Christine Selinger is a dedicated advocate, athlete and volunteer. While a student, she served as president of several student societies and received the President’s Medal for her academic achievements and extracurricular involvement. Selinger is an educator and emerging leader in the field of sex and disability. She is a two-time world champion in Paracanoe and, in 2010, she became the first paraplegic to traverse the rugged Nootka Trail off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
“After my injury, I was willing to try every sport I could, mostly because I wanted more social time with other people who have disabilities,” Selinger says. “I learned so much from my peers and I was eager to learn more. When I discovered paddling, I really fell in love with it. I loved being on the water and that kept me coming back each day. It didn’t feel like a chore to go to practice and I was eager to get faster and to keep up with my peers.”
Selinger sustained her spinal cord injury in a climbing accident at the age of 19. Subsequently, she completed two concurrent bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and education in 2011.
“My time at the U of R was transformative,” she says. “I feel that university in general is a time for discovery and I definitely felt that in my time with the U of R through both my studies and extracurricular activities. It gave me a view into the wider world that I was craving and chased after graduation. It gave me a view into the wider world that I was craving and chased after graduation. My university experience gave me a clearer idea of who I am and what I want to and can contribute to help my community thrive.”
Selinger worked as a peer support coordinator and instructional designer for the Canadian Paraplegic Association and Spinal Cord Injury Ontario. Through her openness and candor, she has had a tremendous impact on the lives of individuals with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities.
Selinger was a Canadian national Paracanoe athlete from 2008 to 2013, a two-time world champion, and Saskatchewan Athlete of the Month in August 2010. She was also shortlisted as International Paralympic Committee Athlete of the Month in August 2011.
In her professional and personal life, Selinger bravely faces challenges to help improve the lives of people with disabilities. Her contributions to promoting women in sport and her advocacy for the community of persons with disabilities, particularly related to issues of sex and intimacy, make her an extraordinary member of the University of Regina alumni community.
“I’m thrilled to receive an Alumni Crowning Achievement Award,” Selinger states. “Being recognized by peers and other alumni for my work means that the work is noticed. As someone who works in advocacy and awareness, that means a lot. It means I’m reaching people.”
When she’s not working, Selinger enjoys reading, playing games and crafting. She and her husband, Jerrod Smith, whom she met in a U of R modern algebra class, recently moved to Calgary after spending six years in Toronto and a year in Bangor, Maine. The couple have one dog named River, a mixed-breed rescue pup.
Save the date for the book launch of Decolonisation as Democratisation, edited by Siseko H. Kumalo, which will be hosted virtually on Zoom, March 5, 2021 at 10:00 a.m.
Chapter contributor #UREdu’s Fatima Pirbhai Illich will be the joined by panelists, Siseko Kumalo (Ed.), Björn Freter, Frances Martin, Yvette Freter, and Ulrike Kistner.
The Faculty of Education enjoyed a Lunch and Learn presentation organized by the Dean’s office entitled, “Educational Milpas (Milpas Educativas): Socio-natural Frameworks for Well-Being” (“Milpa” means cornfield) with Dr. Stefano Claudio Sartorello, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City). The presentation was recorded Thursday, January 21, 2021.
Dr. Melanie Brice is recipient of an Indigenous and Métis Research Fund grant of $7000 for her project, “Mentor-Apprentice Program Model for Michif Language Transmission via video conferencing.”
This story started with an invitation to do a play reading from my sister and playwright Alanis King, who had been invited by the University of Wisconsin (UWM) to write the script titled Sharing Wisconsin Sky.
The reading was part of a Greater Milwaukee Foundation Grant-supported collaboration between Peck School of the Arts, UWM Planetarium/Physics, and UWM’s Indigenous Language areas, including American Indian Studies and the Electa Quinney Institute. The project team was led by UWM faculty Robin Mello, Jean Creighton, Margaret Noodin, and Joelle Worm.
After a postponement due to the pandemic, the project began in late fall and the students were tasked with a writing assignment: to think of their experiences of the sky, the stars, and their relationship with the planet we are all living upon. Alanis was given the students’ writing contributions, which she then artfully wove together with her own written pieces and scenes that connected the stories together from the Anishnaabe worldview of our relationship to the cosmos.
Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly and Dr. Anna-Leah King
Given the number of characters and Indigenous songs, I was invited by Alanis to take part as a reader. I in turn offered an invitation to the First Nations University’s Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly, who has a penchant for theatre. Both of us were thrilled to kick off our international acting debuts!
I was given the starring role of Giizhigokwe – Sky Woman (no pun intended) and to be a Beneshiisuk Singer of two Anishnaabe songs. Kathleen was invited to read the role of Eclipse.
The 11 readers, comprised of UWM’s project team, students, and guest readers, Kathleen and I, presented on Zoom on December 19, 2020. The reading took about 2 hours with sound checks and introductions. After the play, Alanis thanked everyone and remarked that, “The opportunity to hear the voices of the characters and their stories lifted from the page and brought to life by the talented cast is an excellent way as a playwright to envision possibilities for a future script workshop and eventual production.”
I really cherished learning another Anishnaabe word song and it reminded me of my love for music: Bin bin bindigenGchimiigwech gaabiizhaayan translates to mean ”come in, thank you for being here.” This whole experience that included many Anishnaabe songs and our language lifted my spirit.
Likewise, Kathleen says, “It was a wonderful experience acting and working with so many talented people. The play is beautifully written and merges Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices through spoken word and song. Reflecting on people’s memories and experiences of the sun, moon and stars, it is a reminder that no matter who we are, or where we are from, we all have looked to the skies with wonder and awe.”
Dr. Taiwo Afolabi
This reading was a learning opportunity for us towards our future research collaboration between the University of Regina and First Nations University, a research project involving diverse storytelling on depictions of racism whereby we will be creating artistic vignettes on race issues. This research project is inspired by, and will be directed by, our new colleague and collaborator Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, a MAP faculty member at the University of Regina.
The play reading was one of our last community engagement initiatives of 2020 and was well worth the effort and time as well as an opportunity to help out where script readers were needed. To our good fortune we have been invited to a second reading in person on the real stage under the Wisconsin sky at the nearby Electa Quinney Institute, the Potawatami community school’s amphitheater.
If all our stars align, there will be more to come!
by. Dr. Anna-Leah King
Alanis King
Alanis King is an Ottawa-based Odawa artist originally from the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve. Her other playwriting credits include Bury, Morning Becomes Electa, Kawabin Elvis, Born Buffalo, Teacher, Kohkum’s Good Medicine Journey, Treaty Daze, Bye Bye Beneshe, Song of Hiawatha: An Anishnaabec Adaption, Order of Good Cheer, Gegwah, Lovechild, The Artshow, Heartdwellers, The Manitoulin Incident, Tommy Prince Story, and If Jesus Met Nanabush. Her published works include 3 Plays by Fifth House Publishers and coming soon The Manitoulin Incident written in three languages. She is the first Aboriginal woman to graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada.
Dr. Anna-Leah King
Anna-Leah King (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Education, Educational Core Studies and Language and Literacy Education and serves as the Chair of Indigenization at the University of Regina. King is originally from the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve.
Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly
Kathleen O’Reilly (PhD) is the Graduate Program Coordinator and Associate Professor Indigenous Education at First Nations University of Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Aysha Yaqoob (B.Ed. 2018) founded Pencils of Hope while a student. Photo credit: Shuana Niessen
In today’s email communication from the U of R President Dr. Thomas Chase, faculty and staff were made aware that,
“Alumna and current #UofR Education grad student Aysha Yaqoob (BEd’18) is talking to young people about climate change.
Laura Lynch of CBC’s ‘What on Earth’ January 10 broadcast, a segment on talking with children about climate change, features award-winning U of R alumna and current MEd graduate student Aysha Yaqoob, who teaches at Balfour Collegiate in Regina.”
This interview is summarized in the what follows.
Lynch asks, “Why teach climate change in an English class,” Yaqoob outlines how her teaching practices were formed by her own experiences as a student, and what stuck with her were the things she could relate to. So when she thinks about making learning relatable, she thinks about “bringing in real-life situations: what’s going on around them, [and] how they can contribute to it.” Yaqoob says, “I’ve learned that climate change is something young people really care about.”
Lynch then asks Yaqoob how teaching about climate change in a high-school English class “dovetail[s] with lessons about Shakespeare and grammar.” Yaqoob responds that the Saskatchewan English curriculum is thematic so quite open ended. The theme she builds around is Equity and Ethics, which ties into Shakespeare’s Macbeth and also climate change and climate crisis. Yaqoob begins by asking students where they are at and what they already know about this topic. Yaqoob says, “Over the years, I have found that that’s usually the best way that we can start our learning and move forward.”
Students often think they know a lot about a topic but after their conversations, they realize “they only understand the tip of the iceberg,” says Yaqoob. Students are generally familiar with concepts such as reduce, reuse, recycle, and plastic straws, but with “some of the more complex conversations such as greenhouse gases, when we bring those in, a lot of kids are shocked,” Yaqoob says. “We are constantly debunking information or misinformation that they find online. That’s actually part of the course that I teach earlier on, that critical thinking piece, so by the end of it, they get pretty good at cross referencing, fact checking…so it’s a pretty cool experience that we do together.”
In her first year of teaching, Yaqoob realized that she needed to approach the topic differently so the students can feel empowered and inspired rather than panicked. After conversations with students, she and her students started to look at people who are making change, such as youth activists. Students wrote to people who were making decisions, such as the Mayor of Regina, the Provincial Government and the Prime Minister Trudeau. Students did receive responses, and these contributed to a feeling of empowerment and advocacy.
Dr. Sara Schroeter Assistant Professor – Arts Education, Drama Education
When Sara Schroeter set out to attend a local musical theatre production one evening, an outing with one of her children, she didn’t expect she would have to have difficult conversations with her family because of the problematic racial representations.
“As a mother of mixed-race children, when I started going to the musical theater and seeing the problematic representations and after talking with my husband and hearing him say the damage was already done, and that this was one of many, many experiences that our children will have, that they might not understand right now, but one day they will, and these experiences will have an accumulated impact [sigh]—that’s when I realized that this is what we are doing with musicals.”
Musical theatre is a popular and traditional feature in many high schools across North America, including Regina. When Schroeter first joined the Faculty of Education as an assistant professor of arts and drama education, she realized she needed to gain a better understanding of musical theatre:
“Musical theatre is what many of my students in Arts Ed understood theatre to be. I needed to better understand what’s going on in musical theatre. I was told that musicals are really big for the local high schools and the community attends these musical shows.”
Schroeter set out to investigate and says, “I went to two musical theatre productions the first year I was here and both had really problematic representations of either race or gender and sexuality—some of the most troubling representations that I have seen recently, certainly something I didn’t expect to see in 2016.”
Her experiences caused Schroeter to start questioning the pedagogical value of musical theatre. She wondered where teachers were drawing their inspiration from and how they were contending with issues of representation in a field that, she says, “is known to have quite a problematic history.”
Though a drama educator, this exploration into musical theatre has been a new focus for Schroeter, whose research has mostly focused on youth representations of self and other through drama.
“I study applied theatre and drama in education, and am interested in youth making their own stories and telling their own stories. My research has also examined representational practices, often drawing on critical race theory and cultural studies,” says Schroeter.
Schroeter’s research project involves two parts: “Part of my research is to look at what is going on in high schools, interviewing teachers, and part of it is to go and see contemporary progressive shows, or shows said to be doing progressive things.”
Though her research is not complete yet, and no in-depth analysis has been done on the data, Schroeter is able to share some of her understanding of the issues so far.
Musical theatre productions are essentially money makers, Schroeter says. As such, “they are meant to have an appeal to a large audience. To do this, they rely heavily on stereotypes and tropes to make easily recognizable characters so that everybody knows what story is being told. These representations always comes with issues.”
When musicals are purchased for reproduction at the high school level, as commercial enterprises, strictly guided by copyright law, there is little room for local teachers to make adaptations. This is a problem because, Schroeter says, there are “so many ways in which race, religion, and gender and heteronormativity are written into the productions as a way of telling a particular story about how Americans see themselves and the image they want to portray in American society.”
Summarizing Hoffman (2014) in The Great White Way, Schroeter says, “the musical is in essence part and parcel of the invention of Americanism and white supremacy, with roots in minstrel shows from the 1800s and early 1900s when performers did dress up with blackface, and used quintessential stereotypes, such as mammy.”
As a form of public pedagogy, Schroeter views high school musical theatre as “teaching all of those things that make up what we are understanding and learning—how we construct knowledge.” Referencing Donatella Galella’s work, Schroeter says that “musical theatre is a form of public pedagogy because it tells us stories about who we are and who we imagine ourselves to be.”
As an example, Schroeter points to Hamilton (2015), which is purported to be a very progressive musical production. She says, “Hoffman (2014) writes about songs in musicals, such as the song for change. The main character goes through immense change and the person who sings the song for change is usually a white character who has multiple dimensions, whereas characters of colour are presented as flat characters; they stay the same throughout the show. Hamilton (2015) plays with this by representing white characters through actors of colour. Actors of colour get to play this range of emotion and change, but it is still problematic because they are still representing White folks, so they haven’t changed and disrupted what happens in the structure of the musical.”
Schroeter highlights other problems with Hamilton (2015): “The way the American history is told through hip hop makes history relevant, but it also makes the history irrelevant, because it is a story from which the actors of colour in the cast have historically been excluded—in some ways a re-appropriation. Why aren’t they telling the story of the Haitian revolution or of the theft of lands; there are so many others stories that could have been told that would be relevant to the students who would then see their histories represented in the play. Instead they are being told what is ultimately a white story—a slave-owning story—that has been re-imagined to maybe include the possibility of mixed heritage in Alexander Hamilton, which perpetuates the idea that he was mixed race, but we don’t know that.”
Though musical theatre is problematic, Schroeter understands that it fulfills a purpose: “The musical fills this void in not requiring audiences to work very hard to understand what is going on in the story,” she says. Musicals also “bring various departments, music, dance, theatre, and art departments together for these wide scale productions that involve a lot of kids.”
Schroeter clarifies her position saying, “I’m not taking away from the bonding experience or artistic learning, but I want to know what these productions do to us as a public, pedagogically, and to students in particular, and also to acknowledge, as Gastambide-Fernandez & Parekh found in their 2017 study of arts programs, who is included in those productions and who is excluded historically in drama and theatre programs in our schools.” Schroeter is encouraged that increasingly IBPOC scholars, educators, and artists are raising their voices about this exclusion in representation and taking on leadership roles in musical theatre, such as director and producer.
Schroeter still wants to see plays integrate music and art with drama, but she would love to see them be stories relevant to youth. “I’m not going to deny that kids want to do Grease (1971). I get that teachers are in a delicate position of having to do what kids want and push them.”
Avant garde theatre is one alternative to musicals because “avant garde theatre artists are often trying to avoid stereotypes or trouble the tropes. Then you get really controversial theatre because opinion is divided—with some hating and some loving it,” says Schroeter. Likewise, “when you make original theatre and stories told by students and their points of views, sometimes parents don’t like the stories that kids have to tell and sometimes the stories are experimental and people don’t get it.”
Through interviews with local drama teachers, Schroeter is finding some teachers “that just won’t do the musical because they are going to create plays that involve music and singing, but not musicals—once you open that door, you can’t close it because that is what people will want and expect.” With student-created theatre, Schroeter says, “you can cast more diversely, and the tools you are giving students are much bigger because you are training them as story tellers.” Other teachers in her study, she says, “are aware of the issues, and are trying to address stereotyping and problematic representational practices by having conversations with their students about it and by not letting the problems disappear.”
So far, Schroeter says, “my research is reinforcing what I already know about the value of arts education—giving students the tools to come together and make and create original art.”
The community capacity to provide play opportunities has been diminished by COVID-19 restrictions or closures, yet parental workload at home has generally grown, which in turn has strained parents’ mental well-being. Children’s play is now largely determined by parents’ ability to facilitate play in or around the home.
Research at the University of Regina has explored the effects that the pandemic appears to have on play. A recent study analyzed 10 conversations of between 60 and 90 minutes with parent participants describing their experiences in one-on-one virtual meetings, as well as hundreds of electronically submitted stories about play (or lack thereof) during the pandemic. The study is now undergoing peer review.
Since many communities are facing challenging second wave lockdowns or restrictions, we wanted to share our current recommendations for supporting play at home during the COVID-19 pandemic through the holidays and into 2021 based on our early findings and our research expertise in play.
Making an effort to get outside even for a few minutes every day appears to be a critical step towards play, health and happiness during these challenging times. (Whitney Blaisdell)
1. Prioritize your own wellness
Parental wellness is a critical factor to play during the pandemic. Adults whose wellness is suffering are more likely to become not only less playful, but to actively resist play. Conversely, adult wellness spills over to benefit children through an increased ability to be fun-loving, relaxed and playful. It is recommended that adults prioritize their own wellness throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the midst of a pandemic that has placed constant demands on people to adapt their professional capacities while lacking in-person contact, play can become a vital avenue for both adults and children to strengthen our outlook and resilience. Approaching the pandemic, as much as possible, as a novel opportunity for family togetherness and play allows us to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic with greater joy and to foster resilience.
3. Set a tone for neighbourhood play
The visibility of children playing outdoors appears to be contagious. Parents can normalize free play by offering their children more freedom to play or even discussing their desire for a more playful community with neighbours.
Children have generally been expected to meet public health guidelines in school that often include wearing masks and maintaining physical distance from people outside of their household; parents can ask and reasonably expect children to follow the same guidelines in their outdoor play. The current lack of structured activities combined with the professional obligations of many parents working from home has created an opportunity for community revitalization of children’s outdoor free play.
Parents can play a role in normalizing free play by offering their children more freedom to play outside or talking with neighbours. (Shutterstock)
4. See children as drivers of play
Children often engage in play with items or ideas that appear unchildlike or unplayful. Their play may revolve around mature concepts like death, illness, justice and control. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky famously wrote: “In play a child is always above his average age, above his daily behaviour; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. As in the focus of a magnifying glass, play contains all developmental tendencies in a condensed form; in play it is as though the child were trying to jump above the level of his normal behaviour.”
Seeing children as drivers of their own play who are capable of conceiving, planning and executing their play will offer children an opportunity to increase their play stamina, while putting less stress on parents to entertain their children.
5. Arrange a playful environment
Homes with access to a private yard stand out as an advantage in offering opportunities for play. Of course, this is a privilege that many families do not have. However, a playful environment can be arranged with little to no spending. First, make the home feel as safe as necessary, so children can freely explore the home environment with minimal supervision.
Next, minimize toys. Children’s play relies surprisingly little on toys, and tidying toys can be a burden to parents who are currently experiencing a heavier domestic workload.
Finally, make outdoor access as easy as possible. Visible and easily accessed outerwear and footwear, and mats or towels near exterior doors to minimize mess, help make outdoor play more enjoyable and attractive.
Spending time playing outdoors has been found to greatly contribute to one’s overall well-being. (Shutterstock)
Trying to make an effort to get outside even for a few minutes every day appears to be a critical step towards play, health and happiness during these challenging times.
Through attending to our own wellness, examining our attitudes towards play, normalizing child-structured outdoor play, framing children as drivers of play, arranging a playful environment and spending time outside, we too are attempting to be more playful and joyful during this challenging time. We wish the readers all the best in their own pursuit of play.
By Patrick J Lewis, University of Regina and Whitney Blaisdell, University of Regina
Dr. Melanie Brice is recipient of an Indigenous and Métis Research Fund grant of $7000 for her project, “Mentor-Apprentice Program Model for Michif Language Transmission via video conferencing.”
