Dan Falk
Jeff Woodrow
Leehe Lev
Loreen Barbour
Mike Paduada
Mirella Amato
Nadja Sayej
Nicolas Rouleau
Russell Zeid
Steve Ferrara
Susan G. Cole
Zahra Ebrahim
DAN FALK
Time is at once intimately familiar and yet deeply mysterious. It is thoroughly intangible: we say it flows like a river – yet when we try to examine that flow, the river seems reduced to a mirage. No wonder philosophers, poets, and scientists from Aristotle to Einstein have grappled with the enigma of time for centuries. In this talk, science journalist Dan Falk explores some of the most intriguing aspects of time, the most curious of dimensions.
Dan Falk is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster, and author. He has written about science for the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, The Walrus, SkyNews, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, and New Scientist, and has been a regular contributor to the CBC Radio program Ideas. (You may have heard his most recent Ideas program, which was on Galileo and the history of the telescope; it was called “Looking Up.”) His first book was Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for the Theory of Everything, and his most recent book, In Search of Time: Journeys along a Curious Dimension, was published in 2008 and was recently released in paperback. According to the Ottawa Citizen, In Search of Time “is what Stephen Hawking’s Brief History of Time should have been.”
Dan recommends:
- In Search of Time because it’s a fun read and I have to pay the rent.
- On a less self-serving note, let’s say The Labyrinth of Time by Michael Lockwood.
- The movie version of A Brief History of Time, directed by Errol Morris.
JEFF WOODROW
Jeff will share with the audience how the Joy T-Shirt Project came to Fruition: the intention and goals of the project, and the struggles along the way. He will discuss the reasons why being socially responsible is so important, e-commerce in today’s world, the charity aspect of the Project, and where it might go next.
Jeff Woodrow is a social entrepreneur from Toronto Ontario and founder of the Joy T-shirt project, which aims to promote peace and equality on a global scale. Upon graduating from the University of Waterloo with an honours degree in Fine arts, Jeff set out to see the world and learned many valuable lessons along the way. Jeff enjoys homemade brownies, longboarding, DIY projects, yoga and random acts of kindness.
Jeff recommends:
- The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. An interesting read that reminds us that we should work to live instead of living to work.
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Simply a classic.
Favourite Podcast: This American Life, CBC Radio 3 with Grant Lawrence
Best Sandwich: The Black Hoof Charcuterie (Toronto)
Favourite New Musician: Dan Mangan
Favourite Blog: Lifehacker.com
LEEHE LEV
What is wellness? What does it mean to be a well person? How do we achieve it? During Leehe’s talk, she’ll unravel some of the confusion, stress and mystery to being well. Through an interactive activity using the seven dimensions of wellness, you’ll come out with a better sense on achieving balance in your life.
Leehe is the owner of Whole Self Fitness, a wellness company providing on-site holistic personal training. She is a certified personal trainer specializing in core strength training for back pain, aquatic exercise and rehabilitation. She teaches healthy cooking instruction for the prevention and management of diabetes at Whole Foods Market. Leehe has given many talks on wellness but this will be the first one with a ‘think outside the box’ approach to it. She volunteers at the Stop Community Food Centre’s greenhouse to gain experience growing edible plants for her first season growing veggies and herbs through the YIMBY program.
Leehe recommends:
- All-New, All-Natural Approach to Beating Diabetes, Edited by Reader’s digest. I read a lot of books on wellness and this one I’ve been referencing lately. It’s got very simple approaches to eating healthy, some exercise tips, recipes and stress management techniques.
- Toronto Cyclists Union; I’m a cyclist and a member. The Toronto Cyclists Union are doing much needed work to make Toronto a safe, bicycle-friendly city.
LOREEN BARBOUR
Loreen Barbour has worked both locally and internationally in the social services sector, dedicating herself to organizations that use educational initiatives to confront issues of poverty and access. She currently develops apprenticeship training programs for the the Government of Ontario.
Loreen recommends:
- Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey. The author was raked over the coals for his non-fiction/fiction memoir A Million Little Pieces. In Bright Shiny Morning he is writing fiction and he’s damn good at it. Brutal, evocative characters, rapid pacing, and more LA facts than one ever needs.
- Check out the Cape Dorset Prints. Every year a collection of prints from this northern community is released to small galleries across the country. This has been happening for 50 years. They are incredible, the prints include a range of traditional and modern native imagery. Ice floes, caribou, snow machines, hockey and corner stores. Remarkable stuff.
MIKE PADUADA
What is the connection between quantitative finance and media relations for a team of prototype space rovers? How does modeling anthrax, being on ESPN2, jumping down 272 flights of stairs, teleconferencing from a gondola in Whistler, and having dinner with a Kahuna fit in? In this talk, Mike Paduada shares career-hopping highlights, and discusses how he has solved problems by making connections between different jobs, disciplines and experiences. As well, he suggests how good communication and a healthy imagination can be an effective approach for getting people to solve other people’s problems.
Mike Paduada is a writer, co-founder of Modica Communications and principal consultant of Conceptuum Corporation. He holds a B.Math degree in Pure Mathematics and an M.Math degree in Statistics-Finance, both from the University of Waterloo. His work has included teaching math, swing dance performances, entertainment promotion, operations research, risk management, writing, asset valuation, writing, geostatistical modeling, public outreach and media relations. He welcomes interesting conversations on almost any topic that you’re excited about, but he may end up trying to start a project with you. As well, if you have any interest in exploring workplace democracy, promoting scientific literacy, encouraging broader civic engagement, developing social geolocation apps on mobile devices, he’d like to talk to you.
Mike recommends:
- The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works by Ricardo Semler. This book is a few years old now, and there are certainly more recent examples of democratic and alternative work practices, but this book still contains interesting and plausible examples for how we can re-invent the workplace. Look for this book in your local library or buy an e-book version.
- Democracy Now! Democracy Now! is a great source for independent, progressive news with good international coverage, though its focused mainly on the United States.
- Centre for Social Innovation
CSI is a highly successful co-working community with a social conscience. Check out one of the events hosted in their space at 215 Spadina (stopping by Dark Horse Espresso Bar on your way in or out), or inquire about their new building at 720 Bathurst.
- affectandeffect.com/tales Time for some shameless self-promotion. I’ve been posting a new short story every day in 2010, each story being one word longer than the last. It all began with a one-word story on January 1, 2010.
MIRELLA AMATO
Helping people discover and explore beer is rife with challenges, the most common of which is identifying and disproving common misconceptions about beer. In her talk, Mirella will attempt to gather more information on how Torontonians see beer. She will then share some of her favourite beer myths and how they are perpetuated in the media.
Specializing in Ontario and Québec brews, Mirella Amato has made the promotion of craft beer her full-time job. She has been published in a number of North American beer magazines and brewspapers and regularly conducts beer tasting sessions and seminars through her company, Beerology. Mirella is a founding member of Cask! and a proud member of the Pink Boots Society. She is also a board member for the Canadian Amateur Brewers’ Association and a BJCP Certified beer judge, having judged in a number of beer competitions both in Canada and abroad over the past three years. Mirella is a regular contributor to TAPS, Canada’s beer magazine, The Great Lakes Brewing News and Bières et Plaisirs. She is also a beer columnist for CBC Radio 1, and can be heard on Here & Now every second Wednesday.
Mirella recommends:
- Cheers! An Intemperate History of Beer in Canada by Nicholas Pashley, because it’s a fabulous book
- Going out on a Monday evening every now and then to support local comics at Pirate Video Cabaret , because laughing is good for you.
NADJA SAYEJ
Nadja examines ArtStars*, the internet television revolution and how YouTube is the boob tube of tomorrow. She tells what it’s like being a micro-celebrity; the experience of going from a behind-the-scenes newspaper reporter to someone who gets recognized in grocery stores.
Nadja Sayej is against pretentious artspeak as well as long and complicated bios. She is the host of ArtStars* – “TMZ for the art scene” – a legendary reality TV show which has captured art gallery patrons walking into minimalist sculptures (and not apologizing), drunk museum curators talking about her cleavage, and Toronto artists ‘fessing up about where exactly all their Canada Council grant money goes at 4 a.m.. She is the founder of the Toronto Alliance of Art Critics, runs a few parties around town (like the Dead Magazine Ball and Press Pass) and has dodged the NYPD while nabbing stories for the New York Times. ArtStars* is syndicated by Torontoist.
Nadja Recommends:
- Kickstarter.com is a way to fund and vote for the arts.
- Check out the band Narwhals (of Sound) (NSFW).
NICOLAS ROULEAU
No longer wanted at home, lawyers are now turning to other countries! Much of the theory surrounding the development of poor countries turns around the role of law. This talk will discuss the roles of the legal system to provide certainty and efficiency where informal norms in society break down. Expanding this idea to the development world, it becomes easier to understand where law’s impact turns out to be beneficial or harmful.
Nicolas Martin Rouleau is a practising constitutional lawyer, academic, and co-founder of the Treehouse Group. He has taught courses on comparative constitutional law, international development, and political philosophy at India’s top law schools and lectured on federalism, democracy, development, and corporate governance throughout India. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa Law School. Nicolas holds a Master of the Science of the Law (J.S.M.) from Stanford University Law School, where his thesis focused on foreign direct investment, and an LL.B. magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa Law School. He received a 2007-2008 Fulbright Award, the 2007-2008 Viscount Bennett Fellowship, and a 2007-2008 SPILS Scholarship. Nicolas also studied life sciences at the University of Toronto. Nicolas has clerked for the Honourable Justice Marie Deschamps of the Supreme Court of Canada, has worked on development with the UN, Red Cross, and Uganda Human Rights Commission in several African countries, and is currently fundraising to build a school in Uganda. He has widely published in the area of Canadian constitutional minority-language rights.
Nicolas recommends:
- The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier. It’s the best book to start understanding development. No hype or ideology: only what we know and don’t know.
- The crescendo and diminuendo in classical music. 20th-century mainstream musical movements really haven’t fully explored the potential of this musical tool. There’s lots of fame to be had for bands that harness it.
STEVE FERRARA
Steve Ferrara is Executive Director at Well and Good and curator at 52 McCaul. Well and Good is a grassroots community dedicated to cultural evolution through the exploration of contemporary visual art, design, popular culture and the space where these things converge. Their mission is to promote and support local and international artists and cultural producers in different stages of their careers, through the exhibition, promotion and development of their work. 52 McCaul is a new arts hub, the distribution centre for all things Well and Good.
SUSAN G. COLE
Susan is interested in how we identify, and whether labels matter anymore. She’ll be asking audience members to talk about their own identity - not necessarily sexual!
Susan is an author, playwright, activist, and broadcaster. She is a co-founder of Toronto’s first Lesbian organization the Lesbian Organization of Toronto (LOOT), in 1978; founded Toronto’s first all women’s band, played the mainstage of Toronto’s first Gay Pride, and wrote the hit stage comedy A Fertile Imagination - about two lesbians trying to have a baby - for Nightwood Theatre. She is currently the Entertainment and Books editor at NOW Magazine.
Susan recommends:
- Cities of Refuge by Michael Helm. It’s set in Toronto, it deals with politics and the problems of activism, and it has a ton of soul.
- I love The Stop’s Green Barn Farmers’ Market at Wychwood Barns that happens on Saturdays – great vibe and community spirit, and fantastic local foods on sale.
ZAHRA EBRAHIM
Zahra is the Founder and CEO of the architecture and design think tank, archiTEXT and is currently the Innovator in Residence at the Design Exchange. Ebrahim brings together diverse groups to tackle the intersections of architecture and design with social change, the environment, politics, economics, equality, health, and pop culture. At the Ontario College of Art and Design , she teaches in the Think Tank Program and is the co-lead on the Community Design Initiative project, engaging some of Canada’s most marginalized youth in architecture and design. She is the co-Executive Producer on Rocking the Beaver: Tales of Canadian Design, and volunteers both as the Co-Chair of Outreach for Couchiching Institute of Public Affairs and as the Chair of Events for Architecture for Humanity (Toronto Chapter). She also sits on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO Youth Advisory Group and contributes regularly to OnSite Review. Zahra was recently recognized as one of the Global Knowledge Partnership’s Top 100 Young Global Social Entrepreneurs.