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Alumni Notes – March 2019

Alumni Notes - March 2019

David McGuffin shares his tales as a foreign correspondent with journalism students

“As a journalist, your best bet is to follow what’s interesting to you,” King’s alumnusDavid McGuffin, BJ’95, told journalism students during a guest lecture this week. McGuffin says he chose King’s one-year Bachelor of Journalism because it was so hands-on, giving him the skills he needed to launch his 25-year career as a foreign correspondent for CBC, CTV, NBC and ABC in Russia, China, Rome and Africa. Most recently he was supervising editor at National Public Radio (NPR) in Washington, D.C. and now has returned to his hometown, Ottawa where he’ll continue to freelance for NPR as he launches a new podcast for Canadian Geographic. He says he’s optimistic about the future of journalism in Canada after significant industry downsizing. “It’s amazing what journalism can do, and what happens when it’s not there.” Read more.

 

John Godfrey named to the Order of Canada

Dr. John Godfrey, DCL’06, King’s president from 1977-87, has been named to the Order of Canada. He was a stalwart for traditions and a strong believer in establishing a living-learning community at King’s which he modelled after the Oxford-Cambridge experience, calling it the “total integration of all aspects of education, the education of the whole person,” and the primacy of undergraduate teaching. Read more.

 

Lindsay Ann Reid pens new book about Ovid 

Lindsay Ann Reid, BA(Hons)’03, a lecturer in English at the National University of Ireland, Galway, has just written a new book: Shakespeare’s Ovid and the Spectre of the Medieval. It’s a study of how the use of Ovid in Middle English texts affected Shakespeare’s treatment of the poet, and offers a fresh approach to the subject by aiming to account for the Middle English literary lenses through which Shakespeare and his contemporaries often approached Greco-Roman mythology. Drawing its principal examples from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Lucrece, and Twelfth Night, it reinvestigates a selection of moments in Shakespeare’s works that have been widely identified as “Ovidian,” to uncover how ostensibly classical references may be haunted by the under-acknowledged, spectral presences of medieval intertexts and traditions.

 

Debut book of poetry explores the making and remaking of the self

KC Trommer, 1993, is releasing her vibrant debut book of poetry called We Call Them Beautiful (Diode Editions, 2019). “This, all this,/is the making of you,” KC writes, reminding us that what we live through changes us and the stories we tell about our lives. In these poems of love, pleasure and survival, KC navigates the cold menace of the Atlantic Ocean, the wild terrors of sex and carnival rides, and the bittersweet-ness of watching her sleeping child’s quiet breathing, all while mapping the power, joy and dangers of being a woman in the world. Drawing its strength from discovery, We Call Them Beautiful explores the necessary making and remaking of the self, through art and stories, while looking unflinchingly at the ways that time works on us all. KC is the founder of the audio project QUEENSBOUND and is the Assistant Director of Communications at NYU Gallatin. She lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her son.

 

Alumna writes new YA book based on refugee’s life story

Sue Farrell Holler, BJ(Hons)’84, is delighted to announce the release of her newest book, Cold White Sun. This YA title tells the story of a young refugee who flees Ethiopia and shows up at the Calgary Greyhound station. The novel is based on a true story. KirkusReviews.com describes it as “an emotionally gripping work of fiction…a profound, heartbreaking narrative filled with loss, confusion, displacement and longing.” Published by Groundwood Books of Toronto, it is available as a paper book and an ebook.

 

In his own words, HOST alumnus tells us about life as a physician in Northern Ontario

“I decided on the study of HOST at King’s because I had long loved stories of scientific discovery, mostly neatly packaged heroic narratives of geniuses who fought persecution and ridicule to bring us closer to a true understanding of our world,” says Benjamin Langer, BSc(Hons)’09, who is now a physician in Sioux Lookout, Ont. Read more.

 

Rich Aucoin nominated for Prism Prize

The seventh annual Prism Prize, which recognizes the artistry of modern music video in Canada, announced its top 20 finalists for Favourite Canadian Music Video for 2019 and among them is Rich Aucoin, BA(Hons)’06, for “The Middle.” Read more in The Coast and vote for Rich before April 19.


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