February 2012

Culture, In the News, Literature

Freedom to Read Week

February 27, 2012, By Davina Choy
freedom-to-read-week

It’s Freedom to Read Week in Canada! Celebrate free expression and intellectual and creative freedom in Canada.

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Canada Soup, In the News

Canada Soup: A Revolutionary Passes

February 24, 2012, By Davina Choy
pierre-juneau

This week, the original CanCon revolutionary passes away, the legendary Bluenose gets a remake, and our colleagues at HDI pen a wonderful editorial on the War of 1812!

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History, In Search of Lost Time

Silver Dart: The Dawn of Flight in Canada

February 23, 2012, By James Marsh
silver-dart

February 23 is National Aviation Day! Celebrate the the pioneers who opened the skies and connected Canada to the world.

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Music, Music Mondays

Music Mondays: Nathaniel Dett Chorale

February 20, 2012, By Jennifer Higgs
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale

For Black History Month, we’re highlighting the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, the first choir in Canada to actively promote Afrocentric music. Discover its history and music after the jump!

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Literature, Stories About Storytellers

Stories About Storytellers: Hugh MacLennan

February 17, 2012, By Douglas Gibson
Hugh Maclennan

TCE Blog is proud to present an excerpt from Douglas Gibson’s new book, Stories About Storytellers. Enjoy an excerpt on Teacher, Novelist, Essayist , and Cottager, Hugh MacLennan.

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History

The Canadian Flag: Distinctively Our Own

February 15, 2012, By Norman Hillmer
Canada Flag

On February 15, 1965, at hundreds of ceremonies across the country and around the world, the red and white Canadian maple leaf flag was raised for the first time.

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History, Inside TCE

Helmut Kallmann and the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada

February 14, 2012, By James Marsh

I met Helmut many years ago when I was a novice encyclopedist and he was already busy at work on the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. I remember clearly sitting in his office in the National Archives soaking up his sage advice about how to go about making an encyclopedia (not all of it repeatable!). [...]

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Music, Music Mondays

Follow The Drinking Gourd: Songs and Legacies of the Underground Railroad

February 13, 2012, By Gary Cristall
underground railroad

Music historian Gary Cristall explores the music history of emancipation songs, from “Follow the Drinking Gourd” to “Let My People Go.”

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Music

Remembering Helmut Kallmann (1922 – 2012)

February 13, 2012, By John Beckwith

Helmut Kallmann was the chief pioneer of musical historiography and music librarianship in Canada. We were good friends from our student days, sixty-plus years ago. When I was music editor for the University of Toronto student newspaper, Helmut said I gave him his first writing assignment. His later writings, as author of the still-much-quoted A History [...]

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Literature, Reading In Canadian

Love, Driving Rain, and Al Purdy: “Over the Hills in the Rain, My Dear”

February 12, 2012, By Susanne Marshall
Al Purdy

“Over the Hills in the Rain, My Dear” is a poem that encapsulates the long endurance and ridiculous wonder of longtime love. What better poem for Valentine’s Day?

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