With the spell of sun and warm weather this week, there are signs of summer spilling out everywhere. As vaccinations steadily increase, we are slowly beginning to see a resumption of pre-pandemic activities: whether it be bucolic biking, picnicking and playing in the park, or some swimming and barbequing at the beach. Meanwhile, in the privacy of BC’s most enchanted backyards, the garden gnomes, dwarves, imps, and elves (who got their AstraZeneca shots last week!) have been engaged in their own rites and rituals of celebration: puckishly carousing and cavorting with one another into the wee hours. And what warrant, pray tell, occasions such celebration? Why, the fact that they’ve got their grading done, of course! 

You Gnome it is True: The Psychology Department will hold its honors thesis defenses event on Monday, April 26th, from 8:30 am – 5:30 pm. Thirteen honours students will be defending their theses throughout the course of the day. Dr. Alan Davis, President and Vice-Chancellor, will be on hand to offer opening remarks, and Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh, Provost and VP Academic, will oversee the closing events of this important occasion. Everyone is welcome to join.

An IMPortant invitation: KPU International, in conjunction with the Faculty of Arts Committee on Faculty and International Student Success, is seeking a faculty volunteer to participate in shooting a video version of our Achieving Student Success pamphlet. The pamphlet, attached here, was developed as a resource for circulating to Arts classes, and is meant to help international students acclimate to the Canadian university setting. (Please consider using it as a resource in your Summer courses!). If you are interested in a turn as a video star, please get in touch with Rachel Chan. We are also seeking a domestic student volunteer! Kindly forward the name of an interested domestic student to Rachel as well. The video will be filmed on June 24 on the Surrey campus, with full respect for COVID protocols.

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho: Those teaching in the summer may wish to share the attached list of resources for international students on their Moodle sites. It makes an excellent supplement to Achieving Student Success (also attached).

The Minds of Moria: If you are interested in social movements and the role that the law can play in supporting social change, don’t miss this important interview with Irina Ceric. An instructor in Criminology and lawyer, Irina has been deploying her extensive legal acumen since the early 1990s in the service of radical legal support organizing. This interview is on Mediacoop.

Want to Gnome More? We know that some of you are interested in learning more about Ramadan, so we are sharing this helpful slide deck of tips for non-Muslim friends of Muslims. Thanks to Tara Robertson (a recent TLC webinar speaker) for sharing this along, and to Urooj Nizami (Open Education Strategist) for reviewing it. Link here. 

The Sacred Glade: Earlier this week, the President’s Diversity and Equity Committee (PDEC) issued a new call for applications. We encourage all members of the KPU Arts community to consider events and initiatives that further KPU’s Diversity and Inclusiveness mandate. For questions about this award, don’t hesitate to get in touch with pdec@kpu.ca.

Pedagogical Pixie Dust: Congratulations go to the latest ARTS recipients of the Teaching & Learning Innovation Fund (TLIF), Brandon Justus (Psychology), and Kyle Jackson (History). Brandon’s work is devoted to ‘investigating whether tabletop games can be used as a tool within classrooms to improve group cohesion and team attitudes.’ Kyle’s project involves a cross-disciplinary student collaboration between KPU History and the Wilson School of Design. It aims to create a 3D-printed sculpture that physically embodies quantitative historical data as a world map, thereby blurring the boundary between history and art while experimenting with a new way of representing the histories of South Asian print media.

“All Children, Except One, Grow Up:” Michael Ma’s (Criminology) dashing face is gracing local bus shelters this month! The image to the side is an ad for a show at the PCHC Museum of Migration and features a young Mike, next to his mother and looking at his sisters: a photo of the family’s arrival at Vancouver International Airport on June 23, 1968. This is one of Mike’s very first moments in Canada! The ad is featured at bus stops across Vancouver, and there is a contest for some free books. So, if you see Mike on a bus shelter, please take a selfie and send it to the museum via Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. To learn more, click here. And thanks so much to Mike for sharing this wonderful memento.

We close this week with the words of Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, that “merry wanderer of the night:” 

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended:

That you have but slumbered here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend.

Wishing you an impish and enchanted elven weekend, replete with sunshine, stardust, and much magic.

Diane, Shelley, Greg, and Wade 

PS. If you’ve managed to capture any images of gnomes in your own neighborhood engaged in bacchanalian revelry, please feel free to send these along to us! We may even create a ‘Garden Gnomes Gallery’ on the ARTS Blog!