Did you know that 57% of people between 18 and 25 talk more to people online than in real life? Are you one of them?
Details: Step into the real world and sit down with one of our inspiring “living books”. Borrow a human book for 30 minutes of open dialogue and find out what it’s like to be in the US Army Special Forces, work as a female Rabbi, be voted one of Canada’s “Top 25 Immigrants”, fight for HIV/AIDS awareness, or job hunt in stressed economic times.
Successfully staged in over 27 countries, this is the second time Hart House will be running this popular program.
When: Tues, Nov. 20 from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.
Where: Great Hall, Hart House
Cost: Free / Registration required
2012 Human Books
Click through to read the full profile.
Stacey Redick / From Student to Professional: Experiences of a Recent U of T Graduate
Azfar Rizvi / Introspection: A Struggle for Evolution
Bruce Kidd / From Olympia to Hart House: The Integration of Sport and the Arts
Rajani / Story of my Professional Success
Ralph Carl Wushke / That Queer Chaplain Guy
Gurpreet Singh Shergill / The Symphony of Hope
Honey Novick / Journey of a Creative Song-Poet
Roxanne Wright / Belonging without a peer group: A Lithuanian Mennonite from Jane/Finch raised by Jews
Laura Chuang / Sex, Truth and Transformation
Craig A Maniscalco / The Real America and the Modern Manifest Destiny
Paula Greenwood / The Blonde Intellect
Antonio F. Urdaneta / Changing the worst case scenario for the greatest opportunity ever
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein / Female Jewish Rabbi- We know your interested!
Amjad / First Full-Time Muslim Chaplain in Canadian University – No Pressure
Charlotte Lombardo / Diary of a Somewhat Reluctant Quasi-academic
Carly Stasko / Revolutionary Healer & Cancer Survivor
David Meslin / Adventures of an Urban Idealist
Human Book Profiles
Stacey Redick / From Student to Professional: Experiences of a Recent U of T Graduate
Stacey Redick is a recent graduate of U of T’s Faculty of Information and will share personal experiences as an international post-grad student, including volunteer/extracurricular/professional development work at Hart House. Stacey’s story is still unfinished; not yet a success story, nor a story about failure, but one about the ongoing struggle to begin a career in the current economy. She hopes that her post-graduation experiences and perspective will be inspirational, and that her story may help others stay positive in this challenging economic environment.
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Azfar Rizvi / Introspection: A Struggle for Evolution
Azfar Rizvi has been praised both as a filmmaker and a social activist and hopes to share a story of survival, perseverance and of chance. His experience of growing up in an impoverished Karachi neighborhood that would lose a dozen teenagers to gang violence and ethnic cleansing a week and subsequently taking charge of his own destiny to become one of the pioneers of media activism in the region.
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Bruce Kidd / From Olympia to Hart House: The Integration of Sport and the Arts
Current Hart House Warden, Bruce Kidd, came to the University of Toronto in the 1950s and essentially never left. His early experiences at Hart House enabled him to compete in the Olympics, and profoundly shaped his views about sport and culture. Bruce will discuss the role of Hart House in creating learning communities that connect the literary, visual and performing arts; sport and physical activity, public policy and social justice, and agriculture and food.
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Rajani / Story of my Professional Success
Born in Nepal, Rajani’s story begins in a small town in one of the poorest countries in the world, then on to age 23 where she received the highest grade for a woman at the national-level lawyer’s licensing examination and continues to her completion of the Internationally Trained Lawyers Program at U of T. Rajani regularly gets involved in anti-criminal activities, providing justice to the victims, policy change for greater certainty to peace and order in society.
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Ralph Carl Wushke / That Queer Chaplain Guy
Ralph Carl Wushke is a U of T chaplain raised in rural Saskathewan. Now a United Church of Canada minister and Ecumenical Chaplain at the University of Toronto, Wushke holds a Master of Theology in queer theory, philosophical hermeneutics and sexuality ethics. He has a long involvement in LGBTQ activism in church, society, and HIV/AIDS. He founded Qu(e)erying Religion at U of T in 2005. He will discuss the journey through sexuality and religion, gayness and spirituality, HIV and resilience from his unique perspective.
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Gurpreet Singh Shergill / The Symphony of Hope
At ten years old, growing up in India, Gurpreet Singh Shergill’s family faced an unexpected challenge. His father was paralyzed below the waist in a motorcycle accident and his mother became both breadwinner and caretaker. With encouragement from both of his parents, Gurpreet went on to graduate from law school, begin working for a Canadian company operating in India, and later enroll in the Internationally Trained Lawyers Program at the University of Toronto. He expects to be called to the Ontario Bar in January 2013.
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Honey Novick / Journey of a Creative Song-Poet
Honey Novick is a singer/poet/teacher hoping to share her story of a woman who followed a winding path, prevailed through storms and disappointments, including a bout of kidney disease. Honey has dedicated time to a variety of creative and social pursuits, including working as a song facilitator at Sheena’s Place, directing the Creative Vocalization Studio for people looking to develop vocal expression (sound, songs, opinions, ideas) and has performed at the Carnegie Recital Hall and produced a CD of Yiddish and original music.
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Roxanne Wright / Belonging without a peer group: A Lithuanian Mennonite from Jane/Finch raised by Jews
Roxanne Wright embodies the notion that your past doesn’t need to control your future. A Lithuanian who grew up in the notorious Jane-Finch neighbourhood, she is also a Mennonite who claims, despite never being in foster care, that she was “raised by Jews” because of where she went to high school. Wright hopes to share her perspectives on being shaped by three distinct and unique communities: the marginalized populations of Jane-Finch, the Mennonites of Southern Ontario, and Toronto’s Jewish Community.
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Laura Chuang / Sex, Truth and Transformation
Laura is a first year Master’s student at U of T whose capacity for patience and unconditional love was stretched to its absolute limit. In 2008/09, Laura’s partner came to the realization that he no longer wanted to live as a male. As a supporter, Laura became a maternal figure as her partner went through a kind of rebirth involving periods of weight gain and abuse. While the relationship ended strangely four years later, Laura has become deeply sympathetic to all those who feel alienated by their sexual needs and encourages others to be more open, honest and trusting about sex.
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Kate Azure / It could only happen in Canada: The legal and cultural issues that steer people to immigrate and work where they do and how they start up new lives and families
Kate Azure recognizes that the lives of immigrants are hard. As the daughter of Chinese father and Russian mother, she has seen first hand the types of jobs available to immigrants and the differences between old and new cultures as it affects first generation Canadian children. Kate grew up with a strong sense that education was the most important opportunity, one not available to her parents. With degrees in Science, Journalism, Law and an MBA, Kate has dedicated herself to a life filled with continued education.
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Craig A Maniscalco / The Real America and the Modern Manifest Destiny
From a failed university attempt through 5 years of service in the United States’ elite Special Forces, Craig Maniscalco has landed at U of T with his wife and 8th grade sweetheart to study Literature and Philosophy. Now, drawing on his own recollections of 26 months of rigorous military training (demolitions, POW training, tactics, etc.) and deployments to Iraq, Philippines, Thailand and Nepal, Craig offers an insider’s account of America’s manifest destiny, what it means to be a real American, and why Canada is a great place to learn it.
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Paula Greenwood / The Blonde Intellect
Paula Greenwood was raised in rural Ontario by blue collar parents and went to an elementary school that was the only one in the county to include First Nations students. She was exposed to both First Nations traditions and extreme racism, which left her confused and frustrated. As the first in her family to attend university, Paula herself struggled to fit in and she still battles today with feeling like an imposter in an academic setting, yet feeling like she also fits in less and less back home because of her schooling and urban experiences.
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Antonio F. Urdaneta / Changing the worst case scenario for the greatest opportunity ever
Currently attending the Internationally Trained Lawyers Program at U of T, Antonio Urdaneta has been a Canadian resident for two years and is working hard to take advantage of every opportunity. Antonio knows he must work to comply with Canadian standards before resuming work, a process which could take years. Nevertheless, his positive attitude allows him to approach this challenge as a great opportunity to gain more things to offer later, to challenge himself to be a better professional and better person.
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Gautam Nath
Gautam Nath came to Canada as a landed immigrant knowing no one and with no safety net. Two and a half years later, he managed to receive the Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award in 2011. He has been on national television, print media and radio shows talking to newcomers and helping them adjust to their new home. Gautam serves on several Boards and Committees and is the Founder of the Multicultural Marketing Society of Canada.
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Rabbi Elyse Goldstein / Female Jewish Rabbi – We know you’re interested!
Rabbi Goldstein is known throughout Canada as an outstanding educator and is the winner of the Covenant Award For Outstanding Educators. She founded Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning in 1991 and she was its director and principle teacher for 20 years. Rabbi Goldstein is passionate about reaching Jews, as well as individuals who are drawn to Judaism. She is dedicated to helping all of those in her community to grow on their spiritual and intellectual Jewish journeys.
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Amjad / First Full-Time Muslim Chaplain in a Canadian University – No Pressure!
After beginning law school and finding the experience to be unfulfilling, Amjad decided to further his Islamic studies and hoped to serve the community. Now, with a Master’s Degree, he is pursuing chaplaincy at The Muslim Chaplaincy of the University of Toronto. According to Amjad, having a full-time Muslim Chaplain at a university is a pioneering moment in Canadian history.
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Charlotte Lombardo / Diary of a Somewhat Reluctant Quasi-academic
Charlotte locates herself as a woman in a privileged academic position who strives to work with and for community members to address issues of health equality. She will be exploring her own experiences as a public health practitioner who works both within and outside of the academic sphere, with a focus on experiences in academic-community partnerships and her current role as a professor who takes an applied approach to learning and action for community health. She wishes to speak particularly to issues of gender and culture in relation to the ongoing challenges (and opportunities) that women face in academia, and the tensions of equity-oriented action research.
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Carly Stasko / Revolutionary Healer & Cancer Survivor
Carly Stasko is a writer, artist, educator and mother – she is also cancer survivor. Diagnosed in her mid-twenties she was the only one among her friends to have cancer. During 2 years of treatments Carly created documentaries, comic books, and fashion accessories made from MRI scans to reclaim her sense of empowerment during her illness. Play, courage and optimism form Carly’s philosophy of healing. Being open and comfortable talking about cancer, she helps people better understand what it’s like to go through a life-threatening challenge with hope and creativity.
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David Meslin / Adventures of an Urban Idealist
David Meslin is a Toronto-based artist and organizer focused on public space issues, cycling infrastructure, voting reform, transpartisan advocacy and democratic renewal. He has spent the past 15 years creating non-profit organizations and advocacy campaigns, and working inside the system at City Hall and Queen’s Park. David’s self-employment has giving him independence, freedom, and the ability to be creative that makes it all worthwhile, and while it’s been a constant struggle, David has no regrets and credits the learning opportunities, amazing people and fun experiences as reward enough for the hard work.
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The Living Library Project is an event designed to create dialogue, promote understanding and reduce prejudice. A collection of “human books” (widely varied in gender, age, and cultural and religious backgrounds) are offered on “loan” to visitors. Facilitated by Living Library Librarians, visitors “borrow” the human book for up to 30 minutes for an open conversation. We hope to promote tolerance and deepen the understanding of social justice, equity and diversity.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Stephanie Eldred, Senior Communications Officer: stephanie.eldred@utoronto.ca
