Upcoming Events

Film Group Feb 23, 2022

Series Fourteen –  Immigration

Zoom discussions of each film will take place on last Wednesdays at 4pm: Jan 26, Feb 23 and Mar 30

Hosted by John LeBlanc

To join the group, please email john.leblanc @ ubc.ca

Series Fourteen: Immigration continues to become a central reality of our time, increasing in scale and complexity and eliciting a wide range of responses from positive promotion (Canada desires and needs more immigrants) to condemnation (strong man countries erecting walls of various sorts).  Feature films have addressed issues of immigration since film began in the late 19th century, but our series will focus on more recent efforts, beginning with El Norte from 40 years ago when the general public was just beginning to gain a more in-depth awareness of such social issues.  Mediterranea provides a more contemporary (and more geographically removed) window into the situation facing immigrants.  Finally, Amreeka sees immigrant experience from a more positive perspective, adding balance to the seemingly insurmountable problems. 

Feb 23 – Mediterranea (2015) – directed by Jonas Carpignano follows two brothers who make the perilous journey from Burkina Faso (Central Africa) through Libya to what they hope will be a promised land in Rosarno (Southern Italy).  The older brother (Ayiva) is played by an actual immigrant who greatly informed the screenplay.  The journey through Africa to the coast is perilous enough, but upon their arrival in Italy they are faced with squalid living conditions, low-paying seasonal work in the citrus groves of the Gioia Tauro plain, and hostility from the locals and the police, with the 2010 anti-immigrant riots in Rosarno as a backdrop.  STREAMING AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON OR YOUTUBE FOR A SMALL FEE.    

Photo Group February 25, 2022

There are two themes:  “Shadows” and “Space/Time/Motion” – you can chose either or both. New photos, or photos from your catalog, are welcome, and you can submit photos on other themes.

A change in meeting format: We agreed to try some changes to our meeting format, as follows:

Submit no more than 3 photos, no later than the end of the day on Thursday before the meeting.

Designate one photo to be shown first. (If there are 1 or 2 photos that show how the main photo was processed, you can show them along with the main photo.)

Number your remaining photos in order.

We will start by going through all our first choice photos , one per person*, allowing time for discussion and comment. One of our experienced photographers will facilitate a discussion of each photo, exploring questions such as:

Why did you take the photo?

Does it do what you wanted it to do?

Could it have been/be improved:

     o When it was taken?

     o In post-processing?

We will then look at the photos that haven’t been shown, one photo per person, in order, spending less time on each photo, if there is time remaining. (*if you chose to show additional photos with your main photo, we won’t look at them again.)

Meetings will be limited to 1 hour for review of photos + 15 min for feedback, and planning our next meeting.

The order of viewing will be randomised (before the meeting).

We will discuss how this worked at the end of the meeting, and decide whether to continue this way, or make some changes.

Please send no more than 3 photos to me at richard@rhspencer.ca no later than the end of the day on Thursday, Feb 24.

Future meetings: We plan to meet on April 8, and May 13. We may be able to move to hybrid meetings (in person at UBC + online using Zoom), depending on Covid.

Take and Make Better Photos: Once we can confirm rooms at UBC I will contact Neil leNobel to schedule this talk, and let you know the date, time and place.  I hope we can do this in February or March.

If you would like to join the group, please contact Richard Spencer for the zoom-link at richard@rhspencer.ca 

Volunteer Group - Mar. 3, 2022

The Emeritus Volunteer Group Third Meeting

Thursday, Mar. 3, 4-5pm

We are fortunate that Janice Abbott has agreed to speak at the meeting. Janice is the CEO of Atira Women's Resource Society, a non-profit that provides safe housing to women and children affected by violence, and engages in education and advocacy toward ending all forms of gendered violence. Having been CEO at Atira for the past 30 years, Janice knows many of the non-profits in the DTES and will be able to discuss volunteer opportunities at Atira as well as other organizations supporting women, children, public health, education and housing. In response to hearing about the Emeritus College Volunteer Group, Janice wrote: “This sounds like an incredible initiative and I can think of multiple organizations that could benefit, as well as projects, and people who would be over the moon at the opportunity.” We will begin the meeting with an open discussion around any insights participants wish to share from the last meeting with Martha Piper, or volunteer opportunities they’ve recently become aware of. Then we’ll turn it over to Janice who will speak for 15-20 minutes, after which we’ll open it up for questions/comments.

If you wish to attend, please contact me at Nancy.Gallini@ubc.ca so I can send you the zoom link the week of the meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, March 3 at 4pm!