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iWriteaboutme.com Welcomes Jennifer Thym to IKBLC

October 28, 2009

As part of its social media workshop series, Schema Magazine at IKBLC presents Jennifer Thym, visionary Writer and Director of LUMINA, an original nine-part web series “characterized as a dark, densely woven fantasy set against the sparkling backdrop of Hong Kong” (stars JuJu Chan, Michael Chan and Vince Matthew Chung).

Wednesday November 4, 2009 | 6:15 – 7:30 PM.
Victoria Learning Theatre | The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre | University of British Columbia (directions and address below)
Free Event. RSVP required as seating is limited. Please visit NAAAP Vancouver to reserve a seat.

Originally from New York and Virginia, and now based in Hong Kong, Jennifer Thym followed her childhood dream to make film—leaving behind a successful career in the financial banking industry, and a previous life as a lawyer. Jennifer will be sharing her telling the story of creating this beautifully shot episodic series, from writing the script and using the RED One digital HD camera, to raising the money and rethinking the business plan in today’s economy. She will also share her personal perspective on the business model for Asian American and Asian Canadian filmmakers. Determined to create highly entertaining films that “make meaning” and showcase a breadth of Asian characters, Jennifer’s passion for filmmaking will inspire you. For a synopsis of LUMINA, see Matthew Tsang’s post on SchemaMag.ca.

iWriteAboutMe.com is presented in partnership with: the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (University of British Columbia), the North American Association of Asian Professionals Vancouver (NAAAP), theTyee.ca, Fresh Media (Vancouver), the Office of Learning Technology (University of British Columbia), and the Museum of Vancouver. Sponsored by The Laurier Institution. Jennifer Thym’s talk is sponsored in part by the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. For information on upcoming workshops, please visit iWriteAboutMe.com

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UBC Library/City of Vancouver Archives site in the Vancouver Courier (posted October 28)

October 28, 2009

The Chinese Experience in B.C. website, a project involving UBC Library and the City of Vancouver Archives, is featured in the Vancouver Courier.

You can view the article here: http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=bb4b8c74-b4d2-496e-b1c2-f556cba832fb

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Dr. Irving Barber given philanthropy award (posted October 27)

October 27, 2009

Dr. Irving K. Barber has been honoured with a 2009 Special Award for Philanthropy from the British Columbia Museums Association. The award was given in recognition of his involvement with several philanthropic activities in the province, most notably his exceptional gift for the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, which provides innovative support and funding to the cultural sector.

Dr. Barber and his wife Jean attended the awards ceremony in Osoyoos on October 16. Congratulations Ike!

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Donated collection featured in UK online publication (posted October 27)

October 27, 2009

An article about a unique collection focused on croquet, which has been donated to UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections division, appears in the UK publication Croquet World Online.

You can view the article here: http://www.croquetworld.com/News/finding.asp

Rare Books and Special Collections is located on level one of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

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Dr. Eric Meyers and Dr. Kathy Sanford – Video games and Youth

October 26, 2009

Every day millions of children and youth login to virtual environments where they play, socialize, create and explore a digital landscape as avatars or virtual characters. By the end of 2011, researchers estimate that 80% of active Internet users will be using virtual worlds. While virtual worlds are undeniably popular among children and youth, they have attracted the attention of anxious adults, teachers and librarians. Parents and child advocates suggest that videogames are dangerously addictive and even toxic to real-life pro-social development. Others decry the blatant commercialism and commodification of childhood experience. Webcast sponsored by Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. (Power Point version here: http://tiny.cc/ikblc978 )

Select Articles Available at UBC Library

Sanford, K., & Strong-Wilson, T. (2014). The emperor’s new clothes?: Issues and alternatives in uses of the portfolio in teacher education programs. New York: Peter Lang.

Parsons, J., & Sanford-Smith, K. (1995). More games for the classroom: Making learning fun. Edmonton: Duval House Publishing Inc.

Sanford, K. (2008). Video games in the library? what is the world coming to? School Libraries Worldwide, 14(2), 83. [Link]

Sanford, K., & Madill, L. (2007). Understanding the power of new literacies through video game play and design. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne De l’Éducation, 30(2), 432-455. [Link]

UBC Library Research Guides

Library, Archival, and Information Science

Early Childhood Education

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Patti Gully

October 22, 2009

Image Credit: UBC Library

Sisters of Heaven is a historical narrative set in the late 1930s. As the world moved closer to war, three Chinese women defied gender perceptions by becoming pilots. Driven by a fierce independent spirit, they realized their dream of flying, completed barnstorming goodwill missions across the Western Hemisphere, and captured the imagination of all those whose lives they touched. They were Hilda Yan, once China’s representative at the League of Nations; Li Xiaqing, known as film actress Li Dandan before becoming China’s First Woman of the Air; and Jessie Zheng, the only commissioned female officer in the Chinese Air Force.

In a story almost forgotten to history, Patti Gully’s exhaustive research delves into the personal lives of these women, uncovering their fascinating personalities, loves, passions, and above all their overwhelming sense of patriotism and duty. In a time when no Chinese woman could even drive a car, these aviatrixes used flight as a metaphor for their own freedom as well as a symbol of empowerment. Gully shows how, despite their success, their relationships with men were checkered and stormy, leaving behind the wreckage of broken marriages and the children they abandoned–the price they ultimately paid to realize their dream of flying. With an uncanny eye for detail and technical accuracy that will impress any aviation buff, Sisters of Heaven offers a rare look at a lost era in aviation history, gender studies, and the history of China and the West.

Patti Gully read at the Lillooet Room of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre on October 22, 2009, 2:00PM.

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John Borrows – Living Traditions: Windingo's and Indigenous Law

October 22, 2009

Dr. John Borrows is a Professor and Robina Chair in Law and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School and Professor and Law Foundation Chair of Aboriginal Law and Justice at the University of Victoria Law School. Talk focuses on the role of choice and agency in the interpretation and application of Indigenous law in a community context. Using ancient Ojibway stories and contemporary texts, this talk will explore the contemporary cultural expression of Anishinabek legal principles and their relevance for and relationship to other legal systems in North America. Webcast sponsored by Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Borrows, J. (2010). Canada’s indigenous constitution. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Borrows, J. (2010). Drawing out law: A spirit’s guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Borrows, J., & Rotman, L. I. (2003). Aboriginal legal issues: Cases, materials & commentary. Toronto: LexisNexis Butterworths.

Borrows, J. (1996). First nations and the law. Vancouver: UBC Faculty of Law.

UBC Library Research Guides

History

Aboriginal Law

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Dr. Diana Lary, Dr. Maurice Copithorne, Eleanor Yuen and Nicole Kwan – The Dragon and the Crown – Hong Kong Memoirs by Stanley Kwan

October 22, 2009

The memoirs give a voice to the ordinary people whose lives have been profoundly affected by the dramatic changes in Hong Kong: from an entrepôt to an international financial centre and from a colony to become a part of China. The book contributes to the ongoing search for Hong Kong identity and will resonate among those who live in or are interested in Hong Kong. A talk and roundtable on different aspects of Hong Kong history to which Stanley Kwan, architect of one of the world’s leading economic indicators, the Hang Seng Index, was an eyewitness. Webcast sponsored by Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Lary, D., & MyiLibrary. (2007). China’s republic. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. [Link]

Lary, D. (2010). The Chinese people at war: Human suffering and social transformation, 1937-1945. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Lary, D. (2012). Chinese migrations: The movement of people, goods, and ideas over four millennia. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.

Lary, D. (1974). Region and nation: The Kwangsi clique in Chinese politics, 1925-1937. New York; London: Cambridge University Press.

UBC Library Research Guides

History

Chinese History

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Exhibits in Learning Centre gallery (posted October 21)

October 21, 2009

A trio of exhibits is now on display in the gallery space of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Please see below for more information.

The gallery is located on level two of the Learning Centre, to the left of the circulation desk. For information about the space, please contact Allan Cho at allan.cho@ubc.ca or 604-827-4366.

Cantonese Music: Where East meets West (until December 5, 2009) – courtesy of UBC’s Asian Library

Westernization has been a major process in Chinese music since the beginning of the 20th century, illustrated by the adoption of Western harmony, counterpoint and performance practices. Western elements have also influenced the design of instruments, introducing new sonorities to traditional texture.

This exhibit includes samples of hammer dulcimers, two-stringed fiddles, three-stringed lutes and a zither, along with scores. It’s believed that Steven Lee, who was an active member in Vancouver’s Chinese community in the 1940s and 1950s, collected these instruments.

For more information on this display, please contact Phoebe Chow at phoebe.chow@ubc.ca or 604-822-2427.

Taiwan Sublime (until December 7)

Taiwan Sublime comprises four series of photographs taken by four Taiwanese photographers who have crisscrossed Taiwan and its smaller sister islands to create a record of its natural and human wonders.

This exhibit, presented by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, features 20 photos by Taiwanese photographers Chen Chih-hsiung, Liu Chen-hsiang, Huang Ting-sheng and Chi Po-lin.

For those interested in Taiwanese literature and culture, UBC is presenting a lecture featuring three Taiwanese authors – Chu T’ien-wen, Liu Ka-shiang and Ko Yu-fen – will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27 at the Learning Centre gallery.

As part of this series, the film A Time To Live, And A Time To Die by Director Hou Hsiao-hsien is scheduled for a 3 p.m. screening on Monday, October 26 in the Fairmount Social Lounge at St. John’s College (2111 Lower Mall). A discussion with screenwriter Chu Tien-wen will be held after the screening.

As Is – by Lincoln Clarkes (until November 7)

As Is, a collection of colour photographs of Vancouver’s distressed Downtown Eastside, is Lincoln Clarkes’s most eclectic series to date, incorporating people, architecture, still life, abstractions and signage.

Clarkes is enrolled at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where he originally studied painting before switching to photography.

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Lung Ying-tai – Big River, Big Sea: Untold Stories of 1949

October 18, 2009

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, and made possible by the Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture series hosted by the Department of Asian Studies and the Faculty of Arts, UBC welcomed professor at Hong Kong University, Dr. Lung Ying-tai on October 18, 2009 at the Asian Auditorium at UBC. Celebrated writer, literary critic and public intellectual of contemporary Taiwan. Lung Ying-tai’s works also have great influence in the Chinese language world in Hong Kong, China, and North America. Lung Ying-tais most recent work is “Big River, Big Sea: Untold Stories of 1949,” published to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. With it, Professor Lung marks the anniversary in a different way –by writing a book dedicated to the pain and suffering of more than 10 million people who died in the Communist victory and millions of others whose lives were changed forever by it. To that end, Big River, Big Sea: Untold Stories of 1949 is a work of history that transcends nationality, transcends national borders, and straddles the Taiwan Strait. In it, Lung Ying-tai wants to let readers “see an entire generation of people who silently suffered enormous trauma crushed under the iron wheel of history. Western society is familiar with the tragic consequences of the Nazi armys siege of Leningrad during World War Two. Few people are aware, however, of a similar tragedy that took place in 1948 in the northeastern city of Changchun, when Communist armies encircled Nationalist forces during the Civil War. Even the majority of Chinese are unaware of this event. Lung Ying-tai writes not only about that generation, but about “all those who were trampled upon, humiliated and destroyed in that historical epoch.”

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Barber, N. (1979). The fall of shanghai: The communist take-over in 1949. London: Macmillan.

Dulles, F. R. (1972). American policy toward communist china, 1949-1969. New York: Crowell.

Gittings, J. (1989). China changes face: The road from revolution, 1949-1989. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

Todorova, M. N., & Gille, Z. (2010). Post-communist nostalgia. New York: Berghahn Books.

UBC Library Research Guides

History

Chinese History

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