. Away from Waterloo, the men's and women's volleyball teams both play at Western tomorrow.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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