From the empty tomb through the lives of the saints to the building of a Kitchener church, a long and eventful story is told in "Quem Quaeritis", one of seven plays that make up the drama department's UpStart "festival of innovative theatre" for this year. John Wideman, Ciaran Myers and John Cormier rehearse. The plays, in various combinations, will be staged in Studio 180 in the Humanities building Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, and Saturday afternoons, this week and next. Tickets are available from the Humanities box office, 519-888-4908.

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Feds' campaign about to begin

The Federation of Students will be under temporary leadership for the next couple of weeks, as president Michelle Zakrison takes a leave of absence to run for re-election. The annual Feds election is scheduled for February 13-15, and campaigning starts tomorrow.

Federation rules prescribe that an executive member who's also an election candidate must withdraw from "all but essential" duties. As a result, two Feds vice-presidents — Jeff Henry, VP (education), and Renjie Butalid, VP (administration and finance) — will look after the president's responsibilities, from orientation planning to the Food Services Advisory Board.

"This is the second time duty delegation has happened in a way that affects me," Henry (right) explained on Friday. "Two years ago, with Raveel Afzaal stuck in Pakistan and John Andersen taking a leave from his VP Internal responsibilities to run for President, Becky Wroe and I divided and delegated both of those executive portfolios amongst ourselves (and staff, where appropriate). This time, it's only one being divided and delegated." The unusual distinction is possible because Henry served as Feds vice-president in 2004-05 and again in 2006-07, with a year off in between.

Zakrison, an environmental studies student, is seeking to be the first Feds president since Mario Bellabarba (1996-98) to serve two one year-terms. She's facing opposition from two candidates, Adam Schubert (electrical engineering) and Kevin Royal (political science).

There are two candidates for vice-president (education), Jonah Levine of political science and Stuart Hastings of planning, and three for VP (internal): Darcy Higgins of environment and resource studies, Faraz Warsi of science, and Nhu Nhat Nguyen of economics. Originally there were also three candidates for VP (administration and finance), but one of them, Petrina Akor, has withdrawn, leaving two: Delsavio Pereira (philosophy) and Arthur Chan (mathematics).

A number of seats on Students' Council, the Federation governing body, are also due to be filled, but the Feds web side indicates that candidates for all those positions have been acclaimed: AHS: Surabhi Venkatesh. Arts: Caitlin Cull, Stephen Eaton, David Isern, Lu Jiang. Engineering: Jeffrey Aho, Kristi Herlein, Michael Sue-Kam-Ling. Environmental Studies: Justin Williams. Math: Keith Chan, Casey Song, Aly Sivji. Science: Andrew Falcao, Kiran Narayansingh, Matthew Colphon. St. Jerome’s: Christopher Neal.

Undergraduate students can also elect several representatives to the university senate, and here are the seats and the candidates, again as listed on the Feds web site: Applied Health Sciences: Shahnawaz Ali, Belle Kaplan, Sheryl-Ann Schrik, Jenna van Draanen. Arts: Steven Hayle, Lu Jiang, Steve Ryder. Math: Eric Diep, Morgan Grainger, Aly Sivji. At Large: Renjie Butalid, Keith Chan, Mohamed Farid. No candidates for seats in Engineering and Mathematics are listed.

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Artist's riff on 'Modern Languages'

"Death to Everyone" is the title of an exhibition by Chris Down, one of three shows that continue this week at "Render", the UW art gallery in East Campus Hall. Here's how a gallery news release describes the exhibition:

"A graduate of the University of Western Ontario (MFA 2001) and the University of Victoria (BFA 1999), Chris Down produces large-scale site paintings, working directly on the walls in acrylic, latex, ink and chalk in combination with canvas elements and works on paper. Down draws on such forms as comics, animation, large-format print advertising, found photographs and the 'noise' of contemporary media to create complex montages incorporating elements of humour, the absurd and the tragic.

"Fragmentary and disjunctive, Down’s paintings hint at narratives but frustrate any straight reading, capturing the confusion and contradictory nature of a multi-format/perspective information age. Grounded in, and accepting certain limits of, the culture of painting, Down combines and recombines images and elements and projects an approach to painting that is evolving and unstable, temporary as opposed to being tied to the completion of individual objects.

"Music also informs his methodology and one can consider his activity within the context of such contemporary performers as The Sadies, Bonnie Prince Billy, The Decemberists and Neko Case whose base in specific music traditions fuels their efforts to produce new material with critical depth distinguished by a discordant beauty.

"For Death to Everyone, Down has combined imagery informed by the music of NWA, Nick Cave and Bonnie Prince Billy. The various pictorial elements are linked by recurring 'dark' themes, literary sources and the poetic/reflexive use of language.

"As with previous projects, the work suggests a storyline through the sequence of images and text fragments but the work lacks a literal meaning, remaining, like so many songs, ambiguous and open to interpretation.

"Down’s choice of subject matter is a direct response to the name of the UW Faculty of Arts Modern Languages building (left), and he brings into this setting imagery that clearly resonates with current events mired in conflict, loss, fear and confusion.

"Down’s project, like Allan Harding MacKay’s in the adjacent gallery, reflects Render’s emphasis on engaging artists who produce work in situ. Death to Everyone was produced over several weeks with the assistance of Paula Jean Cowan, who is currently developing new work for the Render program."

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Partners with UW, and other notes

The UW publication that was distributed through the Record newspaper (and campus mail) last week was mostly about the university's 50th anniversary, but an ad on the back cover took a different tack. "As we celebrate our 150th anniversary," it began, "the City of Waterloo congratulates the University of Waterloo on providing 50 years of leadership in academics." The city was established in 1857, and is marking the anniversary in the course of this year with awards, events (including a parade and picnic on May 27), publication of a hardcover history of the city, an exhibition ("Village Crossroads to Smart City") at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, new walking routes and other special activities. The city is also helping to sponsor the Canada Day activities on UW's north campus July 1, at which the fireworks should be something spectacular. More about the city's sesquicentennial is, of course, online.

Another ad in last week's 50th anniversary publication came from Wilfrid Laurier University: "We're neighbours on University Avenue. Fierce competitors on the field, ice and courts. And for 50 years Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo have been partners in post-secondary education. Each university has its own strengths and distinctive character, and there has always been a strong two-way connection. . . . We're proud to share this connection with the University of Waterloo and look forward to working alongside UW with further innovations." WLU traces its own beginnings to 1911 — and UW can claim a share of that, since this university grew out of Waterloo College, forerunner of the present WLU, in 1957.

News from the teaching resource office (TRACE) about the Certificate in University Teaching program for graduate students: "This October, TRACE welcomed its first full-time CUT Program Coordinator. Svitlana Taraban-Gordon, who arrived at TRACE from the Faculty of Education at York University, is now managing all aspects of the CUT Program. In December, Svitlana defended her dissertation and will receive a PhD in Language, Culture and Teaching from York University’s Faculty of Education. For the past five years, Svitlana has been a TA and later a Course Director at York University’s Teacher Preparation Program (BEd). Her areas of expertise include issues of language, culture, identity, and globalization. She published her scholarly work in Education Policy Analysis Archives and Canadian Woman Studies. Having a strong interest in teaching and learning in international contexts, Svitlana has been involved in teaching and research activities in Macedonia, Germany, Denmark and Finland. Svitlana is looking forward to focusing her energies and expertise in the area of professional development for graduate students. In addition to coordinating all current activities related to the CUT Program, Svitlana will work on creating resources and developing linkages with graduate students and faculty interested in issues of internationalization, culture, and diversity."

Deaths of several retired staff members have been reported in recent days. Johann Nowak, who served at UW from 1970 to 1976, died December 31. Hendrika Winnan, a food services assistant from 1980 to her retirement in 1992, died January 13. And Patricia Turner, who was an accounting clerk in the bookstore from 1976 to her retirement in 1984, also died January 13.

Friday's Daily Bulletin said that Arjan Brem, a graduate student in earth sciences, would face a PhD oral defence on Monday, February 11. There's no such day, and the oral defence is scheduled for Monday, February 12, at 1:30 p.m. Other details as listed were correct.

CAR

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