As the hallowed time of year approaches, tis the season when everything from craft beer to $12 lattes to communion wafers bear the pungent flavour of the mightiest of gourds. Whether it’s The Sandman’s Merv Pumpkinhead, Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin, or Cinderella’s midnight carriage, the noble pumpkin has left quite an indelible mark, considering how rarely any of us actually eat them. So – before we turn into pumpkins – let’s get to the updates!

Some Spicy Commentary: CRIM’s Gurpreet Johal took a star media turn last week, contributing his expertise to a CBC story on public safety as a theme in the Surrey mayoral race. You can read the story here. Kudos, Gurpreet!

Tea and Bannock: Jennifer Anaquod and Rachel Chong will be serving tea and bannock on Nov. 7 at 4:30 pm. Jennifer and Rachel will be hosting in-person kitchen table talks in χʷəχʷéy̓əm which is located in the library at KPU Surrey Campus. χʷəχʷéy̓əm means oral storytelling in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language and we can’t wait to gather and share our own stories and questions about our Indigenization journeys. Jennifer and Rachel will highlight some of their favourite resources during these talks. Space is limited to 20 participants. These will be held once a month with registration opening a few weeks prior to the event. Please use this Eventbrite link to register.

We’re Out of Our Gourd for Dale Tracy: English luminary Dale Tracy is on fire of late. Not only is Dale’s upcoming poetry collection, Derelict Bicycles, profiled by the CBC here, but, even more prestigiously, she has contributed to KPU Reads with insightful ruminations on Dionne Brand’s The Blue Clerk.  Kudos, Dale!

Seeds of Learning: A reminder that Arts has the great good fortune of an Education Consultant on Indigenization and Decolonization: the amazing Jennifer Anaquod. Jennifer is available to consult with departments about what indigenization might mean for them, to chat with individual faculty who are seeking ways to deepen their understanding of decolonization and indigenization, or otherwise share her experience and insights on these vital matters. Jennifer also holds regular Kitchen Table Talks open to everyone at KPU – the next will occur on Wednesday Oct. 26 at noon, on Zoom.

Love, Kira: Please make time to explore the Love, Kira exhibit in the Spruce Gallery, which runs until the end of October. This retrospective exhibit honours our departed FINA colleague, Kira Wu, and is a testament to the enduring power of her life and art.

The Kira Wu Endowed Bursary is now visible on the main KPU Give page here: KPU Donation Website. People can donate directly online on this page, and select “Kira Wu Endowed Award” under the Designations category to contribute to the fund. Please note that all donations receive a charitable tax receipt. If people would like to make a donation by cheque they can make it payable to the KPU Foundation and note the award’s name. These can be mailed to Kwantlen Polytechnic University, care of Karen Hammond, Office of Advancement, 12666 72 Avenue, Surrey BC, V3W 2M8.

A Cultivar of Creativity – Vancouver Writers Fest: You can still catch KPU folks plying their trade at the writers fest. Associate Dean Billeh Nickerson hosts the Poetry Bash on Friday, Oct. 21st at 8:30 PM. And, of course, CRWR Instructor Aislinn Hunter moderated two events: Fiction from Reality on Thursday, Oct. 20th at 6 PM, and Poems for the Twelfth Hour on Friday, Oct. 21st at 1 PM.

Calling all 2SLGBTQIA+ KPU students: The Pride Advocacy Group (PAG) is developing a series of video messages to help create a safer, more welcoming learning environment for 2SLGBTQIA+ students at KPU. PAG is inviting current and recently graduated folx to be interviewed—on or off camera—about their experiences. Please spread the word, and encourage interested 2SLGBTQIA+ KPU students and alumni to email pride@kpu.ca to find out more! Interview sessions have been tentatively scheduled for Friday, November 18 at Surrey Campus, and Tuesday, November 22 at Richmond Campus. There will be pizza!

No Pumpkin-Patchwriting here: KPU’s Academic integrity Week was marked by a variety of events and resources over this past week including a special workshop on alternative assessments which  can be accessed here. On Tuesday, Dr. Laurie McNeill from UBC presented: Creating a Culture of Academic Integrity: Steps, Strategies, Principles, and Practices. Dr. McNeill spoke about her faculty-driven project integrating academic integrity education into first-year writing courses and is described here. Finally, there us this resource created by Keeta Gladue, a Cree and Métis scholar and lead for the Indigenous Academic Integrity Project at the University of Calgary. The resource illustrates how principles of relationality, reciprocity, and respect inform Indigenous perspectives on academic integrity. Kudos and congratulations go out to Marcelina Piotrowski and Anna Rucker for their excellent work this week.

Squash Boredom by Crowdsourcing the Update: We always fret a bit that the Arts Distribution List might become a source of frustration for folks who already have very full inboxes. If you have a non-urgent item to share, please consider sending it along to this address: artsupdate@kpu.ca. We will be happy to share your item along.

With all the sunshine and warm weather, farmers are harvesting a bumper crop of pumpkins, now is the time to explore some delicious pumpkin recipes or do some creative carving. We invite you to share pictures of your Halloween jack-o-lanterns for showcasing in the next update.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Shelley, Greg, Dana, Billeh, and Wade.

Photo credits

“Pumpkin’ latte” by Zach Hale is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“Merv Pumpkinhead” by CristianGarro on DeviantArt

“Halloween Concoctions” by Wade Deisman