Keep this one on your radar, folks! Enweying 2018 is coming soon to Gzowski College, and it promises to be a big time fiesta of big ideas. Hosted by Professor Ray Dart, it will feature leading luminaries of the Trent Community as Nancy Smith, Stephanie Rutherford, Garry Burness, Stephen Brown, Joeann Argue, Michael Eamon, Adrian Ash, and Asaf Zohar.

But whoa! What a minute! "What exactly is Enweying 2018 anyways?" you might ask. This is a series of 10-minute talks given by Trent University professors on any topic they are deeply passionate about, followed by a panel discussion. Kind of like our own version of a TED Talk on the Otonabee, except you don’t have to sit in front of your computer and watch it on YouTube! Just come on down to the First People’s House of Learning and check it out, because Enweying means in Nishnaabewin, "The way we speak together."

I asked Dr. Asaf Zohar, Chair of the Masters in Sustainability Studies Program and the Interim Director of the School of Business, about what he was going to speak about at this year's Enweying event and what it meant to him. He had this to say: "I will be giving a talk entitled ‘Education for Imagination, Dissent, Creative Destruction and Restoration.’ In this talk I will essentially be asking the question ‘is it reasonable to hope for a better world?’ And my answer will be yes. Our failure socially and politically is a failure of imagination. We need to explore restorative stories for a sustainable future."

I also spoke with Dr. Michael Eamon, the Principal of Traill College, about his talk and what it means to him, and he had this to say: “I will be talking about the importance of history, and what tools we can gain through history, and how that helps us into the present. It is important to know about the discipline of history and of the questions it forces you to ask of the past and of yourself.” Definitely something I can sink my teeth into, especially in today’s world!

So mark your calendars, folks! Enweying will be taking place on Friday January 19th at Gzowski College’s Nozhem Theatre, 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. For more information, call the College Office at 705-748-1011, ext. 1743. So let’s get ready to speak together! Let’s just not all speak at once!