As a historian, and School of Continuing Studies (SCS) instructor since the 90’s, Eric McGeer knows a thing or two about the Second World War. But in order to dig deep into archives for a current study he’s conducting, he needed to improve his grasp of the Dutch language. “I’m particularly interested in Canadian military history, and my new focus is exploring the role Canadian soldiers played in WWII in the Netherlands. I’d lived in the Netherlands, and travelled there, and had some command of the language,” shares Eric. “I realized there was a real gap in research around the role the Canadian army played in a city called Nijmegen in the Fall of 1944, when the war came to a bit of a halt, and I wanted to learn more. But first I needed to improve my Dutch language skills, so I began studying at SCS, where I also teach history!”

In preparation for this research, Eric began taking Dutch: Level IV with Marianne Verheyen. “Marianne was an outstanding teacher. Her understanding of the workings of language, and her ability to explain it, was just amazing,” recalls Eric. “Her course really helped with my reading comprehension which would be a critical part of my research, reading archives and old diary entries of civilians and soldiers. Of course, I ended up being confronted with old-fashioned, formal sentence structures and spellings, which was a challenge. But with the foundational knowledge Marianne equipped me with, and an old Dutch dictionary, I’ve been able to study Dutch texts from 70 years ago.”

A passionate historian, Eric explains the focus of his research with excitement. “I’m currently in Holland, digging into the comparative experience of the Canadian army in of Nijmegen. My focus is on how the soldiers interacted with Dutch civilians, who had just survived a terrible experience. They were living in rubble, playing host to Canadian and British soldiers who were there as liberators, but their home was still under rule of a foreign army,” he shares. “I’m looking at the newspapers and diaries of the people there, to reconstruct something of their lives. In particular, I’m learning how the allied armies tried to feed and take care of the local population while ensuring military needs were met. The soldiers had to ensure public order, security, and access to food. I’m finding that on a whole, relations were positive, and the Canadian soldiers were truly struck by the suffering of the local population and tried to help as best they could. Many billeted/lived with Dutch families, fostering mutual sympathy and respect, and building relationships that lasted past the war’s end. But there were also points of irritation, and times when the soldiers took advantage of the situation. Strict Dutch parents and local young men didn’t want the young women in the community gallivanting with allied soldiers, who felt impressive, exotic, and had access to possessions. It’s fascinating to explore records, and piece together this complex and lesser-known time in history.”

When Eric completes his research, he will integrate his findings into his teachings at SCS, and looks forward to sharing the new knowledge he uncovers abroad. “As a teacher learning from someone else, you have such a deep feeling of admiration and respect, because you know first-hand what goes into it,” says Eric, who is a true proponent of lifelong learning. “Aristotle said we live to learn, and I think it’s truly necessary to keep your mind active. Many of my learners say they wish they could have studied history in their younger years, but chose more ‘practical’ realms of study. And now, they’ve come back to it, because our interests are such a big part of who we are. When your mind is stimulated in the company of people with similar interests and desires to learn, the possibilities are endless.”

When Elizabeth Monier-Williams signed up for a School of Continuing Studies (SCS) creative writing class, she had no idea it would lead her to form a community of writers who would continue to support one another for years to come.

The course in question was an introductory science fiction and fantasy writing class. It was the first creative writing course that Elizabeth had participated in since high school. “I’d been writing creatively for 10 years at that point, and I wanted to take the next step in my journey,” she explains. 

The course taught Elizabeth how people who write professionally look at a story. “Knowing what stood out to someone like Nalo [the course instructor] was so helpful,” she says.

With in-class feedback sessions going well, it didn’t take long for Elizabeth and a handful of her dedicated classmates to start meeting outside of class as well. In fact, she continued to meet regularly with SCS classmates Diana, Hardy and T.J., for the next seven years, so they could provide each other with valuable feedback on their work. “We met once a month, or every few months. For longer work, one person would be the focus of the meeting and we would sometimes take a couple of months to read and prepare for the session,” Elizabeth shares. “If everyone was doing shorter works, we’d do more of a round-robin format. Using Nalo’s format—what worked, what didn’t work, and open questions—kept our feedback focused on the story craft, not the writer.” 

The course and the writing community she gained through SCS helped Elizabeth get to the point where she was ready to publish her first novel, Chaos Calling.  The book follows adult twins from Toronto who are busy with their careers, families and lives, until they realize that a bizarre experience they had with their best friend as teenagers was actually preparation for a global disaster.

The members of the writing group also formed a strong bond. “I grew tremendously through my collaborations with this group. My novel in progress at the time had slow pacing and the framing of historical elements weren’t working in a lot of places. I never finished it. I remember the big moment where I shared some fragments of the ending with the group and told them what I was building toward. T. J. looked surprised and said, ‘That’s it?’” she recalls. “I laugh now, but realizing that what I thought was so amazing wasn’t tracking for the people who knew my writing best was painful. It’s sobering when you realize you’re not doing so well as you thought, but feedback is required to grow and improve. I’m glad they were open enough to (kindly) share their thoughts.”

In addition to vital constructive criticism, Elizabeth says she found support and encouragement to continue developing her craft. T.J. in particular validated her abilities early on, and after his death she paid tribute to him by naming one of her Chaos Calling characters after him. “He was the first person to tell me that there was something special in my work and that it would be a terrible thing to give up on it. After he died, Diana and I continued to meet as I worked on my current project. Anna, one of the protagonists in Chaos Calling is a parent, and her older child Tim is named in his honour.”

Watching others workshop their writing as part of the group taught Elizabeth a lot about story, structure, characters, and pacing. She would recommend that anyone looking to improve their writing find a similar group to share their writing with. “You don’t know what you’ve got until you show your work to other people who write. If you’re serious about writing, there’s no way around that step,” she says. “Writers see narrative differently than people who only read, and they’re often able to get under the hood and show you what’s humming in a way that your friends and family cannot. Feedback is how we grow and every now and then we all need to hear hard truths.”

Elizabeth credits her time at SCS with being a crucial step in her writing journey. “Taking that course was a huge pivot in my writing life, and created friendships and writing collaborations that I benefit from to this day.”

When María Fernanda Rodríguez Aguilar was a child growing up in Ecuador, she would write short stories and hide them in her desk. “I’ve loved writing since I was little, but I was always too scared to share my work with others. When I came to Canada 17 years ago, I stopped my writing because I was so focused on learning a new language and starting a new life,” reflects María Fernanda. “But it became impossible for me to live without writing, so I decided to try a creative writing course at the School of Continuing Studies (SCS).”

In 2016, María Fernanda started taking Creative Writing in Spanish, led by SCS instructor and author Martha Batiz. “Studying creative writing in my native language felt wonderful. As I worked my way through the Creative Writing Certificate, both Martha and Grace O’Connell taught me to not be afraid to share my writing. As someone who had always been embarrassed to share my work, learning this was door-opening,” recalls María Fernanda. “I learned how to be brave and share my work, receive comments and constructive criticism, and also how to review and critique the work of others.”

While working and studying at SCS, María Fernanda also began pursing a Master’s degree in Creative Writing at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Her educational pursuits kept her busy, and throughout her certificate at SCS she produced a collection of short stories narrated from unique perspectives, titled Usanza. After receiving encouragement from the administrative team at SCS, María Fernanda submitted her work to the Marina Nemat Award for Creative Writing, in the Creative Writing in Spanish Category. “I received notification on my birthday telling me that I had won the award. I was totally in shock,” she says. “I’m so proud and thankful to have been chosen. Thinking back to 17 years ago, I never would have thought I’d be winning a writing award.”

Today, María Fernanda’s writing no longer hides in a drawer; with a Master’s degree and SCS certificate under her belt, she’s currently working to have Usanza published. “For me, the biggest benefit of studying creative writing was what it did to my confidence,” asserts María Fernanda. “My advice is to never stop learning, because you never know where it will take you.” 

When Jiajie Hu came to Canada from China in 2006, his goal was to continue his career in advertising copywriting. “I wanted to continue my copywriting career in Canada, but needed to build my English skills. This can be a difficult career path for someone who has English as a second language,” says Jiajie. “I didn’t realize how hard the career transition would be, even with ESL training. I ended up returning to China for a few years, offering Chinese to English translation copywriting services. When I returned to Canada in 2012, I wanted to take my English skills to the next level. This is why I was drawn to the Creative Writing program at the School of Continuing Studies.”

According to Jiajie, reading classic novels helped him prepare for his studies at SCS. “I wanted to improve my English in a way that would still feel creative and exciting. I began reading, especially Hemmingway, who is a very popular author in China. Reading his work inspired me, and I realized I wanted to study creative writing for reasons beyond improving my English; I want to be a writer and tell my story,” reflects Jiajie, who will complete his Creative Writing Certificate this Spring. “SCS greatly improved my writing skills, but also really fuelled my creativity. I began writing my novel, a story about the immigrant experience; coming to Canada from China, and the challenges faced as a newcomer. My instructor and mentor, Elizabeth Ruth, encouraged me to keep writing my story, even when I hit roadblocks. She made me feel I can reach my goals. Being in a new country, learning in a new language…that meant a lot.”

Today, Jiajie is pursuing a new business venture: building an Artificial Intelligence company. But writing, and eventually completing his novel, remains a top priority. “I would say to those who are new to English, once you have a grasp of the language, don’t be afraid to study creative writing. It’s a fun and engaging way to practice your language skills, and who knows what you might discover,” smiles Jiajie. “I didn’t know I had a novel in me, but continuing education allowed me to uncover a creativity within myself, and I’m loving the process of telling that story.”

Greek theatre teaches us nothing. And that’s a good thing.

To ask what matters about literature – especially Greek literature – is to miss the point. It is to treat a piece of literature as a tool. Only when we let it be exactly what it is, nothing more and nothing less, can we fully experience Greek theatre. 

Aristotle suggests that to live without an end (a telos, a goal, a motive, an agenda), is the only way to learn ethics or the value of friendship. 

In other words, when we focus too much on the meaning, message, or modern relevance of Greek theatre, we impose our own ideas and experiences onto it. If we must always ask “how does this relate to me? What can I learn?” then we find ourselves reading the same stories everywhere. Everything is either “inspirational” or just “depressing.” When we consume Greek theatre from a “me” perspective, imparting our own ideas, perspectives, and understandings onto it, it prevents us from having a genuine experience. Insight occurs only when we encounter something unanticipated, even unwelcome. 

So, how can we really experience Greek theatre, free from our human desire to “make sense and meaning?” 

Let the art be art. Stop trying to learn from it.

Literature and theatre only work when we refrain from trying to gain something – anything – from it. Be patient when you encounter it. Stop trying to insert yourself – your experiences, joys, pains, thoughts, opinions – onto it. 

Learning is pleasurable. Changing the way we believe is transformational. 

Jonathan is an instructor at SCS, a Professor at Seneca College, and an Associate Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University. He earned his doctorate in 2010 in Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago, where he taught over twenty courses in ancient and modern literature. His book, The Medieval Presence in Modernism: The Quest to Fail, was published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press. His most recent book, Ezra Pound's Classical Sources, will be published by Bloomsbury Academic Press in late 2022. He's currently at work on a new book about James Joyce and Early Cinema. 

This Spring/Summer semester, Jonathan will be teaching two online courses: Friedrich Nietzsche: the First Modern Man and Kafka and the Kafkaesque.

You probably already know that our DNA carries all the instructions for life. 

There are a lot of interesting tidbits about DNA that are fascinating. I’m happy to share a little more about this fundamental molecule of life.

1. DNA is our genetic material and carries all the instructions from generation to generation.

2. The DNA is stored in a specialised and enclosed part of our cells called the nucleus (plural: nuclei).

3. Our red blood cells have no nuclei and no DNA. This is an adaptation which allows the red blood cell to carry more oxygen molecules to various parts of the body. 

4. Other types of blood cells do have DNA. In fact, DNA was discovered by Swiss researcher Friedrich Miescher in 1869. He was trying to study the composition of white blood cells, but instead, he isolated a new molecule containing DNA.

5. If you were to collect the DNA contained in a single cell and stretch it out, it would be over two metres long! 

6. To fit into cells, DNA is condensed, packed, and folded many times over and finally fits into a space of approximately 6/millionths of a metre. 

7. All genes are made of DNA, but not all DNA is genes. In fact, less than 2% of our DNA is genes. The genes are scattered throughout our DNA with tons of “non-gene” DNA in between them.

8. The 98% non-gene portion of our DNA used to be called “junk DNA” or “dark DNA” because of how little it was understood, but scientists are now learning that it plays a very important role in controlling genes and how they act. This emerging field is known as epigenetics (epi=above).

9. Genes are the instructions for how to make proteins. Proteins are the workers of every cell and carry out all the functions and tasks of our cells.

10. Genes make proteins through an intermediary called messenger RNA or mRNA. Without mRNA, there would be no proteins and no life. 

11. "DNA makes RNA, and RNA makes protein" is known as the central dogma of molecular biology, or just the central dogma since it is so fundamental to our current understanding of biology. It explains the flow of genetic information within biological systems.

12. DNA is made up of “letters”, represented as A, T, G and C. These letters are short for the chemical compounds they constitute.

13. There are 3 billion DNA letters contained in every cell.

14. Genes are like words in the alphabet of the DNA. Genes always start with the same set of 3 letters (ATG). That is how scientists know it’s a gene, and they can literally be read by an instrument known as DNA sequencer.

15. We have approximately 25,000 genes, and these can be found in every cell. 

16. Not all genes will be used by every cell because some are highly specialised for organs (such as the brain, or the heart). Epigenetics dynamically control which genes are on and which are off.

17. The human genome, which is our total DNA, was first sequenced completely in 2003. The effort took 13 years and cost three billion U.S. dollars.

18. The human genome can now be sequenced for $1000 in less than two weeks.

19. Human DNA is divided into 23 pairs of discrete units (a total of 46). These are known as chromosomes. Each of the 23 chromosome pairs are matched up and have the same set of genes, so we have two copies of each gene.

20. The human germ cells (sperms and eggs) have only 23 DNA molecules, not 46. This is so that when an egg and sperm fuse, they can complete the set of 46. This also explains how we inherit genes from biological mum and dad.

21. In 1953, the combined work of scientists Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins uncovered that our DNA is shaped like a corkscrew or a double helix. This discovery had massive implications for understanding how DNA functions.

22. Every time a cell divides in two (which can be as often as every 4-8 days in some organs such as the intestinal lining), the entire DNA within each cell copies itself exactly, making less than one in a million copying mistakes (mutations). This is how our genetic information is preserved over time.

23. Despite all the genetic differences between human beings that account for differences in how we look, behave, or are susceptible to disease, humans are 99.9% identical in their genetic makeup. 

At first glance, understanding DNA can seem a bit intimidating. But when we break it down, it’s clear that digging into the basics can be fun and accessible to anyone interested! 

Kinjal Desai has been a cancer researcher for over a decade and is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children. She works on pediatric brain cancer. Kinjal believes that good research is incomplete without the effective communication of the findings to the community at large. She, therefore, volunteers with an information outreach group, where she leads talks about cancer research to patients, survivors, and caregivers as well as to high school students. When not researching or teaching, Kinjal enjoys baking, tennis, and stand-up comedy.

Her course, Cancer: The Enemy Within starts April 6, 2022.

Oscar season is here again and, for those of us writing screenplays, it can be a useful exercise to see which films make it to that coveted ‘Best Films’ list, and to unpack some reasons why.

We all know that no bag of tricks can absolutely guarantee an award-winning film. In fact, getting a screenplay produced and then bringing it to the big screen is its own classic hero’s journey (there will be mountains to climb, dragons to slay, and copious tears to shed). 

However, there are a few ‘keys of storytelling’ that most successful films share.

#1: An Interesting Vision

You, as the writer, will need to stay inspired as you write not just a first draft, but likely several drafts over several years (or decades in some cases). If you’re excited by the central storyline or question or premise—if you’re confident you can keep coming back to the page over and over again—then there’s a far greater chance that a team of industry professionals will be inspired to take on your project. Not to mention an audience full of viewers! We call this vision the ’what if’ or the ‘hook’ of the story.

#2: Compelling Characters

What makes a character compelling? And let’s not confuse ‘compelling’ with ‘likeable’. Compelling characters are challenged to take something on within a story, whether it’s an external dramatic adventure, or a tense internal push to grow, or both at once. We, as viewers, are drawn to the universal struggle of change. We look to stories to validate our conviction that change is hard, and to show us that it is also possible. 

#3: Meaningful Objectives

We don’t sit back and watch a story unfold about characters who sit back and watch a story unfold. We watch because the lead character/s will be motivated (for believable reasons) to take action. Any character who wants something and tries to get it (whether they are leads or supporting characters, whether they are working together, or, more likely, working in opposition to each other) will immediately capture our attention. Successful stories are activated. A strong, meaningful objective is the gas in the engine. A confident writer will decide how obvious the objectives are to the viewer, and at what point they’re revealed. They will always know each character’s fundamental needs, goals, and desires.

#4: Escalation

A compelling story doesn’t ride a flat line. The gears ratchet tighter and tighter, regardless of what kind of story it is. Even quieter films are imbued with intentions that eventually, perhaps repeatedly, go off the rails. A winning script integrates events that get harder to navigate, convictions of purpose that are challenged, and problems that are finally overcome. Or, and perhaps more compellingly, it might escalate to a devastating defeat (see Key #2: ‘change is hard.’)

#5: Unexpected Inevitability

This is that thrilling feeling we get as viewers when the story somehow fulfills its promise to us, while also surprising us with unexpected twists and turns. We choose our stories based on our tastes and preferences, and so expect the story to behave, in a way, like ‘that kind of story’ behaves (usually inherent to the genre and/or the advertised premise). But we still want to be surprised and shaken by the way the story unfolds. How this is achieved is impossible to prescribe. The shape will be unique to every successful story. Like a fingerprint. 

The magical alchemical reaction between a good film and its viewer is one of the reasons we keep going back to the movies, despite most of them not being close to Oscar-worthy. That buzz we get when we watch a special story is the best, most effective buzz there is. It’s the signal that we’ve submerged into a parallel reality where fictional people who come to mean something to us must navigate the treacherous waters of our complex worldly experience, and we have nothing to do but watch them.

Each of us will have our own list of ‘best films,’ the stories that have had the most impact on us, our own private Academy Award presentations. Understanding how writers achieve that effect is not always easy or obvious, but it is worth investigating and certainly deserves celebrating.

Barbara Radecki started her career as an actor, and is probably best know for voicing Sailor Neptune in the original English dub of the popular Sailor Moon series. She has since transitioned to writing, with a focus on full-length fiction and screenplays. Several of her screenplays have been optioned or sold, including one she co-wrote—a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion—which filmed in New York City, and co-stars Alicia Witt and Bebe Neuwirth. Her first novel, The Darkhouse, came out to acclaim, including a Kirkus star, and she was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in 2017. Her second novel, Messenger 93, came out in Spring 2020. Her almost two decades’ experience with the writing process—creating, developing, editing, collaborating, and producing—gives her a unique perspective to share with writers studying at UofT SCS.

Her course, Screenwriting-Introduction, starts March 2022.
 

According to Hallmark, Valentine’s Day is the second-largest holiday for sending greeting cards. In case you need some inspiration for what to write to your loved ones, this Valentine’s Day we’ve asked some of our language instructors to share how people express love with different words and customs around the world. Here’s what they shared with us. 

French 

In French “je t’aime” means “I Love you”, “je t’adore” means “I adore you”, “tu es l’amour de ma vie” means “you’re the love of my life”, and “je suis fou amoureux de toi” means “I’m madly in love with you.”

“Mon chou” literally means “my cabbage” but it is used as a term of endearment like “my dear” in French. 

People express their love much more freely in France than in North America, says SCS French instructor Andrew Furegato. “They do something called ‘la bise,’ which consists of kissing each other on the cheek upon greeting a person,” he says. “In some regions of France, it is done twice (one kiss for each cheek) and in others thrice, even four times. Each region has its own particular style.” 

Japanese 

In Japanese, “「すっごく好き！」” or “Suggoku suki!” means “I really like you,” while “「愛してる。」”or “Aishiteru” means “I love you.” 　
“「私と付き合ってください」” or “Watashi to tsukiatte kudasai” translates to “please go out with me.” 

According to SCS Japanese instructors Yoko Galloway, Yasuyo Tomita and Akiko Maruoka, the exchange of sweets for Valentine’s Day is spread out over February and March. 

“On Valentine’s Day in Japan, women usually give chocolates and sweets to men; this includes sweets to colleagues and bosses (obligatory chocolate), and friends in general,” explains Galloway. “Then there’s so-called “White Day” a month after Valentine’s Day, on March 14th, when men return women's affection by giving them sweets or presents.”

German 

“Ich liebe dich” means “I love you” in German. “Ich mag dich wirklich” means “I really like you” and “Ich bin verrückt nach dir” translates to “I’m crazy for you.” 

In Germany, Valentine's Day is still a relatively recent custom, says SCS German instructor Zoia Novikova. “It was introduced by US soldiers stationed here,” she explains. “Red roses and Valentine's cards are among the most popular Valentine's gifts among lovers in this country. Sweets are also very popular and an invitation to a restaurant with a candlelight dinner is not uncommon.”

Italian 

“Ti amo” means “I love you” and is specifically used to indicate romantic love. 

“Ti voglio bene” also means “I love you” but can be used for platonic relationships. “It is said between two people who are friends or family members,” explains Italian instructor Lorenzo Sclocco, “but also between two people who are starting to develop feelings.” 

“Mi piaci un sacco” is a way to tell someone you like them a lot and literally translates to “I like you a sack,” while “Ci tengo a te” directly translates to “I keep you” and is used to tell someone they are special to you.  

Usually for Valentines Day in Italy, people give each other chocolate, especially Baci Perugina (the pralines), says Sclocco. 

Turkish 

“Seni Seviyorum” is how you say “I love you” to friends, family, and romantic partners alike in Turkish. 

“A common endearment phrase would be ‘canım’ which means “my life” and is also used very commonly for romantic, platonic and within close family relationships,” says Turkish instructor Özen Vekiloglu.  

Dutch

“Ik hou van jou” means “I love you” in Dutch. 

There's also “I am fond of you” or “ik ben dol op je”; “I am mad about you” or “ik ben (stapel)gek op je”. “Stapel” means “pile”, says Dutch instructor Marianne Verheyen. “Think a pile of pancakes!”

While Valentine’s Day is not a traditional Dutch holiday, it is slowly gaining ground, Verheyen says, and customs around love and romance tend to be part of folklore and history. For example, on the island of Marken in The Netherlands, hopeful fisherman grooms would create intricately-carved clogs for their brides while they were away at sea.

Latin and Ancient Greek 

In Latin, “tē amō” means “I love you.” The Latin verb amāre can be translated as like or love.

In Ancient Greek “ἐρῶ σοῦ” means romantic love (Eros was the Greek equivalent to the Roman god Cupid). “σε φιλῶ” indicates deep friendship or brotherly love, and “ἀγαπῶ σε” means a selfless love for all people (“ἀγάπη” was translated in the Latin of the Vulgate as “caritas,” which became the English word “charity”).

Latin and Ancient Greek instructor Mary McBride shares that Roman wedding rings were typically made of Iron, as this metal symbolized strength and permanence. “The Romans believed that a nerve ran from the fourth finger or ring finger on the left hand directly to the heart, so wedding rings were worn on that finger as they still are in Italy today,” she says. 

Roman poet Catullus wrote : 

dā mī bāsia mīlle, deinde centum

dein mīlle altera, dein secunda centum 

or 

“Give me a thousand kisses, then another hundred,

then another thousand, then a second hundred.” 

Want to learn to express love (or anything else) in a new language? Our expert instructors can help you meet your goals in over 20 languages.  

Throughout the month of October, a group of SCS creative writing instructors shared some of their favourite writing prompts and exercises with our creative writing community. 

The prompts were originally shared via the hashtag #SCSwritingprompts on Twitter. In case you missed them and are looking for some inspiration, we’ve collected all 30 prompts here to help you get writing! 

1. Use a newspaper to find ideas for writing. Can a news item prompt a short story, an editorial prompt a rebuttal, a photo prompt a setting, the classifieds prompt a catalogue poem, or the headlines prompt a found poem?" – Patricia Westerhof
2. Write about the first pair of shoes you ever loved, and the first day you wore them. What made them meaningful?" – Martha Batiz 
3. Write a short dialogue between two characters every other line. Write what they are really thinking in italics between each line of dialogue." - Kim Echlin
4. Close your eyes and take yourself back to the kitchen of your childhood. What is the first thing you smell? What is the most powerful smell from your childhood? Write about it, what it meant then, what it means now." – Beth Kaplan 
5. Your character is at a train station. Their gaze falls on a person with whom they have a complicated relationship. There is no way for your character to avoid this person and this person spots them. What happens next?" – Natasha Deen 
6. Pick a random news photo. Describe the scene with 5 words, then 10 words, then 20 and then 40. Reverse the process. What do you notice?" - Arif Anwar
7. Write about a body of water." – Ranjini George 
8. Put your character in bed falling asleep alone. Write every thought that passes through their mind. Do not punctuate or use full sentences; just describe what is drifting through their heads." - Kim Echlin
9. Choose three recent Google searches, or three songs or photos that are meaningful to you. Then write one paragraph about each. Do any interesting connections emerge?" – Becky Blake 
10. Write about your memories of Thanksgiving." – Ranjini George 
11. Find a talisman, a special object from your life. Hold it with your eyes closed, feel it. What does it mean? What did it mean? Write about it. – Beth Kaplan 
12. Set a timer to write! Giving yourself a goal to write for even 15 minutes a day will get you to the page. Write longer if you’re inspired. And those pages *will* add up." – Barbara Radecki 
13. Your character steps into a grocery store to buy items for the evening’s event. At the produce aisle, they see a display of oranges. Your character comes from Florida & a fractured childhood. Oranges remind them of their past. What happens?" – Natasha Deen 
14. Write about what stops you from writing." – Ranjini George 
15. Write about a special object of your childhood that is now lost, but you'd like to recover. What was it? What would it mean for you to have it back?" – Martha Batiz 
16. Write “I didn’t know…” over and over, ten times down the page. Then, without thinking, fill in the rest of the sentence. Pick one and unpack it." – Beth Kaplan 
17. Take a prose fiction story you have already written, but which is not in its final form. Rewrite the same story, only this time change the gender of your protagonist. What, if anything, does that do to your plot? Dialogue? Central Theme?" - Elizabeth Ruth
18. Describe a person you love without typical details such as hair colour or body shape. Instead describe how they move, how their expressions change, how they use their hands. Describe how they sound—their laugh, their favourite phrases." – Patricia Westerhof
19. Remember that story your parent or grandparent used to tell over and over and over at every family gathering? That had meaning for them. Tell that story." - Michel Basilieres
20. "Take the last line of any poem and make it your first. Write from there. Take the first line of a poem and make it your last. Write towards there." – Catherine Graham
21. "Try writing a scene set twenty minutes before or twenty minutes after the expected scene. What’s happening before the trial, after the funeral, when everyone’s standing in the parking lot?" – Blair Hurley 
22. “Write about a childhood home” - Ranjini George 
23. "Look at every paragraph in your story draft and try cutting the weakest sentence from each one — the wordiest, the most ‘explainy’, the most expository." - Blair Hurley 
24. "Give voice to an inanimate object. What might it say?" - Catherine Graham 
25. "Write about what you can't forget." – Ranjini George
26. "She was in that particular time of her life when every stranger she saw in the street reminded her of someone she had once loved/hated/lost. [Finish this paragraph, using your narrator to articulate the chosen emotion.]" - Dennis Bock
27. "Go over to your bookshelf, close your eyes, and pick up the first book you touch. Open that book to a random page, read the first full sentence on that page, and use it as the inspiration for a scene." – Amy Jones
28. "Use this 19th Century Character generator and start an argument over an inheritance between two of them: http://ow.ly/FJUh50GyO9k"  - Michel Basilieres
29. "What I can't forget..." – Ranjini George 
30. “I used to be …. but now I ….” – Beth Kaplan 

Need more guidance to get your creativity flowing or take your writing to the next level? Check out our whole suite of Creative Writing courses and certificates here: https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/creative-writing.  
 

“I’ve always been curious about disaster,” says Kathe Gray, recent winner of the Penguin Random House Canada Student Award for Fiction. “Though, really, it’s the aftermath that intrigues me, how people and communities respond to adversity, how they continue on.” Her winning short story, Panorama, imagines the immediate impact and lingering after-effects a blizzard has on a small prairie community. It was inspired by the Schoolhouse Blizzard, which devastated the US mid-west in 1888. “The storm came up so quickly that people, livestock, and children coming home from school got caught out in it. Many died. I wondered how survivors might reconcile such loss,” she says.

Kathe took her first creative writing course from the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) in 2008. She had transitioned from a career in arts administration, and was establishing herself as a graphic designer specializing in books and exhibition catalogues. “It was working with other people’s words that motivated me to explore creative writing through courses at SCS,” she says. “I’d take a bus from Guelph, where I live, to Toronto for classes. I’d arrive early so I could visit bookstores, then sit in coffeeshops reading what I’d bought. It was a break from my freelance work, and I was inspired by my instructors and classmates — and the writers they introduced me to.” 

The arrival of her daughter, and then her decision to pursue graduate studies, put a pause on Kathe’s creative writing. Today, she is a PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University, where she also completed an MA in Social Anthropology. “I was poised to begin my dissertation research when the pandemic hit,” she explains. “I rely on archival research and ethnographic methods — reading old documents in libraries, doing interviews and, really, just hanging around with my participants — so my project couldn’t move forward. As weeks of limbo dragged on, I decided that resuming creative writing courses with SCS would help ground me.” 

Kathe, who mostly writes poetry, jumped back into Poetry II with SCS instructor Chelene Knight, and quickly decided to complete the Certificate in Creative Writing. Last Fall, she took Creative Writing: Introduction, and Creative Writing through Reading back-to-back. “Studying with both Dennis Bock and Ken Murray was a game-changer,” she says. “I had no idea that I would find such pleasure in writing prose. Dennis and Ken taught me ways to keep myself in a short story, even when family and school commitments take me away from the actual writing. It’s like my superpower now: being able to walk the dog or do laundry while also being immersed in the lives of characters I’m writing about.”

“Working with Dennis and Ken also allowed me to gain insight about writing fiction from two different perspectives,” Kathe adds. “That’s one of the strengths of the SCS Creative Writing program. It’s a smorgasbord: you get to work with different instructors who have distinct takes on writing and publishing, on what to look for in what you read and in your own work. Another is that you can build a circle of peers that you workshop new material with long after a course has ended. I owe a lot to the continued feedback of friends I’ve made through coursework.”

Kathe submitted her story to the award to help get into the practice of sending her work out, so she was both surprised and thrilled to win. Moving forward, she aims to complete her Creative Writing Final Project, and build a portfolio of poetry this year. She is also exploring how storytelling might find a place in her scholarly work. “Writing is a skill that you can grow for a lifetime,” she says. “My advice would be to remain open to exploring different genres and experiences. Be open to sending it out into the world. I didn’t know I could write fiction — let alone that I’d love it — and here I am.”
 

Like many Canadians, or people living in Canada, you may have been attending Remembrance Day memorials for years, but never really understood why they happen. You may have stood in silence at 11 am on November 11th, but not had a clear sense of why we do this ceremonial gesture. I’m here to answer some top questions about Remembrance Day, and explain not only the history surrounding it, but how it’s evolved over time.

1. What IS Remembrance Day exactly?

Remembrance Day is one of the major civic holidays on the Canadian calendar but, in Ontario, it generally isn't a day off work. It's been observed, annually, since the end of the First World War. In 1931, it was fixed to the hour of 11 am on the 11th of November: notionally the exact anniversary (ex. time-zone complications) of the ceasefire that ended the First World War in 1918.

2. Is this the one where you have barbecues and stereo equipment sales and stuff?

That's Memorial Day in the US. In Canada, Remembrance Day is an extremely solemn occasion and is taken very, very seriously. I'm not kidding: make light of this and you risk causing offence. 

Different countries have different traditions when it comes to commemorating war dead. In some places, it's an observance specifically for people who are, or were, in the military; in others it's a public, whole-of-society thing. In some places, it takes on a triumphal tone, often with loud parades and cheering; in others it's a day of mourning.

3. Ok, so how does Canada mark the occasion?

Canada was closely tied to the UK in the years following 1918, and so it follows what might be called the "Commonwealth model". There are lots of countries in this group: some you might expect (New Zealand, Kenya), others which might be surprising (the Israeli "Day of Remembrance" reflects the history of Mandatory Palestine, and of Jewish soldiers fighting with UK forces in the First and Second World Wars).

There's a lot of variation within the "Commonwealth model". The Australians have their main ceremony at the break of dawn on April 25th. The British tend to do it on the Sunday nearest November 11th. The Israelis, as one might expect, time it according to the Hebrew calendar (April or May, depending on the year).

In every case, though, there are three basic elements: a) mass participation in, b) a symbolic funeral which, c) is built around a (usually two minute) act of silence.

4. How do you "act" silence?

By standing still and not saying anything. In the old days they used to halt traffic. This stopped happening some time in or after the 1950's, but you'll still see people stopping, wherever they are, and just waiting for two minutes before they get on with their day.

The "two-minute silence" started in South Africa during WWI and quickly spread to the rest of the Commonwealth. It's easy to see why: it works across cultures, it's contemplative, funerary, participatory, and emotionally effecting. In Canada, silence has become the dominant theme in public memorialisation. Pretty much whenever Canadians need to memorialise something, they stand in silence. It's a whole thing.

5. So that's the "ceremony" I keep hearing about? Standing in silence?

For a lot of people, yes. You are encouraged, though, to attend one of the many public ceremonies that take place at the war memorials dotted around the country. These typically last about an hour and end with the two-minutes silence at 11 am.

This being a COVID year, however, a lot of these ceremonies will go virtual. The U of T's war memorial is Soldier's Tower, next to Hart House on the St. George campus. You can sign up for the socially-distanced livestream here.

6. Is this a specifically Christian ceremony?

Weirdly, for something designed for the interwar period, not really. In the early 20's, Canada was already a multi-cultural society, and the "Imperial" forces with which Canadians fought during WWI (representing a quarter of the world's population) were wildly multicultural. The ceremony, then, was designed to combine religious themes from all sorts of popular religions at the time, and also to be accessible to the non-religious.

For instance, you may have heard Canadians calling their local war memorial a 'Cenotaph' (from the Greek, literally "empty tomb"). The one in front of Old City Hall in Toronto is a Cenotaph, as is the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Governments were encouraging the building of these explicitly-secular "empty tomb" moments as early as 1919, specifically so that they could be accessible across religious lines. Which, when you think about it, is surprisingly 'woke' for a society that was also vigorously suppressing Indigenous culture and was about to outright ban the immigration of Chinese people. History, as it turns out, is complicated, messy, and often very dark. Which is something we think about on November 11th.

7. The red pins everybody is wearing: what’s that about?

Those are symbolic poppy flowers.

There's a long European tradition of using botanical emblems to represent special days. Not always flowers, by the way: there is a Welsh tradition to mark St David's Day by wearing a leek. In France, one commemorates veterans and victims of war by wearing a symbolic cornflower. French army uniforms of the Great War were light blue. The image of young troops marching to the slaughter in their cornflower-blue uniforms, as vibrant and impermanent as the blossoms of spring, became a powerful and melancholy symbol in that country.

In the Commonwealth, during the war, soldiers began to see a similar symbolic meaning in the blood-red poppy that grew in profusion across the Western Front. Poppies like to grow in disturbed earth (that's why you get them in newly-ploughed fields) and that's why they grew so readily in the churned up earth of no man's land and, especially, on freshly dug graves.

One finds poppies again and again in wartime poetry, the most famous example being In Flanders Fields by U of T alum LtCol John McCrae: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow", he writes in the voice of the newly dead, "Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place".

After the war, veterans' groups began to sell poppies as a fundraiser. In Canada, this is done by the Royal Canadian Legion.

8. Yeah, the darn things won't stay on!

I know, I know… I try weaving the pin in and out of my coat a few times. It creates more friction, and they seem to last a little longer.

In May of 2000, the Canadians repatriated a so-called Unknown Soldier to be entombed next to the cenotaph in Ottawa. The following November, members of the crowd at the Remembrance Day ceremony began, quite spontaneously, to take off their poppies and lay it on this grave. It's become a tradition for some people, now. If you see somebody without a poppy on the afternoon of Remembrance Day, that could mean that they left it at a war memorial.

9. So, Remembrance Day… changes?

Yeah, it does. Remembrance Day has always been a combination of top-down organization and bottom-up popular innovation. Over the years it's evolved, organically, out of the culture of the day.

And that's the deal with Remembrance Day: it's a point of connection. The people who designed this observance created a monument that, in order to work, had to be re-built each year. 

Think about what it means, symbolically I mean, to stand in a group of people but in silence. You're there in a crowd doing a thing together, but you're also deeply alone. Silence is a connection, bridging divides of language and culture and tradition but it's also a barrier, a cutting off.

And it isn't just a social paradox, it's also temporal. Silence is made of time: it happens in a specific moment at a specific place. But silence is also timeless: it is exactly the same in any year. Silence sounds the same in 2021 as it did in 1921, and it will sound exactly the same in 2121, G'd willing we're still around to not hear it.

So yeah, that's the deal. This year we'll observe that silence for the hundred and second time in Canada. And every second will be fresh, and new, and made by us, and also completely the same. Always fresh, always raw, always exactly the same. 

Because that's what grief is like.

Nick Gunz is a naval and intelligence historian, specialising in the link between intelligence analysis and military strategy. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Toronto before going on to graduate work at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Prior to returning to Toronto to teach at U of T SCS, he spent several years teaching undergraduates at the University of Cambridge and at Yale. His SCS course, Apocalypse Now and Again: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Crisis, begins in March 2022.

"I like the idea of letting language take me for a walk, to let words help me discover and process how I’m really feeling. When I read my writing, it helps me discover myself and dissect what I’m going through,” reflects Ashley-Elizabeth, who recently won our 2021 Janice Colbert Poetry Award. However, the process of learning and writing has not always been an easy path for Ashley-Elizabeth. “I’m disabled, and I struggled during my undergrad and had to leave school. I was too sick to stay. I was in the process of learning how to live in a disabled body, and manage my life,” she says. “I turned to writing. It helped me process what I was going through".

In 2020, Ashley-Elizabeth found herself gravitating towards SCS and the study of creative writing. “I was drawn to SCS because it was so accessible. Courses were offered online, and I really got to work at my own pace. My instructors were experts in what they do, and they were so accommodating. They really got that we are all adults with busy lives and unique needs,” she says. “I felt fully able to participate. Nothing was going to get in the way of my learning.”

While she just recently started working towards her Certificate in Creative Writing, Ashley came to SCS already a published author. In fact, her debut collection of poetry, Slow States of Collapse, was published with ECW Press in 2016, and her most recent chapbook, Alignment, was published by Rahila's Ghost Press in July. “I’m currently taking Writing the Novel: Introduction at SCS, and am really excited about writing my first novel. My instructor, Kevin Hardcastle, really breaks down the process of writing a novel into manageable chunks. It’s helped me plan and navigate an otherwise overwhelming process,” says Ashley-Elizabeth, who also earned her Honours B.A. in English and History this past spring.  “When I saw the opportunity to apply for the Janice Colbert Poetry Award, I figured I have poems I’ve written, and they deserve to go out into the world! I was also really inspired by one of the award jurors, Therese Estacion, who previously won the award, is a published author, and is also disabled. I’d had such a positive experience at SCS, and applying for the award felt like a good fit.”

Ashley-Elizabeth submitted a poem she had written titled Ghazals for an Absent Mother. “This poem is about my unique relationship with my mother, my family, distance, and boundaries. Ghazals are constrained and wandering at the same time. It was a way for me to process my feelings. I find that as the writer, I’m along for the ride with the reader; writing is a way I can step back and better understand myself,” reflects Ashley-Elizabeth. “Winning the award was a shock! Having your work recognized is very validating. I spent a lot of time and effort to produce it, and it meant a lot.”

Today, Ashley-Elizabeth has her degree, two published works of writing, and a poetry award. She’s also working on a second collection of poetry, starting her first novel, and working full-time in real estate. “I’ve learned that life is all about persistence and patience. I go for what I want, and if I need to rest or scale back, that’s ok. I ask for support when I need it. SCS made me feel I was worthy of being there, and reinforced that being disabled should never stop me from pursuing my goals,” she says. “I’ve struggled at times, but I now know that I don’t need to break my body to achieve; I can grow, learn, and manage my disability at my own pace. Really, writing is all about patience and persistence as well; you put yourself out there, you get rejected, but you keep going. You keep learning.