80 Things We Love About Arta: 11 and 12

I am sharing this post on behalf of Gillian Calder, a long time colleague of Arta's daughter Rebecca, but more importantly a long time friend of Rebecca and Arta's. 

Gillian Shares:

11. Unrelenting Joy of Learning

If I may, I wanted to jump into the 80 amazing posts about Arta, and write a little something about her unrelenting joy in learning.  As I write the sentence I can imagine taking that in many different directions: what she shares when people are around her (like baking); or travels I have heard about (like cruises), or the various forms of art she has introduced to her families (musicals and galleries), or the way she has been a presence at the law school in classes, for years.  Each worthy of a post.  

Arta and Rebecca

What I wanted to share was the time that I hosted a workshop at UVic’s law school on polygamy, at a time when the question “what is inherently wrong with polygamy” had yet been posed to the BC Supreme Court in a reference.  And so we gathered a host of scholars, from across Canada, the US and Australia, in a realm of disciplines, and had a conversation that went on for several days – with both Rebecca and Arta as part of that team.

Gillian and Lori's Book: Polygamy's Right and Wrongs

After the workshop, we decided to pull the presentations together into a book, and with only the most gentle of asks, convinced Arta to write a chapter. And when it was published, we put her chapter at the heart of the book.  And in doing so, we also put care, belonging and community at the core of the manuscript;  love turned out to be the animating force of the project. 

Arta's Chapter: Are They Not Us?

In the chapter Arta authored she is achingly personal, and doesn’t shy away from the big questions that polygamy poses for a Mormon family.  And, yet like Arta herself, her chapter remains gracious, while still being curious, and at moments, a teensy bit naughty.  It puts family, faith and feminism, squarely in the mix, while still allowing the reader a hint into an unexplored world.

12. Face Discomfort Head On with Great Research

Gillian shares:

I am grateful that in one of the first big academic projects that I had carriage of, as nerve-wracking as that can be, that Arta agreed to tell and share a story.  I also feel lucky that Uumati (my 19 year old) and I have been some of the people in Arta’s orbit, welcomed to the lake, where we were put to work, to bake, or read, or play. And I so appreciate all of the times she sends an email after a conversation to ask one more question, or share a reflection on what it had made her think about.  Sometimes we academics are a bit complainy.  Being around Arta is such a good reminder of what an unrelenting joy in learning feels like, and what it can and should be.

Gillian and Uumati

Sent from the traditional territories of the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples. 

_____________________________________

Tonia Adds:

Thank you Gillian for your beautiful words, incredible research, and being a part of our family!

You can purchase Polygamy's Rights and Wrongs by Gillian Calder and Lori B. Beaman by clicking on the book's title. I am ordering it right now!

Talking with Theorists

Yesterday, I watched Conversations with Legal Thinkers hosted by Julen Etxabe, Canada Research Chair, Jurisprudence and Human Rights.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp0wHgIBZno

He was interviewing Rebecca Johnson.

Rebecca sent me the link, a zoom call I remember being made to her in the summer.  

That hour of conversation has been edited to one half hour.  Being her mother, I watched the link.  

I have been thinking about some of her points since then, discussing them with Bonnie.  

I am always curious about theory.  A couple of years ago I sat in a class Rebecca was teaching and she was talking about law theory through film.  She asked her students, "How many of you consider yourself theorists.  How many of you would, when asked what you do, say, "I am a law theorist."

Not a hand went up.  Not mine, either, though in my heart I was saying, yes, "I do law theory.  That is why I am sitting in this class and thinking about these films and about the law theorists Rebecca points to in her lecture."

In the video Rebecca invites all of us to think about theory again and invited us to consider the fact that we all live in theory, ... and do theory.

What did I enjoy about the film?

1. She reminded me again that all of us live in several legal orders though we may not have the language for that yet.

2. I liked the point that everytime we watch film, or listen to two people debate a point and then we add thoughts of our own to others who are listening as well, we are doing theory.

What made me nervous about the film?

1. I felt myself cringe when she referred to the drink of forgetfulness -- even though Wordsworth refers to it (Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting ....).  I don't think Rebecca wasn't referring to that 'forgetting' but to a  path I have taken a little further down the line.

2. I don't even want to refer to the other cringe worth phrase.  Anyone can make a guess in the comment box below.  

Nowadays, giving 30 minutes to someone is a conscious gift, both when it is given and when it is received.  Thanks to Julen Etxabe and Rebecca for letting me listen in to their questions and answers.

Arta

PS.  For more about how Rebecca saw the interview see Conversations with Legal Theorists.  And a big thanks to Rebecca for making the links in this post to the interviews of other legal theorists.  I will have my note book out and eventually watch all of them.  What else could interest me on a lazy, warm, autumn afternoon.

There be dragons ...

Hello,

Gillian Calder and Rebecca wrote an op-ed piece with was published in the Victoria Colonist.

Not a long read.

The three salient points are worth spending some time thinking about.

Arta

The newspaper -- electronically

I got interested in the NY Times this morning.  They had published 52 places to see in 2016.  I went through the list wondering if I could get to those places in a lifetime.  I discovered I have been to some of the places, maybe 10 or so.  And way down on the list, though listed in no particular order are the South Gulf Islands of British Columbia.  Some people in our house have been to two of them.

The scenery around them looks amazingly like what we see at the Shuswap.  Check it out at about #50 of places to see in 2016.  It could look like a view out of a window you have stood before.

Rebecca got interested in the topic of sentencing with respect to poachers.

I admit that the article she sent on to me was interesting, but maybe that is because she is letting me come to her crim law class.  This morning I was thinking, why audit, why not just take the class, do the exam and start working on the law degree I always wanted.  The trouble is ... I wanted too many things -- a law degree, a medical degree, a PhD ... in anything.

The world is a big place.  Hard not to want it all.

Arta

My op-ed piece on discrimination...

So... a couple of weeks ago, I went to a workshop organized by the University Women's Caucus called "Informed Opinions". It was run by Shari Graydon, who runs a project to educate women on how to bridge the gender gap in public commentary. In brief, it was a workshop for women on how to write op-ed pieces.

The first thing I learned is that "op-ed" means "opposite the editorial page". Can't believe I didn't know that....I somehow thought it meant something like "opinion edition" or some such thing. We were told that, amongst newspaper readers who are decision makers, it is not the front page, but the op-ed page that is the most important.

We were also told that women are vastly under-represented on the op-ed page. The more interesting question was "why?". It turns out that editors are not simply choosing male voices over female voices. It turns out that very few women submit op-ed pieces to newspapers (only 1 for every 5 male submissions they receive). She reminded us that you don't have to be an expert in order to speak. You just have to have 'an informed opinion' to contribute!

We got the lecture from her about the need to have a greater diversity of informed opinions in the media. She challeneged us to write and submit pieces more frequently. At one moment, it felt like one of those 'it is your responsibility!' lectures (you know, the "Get moving Soldier!" line.... hahaha)

So I did it A newspaper story in the Times Colonist really got my goat. And so I wrote a response. It showed up in the paper this morning!

Shari blogged about my process of writing it... Follow the links if you want to read her blog piece, or my op-ed.