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                           A Lecture about Virginia Woolf

         I attended last October a lecture on Virginia Woolf at the campus of University of Montreal in Laval. Emmanuelle Friant was the speaker. The lecture has two parts which were held on October 18th and October 25th. The first part was about her life and the second part was mostly about her best known novels, especially "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925) and "To the Lighthouse" (1927). My expectations were great with the speaker and the topic. I know that Virginia Woolf is hard to read and understand but the speaker is always exceptional. She has a doctorate in modern history and a degree in English and North American studies. In the first part, the speaker describes Adeline Virginia Woolf  (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) as an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. She explained that throughout her life, Woolf was troubled by mental illness. In 1941, at age 59, Woolf died by drowning herself in the River Ouse at Lewes. She also talk a lot about "Mrs Dalloway". I was very happy to finally understand  this novel. Although "Mrs. Dalloway" takes place on one day in June, five years after the war has ended, I understood that Woolf was chiefly concerned with the true nature of devastation inflicted upon England and "Mrs. Dalloway" is her portrayal of individuals as victims of the war. I recognize Woolf’s treatment of trauma through its effects in the character of Septimus Warren-Smith. In the light of trauma theory, Emmanuelle Friant guides me through the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" about the pervasive impacts of traumatic experiences. As a result, I realize that an exploration of trauma in the novel is not for the only sake of trauma but to draw our attention to the external threat of the second war, which was inhuman and dreadful. I really appreciated this lecture because war is still on.

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                                             Leonard Cohen films

           In these two Leonard Cohen films, we have two different images of the same man. The first movie "Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr Leonard Cohen" was set in Montreal in 1965. Montreal was a great part of his life and he was always coming back. The movie, which is more a documentary, keeps us fixated on the Leonard Cohen who came of age in the 1960's. Here, we got Cohen, the novelist and poet. He was not even a renowned singer and musician yet by which the world knows him today but he already had his share of admirers. The movie gives us a glimpse of Cohen going about his daily routine: rising from bed, reading before loving audiences, going to restaurants and bars, and even getting his hair done at a beauty salon. The camera is his friend. He looks good on camera and he is relaxed and articulate. The documentary is more through a media lens. It is not his real life. We see his own image, perspective and opinion through a series of portraits. In the second movie "Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love", we realize how he became a songwriter. It takes a different approach, more like how you would attend a funeral and listen to eulogies for two people who loved each other dearly. Rather than narrating his life, the interviewees seem to be bringing back some fond memories and recollections of a close friend. In a way, it is less of a documentary and more like a love letter. It brings a different side of him. It is more how he was perceived by others: friends, women, musicians and so on. It is behind the mask. It is a new perspective. 

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                                            Careers in English

         During the last course, I learned that careers in English are varied and multiple. I am retired and I am doing a majeur in English studies. At first, my goal is to develop comprehensive written and spoken communication skills because I love to travel. Also, I want to learn more about new English authors, as well as acquiring knowledge of literary movements, periods and critical aspects that have framed the way we view  literature today. I don’t have a  plan to work. For me, studies have always been part of my life. Following the last course, I was thinking about what I can do with a major in English studies. As a result, I have decided to continue  my studies with a certificate in personal financial planning. I had always good grades in mathematics at different educational level and I am not afraid to pass numeracy test conducted as part of the job assessment process. I would like to work in this field part-time with my cumulate baccalaureate. However, as I said, studies were always part of my life and literature is always a field that I love. So, I would like to do a minor in French literature during my studies in personal financial planning at HEC. The teacher was an inspiration for me when she explained her career path. So, it is why I wish to explore French literature. I think it will be a very good complement to my studies in English. It is important we don’t just talk about numbers, rules and coefficients which are hard to interpret, but stories that people can understand.

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                              "Beans", a Moving Movie

           The movie "Beans" narrates the journey of a young girl named Beans throughout a pivotal tense time during the1990’s Oka Crisis at Kanesatake. Mohawks, in Oka, were enflamed by plans to put a golf course and townhouses on Mohawk’s property, including on a burial ground. A peaceful protest leads to barricades and fires between members of the Mohawk tribe, Quebec police, the RCMP and the Canadian army. Everyone were pointing rifles at each other. The standoff lasted 78 days.The nonviolent protest quickly escalates because the First Nation people block Mercier bridge, thus upsetting the morning commute of the Whites. Racist Canadians showed their outrage by yelling, throwing rocks, and spitting on Mohawk people. In turn, the community is cut off from access to everything from jobs to groceries. Moreover, rocks are thrown by Whites at the Beans’ family car and we feel the tension created by the clashes between the police and the Mohawks. This is the scene in the film which stood out for me the most. Rocks are a kind of symbolism, a metaphor. The rocks at the beginning of the movie are a form of art, a good luck. Beans says that she wants to go to white school and makes art. We see also Beans decorating rocks with her sister which turn to be a small piece of jewellery. Later, rocks are something harmful and violent such as the scene on Mercier bridge which is powerful. It represents despair. As a result, Beans decides that she needs to be tougher. She turns to April who teaches her how to fight and eventually pushes her toward rage and a determination to stand up for her people. For this straight-arrow teenager, coming of age means becoming a warrior. Her world is not only shattered by the rocks thrown in the windows of the car on the bridge but her innocence was shattered too. It was a traumatic violence. Finally, at the end of the movie, the rocks are around her neck when she goes to white school as a message of hope. She wants to be friend with Whites.

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McCord Museum Highlights Indigenous Voices of Today 

The McCord Museum in Montreal recently launched its new permanent exhibition: "Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience”. Directed by Huron-Wendat curator Elisabeth Kaine, the exhibition invites the public to come and meet the indigenous peoples and hear their points of view through a three-part journey that highlights their still little-known knowledge, the deep wounds they bear and their incredible resilience.The exhibition brings visitors on a journey through three different but integral aspects of Indigenous past and present life, while looking to the future.The hundreds of objects that are on display are combined with powerful inspiring 80 textual and video testimonies from members of the 11 Indigenous nations of Quebec, shedding light on their knowledge and philosophies. They speak out about their suffering as well as their dreams and plans for a better future to restore their health, which has been undermined by colonization.The objects on display were carefully selected from the Museum’s Indigenous collection in Uashat, using an approach inspired by Indigenous ways of understanding the world through observation and allowing the objects to speak us. In the first part of exhibition, we can see a wampum belt, pipe, bandolier bag, roach, cradle-board, trade silver, jewels, drums, tools and an extremely rare original copy of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. I was really impressed by it. Most Indigenous and legal scholars recognize the Royal Proclamation as an important first step toward the recognition of existing Aboriginal rights and title, including the right to self-determination. In the second part of the exhibition, we are able to hear reflections on the more traumatic aspects of Indigenous history which touch topics including residential schools, the Indian Act, alcoholism and teen suicide. Finally, the exhibition helps to foster greater sensitivity to everything Indigenous people have experienced and lost in North America over the past several centuries and recognize their great resilience.

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  Cyclorama Celebrates Montreal’s Two Solitudes

                   

          Cyclorama is an amazing play written by Laurence Dauphinais about French and English theatre in Montreal. The mystery at the heart of this entertaining and docudrama is why anglophones and francophones are so divided. The play is staged in 3 places during the same night: Centaur Theatre, Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui and in a bus between the two theatres. Historically, both collaborating theatres were founded around the same time but with very different mandates. Since 1968, Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui is a more nationalist theatre, dedicated exclusively to French-speaking Quebec and French playwrights. On the other hand, the Centaur Theatre was founded in 1969 and located in Canada’s first stock exchange building in Old Montreal. The theatre is devoted to producing contemporary and classical plays from the English international canon. In each places, we learn about Montreal’s history theatre and the animosity between French and English-speakers. In the bus, spectators can enjoy historical sites and upbeat music. In each theatre, the distance between the seats and the stage is minimal which creates an intimate and relaxed ambiance. I really appreciated the actors, who were dressed like everyone in the audience, playing themselves in their life stories. Through their disputes, they seem more like some acquaintances trying to tell us their stories about French and English Montrealers. Actor Antoine Yared plays his alter ego in the production. Born in Lebanon and raised in Montreal, the trilingual actor has performed in English in theatres across Canada and the United States, as well as in many local French productions. Yared originally studied in French and Arabic but went on to study at Dawson’s and Concordia’s English-language theatre programs. On the other hand, Dauphinais comes from a separatist Quebec family and was fascinated by English. She says Cyclorama approaches these questions about identity through the angle of theatre, but the play is also connected to culture and politics. With this production, she wants Montrealers from both linguistic divides to meet, to laugh at themselves and at each other as well as challenge their preconceived ideas about one another. However, I think we don’t get an answer why that dividing line has cut so deep for so long? Even the show’s three-hour duration hasn’t enough time to arrive at a satisfying conclusion, it is definitely headed in the right direction.

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          Time Shifted in Angelique

                                         

          For this blog post, about the book Angelique, I have chosen Scene Sixteen from Act I which I read it out loud to consider the emotions of the lines. As a result, the scene evokes me the historical continuities between past and present. For instance, the use of modern as well as 18th-century costumes is clearly demonstrated in scene in which Francheville undresses Angélique, discards her modern garments and dresses her up in those of her own time. He places a corset on her which he holds as if they were reins, while he were fucking her from behind. It makes a powerful statement about the sexualization of Black women’s bodies up to the present who are in a double jeopardy due to their gender and race. Overall, this scene also stresses continuity in the play’s opening remarks, which describes the time as then is now and now is then: the present and the 1730s. The interchangeability of time periods suggests the continued status of Black people as commodities in the west. 

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                  The Black Old Montreal Experience 

On October 20th, we had a wonderful tour on Black history in Old Montreal with Rito Joseph. I think lots of people are familiar with Black Americans History but we rarely know about the stories of Black Canadians. First, he seems to be passionated about his Afro-Haitian roots. We began the tour on Place d’Armes near the Maisonneuve’s statue. Maisonneuve is very well known in Quebec history. His name is associated with streets, bridges, buildings etc. and was the founder of Montreal in 1642. Rito points out on the side of the statue a graphic of a European man slaughtering Native Americans in the hope of conquering the territory.They obviously win. Later on, not so far, we learn about an ancient building which was built over a cemetery and housed bodies of hundred of Black slaughtered slaves. This was a revelation to me. After, we walk around and learn about Marie Angelique, places in Angelique’s book and history. It helps to visualize things. We imagine these historical characters from the book walking around these places after reading Angelique. These dramatic characters and the streets become a very personal experience. On the tour, Rito points out  the place where slaves were bought and sold is not marked. It's just another European-looking building that people pass by every day. Finally, standing near the Marie Angelique’s plate was the highlight of the tour despite the fact that the plate was posted in a little hidden road. It was not decided to put it in a more visible place such as where she lives in order to inform tourists about Marie Angélique’s story. This is a shame.

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          England in Crisis in the Play "The Foxfinder"

         The play starts in silence. A farmer and his wife sit at a table, eyes trained ahead. They are grieving for both their farm and their dead son. Their farm is on the brink. They fear the foxfinder, a young man sent by the government to check for an infestation of foxes. If foxes are discovered, the farm will be shut down. Humans believe that foxes are solely responsible for the world’s destruction. Everyone, except farmer Samuel, begins to doubt the existence of the foxes, which start to seem like a handy excuse for the government to control citizens and deflect from its own shortcomings. But, Samuel, desperate for someone to blame, hunts down his grief with a gun. My expectation for the play is it will haunt and frighten with silence and dark atmosphere but the text does more. The play is more funnier than the reading which is more dramatic.The set is fantastic. I was expecting big table which is a central thing in a kitchen but it was an imaginary furniture with cubes which was shipped in and out. I love when they used them vertically to attach skins on it or when they used them as an animal trap. The limited set has a very modern looking. The scene is very close to audience. We have a feeling to be part of what is going on. There was no bright colour. At every change of scene, we hear a very strong stressful noise which contribute to the dark atmosphere.The clothes of Samuel is old fashion but William’s and Sarah’s clothes are more modern. All together made a feeling that we don’t know when is the setting exactly. The play can be boring on stage but long passages from the book are not there. Nonetheless, the play is a gripping and suspenseful parable exploring climate change and its impact on the psychology of fear and the human need for certainty.

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How Kasuma’s Work Affects my Emotional and Mental Well Being

             

            This week, I have seen at Phi Centre, in Old Montreal, the exhibition of Yayoi Kasuma: "Dancing Lights that Flew up to the Universe". We are very lucky, as students, to attend to this exhibition. The Phi Foundation releases 5,000 tickets per month, limiting crowds in order to ensure a comfortable experience and reasonable wait times for Kusama’s Infinity mirrored rooms, which must be viewed one person at a time.  This exhibition is meant as an introduction to Kusama’s works, as part of the Phi Foundation’s 15th anniversary celebrations. At the beginning, I learned that Yayoi Kasuma was born into a family of merchants who owned a plant nursery and seed farm. Kusama began drawing pictures of pumpkins and flowers in elementary school and began to create artwork. Also, she had hallucinations such as flashes of light, auras or dense fields of dots which would later define her career. Her mother was not supportive of her creative endeavours. Kusama's art became her escape from her family and her own mind because she has also to deal with mental illness. Here, the main attraction of the exhibition is her "infinity mirrors". The experience is based on lights and mirrors which create an illusion of infinite space. I was locked in two different rooms for 45 seconds. The first room was more stressful in which the light flashed and disappeared for 2 seconds in contrast to the second room in which I felt more relaxed. The presence of the water and the colour of the lights which changes slowly allowed me to feel an inner peace in the second room. I really appreciated the contrast between the rooms. I was transported in 2 different alternative universes. I felt the infinity from both disquiet and wonder. I can read through the experience what Yayoi Kusama wants to express about her emotions.  Also, through contemplation, I discovered that I can express emotions and then to calm them down. This experience was benefit for my well being.

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Meditation for 5 Minutes and then Study or Do Coursework for 30 Minutes 

       

         I am back with a new experiment. This time, I did coursework for 30 minutes, then  meditated for 8 minutes and finally tried to finish my courseworks for another 30 minutes. I used the application "Insight Timer" for the experience, as suggested by the teacher . I choose a session about releasing  stress and anxiety. I was not sure that it will help me to relax and make me more productive. So, I prepared my space by removing distractions on my desk. I decided on the length of time with a timer included in the application and I was fully committed to the meditation. So, during the session, my mind wandered. I felt almost asleep. I was focused on my breath. I did the experiment twice. First, I have to say that I have used the application many times since the experience. I love it. Meditation gives me a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit my emotional well-being and my overall health such as my tolerance to pain, improvement of the memory and control of my blood pressure.  It helps my inner peace. Consequently, I can relax and cope with stress by refocusing my attention on something calming. For me, it was helpful to do coursework or to study after the meditation. I was less productive before the meditation. It opened my mind, allowed to listen to myself and, as a result, to have new ideas. It also improved my ability to multitask. I think students should use more often this application when they feel overwhelmed. 

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A Walk as a Physical Activity Before Studying and Doing Coursework 

         This is a new experiment for me. I want to improve my productivity in my studies and courseworks. I read that regular exercise releases chemical keys for memory, concentration and mental sharpness. Exercise can boost the brain's dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin levels and all these will affect focus and attention. Research has revealed that individuals who practice sport can perform better on cognitive tasks than those with bad physical health. When compared with a group who led a more sedentary lifestyle, the group who were in good physical condition performed better on tasks which demand attention. So, I did coursework 30 minutes, then I walked quickly for 30 minutes near my house and finally I studied and did coursework for another 30 minutes. I hope with this experiment that my mind will be more focused on my studying, reading and writing. The goal is to compare and evaluate the difference in productivity. I know that the brain needs the body to work well. So, I think it is important  to train the body. However, I fear the tiredness of the body and I don’t know how long will be the stimulus. My observations for this experiment were a real success. I can feel the energy in my body when I did coursework after the quick walk and it lasts more than 30 minutes. It changed my mind and I felt more relaxed. My physical activity relieved tension in my body. I will definitely use this activity in the future to improve my productivity. Since the body and mind are so closely linked, when the body feels better, the mind follows.

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Study and Do Coursework Somewhere I Don’t Usually Work

            

        Usually, I study or do coursework at home on my desk or my cough. I like to have everything close to me but this comes with distractions. Sometimes, I work in the library at the University of Montreal. I expect to have more works done outside of my home and it seems to work at the university but I want to change environment. Since two weeks, I have tried other libraries. I realize that I love to change places to study or do coursework. I have to move around. So, I brought my computer and visited two libraries: Robert Bourassa in Outremont and the Westmount Public Library located in Westmount Park. It was the one I preferred. It was very calm and the environment is so nice. I worked well there. It is the work of the architect Robert Findlay who, drawing inspiration from the libraries of New England, offered the city a building of Victorian architecture with a vaulted entrance, a gabled roof and a tower with turrets. Also, attached to the library, we can visit a nice greenery. The interior is characterized by coffered ceilings, decorative moldings, assertive arches and faux marble columns. You can also admire murals by Scottish-Canadian painter Adam Sheriff-Scott, as well as calligraphy adorning the walls and windows with the names of Westmount artists, including the late Leonard Cohen. On the other hand, Robert Bourassa library is smaller but It is a modern building flooded with natural light which speaks to innovation and openness.The building is also the home of the Galerie d’Art d’Outremont which lends works for display on the library walls, adding to the natural harmony of the space. This is my second choice and I can do lot of works there too. For me, working in other libraries provides less opportunities of distraction than at home and it provides nice environment and a change from my home and university. So, I am going to visit other libraries to study or do coursework.  

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              Why Study Literature?

                              

          English is the official language of 67 different countries and 27 non-sovereign entities around the world. Also, English is also spoken in many countries where it’s not an official language. More than 1.5. billion people worldwide speak English. English is not only a language but a key to understand quickly what is happening in the world. Also, the history of Anglo-Saxon world is fascinating. I am studying English literature to expand my knowledge of literature and to improve my English and analytical skills. For me, the fun of learning is more important than the goal of earning a degree. For this blog, we have to watch 4 videos and  2 texts. I found out some interesting ideas that change my opinion of literature. First, the video presented by Chimamamda Ngozi Adichie is amazing. When she was young, she read books about white people with one story about Africans. They were poor and had no food and water. When she was older, she wrote her own stories about African people. She want to show that a single story is false about any place in the world and we should reject a single story. In the second video “What is Literature For”, I found out reasons why literature is important. Books save time by giving us fast access to information without having to travel. Also, it is a cure for looniness and it prepares us for failure. It is a therapy. They help us to live with more wisdom. In the third video, Lisa Bu, followed her parents’ expectations to have a good job. However, she didn’t stop to read books. Lisa states that “books have given me a magic portal to connect with people of the past and present”. Finally, in the final video “ Why Reading Matters” and the first reading “Fiction is not frivolous”, the narrators states that fiction is important. It allows us to step outside of our head to see people through another perspective. It opens our imagination to an another world.