Pax in Terra: Capital Chamber Choir Concert next week

This fall, I had the privilege of joining the Capital Chamber Choir's soprano section. Having discovered the choir in 2009 when I interviewed them in my capacity as co-producer of CKCU's Friday Special Blend, I have since followed them closely, attended concerts and even encouraged my talented housemate to audition for them. I found their approach, repertoire and professionalism refreshing in Ottawa's choral landscape.

It is with that introduction then, as a previous spectator, that I invite you to our concert next week, November 25, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. at All Saints' Anglican Church in Sandy Hill. Tickets range between $10 and $20 and will be available at the door.

We will be performing works by Canadian composers, Timothy Corlis, Dominic Patriquin and Eleanor Daley, in addition to classical works by de Victoria and Biebl.

I hope you will let us enchant you!

I think I won't: A review of NAC's "I think I can"

I couldn't stay. No matter how much I thought I could. I wouldn't. I COULDN'T. So I didn't.

Here is my review of what I saw before I walked out of the theatre 20 minutes in.

I think I can, the NAC's presentation of the Dora Mavor Moore award-winning musical that claimed to use hip hop and tap to reach and portray adolescent angst and bullying, was the most stereotypical unoriginal caricaturized portrayal of kids today. It was insulting to the nuanced, sophisticated, intelligent SmartPhone-toting mini-adults I know and see regularly.

I wanna see that musical!

The scene opened with a tap sequence and a promising multi-layered set. The dancing was impressive, even to one unfamiliar with the tap lexicon. Particularly convincing was the character who danced with a limp.

However, the show quickly disintegrated into a series of overused tropes about 10 minutes into the performance. Again, the portrayal of science was reduced to the over-quoted E= mc (squared). And all kinds of disparate concepts were conflated - the writers had clearly either badly parodied science teachers or misunderstood the facts when they wrote the script.

The bullying sequence where "the bully stole my homework but I can't say anything" was once again overused. Stealing homework is the least of kids' worries. When I was mentoring elementary students in high school in the early 2000s, we were dealing with e-bullying, swarmings, gangs, drugs and sexual favours. I think some of those kids wished they could have had their homework stolen instead of enduring some of the experiences they did. Ten years on with the addition of Facebook and Twitter, I can only imagine the challenges of social networking for the socially stunted student or young shunned scholar.

The second problem the company encountered was the lacklustre use of their space. Despite a multi-level set, they spent most of the time tap dancing in formation on the stage.

Then there was the problem of consistency within the world Byfield and Gibson created. It detracted from whatever insight they were trying to communicate about kids today. The kids never spoke. The teacher spoke in her weird, mangled Scottish accent, but the kids moaned and gestured ridiculously. What's the message? Kids have no voice? The inconsistency between human interaction on stage made no sense and it destroyed the willing suspension of disbelief for the reviewer and ultimately undermined the message of empowerment.

The scene with the supposed cheerleader and the boy with the limp droned on too long.

Were I one of the kids in the audience on Saturday night, I would have felt insulted and exasperated that these are still the tropes we think of when we pander to "Youth" theatre. No wonder the NAC Theatre was only half full on a Saturday night. If Peter Hinton wants to keep his theatre full, he had better stop pandering and start envisioning.

Photo Credit: Daniel Alexander, NAC.ca

EFF Defending Rights in Government Attempt to Access Users' Twitter Records

From Eff.org:

Press Releases

February 8th, 2011

Legal Battle Over Government Demands for Twitter Records Unsealed by Court

Hearing Set for February 15 in Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria, VA - A federal court in Alexandria, Virginia today unsealed motions filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union, and others concerning government attempts to obtain Twitter account records about three individuals in connection with its WikiLeaks investigation. The documents were originally filed under seal late last month.
One of the newly-available motions is a request to unseal the still-secret court records of the government's attempts to collect private records from Twitter, Inc., as well as other companies who may have received demands for information from the government. The second motion seeks to overturn the December 14 court order requiring Twitter to provide information about its users. The third motion was subsequently filed to unseal the original two motions, A hearing on the first two motions is set for 10:30 a.m. on February 15 at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
The ACLU and EFF represent Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian and one of the Twitter users whose records were sought by the government. The motion was joined by attorneys from the law firm Keker & Van Nest LLP and the Law Office of John D. Cline on behalf of Jacob Appelbaum and Rop Gonggrijp, respectively, as well as local counsel in Virginia. The government had also requested information concerning Appelbaum and Gonggrijp's Twitter accounts.
"We are troubled that the original court order requiring Twitter to turn over its users' private records was filed under seal.," said Aden Fine, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. "Except in truly extraordinary circumstances, Internet users should receive notice and an opportunity to go to court to defend their constitutional rights before their privacy is compromised. That's what is happening now, and we are hopeful that the court will unseal the rest of the sealed materials."
"Twitter is a publication and communication service, so the information sought by the government relates to what these individuals said and where they were when they said it," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "This raises serious First and Fourth Amendment concerns. It is especially troubling since the request seeks information about all statements made by these people, regardless of whether their speech relates to WikiLeaks."
Attorneys for Jonsdottir are Fine and Benjamin Siracusa-Hillman of the ACLU, Rebecca Glenberg of the ACLU of Virginia and Cohn, Lee Tien, Marcia Hofmann and Kevin Bankston of EFF.
For more details on attending next week's hearing contact press@eff.org or media@aclu.org.
For the newly unsealed documents:
https://www.eff.org/cases/government-demands-twitter-records
Contacts:
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cindy@eff.org
Rachel Myers
Media Relations
American Civil Liberties Union
media@aclu.org

Finding Artistic Outlets in Law School

Despite being a full-time student who is enjoying her studies immensely at the University of Ottawa - which means I seize every opportunity for a guest lecture, court visit and volunteer - I have made supporting and being involved in the arts a priority. I think this is partially because I have been inspired by other professionals, such as Professor Natasha Bakht and David Jewitt, who maintain interesting careers, families and artistic commitments. It is possible to do what you love and love what you do.

The Live Rush program started at the National Arts Centre (NAC) when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Ottawa and I am pleased to re-join the program. My husband and I were subscribers to the Dance series at the NAC and enjoyed the 2009-2010 season. This year the Live Rush program enabled us to continue as patrons of the arts on a revised budget, for which we are both very thankful. We attended Ted Robinson's performance last fall and recently saw A Year of Magical Thinking. February is going to be a busy month with Savion Glover, Atlantic Ballet Theatre, Wayne McGregor, and the Mariinksy/Kirov Ballet.

However, patronizing the arts is only one facet for me, a performer. As a Master's student, I learned quickly that I was happiest when I was busy. The arts are a crucial part of having a balanced life in which I am professionally  productive and intellectually stimulated. By dancing, acting and singing I make new friends, create beauty, and use another part of my brain and body. The exercise alone is beneficial! This is why I decided in the middle of the exam period in December to perform  at the Gladstone Theatre as a dancer in their production of It's a Wonderful Life. It was rewarding to put in long days of studying knowing I could step into another world and dress up and perform each night. I slept better, felt better and studied better because I was able to blow off steam and stick to a schedule. In the end, I performed better on my exams. I think I gained important time management and self-knowledge that will see me through a demanding and enjoyable career in law.