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SASAH Speakers' Series guest Heather George discusses the colonial legacies of arts institutions, as well as how organizations like Woodland Cultural Centre have been engaging in story-telling, caring for belongings and asserting Indigenous sovereignty. |
🛏️The semester progresses, but how 'bout we rest(es)?🛏️ |
It is hard to believe that Fall Reading Week is already upon us. This usually means midterm and assignment season, colder and wetter weather, and the creeping approach of burn-out. As you take a 'break' next week, remember to balance work and catch-up time with some well-deserved rest. See below for a lovely note of support from SASAH student Celia MacDonald.
Looking for things to watch from a horizontal position? A recording of Heather George's thoroughly inspirational public talk, "Sharing Difficult Truths and Supporting Cultural Vibrancy at the Site of the Longest Running Residential School in Canada," is now online! You can access that video on our YouTube Channel. Heather augmented the focus of her talk toward art and advocacy work orbiting the Woodland Cultural Centre, and she includes a recording of a truly powerful performance by the Kaha:wi Dance Theatre: Continuance: Yonkwa'nikonhrakontáhkwen. Heather is the second of three guests for the Fall schedule in the SASAH Speakers' Series. Information about our third visitor, Kristen Case, is below.
You may also want to catch up on the excellent conversation between Jordanian cookbook author Nadeem Mansour with Arts and Humanities faculty members Melitta Adamson (the Department of Languages and Cultures), Soheila Esfahani (Department of Visual Arts) and Benjamin Robinson (Department of Philosophy). The recording for the 2025 Hassan Lecture, one of the Faculty's biggest public events, can be found here. |
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Positive vibes, from one student to another |
Although we are still in Fall and the leaves have yet to fall completely from the trees, I have found time to begin stressing over summer internships. As a university student, finding these meaningful experiences is hard enough, add onto that trying to filter through which ones you are qualified for, meet your criteria, and haven’t been snatched up by the next day, it seems like an insurmountable task.
But, as I continue to stress over this, here are some things I have learned:
Stop comparing yourself to others. As SASAH students we are lucky enough to be surrounded by incredibly motivated and talented peers. One of the biggest struggles is to remember that you are one of them. In times like these it is easy to sit back and let the imposter syndrome kick in, but we can’t let this happen, instead: take a deep breath, and remember you are here for a reason.
Secondly, things will all work out. I constantly forget this, when you find yourself stressing way too much for things way too far in the future to warrant this reaction, try to remember that the best thing to do sometimes is just closing the laptop, taking some time for yourself, and trying again the next day.
And finally, it is OK to ask for help! One of the things us SASAH students are blessed with is a mountain of resources, and they are there for a reason. USE THEM!
Now as the semester progresses, I know that I will find myself worried for the future as all students often are, but when I do I will come back to these pieces of advice, and hopefully now you will too.
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The SASAH Speakers' Series presents: Kristen Case, "Thoreau's Temporal Imagination" |
The SASAH Speakers' Series is pleased to welcome Kristen Case. Kristen will discuss her recently published transcriptions of Henry David Thoreau's late-life natural history charts in her book Thoreau's Kalendar. The talk will foreground the ways that Thoreau's temporal creativity can help us reimagine our increasingly time-famished lives.
Kristen Case is a poet and scholar. In addition to Thoreau's Kalendar, she is the author of American Pragmatism and Poetic Practice: Crosscurrents from Emerson to Susan Howe and three books of poetry, most recently, Daphne. She lives in Maine, where she is executive director of The Monson Seminar, a residential program for Pell-eligible and first-generation college students.
Kristen is a guest of Professor Kate Stanley's first-year SASAH class, "Climate Conversations: Finding Common Ground for the 21st Century." |
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📣Call for Artists' Submissions - EXTENDED!📣 Upcoming LAB203 exhibition for SATELLiTE Project Space |
We are a group of SASAH students curating an Art Exhibition to be hosted at LAB203 in TAP Center For Creativity, on view from December 2 to December 20. This exhibition is part of SATELLiTE Project Space, an ongoing mobile exhibition partnership between SASAH, the Department of Visual Arts, FIMS/CAP, and Fanshawe Fine Art!
We have an open call for artwork for Western undergraduate students and Fanshawe Fine Arts students responding to the following prompt:
“The vulnerable state of the student mind amidst an unpredictable, rapidly evolving social landscape.”
Through this exhibition, we aim to amplify students’ voices through their creative works, as they navigate student life in the present moment of climate crisis, hyperproductivity culture, political upheaval, and a future shrouded in uncertainty.
We are looking for submissions of original artwork spanning diverse mediums to be displayed in the exhibition space, which will be curated to resemble a student living space through interactive furniture, including desks, chairs, a mini-fridge, TV, and desktop, to provide a glimpse into the daily lives of students. This includes, but is not limited to: Traditional 2D artwork 3D and multimedia art, sculptures, etc. Digital artwork, photography, and videography Written works, such as prose and poetry And more!
There is no hanging fee for selected pieces, and we intend to collaborate with all chosen artists regarding the creative direction of their artwork in relation to the exhibit.
Key Dates 📆Submission Deadline extended to Oct 31
📆Artists Notified by: Nov 7 📆Gallery Exhibition: Dec 2 - 20
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Prof. Ruth Skinner: rskinne6@uwo.ca |
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Western Gazette coverage: "Research lab explores the #InstagramvsReality trend" |
The Western Gazette's Toni Bi covered our recent guest talk with Meaghan Furlano and Dr. Kaitlyn Mendes from GEMS, the Gender, Equity, Media and Society Research Lab! Meaghan's talk was titled "Between Filter and Reality: Exploring the #InstagramVsReality Trend," and it was for SASAH's "Digital Tools, Digital Literacies" course. From the article: " Olivia Matheuszik, a second-year School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities and visual arts student, said she appreciated the researchers coming in. "Before the talk, she said felt uneasy about this trend, but it was interesting to actually see, and hear that some “body positive images, and things online, can also worsen your body image so badly because the people posting are mainly these thin women, who are essentially perfect in a social sense.” "Matheuszik said to improve the #IGvsReality trend, people need to start posting 'real pictures: humble, genuine, pictures of people loving their body.' Maya Allison, a second-year SASAH and art history student, echoes this. "'Bring back casual posting to not have that pressure to look the best or try to prove something.'" |
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Important Dates
Nov 3-9, 2025: Fall Reading Week Dec 1, 2025: Last day to withdraw from a Fall 12-week course resulting in a grade of ‘WDN’ (withdrawn, without academic penalty) Dec 9, 2025: Fall term classes end Dec 10, 2025: Study day Dec 11-22: Examination period
Image: Early 20th century Halloween postcard, depicting boy with candle in house startled to see a parade of anthropomorphic black cats wearing cone hats and carrying jack-o'-lanterns. Wikimedia Commons. |
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The School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH) offers an enriched undergraduate learning experience that is unique in Canada. Students gain practical experience in many career fields in a range of sectors—including arts and culture, non-profit, for-profit, education, and information technology—and undertake opportunities in the London community and beyond. We are grateful for our community: our students and alumni, our teaching fellows, our valued Advisory Council, our community partners and our supporters.
SASAH acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Chonnonton Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. With this, we respect the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have to this land, as they are the original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research and community service.
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