Posted by ezra in World Inc.

Again, score one for the corporations and zero for the people. Today’s broadcast of Democracy Now is providing in-depth coverage of the news that Exxon has been handed a gift by the US Supreme Court: it no longer is required to pay back the $5 Billion in punitive damages that a jury ordered it to pay after its 1989 spill on the Alaskan coastline (1200 miles to be exact). I visited the coast of British Columbia in the winter of 1989 to pitch in and help clean up the oil-soaked…read more

Jun.26

Indigenous culture and media arts in Kelowna

Posted by ezra in Dispatches

The last few days at the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) Conference and Festival in Kelowna have been amazing. Rob and I have met so many incredible artists and media arts people that I’m wondering how I could have been floating around in the media arts for so long without joining this national organization. This edition of the conference is featuring indigenous culture and panels have tackled everything from intellectual property with aboriginal knowledge to First Nations communities and connectivity (or lack of: in BC there are 119 out of…read more

Jun.13

Back from the dead and in BC

Posted by ezra in Dispatches, Personal Travails

A lot has happened in the five or so weeks since my last post: I suffered an evil sinus infection that laid me out for about a month and reminded me of just how much Quebec’s health care is in the dumpster; I applied a third time to the Canada Council for the Arts for Cinema Politica (hoping the odds of being turned down three times in a row are, well too unlucky for even us); I wrote my end-of-first year comprehensive PhD exams; I found out I passed (wooohoooo!!);…read more

May.27

I’m sick..

Posted by ezra in Personal Travails

Folks: I’ve been very sick with a sinus infection for over two weeks, and right before my PhD exams to boot! I will return to posting at the end of May.

May.07

Good news comes in…ones?

Posted by ezra in Academix, Personal Travails

While suffering the blow from the Canada Arts Council (for the second time, a jury didn’t rank Cinema Politica high enough to receive funding) and going to Hot Docs to discover, um, filmmakers narrowly focused on their own projects (I can’t blame them), I am delighted to report some good news. Last Thursday, April 17th, 2008, I received word from some faculty and profs at Carleton that I had been awarded the SSHRC (apologies for the instructive graph above – I did it for Michael) Doctoral Fellowship – meaning I’ll…read more

Apr.25

On the RIDM 2008 Pre-selection Committee

Posted by ezra in Doc Side

Yesterday I had lunch with the incredibly experienced and calm André Paquet (at right), who has been programming Montreal’s Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) for the last three years. In Canada, RIDM is second only to Hot Docs in size, but in my books (and André’s) it has resisted the hyper-market business zeal that other large fests like TIFF and Hot Docs tend toward (who do for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is pressure from funding agencies) in favour of a more nuanced cultural…read more

Apr.16

Svetla and yours truly try to explain what it is we do at Cinema Politica

Posted by ezra in Cinema Politica

Concordia prof, activist, filmmaker and friend Liz Miller recently finished her documentary on the privatization of Highland Park’s water services in Detroit, Michigan, called The Water Front. We screened the film this past February 4th at the Concordia Cinema Politica. As the 600 or so audience members filed into the H-110 Auditorium, Liz and her assistant interviewed Svetla and myself on grassroots organizing of cinema screenings. The resulting short video actually makes it seem like we know what we’re talking about, so yes, we’re proud.

Apr.11

Apr.08

What is radical pedagogy?

Posted by ezra in Academix, Pedagogy

I don’t usually post other articles or essays in their entirety, but this one is a solid introductory effort seeking to answer the above question, and it’s very concise. I’ve been interested in radical pedagogy off and on, throughout my scholarly meanderings and find this particular text useful. I’ve lifted it from the ICAAP Radical Pedagogy site. Pictured above is one of the “founding figures” of radical pedagogy, Paulo Freire. What is Radical Pedagogy Timothy McGettigan The concept, “radical pedagogy,” has many different meanings. For some, a discussion of radical…read more

April 4th, snow

Posted by ezra in Personal Travails

For all of you reading this in parts of Canada that aren’t experiencing snow – take a look at the view from my apartment this morning and remember how good you have it!! It’s snowing for god’s sake it’s snowing!!!! I want spring, please someone deliver spring to Montreal! To keep me sane while I’m blogging away and writing papers, I’ve been tapping the following online podcasts for entertainment, inspiration, and bits of imagined sunshine… + Democracy Now! (one hour daily podcast with Amy Goodman) + Film School (weekly 20…read more

Apr.04

Opting out of phone spam just got easier

Posted by ezra in Mediactivism

I was as thrilled as anyone else when the Canadian government announced their proposed bill to dampen phone spam (unsolicited phone calling) to Canadians a couple of years back. I was then very disappointed, but not all that surprised to learn that there was a loophole allowing many companies to be “exempt” from the opt-out list, effectively taking much of the wind out of the legislative sails. Then along came Michael Geist. Media activist and newspaper columnist Geist has created a new website where Canadians can, in three simple steps,…read more

Mar.29

ezra winton

Exxon gets a break